Sunday was Book Lover's Day and while we unfortunately missed it (in our defense, we were celebrating our tenth anniversary), other blogs didn't get distracted and had ample coverage of the event. One of the most fun articles celebrating the date was posted over on Flavorwire, where they shared some of the coolest business cards inspired by books.
Whether you're a librarian, writer, English teacher or just a fan of good literature, there are a whole lot of business cards to love in their list.
Tyranitard has an aquarium in his office with a skull inside. Take a good look at it. He saw this and freaked out, but then looked carefully to find out what caused the skull to look back at him. It’s a snail that climbed up into the eye socket! Must be a cozy place to hang out. That’s a picture you have to share. The tank has a second snail, so he’s waiting for the other socket to be occupied. -via reddit
Mfuwe Lodge in Zambia is a beautiful getaway for human occupants, but it also serves at least one family of elephants annually. Three generations of elephants return each year from late October to mid-December, taking the shortcut through the lodge in order to feast on the fallen mangos from the trees on the grounds. This footage catches the elephants' shortcut beautifully and features the entire family, with baby in tow. What an interesting amenity of the lodge! Via Arbroath
In a world where so many cats get by on their looks alone, Hamilton is doubly blessed. Hamilton was born with the most magnificent facial markings a cat can ask for. What a mustache! Hamilton, or Hammy, doesn’t mind posing for lots of pictures. His Facebook page has plenty of them, and of other cats who have great mustaches, too. His Instagram account has even more photos. -via reddit
(Image: Hamilton the Hipster Cat at Facebook)
Winnie is a beautiful, long-haired polydactyl kitten who was one of six lucky fosters from the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, Virginia. Prior to being saved by the Welfare League, all six kittens were abandoned. Now that they've been taken in, forever homes look promising. Perhaps so promising that Winnie feels the need to get down to some Uptown Funk. Her moves are so sharp she'll be relaxing in permanent digs in no time. Via Laughing Squid
The franchise we know as Power Rangers debuted on American television in 1993 with the show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but the concept was already old hat to Japanese TV audiences. The characters in the picture above are Zyurangers from the 1992-93 show Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, one of the many Super Sentai Series shows that had been airing since 1975 in Japan. It was this show that became the American Power Rangers, thanks to a genius money-saving trick. Haim Saban of Saban Entertainment approached the Japanese producers about buying Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, but only the action sequences!
This allowed Saban to essentially eject the vast majority of Zyuranger’s plot, and develop a vastly different story to slot the action sequences into. Originally, Zyuranger was not about modern-day people becoming superheroes, as many Super Sentai shows were. Rather, it was about a group of Humans who came from an ancient civilization that existed during the time of the dinosaurs 170 million years ago. The 5 heroes—Boi, Mei, Dan, Goushi, and Geki—were placed in suspended animation following the sealing away of their evil rival, the witch Bandora, only to reawaken in ‘90s Japan, following Bandora’s escape. Each hero represented one of 5 prehistoric “Guardian Beasts”, and they invoked their powers to summon giant robot dinosaurs and battle Bandora’s alien forces from a planet named Nemesis.
All that was dropped, and a team of California teenagers was inserted in the non-action sequences with a modern story. Who woudl know the difference, with the actors underneath masks? That led to some oddities, like the yellow Power Ranger being male in Japan and female in America. Read the entire story, including the connection between the Super Sentai Series and Spider-Man, at io9. -via the Presurfer
Did you pay a couple grand for a state-of-the-art refrigerator with in-door ice and water dispensers and fancy electronic controls? Maybe you ought to invest in a security camera, too, to determine whether you are drinking water from a nozzle drenched in dog drool.
Max discovered how to activate the water dispenser on the refrigerator so he can get a drink anytime he wants. Smart dog, expensive drinking fountain. -via Daily Picks and Flicks
Time flies when you're having fun! Today is Neatorama's 10th anniversary (that'll make this blog a fourth grader, right?) and I'd like to take a moment to reflect and give thanks.
It all started ten years ago in a spare bedroom in my house with this very first post (and the link is still good). Some 80,000 posts, 250 million visits, 155 million unique visitors and nearly 400 million pageviews later, we're still at it!
I'd like to thank Neatorama's wonderful team - Miss C, John, Jill, Zeon, Lisa, Rommel, Brian, Jen, Anthony, and my lovely wife Tiffany, and to all of you Neatoramanauts for making it a fun journey so far.
We've been working hard on the shop-side (have you checked out the NeatoShop lately? We'll do something fun there soon to celebrate!) We've also got a few neat things planned for the blog as well.
I can't wait to see what the next ten years will bring us :)
Self described “aspiring geek” Ben Millam got impressively creative when it came to feeding his cat. He built this clever cat feeder that releases food upon recognition of RFID-tagged plastic balls. Millam places the balls all over the house, giving his cat Monkey a bit of a game with his noms. Monkey finds the hidden balls, drops them into a bowl fitted on top and bam, kitty chow!
Cat lover Millam says he built the device in order to give Monkey extra excitement and fun in his daily life.
"This all started after I read an explanation of why cats go about repeatedly exploring the same areas: it’s partly to establish and survey their territory, but they’re also practicing ‘mobile’ hunting: moving about, being curious, and poking their noses around in the hopes of upsetting potential prey and finding a meal. So what if my cat, while out on patrol, actually found its prey? Surely this would bring him one step closer towards a more fulfilled and self-actualized indoor kitty existence."
Bravo Ben!
Via Laughing Squid
Parents can’t play favorites; that’s pretty much a given. However, kids haven’t learned the value of a white lie or the social conventions they support. This is the latest from Lunarbaboon.
Image: Sweetwater Portraits
Some of the most wonderful wedding ceremonies involve the bucking of certain age-old traditions. In a perfect example, bride Christine Quinn asked her grandmother Betty to be one of her four bridesmaids, and the delightful 89-year-old eventually accepted. When Christine first posed the question, Betty said,
"Are you sure? Why would you want an old lady in your bridal party? All of your bridesmaids are young and pretty, why would you want me?"
But once her granddaughter assured Betty that she was certain she wanted her as a member of the wedding party, Betty's apprehension turned to enthusiasm. The result was not only great pictures, but a meaningful ceremony that obviously emphasized the importance of family over fashion.
Visit THe Huffington Post to read more on this story and to see the adorable wedding photos of the bridal party.
Day after day, we are inundated with messages issued via machine. Phones. Computers. Software and apps built into everything from cabs to washing machines. What if every message delivered to us via those "technological wonders" were completely honest, or even said what we were thinking at the moment? Would it make it harder or easier to hit the button necessary in order to proceed?
Connor Toole at Elite Daily created a number of entertaining graphics that represent the brutally honest side of technological messages. See them all here.
A mother gray whale and her calf interact with tourists out on a sightseeing ride off Baja California. The event was captured by a drone recording the whales operated by wildlife photographer Mark Carwardine. How exciting for these tourists to go home and tell people they not only saw whales, but touched them!
Personally, I was waiting for the boat to tip over from everyone rushing to the same side to get close to the whales. -via Tastefully Offensive
Kids are naturally curious about what their parents do for a living, and when we try to explain it to them our explanations generally fall into one of two categories- lengthy and informative or hasty and placating.
But when you have to explain a job that’s a bit more abstract, like artist or psychologist, you’re going to have your work cut out for you.
Luckily, a guy named Dean Vispond came up with a great way to properly explain a graphic designer's job to youngsters...after he had to boil it all down to a room full of four-year-olds:
I thought it’d be a good idea to explain what design in all its forms is. I’ve long held the notion that all forms of design are effectively about communication, be that user experience design, industrial design, fashion design, but that’s a pretty lofty thing to explain to kids. I ended up with:
Design is about making something easy to use, or easy to understand....
I talked about how signs tell us important things, and the words need to be easy to read. I showed them a simple sign, and asked them what I could do to the letters, to make the sign better. “Make them bigger” came the answer, so I showed them a second sign, which we all agreed is better because it makes the word more important, and you can see it from further away.
Read Dean's full post on Explaining Graphic Design To Four-Year-Olds at Medium
-Via Boing Boing
I’ve never heard of a transporter bridge before. The Newport Transporter Bridge has served those who cross the River Usk in Wales for a hundred years now. It’s like a ferry, but it’s a bridge instead of a boat. In other words, you ride across in a cable car, sort of. Why?
Tom Scott (previously at Neatorama) explains the reasons the bridge was built this way, and the reasons they don’t make bridges like this anymore. He also walked across it, which you can see here. -via Digg
