(Links open in a new browser window/tab)
Black Hole Destroying a Star Watch this amazing simulation: Link |
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Serenity Bar Fight Rehearsal |
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Peeing While Walking A comment on VideoSift by Pprt: "When urine a rush ..." Link (SFW, don't worry - you can't see nothin') |
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Star, the Smart Dog Here's a 5 min-long clip of the smartest puppy on the planet: Link |
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Ice Skating Polar Bear |
For more the web's most interesting videos, check out: VideoSift.
What will you get for $9.95?
Woohoo! It's time for Neatorama's much anticipated Mystery Sale. What will you get for $9.95? Well ... we won't tell you because that's the whole point! It's a mystery!
What we can tell you is this: you'll get something (or a combination of things) worth at least $9.95. It will be a physical product. It will be new and fun. If you buy more than one, you'll get different items.
We've listened to your feedback and have worked hard to make this Mystery Sale's item selection the best ever.
Like the last Mystery Sale, however, it's only for a limited time. So get yours today: Link Time's Up! Thank you for participating in the Mystery Sale, guys! If you miss this one, be sure to catch the next one ... and remember that the Mystery Sale is not announced beforehand, so visit the blog every day!
By popular request, here are the neatolicious fun facts for ... beer:
1. Beer is old stuff: Recipe found in 4,000-year-old Sumerian tablet
The first references to beer dates to as early as 6,000 BC. The very first recipe for beer is found on a 4,000-year-old Sumerian tablet containing the Hymn to Ninkasi, a prayer to the goddess of brewing. It tells how to brew beer from barley:
The filtering vat, which makes
a pleasant sound,
You place appropriately on [top of]
a large collector vat.
Ninkasi, the filtering vat,
which makes a pleasant sound,
You place appropriately on [top of]
a large collector vat.
If you're curious as to how the world's oldest beer tastes like, the Anchor Brewing Company produced a limited edition beer (under the Ninkasi label) based on the recipe.
2. Beer is not mentioned in the bible
Wine was mentioned - many times, but not beer. Instead, the Bible mentioned "strong drink," which some translated as fermented beverage made from grain (i.e. beer). (Source)
3. The Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock Because It
Ran Out of Beer
The Mayflower was supposed to sail to the mouth of the Hudson River, near
present-day New York City - but the Pilgrims decided to head to Plymouth
Bay because they were low on beer.
Colonists William Bradford and Edward Winslow wrote this first-hand account: "We could not now take time for further search or consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially our beer ..."
Why did the ship carry beer? It's because unlike water, beer don't go bad on long ocean voyages - but lest you think the shipmates were all plastered all the time, the type of beer they carried was "ship's beer," which wasn't very alcoholic. (Source: The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams - though consider this rebuttal by Bob Skilnik, author of Beer & Food: An American History)
4. World's Strongest Beer: Sam Adams Utopias MMII
The strongest beer in the world was the Sam Adams Utopias MMII, a limited-run (only 3,000 bottles were made) production by Boston Beer Co. It weighs in at 24 percent alcohol by volume in a mini, old-school, copper-brewing kettles. If you want to get one, be prepared to shell out at least $100.
For flavors, aroma and stability. Hop is the flower of the hop vine (a cousin of the hemp, actually).
Early beers didn't use hops - instead, they were flavored with wild rosemary, coriander, ginger, anise seed, juniper berries and even wood bark.
Hop was used as flavorings as early as 400 BC by captive Jews in Babylon, but historians think that the real reason it was used as additive was for its antiseptic properties. By adding hops, brewers didn't have to have high alcohol content to prevent spoilage. This meant less grains and therefore more profit. (Source)
6. Beer in a Bag
Photo: indy2kro
[Flickr] - not sure if this is the original photographer
Quick - how many different ways of transporting beer can you think of? Bottles, glass, cans and kegs? You've missed one: in China, you can buy beer in a plastic bag!
7. St. Arnold: Patron Saint of Brewing
In the 11th century, Arnold of Soissons, a bishop in the Benedictine St. Medard's Abbey in Soissons, France, began to brew beer.
He encouraged the locals to drink beer instead of water for its health benefits (beer was healthier than water mainly because it was boiled and thus sterilized from pathogens). No wonder they made him a saint!
8. How do you say Beer in Zulu?
Utshwala.
This website will help: here's how to say Beer in 78 Languages. Or if you want to order a beer in 50 languages.
9. "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" That's what Benjamin Franklin said, anyhow.
That was fun - but we barely scratched the potential with beer. Got any trivia about beer? Add them to the comment! And what should we do for "C" (no cats, mmmkay?)
Hello, everyone! I'd like to let you know that we have a few new ambigram T-shirts on the Neatorama Online Store. Usually ambigrams are rotationally symmetric - but these ones are reflectionally special - they spell a different message when seen on the mirror! These ambigrams were designed by ambigram artists extraordinaire Naguib and Fadilah of Nagfa blog.
This one above, modeled by the lovely Barbara, is the Clever/Stupid Ambigram - an updated take on the classic "I'm with Stupid" T-shirt.
Take a look at the rest of the designs: http://shop.neatorama.com/store.php?ambigram-tshirt-pg1-cid78.html
Just one more from the Neatorama Online Store for today, I promise! Here's an ice tray for your next cocktail party: the Gin & Titonic ice tray (get it?), which makes ice shaped like ocean liners and icebergs.
The clever ice tray is designed by Jason Amendolara of Amendolara Design for Fred & Friends.
http://shop.neatorama.com/store.php?kitchen-tablewares-pg1-cid74.html
If you like that, you'll love the Frozen Smiles Ice Tray, Fossiliced Dinosaur Ice Tray, and the Crime Scene Scarf
It's been a while since we ran our last Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt - but the wait's worth it, because Tokyoflash has just released a number of really cool watches.
For those of you who haven't played before, the game is an online treasure hunt where you can win a free Tokyoflash watch of your choice.
The rules are simple: we'll give you 3 questions, for example:
1. What color is the "O" pebble in the Neatorama logo?
2. How many posts are on Neatorama’s homepage? (in numbers)
3. What’s the first insulting word in Neatorama’s article 10 Insulting Words You Should Know?
The answers (black, 30, frenchify) separated with dashes make a URL on Neatorama: http://www.neatorama.com/black-30-frenchify (go ahead, copy and paste this URL in your browser's address bar)
Got that? Easy, right? So let's get started! Here are the Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt #8 questions:
Visit Tokyoflash, and Neatorama's Online Shop and Upcoming Queue to find the answers, then string 'em together to make the URL (all words are lower case, separated by dash). Follow the instruction you'll find there.
Hurry (this contest will end tomorrow - remember to check back to find if you've won) and good luck!
Congratulations! You've got the answers right!
You're just one step away from winning the prize: one lucky commenter, chosen at random, will win a free Tokyoflash watch of his or her choice. You can choose from any watches available for sale from Tokyoflash.
This contest is open to all registered users of Neatorama. Please login (if you don't have a Neatorama username, please register one - it's easy and fast!). Please write your choice of watch (and color) in the comment section below. One entry per person, please (or you'll be disqualified on this and future games).
If you like the T-shirt or any other product on the Neatorama online store, please buy one. Your purchase helps support the blog. And don't forget - you can still win by being a Top 10 Submitter at the Upcoming Queue!
Thank you for playing and good luck (just one more time).
Update 2/22/09 - We've picked a winner at random (using the algo at random.org). Congratulations to #134 bensnap who won!W00t! It's time for our collaboration with the ever-awesome What Is It? blog - this week's mystery object is this gun: can you tell us what it is for? (It has a very specific function)
Place your guess in the comment section - the first to guess correctly will get a Free Neatorama T-Shirt. If no one got it, then the funniest guess will win. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many times as you wish.
For more clues, check out the What is it? Blog - good luck!
Update 2/20/09 - The answer is A Rokuoh-Sha Type 89 machine gun camera, used to train Japanese aviators in aerial gunnery. The first guess that's specific enough was #15, by "Give the shirt to the funniest answer :)" So, per that request, the free shirt goes to: Melphistopheles for his guess of early colonoscopy device!Philipp Lenssen of Google Blogoscoped, Nikolai Kordulla and Dominik Schmid have just released a nifty new website called Sketchory. The site features over 250,000 sketches (cartoons, scribbles and other fascinating artwork) that you can copy, remix, embed, view as animation and so on.
The sketches use Creative Commons license, so you're free to use it even in commercial settings (say, create a book of sketches - with a maximum of 1,000 images).
Check it out: http://sketchory.com/ - Thanks Philipp!
'Scuse me while I pick up my jaw from the floor. That is a fully functional wooden Vespa, named "Vespa Daniela," made by Portuguese carpenter Carlos Alberto. Gawk here: Link - via Blog on a Toothpick
Okay, this is bad - but bad in a funny way. Mr Daz blog has created a sure-fire way of solving the age old problem at offices worldwide: how to get the perfect order of coffee for your officemates!
In a busy office environment it’s often better if one person makes a round of drinks for everyone, that way you don’t all leave your desk at the same time and the work flow isn’t interrupted too much. However, it’s difficult when making tea and coffee for five or more people when you have to do them all differently, sugar/no sugar, white/black, various degrees of milk. This is why I’ve come up with the Michael Jackson coffee scale. It’s simple and easy to understand, as everyone knows who Michael Jackson is, and what colour he was at different stages in his career.
For example, if you want a black coffee you ask for a 1968 Jacko, if you want it really milky you ask for a 2002 Jacko. If you like a splash of milk, you ask for a 1984 Jacko.
You can download the guide here: Link - via About:Blank
