Usul has called a big one! Again, it is the legend.
Plant a thumper and summon Jera, a professional cosplayer and costumemaker in Nashville. For the 2023 Dragon Con, she appeared in this costume that mashes up the sandworm from the Dune franchise (specifically the 2020s depictions) and a bunny girl outfit.
The detail is exquisite. Notice that the ears appear to be made of stillsuit cells.
The Artemis II mission is an extraordinary endeavor that possibly heralds a return of the ambitions and accomplishments of the Space Race of the 1960s. These astronauts are making the first human departure from low earth orbit since in 54 years.
Their $30 million toilet was recently in the news, as it briefly malfunctioned. This toilet is notable in that it is the first in human history to leave the loving embrace of Earth's close gravity. Scientific American explains that the Apollo astronauts did not have a high-tech suction toilet. They had to make do with an assortment of tubes and bags that did not function well in microgravity. The astronauts loathed it, as fecal matter occasionally escaped to float about the capsule.
So as long as the Universal Waste Management System on the Artemis II vessel continues to function, current astronauts will have a better experience.
-via Marginal Revolution
Itaru Sasaki's cousin died of cancer. Sasaki struggled with the loss. To help him move through the grief, he purchased an old phone booth and added a rotary phone. That's what you in the garden pictured above. Sasaki can, when he needs to, pick up the phone and speak as though he's communicating with is departed cousin.
Thus began the Wind Phone movement. There are at least 551 around the world, including 386 in the United States. Many are in spaces open to the public. You may be able to find one near your home using these interactive maps.
-via Atlas Obscura | Photo: Matthew Komatsu
In 1988, the Oscar Mayer company offered this promotional item. It can still be found occasionally on auction sites. This pan flute is not the only wiener whistle that the company offered, but appears to be the only one capable of multiple tones. The back side of the label provides instructions for playing the enchanted tones of the company jingle.
This pan flute is certainly superior to the alternatives, as it offers a loop at one end so that the instrument can be hung around the neck with a lanyard or at the waist with a retracting belt reel. Always keep your wiener whistle handy for emergencies.
-via Geppetto San Martín
William Daniels's acting career is almost as old as television itself, since it began in 1943 with a variety show performance on the nascent NBC network. He continued acting on television, films, and on stage.
For my generation, Daniels is the voice of KITT from Knight Rider. For Millennials, he's Mr. Feeny on Boy Meets World. He's still active, recently playing the ghost of King Henry VI in a production of Richard III and appearing on Dancing with the Stars.
But I posit that Daniels's greatest accomplishment is his marriage. Daniels and his wife, actress Bonnie Bartlett, hold the record for the longest ever Hollywood marriage at 74 years.
Ed Harrington is one of our favorite artists. He's designed many of the t-shirts that we sell at the NeatoShop and we've showcased some of his simultaneously monstrous and subversively amusing artworks.
Recently, he designed the XenoFrog sculpture which is on display at the Bottleneck Gallery in Brooklyn. It shows our favorite amphibian Muppet in his most terrifying form: the Xenomorph from the Alien franchise. It's not easy being green, but it's even harder when humans are hunting you and your young.
Harrington is selling a limited run of these sculptures, including a glow-in-the-dark variant.
-via Gizmodo
Minnesota's own MinnesotaStan introduces us to "funeral bread" -- a social gathering food from Minnesota and North Dakota. The Star Tribune says that it consists of cinnamon bread coated with a layer of Cheez Whiz and topped with sliced green olives. Some variants use rye or pumpernickel, but these are corruptions of the tradition which is centered around the small town of Roseau close to the Canadian border.
The dish is commonly served at communal gatherings after church or at funerals, hence the name.
The above photo is by from a now-deleted reddit account. I'm at a loss as to why the redditor was forced to purge their account and flee into hiding.
Part of the success of Costco is that visiting one is not just a shopping trip, but an experience. The food court is famous for its simple but very cheap fare, such as the $1.50 hot dog. Costco insists on being authentic to itself and not raising the price, despite inflation. Customers line up to participate in the slogan "I Got the Dog in Me," a reference to those hot dogs.
Now Costco is offering branded whiskey at a few warehouses in the DC area. Although the hot dog costs $1.50, the bottle of whiskey will set you back $85.99.
-via Aelfred the Great
Idea: Neatorama should offer branded whiskeys. I can suggest some innovative and unexpected flavors.
Hollywood, we now have a great premise for a new heist film! Fox Business reports that a truck containing 413,793 KitKat bars left a factory in Italy and vanished before it could arrive in Poland. Nestlé, the owner of the candy bars, is assuming that they were stolen. That's 12 tonnes* of chocolately goodness in the hands of the wrong people.
In a press release, Nestlé says that normal supply should not be impacted, so there is no immediate danger or cause for panic.
-via Stacey Vanek Smith | Photo: Carl Spencer
*I see reports of both 12 tonnes (12,000 kilograms) and 12 tons (24,000 pounds), but I think tonnes is what Nestlé means.
UPDATE 3/30/2026: We now have a suspect.
— Domino's Pizza UK (@Dominos_UK) March 30, 2026
In his 1972 breakout hit "Ain't No Sunshine," Bill Withers says, "I know" 26 times in a row. This is because he ran out of lyrics while he was recording the song and realized it only during the session. Then unknown and of limited financial means, Withers kept and worked with that recording. Now it's hard to imagine the song without it.
David Hartley is a music teacher who produces videos about the history of modern popular music. His latest work informs us of 15 songs with mistakes in their recordings. Did you know that Axl Rose's line "Where do we go now?" in "Sweet Child O'Mine" is a question that he was literally asking his colleagues in Guns N' Roses?
-via The Awesomer
The headline is awkward, but I want to be precise in my language. The bear, who is named Yelle, is not French-speaking (to my knowledge), but zoo trainers in Quebec taught him with commands in French. So when the bear was relocated to a zoo in Calgary, a city that speaks mostly English, it was necessary to hire a bear trainer who could speak French until Yelle picks up enough English to get by.
The Francophonic trainer, CTV News reports, is from Yelle's former home in Quebec. He and the Anglophonic trainers are helping Yelle adapt to life in Alberta and living with another polar bear.
-via Tom Antonov | Photo: Zoo Sauvage de Saint-Félicien
This rare instrument sounds like human voices
by u/Due-Explanation8155 in Romania_mix
Hans Reichel was an "experimental luthier" from Germany. He adapted and invented various stringed musical instruments, including, in 1987, the daxophone demonstrated above. It's an idiophone--a musical instrument in which sound is caused by vibrations through the entire body of the instrument rather than strings or membranes.
When played, the box produces sounds that resemble a human voice. Or the voice of something that used to be human before...changes took place. I don't know the origins of this specific daxophone, but Daniel Fishcan, a master woodworker, produces many and offers recordings on SoundCloud.
-via David Thompson
It was time for this ball of fur to go to the vet.
He disagreed.
Fox 4 News Kansas City reports that the cat in the suburb of Overland Park worked his way into the interior of a recliner and then became stuck. It became necessary for firefighters working with animal control to cut the chair apart to rescue him.
Thankfully, the cat was able to arrive at the veterinarian's office in time for his appointment.
Scooter the cat, the master of a home in Asheville, North Carolina, is completely unafraid of anyone or thing considering intruding into his territory. Human servant Will Jones recorded this video of Scooter standing his ground and driving the two black bears from his territory.
He is an inspiration to cats everywhere.
The UK division of Kentucky Fried Chicken is promoting pickles with a limited-time menu of pickle-infused foods, including Pepsi with pickle juice and French fries with pickles. KFC thinks that you love pickles (and you know that you do) and would do anything to have more pickles in your life.
FoodBeast reports that the company is now offering a puffer jacket that consists of pockets filled with pickles and pickle juice. There are siphons so that you can drink the pickle juice while on the go as well as refill the reservoir. Now if we can just hook in a pressure washer motor....
-via David Burge
