So, you probably've seen the ad or trailer for Brendan Fraser's new movie based on Jules Verne's classic sci-fi novel "Journey to the Center of the Earth."
Looks like it's going to be a neat movie, but what exactly did they find at the center of the earth? the crack parody team Black20 has the answer: Link [embedded BuzzCuts video] - Thanks kid_icarus!
When Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch learned that he only had months to live, he turned his last lecture in September 2007 into a lesson on life. The lecture, titled Really Achieving Your Childhood Dream, became an Internet sensation. It was viewed over 3.4 million times on YouTube
Randy Pausch died of pancreatic cancer today. He was 47.
In his honor, let's take another look at Randy Pausch's last lecture, where he talked about life lessons he learned and gave advice to students on how to overcome obstacles and achieve their own goals:
Previously on Neatorama: The Last Lecture
That is the m-ch or micro compact home, a 2.6m cube lightweight compact house designed for one person or an agoraphobic couple. Its inventor, Prof. Richard Horden, wrote:
The micro compact home [m-ch] is a lightweight compact dwelling for one or two people. Its compact dimensions of 2.6m cube adapt it to a variety of sites and circumstances, and its functioning spaces of sleeping, working / dining, cooking and hygiene make it suitable for everyday use.
And if you think that no one could live in one of those little cubes, they actually have constructed a "study village" populated by students of TU Munich (makes sense, they're students - my first college apartment was no bigger than that!). They're not cheap though - they cost about EUR 25,000 to 34,000 each!
You've got to be a) really hungry or b) don't mind sharing food with your friends to dine at this soup bowl table!
"Fruchtsuppe" soup bowl/table is designed by Professor Alexa Lixfeld and students from the HfbK-Hamburg. No words whether they've designed a dishwasher big enough to accommodate the giant bowl: Link
Photo: Hans Tan
Some artists make cute little felted things - but not French designer Lise Lefebvre: for her art thesis project, titled "The aesthetics of domestic sound," she created a series of "acoustical skin" - basically covers for household appliances and tools to muffle the sound!
Link [Flash, click on the last projects] - via Andreaxmas
Turn that nasty scar from your childhood appendectomy into something way cooler, like a bear attack or something. Spin your own tale of machismo with (temporary) Tattoos for Heroes by Miss Geschick & Lady Lapsus.
Link - via Guerilla Innovation
Remember the Mattel Hoverboard used by Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox) in Back to the Future Part II and III? The movie prop is being auctioned off on eBay:
This is one of the hero Mattel Hoverboards used by Michael J. Fox in his most famous role as “Marty McFly” in the Robert Zemeckis classic 80s trilogy, Back to the Future. Two styles of Hoverboard were made for and employed in the film – lightweight boards of styrofoam construction and thick and durable wood-based props – this example is the latter, and is recognized as the best example of all wood Hoverboards to have survived the rigors of filming. The illusion of Michael J. Fox as “Marty McFly” hovering through the air was achieved with practical effects, with actors in rigged harnesses being “flown” via cranes, with special effects taking care of the rest.
Minimum bid? $30,000 - movie nostalgia doesn't come cheap, my friends: http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/957-Michael-J-Fox-hoverboard-Back-to-the-Future-II_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ52933QQihZ014QQitemZ330248749614QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW# - Thanks Mickey!
Logo Design Love blog has a pretty neat article about logos that look almost identical to each other. Is it stealing or just similar artistic influence? You be the judge: Link - Thanks Janeil Guters!
Mental_floss blog has the interesting story behind the NBC/Nebraska ETV Network logo fuss: http://www.mentalfloss.com/trivia/facts/archives/291
Neatorama reader Marcus JB sent us this clip of Ziggy, the dancing street cleaner in his neighborhood of Chiswick, UK. Mirror.co.uk has the story:
Zbigniew Colbecki, or Ziggy as he’s known to friends, has attracted thousands of viewers on YouTube as he twists and turns while twirling his litter stick as he collects rubbish in Chiswick, west London. [...]
The 47-year-old, who moved to London from Poland three years ago, said his dance routine made the job more fun.
The former circus juggler, who dances to more than 1,500 songs on his iPod during his shift, said: "I am used to performing and I get a great reaction from people in Chiswick.
Links: Mirror article | YouTube Link - Thanks Marcus!
Apparently, fish pedicures (having fish nibble dead skin off your feet) are all the rage in beauty treatment:
Customer Patsy Fisher, 42, of Crofton, Maryland, admitted she was nervous as she prepared for her first fish pedicure. But her apprehension dissolved into laughter after she put her feet in the tank and the fish swarmed to her toes.
"It's a little ticklish, actually," she said.
Ho said the hot water in which the fish thrive doesn't support much plant or aquatic life, so they learned to feed on whatever food sources were available -- including dead, flaking skin. They leave live skin alone because, without teeth, they can't bite it off.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/homestyle/07/21/fish.pedicure.ap/index.html - via Cute Overload, thanks zazie!
We've featured quite a bit of wedding stuff on Neatorama, but never this: a wedding at a Waffle House!
The lucky couple, George "Bubba" Mathis and Pamela Christian - both 23 and employees at the Dacula diner located at the Ga. Highway 316/U.S. Highway 29 interchange - wouldn't have it any other way.
"I don't know, it's something different," Mathis said while fixing his tie prior to the ceremony.
For years, the couple tried to marry on their Independence Day anniversary. But the bride was always scheduled to work. Instead of waiting any longer - she got the day off at the last minute; Mathis had to report for the morning shift - the couple of nine years decided to seal the deal at work.
The result was what a NASCAR tailgate might be like if Hank Jr. himself stopped by with all his rowdy friends: Loud and proud - country music, storytelling and plenty of Dale Earnhardt paraphernalia - and not an iota of pretentiousness.
Congrats to the newlyweds! Link | Don't miss the Photo Gallery - via reddit
It's easy, and politically correct, to attribute the "racial achievement gap" separating Asians and whites students from Latinos and blacks ones to socioeconomic status and class size.
But Asian and Latino students in the same socioeconomic boat (say, those who recently immigrated from Vietnam and Mexico) get very different grades in school - so what's the reason?
In this interesting article in the Los Angeles Times by Hector Becerra, students from the Lincoln High School discussed the issue still considered taboo by many:
Both the neighborhood and student body are about 15% Asian. And yet Asians make up 50% of students taking Advanced Placement classes. Staffers can't remember the last time a Latino was valedictorian.
"A lot of my friends say the achievement gap is directly attributable to the socioeconomic status of students, and that is not completely accurate," O'Connell said. "It is more than that."
But what is it? O'Connell called a summit in Sacramento that drew 4,000 educators, policymakers and experts to tackle the issue. Some teachers stomped out in frustration and anger.
No Lincoln students stomped out of their discussion. Neither did any teachers in a similar Lincoln meeting. But the observations were frank, and they clearly made some uncomfortable.
To begin with, the eight students agreed on a few generalities: Latino and Asian students came mostly from poor and working-class families.
According to a study of census data, 84% of the Asian and Latino families in the neighborhoods around Lincoln High have median annual household incomes below $50,000. And yet the Science Bowl team is 90% Asian, as is the Academic Decathlon team.
(Photo: Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)
If you think the American economy is bad, take heart that it's nowhere near the ultra-super-hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, once one of the richest countries in Africa. The country's central bank has recently issued a Z$100 billion note (yes, Z$100,000,000,000).
So, what would a Z$100 billion note buy you? About two loaves of bread (it won't even get you lunch - you'd need at least Z$250 billion for lunch).
So far this year, the country ravaged by hyperinflation has been forced to print 100-million, 250-million and 500-million notes in rapid succession. All of them are now almost worthless.
It has become common now for Zimbabweans to talk of their daily expenses in trillions (one trillion is 12 zeros).
When John Robertson pinned a chart to the wall of office naming numbers up to twice as long, he says he "raised a bit of a laugh" from his colleagues.
But for many officials and accountants, a quadrillion - a million billion - is the number of the day.
Previously on Neatorama: The Zimbabwean Crisis
People are confused how a Chinese couple managed to run a busy restaurant 21 hours a day without getting tired. Turns out the restaurant is run by two couples ... both the men and women are identical twins!
Locals had nicknamed the eatery the “robot couple restaurant” as they couldn’t understand how the same couple seemed to be on duty from 6am through to 3am. However, a journalist from Today Morning Post interviewed the restaurant owner and found out the truth. It turned out that the twin brothers, 32, married a set of twin sisters from the same township three years ago and moved to Yiwu to run the restaurant together. “Many diners thought we worked too hard and are like robots, but they don’t know that we are actually four people,” said Mao Zhanghua, 32, the elder brother.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C07%5C23%5Cstory_23-7-2008_pg9_7
