Do you love America? Do you want to show it? Then you do it with cats, I tells ya, cats! Not dogs, not ferrets, not emus or llamas, but cats and nothing else.

Link via Jalopnik | Photo: The Clearly Dope

Yes, we've seen steampunk mice before, but none that come with a pre-installed brain! Builder Peter Balch notes that "Every self-respecting Victorian Scientist needs a brain in a jar." I couldn't have said it better myself. You can see in-process photos at the link as well as an explanation of how he built it.

http://www.peterbalch.btinternet.co.uk/MousePunk.htm via Technabob

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Here's a clever commercial for Dirt Devil brand vacuum cleaners by the ad agency The Raft. Apparently, it'll clean more than just one type of rug.

Link via Copyranter

Though they look good enough to eat, these marshmallow Peeps bunny plushies are really made of fleece (and they're considerably bigger than the real thing). Even if you don't like to eat the real thing, these are too sweet to pass up. You've got plenty of time to use the tutorial so thoughtfully provided by Dandelions and Lace to whip up a few in time to put in Easter baskets. Link

Darth Vader Talking Dashboard Driver - $9.95

Do you have trouble coming up with things to say when someone cuts you off? Do you wish you could be cool like Darth Vader? The Darth Vader Talking Dashboard Driver from the NeatoShop is for you!  Sit back and let Darth do all the talking (or heavy breathing).  Umm....but you will have to still drive the car.  Sorry, he can't do everything for you. Some things you still have to do for yourself.

This item is also the perfect desk accessory.

Be sure you check out the NeatoShop for more Star Wars fun!

Your cadaverous pallor betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as though you sense a disquieting metamorphosis. Is the Haunted Mansion actually getting an interactive queue?

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You don’t need to be Madame Leota to predict that the answer is yes. Changes currently in place at the manse at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World include busts that will whisper the stories of their deaths to people waiting in line, interactive wall plaques and a replica of the organ inside the Mansion that plays parts of "Grim Grinning Ghosts." Word is there's more to come.

My favorite part, I think, is the new mausoleum that pithily pays tribute to Disney legends:



Link

In his blog The Lovecraftsman dead Cthulhu waits dreaming of an unspeakable emoticon worthy of his horror. Behold, the Cthulhu emoticon.

The Lovecraftsman has a few more Cthulhu emoticon variants (can you come up with your own?): Link - via Metafilter

See also: Cthulhu stuff from the NeatoShop

Do you, like, have trouble getting a job? Maybe it's how you use "like" when you talk. Don't laugh - it's now scientifically proven:

“This study examined the use of hesitations and discourse markers such as “uh” and “like,” sex of an interviewee, and professional or student participants on hiring decisions of job interviewees. Participants consisted of 105 students between the ages of 18 to 43 years and 71 professionals between the ages of 22 to 76 years (120 women, 56 men). Adult professionals and students were least likely to want to hire, perceived the applicant as less professional, and were less likely to recommend the interviewee for hiring if the interviewee overused the word “like” compared to “uh” or control. Professionals were less likely than students overall to want to hire interviewees across conditions. Sex of the interviewee was not found to be significant.”

If you keep up with Neatorama, then you probably recall Miss C's post about the Urine-Free Charity Auction. Essentially, D.H. Morgan posted a used wetsuit on eBay and to emphasize that it had never been peed in, he included this brilliant image. The picture went viral and Morgan volunteered to give 90% of the proceeds to the Red Cross's work in Japan. Soon, the auction started getting a lot more bids and sponsors started throwing in free surfboards, concert tickets, shoes, a brand new wetsuit and more.

In the end, the auction ended up pulling in over $15,000 in bids...unfortunately, the winning bidder refused to pay up and the second place winner wouldn't take the Second Chance Offer. That left Morgan with tons of free stuff that wasn't really his to keep and left the Red Cross out of a huge donation.

In order to correct the problem, he has opted to host a massive charity raffle for the prizes. Tickets are only £2.50 and the prizes total more than $1000. The only down side is that this time he's only giving 70%, apparently because the raffles cost more to run and he needs money to fix the exhaust on his car.

Even so, it's still a good chance to donate money to a good cause and possibly win a boatload of free stuff. Plus, included in the raffle prize is the opportunity to hang out with Morgan and a bear (presumably someone in a bear suit, not an actual bear).

Having ignored dozens of dire warnings from Hollywood and science-fiction novels about the dangers of doing so, scientists are forging ahead with plans to drill all the way through Earth's thick crust and sample its hot mantle.

"That has been a long-term ambition of earth scientists," geologist Damon Teagle told National Geographic News.

But a lack of suitable technology and insufficient understanding of the crust have long tempered that ambition. [...]

Now, better knowledge of the Earth's shell and technological advances—for example, a Japanese drill ship equipped with six miles (ten kilometers) of drilling pipe—have put the goal within reach, according to a commentary in this week's issue of the journal Nature, co-written by Teagle, a geologist at the U.K.'s University of Southampton.

Even so, drilling into the mantle would be "very expensive" and would require new drillbit and lubricant designs, among other things, according to the paper.

But if all goes as planned, drilling could begin by 2020, Teagle said. As soon as next month, the team will begin exploratory missions in the Pacific, where crews will "bore further into the oceanic crust than ever before," the paper says.

I mean, what could go wrong? Link

That's How I Roll from the NeatoShop

Walking, creeping, and running are so overrated. Here's a mode of transportation employed by some very cool animals that's got a lot of other animals hatin': rolling.

Ed Yong of Not Exactly Rocket Science Blog describes some animals that roll:

The beaches are home to the beautiful coastal tiger beetle (Cicindela dorsalis media). Tiger beetles are among the fastest of insect runners, but their larvae are slow and worm-like. If they’re exposed and threatened, running isn’t an option. Instead, they turn themselves into living wheels. They leap into the air, coil their bodies into a loop, and hit the ground spinning. The wind carries them to safety.

The fact that a long, worm-like animal can jump and roll is amazing in its own right. The ability is even more remarkable because the tiger beetle is “one of the best-studied insect species in North America” and until a few years ago, no one had ever seen it doing this. Alan Harvey and Sarah Zukoff were the first. They write, “[Sarah] was walking through some unusually loose sandy drifts on Cumberland Island and happened to kick up some C. d. media larvae, which promptly started wheeling.”

Link

The photo to the left doesn't look like much, but it's actually quite a big deal. MIT scientist Daniel Nocera and colleagues have achieved a huge milestone in energy production by mimicking what nature has done for a long time: they've successfully mimicked photosynthesis with an "artificial leaf."

A team of chemistry and engineering scientists from MIT today announced the completion of their quest to create an artificial leaf that creates electricity from water like a leaf produces oxygen and food from carbon dioxide.

The discovery, formally presented by its leader, MIT chemist Daniel Nocera, at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, doesn't look like a leaf, but rather like a very thin credit card. But placed in a gallon of water, the biomimicked leaf can produce enough electricity for a day in a house in a developing country. In the lab, Nocera was able to keep a prototype running for 45 hours without a drop in activity.

"A practical artificial leaf has been one of the Holy Grails of science for decades," said Nocera. "We believe we have done it. The artificial leaf shows particular promise as an inexpensive source of electricity for homes of the poor in developing countries. Our goal is to make each home its own power station," he said. "One can envision villages in India and Africa not long from now purchasing an affordable basic power system based on this technology."

Link | 2008 MIT News article about Daniel's research

Cucumber, cantaloupe, tomatoes, carrots - they're all good for you, sure. But they're not so good for your wallet. The New York Times comparison-shopped to show you how you're getting a bad deal when you load up on certain weighty items at salad bars even though they cost less per ounce than some of the lighter items do. Your best bang for the buck? Gorgonzola crumbles, cranberries, almonds- all things that tend to cost a pretty penny in the store.

Link -via FlavorWire

Linda Monach has embarked on a culinary adventure and is chronicling it on the blog Burgers Here and There.

A couple of years ago my parents moved in with us to help take care of our daughters as my husband and I juggled two stressful careers.  My dad likes simple food and struggles with some of my more adventurous meals.  This year, at Father’s day I made him his favorite dinner of hamburgers and pork and beans.  That’s when inspiration hit – could I take the beloved burger and make it the vehicle for introducing my dad to new flavors?  Indeed, looks like I can!

So, here’s the goal…create one burger recipe for every country in the world.

Monach is not trying to recreate the hamburgers of the world, but trying to put the flavors of the world's traditional cuisines into each hamburger meal. She's got several nations covered so far, all beginning with A. Link -via Metafilter

Dancing Flower (Solar Powered) - $6.95

Are you in the mood for a little spring time cheer, but you have a black thumb? You need the Dancing Flower (Solar Powered) from the NeatoShop. It's the perfect plant for people who should avoid caring for living things.  Please help us stop the senseless death and destruction of perfectly healthy house plants!

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic Cubicle Toys.