Here's another excellent piece from GOOD Magazine: a historical survey of the US economy, focusing on GDP, the amount of US national debt, boom/bust cycle, inflation, and the stock market (to the point before the crash).
Link - via Think.BigChief
Previously on Neatorama: 10 American Financial Meltdowns in the Past Century | The $700 Billion Shirt
VH1's Best Week Ever blog has compiled a list of the craziest bikes ever. One of them is the boombox bike shown above, which also happened to be the subject of Nicholas Randall and Joe Stevens' documentary Made in Queens.
What do you get when you cross a hamster ball with a roller coaster, super size it so humans can go in? And if that's not enough, let's give it motors so you can drive it ... Behold, the Buzzball:
At the heart of the Buzzball is a dual motor configuration, enabling the pilot to control the motion and direction of travel via left and right control triggers, which provides power to the driving wheels. [...]
Once the Buzzball is in motion the pod maintains an upright position until the pilot turns, causing the pod to rotate inside the ball against the direction of travel, which applies a braking force and the pod to lock with the ball. This causes the pod to rotate with the ball until the weight of the pilot and pod overcomes the inertia forces and causes the Buzzball to change direction.
This is when the fun starts, as the speed will affect the degree of rotation of the pilot and pod from a partial barrel roll to complete and multiple rotations!
Link (with video of the Buzzball in action!) | Buzzball website
When Wayne Forrester saw that his wife Emma changed her Facebook profile to "single" just days after he moved out after a fight, he got so angry that he stabbed her to death!
The day before the murder, he called her parents and complained about his wife's Facebook entry which he said "made her look like a fool", the court heard.
In a statement to police Forrester said: "Emma and I had just split up. She forced me out. She then posted messages on an internet website telling everyone she had left me and was looking to meet other men.
"I loved Emma and felt totally devastated and humiliated about what she had done to me."
In a victim impact statement, Mrs Forrester's sister Liza Rothery said the murder had had a "devastating" impact on her and parents Frances and Robert. Miss Rothery added: "What on earth could Emma have done to result in such a brutal, callous attack on a defenceless woman?"
With the real estate market went bust, Bill and Sharon Kastrinos decided to downsize their home ... into a size of a small shed!
Now, they live in a place so small, he and his wife use a ladder to climb into their bed every night. The downstairs has a sitting area, tiny kitchen and bathroom in a space that's 98 square feet. The upstairs loft has a bed in 56 square feet of space. They keep extra clothes in their car.
"It's a very simple lifestyle," he says. "The downside of it is it takes a readjustment. You can't have 100 pairs of shoes in the closet or 50 outfits."
The upside?
The house cost them $15,000, and the utilities are a mere $15 a month. The couple now live on property owned by their daughter in California wine country, where the average home in 2007 cost $725,000. If they want to leave, the home has wheels and can be pulled behind their vehicle and plugged into any RV park in the nation.
This is pretty neat: a product from Google Labs called In Quotes, which allows you to see what the US presidental candidates and other politicians said what about hot issues like health care, the environment, the economy and so forth, as quoted from news sources.
http://labs.google.com/inquotes/ - via swissmiss
If you hurry, you can wear something truly horrifying this Halloween. Here's the T-shirt that will make any grown man quake in his boots: The Taxman Cometh - $9.95
Landing gear stuck? Not a problem for this pilot - This emergency airplane landing is as flawless as it gets! Hit play or go to %3Cobject%20width=%22425%22%20height=%22344%22%3E%3Cparam%20name=%22movie%22%20value=%22//www.youtube.com/v/s9zXweJ4O3s&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1%22%3E%3C/param%3E%3Cparam%20name=%22allowFullScreen%22%20value=%22true%22%3E%3C/param%3E%3Cembed%20src=%22//www.youtube.com/v/s9zXweJ4O3s&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1%22%20type=%22application/x-shockwave-flash%22%20allowfullscreen=%22true%22%20width=%22425%22%20height=%22344%22%3E%3C/embed%3E%3C/object%3E [YouTube] - via I Am Bored
There's an eCard for every occasion, including for telling your partners that they may just be infected with STDs ...
Madison Park of CNN has the story:
Breaking up over e-mail is a social no-no. But sending an e-card telling someone to get tested for STDs may be a public health courtesy.
Since 2004, a free Web site, inSpot.org has allowed users to anonymously notify their partners to get tested for STDs such as HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis.
It may not be the most personal way of delivering the news, but researchers say it beats not saying anything at all.
"When you weigh the importance of getting people notified, that's ultimately what needs to be done," said Jeffrey D. Klausner, director of STD Prevention and Control Services in San Francisco, California's Department of Public Health. "By notifying them -- even if it's done anonymously, even distantly, even with an e-card -- the benefits of getting someone diagnosed and treated outweigh the concerns of insensitivity."
Link: Article at CNN | inSpot Website
Framingham State College did something unusual in its effort to raise funds from its alumni - instead of a nicely worded letter begging for money, it sent a "blah, blah, blah" letter!
"Today, the fact of the matter is that deserving students need help to finance their education. Blah, blah, blah, blah blah," the letter said.
"I just think it's unprofessional. It's a poor representation of what we stand for. We pride ourselves on our image, and it failed," said Student Government President Steve Whittemore.
So how successful was the letter? About 6,000 students were solicited. Several dozen responded, and $2,000 was collected.
Link - Thanks Tiffany!
Photo: Chloe Erlich
Clayton Dwyer is bummed. Really bummed. He woke up one morning to find that his car had been eaten by savage dogs!
Clayton Dwyer, 47, of Millner, thought his girlfriend was kidding when she woke him up and told him his work ute had been gnawed by a pack of savage dogs. But when he walked outside his Beetson Place home he discovered this was no joke.
His front bumper had been ripped from the car and chewed to bits by the dogs. They had even tried to munch on the front panels.
"You can see the teeth marks," he said.
Asked what he thought when he first saw the damage, Mr Dwyer said: "Doggone it! That's a bit ruff."
This unusually shaped Calamente fork has a sharp metallic "thumb" at its base designed for ... better spaghetti twirling! Either that or its a disguised dinner weapon of some sort.
http://yumepro.net/caramete.html - via BB Gadgets
Having trouble with your rebellious teenage kid? Maybe discipline and punishments don't work, but according to this one mom, cigarettes work wonders:
Teenager Sam Holt's behaviour would leave most parents in despair - drinking, smoking, taking drugs and having sex. But the 13-year-old's mother thinks it is 'sweet' rather than shocking.
Tracy Holt even rewards her daughter with cigarettes on the rare occasions when she does behave.
Miss Holt, 43, knows Sam drinks but is just relieved that it's not more than a couple of cans of lager a night. And she decided not to get angry about her daughter losing her virginity at 12, instead insisting that Sam uses contraception.
Miss Holt, a jobless single mother with two other adult children, told Closer magazine: 'I don't see the point in punishing her. If I ground her, I'm just punishing myself because I have to put up with her in the house. Instead, I reward her good behaviour by giving her cigarettes. If she's bad, she goes without. She's a little comedian. I let her get away with a lot of cheek. It's sweet.'
I'm guessing that she's probably not in the running for "Mom of the Year" Award: Link
Pieke Bergmans created a series of LED lamps titled "Light Blub," poking fun at the incandescent light bulb:
And what exactly is a light blub? "The answer is simple," says the young Dutch designer. "It is a light bulb that has gone way out of line. Infected by the dreaded Design Virus, these Blubs have taken on all kinds of forms and sizes you wouldn't expect from such well behaving and reliable little products."
Link | See how the light blubs are made at Pieke's website
Shaun Suhoski of Gardner, Massachusetts, is a single dad - and like a growing number of the 92 million single people in the United States - he likes it that way:
With the number of singles approaching nearly half the adult U.S. population, the single lifestyle is accepted more today than ever before, said Beatrice N. Niemi, executive director of the Center for Well Being in Fitchburg.
Ms. Niemi, who is also a relationship counselor, said the culture itself has changed. “It is more accepted in our culture now than it once was. Once upon a time, people found it harder to be happy if they were unmarried.”
With more ways to access people through the Internet, it is easier for single people to meet other people and stay connected, she said. Many people form relationships and bonds through e-mail.
“I think it is fundamentally a need we all have to connect with another human in some way, not just physically,” Ms. Niemi said. [...]
“Someday I would like to have a relationship again,” Mr. Suhoski said. “There are times when I could really use the support, and perhaps even the organizational skills, required for a better home life.”
On the other hand, the single lifestyle allows him to work late during the week and have personal freedom. “It’s a mixture. People always think the grass is greener when it comes to relationships,” he noted.
http://www.telegram.com/article/20081016/NEWS/810160738/1008/NEWS02
