A 6-foot tall Lego figurine washed up on a beach in Brighton, UK. This follows a similar incident on a beach in the Netherlands back in August.
You probably had the same first thought that I did: scouts for a Danish invasion force.
Link via Geekologie
Computer science students at UC San Diego have written a program that can duplicate keys from security camera photographs:
The team demonstrated the software at ACM's Conference on Communications and Computer Security 2008, where students showed off the technique up close and from afar. They took close-up shots of keys with a cell phone camera. Then, using a 5-inch telephoto lens, they stood on top of a building and took photos of keys sitting on a table 200 feet away. In both examples, they were able to capture sufficient data to create duplicate keys.
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/10/ucsd-software-a.html
Well, shoot, I always found Ichi-Kun Ichihonei pretty hot, but I'm already married.
Taichi Takashita launched an online petition aiming for one million signatures to present to the government to establish a law on marriages with cartoon characters.
Within a week he has gathered more than 1,000 signatures through the Internet.
"I am no longer interested in three dimensions. I would even like to become a resident of the two-dimensional world," he wrote.
"However, that seems impossible with present-day technology. Therefore, at the very least, would it be possible to legally authorise marriage with a two-dimensional character?"
Link via Geekologie.
Geekery blog Topless Robot links to a translation of a Japanese story that purports that the character in question is Mikuru Asahina from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Major problem with Takashita's plan: Japan doesn't allow polygamy, so only one person can marry an anime character at a time.
Pretty clever:
The blade carries a small electrical charge. This charge is continuously monitored by a digital signal processor. When contact is made, the human body absorbs some of the charge, causing the voltage to drop. The drop in voltage triggers a quick release aluminum brake. A heavy duty spring forces the brake into the teeth of the spinning blade. The teeth dig into the aluminum, stopping the blade cold. The blade's momentum forces it to retract below the table, and the motor is automatically shut off.
Via Geekologie
Phil Clandillon and Steve Milbourne of Sony/BMG have composed a video for AC/DC's "Rock N' Roll Train" using Microsoft Excel. You can even download the .xls file and run it on your own computer.
http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/10/acdc-music-vide.html via J-Walk Blog
For a mere $670,000 you can own an Action Mobil Global Cruiser Expedition Vehicle. It has a 781 cubic inch turbodiesel engine, weighs 21 tons, and carries 219 gallons of gas and 154 gallons of water. On the roof are four 240 watt solar panels to power the luxurious interior amenities. I'm sure that Alex and Miss Cellania are already bankrolling Neatorama's vast revenues into purchasing this vehicle in preparation for the coming zombie apocalpyse.
Just as some dolls are made to wet themselves, the "Dismember Me" Plush Zombie is made to be torn apart, limb by limb and organ by organ. Note that tearing various limbs and organs out is useless unless you first rip out the brain.
Link via Geekologie, where there's a video of these dolls attacking a group of hapless cubicle drones.
"I started an R&D lab and have been an entrepreneur. So I have a big affinity for the human imagination," he says. "About a dozen years ago, my collection got so big that I said, 'It's time to build a room, a library, that would be about human imagination.'"
Singer/songwriter Jonathan Coulton was previously featured on Neatorama a year ago for his zombie song "Re: Your Brains."
But I'm a softie for romantic ballads, such as Coulton's sweet but sad tale of unrequited love between a mad scientist and a kidnapped damsel, titled "Skullcrusher Mountain."
Especially moving are the heartfelt lyrics of the second verse:
Sheesh. Some women are just never happy, no matter how many abominations against nature that you clone for them.
Visne saltare? Viam Latam Fungosam scio.
That's how you say "Do you want to dance? I know the Funky Broadway." in Latin. Courtesy of MIT, you can learn how to say handy Latin phrases such as:
Link via Ironic Catholic
Previously on Neatorama: Latin You Should Know
Yankee Pot Roast, a blog of literary satire, has a great spoof on poet William Carlos Williams, assuming that the famous modernist poet is your really bad roommate. Not as bad as the nudist obsessive-compulsive insomniac roommate that I had in college, but pretty bad. Here's a sample:
I have eaten
the soy ice cream
that was in
the ice box
and which
you expressly asked
me
not to touch
Forgive me
it was so gross
I threw half of
it away
Link via Grow-A-Brain
