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") |
|
Qui-Gon, Worst Jedi Ever? After watching the clip, I must agree: Link |
|
World's BEST Fan-Made Music Video Watch it and weep: Link |
|
When Lightnings Strike! Do yourself a favor, skip the stupid intro and fast foward to 1:00: Link (strong language) |
|
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. |
|
| 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!
Talking about gadgets, our pal WebUrbanist has a really nifty post about the evolution of geeky gadgets we all love, from cell phones to video games ...
(Don't miss the Zihotch telephone dial watch!)
Their fathers ruled nations with an iron fist - so what's an offspring to do? If you ever wonder what the descendants of dictators have been up to, check out this interesting post by our very own Stacy over at mental_floss:
1. Alessandra Mussolini, the daughter of Benito Mussolini’s son and his first wife, Anna Maria Scicolone (who also happened to be Sophia Loren’s sister). Alessandra has been all over the place – she’s been a Playboy model, an actress and a singer. The album was only released in Japan, though, and is apparently quite the collector’s item. She was also the leader of a right-wing political party and kicked the minister for equal opportunities on a talk show. It happens at about 43 seconds into the linked video, if you’re interested.
Link - via i met a possum
You see a woman being dragged down a deserted staircase in a subway station, fighting off a rapist and screaming for help - do you:
a) immediately run to help her, possibly at your peril
b) call the cops from the safety of your subway booth and consider it a job well done
Well, a New York judge has recently tossed out a lawsuit by the rape victim who claimed that two subway employees did nothing more to stop her rape than just calling the cops from the safety of their posts:
A conductor saw the rape from the window on his train, and a station agent in the booth witnessed a screaming woman being dragged down a staircase inside the desolate 21st Street station of the G line. But neither one left the safety of their assigned posts to help her. Instead, conductor Harmodio Cruz and agent John Koort called the command center to summon cops.
Justice Kevin Kerrigan ruled the two workers had taken "prompt and decisive action in obtaining police help," according to the decision handed down in Queens Supreme Court. The help came far too late for the victim, who was raped on the platform.
Her lawyer, Marc Albert, called Kerrigan's decision "offensive," saying it gives "blanket immunity" for transit workers to ignore straphangers in peril. "Simply pressing the button is enough," lamented Albert. "God forbid citizens are put in a position where municipal workers are not required to act and it leads to harm -- they are left out in the cold."
Link - via The Zeray Gazette
What do you think: was it cowardice or just being sensibe?
(Photo: Catherine Nance)
We've featured many unusual and geeky wedding cakes on Neatorama, but (excuse the pun) this one takes the cake! Behold the Stargate Wedding Cake:
Link - via Super PunchAbsolutely everything on the top display is hand made, including the wormhole connection which is hand painted icing. And apparently the gate is symbol correct as well.
You can't see them too well but the bottom tier has earth glyphs running all around the outside of the cake, and non gate related.. the roses on the bottom tier are also hand made and edible.
The Bruins game is over, but the entertainment doesn't stop! Check out the progress of this (blonde) lady going the wrong way on the escalator ...
Go, lady, go! Link [embedded YouTube clip]
