Photo: Heather McDougal's daughter

Taking a photo of someone "holding up" the Leaning Tower of Pisa is like a tourist's rite-of-passage. If the angle is right, then the silly pose makes sense. But if the angle is wrong ... the photo comes out even better!

Heather McDougal of Cabinet of Wonder has the story:

In Pisa my elder daughter became fascinated by all the people taking pictures of their friends holding up the leaning tower, or pushing it over - it is never easy to tell from the wrong angle. At times there were four or five people in a row all holding their hands up - which, when taken out of context, looked like some kind of mass-hallucination tai chi class.

She asked me for her camera and disappeared for a half hour, and then came back with these, which I think vie with many of the conceptual art pieces in the Whitney Museum. I found them hilarious and strangely compelling.

Link - via 11111001111

Dear Neatoramans: my trusty old gas grill has been having some trouble lately, so I'm mulling the decision to get another one to replace it. Should I go with gas and be better for the sake of the environment? Or go with flavor and buy a charcoal grill?

So. I've got a question for you: What do you prefer, a gas or a charcoal grill? And why?

A face only a mother (bug) could love ... Dark Roasted Blend blog has an interesting post about the ugly (and scary) faces of bugs and other little critters: Link

I'm mesmerized by this video clip of Angie Chung drawing ... with both of her hands at the same time!

Hit play or go to link [YouTube] | See Blue Tea blog for more "Performance Drawing"

It must be a conspiracy: for the fifth time in the last 35 years, Americans will elect a lefty to the White House. No, not necessarily a Leftist liberal - rather, a southpaw:

Both major party candidates are southpaws, contributing to a largely unexplained phenomenon that has vexed researchers and historians — and drawn notice from a federal judge destined for the Supreme Court. Though left-handers comprise just 10% of the population, they are dominating presidential politics.

Their recent success transcends ideology. Since 1974, presidents Ford, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton have all favored their left hands, while President Carter and the current President Bush are righties. The trait is also not exclusive to winning candidates: Vice President Gore is left-handed, as are past presidential contenders Robert Dole, John Edwards, Bill Bradley, and Ross Perot. A prominent New Yorker who flirted with a White House bid, Mayor Bloomberg, is a lefty.

Link - via Gerry Canavan

By Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Photo: Walker Art Center

The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota is celebrating its 20th anniversary of its Sculpture Garden (with the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture). Most Twin Cities residents are so familiar with the Spoonbridge that they rarely discuss it as art - but is it art?

City Pages blog invited Peter Eleey, a curator at the Walker Art Center, to talk about the giant spoon and cherry: Link

Leave it to the Italians to set priorities straight: for the 6 million Euros DEXMART robot project, which focuses on the development of robotic hands, a Naples University team created ... a coffee-making robot!

The robot, named justine, is the first result of an 6.3-million-euroEU project called DEXMART , led by naples university professor Bruno Siciliano . Justine's arms and hands are precise enough to duplicate some of the movements of human hands. in particular, Justine can make instant coffee. 'The problem of using two hands together, the way humans do when the pick up a heavy plant pot, is a particularly sticky one. At present robots can use a single arm with reasonable accuracy and flexibility. But until now they have fallen short of the technological complexity and artificial intelligence needed for a two-handed approach. We want to develop a system of two-handed manipulation, equipped with sensors that make the robot conscious of its surroundings and the people in its working space', Siciliano said.

Designboom has more pics and a video clip: Link - via Collision Detection

For her art installation "Sunny Day," Aleksandra Stratimirovic poured colored liquids into 4,464 small medical glass vials set in front of a fluorescent backlight to create the 2 m by 3 m (~6 1/2 by 10 ft) image!

Link: Aleksandra's website | More pic at Dezeen blog - via Daily Jive

Last year, paleontologist Loic Costeur and colleagues discovered a strange set of fossilized footprints that suggest that dinosaurs can swim:

The underwater trackway, which is well-preserved in sandstone, is made up of 12 consecutive prints each consisting of two to three scratch marks.

"The footprints are really peculiar in their shape and morphology - they are not at all like walking footprints," Dr Costeur told the BBC News website. "In walking footprints, you can recognise the shape of the foot; but here it is not at all the case: it is sets of grooves on the sediment surface. "You get the idea that the animals' body was supported by water as it was scratching the sediment."

Ripple marks around the track suggested the dinosaur was swimming against a current, attempting to keep a straight path, the team said. Further investigation of the well-preserved track revealed more about the beast's swimming style. "The dinosaur swam with alternating movements of the two hind limbs: a pelvic paddle swimming motion," said Dr Costeur.

Link - via dm

Previously on Neatorama: Strangest Dinosaur Names

I'm in awe with Dan Mumford's amazing artwork - he managed to turn colorful lines (noodles, I think!) into fantastic images. This one above is a CD cover art for Gallow's In the Belly of a Shark single. http://www.dan-mumford.com/blog/index.php?id=38

Eric Sanderson, a landscape ecologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, is mapping the island of Manhattan (or Mannahatta, as it was called by the Lenape Indians who inhabited it) in 1609, before the arrival of the Europeans.

Links: Mapping Mannahatta slideshow at The New Yorker | WCS website's project page - via Incoming Signals

If you like to talk on your cell phone, then you have Marty Cooper to thank for it - he's the father of the mobile phone:

Cooper filed a patent for the 'radio telephone system' in 1973, while working at Motorola, and was the first person to make a call on a portable cell phone. (He called a rival engineer at Bell Labs.) Cooper has stated that his inspiration came from watching Star Trek's Captain Kirk talk on his communicator device. Today, Cooper is the CEO and founder of ArrayComm.

For more "fathers of technology," check out this slideshow from NetworkWorld: Link - via AQFL

Hans Bleken Rud of Norway's NorthernLighting designed this pendant lamp, made to look like a giant incandescent light bulb that has just exploded!

Link [Flash, click on Products, then Scheisse]

Got a table? Any table? Never mind its shape or size - you can turn any table into a ping pong table with this ingenius tablecloth and net. It's an art project by Tithi Kutchamuch and Luka Stepan. Link

Los Angeles policemen found a secret homeless encampment under an overpass 30 feet off above the street. Someone had been living there for a year and half - and accumulated quite a bit of stuff (the police and firemen couldn't bring down a sofa he's got up there!)

Super Punch as the video clip: Link | Story at LA Observed