I joke about renting a laundry-folding robot because seriously, who likes to fold laundry? As it turns out, I could probably find one to rent if I looked hard enough. I could also rent a tree, a goat, a wife(?!) or any of the 20 things listed in this handy infographic from The World's Biggests. http://www.worldsbiggests.com/2011/07/20-bizarre-things-you-can-rent.html

You've seen the cliche in romantic comedy (and to a lesser extent, drama) movies in which a brokenhearted woman takes a bath and cries or drinks or talks to her BFF on the phone, and as ridiculous as I always thought this was, science has uncovered an interesting benefit to soaking in the tub. Christie Nicholson at Scientific American reports:

Scientists analyzed the bathing habits of 51 people. And had them record how they felt before and after bathing. The researchers found that higher scores on a measure of chronic loneliness were associated with an increase in warmer baths or showers. In a separate study, to test the link between physical temperature and emotional state, scientists had subjects hold cold and hot packs and recorded levels of perceived loneliness. They confirmed the correlation between cold packs and high loneliness scores.

Then in another study the researchers had subjects recall a time when they were feeling excluded. This exercise made the subjects subsequently desire comforting social activities like hanging with friends. But this desire was reduced for those subjects who were asked to hold a warm pack.

The authors claim this association between warmth and security is innate, yet many are not aware of the link, at least when it comes to warm baths. In another study they found that subjects do not think of a frequent bather as a particularly lonely person. A little obsessive maybe, but not lonely.

Link | Image: Newscom

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The Shat may not want anyone to see this, but who cares? Here's Captain Kirk's pause- (and aside-) filled version of the Canadian National Anthem, in commemoration of his Lifetime Achievement Award from the Governor General. It's like being a knight, only different. Happy Canada Day again, northerly Neatoramanauts! You're fabulous.

http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2011/07/01/william-shatners-o-canada-of-the-day/

But I'm willing to excuse that, because this love letter penned by the basketball great in 1980 is just so sweet. Jordan's two-page note to his "dearest Laquette" sold at auction for $5,100.66; Letters of Note posted it in full this week with a transcript. The best part? "I am trying get down there a week from Feb. 14. If I do get the chance to come please have some activity for us to do together." He might not have been too terribly smooth, but at least his handwriting was nice. Link

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There comes a point in everyone's lives that you have to admit there are things you just can't do. I'm going out on a limb here to say that Melvin Roberts's un-doable thing is going outside, ever. Monday, the South Carolina man was attempting to cover his lawnmower as a shower moved in; he woke up in an ambulance after his neighbors found him unconscious on his lawn.

Roberts suffered burns and blisters on his legs and feet -- mild scrapes compared to the last strike, in 2007, which put him in a wheelchair for more than a year.

That bolt hit while he was outside covering up his chickens.

"I went to cover my chickens up, and I believe it was clear," he told the station. "But when I woke up, I was all bloody and burned and confused and had my little chickens lying with their feet up."

All the strikes have forced Roberts to quit his job as a heavy equipment operator. He said he will finally think twice before heading out in stormy weather.

"I ain't saying be afraid of it, but I'm going to have to learn to give it a little respect," he said.

The human lightning rod thinks that all the strikes might be cosmic punishment for being something of a heartbreaking chick magnet.

"I've been married five times and I've been hit by lightning five times," he said. "(My wife) says this is the sixth time. I'm not leaving my wife, so I'm going to have to try to do something different."

Link | Image: IRO/TV

If you prefer your sustenance in the spray-foam variety, you're in luck: Tango orange soda will be available in an aerosol spray can. No more dying of thirst while you put away the Reddi-wip in vain, thanks to Britvic. The Inbetweeners movie tie-in is called Turbo Tango, and it'll be on sale in the UK this summer for £1.60 ($2.57) for 375ml. (Dignity sold separately.)

Link | Image: Britvic

(Watch on PopSci)

There's always so much talk about apple pie and baseball near Independence Day, but I don't like either of those things. And having practically lived inside the Internet for the last few years, I can tell you that most people are more impressed with 1.) explosions, 2.) slow-motion video and 3.) pictures of cats. Two out of three ain't bad. This is from PopSci, where they blow things up for science. http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-06/celebrating-fourth-july-ultra-slow-motion

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Remember that "What Pi Sounds Like" video that went around in March? Well, Michael John Blake is at it again, just in time for Tau Day (6/28, get it? 6.28...? Yeesh, tough crowd.) Tau (?) equals 2? or 6.28.... For this video, Blake uses only the first 126 digits. If you like What Tau Sounds Like, you can download it here.

Keith Olwell and Elizabeth Kiehner are both New York-based ad execs who attended a TED Talk in 2008 revealing the economic sense of capuchin monkeys. The pair teamed up with Laurie Santos, the Yale University primatologist who gave the TED talk, to develop an experiment that tests the effects of advertising on monkeys. The solution? Branded capuchin food.

The objective, says Olwell, is to see if advertising can make brown capuchins change their behaviour. The team will create two brands of food – the team is considering making two colours of jello – specifically targeted at brown capuchins, one supported by an ad campaign and the other not.

How do you advertise to monkeys? Easy: create a billboard campaign that hangs outside the monkeys' enclosure.

"The foods will be novel to them and are equally delicious," Olwell says. Brand A will be advertised and brand B will not. After a period of exposure to the campaign, the monkeys will be offered a choice of both brands.

Santos plans to kick off the experimental campaign in the coming weeks. "If they tend toward one and not the other we'll be witnessing preference shifting due to our advertising," Olwell says.

But what kind of advertising might a capuchin--without language, pop culture, or an appreciation for human aesthetics--find appealing? The answer is simple, if wholly unrelated to the food in question:

One billboard shows a graphic shot of a female monkey with her genitals exposed, alongside the brand A logo. The other shows the alpha male of the capuchin troop associated with brand A.

Olwell expects brand A to be the capuchins' favoured product. "Monkeys have been shown in previous studies to really love photographs of alpha males and shots of genitals, and we think this will drive their purchasing habits."

Link | Image

It seems to be a universal truth that a thing reviled is also a thing revered, depending on location. While rats are an annoyance and a pest (as well as known harbingers of disease) in most of the world, they are sacred inhabitants of the Hindu temple of Karni Mata in India. Accidentally killing one of these holy rodents brings a hefty fine of replacing the rat with one made of gold, while having one skit over your feet is a blessing.

The story of Kari Mata, revered as an incarnation of the goddess Durga, the rats, and lots more pics of the temple are on The Ark in Space. Link

Image: owenstache

(YouTube link)

Step 1: Get in a boat somewhere near Spoon River.

Step 2: Wait.

Step 3: FREAK. OUT.

According to YouTuber boodhaman:

My brother, nephews and a friend go "fishing" down a small drainage ditch in the flooded Spoon River.
They counted 70+ 5-10lb. Asian Carp once they stopped the boat. The funniest part, is that Matthew, my youngest nephew, is curled up in the fetal position in the front of the boat the entire time, and you never see him! Also it is absolutely infinitely more hilarious when viewed in slow motion.

Asian Flying Carp are an invasive species that is currently wreaking havoc on Midwestern waterways. And as you can see, they're aggressive.

via Laughing Squid via ViralViralVideos

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Forty-eight years ago today, JFK gave one of the most moving speeches in international relations on record. Unfortunately, most people remember this as the "I am a jelly donut" speech due to an unfortunate misconception over the article ein, or the equivalent to a in English. It was the gaffe heard 'round the world, or so most think.

The term “ein Berliner” — when used as a noun — refers to a a jelly-filled, doughnut-like pastry Germans call “ein Pfannkuchen Berliner” or “ein Berliner” for short.

For this reason, Kennedy’s line “Ich bin ein Berliner” has been the source of much amusement and debate over the years.

However, my friend [who was in attendance for the speech] noted that, much more importantly, the people of West Berlin knew what Kennedy actually meant. They found his words “Ich bin ein Berliner” inspiring, not laughable.

You can see why by listening to or reading Kennedy’s entire speech.

It’s one of the most famous speeches in history. And, the crowd of more than 120,000 West Germans who were there on June 26, 1963 were cheering loudly, not laughing.

If you'd like to read more about the story or see a transcript of Kennedy's speech, check out This Day in Quotes. Link

[caption id="attachment_48384" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Damselfish, Chrysiptera cymatilis"][/caption]

It's always sort of fascinating to me when researchers travel somewhere and "discover" hundreds of new plants and fish--haven't people in those areas always known about them? I don't think it counts as discovery so much as an awareness on the part of documented science, but I guess there's not much distinction between the two on paper. That electric-blue damselfish up there is just one of the hundreds of new fish discovered in the last decade or so. And so pretty!

A new type of tree kangaroo, a 2.5-metre-long river shark, a frog with vampire-like fangs and a turquoise lizard are among hundreds of new creatures found and being documented in a report by conservationists working in the Pacific island of New Guinea.

Some 1,060 previously unknown species of mammals, fish and birds have been spotted in the volcanic island over a 10-year period.

The Final Frontier report, which was put together by WWF as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, marks a brief respite from the escalating rate of animal and plant extinctions which is taking its toll across the planet and has left a quarter of all known mammals on the endangered list.

The species have all been discovered, at a rate of two each week, in the period from 1998 to 2008 by the various teams and researchers who have visited the region and its extensive forests, waters and wetlands.

One team discovered a new bird, the wattled smoky honeyeater, within seconds of leaving their expedition helicopter.

Check out the pics and some stories about the more interesting finds on the Guardian. Link | Slideshow

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When is a table not a table? When it's a Strandbeest-inspired kinetic sculpture, of course. This table designed by William "Alex" Mecker is part clean-line modern and part Theo Jansen contraption. I like it.

The table is constructed of 298 pieces of laser cut Baltic Birch plywood, oak dowels, rubber “o” rings, and conduit that are set into an elegant & complex wave motion with a turn of the hand crank. The clear glass top makes for the perfect window to view the inner workings & measures at 50?x30?, offering plenty of usable space.

For more pics, check out Yanko Design. Link

via Laughing Squid

Sculptor Cha Jong-Rye carves every piece of her woodworked landscapes by hand, ensuring they fit together perfectly to create finished pieces that look like crumpled fabric, alien mountain ranges, or topographic swirls of tiny spheres. I don't even know how to calculate how long one of these might take to produce. See lots more of Cha Jong-Rye's sculptures on Flavorwire. Link