Add this to the pile of excuses why young people loathe to study math: they think that mathematicians are slovenly and unpopular with women!

The research suggested that most students and graduates associate a mathematician with an old middle-class white man who is obsessed by his science, devoid of most social skills and love life. Besides, their notion of mathematics is distorted and restricted to elementary arithmetic.

The researchers found that most stereotypes reflect the way mathematicians and mathematics are represented in mass culture.

“Given this narrow and negative stereotype of a mathematician, it’s no wonder that few youths want go on studying this subject,” said Mendick.

Link - via J-Walk Blog | By the way, the photo is of Russian math whiz and recluse Grigori Perelman who actually turned down the Fields Medal (the math equivalent of the Nobel Prize)

Bill Wheeler of Grab 'N' Go Espresso hit on a winning formula for competing against Starbucks: make the baristas as stimulating as the coffee!

Espresso drive-through stands with bikini- and lingerie-sporting baristas are popping up from Monroe to Edmonds. In the past year, at least six of these java joints employing provocatively dressed young women have opened in the county.

A few owners of these roadside stands say business is so brisk, they're hiring more employees and have plans to open new locations. "I brought a touch of Vegas back to Washington," said Bill Wheeler, who opened Grab 'N' Go Espresso on Highway 99 just south of Everett last year.

Wheeler says he aims to soon operate a dozen stands in Washington and Nevada, including one with male baristas in tight Speedos and bowties. Sometimes wearing little more than pasties and bikini bottoms, the scantily clad baristas at Wheeler's stands have scores of well-tipping customers.

Other businesses in the area aren't so thrilled at the "sexpresso" stand:

Some stands are trying to cash in on the backlash. They are displaying family-friendly signs and other messages including "We Make it Hot with our Tops On," "R-rated Coffee; PG-rated Girls" and "Known 4 Coffee Not Cleavage!"

And there's plenty of trash talking across the coffee divide. Sara Barnfather, 22, a barista with Stars and Stripes Espresso in Everett, said she's "proud to be classy, not trashy."

"If you like nipples and third-degree burns, go for it," she said. "But it's not my cup of tea."

David Chircop of Hearld Net did the uh, media coverage: Link - via

It. Doesn't. Get. Any. Better. Than. This. Behold, The Italian Spiderman, presented by Alrugo Entertainment. The film is supposed to be a recently discovered 1968 Italian action-adventure film, which was then deemed "un-vieweable" by Italian distributors and never released.

In reality, it's a hit no-budget student film by Flinders University students Dario Russo, Tate Wilson, Will Spartlis and David Ashby (Source) - Thanks Camillo Miller!

Here's the trailer:

[YouTube Link]

And the first webisode:

[YouTube Link]

I've just installed a pretty neat Random Redirect plug-in for Wordpress, written by the Wordpress guy himself Matt Mullenweg.

You can now get a random Neatorama post (out of 14,300 posts we have over the years - and counting) by clicking on the "Random" button in the right-hand navigation bar.

(L) by Gisli Ari Hafsteinsson (R) by Caroline Backx

How could we have missed this? The Dutch Coiffure Award 2008 was just completed and the gallery of the winning designs are up. There are designs for men and women, but this is the one I like the best: the avant-garde section!

Link | Gallery | Avant-Garde Section - via Ectoplasmosis

Guantanamo, Cuba. Photo: Richard Ross

In his 2007 book, Architecture of Authority, photographer Richard Ross took photos of stark jail cells and military bases - places that you'd normally associate with the pervasive presence of authority. But there are also many surprising choices: like a classroom and even a DMV office!

Link | Richard Ross' website - via growabrain

"A woman's mind is cleaner than a man's: she changes it more often."

- Oliver Herford, writer and artist

Do you like Super Mario? I betcha you don't like it as much as these people do ... They even decorate their cars with Super Mario art:

More at ConsolenewZ.ru - via Look at This

More at The Straits Times' Stomp blog: Singapore Seen

Beep Beep Mario Car, spotted by Spanish blog ion litio in Madrid

And finally, not exactly a Mario Car, but an RC car playing Super Mario theme (yes, it was on Neatorama before, but I couldn't resist):

[YouTube Link]

If you know of any more Mario-inspired cars, please let us know!

Previously on Neatorama: 10 Mario Fun Facts! and all sorts of Mario posts

Photo: Jimmy Zhang

That's just one of many playful food sculptures by San Francisco chef and produce artist (apparently, there is such a thing!) Jimmy Zhang. If you're wondering, the rats are made from taro roots.

The New York Times has a neat article by Kate Murphy and photo gallery about the art of fruit and vegetable carving. If you're thinking of radish roses in some depressing banquet in a third-rate hotel, think again: the new food art is enjoying somewhat of a rennaisance thanks to Saxton Freymann's 1997 book "Play With Your Food."

Link | Photo Gallery - via Bibi's box

Previously on Neatorama: Saxton Freymann's Emotional Fruits

Scientists have actually investigated the Five-Second Rule.

The Five-Second Rule states that it's okay to eat a dropped piece of food, as long as you pick it up before you can count to five.

In 2003, a high school intern at the University of Illinois named Jillian Clarke conducted a survey and found that half the men and 70% of the women knew about the five-second rule. Jillian then conducted this experiment: first, she contaminated a ceramic tile with E. coli bacteria, then she
placed gummy bears and cookies for 5 seconds and analyzed the food: they sure were contaminated.

In 2007, professor Paul L. Dawson of Clemson University and colleagues repeated the experiment. This time, the test surfaces were tile, wood flooring, and nylon carpet; the food were bread and bologna; and the bugs were salmonella. They discovered that a) salmonella can survive for 28 days on a surface and b) in just 5 seconds, anywhere from 150 to 8,000 bacteria transferred to the food.

So what does this mean for the Five-Second Rule? Do what you like, but remember: the infectious dose (the smallest number of bacteria that can actually cause illness) is as low as 10 for salmonella and 100 for E. coli. (Source)

Steroids abuse and bodybuilding have gone hand in hand for decades. Many bodybuilders use anabolic steroids to give them an edge in competition, but some guys (and gals) go too far. Way too far.

Here's an article from Life in the Fast Lane about what happens when you abuse steroids (read the bit about what happened when a female bodybuilder took way too much steroids ...)

http://www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/when-bodybuilding-and-steroids-go-too-far/offbeat-news - via The Presurfer

California has reached a dubious milestone today, the statewide average price for self-serve regular gasoline has just crossed above $4 per gallon (even though it has been that high in some cities in the State for a while now): http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gas23-2008may23,0,6215332.story

Let me ask you a question: how high is too high? What do you think is the breaking point? $5? $10? $15 per gallon? And what would you if (or when) it got there?

How bad is the housing market in California? How about it's so bad that one California Congresswoman couldn't make her house payments and got her home repossessed:

She helps make laws, but one California Congresswoman couldn't make her house payments. County records show that Congresswoman Laura Richardson defaulted on her Sacramento home.

Some neighbors were upset, arguing that she abandoned her home and didn't maintain it for several months. "It was pretty disheveled," said neighbor Rafael Burgos.

The Long Beach Democrat bought the three-bedroom home shortly after she was elected to the California State Assembly in November 2006. The following spring, she ran for Congress in a special election and ended up in Washington D.C. Documents show she took out a $535,000 home loan and did not have a down payment.

"We finally [saw] a notice on the front door about two and a half months ago," Burgos said. "It was a bank repossession notice."

Link

Photo: cowfish [Flickr] - via Cowfish Blog

In 1877, a French editor mistook the fake invention of "telectroscope" (an electronic telescope that projects images just like a modern TV) as real, and even attributed it to Alexander Graham Bell.

The hoax perpetuated itself through the century and became a reality (in form of an art exhibit) in New York and London, thanks to British artist Paul St. George:

As the first splinters of sunlight spread their warmth on the south bank of the River Thames this morning, it became clear that after more than a century, the vision of Victorian engineer Alexander Stanhope St. George had finally been realized.

In all its optical brilliance and brass and wood, there stood the Telectroscope -- an 11.2 meter (37 feet)long by 3.3 meter (11 feet) tall dream of a device allowing people on one side of the Atlantic to look into its person-size lens and, in real time, see those on the other side via a recently completed tunnel running under the ocean. (Think 19th century Webcam. Or maybe Victorian-age video phone.)

Links: CNN Article | Telectroscope website

Mike Sacks, a writer for Vanity Fair and other magazines, has a website in which he compiles funny television screen photos. Somehow, the collection is quite fascinating - indeed, more fascinating than actually watching TV!

Link - via GorillaMask