DJ Artyom, a Russian DJ and producer made this cassette tape mixing desk.

http://soundresearch.narod.ru/diy_eng.htm (slow site - be patient or try Coral Cache; link and photo via DJ Amber)

Greg Holwell, a researcher at Macquarie University in Australia, discovered that genitalia of male praying mantises hang either to the left or to the right:

Holwell travelled to Queensland hoping to study sexual cannibalism in praying mantises, or mantids. But he got more than he bargained for.

Rather than finding examples of females eating males, he found a unique case of dimorphism, where there are two distinct forms of a particular species.

He found the males of the species Ciulfina are identical except they have genitalia that are the mirror image of each another.

"Some males are essentially right handed or left handed in their genitalia," says Howell. "Their genitalia point in one direction or the other, which is a very unusual phenomenon."

Link (via Nutmeg)

Giuseppe Mitelli (1634-1718) is a famous Bolognese engraver, who drew fantastic alphabet illustrations. He also made this optical illusion, titled "Son testa son paese, case e gente" or I am head, I am country, houses and people.

Link (via Kingboy)

LiveScience has this article on how the Earth can be destroyed:

#2: Eaten by von Neumann machines

You will need: a single von Neumann machine

Method: A von Neumann machine is any device that is capable of creating an exact copy of itself given nothing but the necessary raw materials. Create one of these that subsists almost entirely on iron, magnesium, aluminum and silicon, the major elements found in Earth's mantle and core. It doesn't matter how big it is as long as it can reproduce itself exactly in any period of time. Release it into the ground under the Earth's crust and allow it to fend for itself. Watch and wait as it creates a second von Neumann machine, then they create two more, then they create four more. As the population of machines doubles repeatedly, the planet Earth will, terrifyingly soon, be entirely eaten up and turned into a swarm of potentially sextillions of machines. Technically your objective would now be complete - no more Earth - but if you want to be thorough then you can command your VNMs to hurl themselves, along with any remaining trace elements, into the Sun. This hurling would have to be achieved using rocket propulsion of some sort, so be sure to include this in your design.

So crazy it might just work.

Link (Thanks Tim Mosley!)

Craig has over 800 mini pixel drawings of pop stars and other famous people.

This one on the left is his drawings of the Beatles.

Link (Thanks Yayo!)

Chris takes very cool photos of life in New York City. This one above is called "Snow Angel". From the website:

New York City has an unlimited canvas for artistic expression. There are times when scenes come together and literately beg you to photograph them. The shots are always there, so it becomes more about mood and your state of mind, finding thoese parts of the city to match are where the real challenges lie.

http://www.gothampixel.com/ (Thanks Yayo!)

Watch the sand particles take cool shapes when the plate underneath is vibrated (Thanks Sergi!)

Amateur archaeologist Semir Osmanagic pointed to this recently-excavated geometrically cut stone blocks as evidence of an ancient pyramid buried under a massive hill in Visoko, Bosnia.

Osmanagic believes the structure itself is a colossal 722 feet high, or a third taller than Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza. The huge stone blocks discovered Wednesday appear to be cut in cubes and polished.

Earlier research on the hill, known as Visocica, found that it has perfectly shaped, 45-degree slopes pointing toward the cardinal points, and a flat top. Under layers of dirt, workers discovered a paved entrance plateau, entrances to tunnels and large stone blocks.

Last week's excavations began with a team of rescue workers from a nearby coal mine being sent into a tunnel believed to be part of an underground network connecting the three pyramid-shaped hills.

They were followed by archeologists, geologists and other experts who emerged from the tunnel later to declare that it was certainly man-made.

But not everyone is convinced - some even called Osmanagic crazy since his pyramid theories involved Atlantis and the Maya:

Semir Osmanagich presents his book "The World of the Maya" as a galactic telescope by means of which cosmic harmony may be achieved. Having visited dozens of Mayan cities in Central America, the author arrives at the conclusions that it is in our future that "we should become planetary Maya with sophisticated technology which will harmoniously connect the frequencies of the Sun and our psyches. Because the Mayan life is that of the soul living in harmony with the Cosmic processes."

As if that's not enough, some people are trying to stop the dig, claiming that it's a US conspiracy to colonize Bosnia.

As an expert in Roman-Hellenic antiquity, Hitchner had come up with a simple yet brilliant idea: use a TROJAN HORSE ("pyramids") tactics to achieve a DEVIDE AND RULE strategy, perfected by Hellenic and Roman generals respectively.

The "pyramids" did not have a symbolic role just in recolonizing Bosnia, but also in the start of a new era (Reagan's New World Order) that will, as Heilbrunn & Lind announce, after two centuries end "The Age of the Diplomatic Mask".

Others are, predictably, cashing in ...

"Our expectation are high. This could be our oil well," Vehab Halilovic, who has started carving pyramids on wooden souvenirs like flutes and pipes.

One local hotel called "Hollywood" has changed its name to "Motel Bosnian Sun Pyramid."

Its website boasts: "While enjoying your meal in our restaurant placed on the 6th floor, you have the opportunity to also enjoy a magnificent view of the Sun Pyramid. You too can be part of the mystery and the miracle occurring in our area."

Links: MSNBC: "Pyramid Wall?" | FOXNews: "Pyramid = cash" | Archaeology Mag: "Osmanagic is nuts!" (Thanks Scott Taylor!). Previously on Neatorama: Visocica: the Bosnian Pyramid

Get your own biscuit logo: Link (via Exploding Aardvark)

Bob Basset of Ukraine makes very cool things out of leather. Don't miss his cthulhu mask! Link (via Stuff on Fire)

A company called New Age Diamonds is offering to make diamonds out of 1 to 2 grams of your hair or your pet's hair!

Your Personal Diamond is a real diamond grown in the laboratory. YPD is made personal by adding an extract of human hair (1-2 grams, click here for sample photo) into the carbon, base material for the diamond-growing process. YPD is grown from the seed under high pressure and at high temperature into a rough diamond (the process is often abbreviated as HPHT). It is then cut into a loose stone. Lab-created diamonds share identical optical, chemical, and physical properties of natural diamonds. They are real diamonds, and the only difference between the cultured diamonds and the diamonds commonly known as natural, is that they are made in a machine and not inside the Earth.

Link (via Strange New Products)

Create your own virtual stadium grandstand complete with 1,024 cheering fans holding flash cards that looked like your logo.

http://www.madin.jp/ouen/index-e.html (via Presurfer)

From the website:

The brochure on the nightstand explained that it is called a furo. Furo is the Japanese word for a single-person hot tub.

The term "low tech" doesn't begin to cover the simplicity and functionality of the design. No bubbles, no jets, no electricity, nothing to break, just deep hot water up to your neck. Asians have known for thousands of years the benefits of sitting alone immersed in hot water. And, as I have since learned, the favorite place for Japanese college students to study is in the furo.

Basically, it is just a plywood box with a cool Oriental name. At first glance it seems like you may have your knees in your mouth, but this is not the case, due to your natural buoyancy—you feel so good you just don't care. I'm tall for a short person, over 5' 10", and I fit very comfortably. You get the same benefits of a hot tub, but none of the contamination consequences, plus you get to be alone and not feel completely antisocial. Try to remember, did you ever take a tub all alone and not feel self-conscious and wasteful? I did it once and felt as if I were driving a Winnebago to the grocery store.

Link (via Unique Daily)

From the website:

Nor Che Musa said although there was a huge gap between his age and that of his bride Hukuntoh, he wasn't embarrassed introducing his wife to others.

"Nothing can stop our marriage if God wants us together. My heart feels peaceful after I have married her," he added. ...

Hukuntoh has been married for 21 times but has no children.

http://e.sinchew-i.com/content.phtml?sec=2&artid=200605020001

It's that time of the year again: the International German Beard Championships. From the website:

The competition allows 16 categories of beards, the most popular one being freestyle because it sets no limits on creativity. One contestant came with a bushy beard shaped like a windmill. Contestants sporting Chinese-style beards -- two long strands drooping down far below the chin, were virtually assured of an award because only a few men showed up with that particular style.

A beard can also be dangerous, though. One of this year's winners, Willi Chevalier, injured himself a few years ago when his beard caught in a rotating drill. It could have been the end of his beard competition career but the insurance salesman and dance instructor had a lucky escape.

Master hairdresser Elmar Weisser, 41, had his sister help him form his beard into a windmill. It took four hours and 400 grams of gel.

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,413980,00.html | Previously on Neatorama: World's Beard Champs.