The Pony Mixer is a generator in which you can customize Shetland ponies dancing to various music genres, such as rock, Bollywood, hip-hop, rave, punk, and funk. It's an advertising stunt for some company that sells something besides ponies. Link -via Metafilter
Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
A pair of cheetah cubs born at the National Zoo in Washington have been hailed as a miracle, or at least a victory, in the science of breeding cheetahs. Since they were declared an endangered species, zoos can no longer import cheetahs from the wild, and breeding them became very important, not only for the sake of the zoos, but to help researchers keep them from disappearing altogether. Why are cheetahs so hard to breed in captivity? SciWrite has a fascinating three-part post on the history of cheetahs, their social structure in the wild, and the attempts to breed them in captivity. Oh yeah, and the story of Ally's difficult birth that resulted in the two cubs, Justin and Carmelita. From part two:
While some researchers started watching cheetahs from afar, another group took an opposite approach and starting collecting blood, urine, and stool samples. Written into the cheetah’s genes, researchers stumbled upon the cat’s dark history. Around 10,000 years ago, cheetahs nearly went extinct. An estimated 10-20 individuals survived, the ancestors of all living cheetahs today. Consequently, current “cheetahs have almost zero percent of genetic variability,” says Steve Bircher. They are “all like brothers and sisters.”
Could the lack of genetic diversity having a lingering effect? Studies of male cheetah sperm showed startlingly low sperm counts; about one-tenth the normal counts of lions, tigers, and domestic cats, according to Bircher. This was initially thought to explain low captive birth rates until it was realized that wild Namibian males with similarly low sperm counts reproduce just fine.
“Lack of genetic variability is not what has hampered the cheetah ability to breed,” says Bircher. “Quite simply, it’s how we managed cheetahs.”
Just above the title of each post you'll find the link to the next post in the series. Link -via Not Exactly Rocket Science
(Image credit: Adrienne Crosier, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute)
It started out as a simple picture post, then the comment thread went in a different direction and became something special. Redditor gxace has fingers that don't bend, so he does not have the wrinkles on the inside of his knuckles that the rest of us have. That was mildly interesting, but then someone asked, "How did you take that picture?"
The always-amazing Top Secret Drum Corps from Basel, Switzerland performs at the 2012 Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The "digital age" part comes in the last minute or so. -via Daily Picks and Flicks
Yes, these are real eggs decorated with real embroidery. Brett Bara saw some embroidered Easter eggs, but found no instructions. So she developed her own technique!
My research didn’t uncover much in the way of a how-to for this technique, so after much obsessing, I decided to give it a try on my own. To my surprise, sewing on eggs isn’t really difficult at all, once you get the hang of it! I know you don’t believe me, and this project truly does seem to defy the laws of physics.
She posted the step-by step instructions at Design Sponge. Hint: they involve a Dremel. Link -via Everlasting Blort
British artist and physicist James Chapman designed a map of the United States featuring the settings of 113 television series. See the map full size and purchase if you want at Etsy. Sadly, Justified, a show set in my birthplace, is not included. Link -via Laughing Squid
The following is an article from Uncle John's Heavy Duty Bathroom Reader.
What happens when one of Hollywood's most famous movie mobsters meets up with the genuine article? Here's the story of one of the most unusual "sit-downs" in mob or movie history. Bada-bing!
CONNECTED
Even if you've never heard of Rocco Musacchia, if you're a fan of gangster films like Prizzi's Honor (1985), Donnie Brasco (1997), and Mickey Blue Eyes (1999), you're familiar with his work. Musacchia works as a "technical advisor" on mob films. He teaches Hollywood actors how to act like gangsters- "how a wise guy dresses, how he walks and talks and wears his hat," as he put it. He grew up around such real-life characters in Brooklyn and has maintained his contacts over the years.
In the summer of 1989, Musacchia was working on The Freshman, starring Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick. In the film, Brando parodies his role in The Godfather by playing a mobster named Carmine Sabatini, who just happens to look and even dress like The Godfather's Vito Corleone.
LET'S EAT
One evening after filming a scene in the Little Italy neighborhood of New York, Brando and his co-stars went to a nearby Italian restaurant to eat dinner and watch the prizefight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns.
The evening got off to a bad start. Hearns was widely thought to have won the 12-round bout, but the judges scored it a draw, which drove fans like Brando crazy. Making matters worse, Brando was on a diet: He had to settle for a plate of broiled fish while everyone around him feasted on some of the best Italian food in the city. He was in a foul mood, but he perked up when word filtered into the restaurant that John Gotti, the infamous head of the Gambino crime family, had just walked into his headquarters, the Ravenite Social Club, right across the street.
The movie King Kong premiered 80 years ago today at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
Though ticket prices ranged from 35 to 75 cents, King Kong went on to gross a then-whopping $89,931 over the next four days in New York City alone. Not bad for a movie released at the rock-bottom of the Great Depression! Since then, the simian celebrity has (among other things) starred in two remakes, battled Godzilla, and even worked as a “spokes-primate” for Volkswagen.
But it’s the original picture that’s left the biggest influence on the motion picture industry, a movie that opened the door for every special-effects film from The Wizard of Oz to The Lord of the Rings.
Mental_floss has a list of ten fascinating facts about the 1933 film King Kong. Link
Today is the 109th anniversary of the birth of Theodor Geisel, who we know as Dr. Seuss. In honor of the occasion, how about a list of facts you might not know about Dr. Seuss -but you should.
5. He once used the pen name Rosetta Stone. And he did not teach you to speak Portuguese in three months.
6. He's widely credited with coining the word "nerd" in his 1950 book If I Ran The Zoo.
7. He was an Oscar winner. Not all of the big screen adaptations of his works were so acclaimed (sorry, Cat In The Hat), but his early days of film were filled with critical darlings. His documentary films Hitler Lives and Design For Death won Academy Awards in 1946 and 1947, and his cartoon short Gerald McBoing Boing won an Oscar in 1951.
You can read the rest at Hollywood. Number 9 has to be my favorite. Link -via Digg
The bread from Abbott's Village Bakery in Australia is 100% free-range. Happier bread makes happier sandwiches! -Thanks, John James!
Astrophysicist and geek idol Neil deGrasse Tyson, during a taping of his radio show Star Talk, asked for Buzz Aldrin's approval to show the audience what it's like to walk on the moon. If you can't guess what happens then, watch the video. -via Hypervocal, where you can see deGrasse Tyson dance at another occasion as well.
Henri the Existential Cat has gone commercial. The less-than-frisky cat has been commissioned to do a series of videos on cat food for Friskies. The top comment at YouTube:
One's integrity, thrown upon the pyre for mere money. All justice is futility, and my tomorrows are grim. Perhaps today I leap into traffic.
This is the first of four videos for the cat food company. I will be thoroughly disappointed if Henri ends it as a happy, excited cat due to Friskies catfood. -via Blame It On The Voices
You hear it all the time that international cuisine in America is not authentic, particularly when discussing Olive Garden and Taco Bell. Well, we know that, but the argument also comes up about the mom-and-pop ethnic restaurant on the corner. Turn that idea around, and you have to wonder whether other countries have "American" restaurants. Yes, they do -and they can say a lot about how the world views American food. CNN has reviews of the worst attempts at recreating the American dining experience in Europe. American Dream in Paris leads the list:
Rude service. A patronizing menu of “American” specialties. An interior that takes kitsch to a nauseating level, with an over-abundance of cheap tchotchkes throughout, and for some inexplicable reason, a basement dedicated to Japanese manga.
***
The fries taste stale and the shakes are sweet to the point of undrinkable. The menu full of overpriced blandness is served on dishes made to look like paper plates.
We get it. American food is often rightly mocked for being oversized, dripping in grease or just plain tasteless.
But to make an entire restaurant out of the joke isn't funny.
Have you ever been to any of the restaurants on this list? Or to any "American" restaurants in Europe? Link -via Alltop
PS: They're not all bad. CNN also lists the best American restaurants in Europe. Link
Barbie has a new dress embedded with LEDs! The "digital dress" has several pre-programmed patterns and an interactive mode with touch screen technology, plus a sound activated mode. Look for the Barbie doll with the digital dress for $50 in August. You glow, girl! -via Geekologie
They say March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. The lion part is correct, at least where I live, as we've had snow and high winds. It's going to be an eventful month, as we have Daylight Saving Time beginning in a week, then St. Patricks Day, the vernal equinox (and not a moment too soon), Passover, and Easter. Speaking of holidays, Alex did what he said he'd do, and gathered all the NeatoShop St. Patricks Day clothing, accessories, and gift items into one place. I guess you could call it the St. Patricks Day Shop. And all the Easter items are easy to find in one place, too! Meanwhile, take a minute to catch up on what you may have missed this week at Neatorama.
Eddie Deezen told us A Few Things You May Not Know About Seth MacFarlane.
Over at the Spotlight blog, we saw Jewel of the Universe, the fanciest world map you've ever seen.
The Annals of Improbable Research gave us Biology of the Family Chiaceae (Chia Pets).
Death on the Mississippi was the story of the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history, from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
And mental_floss magazine gave us A Long, Strange Trip, about research into the medicinal value of psychedelic drugs.
We also saw More of Ol' Jay's Brainteasers, a bonus from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
In this week's What Is It? game, the mystery object is a fly fisherman's line stripping basket. In fly casting, there is a lot of loose line, and one of these baskets on your waist holds the extra line and keep it from getting tangled. Anker was the first with the correct answer, and wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! The funniest answer came from Kevin George, who said, "Early combination soap dish and ashtray. Later models included a cocktail umbrella to keep the cigarette from going out." I guess that would be necessary if you're going to smoke in the shower! So he also wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop. Find the answers to all the mystery items of the week at the What Is It? blog.
The post that got the most comments this week were Man Commits a Crime to Get Healthcare
which tied with Is It Possible to Be Too Beautiful? followed by Why Atheists Need A Temple.
The comment of the week came in the V-shaped toaster post, when Joseph Francis reacted to the spreading knife (shown): "I hated that knife, but every time I tried to throw it away it kept coming back to me." Ha!
This week's stories that were viewed the most were Three Exotic Necktie Knots to Try: The Eldredge Knot, The Trinity Knot, and The Cape Knot, followed by Bed Bath & Beyond's Stack of Towels is a DAMNED LIE! and Death on the Mississippi. And even though it was a story from over a week ago, Medieval Manuscript Peed on by a Cat went viral and was read enough to have made second for this week, too.
Usability tip of the week: You can suggest items for inclusion at Neatorama by emailing tips@neatorama.com and we really appreciate it, even if we don't use it. Really! However, if you see the item without a thank you, or credit to someone else, it's because we were already working on it or have it in the pipeline. Don't let that discourage you -we can use all the help we can get in finding neat links to share!
When you get caught up on what's here at Neatorama, go see what's happening at Facebook and Twitter, where we put extra stuff for those who care to follow. Tell your friends to follow us on Pinterest, also! And mobile users: Flipboard makes it easy to keep up with Neatorama. Oh yeah -look for Neatorama in Instagram, too!
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