A limited edition run of Tayto chocolate bars with cheese and onion inside sold out quickly in Ireland, but 24 of the bars are going to Australians -thousands of whom entered a raffle for a chance to eat one!
The bars are made from the famous Irish Tayto cheese and onion crisps mixed with Irish chocolate - all in one bar.
A winning combination or a controversial mix? The jury is out but the response has been overwhelming.
Taste Ireland CEO Eamon Eastwood is the holder of the elusive chocolate bars and decided to raffle them off in a Facebook campaign.
"I couldn't believe the reaction, it went off the richter scale with almost half a million impressions," said Mr Eastwood.
The last five bars were given away Friday. Link -via Arbroath
If you didn't get one, you can make your own. Link
Robinsons is a British drink company. The juice in this ad is concentrated, and putting water into it is normal, so don't let that distract you too much. You'll probably want to watch this video twice, because once you see where it's going, there are little details that will make sense. -via Buzzfeed
NASA's MAVEN mission to Mars will carry a piece of Earth with it, in the form of submitted names and a little poetry, too.
The DVD will be in NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, which is scheduled for launch in November. The DVD is part of the mission's Going to Mars Campaign coordinated at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (CU/LASP).
The DVD will carry every name submitted. The public also is encouraged to submit a message in the form of a three-line poem, or haiku. However, only three haikus will be selected. The deadline for all submissions is July 1. An online public vote to determine the top three messages to be placed on the DVD will begin July 15.
"The Going to Mars campaign offers people worldwide a way to make a personal connection to space, space exploration, and science in general, and share in our excitement about the MAVEN mission," said Stephanie Renfrow, lead for the MAVEN Education and Public Outreach program at CU/LASP.
Okay, Neatoramanauts, let's hear your best haiku to impress NASA. Link -via Metafilter
The Bad Lip Reading folks have finally gotten around to dubbing the TV show The Walking Dead. It's funny enough to start with, with talking zombies and all, but when the Governor comes in, you'll want to make sure you don't have a mouthful of drink. Don't be concerned about spoilers, because these clips are from all three seasons and you won't be able to make any sense out of any of them. -via Pleated-Jeans
When George Lucas first wrote down the story that would eventually become Star Wars, it was so different from the finished product that it could stand alone as its own story. That's what J.W. Rinzler thought, but it took him years to convince Lucas to let it be published. Now Dark Horse Comics will release the story in an eight-issue series beginning in September.
“It’s a very different story. It’s not like, ‘Oh, this is a new scene,’” comics writer J.W. Rinzler told Wired. “It’s totally different, and although the characters are still there, they’re also totally different. Luke Skywalker isn’t an eighteen-year-old kid. He’s an old Jedi general with decades of experience. Leia is a princess, but she’s not related to Luke; she has a different mother and father. Han Solo is there, but he’s a giant green alien. A lot of the relationships are all there, they’re all percolating.”
Get an exclusive look at the art from the upcoming series at Wired. Link
Many Americans look at Cinco de Mayo as a celebration of Mexico, with tacos, margaritas, and piñatas. That's barely more authentic than celebrating St. Patrick's Day with green beer. But the holiday is not Mexico's independence day -it's a local celebration in the state of Puebla, centered in the capital of Puebla. For a real authentic holiday, dig a little deeper.
But what America’s Cinco de Mayo misses is the traditional food of Mexico, named to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, a recognition given to only one other cuisine (French). And, nachos with refried beans, cheese wiz and jalapenos is nowhere on the list or in the country. Taco Bell has even tried opening up in Mexico but each time has failed, simply because no one will eat there.
What makes traditional Mexican fare worthy of such a distinction? You won’t find cumin soaked ground beef hard shell tacos topped with iceberg and cheddar. But, you will find beef barbacoa that has been smoked underground in banana leaves or carnitas topped with queso fresco, pickled onions and homemade salsa verde wrapped in a warm homemade corn tortilla that has been ever so lightly heated on a comal. And Puebla, just so happens to be considered by many, including Rick Bayless and Mark Bittman, as the gastronomic capital of Mexico.
Smithsonian tells us about the regional favorites Mole Poblano, Chalupas, and Chiles en Nogada, with links to recipes for each. Link
"Beth," the biggest song KISS ever did, was supposed to be based on a true story. Brian Billow directed this "completely fictitious" account of what most likely happened to inspire the song. The attention to detail in recreating 1976 is stunning. -via Metafilter
Behold, a modern confession written on a bathroom stall, with a response that surprises no one. This is one of The 24 Most Important Things Ever Written In Bathroom Stalls, which are funny but contain some NSFW words. It's bathroom humor, of course. Link
Have you ever taken stock of the personal pronouns you use in everyday conversation? A German study found that those who use the first-person singular more often tend to have more personal problems and are more likely to be depressed.
In the study, 103 women and 15 men completed 60- to 90-minute psychotherapeutic interviews about their relationships, their past, and their self-perception. (99 of the subjects were patients at a psychotherapy clinic who had problems ranging from eating disorders to anxiety.) They also filled out questionnaires about depression and their interpersonal behavior.
Then, researchers led by Johannes Zimmerman of Germany's University of Kassel counted the number of first-person singular (I, me) and first-person plural (we, us) pronouns used in each interview. Subjects who said more first-personal singular words scored higher on measures of depression. They also were more likely to show problematic interpersonal behaviors such as attention seeking, inappropriate self-disclosure, and an inability to spend time alone.
Anyone who has dealt with self-obsessed teenagers will say, "Duh." And the report doesn't mention those who use predominantly second- or third-person pronouns; the contrast was with the prevalence of first-person plurals, like "we" or "us." Of course, this study doesn't mean that the language causes depression -the word frequency could be a symptom of underlying mental conditions. Link
Did you watch Iron Man 3 last night? Judging from the crowd in the theater parking lot, a ton of people did. Even if you didn't, you'll enjoy this remix from Mike Relm with clips from the films rhythmically mixed with the song. He used only widely available clips from Iron Man 3, so there are no spoilers. -via Viral Viral Videos
You know how we go for weeks at a time without any holidays, and then several bunch up together? That's what's going on this weekend. Today is Derby Day, the annual Kentucky Derby at Lousiville Downs. But it's also Star Wars Day, when even non-geeks will greet you with "May the fourth be with you." To which you reply, "And also with you." Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, meaning the fifth of May, an obscure holiday celebrated in the state of Puebla, Mexico, where they call it El Día de la Batalla de Puebla (The Day of the Battle of Puebla). The holiday has been appropriated by Americans in much the same way as St. Patricks Day or Chinese New Year. Whether you celebrate any or all of these holidays, I hope you can take some time this weekend to catch up on what's been happening at Neatorama. Here are our feature stories off the week:
In the What Is It? game this week, the pictured item is a Russian Soyuz 28 Navigation Unit, it was used to determine Latitude/Longitude, Landing Position, and Orbit Angle of Landing during flight. Read more about it and see more pictures at the What Is It? blog. The first with the correct answer was Anker, who wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! The prize for the funniest answer was from Rks1157, who said "Russia's version of Google Earth. Works by splicing it into a phone line. It is a the mobile version of the device. It attaches to a car battery." Unfortunately, he didn't specify a t-shirt. Thanks to everyone who played this week, and thanks to the What is It? blog.
Congratulations to the winners in the Choose Your Own Hello Kitty Prize Giveaway, Eridan, ladybugs, and Mari Gold! That contest was open exclusively to those who subscribe to NeatoMail, the weekly newsletter from Neatorama. You can sign up as a subscriber and know when the next giveaway will be!
Comment(s) of the week: We had a couple of comments this week that everyone should know about. Yes, we had several posts that veered into bathroom humor this week, and Charles 4 pointed that out in the story about hundreds of galloons of urine, by saying "Quick, call that guy with all the bedpans!" referring to this post, which had a lot of funny comments itself. Another great comment came in the post from Whomp! Comics when Ronnie Filyaw stepped in to say, "THIS IS THE GREATEST WEBCOMIC EVER, AND I AM TOTALLY NOT THE GUY WHO DRAWS IT." He got lots of ♥s for that one!
Looking forward to next week, I see that Mothers Day is Sunday, May 12th. That means you still have time to order your Mother Day gifts from the NeatoShop -but don't put it off much longer!
And if that isn't enough Neatorama for you, we have extra content and fun at our Facebook page, Twitter feed, Instagram, and Pinterest. And mobile users: Flipboard makes it easy to keep up with Neatorama.
Ken Zwick and Carol Hollar-Zwick bought a home in Neenah, Wisconsin in 1999. They knew there was a fallout shelter on the property, but didn't explore it for years. When they did, it was like opening a time capsule. The shelter was fully stocked with supplies bought fifty years ago!
When the Zwicks unlocked the heavy, metal hatch, they found watertight Army surplus boxes floating in 5 feet of water that had seeped into the shelter. The contents of the boxes, though, were in pristine condition.
A few of the boxes bore labels suggesting they might contain explosives, so agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to investigate, but nothing dangerous was inside.
“It was Hawaiian Punch,” Hollar-Zwick said. “It was all of what you would expect to find in a 1960s fallout shelter. It was food, clothing, medical supplies, tools, flashlights, batteries — items that you would want to have in a shelter if you planned to live there for two weeks.”
The Zwicks donated the supplies to the Neenah Historical Society, which is putting them on display as part of an exhibit called “Take Cover Neenah! Backyard Family Fallout Shelters in Cold War America.” Read more about Cold War fallout shelters at the Post Crescent. Link -via mental_floss
Filmgoers are looking forward to the latest movie adaptation of The Great Gatsby, in theaters May 10th. Baz Luhrmann's take is opulent and fashionable, but shows the flappers of the Roaring Twenties through a man's eyes.
The flapper movement wasn’t simply a fashion trend, as Emily Spivack at Smithsonian.com’s Threaded blog explains; it was a full-blown, grassroots feminist revolution. After an 80-year campaign by suffragists, women were finally granted the right to vote in the United States in 1920, when the Nineteenth Amendment was passed. When the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, many women entered the workforce, and when the soldiers returned in November 1918, their female counterparts were reluctant to give up their jobs.
As a result, young, unmarried women experienced far greater financial independence than they’d ever had before. Bicycles, and then cars, allowed them to get around town without a male escort. The spread of electric lighting allowed nightclubs to flourish, just as the Prohibition Amendment of 1919 forced them to go underground. Drinking at illegal “speakeasies” became a thrilling part of flapper culture. Suddenly, it was possible for women to go out and enjoy freedom and rebellion in a way they never had before when they were beholden to their fathers or husbands.
First, these flappers ditched the constraining, skin-covering clothes of their Edwardian mothers. Inspired by Cubist art and Art Nouveau haute couture, flappers rejected the dramatic, hyper-feminine S-shaped Edwardian silhouette created by tight, time-consuming corsets for sheath dresses that gave them boxy boyish shapes. In fact, this straight up-and-down figure was so extreme that curvier women went out of their way to squeeze into girdles and bandage their breasts flat. It was so severe that Luhrmann’s film doesn’t really go there, as most women today would not want to sport such a curveless look. These radical women pushed the boundaries of androgyny even further by chopping off their long Edwardian locks for bobbed hairstyles.
Then again, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote what he knew, and he knew his wife, Zelda, on whom he based Daisy, the flapper in The Great Gatsby. Read about Zelda Fitzgerald and other less wealthy flappers at Collectors Weekly. Link
Bourbon is a whiskey made of mostly corn that is aged in charred oak barrels. Straight bourbon is aged at least two years, and the best bourbon is aged at least eight years. That's the conventional wisdom. But a new brand of bourbon made in Cleveland is aged only a few days! Tom Lix developed a procedure for engineering the distinctive taste of bourbon without waiting so long.
Bourbon is typically aged over a period of time in which fluctuating temperatures throughout the day move distilled liquor in and out of the pores of oak barrels. Lix uses pressure to speed this up. He pours distillate into a stainless steel vat and throws cut-up pieces of barrel in after it.
He wouldn't let me see his machinery — "intellectual property," he says — but it sounded something like an overloaded washing machine during the spin cycle. Each beat, Lix says, is roughly the equivalent of 24 hours in a stationary barrel. The agitation squeezes the wood like a sponge and the "aging" of each batch is done within a few days.
Other bourbon distillers use other methods to speed up the process, like blasting loud music to vibrate barrels. Lix's product is called Cleveland Whiskey, which some whiskey aficionado don't like, but he manages to sell as much as he can make. Read about the new type of bourbon at NPR. Link -via Boing Boing
Russians commonly use dash cams to record what happens on the road to defend themselves in case of accident fraud. That's why we have so much footage of the meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk. The custom also records some wonderful instances of kindness. This compilation shows drivers and passersby helping drivers stuck in the snow, animals in the street, and many little old ladies terrified by traffic. -via Laughing Squid
