No, that couldn't be right… This 100+ meter ship is really a river barge with its cargo stacked artfully on top! Wooden ships like this were built by stacking logs in the forests of Russia, and after they floated down the Volga and Vetluga rivers, they were disassembled. What craftsmanship to put into a ship for one trip! That's why photographs of the boats are few, but you can see more of them and read about these huge wooden river ships at Dark Roasted Blend. Link
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NASA engineers are busy investigating the cause of the leaking spacesuit that caused an EVA on the ISS to be aborted a couple of weeks ago. Astronaut Chris Cassidy took the opportunity to make a couple of videos about the suits, showing us down here on Earth how the latest models are supposed to work. See those videos at the Atlantic, as well as some neat x-ray pictures of various spacesuits. Link
(Image credit: National Air and Space Museum/Smithsonian)
Adorable Yerin Park loves running from daddy when he makes those funny sounds …up to a point. That point was caught on camera, when she tells him off in baby talk. It only lasts for a minute, though, and the fun is on again. Yerin was around 15 months old at the time. -via Daily Picks and Flicks
Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.
What can you say about the icon of icons, the cult figure of cult figures, the man who is one of the most worshiped individuals in television history, Mr. William Shatner? Although he has had a very checkered and eclectic movie, stage, and TV acting career for almost six decades, as we all know so well, Shatner will forever be Captain James Tiberius Kirk, the captain of the starship USS Enterprise, on the classic TV series Star Trek in the minds of his legions of devoted fans.
Shatner starred in 79 episodes of the beloved series (1966-69), as well as reprising his Captain Kirk role in seven Star Trek films. Frequently parodied for his intense, over-the-top acting style (often dubbed "Shatnerian"), William Shatner is a four-times-married, Canadian-born, Jewish vegetarian who loves to ride and raise horses. Okay, let's take a look at a few facts you might not have known about Mr. William Shatner.
*In his early performing days, Shatner was once required to play the piano in a scene (with music supplied off-camera), then pull a weapon from a drawer to kill another actor. First the piano cue went badly, then the only "weapon" available turned out to be a corkscrew. Shatner carried on, and in his own words, "I screwed him to death!"
It's time for the latest edition of our collaboration with the always amusing What Is It? Blog. Can you guess what this thing is? If you don't know what it is, make up something funny!
Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many guesses as you'd like in separate comments. Pease do not post URLs or weblinks, as doing so will forfeit your entry. Two winners: the first correct guess and the funniest (albeit ultimately wrong) guess will win T-shirt from the NeatoShop.
Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don't include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts?
See more pictures of this mystery object at the What Is It? Blog. Good luck!
Update: the pictured tool is a probe for testing corn. It was thrust into a corn crib or other container and then rotated to scrape some kernels off the ears, which were then tested for temperature, moisture, quality, etc., similar to patent number 2,184,472. The first person who guessed that was Craig Clayton, who wins a t-shirt for his efforts! The funniest answer this week came from Jeff Snider, who guessed it was a hypodermic needle for whale doctors (now, that's what you call a veterinary specialty)! Unfortunately, he did not select a t-shirt. See the other mystery items of the week and the answers at the What Is It? blog.
Think about how you decorated your first apartment -or dorm room, if that's all you can remember. Which posters you selected for the walls probably say something about how old you are, but it also says something about what you considered cool, important, or beautiful at the time. Check this list to see how accurately those selections predicted your later life.
Turn-of-the-century absinthe advertisement: The worst thing you can think to call someone is “middlebrow.” Before that, it was “bougie,” but you like the way middlebrow sounds better. “Nothing’s wrong with it,” you say, trying to arch an eyebrow, “it’s just so middlebrow.”
Pink Floyd album covers drawn on backs of naked women: Every woman you have ever slept with has faked her orgasm without remorse or compunction. None of them considered for a moment doing otherwise. You have absolutely no idea.
Boondock Saints: Several of your roommates consider themselves tattoo artists. There are at least seven houseplants hanging from the ceiling in your kitchen; none of you have any idea how they got there.
Oh, there are a lot more. None is this bothers me because the only works of "art" in my first apartment were giveaway calendars from the Chinese restaurant where I worked nights. Oh, and a big red silk Rolling Stones 1975 tour banner. Link -via Metafilter
Brett Cohen came up with some fictional ice cream flavors inspired by books! With a little imagination and Photoshop, they are presented as flavors of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. They all seem like something the the company would come up with. Clockwork Orange Creamsicle sounds delicious, if a little violent. See the rest at Quirk Books. Link -via Boing Boing
In this video from Peace, Love, and Pitbulls, the resident dogs are in quarantine until the new puppy Bandit has all his shots. That's why they are exercising indoors. Meanwhile, little Bandit does his best to figure out how this treadmill thing is supposed to work! -via Metafilter
Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon is on Iceland's southeast coast, and it is full of blue icebergs that bob along and make the most spectacular sight. Juergen and Mike of For 91 Days went to see and photograph the lagoon and bring us back many lovely pictures.
Jökulsárlón’s icebergs are supplied by the Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier, which looks unfathomably huge looming behind the lagoon, but is actually just a small part of the much larger Vatnajökull Glacier. Although it’s been retreating since the late 19th century, Vatnajökull still covers 8% of Iceland and is Europe’s largest glacier. The lagoon itself is Iceland’s deepest, but didn’t even exist until the 1930s.
As Breiðamerkurjökull shrinks, giant chunks of ice break off and tumble down into Jökulsárlón, where they float listlessly about the water’s surface. By a quirk of nature, the icebergs don’t melt, nor does the lagoon freeze over. A natural river connecting Jökulsárlón to the Atlantic creates a mixture of salt and fresh water, cool enough to keep the ice mostly intact, but with enough salt to prevent the water from freezing. Eventually, the icebergs do melt away, but the process can take years.
See Jökulsárlón from all angles at Iceland For 91 Days. Link -Thanks, Juergen!
This map shows which countries of the world confer citizenship automatically on children born in the country. As you can see, it's a New World concept. Citizenship laws vary in the rest of the world, but in most cases, you get citizenship from your parents. A commenter at TYWKIWDBI explained how this affected a relative, who was born in Austria of Russian and Czechoslovakian parents. None of those three countries recognized the child as a citizen, so she came to the U.S. as a "Displaced Person." Link -via TYWKIWDBI
This seems like a combination of Nerdy Love Song and Cats Demand to be Petted. Riley Brown tries her best to continue playing the song, despite an overly needy cat. I think I know the problem: she's in the bathroom for the acoustics, and cats know that when you sit on a toilet, you have nothing better to do than pet a cat. It's not the first time this has happened. -via Tastefully Offensive
Tasul is a polar bear who lives at the Oregon Zoo. She is helping scientists test a new kind of collar that will track polar bears' location, movements, and behavior. These will eventually be used on polar bears in the wild, to study their habits and monitor their conditions. Bonus: the collar has a GoPro Hero3 camera, which gives us a view of the world as seen through a polar bear's eye's. We see what Tasul is watching and paying attention to …plus a bit of her ear. Link -via Viral Viral Videos
For a going-away party for a co-worker who likes burritos, redditor parakeetpoop made her first cake that looked like something besides a cake. The cake itself is chocolate with a fondant wrap. The lettuce is colored coconut, the tomatoes are strawberry fruit snacks, and the meat is a crushed chocolate bar. It looks so realistic that it made commenters crave burritos instead of cake! Link
Getting peanut butter out of a jar is no problem -until the jar is half-empty. Then, getting the rest out often involves getting your whole hand in the jar. But a new design called Jar With A Twist from a group of mechanical engineering students at North Carolina State University can change all that! It works somewhat like a push-up ice cream treat, in that the bottom gets pushed up as the product is used. It's also like a deodorant stick in that it twists its way to the top. But everything about the design is food-safe, and since the food is exposed to less air over time, it will stay fresher! The Jar With A Twist could be used for many viscous products like peanut butter, jelly, jam, frosting, cheese dip, salsa, and marshmallow cream. The group is working to market the idea to condiment companies. Link -via Fast Co Design
This ad for a tampon delivery service features a 12-year-old who was the first at her summer camp to get her first period. The whole thing is quite funny and will no doubt benefit the company, but the most unrealistic parts are 1. summer camp that lasts more than five days, and 2. young girls who have regular cycles. Oh, and if you're squeamish, be warned that this contains girl talk. Link -via Daily of the Day
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