Company site and Reuters article via Geekologie
John Farrier's Blog Posts
Company site and Reuters article via Geekologie
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
(YouTube Link)
Here's the trailer for Chris Lund's online film The Outbreak, in which you, the viewer, select how the main character responds to different choices. It's sort of like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel, but in the form of a well-made film. Content Warning: profanity.
Link via Double Plus Undead
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.
Link via Fallon and Rosof
Internet entrepreneur Jay Walker used his fortune to create an elaborate library filled with intellectual achievements spanning human history, including a copy of Sputnik, the napkin that Roosevelt sketched out his plan for victory in 1943, and a field tool kit for Civil War surgeons. Walker describes his motivation:
"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:
But I get the feeling that you don't like it
What's with all the screaming?
You like monkeys, you like ponies
Maybe you don't like monsters so much
Maybe I used too many monkeys
Isn't it enough to know that I ruined a pony making a gift for you?
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
From a live performance of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Can you dig it? Run time: 3 minutes, 32 seconds. Via John Carney
(Video Link)
The Hi-Fidelity Quartet performed this Barbershop song about Star Trek while acting out the roles of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty. Run time: 4.5 minutes.
Additionally, here is a recording of what they call the "Enterprise/Sulu Medley", also about classic Trek.
Here is a 1978 film strip presentation by Pendulum Press of Episode IV of Star Wars. Run time: 20 Minutes. Via Topless Robot