Neatorama

According to internet rumor (sorry, but that's as far as I have been able to confirm this news story), the Hato Bus company, a sightseeing bus company in Tokyo, has been shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 60 unused buses at their depot have been arranged into a maze to provide more static entertainment.

-via Super Punch | Photo: Sankei

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This glass bridge in China’s Guangdong province has broken a Guinness World record for the longest glass-bottomed bridge. Have fun admiring the view from all possible angles when you manage to visit this place! Alternatively, you can be scared or in awe at how high you are by seeing through the glass floor, as Hyperallergic details:

The work of Zhejiang University’s Architectural Design & Research Institute (known as UAD), the bridge measures 1,725 feet and connects two ends of a narrow valley in the Huangchuan Three Gorges Scenic Area. Its floor is made up of three layers or about 1.7 inches of tempered laminated glass and can hold up to 500 people.

Previously holding the number one spot for most terrifying — err, longest — glass-bottomed suspension bridge was the 1,600-foot-long Hongyagu footbridge in China’s Hebei province, which was reportedly built to have a slight but unnerving sway. The vertiginous structures are not uncommon in China, which had an estimated 2,300 glass bridges as of last year, many constructed as tourist attractions.

The Three Gorges Scenic Area bridge, described by UAD as “a transparent corridor in the air,” took three years to build at a cost of 300 million yuan (~ $43 million).

Image via Hyperallergic

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Pools from Above is a collection of swimming pools shot from the air by aerial photographer Brad Walls. Walls was inspired by Annie Kelly’s book Splash: The Art of the Swimming Pool, and started the collection by documenting a pool’s shape, size, shape, texture, and color from a bird’s eye view. Viewing the photos in the collection can give you an urge to jump into a nearest pool, or just gaze in awe at how much detail can be seen at a bird’s eye view.

Image via Plain Magazine

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Goombas are perhaps the easiest enemies that you can encounter in a Super Mario game. This goomba, however, stands out from his kind. Unlike the others, he has a body, and he wields a sword. It seems that he has been made to avenge his brethren who Mario and Luigi have stepped on. And with that kind of face, you know that he means business.

This custom-made figure [created by KodyKoala] features a Goomba decked out in armor and ready to do battle against any plumbers who dare to jump into the Mushroom Kingdom. He made the 6″ tall figure by cobbling together a bunch of different toys. I love the spiky turtle shells attached to his gauntlets. His green body almost looks like one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but the feet are wrong for that.

This isn’t the first time that KodyKoala has made a custom figure. KodyKoala has lots of custom-made figures and toys, and he sells them over at his Etsy shop. See his creations over at the site.

(Image Credit: KodyKoala/ Technabob)

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In case you didn't know, the Mulan remake is out now. To watch it, you'll need a TV or computer screen, Disney+, and $30 more. Before you invest, check out this Honest Trailer. A departure from other Disney live-action remakes, Mulan is supposed to be closer to its roots. That means it lost the songs, the magical comedy sidekick, and the love interest. What's left is a lot of violence, so that Mulan resembles any number of high-budget wuxia films you've already seen. Well, at least it has a cool gender reveal party.

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Most appliances that we use today, such as light bulbs and air conditioning units, produce heat as they work. This heat, called waste heat, especially those produced in high-heat sources such as power plants and automobile sources, could, in theory, be turned into electricity. However...

These “low-grade” sources give off too little heat for current technology to do the conversion well.

Now, researchers have created a device that uses liquids to efficiently convert low-grade heat to electricity. The advance might one day power energy-scavenging devices that can light up sensors and lights and even charge batteries.

“This is a nice piece of work and a very clever idea,” says Ping Liu, a nanoengineer at the University of California, San Diego, who was not involved with the study.

Scientists have known for nearly 200 years that certain materials can convert heat to electricity, and are being explored for use in providing extra electricity for hybrid vehicles. This job is carried out by specialized semiconductors called thermoelectric materials that are fashioned into tiny devices the size of computer chips. When one side of a thermoelectric is hotter than the other, heat and electrons move from the hot to the cold side. Wiring multiple such chips together allows engineers to generate a steady electric current.

Head over at Science Magazine to know more details about this study.

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

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When audio engineer Stéphane Pigeon was asked if he would create sounds which are usually heard in the office, his immediate answer was “No, no, no, I will not do it!” Pigeon was very confused by the question. He thought that “people don’t want to listen to those sounds.” He thought wrong.

But Pigeon continued to receive more requests. So when the pandemic hit, he eventually gave in and set to work. Since its release in March, there have been 250,000 streams of Calm Office, making it one of his most popular sounds on myNoise. Users can adjust the volume of certain sound effects and tones using a series of animated sliders. Pigeon is still bewildered that Calm Office’s clackety keys, fax machine whirrs, and distant strains of conversation have become as popular as they are.

After all, people who use sounds to help them concentrate have traditionally veered toward the natural or peaceful: rainstorms, Buddhist gongs, chirping birds. In recent years, “lo-fi chill” and other forms of “focus music” have become so popular that there are now multiple YouTube channels devoted to the genre.

Those channels, however, have traditionally been aimed at college students looking to zone out and hit their study flow without interruptions from their roommates. Quarantine created a need for background noise among white-collar workers, who were used to open office plans and traversing from cubicle to meeting room and back.

It seems that in our long time being stuck in the four corners of our homes, we’ve become officesick.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

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We all learned that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, along with many of the other modern conveniences introduced in the late 19th century. He patented it, didn't he? Well, we know that Edison was big on patents and taking credit for various devices that his team, or even rivals, worked on. It turns out that the light bulb had already been patented in other countries. In fact, the process that led to the light bulb began in the early 19th century. So who did invent the light bulb?

The question itself betrays an underlying assumption that is flawed, and so there is no one correct answer. Instead, we have to confront the underlying assumption – that one person or entity mostly or entirely invented the lightbulb. Rather, creating the lightbulb was an iterative process with many people involved and no clear objective demarcation line. However, there was a sort-of demarcation line – the first marketable lightbulb. That is really what people are referring to with Edison – not that he invented the lightbulb but that he brought the concept over the finish line to a marketable product. Edison sort-of did that, and he does deserve credit for the tweak he did develop at Menlo Park.

There were at least a half-dozen men who could claim they invented the light bulb, which was actually a long process involving several breakthrough moments, not all of which were by one man alone. Read the steps involved in the invention of the light bulb at NeuroLogica blog. -via Damn Interesting

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Malaysian student Zackrydz Rodzi woke up late Saturday morning and couldn't find his phone. The family looked all over, and called the phone, but did not hear a ring. There was no sign of a break in.

Mr Zackrydz said he failed to find any trace of his phone until Sunday afternoon when his father noticed a monkey outside their house. On calling his phone again he heard ringing from the jungle a few steps beyond the back garden, he said, then discovered the muddied phone on some leaves beneath a palm tree.
His uncle joked that maybe there was a photo in the phone of the thief, he said, so after cleaning it he opened the picture gallery "and boom, it's full of monkey photos".

There was also a video, which showed a closeup of the monkey's wide-open mouth, indicating he tasted the phone. Where Zackrydz lives, there is no history of monkeys stealing items from homes, as there are in more urban areas. Read the story and see the video at BBC news. -via reddit

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Oh, did you think that jelly beans were made in factories? No, sir, they are grown--a completely natural product.

At least, that's what it looks like when you're examining a fine example of glass gem corn. NPR describes the creation of this colorful plant by Carl Schoen:

Schoen moved to New Mexico a few years later, planted the corn, and crossed it with Pueblo popcorn. Ears appeared with not only brilliant colors but a shiny, glasslike hue. Schoen felt it was more than a pretty plant. It was a piece of the past that had nearly been lost. He says corn is woven with human culture, but diverse traits bred by generations of farmers began to vanish when agriculture became big business. For Schoen, saving that heritage wasn't just about genetic variety: "it also has cultural memory, and that's a powerful force."

-via Twisted Sifter | Photo: lurkface

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You might not believe it, but urine used to be very valuable in Ancient Rome. A lot of people became rich for collecting urine that the Roman government decided to tax them. It might sound absurd and exaggerated, but it was big business at that time.

When it comes to poop, on the other hand, people in the past, from China and Japan, specifically, also had a different way of dealing with them. Back then, they didn’t have toilet papers at their disposal. Instead, they had hygiene sticks.

Know more about how we dealt with our biohazardous wastes throughout history over at Cracked.com.

(Image Credit: Prichardson/ Wikimedia Commons)

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It seems that astronomers have found some kind of gas in the atmosphere of our neighboring planet Venus. Apparently, this said gas could be a possible sign of life on the planet.

If the discovery holds up, and if no other explanations for the gas are found, then the hellish planet next door could be the first to yield signs of extraterrestrial life — though those are very big ifs.

“We’re not saying it’s life,” says astronomer Jane Greaves of Cardiff University in Wales. “We’re saying it’s a possible sign of life.”

[...]

Phosphine takes a fair amount of energy to create and is easily destroyed by sunlight or sulfuric acid, which is found in Venus’ atmosphere. So if the gas was produced a long time ago, it shouldn’t still be detectable. “There has to be a source,” Greaves says.

More details about this over at Science News.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ Wikimedia Commons)

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Hey, give those back! 🙃
— OnePlus USA (@OnePlus_USA) September 14, 2020

The US Customs and Border Patrol announced that they had intercepted a shipment of counterfeit Apple AirPods from Hong Kong.

On August 31, CBP officers seized 2,000 counterfeit Apple Airpod Earbuds from Hong Kong destined for Nevada at an air cargo facility located at John F. Kennedy International Airport. If the merchandise were genuine, the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) would have been $398,000.

“CBP Officers are protecting the American public from various dangers on a daily basis,” said Troy Miller, Director of CBP’s New York Field Operations. “The interception of these counterfeit earbuds is a direct reflection of the vigilance and commitment to mission success by our CBP Officers daily.”

However, it is clear from the pictures they posted that these are OnePlus Buds. They are even labeled as OnePlus, and there is no attempt on the package to claim they are any kind of Apple product. OnePlus sells wireless ear buds at around half the price of AirPods, and they have a different shape. See a comparison of the two brands at Geekologie. Many people responded to the announcement to let CBP know it made a mistake, but the agency is not backing down.

“Upon examining the shipment in question, a CBP import specialist determined that the subject earbuds appeared to violate Apple’s configuration trademark. Apple has configuration trademarks on their brand of earbuds, and has recorded those trademarks with CBP,” the spokesperson said. Configuration trademarks cover the general appearance of a product, if you were wondering. “Based on that determination, CBP officers at JFK Airport have seized the shipment under 19 USC 1526 (e).”

OnePlus introduced its wireless earbuds on June 24th, and Apple has made no attempt to claim intellectual property rights under their trademark.

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When these people decided to take a timed photo on their hike, they were not expecting that Mother Nature would join their photo op. Just as the phone snapped a photo of them, a leaf fell down in front of it, covering their faces.

Well, what do you think?

(Image Credit: u/ BringBowlCutBack/ Reddit)

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In Panama, some 200 critically endangered golden frogs are living inside fish tanks at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). The reason they’re living inside a controlled environment is a superfungus that threatens to wipe them from the face of the earth. The said superfungus has driven some 30 species into extinction.

Believed extinct in the wild, only about 1,500 of the tiny Panamanian golden frogs are found in zoos where they can reproduce.

But the golden frogs are not the only ones threatened by the superfungus. Other amphibians, like the toads, salamanders, and caecilians, are threatened as well.