Sony's portable tape cassette player -- a revolution when first released in 1979 -- has finally reached the end of its production life:

The final batch was produced in Japan in April, and no more will be produced as soon as the current run is sold out. Just over 200 million cassette Walkman players have been sold over the years since being first introduced in 1979.[...]

The Walkman is widely credited with pioneering the concept of personal, portable audio beyond the radio. It helped spur on the cassette as a popular format and also maintained interest in albums. Interest only began to fade in the 1990s when the Discman took over, and saw a more definite end when the iPod was in sight.

Link via reddit | Photo by Flickr user zer(o_0)ne used under Creative Commons license

I'm at a loss to explain precisely why, but somehow this cross stitch featuring Jabba the Hutt, Princess Leia as his slave, and the Serenity Prayer makes perfect sense. It was made by Emily and Matt Fitzpatrick. Their website is filled with similar cross stitch samplers inspired by pop culture.

Link and Etsy Store via Urlesque

British Telecom has been selling off public phone booths in the UK. Some have been converted to public toilets, showers, or art installations. The village of Westbury-sub-Mendip turned one into a 24-hour public library:

Users simply stock it with a book they have read, swapping it for one they have not.

"It's really taken off. The books are constantly changing," said parish councillor Bob Dolby.

He added: "It is completely full at the moment with books. Anyone is free to come and take a book and leave one that you have already read.

Link via DudeCraft | Photo: BBC

The Australian architectural firm Clarke Hopkins Clarke designed a clock called "Parallel of Time." As the shapes move, the shorter hands indicate the hour and minutes:

Time is parallel. The speed of time (on earth) is indubitable but everyone’s perception of it is somehow different. Using multiple clocks and cables to create a number of parallelograms, a design is generated: the Parallel of Time. The parallelograms are interconnected, creating an optically illusory axonometric timepiece.

Mechanically speaking, since the hands on every clock (within the same time zone) produce the same angle, the lengths of the connecting cables remain constant as the clocks run. The hour and minute hands are positioned on either side of the glass to prevent cable collisions.

You can watch the clock in action at the first link.

Clock Website and Explanation via technabob

Ben Cuevas knitted a realistic human skeleton. He calls the project "Transcending the Material", and made it while in an art collective called the Wassaic Project. There are eleven more pictures at the link. The level detail on the vertebrae is amazing.

Link via Make | Photo by the artist

(Video Link)

Serkan Toto of CrunchGear informs us that this is a Japanese-language video of a Chinese vending machine that sells live crabs:

This model is located in a subway station in Nanjing, China, and keeps the crabs at 5°C at all times. In other words, the crabs inside are alive, “hibernating” in a frozen state.

A sign in front of the machine promises 100% customer satisfaction: if buyers get a dead crab, the maker (a Chinese company based in Nanjing whose name I couldn’t decipher) promises they’ll get three crabs for free.

via CrunchGear

Duane Innes, a manager on the F-22 Raptor project, knows his physics. When he saw a truck driving in front of him on the highway veering out of control, he decided to rescue the driver:

"Basic physics: If I could get in front of him and let him hit me, the delta difference in speed would just be a few miles an hour, and we could slow down together," Innes explained.

So he pulled in front of the pickup, allowed it to rear-end his minivan and brought both vehicles safely to a stop in the pull-off lane.

Link via Gizmodo | Photo: Jim Bates/Seattle Times

Recent experiments by stem cell researchers suggest that a new type of breast reconstruction and augmentation may be on the horizon:

Trials in breast growth (and re-growth in the case of breast cancer survivors recovering from mastectomies, lumpectomies and quadrantectomies) have been promising. Since the tissues induce the formation of blood vessels, the regenerative cells link the blood supply to the fat cells they’re traveling with, presenting a much lower risk of reabsorption than the injection of fat cells alone. In 2007, a cosmetic surgeon in Japan began a human study and reported that patients injected with the stem-cell-loaded fat solution grew an average of 4 centimeters in breast circumference while the tissue remained soft and natural.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-10/stem-cells-your-fat-could-rebuild-failing-organ | Image of adipose stem cells courtesy of the University of Virginia

Brittney Schneck, 23, converted her 1994 Dodge Caravan into the van driven by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At Jalopnik, Justin Hyde writes:

Schneck hand-painted and stenciled the exterior colors and fabricated the ray gun, spoiler and other add-ons from scratch. It's not just cosmetic craft; Schneck has rebuilt and replaced most of the Caravan's mechanical parts, from a new radiator, brakes, axles and head gasket down to a clip for the hood prop rod, color-matched to the paint scheme that extends to the engine bay.

There are several more pictures at the link.

Link via Jalopnik

Andrew Dickerson of the Georgia Institute of Technology tested how a Labrador Retriever moves when it is trying to dry itself. They discovered that the dog oscillated its skin at 4.3 Hz and then extrapolated a mathematical model for furry animals in general:

They reasoned that the water is bound to the dog by surface tension between the liquid and the hair. When the dog shakes, centripetal forces pull the water away. So for the water to be ejected from the fur, the centripetal force has to exceed the surface tension.

This model leads to an interesting prediction. If the animal has a radius R, the shaking frequency must scale with R^0.5. That makes sense, smaller animals will need to oscillate faster to generate forces large enough to dry themselves.

To find out whether that applies in nature, Dickerson and pals studied films of various animals of different sizes. They found that a mouse shakes at 27 Hz, a cat at about 6 Hz while a bear shakes at 4Hz. "Shake frequencies asymptotically approach 4Hz as animals grow in size," they conclude.

Link via Geekosystem | Photo by Flickr user DrChumley1978 used under Creative Commons license

(Video Link)

Gordon Pinsent, an accomplished Canadian thespian, offers his voice to the words of Justin Bieber. Verily, he makes Bieber seem like a man of great stature.

via Urlesque

The hotel chain Best Western released a list of the oddest requests made by customers over the past year. Here's are a few examples:

Another customer, who had been tasked with arranging a lawnmower convention, enquired about the possibility of mowing the grounds of the hotel, so guests could try out the various models on display.

One group of animal-lovers requested reiki classes for their pets, and another asked for a host of twin rooms, so guests and their dogs could each have their own bed.

A support group for sex addicts, meanwhile, demanded a selection of single rooms, and a member of staff to ensure each delegate made it to bed alone.

Link | Photo via Flickr user beccapie used under Creative Commons license

Craftster user mamaedgar made a crocheted Yoda hat for her son. The ear hair is a nice detail. At the link, you can view more pictures as well as read detailed instructions on how to make your own.

Link via Great White Snark | Photo: Mamaedgar

Previously: Baby Yoda Hat

Here at Neatorama, we love the work of food artist Prudence Staite. We've featured her Snow White made out of apples, her Robert Pattinson made out of chocolate, and her Pope made out of pizza dough. One of her latest creations is a billboard made out of cheese. She and 13 assistants took 8 days to make this advertisement out of 10 types of British cheese.

Link | Photo: Jeff Moore

The Kocian Law Group in Manchester, Connecticut bought an old Kenny Rogers restaurant to use as an office. The building has been renovated to look like any other law office, except for the drive-through window:

"We have drive-thrus for ATMs and we have that customer convenience. Why not a law firm?" attorney Nick Kocian asked.

Kocian wanted to make things convenient for customers to easily drop off and pick up documents. He has been told this is the first drive-thru legal service in Connecticut and possibly the country.

"We represent a lot of injured people," Kocian said. "If you have somebody who's in a wheelchair or somebody who's hurt, it's convenient."

At the link, you can watch a news video about the firm.

Link via Jalopnik | Image: NBC Connecticut