The structure that was used as Luke Skywalker's boyhood home on the planet Tattooine in Star Wars is actually in Tunisia. Over 35 years after the filming, it had fallen into pretty rough shape. Belgian Star Wars fan Mark Dermul organized a project to save and restore the prop home. With funds raised from fans and the blessing of Lucasfilm, Dermul and a group of fans went to work in May. Their eight-day restoration project will be the subject of a book, from which proceeds will go to the ongoing preservation of "The Igloo." You can follow the entire project at the Save The Lars Homestead site, or read the shorter article at GeekDad. Link
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The structure that was used as Luke Skywalker's boyhood home on the planet Tattooine in Star Wars is actually in Tunisia. Over 35 years after the filming, it had fallen into pretty rough shape. Belgian Star Wars fan Mark Dermul organized a project to save and restore the prop home. With funds raised from fans and the blessing of Lucasfilm, Dermul and a group of fans went to work in May. Their eight-day restoration project will be the subject of a book, from which proceeds will go to the ongoing preservation of "The Igloo." You can follow the entire project at the Save The Lars Homestead site, or read the shorter article at GeekDad. Link
This light fixture made of drums was built by Matt Ludwig for the restaurant JJ's Red Hots. The name of the former restaurant at the location was The Drum, so the chandelier was conceived to honor the building's heritage. You can see pictures of the building process at the restaurant's blog. Link -via reddit
More drum lights from the reddit thread here and here and here.
by Tristan Miller
Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto
Informal empirical and anecdotal evidence from the (male) scientific community has long pointed to the difficulty in securing decent, long-term female companionship. To date, however, no one has published a rigorous study of the matter. In this essay, the author investigates himself as a case study and presents a proof, using simple statistical calculus, of why it is impossible to find a girlfriend.
This is a question that practically every male has asked himself at one point or another in his life. Unfortunately, there is rarely a hard and fast answer to the query. Many men try to reason their way through the dilemma nonetheless, often reaching a series of ridiculous explanations, each more self-deprecating than the last: “Is it because I’m too shy, and not aggressive enough? Is it my opening lines? Am I a boring person? Am I too fat or too thin? Or am I simply ugly and completely unattractive to women?” When all other plausible explanations have been discounted, most fall back on the time-honoured conclusion that “there must be Something Wrong™ with me” before resigning themselves to lives of perpetual chastity.1
Not the author, though. I, for one, refuse to spend my life brooding over my lack of luck with women. While I’ll be the first to admit that my chances of ever entering into a meaningful relationship with someone special are practically non-existent, I staunchly refuse to admit that it has anything to do with some inherent problem with me. Instead, I am convinced that the situation can be readily explained in purely scientific terms, using nothing more than demographics and some elementary statistical calculus.
Lest anyone suspect that my standards for women are too high, let me allay those fears by enumerating in advance my three criteria for the match. First, the potential girlfriend must be approximately my age — let’s say 21 plus or minus three or four years. Second, the girl must be beautiful (and I use that term allen compassingly to refer to both inner and outer beauty). Third, she must also be reasonably intelligent —she doesn’t have to be Mensa material, but the ability to carry on a witty, insightful argument would be nice. So there they are — three simple demands, which I’m sure everyone will agree are anything but unreasonable.
That said, I now present my demonstration of why the probability of finding a suitable candidate fulfilling the three above-noted requirements is so small as to be practically impossible — in other words, why I will never have a girlfriend. I shall endeavour to make this proof as rigorous as the available data permits. And I should note, too, that there will be no statistical trickery involved here; I have cited all my sources and provided all relevant calculations2 in case anyone wishes to conduct their own independent review. Let’s now take a look at the figures.
Number of people on Earth (in 1998): 5,592,830,000
[CB99, Table A–3]
We start with the largest demographic in which I am interested — namely, the population of this planet. That is not to say I’m against the idea of interstellar romance, of course; I just don’t assess the prospect of finding myself a nice Altairian girl as statistically significant. Now anyway, the latest halfway-reliable figures we have for Earth’s population come from the United States Census Bureau’s 1999 World Population Profile [CB99]. Due presumably to the time involved in compiling and processing census statistics, said report’s data is valid only as of 1998, so later on we’ll be making some impromptu adjustments to bring the numbers up to date.
Continue reading
Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto
Informal empirical and anecdotal evidence from the (male) scientific community has long pointed to the difficulty in securing decent, long-term female companionship. To date, however, no one has published a rigorous study of the matter. In this essay, the author investigates himself as a case study and presents a proof, using simple statistical calculus, of why it is impossible to find a girlfriend.
Figure 1. A representative sample of individuals who will never be the author’s girlfriend. Photo: Library of Congress
This is a question that practically every male has asked himself at one point or another in his life. Unfortunately, there is rarely a hard and fast answer to the query. Many men try to reason their way through the dilemma nonetheless, often reaching a series of ridiculous explanations, each more self-deprecating than the last: “Is it because I’m too shy, and not aggressive enough? Is it my opening lines? Am I a boring person? Am I too fat or too thin? Or am I simply ugly and completely unattractive to women?” When all other plausible explanations have been discounted, most fall back on the time-honoured conclusion that “there must be Something Wrong™ with me” before resigning themselves to lives of perpetual chastity.1
Not the author, though. I, for one, refuse to spend my life brooding over my lack of luck with women. While I’ll be the first to admit that my chances of ever entering into a meaningful relationship with someone special are practically non-existent, I staunchly refuse to admit that it has anything to do with some inherent problem with me. Instead, I am convinced that the situation can be readily explained in purely scientific terms, using nothing more than demographics and some elementary statistical calculus.
Lest anyone suspect that my standards for women are too high, let me allay those fears by enumerating in advance my three criteria for the match. First, the potential girlfriend must be approximately my age — let’s say 21 plus or minus three or four years. Second, the girl must be beautiful (and I use that term allen compassingly to refer to both inner and outer beauty). Third, she must also be reasonably intelligent —she doesn’t have to be Mensa material, but the ability to carry on a witty, insightful argument would be nice. So there they are — three simple demands, which I’m sure everyone will agree are anything but unreasonable.
That said, I now present my demonstration of why the probability of finding a suitable candidate fulfilling the three above-noted requirements is so small as to be practically impossible — in other words, why I will never have a girlfriend. I shall endeavour to make this proof as rigorous as the available data permits. And I should note, too, that there will be no statistical trickery involved here; I have cited all my sources and provided all relevant calculations2 in case anyone wishes to conduct their own independent review. Let’s now take a look at the figures.
Number of people on Earth (in 1998): 5,592,830,000
[CB99, Table A–3]
We start with the largest demographic in which I am interested — namely, the population of this planet. That is not to say I’m against the idea of interstellar romance, of course; I just don’t assess the prospect of finding myself a nice Altairian girl as statistically significant. Now anyway, the latest halfway-reliable figures we have for Earth’s population come from the United States Census Bureau’s 1999 World Population Profile [CB99]. Due presumably to the time involved in compiling and processing census statistics, said report’s data is valid only as of 1998, so later on we’ll be making some impromptu adjustments to bring the numbers up to date.
Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.
"American Pie," written and recorded by Don McLean, is the longest song to ever reach #1 on the charts. At 8 minutes and 38 seconds, it topped the charts on January 15, 1972 and remained there for four weeks.
Don McLean wasn't able to play sports or engage in any vigorous physical activities as a child due to his severe asthma. He worked hard at therapeutic exercises and helped improve his physical condition, but it also helped him in another way. Don's asthma had also made it hard for him to reach and hold certain notes, and the asthma exercises improved his ability and range as a singer. At age 15, Don decided to pursue a career as a singer, composer, and musician.
His first album, Tapestry (yes, just like Carole King's) was released in 1970 after being rejected by 34 different record labels. The album had some success and garnered good reviews. But this moderate hit was in no way indicative of the legendary phenomenon that he came out with the next year.
Don's album American Pie was released in 1971 and contained a song that was to become a part of music history. "I can't necessarily interpret 'American Pie' any better than you can," Don was to tell Life magazine. With one exception: Don was to say "Buddy Holly was the first and last person I ever idolized. Most of my friends liked Elvis Presley, more of them liked Elvis Presley than Holly, but I liked Holly because he spoke to me. He was a symbol of something deeper than the music."
While a young boy delivering newspapers, Don clearly remembers reading about Holly's fatal plane crash, along with Richie Valens and the Big Bopper. In his stack of papers for February 3, 1959, Holly's profound effect on McLean was indelible and, 12 years later, was to be the genesis of "American Pie." Yes, the song was definitely about the tragic death of Buddy Holly, a great hero of Don's, but aside from this basic agreed-upon point, he has never discussed the rest of the enigmatic lyrics. "American Pie's" lyrics have been interpreted, dissected, discussed, debated, and pored over, much like lyrics to Beatles' songs.
Continue reading
"American Pie," written and recorded by Don McLean, is the longest song to ever reach #1 on the charts. At 8 minutes and 38 seconds, it topped the charts on January 15, 1972 and remained there for four weeks.
Don McLean wasn't able to play sports or engage in any vigorous physical activities as a child due to his severe asthma. He worked hard at therapeutic exercises and helped improve his physical condition, but it also helped him in another way. Don's asthma had also made it hard for him to reach and hold certain notes, and the asthma exercises improved his ability and range as a singer. At age 15, Don decided to pursue a career as a singer, composer, and musician.
His first album, Tapestry (yes, just like Carole King's) was released in 1970 after being rejected by 34 different record labels. The album had some success and garnered good reviews. But this moderate hit was in no way indicative of the legendary phenomenon that he came out with the next year.
Don's album American Pie was released in 1971 and contained a song that was to become a part of music history. "I can't necessarily interpret 'American Pie' any better than you can," Don was to tell Life magazine. With one exception: Don was to say "Buddy Holly was the first and last person I ever idolized. Most of my friends liked Elvis Presley, more of them liked Elvis Presley than Holly, but I liked Holly because he spoke to me. He was a symbol of something deeper than the music."
While a young boy delivering newspapers, Don clearly remembers reading about Holly's fatal plane crash, along with Richie Valens and the Big Bopper. In his stack of papers for February 3, 1959, Holly's profound effect on McLean was indelible and, 12 years later, was to be the genesis of "American Pie." Yes, the song was definitely about the tragic death of Buddy Holly, a great hero of Don's, but aside from this basic agreed-upon point, he has never discussed the rest of the enigmatic lyrics. "American Pie's" lyrics have been interpreted, dissected, discussed, debated, and pored over, much like lyrics to Beatles' songs.
This martini contains chocolate vodka, marshmallow vodka, marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate chips! Oh yes, you'll need a small blow torch for the finishing touch. Find the complete recipe at Instructables. Link -via Laughing Squid
Blackgang Chine amusement park opened on the Isle of Wight in 1843, which makes it Britain's oldest amusement park. But it's been relocated several times due to collapsing cliffs, and the sea is still eroding the land underneath it! Read the story of Blackgang Chine, and see plenty of pictures, at Environmenal Graffiti. Link
In 1618, the chief Gardener of the state of Milan, Dionisio Minaggio, make a book in which the illustrations were made of feathers! Most of the illustrations are of birds; other pictures depict people in different occupations of the day. The book now belongs to the McGill University Library collection, but you can see every page online. Link -via Carl Zimmer
David Fain made his green army men dance with the magic of stop-motion photography. Music by Pink Martini. Awesome! -via Boing Boing
Etsy seller Monika Naumann makes mermaid tails that you can wear while swimming!
These stunningly realistic looking Mermaid Tails were inspired by my 3 daughters and their love of all things Mermaid! They are created to fit your unique size and include a comfortable, durable and sturdy custom made mono-fin. They are made to SWIM IN as the material used is top of the line swim fabric. Colour currently available are; green, red, blue, orange and fushia-pink. All colours are all very sparkly and reflective, and look beautiful, when worn in and out of the water. Make a girls Mermaid dreams a reality with a gorgeous custom made tail. A special and unique gift that will bring happiness and fun times to all who wear it!
Link -via Laughing Squid
Since celebrities get their pictures taken all the time, it only stands to reason that people will take the opportunity to join in the fun as often as they can ...and the resulting pictures are going to be shared, you betcha! Unreality has a collection of 15 of the funniest. Shown here are Dick Van Dyke, Anthony Hopkins, and a guy who took his chances in front of the camera. Link
The Peterson Farm Brothers sing about where your dinner comes from. The lyrics are at the YouTube page. -via Metafilter
This was spotted in Hamilton, Ontario, and on Neatorama's Facebook page. It sparked quite a discussion! Link
This past week. Neatorama published a bonanza of videos, links, and contests. So much so that we feel the need to remind you that we do have exclusive articles that sometimes get buried in the rush of new material (we just find a lot of neat stuff to share, you know). So if there's one that passed you by this week, here's a handy list to keep you in the loop:
Jill Harness had some off-the-wall vacation suggestions in 7 Weird Tourist Destinations.
Eddie Deezen told us about The Only Actor Who was in a Beatles Movie and an Elvis Movie.
Body Parts: Who Prefers What was a review of actual research from the Annals of Improbable Research.
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader had a look at The Golden Age of Quackery.
And Great Christian Art by Really Lousy Christians came from mental_floss magazine.
All of these features will eventually be archived at the Best of Neatorama, where you can find exclusive Neatorama articles from the past six seven years. There's a lot of great reading material in there!
This week, we had three, count 'em, three giveaways! First, Alex had you Guess What’s Inside The Amazing Spider-Man Mystery Box. The winners are listed here.
Then we saw the return of the Caption Contest, with the first photo being the Crazy Cute Cuscus. Congratulations to winners brandy, primustor, and yupitsme1234! You can see their winning captions here.
In this week's What Is It? game, the mystery item is a salt kettle, in which salty water was boiled away to leave salt. This particular kettle has a historic background, which you can read at the What Is It? blog. The first commenter with the correct answer was Adam Johns, who did not select a t-shirt. The funniest answer came from Galen, who said this was a memorial to Lonesome George. That’s good for a t-shirt! Thanks to everyone who played, and thanks to the What Is It? Blog.
Meanwhile, at the NeatoShop, if you buy one of our selected funny t-shirt this weekend, you get a mystery bonus gift on top! You can't beat a deal like that -especially since you were going to buy one of those shirts sooner or later anyway...
The non-contest post with the most comments this week was by far What Makes America the Greatest Country in the World? Nothing else came close enough to even bother jotting down. Now remember, we love to get comments and you don't even have to be upset to leave one! Neatoramanauts also have discussions about various items at our social networking sites, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest as well. In fact, if you have any kudos, criticisms, suggestions, additions, or you just want to say hi, you can comment right here! And thanks.
The end of the week is a great time for some cool tales of how some iconic musical duos met each other and started their careers. For example, Jack White and Meg White.
Read the stories of Mick and Keith, Sonny and Cher, John and Paul, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and more at mental_floss. Link
“The White Stripes? They’re brother and sister,” you say. Well, so do they. But not everyone is aware that Jack and Meg White are not siblings; they met in 1994, when Meg White was a bartender and Jack Gillis was a band-hopping musician-slash-upholsterer. He owned his own upholstery business, called Third Man Upholstery. The pair married in 1996, and Jack took Meg’s surname. Meg had never played the drums before she picked up the sticks during one of Jack’s rehearsals. She was a natural, and they started rehearsing together, eventually playing their first live show in 1997. They divorced in 2000, before reaching any national level of fame. By the time most people were aware of the White Stripes, the two were presenting themselves as siblings.
Read the stories of Mick and Keith, Sonny and Cher, John and Paul, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and more at mental_floss. Link
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