This Xenomorph, part of the H.R. Giger 2009 art exhibition in San Sebastian, Spain, is so awesome that the only way to be sure that we can keep humanity safe is to nuke it from orbit. Photo via Orange
Alex Santoso's Blog Posts
Lathyrus odoratus blueprint by Macoto Murayama
How would an engineer or an architect go about and design a flower? With blueprints, of course!
When he was studying at Miyagi University in Japan a few years ago, Macoto Murayama was inspired to combine the worlds of architecture and scientific illustration and apply computer illustration techniques to diagram flowers in great details.
Murayama carefully dissected flowers, removed their anatomical parts with a scalpel to the individual parts - the petals, anther, stigma and so on - under a magnifying glass, and then sketched and photographed them. He then recreated the flowers, part by part, using computer graphic software - in essence, he has created botanical blueprints for some of nature's most beautiful flowers.
Frantic Gallery in Tokyo has fantastic images from Murayama's 2011 exhibition, titled "Inorganic Flora." Check it out: Link
Blueprint of Sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus)
Despite its name, there usually isn't any actual washing involved in money laundry, so it's natural that Costa Rican investigators got suspicious of a new money laundering scheme which involves soap.
Lots and lots of soap:
The moment money launderers get lazy is the moment they get caught. Such is the case with two men who allegedly decided that transferring a lump sum of $9.7 million to buy 10 million bars of soap wouldn’t turn any heads.
Late Thursday, Costa Rican investigators raided the office (Spanish link) of Alvaro Moya, a Costa Rican lawyer, and the hotel room of Agustín Lyon, a Venezuelan national, to gather more evidence about the extent of their suspected money laundering scheme. Authorities were tipped off when a bank in Costa Rica flagged a bank account tied to Lyon’s name for suspicious activity.
Shortly after $9.7 million was deposited into Lyon’s account by government-owned Venezuelan companies for the purchase of 10 million bars of soap, nearly $6 million more flooded in. Because the extra cash came in without an explanatory receipt, and Lyon promptly withdrew $1.2 million of it, the bank froze the accounts.
Roberto A. Ferdman of QZ has the story: Link (Image: Snake Oil Soap from the NeatoShop)
When a courthouse in Bradford County, Florida, got a monument based on the Ten Commandments, American Atheists advocacy group sued to get it removed.
But during court-ordered mediation, all parties settled that the Ten Commandments monument could stay as long as the atheists get their own monument.
Yesterday, the atheists got just that: their own granite monument in shape of a bench with an accompanying pillar engraved with quotes:
The atheist monument includes quotes from Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, American Atheists founder Madalyn Murray O'Hair and others. One side of the pillar lists the biblical punishments for breaking the Ten Commandments, which often call for execution. [...]
It may be the first public monument to atheism in the nation, but it is only the first of many, said American Atheists President David Silverman.
Silverman announced during the unveiling ceremony Saturday afternoon that the organization will erect up to 50 more monuments across the country in public places where religious structures like the Ten Commandments marker in Starke have been established.
Morgan Watkins of the Gainesville Sun reports: Link (Image: Matt Stamey/The Gainesville Sun)
Photo: Charlotte Dewey/National Weather Service
If you live in the Western half of the United States, then you don't need me to tell you that it's been hot lately. When the latest hit wave brought triple-digit, "oven-like" temperatures to Phoenix, Arizona, meteorologist Charlotte Dewey took that as an opportunity to bake cookies ... inside her van:
Dewey and a fellow forecaster hunted down cookie pans, tin foil and a roll of store-bought chocolate chip cookie dough. On Saturday the desert city hit 119, breaking an all-time record for the day.
They decided to put the cookies in the windshield of a white 2008 Dodge van, the weather service station’s government-issued vehicle, chosen for its non-tinted windows. A second cookie pan was placed outside the car on the ground.
The forecasters didn’t have a thermometer. But one local news station taking heat measurements recorded car temperatures of 200 degrees, Dewey said.
A series of photos snapped every hour, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., showed the progression of the baking. At the end of four hours, nine crisp, well-done cookies were sitting in the windshield of the car.
The cookie tasted good, Dewey said. But you know what's even better? The station van still smelled like cookies days later!
Devin Kelly of The Los Angeles Times covered this yummy story: Link
Artist Odra Noel, who trained as a doctor, combines art and science in The Map of Health, where she draws the map of the world using the cellular structures of various human tissues (and how they relate to various diseases) to represent each continents. Link - via NewScientist
North America struggles with rising obesity, and this adipose tissue (fat) is more beautiful close up than you would imagine.
Europe, with its ageing population, suffers greatly from neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia (neurones, brain tissue).
Great swathes of the middle East and central Asia are shown here as cardiac muscle (heart), as these regions are afflicted with rising levels of hypertension and other causes of heart and cardiovascular failure.
The far East and the Pacific look beautiful in pancreatic acinar tissue; its failure causes diabetes, a major problem in this area, frequently described as a diabetes epidemic.
Central and South America are represented here by pulmonary tissue (lungs); smoking and respiratory infections are a leading cause of death.
And Africa is made of blood here. The only continent where the leading cause of death are transmittable diseases (infections), notably malaria and HIV.
The only artery of the whole map is in the middle of Amazonia.
Noel also cleverly hid 5 mitochondria in the map. See if you can find it at the larger pic over at her website: Link
Good Night Moon - Zoobies Storytime Pal
On sale over at the NeatoShop: Save 20% on all Zoobies merch. They're plush toy, soft pillow, and warm blanket rolled into one. They're the perfect accompaniment for reading your little ones their nighttime stories. Quantities are very limited: Link | More stuff on sale
| Curious George - Zoobies Storytime Pal | The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Zoobies Storytime Pal | Olivia - Zoobies Storytime Pal | Llama Llama Red Pajama - Zoobies Storytime Pal |
You've been eating dinner all your life, but chances are, you've been doing it wrong. But don't worry, Joanna Goddard and Gemma Correll are here to rescue you with this nifty guide to how to eat dinner when you're a guest at a dinner party:
If you're a guest at a dinner party (pictured above), wait to start eating until the host or hostess takes his or her first bite (unless they absolutely insist that you start).
Your wine and water glasses are to the RIGHT of your plate. Your bread plate is to the LEFT of your plate. If you remember that, you'll never drink someone's water or eat their bread again! (A genius tip from readers: To remember the order of the placesetting, think "BMW" -- for bread, then meal, then water.)
Surprisingly, salt and pepper should be passed together, even if someone asks only for one. They're considered "married!"
Read the rest over at A Cup of Jo: Link
Willy Wocka and the Muppet Factory by Kenny Durkin
Now over here, if you'll follow us, Kenny Durkin has something rather special. These neat shirts are almost as good as Wonka's three-course dinner gum. Printed in the United States - no Oompa Loompas, we promise.
Visit Kenny Durkin over at his official blog, then visit his NeatoShop page for more: Link
| The Wocka Wocka-ing Dead | TEETH | Prawn Solo | World of Friendship |
View more designs by Kenny Durkin | More Funny T-shirts
Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop, earn generous royalties, and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!
Congratulations to the winners of our latest Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt (here's the answer page). They were selected at random, using the algorithm over at Random.org:
| Run Zombies Are Coming won by Jeff Mercer | Zombie Bottle Opener won by Colin Madill | Unicorn Poop won by maloney1139 | Rogue Touch won by Patrick Skinner 1 |
Jeff Mercer, Colin Madill and maloney1139 won various neat-o items from the NeatoShop. The Grand Prize goes to Patrick Skinner 1 who chose the Rogue Touch (good choice!) watch from the good folks over at Tokyoflash. Give 'em a visit, wontcha?
We'd like to thank Tokyoflash for the neat prize. Thank you to all of you who played! If you didn't win, catch the next Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt or our other contests and giveaways.
Coming up soon: Choose Your Own Prize, exclusive to subscribers of NeatoMail (it's coming back, honest! We've just been a bit swamped lately), where you get to choose your own prize to win! So join NeatoMail today (you can unsubscribe at any time):
On Sale over at the NeatoShop: Zombie-riffic posters of Lord of the Rings and other zombie-fied movies by indie artist Matt Busch. Save up to 40% on items currently on sale! We've got limited stock, so hurry!
Links: Zombie Posters by Matt Busch | All Posters are On Sale | Zombie Shop
Photo: Daniel Gionnoni
Archaeologists have discovered something truly stunning, the first unlooted imperial tomb of the Wari, an ancient civilization in South America that existed between 700 and 1000 A.D. The tomb, located in modern day Peru, is filled with treasures, precious artefact and - cue the ominous music - human sacrifice:
Tomb robbers had long dumped rubble on the ridge. Digging through the rubble last September, Giersz and his team uncovered an ancient ceremonial room with a stone throne. Below this lay a large mysterious chamber sealed with 30 tons of loose stone fill. Giersz decided to keep digging. Inside the fill was a huge carved wooden mace. "It was a tomb marker," says Giersz, "and we knew then that we had the main mausoleum." [...]
As the archaeologists carefully removed the fill, they discovered rows of human bodies buried in a seated position and wrapped in poorly preserved textiles. Nearby, in three small side chambers, were the remains of three Wari queens and many of their prized possessions, including weaving tools made of gold. "So what were these first ladies doing at the imperial court? They were weaving cloth with gold instruments," says Makowski.
National Geographic Daily News has the scoop: Link
Photo: David Moore - more at David's gallery
In the 1991 Season 2, Episode 15 of The Simpsons, Homer came up with an idea for a new car he called "The Homer." Well, it took more than two decades for the engineers at Porcubimmer Motors to turn the idea into reality, but you can't rush a car that's "powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a Nerf ball."
Behold, The Homer:
Find out more over at The Homer's official website: Link - via Techland
Email This Post to a Friend