A simple song and a not-so-simple video by Andy Martin. Read about the making of this animation at his blog. Link -via The Litter Box
Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
An incident in Detroit raises several questions about street art. Renowned British graffiti artist Banksy visited a crumbling factory in the city and painted a wall.
The gallery defends its action by pointing out that the artwork would have been destroyed soon along with the building. Others respond that Banksy may have intended for that to happen. And then there's the fact that the context gave the painting it meaning in the first place. One could say that while Banksy broke laws against trespassing and vandalism, the gallery is guilty of theft. The property owner hasn't said anything about it yet. No one yet knows who, if anyone, stands to profit from the incident. Link -via Metafilter
(Image source: Banksy)
Discovered last weekend, the stenciled work shows a forlorn boy holding a can of red paint next to the words “I remember when all this was trees.” But by Tuesday, artists from the 555 Nonprofit Gallery and Studios, a feisty grassroots group, had excavated the 7-by-8-foot, 1,500-pound cinder block wall with a masonry saw and forklift and moved the piece to their grounds near the foot of the Ambassador Bridge in southwest Detroit.
The move -- a guerilla act on top of Banksy’s initial guerilla act -- has sparked an intense debate about the nature of graffiti art, including complicated questions of meaning, legality, value and ownership. Some say the work should be protected and preserved at all costs. Others say that no one had a right to move it — and that the power and meaning of graffiti art is so intrinsic to its location that to relocate it is to kill it.
The gallery defends its action by pointing out that the artwork would have been destroyed soon along with the building. Others respond that Banksy may have intended for that to happen. And then there's the fact that the context gave the painting it meaning in the first place. One could say that while Banksy broke laws against trespassing and vandalism, the gallery is guilty of theft. The property owner hasn't said anything about it yet. No one yet knows who, if anyone, stands to profit from the incident. Link -via Metafilter
(Image source: Banksy)
The book Geekspeak: A Guide to Answering the Unanswerable, Making Sense of the Insensible, and Solving the Unsolvable by Dr. Graham Tattersall poses, and answers, those questions that no one else seems to address -until now. Can you tell how heavy a bus is by looking at it? What size wings does an angel need to fly? What are the best words to use in a personal ad? How much could sea levels rise?
This is one of those books that makes being a geek fun (which geeks already knew) and makes real-world math accessible to those who might avoid it otherwise. To give you a taste of Geekspeak, we have obtained permission to reprint a chapter for your perusal. Fly Wheels looks at measuring biological power in mechanical terms in order to compare the two.
Continue reading
Geekspeak is an essential tool that will help you exercise your brain and solve the unsolvable, make you sound intelligent so you can impress your friends, and enable you to better understand the fascinating world in which we live in ways never thought possible before.
This is one of those books that makes being a geek fun (which geeks already knew) and makes real-world math accessible to those who might avoid it otherwise. To give you a taste of Geekspeak, we have obtained permission to reprint a chapter for your perusal. Fly Wheels looks at measuring biological power in mechanical terms in order to compare the two.
Mukhtar is a bud bus driver in Copenhagen. You can tell he was worried when a trumpeter started playing on his bus. Would the other passengers complain? Then it gradually became clear that almost everyone on the bus was there to wish him a happy birthday! -Thanks, Hanan!
Blue jeans are as American as apple pie and bathroom reading. In fact, you might have a pair around your ankles right now.
(Image source: Levi Strauss & Co.)
Canvassing the Customers
In 1850-during the California Gold Rush-a 17-year-old German-Jewish immigrant named Levi Strauss moved from New York City to San Francisco to sell dry good to the miners.
*He tried to sell canvas to them for their tents, but found little interest i it. So he made pants out of the material instead.
*The miners loved them. Although the pants weren't particularly comfortable, they were the first ones durable enough to withstand the miners' rugged living conditions.
*People nicknamed the pants Levi's, after their creator.
A Riveting Experience
In the early 1860s, Levi Strauss began using denim in his pants. It was still tough, but it was softer and more comfortable than canvas.
*He also found that when the denim pants were dyed an indigo blue, they wouldn't show soil and stains as much. Miners appreciated this, and Levi's became even more popular.
*Meanwhile, miners found that carrying heavy tools in their pockets often ripped the pants at the seams.
* A Nevada tailor named Jacob Davis solved that problem for his customers by securing each pocket seam with a rivet. It worked so well, in fact, that David wrote to Levi Strauss offering to sell him the idea. Strauss took him up on it; copper rivets first appeared on Levi's in 1873. They became a hallmark of the company's product. (Image credit: Flicker user thinkjose)
Levi's Middle-Age Spread
*Meanwhile, the Levi Strauss Company branched out into manufacturing other items as well as blue jeans... and by 1970 it had become the largest clothing manufacturer in the world.
(Image credit: Flickr user Troy Holden)
________________________________The article above is reprinted with permission from The Best of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts.
If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out!
In celebration of National Nurses Week, Cake Wrecks posted a collection of cakes by and for nurses, with a decided emphasis on rectal thermometers. Link
This video by Lucy Cooke will introduce you to the sloths of the Aviaros del Caribe sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica, which is the world's only sloth orphanage. Link -via Metafilter
The Spanish festival known as El Colacho has included "baby jumping" since the 1600’s. If you are in the area in June, you can get your baby jumped over as well! See what that's all about in a video posted at NeatoBambino. http://www.neatorama.com/neatobambino/2010/05/14/castrilla-de-murcias-baby-jumping-festival/
This past week here at Neatorama, Alex formally introduced two new members of the Neatorama family: the blogs NeatoBambino (curated by Tiffany Santoso, aka Mrs. Neatorama) and NeatoGeek (curated by John Farrier). You can bookmark the sites, or go to either by using the pull-down menu near the top of this page.
At the Spotlight Blog, we had an exclusive infographic on Cats vs. Dogs, which sparked a discussion on their relative merits at the post itself, at the main blog, and at Digg.
From Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, we got a list of Lost TV Pilots, one-time-only episodes that were supposed to lead to a series, but didn't for one reason or another.
From mental_floss, we were Marching to the Beat of a (Very) Different Drummer. Rock and roll drummers leave some very strange stories behind!
Videosift presented the Neatorama Treasure Hunt in which you answered questions to find a hidden page. Six people won prizes from the Neato Shop and TeeVirus. Congratulations to grand prize winner GaussZ and five other winners!
Thursday brought another chance to win prizes with the What Is It? competition.
The month-long contest at the Upcoming Queue continues. It's not too late to get involved by creating your own Neatorama posts. Even if you aren't competing, we invite you to help us out by looking through the submissions, checking out the links, and voting those posts up or down.
Oh yes, there are even bigger and better games and contests coming next week at Neatorama!
We welcome your tips and suggestions, kudos and criticism, and comments of (almost) all kinds.
How do cobras shoot venom so accurately into a moving target's eyes? Bruce Young of the University of Massachusetts wanted to find out -which involved taunting a cobra into defensive action!
The finer details of how the cobra does this is explained at Not Exactly Rocket Science. Link
By taunting cobras from behind his visor, Young discovered their secret. The snake waits for a particularly jerky movement to trigger its attack and synchronise the movements of its heads in the same way. It shakes its head rapidly from side to side to achieve a wide spray of venom. And it even predicts the position of its target 200 milliseconds later and shoots its venom at where its eyes are going to be.
The finer details of how the cobra does this is explained at Not Exactly Rocket Science. Link
How many cities in Florida can you name? If you can name the twenty biggest cities in Florida in five minutes or less, you deserve a star! If you get half of them, you'll be considered a winner. Try your hand in this Lunchtime Quiz from mental_floss, and let us know how you did. Or, if you prefer to name the biggest twenty cities in California or Texas instead, you'll find links to those quizzes as well. I got over half, then I was stumped. I should take a vacation! http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/55535
In case you occasionally get busy, you should check out the page where we index the best of Neatorama's exclusive articles to find posts you may have missed when they first appeared. Apparently, what it takes to get on the "best of" page is a picture of the subject facing left and contemplating something important -even if it is fending off a fart! http://www.neatorama.com/best/
Lost fans have marked May 23rd as the ending of an era, when the final episode of the TV series will air. Executive producer Jean Higgins took some time to reveal some secrets -no, not how the show will end, but a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like to film the series in Hawaii and how they recreated other settings in the island paradise. There's even some travel tips in this interview at National Geographic Adventure. Link
(Photographs courtesy of ABC, Jean Higgins)
(Photographs courtesy of ABC, Jean Higgins)
Buzzfeed has a collection of many, many cakes baked for a new graduate. Some will make you want to take cake-decorating lessons, and others will remind you how many different ways you can misspell "congratulations"! Link
Mental_floss takes a look at seven bands and their colorful drummers. Real or fictional, these musicians left their mark on our pop culture landscape.
Keith Moon: The Who's Who of Drummers
Rockers who find novelty in trashing hotel rooms should bow their heads in shame and take a lesson from the original master, Keith Moon. Dubbed "Moon the Loon" for his frenetic craziness, the infamous drummer for The Who took mess-making to heights unseen outside the closets of teenage girls. One famous incident happened after a hotel manager told Moon to turn down the "noise" in the lobby (which just happened to be Moon playing some of The Who's songs on cassette). This could have been the manager's way of subtly letting Moon know that rocking out to his own music is about as lame as wearing a Who T-shirt to a Who concert, but the drummer didn't see it that way. In response, Moon walked the manager back to his hotel room and had him wait in the hall while while he trashed the place in true rock star fashion. Then just to ensure a grand finale, the drummer blew the door off its hinges with a cherry bomb. He then turned to the manager and said, "That was noise." The two returned to the lobby, where Moon restarted the tape deck and said, "This is The Who." (image credit; Wikimedia user Leahtwosaints)
John Bonham: Led's Head Case
When a guy's drumsticks are so big and heavy that they're referred to as "trees", you probably don't want to pick a fight with him-even if he, say, throws you off stage during your own performance. Such was the case with Led Zeppelin drummer John "Bonzo" Bonham, who had a habit of making it very clear when he thought someone else's drumming was sub-par. According to Zeppelin manager Richard Cole, Bonham saw nothing wrong with jumping up on stage, replacing the other band's drummer, and giving the audience "the best show" he could muster. In similar stage-hog form, Bonham was known to take his trademark "Moby Dick" and extend it to a masochistic hour-long experience, leaving one to wonder why fans didn't take a lesson from Bonham and jump on stage to end the ego-fest. (Image credit: Flicker user Dina Regine)
Animal: A Split Personality
Who's the craziest drummer of all time? Jim Henson's Animal, of course. The drummer in the all-Muppet group Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem Band, Animal's Ritalin poster-boy ways were inspired by none other than Keith Moon. But not even "Moon the Loon" could claim to be covered in hair, or wear broken shackles around his neck and wrists. It took not one, but TWO, behind-the-scenes talents to pull of such an impersonation. Frank Oz performed the voice of Animal (he was also responsibel for the vocal stylings of Miss Piggy and Yoda from "Star Wars"), but had no part in the drumming itself. For that, Henson hired Britain's leading big-band drummer Ronnie Verrall. Ironically, it was Verrell's turn as the "WO-man" crazy Animal that would finally allow him to collaborate with drummer/idol Buddy Rich, as well as some not-so-sought-after idols: a pig, a frog, and a Gonzo.
Stewart Copeland: A Sting and a Miss
If it weren't for Stewart Copeland, the famed rock group The Police would probably have never formed. Of course, if it weren't for Stewart Copeland, they probably wouldn't have broken up. Copeland and lead singer Sting were constantly at each other's throats, resulting in creative arguments, sabotage, and yes, even fisticuffs. Copeland, who felt his creation slipping away as Sting's popularity eclipsed his own, often resorted to completely throwing out Sting's musical compositions in favor of his own re-worked arrangements. In retaliation, Sting would often have Copeland isolated in a separate studio during recording sessions. Which, we suppose, is another way of saying, "Don't stand so close to me."
Buddy Rich: Little Drummer Boy
Practice might make perfect for some people, but not for Bernard "Buddy" Rich. Easily the world's greatest jazz drummer, Rich never took a lesson and refused to even consider stooping to something as silly as rehearsing. The son of vaudeville performers, Rich hit the stage in 1921 when he was only four years old (where he was billed as "Traps, the Drum Wonder") and soon became the second-highest paid child entertainer in the world. Later in his career, he led some of the most successful big bands ever, and played with such greats as Tommy Dorsey, Dizzy Gillespie, and Louis Armstrong. But his driven and competitive nature came complete with a volatile temper, which Rich was happy to showcase. He was notorious for screaming at his band members for hours on end (which they secretly recorded) and fearlessly ridiculing pop stars during public interviews. Oh, and Rich also always needed to have the last word, even on his deathbed. While lying in a hospital after surgery, a nurse asked Rich if anything was bothering him. His response: "Yes ... country music."
John Fishman: Vac to the Future
Most drummers are known for their ability to play (shocker!) the drums, but John Fishman rolls his eyes at such a cliche notion. Chief envelope-pusher of the envelope-pushing band Phish, Fishman, besides being a drummer, is also a gifted virtuoso on the 1965 Electrolux vacuum cleaner. By putting the device in reverse mode s that it blows air out of the tubing, Fishman is able to create a squealing sound when he covers the opening with his mouth. It seems like an, er "acquired taste" to us, but the band's, shall we say, unique audience gleefully accepts it as music, so who are we to judge? In fact, the instrument is so popular that Fishman created a similar device called the "bag-vac" by combining an Electrolux vacuum with a set of bagpipes, which (finally) legitimized housecleaning in a kilt. Men of the world, rejoice! (image credit: Flickr user Dan Shinneman)
Wanted: Drummer Who Won't Die
While rock drummers are notorious for dying too young, no band has had more trouble keeping the slot filled than legendary (and utterly fictional) rock group Spinal Tap. Here's a recap of how just a few of their so-called drummers have disappeared.
>>In 1969, original drummer John "Stumpy" Pepys, also known as the Peeper, is killed in a bizarre gardening accident that the police claim is "best left unsolved."
>>Eric "Stumpy Joe" Childs (from the band Wool Cave) is hired, yet tragically dies in 1974 from choking on someone else's vomit. The originator of the vomit is still unknown however, because -as Tap bassist Derek Smalls so insightfully points out- "you can't really dust for vomit".
>>Peter "James" Bond steps in but dies from spontaneous human combustion.
>>Mick Shrimpton is hired to fill Bond's shoes (and sticks), but he, too, spontaneously combusts.
Be sure to visit mental_floss' entertaining website and blog for more fun stuff!
Keith Moon: The Who's Who of Drummers
Rockers who find novelty in trashing hotel rooms should bow their heads in shame and take a lesson from the original master, Keith Moon. Dubbed "Moon the Loon" for his frenetic craziness, the infamous drummer for The Who took mess-making to heights unseen outside the closets of teenage girls. One famous incident happened after a hotel manager told Moon to turn down the "noise" in the lobby (which just happened to be Moon playing some of The Who's songs on cassette). This could have been the manager's way of subtly letting Moon know that rocking out to his own music is about as lame as wearing a Who T-shirt to a Who concert, but the drummer didn't see it that way. In response, Moon walked the manager back to his hotel room and had him wait in the hall while while he trashed the place in true rock star fashion. Then just to ensure a grand finale, the drummer blew the door off its hinges with a cherry bomb. He then turned to the manager and said, "That was noise." The two returned to the lobby, where Moon restarted the tape deck and said, "This is The Who." (image credit; Wikimedia user Leahtwosaints)
John Bonham: Led's Head Case
When a guy's drumsticks are so big and heavy that they're referred to as "trees", you probably don't want to pick a fight with him-even if he, say, throws you off stage during your own performance. Such was the case with Led Zeppelin drummer John "Bonzo" Bonham, who had a habit of making it very clear when he thought someone else's drumming was sub-par. According to Zeppelin manager Richard Cole, Bonham saw nothing wrong with jumping up on stage, replacing the other band's drummer, and giving the audience "the best show" he could muster. In similar stage-hog form, Bonham was known to take his trademark "Moby Dick" and extend it to a masochistic hour-long experience, leaving one to wonder why fans didn't take a lesson from Bonham and jump on stage to end the ego-fest. (Image credit: Flicker user Dina Regine)
Animal: A Split Personality
Who's the craziest drummer of all time? Jim Henson's Animal, of course. The drummer in the all-Muppet group Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem Band, Animal's Ritalin poster-boy ways were inspired by none other than Keith Moon. But not even "Moon the Loon" could claim to be covered in hair, or wear broken shackles around his neck and wrists. It took not one, but TWO, behind-the-scenes talents to pull of such an impersonation. Frank Oz performed the voice of Animal (he was also responsibel for the vocal stylings of Miss Piggy and Yoda from "Star Wars"), but had no part in the drumming itself. For that, Henson hired Britain's leading big-band drummer Ronnie Verrall. Ironically, it was Verrell's turn as the "WO-man" crazy Animal that would finally allow him to collaborate with drummer/idol Buddy Rich, as well as some not-so-sought-after idols: a pig, a frog, and a Gonzo.
Stewart Copeland: A Sting and a Miss
If it weren't for Stewart Copeland, the famed rock group The Police would probably have never formed. Of course, if it weren't for Stewart Copeland, they probably wouldn't have broken up. Copeland and lead singer Sting were constantly at each other's throats, resulting in creative arguments, sabotage, and yes, even fisticuffs. Copeland, who felt his creation slipping away as Sting's popularity eclipsed his own, often resorted to completely throwing out Sting's musical compositions in favor of his own re-worked arrangements. In retaliation, Sting would often have Copeland isolated in a separate studio during recording sessions. Which, we suppose, is another way of saying, "Don't stand so close to me."
Buddy Rich: Little Drummer Boy
Practice might make perfect for some people, but not for Bernard "Buddy" Rich. Easily the world's greatest jazz drummer, Rich never took a lesson and refused to even consider stooping to something as silly as rehearsing. The son of vaudeville performers, Rich hit the stage in 1921 when he was only four years old (where he was billed as "Traps, the Drum Wonder") and soon became the second-highest paid child entertainer in the world. Later in his career, he led some of the most successful big bands ever, and played with such greats as Tommy Dorsey, Dizzy Gillespie, and Louis Armstrong. But his driven and competitive nature came complete with a volatile temper, which Rich was happy to showcase. He was notorious for screaming at his band members for hours on end (which they secretly recorded) and fearlessly ridiculing pop stars during public interviews. Oh, and Rich also always needed to have the last word, even on his deathbed. While lying in a hospital after surgery, a nurse asked Rich if anything was bothering him. His response: "Yes ... country music."
John Fishman: Vac to the Future
Most drummers are known for their ability to play (shocker!) the drums, but John Fishman rolls his eyes at such a cliche notion. Chief envelope-pusher of the envelope-pushing band Phish, Fishman, besides being a drummer, is also a gifted virtuoso on the 1965 Electrolux vacuum cleaner. By putting the device in reverse mode s that it blows air out of the tubing, Fishman is able to create a squealing sound when he covers the opening with his mouth. It seems like an, er "acquired taste" to us, but the band's, shall we say, unique audience gleefully accepts it as music, so who are we to judge? In fact, the instrument is so popular that Fishman created a similar device called the "bag-vac" by combining an Electrolux vacuum with a set of bagpipes, which (finally) legitimized housecleaning in a kilt. Men of the world, rejoice! (image credit: Flickr user Dan Shinneman)
Wanted: Drummer Who Won't Die
While rock drummers are notorious for dying too young, no band has had more trouble keeping the slot filled than legendary (and utterly fictional) rock group Spinal Tap. Here's a recap of how just a few of their so-called drummers have disappeared.
>>In 1969, original drummer John "Stumpy" Pepys, also known as the Peeper, is killed in a bizarre gardening accident that the police claim is "best left unsolved."
>>Eric "Stumpy Joe" Childs (from the band Wool Cave) is hired, yet tragically dies in 1974 from choking on someone else's vomit. The originator of the vomit is still unknown however, because -as Tap bassist Derek Smalls so insightfully points out- "you can't really dust for vomit".
>>Peter "James" Bond steps in but dies from spontaneous human combustion.
>>Mick Shrimpton is hired to fill Bond's shoes (and sticks), but he, too, spontaneously combusts.
___________________________
Marching to the Beat of a (Very) Different Drummer is reprinted with permission from the Scatterbrained section of the March/April 2005 issue of mental_floss magazine.Be sure to visit mental_floss' entertaining website and blog for more fun stuff!
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