Flickr user Vintage Lulu posted a lovely set of vintage geisha postcards from the late 19th and early 20th century. Link -via Everlasting Blort

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An unidentified Englishman and Frenchman jumped from 650 meters up in the Burj Dubai tower -the tallest building on earth- in May of 2008. Both were arrested shortly afterward. -Thanks, Adam Fuhrer!

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From the folks who brought you Digital Conversion. -via Grow-A-Brain

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Fanboys is set in 1999, when we waited with high expectations for The Phantom Menace. Three fans decide they can't wait and try to break into George Lucas' home to steal the print. This movie is now scheduled to be in theaters on February 6th, but that's just the latest of many release dates for a movie that has been years in the making. Wikipedia has the story. Link -Thanks, Christophe!

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The Goblin Shark {wiki} has mostly pink skin and jaws that can protrude out of its skull like the creature in the movie Alien. In this video, the shark is trying to defend himself from a scuba diver. -via Ectoplasmosis

Find more information on this shark in a previous post at Neatorama.

What if there were only 38 states in the USA? In 1973, California State University geography professor George Etzel Pearcy proposed that the state lines be redrawn to better distribute population, urban areas, and tax base. Obviously, his plan did not come to fruition. Mental_floss takes a look at the 38 state map, the badly distorted Mercator Map, and the map that claims the Chinese discovered America in the article 3 Controversial Maps. Link

Who didn't love the Black Knight in the 1975 movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Now you can get your own talking Black Knight with removable limbs!

You'll love to torture him with his tear-off and stick-on arms and legs and hear him say "Tis nothing but a scratch" or the famous "I'll bite your legs off!" quote. Character featured in Monty Python's The Quest for the Holy Grail, and now famous in the touring play Spamalot, this 14" "character" comes in a collector's edition box. Perfect for your favorite Monty Python fan-atic.

Link -via Unique Daily

I couldn't pick just one, so go to Best Week Ever and enjoy ten videos of cats doing what cats normally don't do -if they have a choice. Link -via Digg

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If you liked the story of Christian the Lion (previously on Neatorama), you'll love the story of Bigfoot, from California's Redwood Coast. Link -via YesButNoButYes

Is it a mantid, a wasp, or a fly? Answer: none of the above. This is a Wasp Mantidfly (Climaciella brunnea), which is more closely related to a green lacewing than any of its namesakes. Although this picture is featured on Iowa Voices, it was taken in Illinois. Link -Thanks, Matt!

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Is there a law somewhere that says we all have to face the same direction in an elevator? Apparently so, since we all obey that law. This old clip from Candid Camera is funny because we all understand it. In real life, the behavior is a little more ambiguous, as seen in the elevators of the London Underground that have doors on both sides of the elevator. http://www.spring.org.uk/2008/08/elevator-psychology-and-london.php

Joyce Bernann McKinney, who made headlines by having her pit bull cloned (previously on Neatorama), has left South Korea without the five cloned puppies she commissioned from a biotech company. Publicity over the cloning led to her identification as a fugitive from a British court in 1977. She had been accused of the kidnap and rape of a 21-year-old Mormon missionary. McKinney denied the charges, saying that the relationship was consensual. The case was never brought to trial, as McKinney fled to the US after making bail.

Now, a lawyer has identified McKinney as a fugitive from a criminal case in Tennessee.

The Tennessee charges stem from McKinney's arrest in November 2004 after being found in a van with the teenager. According to prosecutors in Carter County, an area in north eastern Tennessee, she instructed the boy to burgle a house and was charged with criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

McKinney had allegedly told the teenager she needed money to help her three-legged horse. A representative of the South Korean biotech company said she had left for the US last week, but does not know where she is. Link -Thanks, Heather!

US Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson won a silver medal in the all-around competition yesterday in Beijing, but she has an even bigger honor awaiting her back in the States. Johnson's likeness is on display at the Iowa State Fair, carved in butter!

Butter Shawn Johnson will share the spotlight with the butter cow in the Agriculture Building Aug. 7-17. Butter sculptor Sarah Pratt of West Des Moines plans to incorporate a balance beam into Johnson’s pose, and possibly an American flag.

The butter cow is a tradition at the fair.

There has been an Iowa State Fair butter cow since the early 1900s, according to fair officials.

Johnson will join an elite butter list that includes Tiger Woods, Elvis, Grant Wood’s “American Gothic,” Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” actor John Wayne and country singer Garth Brooks.

Pratt said she and Iowa fair organizers discussed options such as Indiana Jones and the 50th anniversary of the Doctor Seuss classic “The Cat in the Hat” before picking Iowa’s 4-foot-81/4 Olympic favorite.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080701/SPORTS15/80701003/1001/NEWS -via YesButNoButYes

This might not be the most tasteful home accessory ever, but it will sure draw attention! The Terrorist Teapot glares at you from underneath a ski mask tea cozy. http://store.heliotropehome.com/tetebbysuuk.html -Thanks, Thomas Barker!

You've seen the text that explains how the human mind can read scrambled words, as long as the first and last letter of each word is correct. Now you can scramble a webpage in the same manner! This picture is of the previous post on Neatorama. Can you still read it? Use the application to convert text on a site of your choosing. Link -via b3ta