Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
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This ad for Freebord skateboards has skateboarders flying down the streets of San Francisco in the dark to connect glowing Tetris shapes. I have to wonder where the awesome outtakes are!-via Digg
Most of us think of sweet produce as fruit and not-sweet garden foods as vegetables, with the exception of the tomato because that’s been argued over so much. But which plant foods are scientifically fruits, and which are vegetables?
Whatever you call them, you should have five servings a day, and eat a variety of different whatever-they-ares. Link -via Scribal Terror
A fruit — a ‘true fruit’ — is one where all tissues are derived from the plant ovary and this alone. This includes peas. Whereas strawberries, for example, also include some of the flesh from the peg that holds the ovary, disqualifying them from fruit status. The apple gets its carpels involved as well as the ovary, leading to a kinky pome. ‘True berries’ are also ‘true fruits’, but not the other way round. Grapes, currants (red and black), elder- and gooseberries are all proper upstanding berries which will not deceive you or smuggle themselves into your house in pies before stealing your silver while you sleep.
Whatever you call them, you should have five servings a day, and eat a variety of different whatever-they-ares. Link -via Scribal Terror
Andy Woodruff noticed that Ohio has 88 counties, the same number as keys on a piano. So he went to work on a map application that assigns a note to each county. You can play a song on the map (a couple of songs are plotted out for you) or reassign the notes based on census data such as population, number of rental houses, or median age. You can even hear what a route from one place to another sounds like! Link to map. Link to the story behind it. -via the Presurfer
A 13-year-old macaw flew fifty feet up into a tree and was too scared to fly down. Emma Hooper of Botley, England believes that Cleo flew away because she was distressed at moving to a new home. When the RSPCA refused to come, Hooper called to rent a hydraulic lift, but was told it wouldn’t be available until the next day. Hooper stayed by the tree all night long.
The cherry picker arrived at 7:30 AM, and Cleo was finally brought down. She had spent 16 hours on the same branch. Link -via Arbroath
(image credit: SOLENT)
"I felt so helpless. It was awful, the worst feeling in the world.
"I took out a chair and blanket but I was getting strange looks from people driving by.
"They looked very confused when I said my bird was stuck up in the tree.
"I ended up driving my car around the corner and parked next to the tree. It was warmer and I felt safer but I still got no sleep.
The cherry picker arrived at 7:30 AM, and Cleo was finally brought down. She had spent 16 hours on the same branch. Link -via Arbroath
(image credit: SOLENT)
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Dogs will occasionally follow children home, especially when the child encourages it. In this case, the dog bonded to Suryia the orangutan and the facility is now stuck with Roscoe. This cute clip is from the National Geographic show Unlikely Friends. -via Huffington Post
Families differ on how they give their kids money. Kelly writes about how her family does it, and the many questions that go along with allowances.
Personally, I give the kids a set amount every week, in order to teach them by trial and error how to handle money. The amount is less than their friends get, which forces them to think hard about how they spend it. Their allowance is not tied to performing family chores, but occasionally I give a bonus to someone who has been extra helpful (only as a surprise). How does your family handle children and their money, or how do you plan to do it? Link -via Consumerist
(image credit: Flickr user Pingu1963)
* Should the allowance be given freely OR tied to chores?
* Should I only pay for extra chores?
* How much money should I give my kid?
* Should I let them spend it on what they want OR should I force them to save a portion of it?
* Coins, bills, or a savings account?
* How often should I give him/her allowance?
Personally, I give the kids a set amount every week, in order to teach them by trial and error how to handle money. The amount is less than their friends get, which forces them to think hard about how they spend it. Their allowance is not tied to performing family chores, but occasionally I give a bonus to someone who has been extra helpful (only as a surprise). How does your family handle children and their money, or how do you plan to do it? Link -via Consumerist
(image credit: Flickr user Pingu1963)
This diagram (actually an Euler diagram {wiki}) sorts out professional baseball team names. Even more interesting is the accompanying list of links and explanations for every team name included. Link -via Jason Kottke
People love watching unbelievably intricate contraptions designed to perform simple tasks. Days to design and build, a minute or two to use (depending on how many times something goes wrong), and possible YouTube stardom are involved. Eat Me Daily has collected videos of ten Rube Goldberg contraptions that use food, make food, or deliver food. Link -via Metafilter
The breakfast aisle at the grocery is full of cereals with silly names, but some from the past are real winners. In today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, you are challenged to distinguish real cereal names from some that were just made up for the quiz. I am almost ashamed to admit I scored 90% on this quiz! http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/35672
The Blood Lamp only works once, and you need to add of a drop of your blood to activate it! The idea is to stop and think about how badly you need light before you use it. Designer Mike Thompson created the lamp in order to draw attention to how much energy we waste. http://www.miket.co.uk/blood_lamp.html -via Dark Roasted Blend
Nothing draws attention like oversized objects, and when you’re traveling along the highway, hungry people notice big food. During the 1930s, buildings that look like something else popped up all over to draw in travelers, and many still exist. See 24 examples of appetizing architecture in this collection. Shown is the Big Duck in Flanders, New York. Link -via the Presurfer
To get a little perspective, this is what the Burj Dubai (previously at Neatorama) would look like if it were built in downtown Manhattan. Gizmodo has a chart comparing some of the world’s tallest buildings if you’d like to envision others. Link -via YesButNoButYes
Sometimes the stories of what might have been are just as fascinating as what really happened. Kara Kovalchik of mental_floss dug up actors and actresses that turned down TV roles that may have turned out quite different. Michael Richards as Adrian Monk? Paul Shaffer as George Costanza? Or Jayne Mansfield as Ginger? That may have put a whole different face on the "Ginger or Mary Anne?" debate! http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/35388.html
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Forget rap, forget the news, THIS is what auto-tune was meant for! Carl Sagan sings his lovely prose about our wonderful universe with an appearance by Stephen Hawking. -via Geeks Are Sexy
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