Here’s a gadget that will keep a half of a banana fresh.
NANA Saver™ Banana Holder Eliminates waste so you can enjoy half now, and half later. Keeps a sliced banana fresher, longer by reducing exposure to air. Hinged banana shaped body with tiny teeth grip sliced bananas firmly in place and flat plate presses snug against banana face to minimize air contact.
Only $2.98. Personally, I just fold the first half of the banana peel over the exposed fruit, although eating only half a banana is a rare thing at my house. dd -via the Presurfer
Among blogs with very specific subjects, this is one of the most focused. It’s a blog dedicated to the ampersand, the typographical character for “and”.
I like the ampersand. I think it is often the most attractive punctuation mark of them all. This blog is an attempt to give this humble character the respect it deserves. If you would like to submit some ampersand-related content, please let me know.
In today’s Lunchtime Quiz from mental_floss, you are given a nonsense word (or at least that’s what they seem to be), and you decide whether it’s a character from Dungeons and Dragons or a skin disease. Although I didn’t know the answers, I used the Force and got this score:
In addition to natural selection, Charles Darwin referred to artificial selection, meaning the process of breeding domestic animals to select for desirable traits. His cousin Sir Francis Galton said this principle could be applied to humans as well. The idea came to be known as “eugenics”. The philosophy was that a society could maintain health and intelligence as a group by disallowing those with undesirable traits to reproduce. Indiana passed the first eugenics law in 1907.
"…it shall be compulsory for each and every institution in the state, entrusted with the care of confirmed criminals, idiots, rapists and imbeciles, to appoint upon its staff, in addition to the regular institutional physician, two (2) skilled surgeons of recognized ability, whose duty it shall be, in conjunction with the chief physician of the institution, to examine the mental and physical condition of such inmates as are recommended by the institutional physician and board of managers. If, in the judgment of this committee of experts and the board of managers, procreation is inadvisable and there is no probability of improvement of the mental condition of the inmate, it shall be lawful for the surgeons to perform such operation for the prevention of procreation as shall be decided safest and most effective."
Other states soon followed. In practice, such laws collided with human rights. Who is qualified to judge what traits are truly undesirable and which persons deserved to be sterilized? Thousands of “undesirables” were sterilized in the US, decades before (and after) the Nazis endorsed the idea. Read the entire story at Damn Interesting. Link
Send ten dollars to the Something Store and they will send you ...something. You don’t know what it will be, but hey, it’s only ten dollars!
It maybe something you need, something you want or something you desire. Yours may be a cool gadget, rare book, table game, handmade necklace, reverse clock, box of gourmet chocolates, set of shiny shower curtains, popular video game, big-box retailer gift card, the latest version of a software, a set of kitchen knives, a pair of designer jeans, garden tool, kitchen appliance, unique home decor item, electronic equipment, magazine subscription, office supply item, or ... Your something will most likely be brand new, though it may also be refurbished or antique.
Shipping is free. There is plenty of customer feedback, but you really can’t complain since they make no promises. Link
Long before internet shopping, Wile E. Coyote got all his products via mail order from the ACME Catalog. ACME sold just about anything you’d ever need! You can take a look at the catalog yourself.
ACME is a worldwide leader of many manufactured goods. From its humble beginnings providing corks and flypaper to bug collectors ("Buddy's Bug Hunt/1935") to its heyday in the American Southwest supplying a certain coyote, from Ultimatum Dispatchers to Batman outfits, ACME has set the standard for excellence. For the first time ever, information and pictures of all ACME products, specialty divisions, and services featured in Warner Bros. cartoons (made by the original studio from 1935 to 1964) are gathered here, in one convenient catalog. For more information about any ACME product, simply click on the thumbnail picture.
The National Film Board of Canada, in association with the Cannes Short Film Corner and partner YouTube, presents the fourth annual Short Film Online Competition - Cannes 2008.
Between May 9 and May 19, 2008, filmmakers from 40 countries entered the NFB Online Competition when they registered their films with the Cannes Short Film Corner, the meeting place for short films at Cannes.
These 9 films were selected for our Online Competition by short-film expert Danny Lennon, programmer of this year’s Short Film Corner. They represent the best in the world and were culled from over 650 submissions.
Now it’s your turn to choose. The winning short film will be determined by your ratings on a scale of one to five stars. The name of the winner will be announced in Cannes this coming May 21. The winner will receive a HD MINI-DV camera from the NFB and a laptop with an editing suite.
The site has a link to a YouTube playlist, where you can see each and rate them. Link -via Underwire
Last year, Neatorama introduced you to Pua the Tamandua. Pua’s owner, TamanduaGirl also has Stewie, seen here eating from a spoon. Stewie can also walk on two legs, and he is a professional painter! Both Pua and Stewie performed in the movie Dr. Doolittle 4 (availble on DVD). Link -via Dark Roasted Blend, where you’ll find more irresistable tamandua pictures.
This photograph, originally from Cute Otters, shows an otter mom proudly displaying her offspring. It was one of many incredibly cute images of different kinds of animal mothers posted at The Pet Blog. Link -via the Presurfer
Neptune Memorial Reef, three miles off Key Biscayne, Florida offers a final resting place for those who love the sea. Earthly remains are cremated then mixed with cement and laid on the ocean floor, with a memorial plaque.
Artist Kim Brandell, who designed the reef, said he was given no parameters in the reef's designs, which grew as they waited three years for permits. The structures are 90% cement. Some of the sculptural elements are in bronze and steel. It is the same pH balance as the sea, Brandell said.
"I designed it to be a divers' location. I am hoping and planning it be to the most dived location on the planet. I didn't want it to look like Roman or Greek architecture. I wanted it to be contemporary or modern in design."
As a diver swims down the pathways of the reef there will be themed areas, like dancing or sports. "If it's music I might have concrete or metal musical instruments," Brandell said. "Nothing is going to be in words to describe these features. It will be sculptural elements."
The cemetery lies 14 meters below the surface. Link to story. https://www.nmreef.com/ to website. -via Arbroath
Some parts of the earth are more vulnerable to devastation by global warming than others. Tropical (and biologically diverse) regions like the Great Barrier Reef, the Galapagos Islands, and the Virgin Islands may be the first to go, but highly populated areas such as New York, Tokyo, and London are in danger as well. This list details what could happen to sensitive areas if sea levels rise. Pictured is endangered New Orleans after Katrina. Link
62-year-old rocker Neil Young has been honored with his own species, a trapdoor spider named Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi.
An East Carolina University biologist, Jason Bond, discovered a new species of trapdoor spider and opted to call the arachnid after his favorite musician, Canadian Neil Young, naming it Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi.
"There are rather strict rules about how you name new species," Bond said in a statement.
"As long as these rules are followed you can give a new species just about any name you please. With regards to Neil Young, I really enjoy his music and have had a great appreciation of him as an activist for peace and justice."
The new species was found in Alabama in 2007. Link -via Geek Like Me
The sport of cheese racing began in 1997 when a group of friends put individually-wrapped cheese slices onto a barbecue grill to see what would happen. To their surprise, the plastic did not melt or burn. But the cheese expanded, turning the objects into inflated pillows! The object of cheese racing is to see whose slice reaches full inflation first. Full details are at the “official homepage of the exciting cutting edge sport known as Cheese Racing.” Link -via the Presurfer
I found him on a busy road. He had either fallen out of the nest or had been forced out by dead parents, either way his was in a pretty bad way when I found him. Weak, bewildered, staggering around and on a busy road.
Figured to leave him meant death within hours, and he was just too damn cute for that!
Initially we rehydrated him, and that had a big effect. Then we started feeding him dilute fructose solution... and he loved that. After that we found him a new home at the animal sanctuary.
A new material developed by Arch Therapeutics can stop bleeding almost instantly.
The material consists of naturally occurring amino acids that have been engineered to form peptides that spontaneously cluster together to create long fibers when exposed to salty, aqueous environments, such as those found in the body. The fibers form a mesh that serves as a physical barrier to blood and other fluids.
The first application will be for surgery. When bleeding occurs during an operation, time can be saved by pouring the material on instead of searching through the blood to cauterize vessels. Emergency personnel may also be able to use it for accident and battlefield wounds. The body will break it down eventually, so it doesn’t have to be removed after use. Clinical trials will begin soon. Link -via Engadget
