Artist Olly Moss created his own version of the classic Blue Willow china pattern by incorporating video game imagery into the design. These would blend into my own china collection seamlessly, but would also get my grandson to eat all his vegetables just to see what was underneath! Link -via Laughing Squid
See more from Olly Moss.
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Scholastic books is giving Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone a new cover. Artists and fans have been designing their own new covers for quite some time, some of which are quite remarkable. Flavorwire has ten minimalist makeovers for various Harry Potter books, and some of them cover the entire series. The cover shown here is from Kathie Bayne. Link
Challenge yourself with a quiz on U.S. presidential trivia for Presidents Day at Buzzfeed. You may do quite well, considering how much trivia we've given you here at Neatorama! I scored 12 out of 16. How did you do? Link
I've watched dozens of Harlem Shake videos in the last few days, from TV show casts, military units, and even one done underwater. I keep rejecting them because the meme is burning up faster than Gangnam Style, and it would be easy to overdo it. However, this video from SeaWorld in San Antonio, Texas, has something special the rest of them don't. -via reddit
Camera resolution charts are like eye charts for cameras. They are used to calibrate and focus the instruments. Cameras on airplanes need to be calibrated, too -and the charts for them are there, larger than life, to be used by spy planes and drones, and even by satellites.
The largest concentration of calibration targets in one place is on the grounds of Edwards Air Force Base, in an area referred to as the photo resolution range, where 15 calibration targets run for 20 miles across the southeast side of the base in a line, so multiple targets can be photographed in one pass. There is some variation in the size and shape of the targets at Edwards, suggesting updates and modifications for specific programs. A number of the targets there also have aircraft hulks next to them, added to provide additional, realistic subjects for testing cameras. Some of these planes are themselves unusual and rare military jets, officially in the collection of the base museum, despite being left out on the range.
There are an unknown number of other isolated photo calibration targets across the country, mostly inside restricted groundspace at military areas, such as at Eglin AFB, Florida; the Nevada Test Site; around Walker Field, a Navy drone airport in Maryland; and an especially exotic one at Fort Huachuca, in Arizona. Several others are painted on existing taxiways and runways, such as at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio; Travis AFB, California; Beaufort Marine Corps Base and Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina.
Google Earth gives us a view of some of these charts, which you can see at the Center for Land Use Interpretation. They strangely remind one of crop circles, even though they involve neither crops not circles. Link -via PetaPixel
British MMA fighter James "The Colossus" Thompson has a surefire technique for neutralizing internet trolls. It's not what you might guess. Contains NSFW language. For added humor, I am told that the automated YouTube captions are hilarious, as the bot apparently has a problem with British accents. -via Metafilter
This Presidents Day article is from the book Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Presidency.
The White House changes with the times and the presidents.
A longtime symbol of American freedom and power, the White House, at its heart, is really just a well-known family home. Each First Family has adapted the building and its furnishings to suit their own needs and tastes. And each family has left its mark on the White House.
LET THERE BE LIGHT …AND HOT WATER
The early administrations didn't have much to work with. The executive mansion wasn't even completed when its first resident, John Adams, moved into live out the last few months of his presidency. Since there was no indoor plumbing of any kind, water had to be hauled from nearly a mile away. Abigail Adams couldn't find enough wood to build a laundry line -and she couldn't find laborers to build one anyhow- so she hung the First Family's wet clothes out to dry in the East Room (now one of the most elegant state rooms).
To help the decorating process along, Congress allocated $14,000 (a princely sun in the early 19th century!) for furnishings during Adams' four months in the White House and gave his successor, Thomas Jefferson, $29,000. Much of this money went simply to painting and plastering. Even though Jefferson was only the second resident of the White House, during his stay he had to replace the roof, which leaked almost as soon as it was up. What little furniture the Adamses had contributed had been ruined. Jefferson ended up bringing his own furniture from his estate, Monticello, to decorate the White House. He did temporarily solve the water problem; he smartly set up an attic cistern to catch the DC rainwater.
The first photograph of the White House, 1846.
As the years went on White House residents continued to upgrade their home with modern conveniences and luxuries. In 1833, during Andrew Jackson's second term, pipes were installed to bring in water for bathing. Jackson spent more than $45,000 on elegant additions to the mansion, including china and crystal from France. He rebuilt the East Room to make it impressive and grand. But critics argued that Andrew "Old Hickory" Jackson's cohorts were not suited to such finery. Many rugs were ruined by muddy boots and many curtains damaged by souvenir hunters who cut swatches from the window coverings. (Such rowdiness could have been predicted by the mob scene at Jackson's inaugural celebration, which forced the new president to jump out a White House window to escape).
You get the feeling this is a regular lunch stop for the groundhog. He doesn't look like he's missed too many meals! What sold me on this video is the part where he tries to jump in the guy's lap, misses, and looks around to see if anyone witnessed his faux pas. -via Say OMG
…the beauty of a sunset, in all of its varieties and variations, is only enhanced the more you know about it.
Sunsets grab our eyes and our interest. They change colors, dominate the horizon, and sometimes we even see a flash of green or blue, if we're lucky. Sunsets even come with their own optical illusions. Cosmologist Ethan Siegel explains why sunsets are so magical.
You may not even realize it, but by time you’d see a sunset like the picture above, the Sun has already technically set, it’s only due to the fact that the atmosphere bends light that we’re still seeing it like this.
This is why, if you time a sunset, it will take longer than the expected 120 seconds to go from the moment it touches the horizon to the moment it dips below, even during the equinox at the equator, where it rises and sets as close to completely vertical to the horizon as possible. The Sun appears to linger due to the refraction of our atmosphere.
The explanation of this and other sunset phenomena comes with some awesome pictures at Starts With A Bang. Link
(Image credit: R Nave of Hyperphysics)
Two unnamed brothers in Wichita, Kansas, won $75,000 in the lottery. They purchased marijuana and meth to celebrate their good fortune.
The brothers were in a house in the 100 block of North Nevada Court, near Douglas and West Street, about 7 p.m. Friday, Watts said. One of the brothers went to the kitchen to refuel the butane torches they planned to use to light their bongs. He emptied a couple of large cans of butane lighter fluid, leaking butane into the air.
“The butane vapor reached the pilot light in the furnace, and as you might expect, ka-boom,” Watts said.
The victim was wearing a lottery T-shirt during the explosion.
The injured brother was taken to a hospital where his girlfriend dropped him off and left. Police arrested the other brother at the site of the explosion. Link -via Fark
(Image credit: Flickr user jnyemb)
This is probably the only time you'll see a video of a plane crash narrated by a passenger here, but in this instance no one was injured, aside from bumps and bruises. How tragic it would have been for the guy to record "I'm not worried" and "I know we'll be just fine" if the flight had ended like you'd expect a crash to end! This was uploaded yesterday, and there is no information about where it happened. -via Daily of the Day
Update: The crash happened on February 2nd in Wellsville, Utah. Thanks to Neatoramanaut Sean Turvey, I found a story on it.
Jonathan and Kara Fielding were aboard a family's friend plane Saturday afternoon, marking Kara's birthday, along with their seven-month-old baby and Kara's mother. It was Kara's first trip on an airplane.
Jonathan documented the trip on video as the plane cleared the Wellsville Mountains, and shared his experience with CBS Affiliate KUTV. "We are just over the top of the overpass," he narrated. "We are told that there's carburetor ice, so this is kind of exciting. I'm not worried. I think we're going to be just fine."
This shirt was spotted at a mall in India. The small print says "Man behind brief and mask!!" Yes, I know you want one, but DC Comics would never authorize this because they'd just as soon see you buy two shirts. Link
This wedding cake looks really nice! But what's that at the bottom? Spider-Man! This photo was posted by redditor PoliticalMilkman, from the wedding of his cousin. Link
But wait! It's not the first time Spider-man has sneaked in and crashed a wedding cake.
Don't try this at home or anywhere! Professional free runner Ronnie Shalvis knows what he is doing -I think. I can't help but suspect there are painful outtakes and hospital bills involved in the production of this video. -Thanks, Dallin Smith!
An unnamed man in Turkey was diagnosed two years ago with vampirism, dissociative identity disorder, major depressive disorder, alcohol abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The PTSD, and possibly the alcohol abuse, were attributed to the crimes he committed due to the vampirism.
A 23-year-old married male (3rd of 6 siblings) presented with a 2-year history of ‘addiction’ to drinking blood. He used to cut his arms, chest, and abdomen with razor blades to collect the blood in a cup and to drink it. The initial interest in drinking his own blood had subsequently turned to that of others’. These ‘crises’ were characterized by a strong urge to drink blood immediately, ‘as urgent as breathing’. He enjoyed the smell and taste of blood despite finding this ‘foolish’. He also enjoyed biting wounds of others to taste flesh. He was arrested several times after attacking people by stabbing and biting them with the intention of collecting and drinking their blood. He forced his father to obtain blood from blood banks.
The man had suffered from several traumatic incidents before turning to blood. Doctors believe he has now been cured of his "blood addiction." Read the rest of the story at Smithsonian. Link
(Unrelated image credit: Flickr user creepyhalloweenimages)
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