Twin babies play with rubber bands. Doesn't sound all that exciting on the surface, but their joy and laughter make you smile and watch the whole thing. (via Daily Picks and Flicks)
Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
Do you know how many ways one can misspell "father"? The folks who submit pictures to Cake Wrecks have found quite a few, but the most common seems to be "farther." Besides the spelling, there are some examples of sad decorations in a roundup of awful Fathers Day cakes. Link
He makes his wishes very clear, but the man just won't take a hint! Or more likely, won't take no for an answer. -via Arbroath
Six young squirrels whose tails had become fused together were brought in to the Animal Clinic of Regina in Saskatchewan. Veterinarian Dr. Steven Kruzeniski said the condition, known as squirrel king, was rare, but he'd seen a case before.
This particular group of six were nesting near a pine tree and sap fused their tails together. A city of Regina worker found the young squirrels and brought them to the clinic.
The animals were sedated and the veterinarian team worked to untangle the mess of tails. Their tails were then shaved of the matted fur and they were given antibiotics to prevent infection.
Dr. Kruzeniski says the young squirrels were lucky to keep their tails as in some more extreme cases they have to be amputated.
After they were deemed healthy, the squirrels were released back into the city park. Link -via Arbroath
(Image credit: Animal Clinic of Regina)
It seems that forming a band was a rite of passage for young men in the '60s, '70s, and '80s. Those young men now have grown children. And just in time for Fathers Day, a new blog has been launched with the intriguing name and concept My Dad Was in a Band. The entries contain photographs, stories, audio recordings, and sometimes videos of dads who were rock stars in their day, submitted by their proud progeny.
My dad wore a leather catsuit with domino buttons when he married my mum and his platform shoes were taller than his brides. His first band of many was called Flaming Youth, he was the lead singer and Phil Collins (third from the left in the photo above) was the drummer. Together they released a concept album called Arc that told a futuristic tale about how man uses up all the resources on Earth. Even when singing about such things as civilization needing to find another planet to live on I’ve noticed that my dad has a hard time keeping a straight face on camera, he’s tickled from the inside out. –Emily Chatton, daughter of keyboardist Brian Chatton.
So far, there are only two pages of entries, but if your dad was in a band, you are welcome to submit him. Dangerous Minds has the story behind the blog, and a closer look at Flaming Youth. Link -via Boing Boing
When things go wrong, Daddy can fix it -especially if he has the power of the Force! Ah, if it were only so, things may have turned out quite differently for our favorite movie characters. Link -Thanks, Marlon!
This week, I find myself in the curious position of wrapping up a week of Neatorama that I wasn't even here for. In fact, I've been gone for three weeks. You probably didn't notice, as I had my name on a few posts anyway. My family went on divers and sundry adventures in the Great West: South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. You'll see some pictures eventually. But I'm glad to be back and see that things ran well without me -and relieved that things didn't run well enough for my job to be eliminated. So I'm catching up with the stuff I always tell you to catch up on!
Jill gave us a tour of The Wonderful Sights and Strange Tastes of the San Diego Fair.
Eddie Deezen looked into the question of Why Do Men Say "Hubba Hubba" When They See a Beautiful Girl?
Call Me Mister came from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
The Annals of Improbable Research contributed An Astrology Chart for Bacteria.
And The Quest for a Malaria Vaccine was a selection from mental_floss magazine.
I'm glad to see we have a new series called Whodunit from Hy Conrad. This week the second installment was Whodunit: A Maze of Suspects. Did you figure it out before you read the solution to the mystery?
We also had one Brainteaser, the Seven Letter Riddle from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
In this week's What Is It? game, the pictured item is still a mystery gadget, but if any of the guesses check out, we'll find out later this weekend at the What Is It? Blog. However, that doesn't really matter, as the object of the game is to come up with a funny and clever answer. About half the answers were some variation of a Bat'leth (which it does resemble), but the first person to suggest it didn't even select a t-shirt, so we looked for other answers. MJ Druitt said it's a toe jam removal tool for elephants, which is good for a t-shirt! Then The Professor said, "This device was once used to pry lobbyists and politicians apart if they got too close. Unfortunately since this device is the only one in existence and is now in the hands of the What Is It? Blog, politicians and lobbyists have become permanently fused at the wallet and are completely inseparable." That also deserves a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! Update: The real answer is... This is a tool for holding the lid on a barbecue grill at various heights. See the answers to all this week's mystery items at the What Is it? blog.
Also, I figured out that Neatoramanauts Roy Hinkley and The Professor are not the same person, even though they are on TV.
The most commented-on (non-giveaway) post of the week was Whodunit: A Maze of Suspects, which is not at all surprising. That was followed by Rent-A-Tire and Baby Mistakes Mole for Nipple.
The comment of the week came from Joseph Francis, who reacted to the post Magician Turns $1 Bills into $100 Bills for Panhandlers by trying it himself. He said, "My knuckles are bruised and so far I haven't been able to transform a one into anything larger than a ten. What gives?"
The most popular post this week was Heartwrenching Photo of a Boy Spending Some Time with His Dad. Coming in second was Why Do Men Say "Hubba Hubba" When They See a Beautiful Girl? and Honest Disney Movie Titles is in third place.
The most hearts went to the posts Amazing! How to Create Ice Instantly, followed by This Man Invented the Plastic Pink Flamingo. He and His Wife Have Worn Matching Outfits for the Past 35 Years, and Even Baby Horses Need A Teddy Bear.
The most emailed post by far was the Heartwrenching Photo of a Boy Spending Some Time with His Dad. The only other emailed post of note was NSA Surveillance Children's Book. Emailing a post from Neatorama is simple: just click on the title to isolate the post, then look for the little email button at the end of the article to bring up a form in which you can put your friends' addresses.
And don't forget, we have extra content and fun at our Facebook page every day! You are also invited to follow Neatorama on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. And mobile users: Flipboard makes it easy to keep up with Neatorama.
Oh yes, Fathers Day is tomorrow! You've probably figured that out due to the many posts about fathers in the past couple of days -and the Neatobot wearing a new tie above. If you didn't order a gift for your dad from the NeatoShop, you can order one today and slip a picture of the gift into a nice card. And if YOU are a father, grandfather, stepfather, godfather, father-in-law, father figure, or have a hand in raising the next generation in some manner, Happy Fathers Day from all of us at Neatorama!
The Food Lab at Serious Eats looks at things you've been told about the proper way to cook a steak. Some of what you've heard is correct, but some are just myths, like "Only flip your steak once!"
The reality is that multiple flipping will not only get your steak to cook faster—up to 30% faster!—but will actually cause it to cook more evenly, as well. This is because—as food scientist and writer Harold McGee has explained—by flipping frequently, the meat on any given side will neither heat up nor cool down significantly with each turn. If you imagine that you can flip your steak infinitely fast,* then you can see that what ends up happening is that you approximate cooking the steak simultaneously from both sides, but at a gentler pace. Gentler cooking = more even cooking.
That's just one of seven myths about steak debunked, with the science behind each. Warning: reading this will make you hungry. Link
(Image credit: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt)
Rhett & Link exchange nonsense in a rap battle over whose Daddy is the better man. The pictures they paint with their verse, like a monkey bringing herbal tea or a plant that grows fried onions, will make your father smile on Fathers Day! However, they are both wrong, as MY Daddy was the best daddy ever. -via Tastefully Offensive
We already know that having a pet is a good thing. Kathy Benjamin looked at the research and found many proven ways (ten to be exact) that owning dog is good for you.
But wait! What about cats? Benjamin posted a second list shortly afterward, with eight ways cat owners benefit from their furry friends. Some of the research contrasts cat owners with dog owners, but there are millions of people who have both cats and dogs, and derive benefits from both. After all, we know a good thing when we see it! Read both lists at mental_floss.
8 Benefits of Being a Cat Owner. Link
10 Benefits of Being a Dog Owner. Link
(Image credit: Erin McCarthy (cat) and Ethan Trex (dog).
A Father's Day to remember. Sure, it's goofy, but who cares when you have this much joy? Spending time together is way more important than what you do with your father. -Thanks, Addison Foote!
Romie Nunn (1903-1988) is a well-known figure in the history of Wyoming, and there's a town named for him. Nunn was a rancher and ran several businesses and also worked for oil companies, and he was an active member of the Caspar Chamber of Commerce and other civic organizations. But among those who knew him, he was also an amazing water witch, or dowser. Skeptics dismiss dowsing as nonsense, but even though no one can explain how it happened, Nunn found water when it was desperately needed.
The more Nunn witched, the more water he found. “It got to a point where he could tell the difference between an underground pool of water and an underground stream,” says Jack. “He would follow the stream aboveground and at a certain point, based on how he felt the copper rod was reacting, he could give you a fairly good estimate of depth and possible output.” “It always amazed me,” says Jack’s sister, Peggy Nunn Nicolls, “that when he would find something he could also figure out the size of the stream and how deep.” “He was actually pretty accurate,” concurs Jack. “Word just spread.”
Collectors Weekly has an extensive article on Romie Nunn and his abilities, plus the history and controversy of dowsing. Link
A video about faces and some other pictures which may be familiar to you, by Nice Peter of Epic Rap Battles. (via Arbroath)
A generation of Americans grew up thinking that the instant drink powder Tang was developed for the space program. That isn't true, but Tang was used during John Glenn's historic Mercury flight and then during the Gemini missions, which forever linked the drink with astronauts.
But last night, during an awards show on Spike TV, Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin revealed the truth about the legendary drink by saying "Tang sucks." NPR responded with a poll in which the majority of the respondents agree (so far). The comments reveal some fondness for Tang with vodka, often called a Cosmonaut, which probably has more to do with nostalgia than taste. For those too young to remember the hype about Tang, or who have never consumed it, imagine SunnyD without the 5% orange juice or the water.
Link -via reddit
The remains of the abandoned Beelitz Sanatorium is a combination of grand architecture and eerie medical artifacts. Built in 1898 in Berlin, it served victims of tuberculosis until it was converted to aid the wounded of World War II, including Adolf Hitler. After World War II, the hospital was used by Soviets occupying East Germany. Most of the Beelitz-Heilstätten complex has been empty since 1994. See a collection of awesome photographs of the sanatorium at Kuriositas. Link -via the Presurfer
(Image credit: Flickr user Judith74)
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