BibliOdyssey has a really neat post about this caricature map of Asia by Tanaka, titled "The Illustration of The Great European War No. 16," where Russia is depicted as a big bear, China as a pig, India as an elephant and so forth: Link
Alex Santoso's Blog Posts
Photo: University of South Florida, Institute for Research in Art, Graphic Studio.
Marco Castillo and Dago Rodriguez, better known as Los Carpinteros ("The Carpenters") are two Cuban artists who designed furniture masquerading as fantastic works of art.
Frontline/World has a few examples of their work, including the Estuche (a jewelry case made to look like a hand grenade) and Mano Creadora or Creative Hand (a chest of drawers made to look like an open palm): Link - via k-fresh designs
High on the Rotterdam Weena Tower, Benjamin Verdonck is nesting. Literally. Here's a strange art project called "the Great Swallow" involving a nest, a man, and a giant egg (yes, why do you think he's nesting?).
A nest is hanging high from the Rotterdam Weena Tower. Feathers fly around it. There's a man in the nest. He nested there only four days ago. He stretches his arms out wide open, as if he wants to fly. But it also seems like he is trying to stay upright (losing his feathers). Some people even think that the man wants to embrace them.
Here's the YouTube video clip:
Only in the Netherlands! http://nest-rotterdam.nl/ [mostly in Dutch, with some English translation] - via rebel:art
The following is an article from Uncle John's All-Purpose Extra-Strength Bathroom Reader.
Did you know that there's a version of the Golden Rule in most (maybe all) major religions? Here are eight translations of religious texts ... and one secular commentary. (Note: you can get the Golden Rule poster to the left at Scarboro Missions)
CHRISTIANITY
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets." - Matthew 7:12JUDAISM "What is harmful to you, do not to your fellow men. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary." - Talmud, Shabbat, 312HINDUISM "This is the turn of duty; do naught unto others which could cause you pain if done to you." - Mahabharata, 5, 1517CONFUCIANISM "Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness: Do not unto other that you would not have them do unto you." - Analects, 15, 23TAOISM "Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain and your neighbor's loss as your own loss." - T'sai Shang Kan Ying P'ienBUDDHISM "Hurt not others in ways you yourself would find hurtful." - Udana-Varga, 5, 18ZOROASTRIANISM "That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself." - Didistan-i-dinik, 94, 5ISLAM "No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself." - SunnahSECULAR VIEW "Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same." - George Bernard Shaw |
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| The 13th book in the series by the Bathroom Reader's Institute has 504-all new pages crammed with fun facts, including articles on the biggest movie bombs ever, the origin and unintended use of I.Q. test, and more. Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out! | |
This blurry YouTube video shows a strange phenomenon in Saudi Arabia: a 9-meter (~30 feet) tall sand fountain or geyser near the city of Al Ahsa. Notice that the sand don't mound up, as if there is a giant hole underneath that just churn up the sand particles. If anyone know what this is, please let us know!
Here's a nother strange news from Saudi Arabia: a woman wants a divorce, because her husband tried to look at her face after 30 years of marriage!
After 30 years of marriage, cynics might say most husbands and wives would have seen quite enough of each other, thank you very much. But not in the case of one Saudi Arabian man who managed to live with his wife for three decades without setting eyes on her face.
Not that he had much choice about it. His 50-year-old wife followed the tradition of her native village near the south-western city of Khamis Mushayt and kept her features veiled at all times.
Until one night last month, that is, when the husband was finally overcome by curiosity and tried to lift his wife's veil as she slept to take a look at her face. It was an error he is unlikely to be given a chance to repeat for his outraged wife woke up during his sneak peek and is now demanding a divorce.
Apparently that wasn't even the first case this ever happened: Link
Photo: kjdrill [Flickr]
Today's Caption Monkey game from Neatorama and Hobotopia is special: it's the last Caption Monkey with Adam "Ape Lad" Koford's Meet the Laugh-Out-Loud Cat as a prize. But first, the story behind the photo:
Flickr user kjdrill took a series of great photos of a panda named Su Lin playing (rolling?) in the snow - I found it via the always awesome Cute Overload (who has more pics)
To win Adam's book, Meet the Laugh-Out Loud Cat, simply enter your caption in the comment section below. One caption per comment, please, but you can enter as many as you can think of. Adam's book is a compilation of 250 comic panels of the adventures of the Kitteh and Pip - if you're a fan of Adam's old-timey cartoon, then this is the book for you! As I mentioned above, today's game is the last one with the book as a prize (however, you can still buy it at Lulu).
Oh, by the way, congratulations to lordunger who won last week's game (perhaps today is your lucky day!)
Good luck! And don't forget to check more of kjdrill's excellent panda photos!
Update 5/21/08: Adam has chosen the winner! Congratulations to streetattack for the winning caption "The sacred art of pandagomi is both complicated and beautiful."
For more Bizarro, check out Dan Piraro's website and blog.
This Bizarro comic inspired me to look for bad (but real) names on the Web - and boy was I floored with the result that Google returned for the search terms "bad names" (6 million results!) and "worst names" (499,000 results). It seems that some parents are either cruel or mad when they name their kids.
Here are a few that are particularly strange:
• Urhines Kendall Icy Eight Special K. Yes, that's right: a baby named after the illicit drug ketamine. Oh, and that's pronounced "Your Highness," by the way.
Urhiness Kendall was born on Saturday, February 15, 2003, weighing 8 pounds 8 ounces. The baby shared birthdays with another guy with a weird name: Galileo Glilei, who went on to become a famous mathematician and astronomer. (Source - previously on Neatorama here)
• GoldenPalaceDotCom Silverman. In 2005, the Internet casino GoldenPalace.com paid $15,000 to name a baby after itself and got more than it paid for in media attention. Sure most people condemned this sort of outrageous publicity stunt - some even calling it a form of child abuse - but the good news was that GoldenPalaceDotCom Silverman was born healthy at 7 pounds, 10 ounces on May 19, 2005.
Actually, baby Silverman wasn't the only human in the world named after the casino: In the same year, a 33-year-old mother of five named Terri Ilagan auctioned off the right to her name on eBay, which the casino won for a mere $15,199. The re-branded Mrs. GoldenPalace.com said: "To my kids and to my husband, I will always be Terri. My husband is real supportive. He thinks it's funny. As long as they get to call me Mom, they don't care. They are already starting to tease me and call me Goldie." (Source)
These two will join a GoldenPalace's branding of a Glaswegian woman's cleavage and their purchase of a decade-old "Virgin Mary" grilled cheese in the annals of the company's publicity stunts (Source)
• Joker Arroyo. Don't laugh: Mr. Arroyo is a Senator in the Philippines (What? Don't believe me? Check it out here).
His name "Joker" is derived from his father's fondness for playing cards. His brother is named "Jack." No words if there are any other siblings named Queen or King.
Update 5/29/08: Joker has a daughter whose name is also Joker Arroyo! Thanks Gabor Debreczeni!
Unusual names are pretty common in the Philippines: Bing, Bong, Ping, Ting, Led Zeppelin, Mick Jagger, Nirvana, Jejomar (yes, a combination of Jesus, Joseph and Mary) and Hitler Manila, whose sons are named Himmler and Hess. And no, Hitler Manila is a peaceful guy who doesn't share his namesake's Nazi ideology. (Source)
• Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 (Pronounced "albin"). In 1991, Elisabeth Hallin and Lasse Diding wanted to protest the naming law of Sweden, which states that the court can diapprove of names that "for some obvious reason are not suitable as a first name." They were fined 5,000 kronor (about $680 at the time).
The parents claimed that the 43-character name as "a pregnant, expressionistic development that we see as an artistic creation." The court didn't buy it and upheld the fine. Then the parents tried to resubmit the name as "A" (yes, one letter - also pronounced "albin"). The court didn't buy that either, saying that one letter names are prohibited.
The baby finally went with "Albin Hallin" though in his passport his name was given as "Icke namngivet gossebarn" meaning "unnamed little boy." (Source)
• KentuckyFriedCruelty.com. Well, technically, this is not his parents' fault but what Christopher Garnett did was pretty strange so we'll include him on this list.
In 2005, Christopher, a youth outreach worker for the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) agreed to change his name legally to KentuckyFriedCruelty.com to protest animal abuse by the food chain KFC. (Yes, and he's got a driver's license to prove it).
He did promise his mom that he'd change his name back when PETA's campaign against KFC was over in 2006. Throughout all this time, his parents continued to call him Chris (how unsupportive!)
(Source)
• Nicholas Unless-Jesus-Christ-Had-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barbon (1640 - 1698). Nicholas' shall we say "unique" name apparently ran in the family: his father was Praise-God Barbon. No, I'm not kidding - Nicholas was a real guy. He was an English economist, physician and financial speculator. He took part in the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire of 1666 and even founded the city's first fire insurance company. By all accounts, he went by Nicholas throughout his life. (Source)
• God Shammgod. God plays professional basketball, currently for the Portland Chinooks of the International Basketball League. He played in the NBA for one season (with the Washington Wizards in 1997).
He even invented a streetball move, called The Shammgod, useful for creating space between you and your defender. And yes, God is on MySpace. (Photo: Hoops Addict)
• Batman Bin Suparman. This young Javanese man is blessed with being named after not just one, but two superheroes: Batman and Superman. And he's got an identity card to prove it ...
• Dick Assman. Yes, you read that right. Dick is a gas station owner in Saskatchewan, Canada, whose name made him a minor celebrity when David Letterman found him in 1995. Dick pronounced his German lastname as "uzman," but we all know better... (Source)
Photo: Frame enlargement of the short film, "Saskatchewan Part 2 (That's My Wonderful Town) by Brian Stockton (from Wikipedia)
• @. And finally, let's go full circle to "@," pronounced "ai ta" or "love him" by an unidentified Chinese couple:
The unidentified couple and the attempted naming were cited Thursday by a Chinese government official as an example of bizarre names creeping into the Chinese language.
"The father said 'the whole world uses it to write emails and translated into Chinese it means'love him'," Li Yuming, the vice director of the State Language Commission, said at a news conference.
No words on whether the name was rejected by the Chinese government (Source - Previously on Neatorama here).
More Unusual Names: Want more? Check out Wikipedia, which has a HUGE list of unusual names ...
Ukrainian brothers Mykyta and Egor Zigura are great sculptors, but this sand sculpture of Yoda sitting on the lap of Darth Vader, and R2-D2 snuggling next to the Sith lord is not right! Link - Thanks Philippe Tambwe!
Artist Michael T. Rea designed this wooden mecha-suit sculpture and cheekily called it "A Prosthetic Suit for Stephen Hawking w/ Japanese Steel."
Actually, I can totally see Stephen Hawking in a giant robotic suit and pincer claw, walking around and talking about blackholes, singularities, and other wonders of the universe: http://www.mikerea.com/suit.html - via Super Punch
"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.The other is as though everything is a miracle."
- Albert Einstein, physicist and Nobel laureate
Here's something you can try at home: how to make your eye feels like it's closed, when it's actually open. Dave Munger of Cognitive Daily explains:
This morning I went into the darkest room in our house (the kids' bathroom), closed the door, and turned off the lights for 5 minutes. There was enough light coming in through the crack in the door that after a minute or two I could begin to make out shapes in the room: A towel rack, the shower curtain. My eyes had adapted to the dark condition. Then I closed my right eye and covered it with my hand. I turned the lights back on, for a minute, until my left eye had adapted to the light. Then I turned the lights off.
I could still see the towel rack and shower curtain with my right eye, which remained adapted to darkness. But my left eye could see nothing. In fact, my left eye felt as if it was closed. I made every effort to open the eye, but it seemed that some unstoppable force was keeping it closed. The only way to make my eye feel as if it was open was to cover it with my hand. I still couldn't see anything with the eye, but at least I could convince myself it was open.
Link - via Miss Cellania
Previously on Neatorama: 10 Things That Are (Almost) Impossible To do With Your Body
In Japan, it's a common insult to call someone "one-cellular" for being stupid, but that put down may not actually be true: In 2001, Dr. Toshiyuki Nakagaki at Riken Institute, Japan, discovered that slime mold* can solve a maze!
Solving a maze: (a) Initial condition with no nutrients. (b) After application of nutrients at two sites. Extensions retract from dead ends, but continue to connect sites possibly containing nutrients. (c) Longer connections gradually disappear. (d) Only the shortest route between the two nutrient sites remain connected. It takes half a day to move from state 'a' to 'd'.
This brings up a question whether something that has no consciousness can be considered intelligent:
I believe that such unconscious information processing mechanisms exist, to a greater or lesser extent, in all living things (for instance, the grouping tendencies of ants, or paramecium). Is this kind of information processing to be considered intelligence? On the other hand, are people with no conscious awareness of themselves, such as one in a coma, or merely asleep, to be considered unintelligent? If we can answer these questions, then we should be able to answer the question as to whether or not single-celled animals possess intelligence.
http://www.riken.go.jp/lab-www/frontier-div/NEWSLETTER/feb2001/ameboid_e.htm - via Scribal Terror
*You can argue that they're not exactly "one-cellular" in the traditional sense as swarms of slime mold Physarum polycephalum cells fuse together to form a plasmodium (a gigantic cell with multiple nuclei and no cell membranes between them). Take my word for it, slime molds are weird!
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