How would you like a batcave in your basement, complete with a bat-theater? A retired naturalist has just that! DC Audio Video Systems of New Hampshire set up a complete home theater in her cellar.

The set-up includes prop bats which hang from above, a motorized 110 16:9 Stewart Electriscreen, Triad Silver THX Speakers, and a Sony G90, a $36,000 commercial 1080p 2500 x 2000 CRT projector. The room also features eight black, motorized leather recliners and a LiteTouch LC5000 System for Lighting Control.

It has stalactites, too! It’s the “battiest” place to watch any of the Batman films. Link -via Unique Daily

Curious Expeditions takes a look at some of the holiday customs of Europe, including the arrivals of Krampus and Black Piet, building the Hungarian Luca Chair, and burning Jack Straw to ring in the New Year. Link

1,500 year old murals survive in a series of Buddhist temple caves carved out of a mountain in central India. The 30 caves at Ajanta were abandoned hundreds of years ago and rediscovered in 1819. Recently, Benoy K. Behl succeeded in photographing the ancient murals using available light, thus preserving their original appearance. National Geographic features these pictures in their January 2008 issue. Link -via Metafilter

(image credit: Benoy K. Behl)

(Yahoo video link)

Just because you live in an Airstream trailer is no reason you can’t synch your Christmas lights to music via computer. -via Fark

Pedro Toala is paying the price of a prank. A group of kids tipped over a portable toilet in a park while Toala was inside. He was left with a broken back, permanently paralyzed, yet he forgave those who did this to him. Cher Przelomski, co-owner of the Planning Factory International, was inspired by Pedro’s story and began a project involving many businesses in the Wilmington, Delaware area. They remodeled Toala’s split-level home to turn it into an accessible dream house. The Pedro Project was completed in time for Toala and his family to return home on December 15th. Link to story. http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=BL&Dato=20071215&Kategori=PHOTOS&Lopenr=712150804&Ref=PH to a slideshow of the finished project. -via Fark

(Photo credit: Suchat Pederson/The News Journal)

This strangely cute animal with his toy was the “photo of the day” at Nothing to do with Arbroath. It was identified by a Heavenly Jane, a commenter at Scribal Terror as a baby sifaka {wiki), native to Madagascar. But Craig C had a better idea:

It's a Bug-Eyed Blackfaced Plushy-Hugger. They're native to carnivals throughout the Deep South. Their diet consists of stale popcorn, peanuts, and the stuff that sticks to the sides of candy cotton machines. Late at night when the carnies are packing up, you can hear their plaintive cries of "M-m-m-m-yyyy plushie! M-m-m-m-yyyy plushie!"

Link

(YouTube link)

Kina Grannis recorded this love song to Digg as an entry in the Dorito’s Crash the Superbowl contest. The lyrics are on her site. She’s now one of the final ten contestants. The reaction from Digg is best summed up in this comment:

Cute girls on digg? Video or it didn't happ-- oh, I see what you did there. Well played, girls.

See the other nine entries in the running at the contest MySpace page. http://216.178.38.116/doritoscrashthesuperbowl -via the Presurfer

(YouTube link)

Kitty cats Musashi, Leo, Luka, Seri, and Marble sing Jingle Bells. Link to Musashi's website (in Japanese) -via Viral Video Chart

California ground squirrels and rock squirrels chew on discarded rattlesnake skin, then smear it on their fur. The result is that they smell like rattlesnake instead of squirrels, which may protect them from snake attack. The journal Animal Behavior published a new study from a team led by Barbara Clucas.

Clucas, a graduate student in animal behavior at the University of California, Davis, said she first noted this behavior in 2002.

She saw rock squirrels at Caballo Lake State Park in New Mexico licking themselves to apply chewed snake skin to their flanks, tails, and rear ends, which gave them the pungent, musky scent of a rattlesnake.

In 2003 she saw California ground squirrels at Lake Solano County Park in California doing the same thing.

Link

Santa Claus originated far away from Japan, and sometimes the details get lost in translation. Or is it just creative liscence? Inventor’s Spot presents the Top Ten Strange Santas from Japan, including versions from monster movies, martial arts, anime, and of course, Hello Kitty! Link -via the Presurfer

More on Christmas in Japan.

After a 95-year ban, absinthe is legal again in the United States. But there are a lot of myths surrounding the drink, such as its madness-inducing properties. Absinthe was a favorite among 19th century French artists, who were sometimes mad already. It is not particularly addicting, and does not make you hallucinate any more than other liquors. Salon magazine debunks these and other myths in the article Everything you know about Absinthe is Wrong. Link

Carl Zimmer’s collection of science tattoo photos (reported previously on Neatorama) is growing. There are now 119 submitted tattoos! This eight inch forearm ruler from Mikey is so handy, he uses it every day. Link

The YouTube page says, “Welcome to Official YouTube Channel for the British Monarchy.” Queen Elizabeth of England has just launched her official YouTube channel. It already contains historical film footage and broadcasts, and the first new video will be the palace’s Christmas Day greeting.

Announcing the launch of the channel, a spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace said the Queen "always keeps abreast with new ways of communicating with people".

She added: "She has always been aware of reaching more people and adapting the communication to suit.

"This will make the Christmas message more accessible to younger people and those in other countries."

Link to story. http://www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel to YouTube channel. -via Metafilter

Super secure doors, artistic doors, secret doors, deputydog has a rundown of some of the most interesting. These lifelike faces grace the door to St. Nicholas’ Cathedral in Slovenia. http://deputy-dog.com/2007/12/17/9-intriguing-doors/

(image credit: Mr. Jez)

	I received 64 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Guess the Sci-Fi Movie Sounds here

Can you identify a science fiction movie from a short sound clip? Hw about fourteen of them? Take the quiz and find out! My results said, “You're a major sci-fi geek! Do you speak Klingon?” http://www.shegoddess.com/q/sf/index.aspx -via I-Am-Bored