Who says that you can't have beer for breakfast? Here's a new Budweiser product that will either have you abuzz with anticipation or shiver in disgust: beer + clamato!
(Apparently mixing beer and clamato is already a big thing for Latinos, especially those of Mexican descent)
Karl Merk, a German dairy farmer who lost both of his arms in an accident, underwent the world's first double arm transplant surgery several months ago (posted here on Neatorama).
Now, he has spoken out for the first time:
Karl Merk, a German dairy farmer whose arms had been amputated after an accident, said he felt like a "whole man" again as he spoke for the first time since the operation in July.
"The feeling is indescribable. Every day I gain more mobility," said Mr Merk as he showed off the arms, which are being supported by a special "corset" while the healing continues.
For her degree from the Glasgow School of Art, Harriet Russell decided to do a little postal experiment to find out exactly how far would the men and women at Royal Mail were willing to go to deliver mail:
To put them to the test she concealed the addresses of 130 letters to herself in a series of increasingly complex puzzles and ciphers. Among the disguises she employed were dot-to-dot drawings, anagrams and cartoons. The answer, it seems, was very far indeed. Amazingly, only 10 failed to complete their journey back to her.
The story is fascinating (complete with reference to how the private secretary to Queen Victoria also did this sort of thing): Link - via Laughing Squid
So, how good do you think you are at eyeballing things? Can you tell if you're looking at a right angle? How about finding the center of a circle? Seems easy, right? Well, maybe not.
Here's a fun little Flash game to test your skillz: Link
(My score is a paltry 5.35 - so I relatively suck at eyeballing).
Paul Wachter wrote an interesting article for The New York Times on the curious customs of tipping: how it came to be and why we tip (even if the service is bad).
Economists have struggled to explain tipping. Why tip at all, since the bill is presented at the end of a meal and can’t retroactively improve service? And certainly there’s no reason to tip at a restaurant you will never revisit. “Using a rational and selfish agent to explain tipping, one reaches the conclusion that the agent should never tip if he does not intend to visit the establishment again,” Ofer Azar, the economist, writes. “Yet this prediction is sharply violated in practice: most people tip even when they do not intend to ever come back.”
The single most important factor in determining the amount of a tip is the size of the bill. Diners generally tip the same percentage no matter the quality of the service and no matter the setting. They do so, Lynn says, largely because it’s expected and diners fear social disapproval. “It is embarrassing to have another person wait on you,” the psychologist Ernest Dichter told a magazine reporter in 1960. “The need to pay, psychologically, for the guilt involved in the unequal relationship is so strong that very few are able to ignore it.” Ego needs also play a part, especially when it comes to overtipping, according to the Israeli social psychologist Boas Shamir.
Photo: Jeff Minton / The New York Times
For a mere $60,000 (through Neiman Marcus - that alone explains the price), LEGO artist extraordinaire Nathan Sawaya will make a life-size replica of you ... in LEGO!
http://www.brickartist.com/large-sculptures/life-size-replicas.html - via J-Walk Blog
Previously on Neatorama: all things Nathan Sawaya
Photo: loonatic [Flickr]
Forget trading stocks, here's something that's far more interesting (though I'm not sure it's much safer ...)
Photo: Major Clanger [Flickr]
Here's a sound advice on the Beaverton Hillsdale Highway in Portland, Oregon. Someone probably learned that the hard (or squishy) way!
Photo: timtom.ch [Flickr]
Apparently, this is how the Swiss separate those who are smart from those who are too dumb to live in a fire!
In 2006, Jeffrey Brown published a book of gag comics called I Am Going To Be Small. Matt Forsythe of Drawn! blog was reading it on the train home and found this eerily prescient comic - via Drawn!
If your killer drink needs something a little extra, how about ice cubes shaped like frozen AK-47 bullets? Here's the Bullet Ice Tray (available on pre-order) at Find Me a Gift: Link - via Boing Boing Gadgets
I'm sure this is not new to some of you, but I've just learned that besides making pumpkin pie and those delicious roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin also makes a good ... canoe!
While most families place a candle or light bulb in their carved-out
pumpkins, J.R. Hildebrandt can fit a chair and small heater in his.The Wisconsin resident has carved a canoe out of a pumpkin and is taking the 760-pound gourd to the water where he plans to paddle 150 miles for charity.
Link (with video clip) - Thanks Tiffany!
Just because you're all into that fancy internet telephony and stuff, it doesn't mean that you can't enjoy it in a fully retro manner. Here's PAPPA*PHONE from Hulger: a solid walnut and brass phone that plugs directly into a Mac or a PC and works with all VoIP services (like Skype or GoogleTalk): http://www.hulgershop.com/view?product=pappa - via Detangle.us, thanks Marilyn!
Photos: Thank you very MUNCH!, Wish Bone, I Know I Forgot Something, and American Gothic, all by James Kuhn (hawhawjames)
I am in awe with James Kuhn. The Michigan artist (and self-described drag queen, former nudist, born again Christian, and average 46-year-old guy ... well, maybe not so average) has an unusual choice for art medium: his own face!
Check out the rest of his face paintings at his Flickr photosets (don't miss the Moving Pictures video set, particularly the Flintstones one)
Photo: squirmelia [Flickr]
Thank God that's just a sculpture, titled "Traffic Tree Light" by Pierre Vivant - found via popurls
