Neatorama

A pretty neat (and cheap) christmas tree origami that you can do!

Astone's Ocean Scooter is an inflatable, battery-powered electric boat that can be used in swimming pools!

It's a good thing that kids today are so fit and healthy that they don't need any actual swimming or exercise or anything like that.

http://www.astone.com.au/os_page.htm (via Gizmag)

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US Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta gave Santa Claus the official US Government permission to fly over its skies and land on people's houses legally.

An order granting a flight certificate and signed by U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta finds that Santa Claus is “exceptionally fit, joyfully willing and uniquely able to engage in the interstate air transportation for which he has requested a certificate.” The Secretary added that Santa has a 100 percent on-time arrival record, having never failed to deliver all of his toys by Christmas morning.
[Santa] also told the department that his sleigh will be powered by eight tiny reindeer, with the addition of a possible ninth reindeer equipped with a special air navigation warning light in its nose, in the event of fog or heavy snow.
Finally, the applicant, aware of the department’s heightened security concerns, said that although he does not have a federal air marshal on board he has asked his lead reindeer, Rudolph, to stay especially alert.

Santa's sleigh also got a safety inspection from the FAA.

Link to DOT Press Release | Asian Fortune Article

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Paul Chadwick of the University of Southampton and Peter Trower of the University of Birmingham, UK analyzed 53 paranoid people and found that there are 2 forms of paranoia:

- "Poor Me" or fear of (undeserved) persecution

- "Bad Me" or fear of (deserved) punishment, who has lower self-esteem and more negative thinking than the Poor Me paranoids.

Paranoia more complex that you thought? I was afraid of that ...Link

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Seth Frye and friends came up with the "Santa Speedo Run" in 1999. The idea is to run wearing only Christmas themed speedos (though they add bikinis and one-piece for the ladies) in butt-cold weather in Boston.

Link to official website | Interview with Seth Frye.

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Researchers at Chicago's Brookfiled and other zoos discovered that aging female gorillas go through menopause, just like humans!

The study also may provoke a few chuckles along the way.

"Do they have hot flashes? Do they get grouchy? We haven't been able to measure those things yet, but give us time,'' said study co-author Sue Margolis, a former Brookfield Zoo researcher and now curator of primates at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo.
Many biologists believe menopause evolved because it gave human grandmothers more time to help care for their grandchildren, said Steve Austad, a researcher at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio who was not involved in the study.

http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/ap_051221_gorilla_menopause.html

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Checkout Dave Lilligren's other hilarious Redneck stuff: Link

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MIT professor Anette "Peko" Hosoi and colleagues developed Robosnail, a robot that moves like a snail! It can even crawl on vertical walls and cross ceilings.

Link to Science News Daily Article | Check out the video!

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Jim Needham of Carmel, California, is a master rock stacker.

As he places a heavy boulder on top of the rocks that are stacked, all the rocks begin shifting under the added weight. Suddenly, there is this fluid dance where all the rocks are shifting, rolling, moving, and adjusting. It looks very snake like as it is fluid in motion. Needham uses his knees, his body, his shoulders and chin to settle the rocks down as he is listening intently for that still point of perfect balance. All at once, all motion stops, the rocks are still, perfectly, sacredly, silently motionless, and still. It is a deafening moment of silence.

Link

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