The Mothball Fleet is the group of decommissioned Navy ships stored at Suisun Bay, just north of San Francisco. These ships served in conflicts going back to World War II, and now they are gradually being scrapped. Photographer Scott Haefner and friends managed to spend several days exploring and photographing these ships, despite security guards. Read about how they pulled off the caper, and see the collection of photos at Scott's website. Link -via the Presurfer
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The Mothball Fleet is the group of decommissioned Navy ships stored at Suisun Bay, just north of San Francisco. These ships served in conflicts going back to World War II, and now they are gradually being scrapped. Photographer Scott Haefner and friends managed to spend several days exploring and photographing these ships, despite security guards. Read about how they pulled off the caper, and see the collection of photos at Scott's website. Link -via the Presurfer
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Every musical group eventually plays a very small venue -but inside a Volkswagen? The Finnish group Porkka Playboys manages the feat, playing Bohemian Rhapsody and pulling out an astonishing variety of instruments as they do so. -Thanks, Shesa!
This week we welcomed our first contribution from actor and comedian Eddie Deezen, whom you might remember from the movies Grease or WarGames. Snap, Crackle, and Pop filled us in on the Rice Krispies mascots, which he knows about because he did the voice of Pop! We look forward to more posts from Eddie.
Jill Harness gave us two feature articles, beginning with 15 Cool Modernized Propaganda Posters on Wednesday.
On Friday, she told us the inspiring stories of 5 Musicians Who Had to Relearn Their Craft.
Saving Sergeant Niland from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader gave us the true story behind the movie Saving Private Ryan.
From mental_floss magazine, we had One Animal's Body, Another Animal's Brain.
Cocker’s Arithmetick, from the Annals of Improbable Research, was a review of a book published in 1667 that apparently foreshadowed a Monty Python skit.
In this week's What Is It? game, no one knew what these items were for, even hours after the What Is It? blog posted the answers. These are tools used in Europe for oyster farming! Galen won a t-shirt for the funniest answer: Early open heart surgery kit. Sternum crackers with built in chest cavity hooks. Or maybe that was supposed to be a serious answer… anyway, Galen is a winner!
Now, when you've caught up with everything on the main blog, there's even more to Neatorama. You'll find short stories, serials, and novels at our literary blog Bit Lit, and information, news, and funny videos about babies and children at NeatoBambino!
Jill Harness gave us two feature articles, beginning with 15 Cool Modernized Propaganda Posters on Wednesday.
On Friday, she told us the inspiring stories of 5 Musicians Who Had to Relearn Their Craft.
Saving Sergeant Niland from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader gave us the true story behind the movie Saving Private Ryan.
From mental_floss magazine, we had One Animal's Body, Another Animal's Brain.
Cocker’s Arithmetick, from the Annals of Improbable Research, was a review of a book published in 1667 that apparently foreshadowed a Monty Python skit.
In this week's What Is It? game, no one knew what these items were for, even hours after the What Is It? blog posted the answers. These are tools used in Europe for oyster farming! Galen won a t-shirt for the funniest answer: Early open heart surgery kit. Sternum crackers with built in chest cavity hooks. Or maybe that was supposed to be a serious answer… anyway, Galen is a winner!
Now, when you've caught up with everything on the main blog, there's even more to Neatorama. You'll find short stories, serials, and novels at our literary blog Bit Lit, and information, news, and funny videos about babies and children at NeatoBambino!
The man who typed up Schindler's list and helped to save the lives of 1,200 Jews during the holocaust has died in Germany. Mietek Pemper was 91.
Oskar Schindler died in 1974. When Steven Spielberg made the 1993 film Schindler's List, Pemper worked as a consultant. That was the first time he talked about his experiences. He was portrayed in the movie by Ben Kingsley, although the character had a different name. Pemper will be buried today in the the Jewish Cemetery in Augsberg, Germany, where he lived since 1958. City flags are being flown at half-staff today in Pemper's honor. Link -via Fark
Born Mieczyslaw Pemper in 1920 in the Polish city of Krakow to a Jewish family, he was imprisoned at the Nazi concentration camp Plaszow, where he worked as the personal typist for its feared commandant Amon Göth.
While there he linked up with German industrialist Schindler whom Pemper, at great risk to his own life, supplied with a typed list of the names of more than 1,000 fellow prisoners to be recruited for work that was "decisive for the Nazi war effort."
Schindler, an ethnic German from Czechoslovakia and a member of the Nazi party who first sought to profit from Germany's invasion of Poland, is credited with saving the lives of some 1,200 Jews through such work schemes as well as bribes paid to German officers.
Oskar Schindler died in 1974. When Steven Spielberg made the 1993 film Schindler's List, Pemper worked as a consultant. That was the first time he talked about his experiences. He was portrayed in the movie by Ben Kingsley, although the character had a different name. Pemper will be buried today in the the Jewish Cemetery in Augsberg, Germany, where he lived since 1958. City flags are being flown at half-staff today in Pemper's honor. Link -via Fark
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A very internet video, indeed! This collection of clips features just about every video meme that ever hit the 'net, edited into appropriate places to "Bohemian Rhapsody." Some language NSFW. -via BB Spot
A sign on the Georgia Tech campus gets a translation from someone who draws arrows. I guess you could call that person an "arrowsmith." Note the people in the picture are obeying the signs. Link
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Mind Your Step is an art installation in Stockholm, Sweden by artist Erik Johansson (previously at Neatorama). You know it's an illusion, but you still cringe just a little as people walk right into the abyss. -via Geeks Are Sexy
People in glass houses shouldn't ...wear dresses? The new $105 million Franklin County, Ohio courthouse opened this week and the women who will work there were surprised to see it has a staircase made of glass. Franklin County Judge Julie Lynch speculated that the staircase was designed by men, who didn't consider that women in dresses would use them.
Good luck with that. Link -via Boing Boing
Attorney Lori Johnson was startled by the transparent stairs. She worries not only about stares, but also how many cell phones have cameras attached.
“The next thing you know, you’re on the internet,” Johnson said, according to 10TV. “It sounds like a lawsuit in the making.”
While security guards warn women about taking the stairs, it seems most are just hoping people will be mature about the situation.
Good luck with that. Link -via Boing Boing
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Milk crates do their own ballet to "The Dance of the Reed Flutes" (Danse des Mirlitons) from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. -via Things I Think Are Kinda Cool
Baubotanik, or botanic architecture is the art and science of creating structures out of growing plants. A program at the University of Stuttgart in Germany explores the possibilities of this new architecture.
The architects begin with stabilizing elements—iron rings, polyester bands, steel grids—and environmentally-appropriate plants that are designed to grow around the armature, becoming stronger at structurally-critical junctures. "Plants have learned to carry heavy loads," says Ferdinand Ludwig, the team's biologist and botanist. "We want to explore what is possible when trees are re-thought as building support structures." After a period of natural growth, the reinforcing elements can be removed, and the structure is comprised entirely of plant elements. By leveraging the "constructive intelligence" of organic forms, Baubotanik architects have designed a pedestrian bridge, a bird-watching house, and a willow pavilion.
Read more about these projects at Garden Design. Link -Thanks, Claire!
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Remote cameras controlled by the traffic management center catch a family of Canada geese walking down I-90 near Seattle. They have a retinue of Washington State Troopers ensuring their safety. -via The Daily What
Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.
"Snap", "Crackle," and "Pop" have been the world-famous symbols of Rice Krispies since 1933. Rice Krispies was first marketed by Kellogg's in 1927. As a breakfast cereal, it was first released to the public in 1928. "Snap", "Crackle," and "Pop" were originally created by illustrator Vernon Grant.
The characters came out of a radio ad for the cereal: "Listen to the fairy song of health, the merry chorus sung by Kellogg's Rice Krispies as they merrily snap, crackle, and pop in a bowl of milk. If you've never heard your cereal talking, now is your chance."
The three characters were elves and represented the sound the cereal makes when you pour milk on it. Why do Rice Krispies make their unique snap, crackle, pop sound? Rice Krispies are made of grains that are cooked, dried, and toasted. During the process, they expand to form thin, hollowed out walls that are crispy and crunchy. When the cereal is exposed to milk or juice, the walls tend to suddenly collapse, creating the famous Rice Krispies sound.
The characters of "Snap", "Crackle," and "Pop" each have their own distinct character. "Snap" is the oldest, wears a chef's hat, and is a baker. "Crackle" has no clear profession, wears a red and white stocking cap, and is the smartest of the three. "Pop" is the youngest, wears a band leader's hat, likes to play jokes, and is a soldier.
I did the voice of "Pop" for three or four years, I think. ImdB lists me as being "Pop" for one year -1997. This is totally incorrect. I am sure I did it for at least three, possibly four years. It was truly one of the happiest, easiest gigs I ever had. I worked with great, nice people. I got to meet the executives of Kellogg's and these guys were so friendly and nice. During my tenure as "Pop", the guy I recorded with, who played "Snap" was in Chicago and was patched in. "Crackle" and I would be in the studio together. I don't remember the name of the first "Crackle," but he was replaced by my friend Kevin during my run. Unfortunately, I eventually got fired, too. A girl replaced me as "Pop." "Snap" and "Crackle" were replaced by guys, but my replacement was a chick. I am not positive, I may be wrong, but she may have been the only female voice to ever do any of the three characters.
My mom used to eat Rice Krispies for breakfast all the time, but she stopped after they canned me. Did you know "Snap", "Crackle," and "Pop" originally had a fourth partner? Originally, a fourth character named "Pow" was featured along with "Snap", "Crackle," and "Pop." "Pow" was to represent the explosive nutritional value of Rice Krispies. "Pow" didn't really catch on and was soon discontinued as a character.
Rice Krispies Trivia In 1941, a Kellogg's employee named Mildred Day created a new recipes for a Camp Fire Girls bake sale. It consisted of Rice Krispies, melted marshmallows, and margarine. It was dubbed "Rice Krispies Treats," and the recipe and its variations remain hugely popular to this day.
Rice Krispies are known as "Rice Bubbles": in Australia and New Zealand.
The Rolling Stones recorded a short song for a Rice Krispies TV ad in 1963.
Although we are used to snap, crackle, and pop in English, the cereal's unique sounds are known by other names around the world: * English: Snap, crackle, pop. * Spanish: Pim, pum, pam. * French-Canadian: Cric, crac, croc. * Finnish: Riks, raks, poks. * Danish: Piff, paff, poff. * German: Krisper, knasper, knuster. * Afrikaans: Knap, knaetter, knak. * Dutch: Pif, paf, pof.
The NeatoShop's Inflatable Bear Head we saw a couple of days ago may have more than one use. Sure, it's a nice decoration, but also...
However, for obvious reasons the device must be inflated very fast -the faster, the better. The NeatoShop bear head might not be adequate for such a purpose. Read more about Saunder's and Bell's device at The Guardian. Link -via Improbable Research
When a big bear approaches, some people choose to quietly stroll away. To give them an extra measure of safety, Anthony Victor Saunders and Adam Warwick Bell invented what they call a "pop-up device for deterring an attacking animal".
Saunders, a London-based mountain climber, and Bell, a California patent attorney, applied for a patent in 2002, but later abandoned it. They would equip hikers with, essentially, an inflatable doll "meant to scare away an attacking or aggressive animal such as a bear". The frightful balloon could also be used against "elk, moose, mountain lions, buffalo, hippopotamus, rhino, elephant, boar". They explain that it "works on the principle of maximising the apparent size and ferocity of the human, intimidating the bear".
However, for obvious reasons the device must be inflated very fast -the faster, the better. The NeatoShop bear head might not be adequate for such a purpose. Read more about Saunder's and Bell's device at The Guardian. Link -via Improbable Research
General Motors built two or possibly three transparent automobiles to display at the New York World’s Fair of 1939-1940. The Pontiac Deluxe seven-window touring sedan (B-body) from that project is going up for sale. In between, it's been on tour all over the country, displayed at the Smithsonian, and owned by a private citizen. Get more details on this car at Hemmings Blog. Link -via Evil Mad Linkblog
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