It takes a lot of effort (and a lot of people) to make food look appetizing on film. Chain restaurant advertising on TV is overseen by tabletop directors, specialists you rarely hear about. There are only about a half-dozen accomplished tabletop directors in the industry, but they earn their pay by wrestling a winning performance out of a difficult actor: food. One of those directors is Michael Schrom.

Mr. Schrom has the eyeglasses of an architect and the relaxed, contented air of a man highly entertained by his job. On this day, he is filming for a national chain — one that also requested anonymity — capturing what he calls “flavor cues.” In one shot, a stagehand pours chocolate syrup over a sheet of caramel. (You can almost hear a voiceover purring, “Chocolate.”) In another, cream bubbles up in a cup of coffee. In real time, these moments barely register. In slow-motion playbacks, with a digital camera that shoots up to 1,600 frames a second, the images are almost erotic. Which is no accident.

“You’re using the same part of your brain — porn, food,” Mr. Schrom says during a break. “It’s going in the same section; it’s that visual cortex that connects to your most basic senses. What we’re trying to do is be the modern-day Pavlovs and ring your bell with these images.”

He has several food stylists who work in a huge kitchen next to his set. They start with the very same food and recipes used in the restaurants and stores.

In part, this is a truth-in-advertising issue. Everyone knows that in 1970, the Federal Trade Commission settled a complaint against the Campbell Soup Company after its ad agency slipped marbles into a bowl in ads featuring its vegetable soup, apparently to force more veggies to the surface. That put a scare into the industry that endures to this day.

Anything that flatters the food, of course, is fair game, and that includes gimmicks you’re unlikely to find in a fridge. Glue is used to keep spaghetti on forks and pizzas in place. The ice in a beverage might be made of acrylic and cost $500 a cube. The frost coming off a beer could be a silicone gel, mixed with powder and water.

The New York Times look at some of those techniques, and the people who make a living using them. Link -via Metafilter

See any resemblance between these two photos? You recognize Bigfoot on the right, of course. The picture on the left is a detail from a larger picture of an eruption of ionized gas from the surface of the sun. Dr. Phil Plait recognizes pareidolia when he sees it, leading one commenter to speculate that Bigfoot sightings increase in conjunction with solar activity. Read more about it at Bad Astronomy Blog. Link -Thanks, Adrienne!

(Solar image credit: Alan Friedman)

This fishbowl was designed by glassblower Richard Bell. It makes me nervous. Does it make you nervous? I wonder if the fish is nervous.

The ‘Bubble Tank Project’ is a series hand-blown glass bowls which have been counterbalanced to create the illusion that they are hanging precariously over the edge of a surface. Every tank is completely unique therefore is available in many different shapes and sizes. Simply pick the one that you like best.

Link -via Buzzfeed

In the October issue of Discover magazine, LeeAundra Keany tells us that a bonfire is "basically a tree running in reverse," and other interesting facts.

1  Fire is an event, not a thing. Heating wood or other fuel releases volatile vapors that can rapidly combust with oxygen in the air; the resulting incandescent bloom of gas further heats the fuel, releasing more vapors and perpetuating the cycle.

2  Most of the fuels we use derive their energy from trapped solar rays. In photosynthesis, sunlight and heat make chemical energy (in the form of wood or fossil fuel); fire uses chemical energy to produce light and heat.

3  So a bonfire is basically a tree running in reverse.

4  Assuming stable fuel, heat, and oxygen levels, a typical house fire will double in size every minute.

Read the rest at Discover. Link -via Not Exactly Rocket Science

You should know by now that we love cats here at Neatorama. We love crafts, too! So when we heard about the new book Crafting With Cat Hair (subtitled Cute Handicrafts to Make With Your Cat), we knew it was a natural for us. Originally published in Japan as Nekoke ferutono han in 2009, this book by Kaori Tsutaya has now been translated into English by Amy Hirschman and hits bookstores today.

KAORI TSUTAYA is a Japanese writer obsessed with cats. She exhibits her craftwork and runs kitty craft workshops to inspire other cat owners. AMY HIRSCHMAN is a translator, crafter, and pop-culture enthusiast. She lives in Los Angeles.

We've posted before about people who knit sweaters out of their dog's hair. This isn't like that. And it's not about recycling hair for the sake of recycling. Crafting with Cat Hair has small, yet very personal projects that celebrate your cat and they look as cute as can be! If you've got a cat and a cat brush, you have the raw materials to make several projects. Unless you have one of those hairless cats. Craft projects are not all that's in this book. Tsutaya gives you plenty of pictures of her cats, some cat humor, and practical tips on caring for your cat, from proper brushing techniques to pest control.

In 1959, Marine Corps pilot William Rankin was cruising at nine miles above the earth in an F-8 Crusader combat jet when something went wrong and he had to eject. Between him and the ground was a big, black storm.

After falling through damp darkness for an interminable time, Rankin began to grow concerned that the automatic switch on his parachute had malfunctioned. He felt certain that he had been descending for several minutes, though he was aware that one’s sense of time is a fickle thing under such distracting circumstances. He fingered the rip cord anxiously, wondering whether to give it a yank. He’d lost all feeling in his left hand, and his other limbs weren’t faring much better. It was then that he felt a sharp and familiar upward tug on his harness–his parachute had deployed. It was too dark to see the chute’s canopy above him, but he tugged on the risers and concluded that it had indeed inflated properly. This was a welcome reprieve from the wet-and-windy free-fall.

Unfortunately for the impaired pilot, he was nowhere near the 10,000 foot altitude he expected. Strong updrafts in the cell had decreased his terminal velocity substantially, and the volatile storm had triggered his barometric parachute switch prematurely. Bill Rankin was still far from the earth, and he was now dangling helplessly in the belly of an oblivious monstrosity.

A cumulonimbus “anvil” cloud.“I’d see lightning,” Rankin would later muse, “Boy, do I remember that lightning. I never exactly heard the thunder; I felt it.” Amidst the electrical spectacle, the storm’s capricious winds pressed Rankin downward until he encountered the powerful updrafts—the same updrafts that keep hailstones aloft as they accumulate ice–which dragged him and his chute thousands of feet back up into the storm. This dangerous effect is familiar to paragliding enthusiasts, who unaffectionately refer to it as cloud suck. At the apex Rankin caught up with his parachute, causing it to drape over him like a wet blanket and stir worries that he would become entangled with it and drop from the sky at a truly terminal velocity. Again he fell, and again the updrafts yanked him skyward in the darkness. He lost count of how many times this up-and-down cycle repeated. “At one point I got seasick and heaved,” he once retold.

After that, it gets interesting. Damn Interesting, in fact, which is where you can read the whole story. Link

Seven farms across the country are sporting NASA-themed corn mazes this year, as part of NASA's Space Farm 7 project. It's an educational project, as these farms host fall festivals open to the public, and a celebration of NASA's achievements over the past 50 years. You can even vote on your favorite maze, and be entered to win lunch with an astronaut. The maze shown is at Dewberry Farm in Brookshire, Texas. See them all at Universe Today. Link -via Metafilter

(Image credit: The MAIZE Inc.)

I'll take two! This was on Neatorama's Facebook page. Link

The following post consists of two articles from Uncle John's Triumphant 20th Anniversary Bathroom Reader.

For some reason, Great Britain has more than its share of mansions, estates, and old homes that are reported to be haunted.

Leeds Castle is said to be haunted by a dog. He pays no attention to the people who visit the castle, but he's said to bring bad luck to anyone who spots him. (Image credit: Flickr user Gauis Caecilius)

St. Donat's Castle is a 12th-century Welsh castle that's now a boarding school ...and they say a ghost panther stalks the corridors. In a parlor, a piano plays itself ...even when the lid is closed.

Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire supposedly has a mischievous spirit that loves to fling open doors. Billionaire J. Paul Getty said it once terrified him by barging into the room.

Chatham House is haunted by the ghost of the "Hanging Judge" George Jeffreys, the former Chief Justice of England who liked to hand out death sentences. Jeffreys is said to walk around Chatham House in his black judicial robes, carrying a bloody bone.

(East Riddlesden Hall image credit: Flickr user floato)

East Riddlesden Hall in Yorkshire hosts the "Grey Lady." She reportedly paces up and down the stairs, looking for her lover,  who was sealed in a room by her jealous husband and left there to die.

Dover Castle is said to be haunted by a boy murdered during the Napoleanic Wars. The headless ghost stalks the halls, drumming.

(Raby Castle image credit: Flickr user Mark Loveridge)

Raby Castle near Durham is the home to the "Old Hellcat" -a ghoulish old woman who sits in a chair, knitting. (If you get close enough, you can feel the heat coming off her glowing red knitting needles.)

Craftster member ChainCrafts made armor for his family because his wife wanted a "Post-Apocalypse/Zombie Slaying family photo shoot" for her birthday. She got her wish. The awesome photographs are shared at the Craftster forum. Link -via Boing Boing

(Image credit: Bakan Photography)

(YouTube link)

Even alley cats have big dreams. An animation by Guy Collins. -via Buzzfeed

Americans are largely ambivalent about Columbus Day. In my childhood, American history always started with "Columbus discovered America." But of course, there were plenty of people already here, and he was far from the first European to visit the New World. Some communities instead celebrate Indigenous People's Day as an alternative holiday. Others mark October 9th as Leif Erikson Day. Most are just low-key about the holiday, but hardly anyone rejects having a day off work on the Monday nearest October 12th. If you have a long weekend, you'll want to spend some time catching up on what you may have missed this week at Neatorama.

Update: Muzition points out that Monday is Thanksgiving in Canada. Happy Thanksgiving!

Elvis Meets the Beatles. It only happened once, and Eddie Deezen gave us a vivid description of that day in 1965.

Friday, we brought you a roundup of the ways people use Van Gogh's masterpiece in Starry Night is Everywhere!

Mysterious Rappings was the story of the hoax that started the spiritualist movement. It started off a month of special Halloween-themed articles from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.

The Annals of Improbable Research asked the question Which Came First — The Chicken Or the Egg? And then answered it by experiment!

We had another gallery of awesome images on the Neatorama Spotlight Blog from the Nikon Small World microphotography competition. The latest collection is called Making the Ordinary, Extraordinary.

Mental_floss magazine gave us The World’s 10 Messiest Food Festivals.

In the What Is It? game this week, the pictured object is an early TV remote control. This one is really neat in that it doesn’t need batteries! Read more about it and see a video at the What It It? Blog. Yes, it was an easy one this week, and our first commenter, Benjamin Abbitt, had the right answer (but did not select a t-shirt). Most people guessed TV remote, but a few went for the funny answer. A t-shirt goes to Ceri for this one: “It’s Captain Kirk’s first phaser, an early version, before the design was more refined. The buttons are for tickle, shake, stun and kill” She was one of many to make jokes about Star Trek's phasers -you should go read them all!

Then there was a Tokyo Flash Treasure Hunt, which pops up when you least expect it. Congratulations to the winners, listed in this post.

If that's not enough, check out the Best of Neatorama. Use the slider at the top to access articles from the past six years. And with Halloween coming up sooner than you think, you'll want to get your orders in for costumes, accessories, party supplies, and more from the Halloween Store at the NeatoShop!

Words with Friends is a popular game for your smart phone or iPad. I don't know how well these words would go over in Scrabble (probably not at all), but they will work when you play with your iPhone/Andriod-toting friends!

BRR – The way you tell people that it’s super chilly and the way you tell your WWF opponents that you don’t care what they think of you.

CWM – Oh, boy – pronounced “koom,” it’s another name for a “cirque,” which is a bowl-shaped mountain basin often containing a lake.

HMM – Accepted (in addition to “hm”) as a sound of contemplation. When you’re thinking just a wee bit harder, it’s “hmm” instead of “hm.”

NTH – Having the quality of being the last in a series of infinitely increasing or decreasing values. (As in, “the nth degree.”)

There's more, with 5, 6, and even 7 letters in this list at mental_floss! Link

I was almost 40 when my youngest child was born. Being an older mom isn't easy, but I personally have nothing to compare it to. New York Magazine has an extensive article on the growing number of women in their 50s and 60s who, with the help of modern technology, are becoming mothers for the first time. Some people think it's creepy, others are concerned about the children, and obstetricians worry about health problems. But some research finds a bright side.

In 2008, Brad Van Voorhis, head of the fertility clinic at the University of Iowa, decided he wanted to measure how well children conceived through in vitro fertilization do on intelligence tests, hoping to dispel lingering concerns about their cognitive abilities. So he and his team compared the standardized-test scores of 463 IVF kids ages 8 to 17 against the scores of other kids in their classes. They found that the IVF kids scored better overall and in every category of test—reading, math, and language skills. And they found that the older the mother, the better the kid performed.

Van Voorhis guesses that the children of older mothers outperform their peers because the mothers, who’ve waited so long to have them, are more engaged. It’s a recipe for success: “Fewer kids at home, more attention to the kids they do have, and more money to devote to their education.” Other studies corroborate these findings. In research published in the journal Fertility and Sterility in 2007, Richard Paulson, head of the fertility program at the University of Southern California, found that mothers in their fifties reported less parental stress than those in their thirties and forties, the same level of mental functioning, and the same perception of fatigue. The fiftysomething women in his small national sample, incidentally, were also less likely than their counterparts to employ a nanny. They are more checked in.

Link -via The Frisky

(Image credit: Wayne Lawrence/Institute for Artist Management)

(YouTube link)

Simon's Cat teaches a kitten what's what. It's not at all simple, as anyone with more than one cat knows already.