I must've been living in a cave, because I missed this '08 post by Bonnie Burton of Star Wars blog on how to make your very own cuddly Bantha (y'know, the furry elephant-like animals ridden by the Tusken Raiders)
http://www.starwars.com/kids/do/crafts/f20081124.html | One more Fan-made Bantha
Don't let my kids see this: London architect Alex Michaelis has slide next to his staircase! Laura Housley of Cookie Magazine has the story:
Not that there aren't plenty of kids' diversions elsewhere, including the climbing wall outside and the slide that runs alongside the staircase. "We tend to have a lot of the kids' friends around—they're here perhaps more than at some of the other parents' homes," Michaelis says, adding that even grown-ups can't resist skipping the stairs. "We've been known after a big dinner party to use the slide."
Color me envious: Link | Photo gallery of the house (Here's the slide) - via Bloesem Kids
Photo: junlego [Brickshelf]
We've posted about Spaceship Battleship Yamato in LEGO before on Neatorama, but as the old saying goes, the original is still the best: here's the namesake the battleship Yamato (also in LEGO) which sailed (and sank) during World War II.
The LEGO battleship Yamato was built by Jumpei Mitsui (who cleverly outsourced the building of some 200,000 elements to other LEGO fans). It only took him 6 (!) years: Link
Contrail is a fun little gadget developed by Studio Gelardi to let bicyclists "mark" their bike paths. As more an more bikers ride on the same path, the contrail lines get brighter. Ostensibly, they say that the gadget allows other bicyclists the path that is safe to ride on but I'm sure that a big part of the appeal is the sheer fun in making roads look like Skittles rainbow.
http://gelardi.com/portfolio/contrail/ - via Gadget Lab
Photo: Sean O'Connor / Freesolo Photography
Peter Beland of The Smithsonian Magazine has a fascinating look at Ascending The Giants, a unique "adventure group" led by arborists Brian French and Will Koomjian. The duo climbs the tallest trees to learn more about the wildlife that lives on the highest branches:
Up in the branches of this goliath, I felt the tree sway back and forth with the wind, an unsettling sensation. From the ground, the nine-foot-wide tree almost seemed sturdy enough to support the earth below it and not the other way around. But from my precarious vantage point in the canopy, I spied a forest floor littered with fallen giants.
“Oh, it’s at least 500 years old; it’s been through plenty of storms," said ATG co-founder Brian French, in an offhand attempt to both reassure and terrify me as we chatted 200 feet up in the tree. "Of course, I could be wrong.” We shot the breeze some more, and as the musk of ancient fir and moss wafted into my nostrils, I was reminded that this is a living organism.
Link | More at Ascending The Giants official website (including a really neat video clip!)
Previously on Neatorama: 10 Most Magnificent Trees in the World
There's a good reason that William Warren named his creation "Shelves for Life":
The shelves are CNC cut in oak veneered plywood to the customers measurements. They are intended to be used throughout life as storage for personal belongings. On death, the shelves are dismantled and rebuilt as a coffin.
Who says you can't take it with you when you die? Link - via core77
While we're still in the subject of sexy nerdery (is that a word? It should be!), here's a faux ad by Adam Green of two ladies fighting with lightsabers where they cut each other's clothes off.
No, no nudity (this is, Neatorama after all) but it does feature women in undies. Link [embedded YouTube clip]
"These aren't the girls you're looking for." Priceless!
Photo: Julian Wolkenstein
We've featured the artwork of photographer Julian Wolkenstein before on Neatorama, but I couldn't resist his latest artwork, a collaboration with hairstylist Acacio da Silva to turn horses into the supermodels of the equine world:
'Each horse took around four hours to groom, with hair extensions being added by Acacio,' he said.
'Then, when they were presented in front of the camera, they would shake their heads, give a neigh and then ruffle up their hair.
'To get them with their hair all set and standing to attention was a bit of a battle. But the horses loved the grooming.'
Ever sport has got its hardcore fan, and cycling is no different: it has Didi Senft, a 56-year-old cycling superfan better known as "El Diablo" (yes, he wears the devil's cape everywhere he goes).
Didi is quite famous in the cycling world; he has over 100 unusual and record-breaking bicycles. Deborah of Life in the Fast Lane has more on this guy:
Didi Senft has also built a recumbent double-decker tandem, and a giant rickshaw 42 feet (12.4 meters) long, on which the passenger sits at a dizzying height of 21 feet 10 inches (6.65 meters) above the ground.
Didi made the world’s largest soccerball bicycle out of more than 100 footballs and rode it around to promote the World Cup 2006 in Germany.
http://www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/worlds-weirdest-and-largest-bikes/offbeat-news
Why Canada Is So Dangerous Link (strong language) (From a comment on VideoSift, this appears to be from a 80s law enforcement training video "Surviving Edged Weapons") |
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Qui-Gon, Worst Jedi Ever? After watching the clip, I must agree: Link |
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World's BEST Fan-Made Music Video Watch it and weep: Link |
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When Lightnings Strike! Do yourself a favor, skip the stupid intro and fast foward to 1:00: Link (strong language) |
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Blanket-napper Dog Why, my wife does the same thing to me every night :) Link (quick, where's my slanket?) |
Gosh, is it April 9th already? Time certainly flies when you're having fun ... or in my case, busy working.
When we started the Upcoming Queue, we promised to reward - not penalize - its top users. The top 10 submitters for the Neatorama Upcoming Queue for March 2009 are getting free stuff (as a token of our thanks for participating). Since 4 people are tied for the last place, we decided to extend the list a bit.
So, if your names are listed above, you'll be getting an email from me about the free gift (it's a mystery, but I think you'll like it!).
Who will win for April 2009? Why not YOU? The field is wide open - if you'd like to give the Upcoming Queue a look see, please visit the FAQ and Submission Tips.
Photo by Senor McGuire
Neatorama reader Britt Savage (who's quite an excellent singer, you can check out her tracks at her MySpace page) sent us some pics of her first fashion creation: a dress made out of IRS tax forms!
Britt had her husband wrap her in duct tape then cut her out of it for the dress form. She then glued and taped the tax forms to make the dress.
Link - Thanks Britt, it looks like quite a "taxing" job!
The following is reprinted from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into History Again Smithsonian Castle in Washington Mall, in HDR by jculverhouse [Flickr] You haven't experienced American history until you've experienced the wonders of the Smithsonian Institution. Ironically, the Smithsonian came into being as a bequest to the United States by British scientist James Smithson, who had never visited the United States himself (while alive, anyhow - see below). Here's a glimpse of this All-American institution, courtesy of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader: 0 - Number of bag lunches you're allowed to take into the Smithsonian. Collectively, there are more than 20 sit-down restaurants among the Smithsonian museums, not counting outdoor courtyard grub. 2 - Percentage of the Smithsonian Institution's holdings on display at any given time. 3 - Number of one-cent stamps affixed to the first piece of mail flown across the Atlantic, which is housed in the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum. 4.5 - Millions of botanical specimens housed by the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History; this represents around 8 percent of all plants collected in the United States. 17 - Number of museums that make up the Smithsonian. Among others, these include the American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (Asian art), the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gallery (modern and contemporary art), and - whew! - the National Museum of Natural History. 24 - Number of 2004 Smithsonian visitors, in millions. 25 - The number, in thousands, of Africana books in the institution's Warren M. Robbins Library at the National Museum of African Art. 32 - The number of huge, metal buildings dedicated just to restoring and storing aircraft on display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and related centers. Smithsonian airplanes include the Enola Gay, the Wright 1903 Flyer, the Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis, the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, and the Concorde. 37.2 - Weight, in tons, of a section of Route 66 delivered to the Hall of Transportation in the National Museum of American History for a recent exhibit. 40 - Number, in thousands, of three-dimensional objects housed in the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, including Irish cut glass, Soviet porcelains, and Japanese sword fittings. The museum has more than 250,000 objects - drawings, prints, books, and textiles - all dedicated to the study of design. 45.52 - Number of carats in the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. It glows in the dark after exposure to UV rays and is semiconductive, too! If it truly belongs to the people of America to enjoy, Mrs. Uncle John wants to know when it'll be her turn to wear it out to dinner. 75 - Number of years after the institution's namesake, James Smithson, died that Smithsonian regent, Alexander Graham Bell, brought Smithson's body from his place of death in Italy to a tomb at the Smithsonian Institution. 100,000 - Amount of money, in British pound sterling, that James Smithson originally willed to the United States upon his death in 1826. This eventually became the financial start of the Smithsonian. 7,635,245 - That same willed amount adjusted to reflect 2002 U.S. dollars. 78,000,000 - Visitors that the website, www.smithsonian.org [now www.si.edu - Ed], hosted in 2004. 143,500,000 - Approximate number of objects, works of art, and specimens in the Smithsonian Institution. |
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| The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into History Again. The book is a compendium of entertaining information chock-full of facts on a plethora of history topics. Uncle John's first plunge into history was a smash hit - over half a million copies sold! And this sequel gives you more colorful characters, cultural milestones, historical hindsight, groundbreaking events, and scintillating sagas. Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. Check out their website here: Bathroom Reader Institute | |
What do you get when you combine taxidermy with gadget hacking? Instructables users noahw and canida released the step-by-step instruction on how to make your very own taxidermied computer mouse: Link - via Rue The Day!
