Raw honey doesn't spoil. As long as its sealed away from moisture, you can eat honey that is years, or even thousands of years old in its raw state. Why is this? It has to do with sugar, water content, and bee bellies. Amina Harris of UC Davis explains.

“Bees are magical,” Harris jokes. But there is certainly a special alchemy that goes into honey. Nectar, the first material collected by bees to make honey, is naturally very high in water–anywhere from 60-80 percent, by Harris’ estimate. But through the process of making honey, the bees play a large part in removing much of this moisture by flapping their wings to literally dry out the nectar. On top of behavior, the chemical makeup of a bees stomach also plays a large part in honey’s resilience. Bees have an enzyme in their stomachs called glucose oxidase (PDF). When the bees regurgitate the nectar from their mouths into the combs to make honey, this enzyme mixes with the nectar, breaking it down into two by-products: gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide. “Then,” Harris explains, “hydrogen peroxide is the next thing that goes into work against all these other bad things that could possibly grow.”

It's the hydrogen peroxide that makes honey last longer than molasses or corn syrup, and also what gives honey its medicinal properties. Read more about the magic of honey at Smithsonian. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user Flood G.)

Redditor HoleyBody spotted this beauty at a Home Depot in Milltown, New Jersey. It's a classic Woodie look with modern fuel efficiency. But as some redditors point out, bumpers are built out of steel and rubber for a reason.

More Photos and Comment Thread -via 22 Words

(YouTube link)

A music video by Ryan Barger, with cats dreaming of dinosaurs, fish, flying, driving, space exploration, and being rock stars. Cats dream big! -via Metafilter

Oh, you think that a sponge isn't edible? You're wrong--and he doesn't taste like a Krabby Patty at all. I Draw On My Lunch made this and many other cute meals.

Link

Artist William Gropper created a U.S. map and placed characters from folklore into the appropriate areas. The U.S. Department of State gave these maps out abroad beginning in 1946.

The “folklore” on display in this richly illustrated map is a soup of history, music, myth, and literature. Frankie and Johnny are cheek-by-jowl with a wild-eyed John Brown; General Custer coexists with “Git Along Little Dogies.” Utah is simply host to a group of “Mormons,” in which a bearded man holds up stigmata-marked hands to a small group of wives and children, while a figure labeled “New England Witches” flies over New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

The map actually got Gropper in hot water with Joe McCarthy and he was called to testify about his political associations in 1953, but pled the Fifth. Read more about him, and see an enlargeable version of the map at Slate. Link -via mental_floss

(Video Link)

It was all caught on a Russian dashcam (of course). A driver on a cell phone caused an accident. The victim in the other car was unhurt. As you can see in this video, he reaches into the perpetrator's car, grabs the cell phone and smashes it on the ground.

-via Jalopnik

Phil Haney went to Ray’s and Stark Bar, in the L.A. County Museum of Art, which gained some notoriety lately because they have a 23-page water menu and a "water sommelier" to advise you on which to drink. Haney and his co-workers sat down to read the descriptions and select a few to taste -with prices ranging up to $20 a bottle! Here's an example.

“This water of volcanic origin begins its life in the south of Italy. It takes ten years for the water to pass slowly through the underground rock and uncontaminated depths of this source. As it does, Ferrarelle water encounters the natural gas of an ancient and now extinct volcano gaining its effervescence…”

They ultimately bought five and give us their opinions on each, both in text and video. The bill was filed under business expenses, which is the only way any bar can charge this much for water. Link

If you're having a Halloween party this year, why not up your serving game with some awesome salad tossers with horrific plastic hands on the end. Just be sure you wash the hands really well before you use them with food.

Link

(Video link)

Enjoy short clips of various cats and dogs trying to fit into small spaces. Cats, being liquid, appear to be much better at this than dogs. -via Daily Picks and Flicks

Skull Bracelet

Fall is right around the corner. Have you been picking your brain for ideas on how to quickly spruce up your look? Add a Skull Bracelet from the NeatoShop to your wardrobe. This spooktacular accessory is sure to turn heads. 

The Skull Bracelet is available in: Black, Green, Orange, Purple, and Yellow. Buy them all and make it a devilishly fun set. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Jewelry. 

Link

If you've got basketball shoes worth thousands of dollars, regular ol' Spalding basketball just won't do.

Thankfully, Hermès has just released this: bright blue calfskin basketball priced at a whopping $12,900. From Hollywood Reporter:

The fashion brand, which has turned out footballs and soccer balls in the past, eschewed its signature orange in favor of a California-chic, cool blue for the bull calfskin ball that's made using the same hand-stitched technique as Hermes' coveted Birkin bags.

"It represents the sky, the ocean and all the beautiful pools that are a way of life in L.A. and Southern California," says Robert Chavez, Hermes U.S. CEO, who says that the exceptional quality of the leather as well as the artisanal craftsmanship account for the ball's price.

I want to find out if Oprah managed to buy this ball ...

(Photos: Ryan Pearl, David Jurca)

It's easy to turn clothing inside out, but doing so to a house requires heavy equipment. That's what artist Martin Papcún did to an abandoned house in Cleveland. Fritzie Brown, director of an arts organization, describes it:

Papcún again gained access to an abandoned Cleveland house and then convinced a building contractor, many volunteers, and city officials to allow him to alter the structure so that all of the interior walls were physically on the exterior of the house. Severed floor joists, and interior heating and other structures become erratic ornamental elements and, in combination with occasional bright blue interior paint, make the two-story structure a head-turning surprise in the lower-middle class neighborhood. 

Link -via Junkculture

Either Joseph researched the headhunters who are interviewing for this position very carefully, or the resume is a fake. I tend to think it's fictional. I mean, reallly, would you hire him? Link  -via Geeks Are Sexy

(Video Link)

This horse and dog are the best of friends, even playing keep away and tug-of-war together. These two are just fantastically adorable together.

Via Cute Overload

What do Disney Princesses text their Princes? Miss Macey Mouse shows us a few snapshots of their texts. Whatever you do, don't piss off Belle.

Take a look at more over at her Tumblr blog: Link - via Pleated Jeans

Everyone's beautiful on the inside, but that's probably just what ugly people say. To truly let the beauty out, sometimes you have to go under the knife. So forget boob jobs, liposuction, and tummy tucks - to make yourself *truly* unique, consider these 8 extremely unusual plastic surgeries:

1. Perma-Smile or Mouth Corner Lift

Wanna know how I got these scars?

No, we're not talking about implanting a piece of cheese on your face. Take a look at her lips - notice the perma-smile?

The first entry in this list is inspired by the viral spread of the photo of this lovely young woman who wanted to have a Joker-worthy smile turn her perma-frown upside down into a perma-smile. The surgical procedure is called the "Smile Lipt" mouth corner surgery by AOne plastic surgery clinic in South Korea.

Doctor Kwon Taek Keun of the clinic told ABC News:

"When mouth corners are lifted up, a bright and gentle image is created, and the uplifted mouth corners create a bright and jolly appearance. When corners lift up during a conversation, the person appears sincere and confident.” [...]

"People who come to receive this procedure are people with sagging mouth corners, asymmetrical mouth corners, and people who have no confidence in their smiles. This costs them $2000."

2. Forehead Augmentation

(Yes, this one above is photoshopped, but you can see a real before/after photos here)

Forget breast augmentation - here comes forehead augmentation! If you've got bony protrusion near the eybrows, tilted forehead, flat forehead, hollow forehead or - God forbid - wide forehead, you can get that fixed.

Or you could go the other way. Up to you:

Ain't nothing wrong with her forehead
                               - Liutenant Worf

3. Eyelash Transplant

"Eyelash transplantation does for the eyes what breast augmentation does for the figure," said Doctor Alan J. Bauman as we told you in this 2006 Neatorama post. There is, however, one side effect that to be aware of: transplanted eyelashes continue to grow, so you'd need to routinely trim or curl them.

4. Cankle Lipo

Cankles are the new muffin-tops, and if you've got them, be thankful that there is now a surgical procedure to zap them: the cankle lipo.

But according to this article by Diane Mapes over at NBC News, it may not be such a good idea:

 “The ankle is a tough area,” says Dr. Joel Schlessinger, a board certified dermatologist from Omaha, Neb. “There’s not a lot of fat there but there are a lot of nerves and blood vessels and the lymphatics that allow fluid to drain are somewhat less available in that area. Trauma to them can lead to swelling which leads to a prolonged recovery.” As Schlessinger puts it, “There are so many other areas where tumescent liposuction performs brilliantly. But this isn’t one of them.”

5. Palm Line Surgery

Your palm lines speak of misfortunes? Don't accept your fate! Change it ... with plastic surgery! John told us of the brave new worlds of Palm Line Surgery, where doctors will "reformat" your palm to bring better luck.

6. Earlobe Lift

Love wearing HUGE earrings? No wonder that your earlobes sag and stretch over the years. That's why you need this: earlobe lift. Good Morning America's Lindsey Davis explains this curious beauty trend [Self-starting video clip]

7. Six Pack Surgery

Photo: Dr. John Millard - via CBS News

Why bother working out when you can let a plastic surgeon sculpt your abs? Like we posted before on Neatorama, the six pack abs is possible without all those pesky sit-ups!

8. Toe-besity: Slim Down Your Fat Toes

Don't forget your toes! If you've got fat, stubby toes, there's help. New York-based podiatrist Dr. Oliver Zong talked to Good Morning America about his specialty: slimming down people's fat toes.

"When people first started asking, I said 'What?'" said Zong, who is surgical director at NYC FootCare. "We were mostly doing toe shortenings in the begining."

Now, he said, more and more people are zoning in on the smaller details of their feet, like the width of their toes.

(YouTube link)

A filmmaker built a cat puppet for a movie, then "got drunk and bored." See what happens when you get drunk and bored? Link -via Viral Viral Videos

You can show affection and commitment with someone you love using this necklace made by Etsy seller Amy. All you have to do is figure out who is the Artoo and who is the Threepio in the relationship.

Link -via The Mary Sue

(Image credit: Flickr user Claire Yuki)

1. THE BIG BANG THEORY Explained by a Muffin

IN THE CLASSROOM

Around 13.7 billion years ago, not a single element of the entire known universe existed. There was no space, no matter, no time, no wonderful magazine for knowledge junkies. Then, for an unknown reason, an infinitesimally small point called a singularity started to expand. Boom! That’s the Big Bang. Both blazing hot and unimaginably dense, this tiny point started expanding and cooling, and to this day the universe is still doing both.

The Big Bang theory was first proposed by Belgian physicist Georges Lemaître in 1927. Realizing that objects in space were moving farther apart, Lemaître hypothesized that if everything in the universe is now expanding, it originally must have been smaller. His idea: that it all originated from one intensely hot “primeval atom.” While the notion is generally accepted today, not everyone bought into Lemaître’s theory; the Big Bang gets its name from a sarcastic remark made by Fred Hoyle, an astronomer, science fiction novelist, and Big Bang skeptic.

IN THE KITCHEN

Imagine a muffin tin with one cup half-full of blueberry batter (the singularity). Inside this batter are all the building blocks of a blueberry muffin. As the batter’s temperature changes, it begins expanding, just like the universe started expanding with the temperature change of the Big Bang. The blueberries in the batter are analogous to the planets, stars, and other matter, moving right along with the rest of the muffinverse. But they’re not floating at random inside the batter—they’re moving with it, getting farther apart as the muffin bakes. And that muffin? It represents the entirety of the universe. Beyond the edge of the muffin lies a vast abyss of nothingness. All that exists are blueberries, sugar crystals, and, if the baker got a little creative, a hint of nutmeg.

2. Stirring the Pot with KEYNESIAN ECONOMICS

(Image credit: Flickr user Paul 李加乂 Li)

IN THE CLASSROOM

When the impressively mustachioed economist John Maynard Keynes published The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money in 1936, it was a watershed moment for modern macro-economic thought. The book launched the revolutionary idea that government spending is the best way to stimulate the economy. In Keynes’s now commonly accepted view, money flows in a circle, meaning one person’s spending provides income for another. In a recession, people slow their spending, thereby slowing someone else’s earning. To grease the cycle, Keynes proposed something radically different from other free market economists—he called on the government to inject money into the economy and kickstart the cycle by “priming the pump.” His argument was that the government should solve economic problems rather than waiting for markets to self correct in the long run because, “In the long run, we’re all dead.”

IN THE KITCHEN

A Keynesian cook would be a big fan of risotto, a dish that requires a fair bit of intervention on the part of the cook (the government). Unlike regular rice, which is dumped into a free market pot of boiling water and left to fend for itself, risotto must be regulated. The cook adds ladlefuls of hot stock to a pot, allowing the rice to absorb it. When it begins to dry during a stock recession, he intervenes with another ladleful, refusing to let the free market forces of unregulated Arborio rice dry out and ruin dinner.

3. The Bitter Taste of OFFSIDES

(Image credit: Flickr user OnTask)

IN THE CLASSROOM

Every four years, America briefly cheats on football, baseball, and basketball during the FIFA World Cup. Though we refuse to call soccer by its given name, Americans can’t resist the pull of one of the world’s most viewed sporting events. But that doesn’t mean we understand it. While the no-hands part is simple enough, the “offside” call is another matter.

Basically, offside is all about an offensive player’s position on the field. A player is offside if there aren't two defenders—the goalie is usually one of them—between him and the goal line at the moment the ball is played toward him. (If you draw a line across the field, the player has to be even with the next-to-last defender until the moment when the ball is passed to him.) But as soon as it’s passed, he can race past the defenders to receive it. Being called offside comes with a slight penalty—when a player is whistled, play is stopped, and possession is awarded to the other team. The offside rule exists to make the game more fun—i.e., to make sure players don’t just camp out in front of the goal for an easy score—as well as to confuse those who drop in for quadrennial viewings.

(Image credit: Flickr user Emory Allen)

IN THE KITCHEN

Think of an offside call as that unpleasant taste produced when drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth. It’s a penalty assessed for getting ahead of yourself. You must drink the orange juice (have the ball passed to you) before brushing your teeth (running past the opponent). If you confuse the order of those things, you’re punished with a mouthful of face-distorting flavor (a whistle from the referee). If you do it in the proper order, though, you stand a good chance of scoring some vitamin C. Important to note: Brushing your teeth and holding a glass of OJ is just fine—you can be in the offside position without being called offside. It’s only when you take a sip that it becomes a penalty.

4. A Forkful of STRING THEORY

(Image credit: Flickr user Garrett Coakley)

A Quick Primer on Dimensions

The concept of “zero dimensional” might sound confusing at first. At its most basic, a dimension refers to the minimum number of axes you’d need to identify a particular spot. On a line, you just need one, while in a square you need two. A single point needs zero—there’s only one spot!

Or, in kitchen terms:

0 DIMENSIONAL = a crumb

1 DIMENSIONAL = a toothpick

2 DIMENSIONAL = a sheet of aluminum foil

3 DIMENSIONAL = a loaf of bread

4 DIMENSIONAL (a tesseract) = Tupperware housed inside larger Tupperware
(While a tesseract can’t exactly exist in a three-dimensional plane, its shape is created by three dimensional objects, just like a cube is made of squares and a square is made of lines.)

IN THE CLASSROOM

In Sir Isaac Newton’s day, physicists believed the basic building blocks of all matter looked like tiny, zero-dimensional points (see below). Then, in the 1960s, string theory came along like the Beatles of physics and changed everything. String theory suggests that quarks and electrons, two of the smallest known particles, are actually vibrating strings, some of which are closed loops and some of which are open.

This revolutionary idea allowed physicists to consider all four forces of the universe— gravity (the attractive force of an object’s mass), electromagnetism (the push/pull between electrically charged particles), strong interaction (the glue that binds quarks together), and weak interaction (the force responsible for radioactive decay)—as part of a single theory for the first time. And while it sounds small, the idea has the potential to be big. Some believe that string theory will prove to be the elusive “theory of everything,” a yet-to-be-discovered model that solves all of the mysteries about the forces of the universe and answers the most fundamental questions about where the cosmos came from and why it’s so perfectly tuned to support life.

IN THE KITCHEN

(Image credit: Flickr user Emory Allen)

Prior to string theory, it was assumed that the smallest pieces of matter were like bowls of dry cereal. But string theory sees them more as big bowls of mismatched pasta. Some of the pasta has two distinct end points (spaghetti) and some is in a loop (SpaghettiOs). A forkful contains several of these strings, just as a proton or neutron is made of several quarks. And unlike dry cereal, which makes sense only with milk, spaghetti can tackle a variety of sauces (forces of the universe). If physicists are right about string theory, the movements exhibited by the pasta can help explain the origin of the universe. And if they’re ultimately wrong, well, the idea’s still delicious.

5. The Sticky Business of FINANCIAL DERIVATIVES

(Image credit: Flicker user Nathan Huth)

IN THE CLASSROOM
Of all the instruments of financial doom made famous by the crisis of 2008, none is as notorious as the derivative. Broadly defined, a financial derivative is a contract whose value is tied to something else, like a stock, bond, commodity, or currency. The value of the derivative fluctuates with the price of that underlying asset.

For sellers, one common use of derivatives is to hedge, or insure against an adverse outcome. A simplified example: A farmer might lock in a good price for his corn by selling a futures contract. This contract insulates him from risk, in case the market price for corn crashes.

Derivatives can also be used by buyers as bets on the future price of an asset. Consider a speculator who determines corn prices are about to rise dramatically. He buys a futures contract enabling him to buy corn at a low price. When the market soars, he gets to buy the corn at the cheap price guaranteed by his contract and sell it at a profit. However, there’s risk; if he’s wrong and the market price craters, he has to eat the loss.

IN THE KITCHEN
An agreement to sell your brother a jar of peanut butter is the perfect culinary equivalent of a derivative: The jar’s value is based on what’s going on around it. Say you agree to sell him a jar of Skippy in a week for $1. The value of that agreement will change depending on what else is in the pantry. If it’s time to make the transaction and your mom has just bought bread and raspberry preserves, the peanut butter becomes more desirable and the value of the contract to your brother has increased tremendously. It’s a good thing he locked down the low price when he did. If, on the other hand, the sale date arrives and the only thing in the house is celery, the demand for peanut butter may have gone down. In that case, it’s a good thing you decided to sell when you did!

6. 57 Varieties of EXISTENTIALISM

(Image credit: Flickr user Francois de Halleux)

IN THE CLASSROOM
Though the philosophical groundwork for existentialism was around during the late 19th century, this line of thought didn’t truly come into its own until the mid-1940s. That’s when French philosopher Gabriel Marcel gave the philosophy a name and Jean-Paul Sartre began saying things like, “Existence precedes essence.” Less rigid than many other philosophical strains, existentialism generally holds that the individual is responsible for giving his own life meaning. Existentialists believe that people should live according to their own consciences instead of by a moral, religious, or cultural code. And the ability to live that authentic life is only achievable when the meaninglessness of existence has been accepted.

IN THE KITCHEN
To understand culinary existentialism, you need only look at a popular but forlorn condiment: ketchup. Everyone knows it, but not as itself. To some it’s a tasty dip for fries, to others a meatloaf ingredient, and, to the British, it’s a pizza topping. In order to live a truly existential existence, ketchup must consider its own desires and not those of the dishes it serves. Only then will ketchup approach an authentic existence.

__________________________

The above article by Adam K. Raymond is reprinted with permission from the July-August 2012 issue of mental_floss magazine.

Don't forget to feed your brain by subscribing to the magazine and visiting mental_floss' extremely entertaining website and blog today for more!

You can send more than oil down a pipeline. Enterprising smugglers built and operated a vodka pipeline across the border of two central Asian nations:

It's believed to have carried mostly vodka through an 8 inch-wide tube over a third of a mile under the Chu River, which divides the two countries. The pipeline ended in the city of Tokmok in northern Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyz border guards found the pipeline during a routine search.

"We assume that thousands of liters of alcohol were smuggled," a Tokmok police official told AKIpress. 

Government officials shut down the pipeline.

Link -via Dave Barry | Image: hip flask now on sale at the NeatoShop!

Star Wars Darth Vader Alarm Clock Radio

Do you know someone who could use a little forceful persuasion to get up on time for school? Get them the Star Wars Darth Vader Alarm Clock Radio from the NeatoShop.  The has a realistic Darth Vader figurine holding a light up lightsaber and features fantastic Darth Vader sound effects. The force is strong with this one.  

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Alarm Clocks. 

Link

These gloves won't only keep you warm in the cold winter months, they'll also have you looking utterly adorable and certain to impress any fans of cute critters -which should be everyone on earth. You can get your own pair from Etsy seller muratyusuf.

Link

Among the many popular pinup illustrations of the 20th century, the character called Hilda is one of the most delightful, if rarely seen these days. Created by artist Duane Bryers, Hilda was a woman of dimension. She was pleasingly plump (without the belly that real women have), but more than that, she was pictured in real-life situations, having fun and reacting to surprises, instead of the standard sexy poses and sultry stares of other pinups. Hilda graced American calendars from the 1950s to the 1980s. See more of her at Messy Nessy. No actual nudity, but some images may be NSFW. Link -via Metafilter

You don't have to wait until Halloween to eat candy corn. Sarah has a great take on that classic candy that is perfect for a hot day. Her recipe uses mango nectar, orange soda, honey, whipping cream and, of course, candy corn.

Link -via Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons

(YouTube link)

By now you've heard the news that Ben Affleck has been cast as Batman in the upcoming film tentatively titled Superman vs. Batman. The outcry of protest on the internet was immediate. Jason Inman lays out the case for giving him the benefit of a doubt at this point. Contains NSFW language. I'll reserve judgment on the casting -after all, we heard the same reaction about Heath Ledger as The Joker. And now we're going to have to go through this again. -Thanks, Jason!

It's not a circle skirt and it doesn't have a poodle on a leash, but it is a classic style and does have a dog-like AT-AT on a leash. So while you might not want to rock Engram Clothing's skirt to the nearest sock hop, it would be a great skirt to wear dancing with your favorite geeky guy.

Link

(Video Link)

Don't worry. I'll walk you through the process. First, stick your hand in the shark's mouth.

Wait--where are you going? We've got work to do!

Well, then, we'll just leave it up to Cristina Zenato. She seems to have mastered the skill.

-via Glenn Reynolds

A couple hundred years ago, pottery figurines were used as decoration, souvenirs, collector's items, political statements, and images of news stories. News stories? Yes, before tabloids and TV, potteries in Staffordshire, England, offered figurines that illustrated current events and poked fun at the powerful. Collectors Weekly talked to Myrna Schkolne, author of the upcoming book Staffordshire Figures, 1780 to 1840, who tells how the figurines of the time meant more than we realized.

Collectors Weekly: What forgotten events or characters have you discovered through Staffordshire figurines?

Schkolne: Well, my favorite is a figure showing a tiger or tigress mauling a woman and her baby. That sounds so wrong. The tigress is holding the baby in her mouth and the woman beneath her paws. The figure is titled “Menagerie.” A Staffordshire menagerie is a well-known genre, but this was clearly not a normal menagerie object. The thing drove me nuts. I couldn’t work out the whys and the wherefores. [See image at top.]

Then one night at about 1:00 a.m., I came across an old broadside that led me to the Colindale newspaper archive in the U.K. A small paragraph in the Northumberland Herald for February of 1834 describes how Wombwell’s Menagerie had stopped in a town overnight, and during the night, a tigress and a lion had escaped, and they had killed a woman with a child in her arms. Usually, any sort of menagerie mishap is very well publicized, but I think in this case the owner of the menagerie, George Wombwell, was very quick to open his wallet because if word got about, people wouldn’t have wanted his menagerie in town.

Read about other stories enshrined in pottery, like the changing laws of marriage, sports scandals, tax protests, and a lurid murder trial that would have been all but forgotten if not for surviving figurines. Link

(Image credit: © Myrna Schkolne 2013)

Game of Thrones Is Changing How Children Are Named

Neatorama presents a guest post from Anna Johansson

So, here's a small confession: if I'm lucky enough to have twins, I will name them Fred and George. I'm sure that members of The Hunger Games army of fans will name their daughters Katniss and their sons Peeta or Haymitch.

It's a strange phenomenon, when super fans immortalize their favorite fictional characters by naming their children after them. The recent popular TV show and book series Game of Thrones is no different, and their names are a bit more exotic than Fred or George.

1. Arya

This is a girl's name that's gaining popularity because of the show. It's pronounced "Arh-ee-aa", which has inspired some new parents to spell it "Aria" to avoid confusing people.
In case you live under a rock and don't know the premise of the show, essentially it's a medieval-style tale in which seven noble families are vying for control of their mythical land (think "The Tudors" meets "Lord of the Rings.")

Arya is part of the Stark family. Cute and endearing, she is an archetypal female character who is tomboyish and rejects the idea of marrying for political reasons and not love. She sword fights and is close to her father, who takes her with him when he goes to serve the king.
She's smart and quick-witted, although sometimes not quite as smart as she thinks she is. But she's definitely a better role model for our daughters than Barbie or Disney Princesses.

2. Khaleesi

The fact that this name is also gaining popularity for new American babies has been cause for a little controversy. True fans will argue that "Khaleesi" is actually a title, not a name.

The character, played by Emilia Clarke, is actually named Daenerys Targaryen. Now, the name "Daenerys" might be a little much for a young girl in kindergarten trying to figure out how to spell her name. I'm not sure whether "Khaleesi" is any better, but, who knows?

Anyway, Khaleesi Daenerys is the last in the Targaryen line, and she lives in exile. She spends the series working to reclaim "her" throne, while adhering to a strict moral and ethical code. She's a warrior and, like Arya, sets a pretty good example for our daughters.

3. Theon

This name is gaining popularity for boys, although I'm not sure why. Theon is a character who lives with the Stark family (Arya's parents), and although technically he's more of a "ward" or captive, he is treated well and loved by the father of the family.

That said, he also seems to think he is smarter than he really is; he often acts childish and petulant, and spends much of his time with his attention focused on the ladies. But hey, Theon is a cool name. It's like a better version of Leon.

4. Tyrion

No, this isn't a version of "Tyrone." This character is played by Peter Dinklage. Tyrion is a dwarf (as is the actor, Peter Dinklage) and he's endured taunting and teasing even though he is of noble birth.

A slightly better role model than Theon, Tyrion is smart, kind, and seeks to prove himself as an advisor to his family. He can be a little spoiled and lazy because of his wealth, but he is truly compassionate and seeks to help those who have been cast out as he has.

Fun fact: Peter Dinklage is a vegetarian, so if you are a vegetarian, a Game of Thrones fan, and have a son who needs a name ... I'm just sayin', you could do much worse than Tyrion.

___________________

Anna is a freelance writer and researcher from the Olympia, WA area who loves to obsess about weird topics and then write about them. When she isn't writing, she is outside on her bike and contemplating her eventual trip to graduate school.

“I want to start a business so that I can spend more time on rock climbing.” – said by every person that has read the 4-Hour Workweek.

That’s not how it works!

Sorry to break it to you. I don’t care if you’re a college student, a young professional, or married in your 30s, I have to open your eyes on something.

There are a few reality checks I have to give you:

1. If you suck at your job, that’s not a good thing. It just means you’re a shitty employee. It doesn’t make you an entrepreneur. It means your work ethic sucks, you don’t have the drive, or you just can’t get the job done. Don’t brag about it thinking that it makes you special.
2. You can’t start a business to focus on something else. You start a business because you want to. You start a business because you want to dedicate ALL of your time to it. It’s something that you really want to do. There’s no quick fix or guaranteed results.
3. You don’t have to be rich or have any special skills to make money. This is my favorite one! I even wrote a book on how you can start freelancing (on sale at Amazon). A little work ethic will go a long way.

Where am I going with all of this?

This is the extreme work ethic alert.

Every single entrepreneur that I know works hard. They don’t take it easy. They don’t climb rocks in South Africa while their business generates $10,000 a day.

You have to be willing to put in the work.

The good news is that there are different types of work. There’s physical labor and then there’s mental labor. Physical jobs are anything that you have to use your body to perform (filed under: DUH!). You know what mental work is. I don’t have to explain this to you.

I want to introduce a third type of work: growing the balls to take on huge risks.

This type of work is difficult. You have to risk something. You get no guaranteed results. You have to put in a lot of work.

You can release a course, start a totally new site (Kettlebell Rebels), or invest a huge amount time/money into something that comes with no guarantee of anything. The whole point is that you share your ideas with the world and put in the work.

You to make the decision to put the work in and take some risks, we can move forward…

Make it remarkable. Boring sucks.

"It's amazing that a man who is dead can talk to people through these pages. As long as this books survives, his ideas live." — Christopher Paolini

There’s enough boring out there. Don’t put in hundreds of hours into something lame. That’s pathetic and laziness in itself.

The other day, a reader asked me about starting a blog. I told them not to bother with personal finance unless they have a really compelling story. There’s enough broke financial writers out there. There’s enough boring stories out there. It’s great that you want to get out of debt, but I would rather hear from someone who never got into debt!

I wanted to find more answers on building something from the ground up. So I reached out through my fitness Twitter to Gary Vaynerchuk to ask him how he would build a blog.

@kettlebellrebel pump out good shit over and over and over

— Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) August 22, 2013

Damn. It really is that simple. Pump out that good stuff over and over and over. Stop being lazy. I’m looking at you! Chug that coffee and get to work.

What about The 4-Hour Workweek?

I love this book. It is likely the book that changed my life forever. It changed how I view work, retirement, and travel.

The problem is that it’s open to interpretation and one can easily take it the wrong way when it comes to hours worked and getting things done.

The bold truth is that Ferriss works like an animal. He doesn’t take it easy. As you can tell, he pumps out books like crazy. He just doesn’t do things he doesn’t want to do. He focuses his energy on projects he cares about. He cuts out the useless stuff and mercilessly focuses on what he cares about. That’s should be what matters. Not his exact schedule.

Many folks will bash the book for this reason alone. They get offended that Ferriss doesn’t only work four hours per week.

Did they really expect him to be idle?

The book is great. Just don’t use it to convince yourself to do nothing all week.

Can you take it easy?

Of course you can take it easy if you want to. Nobody will force you to work all day every single day of the week. The choice is yours. It depends on how quickly you want to achieve results and what you want.

From what I’ve gathered from successful folks is that they’ve created a life that they don’t want to run away from. They enjoy working. They don’t complain about it. They look forward to the daily challenges.

What if you really want to relax?

I love relaxing and hanging out with friends. I’ve been in the sun so much this summer and I don’t think I’ve ever been darker.

The problem is when you always want to relax and break away from work.

The goal of the extreme work ethic is find to work that you LOOK FORWARD to doing.

I noticed something strange in the summer of 2009…

Three of us were drinking having a good time. We were about to go out. Right before we left, I noticed that I really didn’t want to go. I wanted to stay in and write. Seriously! I love my drinks, but I also love my writing. The trick is to find something that you wouldn’t mind doing on a Saturday night.

I actually started writing this article on a Saturday night. I was set to go out, but suddenly I got the urge to hang out and write. It’s a weird feeling. Then there are times where on a Wednesday I have zero inspiration. So I go out, get wasted, have a blast, and wake up with tons of ideas.

If you want to freelance, start a blog, or work for yourself, you have to be ready to work. I know that this sounds corny, but it’s true. Even smart work is still hard work. Taking risks is EXTREMELY challenging work.

Is it worth it?

That’s for you to decide.

For me, the mix of money and freedom is worth it. It also really feels good to help others reach their goals.

Below is a comment from a reader that made me smile the other morning:

“Glad to have found your sites, (and one of your videos). It gave me some strength to stay up tonight and do what I want to do.”

That’s pretty cool!

Do you enjoy helping others?

I believe that it’s all worth it. What do you have to lose? Not trying is way worse than failing.

[If you're ready for a challenge, you need to check out my course on how to dominate life in your 20s.]

This is the extreme work ethic alert. Do you accept the challenge?

Organ Donor Socks

Do you feel strongly about organ donation? Where your heart on your feet with the Organ Donor Socks from the NeatoShop. This comfy pair of tube socks fits most men and women. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Footwear. 

Link

This picture might look photoshopped, but Patrick is 100% real. The 27 year-old wombat weighs 66 pounds and lives in the Ballarat Wildlife Park in Australia. While the adorable little man is already 12 years older than most wombats, he probably won't pass on his genes because he has never mated with a female, so don't hold out your hopes for a Patrick 2.0 to show up in another 27 years.

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Some days--heck, weeks--you just give up. It's time to veg out and do nothing, not even move. But what would happen if the entire human population did that at the same time? Reza Farazmand describes the end of the world.

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My daughter, the driving student, asked me why so few drivers use turn signals. I thought about it, and said it's because they derive no personal benefit from using them. Turn signals do not benefit the driver, only all the other drivers around them. It's like the group that could only eat with four-foot-long spoons: we only benefit when everyone acts unselfishly. Or obeys the law. That is an example of traffic psychology. Studies of the behavior of drivers show us that poor driving is caused by errors in perception and psychological quirks that make us notice bad driving in everyone but ourselves. The Guardian gives us ten examples, such as     

3. We forget that other drivers are people too …

When someone accidentally walks into us on the street or their shopping trolley bumps into ours, the usual reaction is to apologise and move on. But when driving, near misses are often met with instant anger – and in the most extreme cases, road rage. Research shows that drivers more readily dehumanise other drivers and pedestrians in ways they wouldn't when interacting in person. This loss of inhibition is similar to the way some of us behave in online environments.

4. … yet we behave more aggressively to those of 'lower status'

One interesting paradox is that even though we're prone to dehumanising other drivers, we still act according to social status. Decades of research shows that prolonged honking, tailgating, and other aggressive behaviours are more likely if the aggressor believes they are the more important driver. What's particularly interesting is that these judgements can be based simply on the vehicles involved, with no knowledge of the person behind the wheel: larger cars generally outrank smaller cars and newer cars trump older ones. Drivers of more expensive cars are also more likely to behave aggressively toward pedestrians.

Read the rest and see if you are reminded of anyone you know. Link  -via mental_floss

Alexander Schlesier, AKA The Steampunker, is maker of steampunk housewares, furniture and mad scientist gear. He built this classy and functional computer desk. I like what he did with the classic Singer treadle sewing machine. 

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Complaining about the country's education system is a favorite pastime of many American parents, but why don't - or can't - we change the way we educate our children?

Author Amanda Ripley decided to investigate by enlisting "field agents" of American students who studied abroad at Finnish, South Korean, and Polish schools.

Here's what she found out:

“If you want the American dream, go to Finland.” These blunt words from a British politician, quoted by Amanda Ripley in “The Smartest Kids in the World” [...]

[American student named Kim, who went to a typical Finnish school] soon notices something else that’s different about her school in Pietarsaari, and one day she works up the courage to ask her classmates about it. “Why do you guys care so much?” Kim inquires of two Finnish girls. “I mean, what makes you work hard in school?” The students look baffled by her question. “It’s school,” one of them says. “How else will I graduate and go to university and get a good job?”

It’s the only sensible answer, of course, but its irrefutable logic still eludes many American students, a quarter of whom fail to graduate from high school. Ripley explains why: Historically, Americans “hadn’t needed a very rigorous education, and they hadn’t gotten it. Wealth had made rigor optional.” But now, she points out, “everything had changed. In an automated, global economy, kids needed to be driven; they need to know how to adapt, since they would be doing it all their lives. They needed a culture of rigor.”

Read more over at the New York Times: Link | Ripley's book: The Smartest Kids in the World

(Photo: Wired)

Tomás Saraceno, an artist whose work we've featuredpreviously, designed this kite called Solar Bell. He based his design on a flying machine concept conceived by Alexander Graham Bell:

You probably know Bell as the man who invented the telephone, but he was actually quite active in the early days of aviation when engineers were exploring how to make manned flight a reality. Bell’s tetrahedron-shaped kite concept looked to maximize surface area and minimize weight through the use of light, pyramid-shaped sails. The idea was to make a machine capable of carrying a man and a motor into flight, and though he did achieve that, Bell’s kite ultimately failed to inspire the future of manned flight. [...]

The Solar Bell you’re looking at stands 5 meters tall, but the current sculpture is just a stepping stone to Saraceno’s much more ambitious vision. Eventually he’d like to see the Solar Bell reach 60 meters high, effectively turning it into an observation deck that would flutter above land or water supported totally by the wind.The idea is that humans will be able to steer and manipulate the position of the structure based on the distribution of weight. “I want to see people going up in it, climbing in it, using it,” he said.

Link

Tardar Sauce may be grumpy, but she certainly puts a smile on everyone else's face and you will to wearing this great Grumpy Cat bow in your hair. Of course, if she's not quite your style, Etsy seller uniquechicbows sells other geektastically fantastic bows featuriing icons like Tetris, Where the Wild Things Are, Batman, Nintendo controllers and more.

Link

(YouTube link)

One woman notices things she would have never noticed if she had remembered her phone. Those of us who weren't born into the mobile device culture understand all too well. -via Boing Boing 

When I was doing a bit of web research for our "8 Bafflingly Strange Plastic Surgeries" post on Neatorama, I googled "Klingon Forehead" on Google Images.

Sure enough, tons of images of Klingons and their ridged foreheads popped up, but I was perplexed at why Tracy Spiridakos showed up on Google Images' search results. There was no such association over at Bing Images.

As far as I know, Spiridakos, the Greek-Canadian actress has never starred in any Star Trek movies, and that there's no real connection between her, her sci-fi TV show Revolution with Klingons (well, until this post gets picked up by Google anyhow).

What gives, Google?

Neatoramanauts, have you noticed any other strange things over at Google?

(Note: After 8 years of writing for Neatorama, I've recently noticed strange things about our Google referrals - that's a topic for another time - but that's what got me interested in learning more about Google's search results)

Carrying all that gear across Hyrule won't be a problem for Link now that he's driving a mecha. Donald Kennedy, a custom toymaker whose amazing work we've featured previously, built this 6-inch custom figure.

Link -via Technabob

Alice in Wonderland Teapot (front and back)

Quick, invite the guests because it is time for tea! Throw your own mad tea party with the Alice in Wonderland Teapot from the NeatoShop. Both sides of this gorgeous collectible ceramic teapot feature scenes from the 1951 classic Disney film. Popping from the top is a 3-dimensional version of the sleepy little dormouse.     

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Kitchen Stuff. 

Link

The Brookfield Zoo in Chicago has announced that a snow leopard cub was born there on June 13th. The cub, a blue-eyed baby boy, does not yet have a name.  

The cub, who currently weighs about 10 pounds, is the first cub born to nearly 3-year-old Sarani and her mate Sabu, 3. Since his birth the cub and his mom have resided in an off-exhibit den. Until the cub is 3 months old, he will remain there bonding with his mom before making his public debut in mid-September.

See more pictures of the cub at the zoo's Facebook page. Link -via Tastefully Offensive, where you can see a video.

(Image credit: Brookfield Zoo)

To promote its line of cars, the Czech automaker Škoda built this massive ice cream truck. Carbuzz reports:

Built to mark the launch of the Octavia vRS, the 5.5-ton vehicle comes with 5 ft monster truck wheels and four mega speakers. If only Skoda built real cars as cool as this. The giant ice cream van will be touring the UK handing out 6,5000 free ice creams to kids that will hopefully have a stepladder handy.

I hope that all of the ice cream cones are as big as the one this little girl is getting.

Link -via Foodiggity

Move over, Adele! Here comes the Russian Army choir singing a cover of Skyfall that will make you forget that the Russians have been portrayed as villains in many James Bond movies.

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]

Like that? Check out: Elderly Chinese Choir Takes On Lady Gaga

Treadmill desks may make you healthier, but you have to possess the self-discipline to keep them turned on. Brian Peiris modified his treadmill desk to do exactly that. The slower he moves, the slower his internet connection becomes:

After removing the treadmill’s original time/distance display, [Peiris] reverse engineered the speed sensor to send data to an Arduino and his PC.  We’ve seen a number of projects that interface treadmills with virtual worlds, but what really makes this project stand out is a simple script using the Throxy Python library which allows the treadmill to throttle his machine’s internet connection.

The end result is a browsing experience that reacts to how fast the user runs.  In the demonstration video, you can see Peiris tiptoe through images or jog through YouTube videos.  A minimum bandwidth setting keeps the connection live, so if you can’t make it all the way through that HD Netflix movie, taking a breather won’t time out the connection.

Link

(YouTube link)

Yes, distraction, and an opportunity to show off, works wonders to make a child forget her problems. That works for adults, too, it's just a little harder to manipulate. -via Daily Picks and Flicks  

Earlier this month, Keizo Shimamoto released a ramen burger that quickly became the cronut of the burger world. If ramen isn't really your thing though, perhaps you'd prefer PYT's spaghetti burger that features a mozerella-stuffed meatball patty, pasta sauce and spaghetti cooked into garlic-y bun tastiness.

Link

(Video Link)

Although it may look like an art project, these researchers from the University of Exeter are actually trying to track the movements of snails that carry lungworm parasites--a deadly menace to dogs in the UK. So they placed LEDs and UV paint on the snails. Skip to 2:49 in the video to see the snails in action.

-via Colossal

Through most of human history, the mentally ill spoke of seeing demons, spirits, and ghosts. Those delusions are different now. The Truman Show delusion is one in which the subject is convinced that the world they perceive is not real, but is being manipulated by others for the entertainment of the masses. Just like in the movie. The argument can be made that the Truman Show delusion is not really new, but an update of classic paranoid schizophrenic delusions of the past, reflecting our technological world.

Persecutory delusions, for example, can be found throughout history and across cultures; but within this category a desert nomad is more likely to believe that he is being buried alive in sand by a djinn, and an urban American that he has been implanted with a microchip and is being monitored by the CIA. ‘For an illness that is often characterised as a break with reality,’ they observe, ‘psychosis keeps remarkably up to date.’ Rather than being estranged from the culture around them, psychotic subjects can be seen as consumed by it: unable to establish the boundaries of the self, they are at the mercy of their often heightened sensitivity to social threats.

In this interpretation, the Truman Show delusion is a contemporary expression of a common form of delusion: the grandiose. Those experiencing the onset of psychosis often become convinced that the world has undergone a subtle shift, placing them at centre-stage in a drama of universal proportions. Everything is suddenly pregnant with meaning, every tiny detail charged with personal significance. The people around you are often complicit: playing pre-assigned roles, testing you or preparing you for an imminent moment of revelation. Such experiences have typically been interpreted as a divine visitation, a magical transformation or an initiation into a higher level of reality. It is easy to imagine how, if they descended on us without warning today, we might jump to the conclusion that the explanation was some contrivance of TV or social media: that, for some deliberately concealed reason, the attention of the world had suddenly focused on us, and an invisible public was watching with fascination to see how we would respond. The Truman Show delusion, then, needn’t imply that reality TV is either a cause or a symptom of mental illness; it might simply be that the pervasive presence of reality TV in our culture offers a plausible explanation for otherwise inexplicable sensations and events.

Paranoid delusions have been turned into almost believable fiction, in movie such as The Matrix, Total Recall, and, yes, The Truman Show. And some "reality" shows do manipulate everyday people with pranks and covert surveillance for our entertainment (case in point). But "real" reality is catching up fast. In the past, people who spoke of magnetic waves in the air and secret government surveillance were considered crazy. Now those things are part of everyday life. Read more about the evolution of paranoid delusions at aeon. Link -via Digg

Kelsie Curtis has a seriously cool dad. How cool? Well, he not only made her a custom TARDIS wedding cake topper for her big day, he also built a remote-controlled K-9 ring bearer for his baby girl. 

Link 

Have you noticed that every week, Neatorama has more and more posts that you won't find anywhere else? We're gradually ramping up our exclusive articles, testing out new ideas, and hoping to find more of what you enjoy most on the internet! For example,

Alex and David Israel visited filmmaker Freddie Wong at his studios for an interview that became a Neatorama video called A Day in the Life of Freddie Wong. It was posted along with a couple of episodes of his web series Video Game High School.  

Alex wrote about 8 Bafflingly Strange Plastic Surgeries.

And also brought us Anti-Cheating Devices: From the Ridiculous to the High-Tech.

We had a guest post from Anna Johansson called Game of Thrones is Changing How Children Are Named.

Kieran from Thread.com gave us the Top 3 Most Stylish Comic Book Heroes.

Eddie Deezen told us about The Fears and Phobias of Famous People.

6 Complicated Concepts Explained Using Kitchen Items was from mental_floss magazine.

The Annals of Improbable Research asked the question Do Hamburger and Salmon Cause Cancer?

The New Deal came from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.

We tried something new this week: lists from the Bathroom Reader Institute. This week's offerings were Guilt by Association: These are Not Dirty Words and It Ain't From There.

David asked another Question In Need of Answers, in Which TV Characters Do You Miss Most?

Hy Conrad's Whodunit this week was The Commercial Break Break-in.

Alex posted Did This Vet Do The Right Thing by Saving the Dog Instead of Euthanizing It? accompanied by a poll. The poll results show that those with an opinion favored saving the dog's life over carrying out the owner's order, but the comments and hearts show that many consider the vet guilty of financial fraud, even if he did the right thing by the dog.

In this week's What is It? game, the mystery object …is still a mystery object. We don't know what it is! But we have a t-shirt from the NeatoShop for Paul Bryant 2, who gave us this funny answer: "It's a primitive bowling ball. Scores were marked on the side, meaning that not only was it hard to control, but only good for one game. It was quickly decided that round would be better." Yes, that that way progress is made. See the answers to the other mystery items of the week at the What Is It? blog.

Congratulations to the NeatoShop T-Shirt Giveaway Winners, Alejandro Hinojosa, Parth Kothari, Ashley Eddy, and James Semaj!

You've got until tomorrow to enter the NeatoShop's Dream Picnic Pin to Win Contest on Pinterest! You could win a whole slew of great prizes from the NeatoShop, but time is running out.

The most commented-on post this week was Questions In Need of Answers - No. 6: Which TV Characters Do You Miss Most? (which is no surprise at all). In second place was Anti-Cheating Devices: From the Ridiculous to the High-Tech, and The Fears and Phobias of Famous People was third.

The comment(s) of the week was this odd exchange on the post You Need to Keep Yo Business Off of Facebook.

You can't hide anywhere these days! Honestly, we saw a lot of great jokes and puns in the comments this week -too many to mention here. You should always go and read the comments of fellow Neatoramanauts, the punniest commenters on the web.

The most popular post was The Fears and Phobias of Famous People, followed by Anti-Cheating Devices: From the Ridiculous to the High-Tech and 10 Perfect Facts About The Princess Bride From Rob Reiner, in order.

The most ♥s went to Tiffany's post Welcome to Kindergarten. It's a big milestone when a child reaches kindergarten, and many of us remember when the Santoso's son was born.
Coming in second was White Water Rafting Street Art, and in third place was Best Use For A Yoga Ball. Thanks for the ♥s!

The most emailed post was Anti-Cheating Devices: From the Ridiculous to the High-Tech, followed by The Fears and Phobias of Famous People and Racial Map of the United States.

Once you've caught up on what's going on here for the week, remember that Neatorama is much more than what's on the main page. Our sub-blogs, for specialized tastes, are available through the buttons in the gray bar at the top of the page. We'll soon be concentrating on seasonal treats on the Halloween blog, even though we've been feeding the monster continuously for over a year now. Consider it your go-to Halloween resource this year! Also, make sure you keep up on what's new at the NeatoShop, which supports everything else here. Our social media extensions include Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google+. Over at G+ this week, a caption request for this picture yielded a gem from Denise Yazak, as pictured here. And mobile users: Flipboard makes it easy to keep up with Neatorama.

Have a great week, everybody!

Vulture Hook Pillow

Do you find your home decor dead and uninviting, but you don't have the money to completely tear it apart and start over? Freshen up your look with the Vulture Hook Pillow from the NeatoShop. Nothing adds buzz to your home decor like a buzzard pillow. This pillow is sure to make your style soar to new heights. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop form more great Home Decor items. 

Link

Well, these are tough economic times for many Klingons....

(Photo: unknown)

So it makes sense that the Illinois Department of Employment Security would offer assistance to residents whose primary language is Klingon. Ellen Jean Hirst writes in the Chicago Tribune:

If you wanted to ask an Illinois Department of Employment Security professional how to appeal a denied claim — in Klingon — you would say: vaj tem DoQ, chay' Qu' appeal?

That means, if my claim is denied, how do I appeal?

You can learn how to ask many questions in Klingon — an unofficial language created for humanoid characters in the "Star Trek" television series and movies — on the IDES website. The site offers translations via Microsoft Translator. The current options are Spanish, Polish, Simplified Chinese, Russian and Klingon.

A department spokesman explained that the Klingon translation service doesn't cost the agency any additional money:

The unique language doesn't cost the department any money: Rivara said the Microsoft translation service is free. While the 280 or so pages on the department's website can be automatically translated, department staff members review each page in each language for accuracy and nuance. The department did not take time to review Klingon — so some words, like "appeal" and "unemployment," don't translate on the site.

News Story and IDES Website -via Dave Barry

Formal manners don't stand up well to deadlines. Or, for that matter, online streaming video.

-via Pleated Jeans

P.S. If you know the name of the artist responsible for this work, please let me know in the comments.

This image of a fictional saloon was created by illustrator Harry Grant Dart and appeared in the magazine Puck in 1908. It was intended to show how awful life would be if women were granted the right to vote.

Alas, Mrs. P.J. Gilligan's never had a "real" existence outside the paranoid imagination of her hostile creator. Suffragists back then were routinely attacked as "unsexed" or "mannish" in a way that is very similar to how feminists are attacked today as "lesbian" or "manhating" (some things never change). Why, if you let the ladies have the franchise, before you know it, they'll be boozing and brawling just like the gents. And then who will bake the pies and mind the babies, hmm?

Regardless of the intention, this place looks like it would be a lot of fun. Link -via Metafilter

If Hollywood wanted more women in The Hobbit, maybe they should have just switched the gender of certain characters rather than add in female characters that never existed before. As DeviantArt user aishafee proves, Bilbo works quite well as a female.

Link

Turn Table Kitchen Timer

Are you looking for a kitchen gadget that really rocks? Tune in to the Turn Table Kitchen Timer from the NeatoShop. This great little timer is shaped like a turntable.  

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Kitchen Stuff. 

Link

Brooklyn artist Jonathan Lopes has filled his entire living room (400 square feet) with a LEGO recreation of …Brooklyn!

The obsession started with a Star Wars LEGO model purchased a decade ago, leading to the design of his own creations. By 2011, Lopes had used a half-million bricks to mimic the Apollo Theater, trolleys in Red Hook, Firehouse Engine 226 and a gardening shop on Hoyt Street.

See more pictures at Web Urbanist. Link -via Everlasting Blort

(Photos: Martin Argyroglo)

Here at Neatorama, we've long enjoyed the striking and original art of Leandro Erlich. He's a master of grand optical illusions. Pictured above is his installation entitled "Monte-Meubles. The Ultimate Moving."

Link -via Hi-Fructose

I admit, I never really wanted to see Sack Lunch -that is, until I found out that Tina Fey, Jason Bateman and Rico Rodriguez were cast in the film. 

If you were ever curious what the films of Seinfeld would be like in the real world, then don't miss NextMovie's posters from some of the great fictional titles from the show.

Link

(YouTube link)

Four-year-old Kyla Wolffe and a tiny gorilla mimic each other through the glass at the Atlanta Zoo. So, who is really on display and who is observing a strange and different creature? -via Viral Viral Videos  

Paul Michael, a jeweler, sketched up this design. I love it! It's the perfect engagement ring for the hutt who has captured (and frozen) your heart.

Link -via Super Punch

deviantARTist Mikiko Ponczeck wanted to show us that sometimes, when you're having a bad day, all you need is a hug. But us men know that she's secretly trying to steal our coffee.

It's painfully easy to waste time online, such as by playing video games or reading Neatorama's competitors. MIT graduate students Robert R. Morris and Dan McDuff had that problem, which is why they built the Pavlov Poke.

After spending too much time on Facebook, a keyboard-mounted device delivers a mild electrical shock to the computer user. Alternately, a program has a stranger call you on the phone to scream at you that you're wasting time.

Link -via Dave Barry

If you're a fan of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, then you know all about Day Man, the Champion of the Sun. This cross stitch can be purchased from Etsy seller Purple Hippo Stitches, but if you prefer to make your own, you can buy the pattern or kit from them instead.

Link Via Make

It was weird enough to see Darth Vader grotesque on the National Cathedral, and a spaceman carved on a 16th century cathedral. This gargoyle, projecting from a Scottish Abbey, looks a bit like a certain movie xenomorph we are familiar with, right? Paisley Abbey was founded in 1245, so is it possible that H.R. Geiger found inspiration in the figure? Or was it inspired itself by extraterrestrials? No.

However, following pictures of the Alien-gargoyle appearing on-line and in news reports, it has been revealed that the Abbey had some renovations in the 1990s, which included many of the original gargoyles being replaced.  

See more pictures and a video at Dangerous Minds. Link

You know what's the best thing about black holes, apart from them not being too close to us that they'd suck all of us up into oblivion? Two words: space slinky.

Eileen Meyer from the Space Telescope Science Institute and colleagues used images from the Hubble Space telescope to analyze the central black hole of nearby M87 galaxy and discovered that when it is busy feeding, the black hole can also fire jets of plasma into space, in the form of a giant helical slinky:

Meyer found evidence that suggests the jet's spiral motion is created by a helix-shaped magnetic field surrounding the black hole. In the outer part of the M87 jet, for example, one bright gas clump, called knot B, appears to zigzag, as if it were moving along a spiral path. Several other gas clumps along the jet also appear to loop around an invisible structure. [...]

"The jet structure is very clumpy. Is this a ballistic effect, like cannonballs fired sequentially from a cannon?" Meyer asked, "or, are there some particularly interesting physics going on, such as a shock that is magnetically driven?"

Meyer's team found evidence for both scenarios. "We found things that move quickly," Meyer said. "We found things that move slowly. And, we found things that are stationary. This study shows us that the clumps are very dynamic sources."

Link

Bean Bag Phone Rest (sold individually)

Is your electronic best friend exhausted from a hard day of work. Give her a proper place to rest and relax with the Bean Bag Phone Rest from the NeatoShop.

This comfy and cute phone holder is a great way to make sure your phone doesn't wander off. The Bean Bag Phone Rest is available in: Blue, Green, Magenta, and Orange. Buy all four and make sure your phone has a proper home in every room.  

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Mobile Phone & Tablet items. 

Link

Wrinkles and gray hair are the battle scars of parenting. Wear them proudly.

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In English, we often use the term "when pigs fly" to indicate something that will never happen. It's become so common that we've managed to make flying pigs a pop culture meme. It's not the only way to say it in English, and other languages have their own colorful phrases for "not gonna happen." For example:

Israel "When hair grows on the palm of my hand"

Hungary“When it’s snowing red snowflakes”

Portugal“In the afternoon of Saint Never’s day”

There's more of these at Nautilus, and even a world map showing where more idioms are used. Link -via Phenomena

(Image: T-shirt available at the Neatoshop)

Oh Dude Foods, is there any form of junk food you can't make more delicious or fatty? This time the site has taken on S'mores Pop Tarts and used them to make actual S'mores the result looks utterly irresistible and decadent. 

Link Via That's Nerdalicious

We've seen the Doctor on Doctor Whodie 10 times on the show. It's always a tense, dramatic moment. The Geek Twins rounded up the Doctor's last words on all of these occasions, including those of the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee):

Last words: "A tear, Sarah Jane? No, don't cry. While there's life, there's..."
The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee)
Episode: ('Planet of the Spiders', 1974)
Cause of Death: Radiation Poisoning

You can find the rest at the link.

Link

An economist, an engineer, a computer scientist, a mathematician, and a physicist have lunch together. The fun begins when it's time to pay the bill. It's an involved conversation, but here's a snippet:

Engineer: Is everyone’s money in? It seems we’re a little short…

Physicist: How short?

Engineer: Well, the total was $104, not including tip… and so far we’ve got $31.07 and an old lottery ticket.

Physicist: Close enough, right? It’s a small error term.

Mathematician: Which of you idiots wasted your money on a lottery ticket?

You can try to guess where this goes, but it goes in several directions. Read the rest, with illustrations, at Math with Bad Drawings. Link -via Metafilter

(Video Link)

He may not be a flea-bitten mammal, but he still loves his scratches -complete with all the leg-twitching action of the best pooch. 

Via Laughing Squid

Ted Riederer, a musician and artist, molds vinyl records of his favorite songs and poetry recordings around a plaster skull. It's his way of connecting to music at an intimate level. Riederer explains:

My work aims to explore the symbols of music, and music communities, for their redemptive power. When I was 16, my life fell apart, I joined a band and was saved. The vinyl skulls are based on a nonfiction essay by the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke entitled ‘Primal Sound.’ In this essay he ponders what sound the coronal suture would make as it closely resembles a sound wave. He proposes that this process of combining what seems like disparate elements initially to create something that the world has never heard, is a model for making good art.

Link

(YouTube link)

Sometimes we are deceived. Our perception is not all it's quacked up to be! -via Arbroath

Seeing David Tennant's Doctor and Rose in 50's clothes on a Vespa was pretty fantastic, but by far the most memorable scene from The Idiot's Lantern was seeing Rose with her face sucked off from the monster in the television. LiveJournal user alcblueyes did an amazing job at recreating that moment in this fantastic cosplay.

Link

Chef David Burke has opened Burke's Bacon Bar, a carry-out restaurant in Chicago that puts pork into its dishes---with an emphasis on bacon. Denise I. O'Neal of the Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Varieties include five-spice duck (smoked Peking duck, Chinese bacon (pork belly), hoisin sauce, cucumber cilantro and scallions in a steamed bun; 50 cents extra); banh mi (chicken liver-bacon salad, bacon, pickled vegetables, herbs and lime on a baguette ) and the Big Kahuna Spamwich (barbecued spam, pineapple slaw, bacon crumbs, homemade pickles on a King’s Hawaiian roll). Soups, salads and sides are also available. Desserts include bacon chocolate chip cookies— “delish”— and bacon peanut brittle.

“Bacon could be the one legal drug, because once you taste it you’re hooked,” Gresh said.

Trending next at the bacon bar? Body products including lip balms and soaps, and there’s even talk of a bacon cake down the road.

Link -via Foodbeast

Image: One of the many fine products at Neatorama's own Bacon Store!

Jessica Hagy peels back polite words in this Venn diagram. Well, you can't just point out the obvious right in front of the parents.

Link -via 22 Words

Tardar Sauce and Halloween together at last! It's about time. And The Swell Life was even nice enough to provide an easy to-do guide so you can make your own this year -you even have plenty of time to practice, but no matter what, Grumpy would certainly be disappointed in the final product.

Link

(video link)

Dean Norris plays Hank, the DEA agent in the TV series Breaking Bad. To be honest, this video contains no spoilers. But it would, if the powers that be had accepted Norris' script for the final episode. -via Uproxx

Etsy seller GreaserCreatures sells a selection of great geek prayer candles, but I'm particularly intrigued by this Goblin King design. If I pray to it, do you think he might take away my older sister and turn her into a goblin or does it only work on babies?

Link Via The Mary Sue

Iron Man Light Up Goggles

Are you looking for a way to release your inner geeky playboy personality. Don the Iran Man Light Up Goggles from the NeatoShop. This spectacular pair of spectacles features LED lights that light up in three different light patterns. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Eyewear. 

Link

It's name is 1996 Pinnacle Foil No. 289, and it has a picture of baseball player Bob Hamelin of the Kansas City Royals. This is the baseball card version of a bad example. The design breaks all the rules, without reason or payoff.  

The experts agree: 1996 Pinnacle Foil No. 289 is a very bad baseball card. “It's so jarring and awful, a collision of unpleasant forms and surfaces,” says Josh Wilker, the author of the memoir Cardboard Gods. “I fear for anyone dwelling too long on this card. There should be contests to see who can last the longest staring at it before screaming into the night.” Beau and Bryan Abbott, proprietors of the site Baseball Card Vandals, give 1996 Pinnacle Hamelin their highest praise, calling it “awesomely terrible.” Dave Jamieson, author of Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession, wonders if someone at Pinnacle really hated Bob Hamelin and wanted to make him look bad on purpose. (The blog Royals Review agrees with this theory.)

Slate looks at all the ways 1996 Pinnacle Foil No. 289 is a baseball card failure, with plenty of input from experts. But some disagree that it's the worst, because they can cite other candidates. It turns out there are many ways in which a baseball card can fail. Even Bob Hamelin thinks another of his own cards is worse. Link -via mental_floss

If you thought you did badly on that university entrance exam, take heart: at least some of your classmates aced it. Not so in Liberia: every student that took the test for admission to the University of Liberia failed it.

Nearly 25,000 school-leavers failed the test for admission to the University of Liberia, one of two state-run universities. [...]

Many schools lack basic education material and teachers are poorly qualified, reports the BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh reports from the capital, Monrovia.

However, this is the first time that every single student who wrote the exam for a fee of $25 (£16) has failed, our reporter says.

It means that the overcrowded university will not have any new first-year students when it reopens next month for the academic year, he adds.

The BBC has the story: Link (Image: Joe Belanger/Shutterstock)

Zombie Silly Walkers by Chema Bola8

Even the undead need grant money! The right leg isn't silly at all, and the left leg merely doesn't remain attached with aerial half-turn every alternate step.

Let's welcome Spanish artist Chema Bola8 to the NeatoShop. Visit Chema's official website and deviantART page, then take a look at the rest of his awesome designs over at his NeatoShop page.

Bamfperture	El Cheletor	Bullit Fett	Darthmen

View more designs by Chema Bola8 | More Funny T-shirts | New T-Shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop, earn generous royalties, and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

In our recent "If You Want The American Dream, Go To Finland" post about different school systems of the world, we told you about the Finnish school system, which is widely considered as one of the best in the world.*

(*Technically, South Korean students score the highest in test scores, but their education system relies heavily on after-hour academic academies called hagwons where students study all the time.)

That post drew some enlightening comments from Neatoramanaut CreamK, who live in Finland, about lifelong, continuing adult education and the role of education in advancement of one's career:

For higher degrees in "blue collar" job titles it's combined seamlessly with work. You can get any degree on your field while working and it's subsidiced so that government will pay part of your salary when you have to be away from work (about 1-2 months per year). Employers are very eager to participate as they get better educated, motivated old known workers for pennies.. [...]

I'm doing a similar degree right now, i have very few courses since i managed to work in various jobs in av industry before. I got VERY tailored curriculum to fit my needs and every single one gets the same treatment. Basically i need to prove that i'm able to do things in a professional manner. I will be "judged" in work or work simulated situations by three professionals with an academic degree in my field

CreamK summarizes:

So most workers that want to have a career, are constantly on school part time getting higher and higher degrees [...] The level of commitment on those adult schools from both teachers and pupils is really really high and the percentage that get a job from that route is staggering: in my field we are expecting 80% employment before the school ends.

I'm glad to find out that there is a sane education system in the world (one that includes lifelong, continuing adult education as well). It's sad that it seems only to exist in Finland.

Image: Walking Graduation Cap from the NeatoShop

(YouTube link)

Of course dog loves babies -who doesn't? To be fair, cats love babies, too; they are just less rambunctious and entertaining about it. My cats are surprisingly patient with puppies, kittens, and humans under five years old. Humans older than that may get a lesson in respecting personal boundaries. The dog, however -she just loves everybody! -via Tastefully Offensive

Dan Piraro's Zen version of Where's Waldo? is about as difficult to play as answering the famous koans "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" and "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Further meditation is required.

(Video Link) 

Frank Stobaugh was 96 when Lorraine, his wife of 72 years, passed away. He was heartbroken.

Mr. Stobaugh dealt with his grief by entering an online songwriting contest. Here's the story of his song, "Oh Sweet Lorraine." The performance begins at 5:53 in the video, but you'll want to watch the entire heartwarming tale. This is the majesty of love.

-via American Digest

Extreme science sometimes calls for extreme conditions. For example, SNOLAB in Sudbury, Ontario, is buried two kilometers underground in a nickel mine to explore things you can only do away from the earth's surface.

Research at SNOLAB focuses on astroparticle physics, including cosmic dark matter searches, low-energy solar neutrinos and supernova neutrino searches. However, scientists from various other fields, including geophysics and seismology, have also expressed interest in working at the facility, which could also be useful to underground biology researchers.

Take a look at the coldest, the hottest, the highest, the lowest, the deepest, and the biggest science laboratories on earth at Tech Graffiti. Link -via the Presurfer

(Image credit: SNOLAB)

Maja Szczypek, a designer in Warsaw, made these eco-friendly egg cartons out of hay. She used a heated press to mold them into the correct shape. They have a quaint, rustic appeal, don't you think? 

Link -via Fubiz

Smithsonian has several articles on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, including an oral history and a play-by-play account of the event. Their Food and Think blog is covering another facet of the original march: what they ate that day. Early estimates of 100,00 to 150,000 people were overly conservative. How do you feed that many people? Organizers encouraged marchers to bring their own food and water, but they were ready for more.

In New York, volunteers showed up at the Riverside Church at 3:00 AM to make bagged lunches  The bagged meal, comprised of a cheese sandwich, mustard, marble cake and an apple, could be purchased by marchers for 50 cents. Working in shifts until 4 in the afternoon, the assembly line crew paused once for a few words from Dr. Robert Spike, director of the Commission on Religion and Race of the National Council of Churches: ”As an act of love, we now dedicate these lunches for the nourishment of thousands who will be coming long distances, at great sacrifice to say with their bodies and souls that we shall overcome.” In all, 5 tons of American cheese went into the 80,000 lunches that were loaded onto refrigerated trucks and shipped down to Washington.

Other plans were made to feed the many policeman at the event, but liquor sales were suspended in Washington -except for the Congressional cafeteria. Read more at Smithsonian. Link

(Image: The National Archives)

We Go Together Like Drunk and Disorderly Socks

Friendship is a wonderful thing. Pay tribute to this rewarding relationship with the We Go Together Like Drunk and Disorderly Socks from the NeatoShop. These beautiful knee high socks are sure to warm your heart and feet.     

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Footwear. 

Link

Ashley describes herself as a "metal head nerdy mama of two." Appropriately, she and her husband will name their daughter Bowie Irene. They're decorating the nursery with two themes: David Bowie and owls. You can see more photos of the nursery at the link.

Link

Oh, Edison. We all know he's a hopeless romantic when he proposed marriage by morse code. That's why the folks at GE put together a few "Hey Girl" pics for the famous inventor. Ryan Gosling, eat your heart out! View more over at Pinterest and Geeks Are Sexy

Previously on Neatorama: 10 Fascinating Facts About Edison (What? Not an Edison fan? Check out Tesla: Master of Lightning instead)

A bit lake for Shark Week, but that's what you get when you walk instead of swim, lil' sharky!

Meet Hemiscyllium halmahera, a new species of walking shark or bamboo shark found in the waters of eastern Indonesia. The shark has brown color with spots of dark polygons, and more notably, "walks" on the sea floor by using its pectoral and pelvic fins. Mark Erdmann of Weda Resort filmed the video clip above.

It's the Eleventh Doctor! Sinead Toolis made this toasted plush version of Matt Smith's character. In the absence of fish sticks and custard, he'll make a fine breakfast.

Link

How do you open that fruit cup you found in the fridge? Stephanie Pepper tells us how: "caaaarreeefuuuuullyyy.... "

Typing a random word into the Google search field and looking at all the autocomplete suggestions is always an adventure. Randall Munroe obviously entered "why" and received an embarrassment of comedy riches, which he took the time to write out for us. It looks as if modern parents got tired of their young children's incessant "whys" and told them to try Google. See a larger version at xkcd. Link

Ari Kathein, a jeweler in Pompano Beach, Florida, makes finely-crafted jewelry inspired by superheroes. I'm especially charmed by his Oan power ring. Even if it doesn't work, it would make a fine wedding band.

Link -via When Geeks Wed

While America was watching Miley Cyrus, uh, "perform" at the VMA, the good people of the town of St. Julian in Malta had a little performance of their own: the traditional "gostra" game where men, women, and children scramble up a greased pole to grab a flag.

The game is part of the annual Feast of St. Julian and you can view more pics over at The Daily Mail

Harry the Headhunter from Beetljuice by Sideserf Cake Studio.

Cakenweenie is a project to celebrate the 55th birthday of filmmaker Tim Burton by baking 100 cakes in the likeness of characters from Tim Burton movies. A hundred "Burtonesque Bakers" were assembled, and cakes were baked. You can browse through the gallery to see how characters from your favorite Burton film were baked by professional bakeries, hobby bakers, and Tim Burton fans. Continue reading to see more of them.

 

Adam from Beetlejuice by High Five Cakes.

Sleepy Hollow Tree from Sleepy Hollow by Mrs Cake.

Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas by Crazy Cakes & Sweets.

Mrs. Plum from Corpse Bride by Sweet Disposition Cakes.

Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland by Cuteology Cakes.

Pee Wee Herman from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure by Sharon Wee Creations.

Batman from Batman (1989) by Melys Cake Design.

Tim Burton by Highland Bakery.

See all 100 cakes, and read more about the project, at Cakenweenie. Link  -via I Have Seen the Whole of the Internet

The lowly paint scraper is an incredibly versatile tool in the hands of a serious worker. William Vanaria, a metalsmith in Massachusetts, made this one with the rippled appearance of Damascus steel. He gave it as a present to his father, who runs a painting crew.

Link

Cone of Shame Key Chain

How can something so sad look so cute? The Cone of Shame Key Chain from the NeatoShop features an adorable French Bulldog wearing a pet cone or Elizabethan collar. Push his tail and his eyes light up. Oh the public humiliation of it all. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Keychains & Key Covers. 

Link

(YouTube link)

You don't have to know anything about video games to enjoy this insane video of the most ridiculous horse race ever. I learned nothing about the way the game works, or even what the point is, but I was riveted. A narrator shows his buddy what the game is about, and he reacts about the way you would if you had no language filter. In other words, NSFW language.

I'm going to go to Japan one day, and if the actual horse races aren't like that I'm going to be disappointed.

-via Daily Picks and Flicks

Chris McVeigh is a delightfully geeky LEGO artist whose work we've featured previously. Recently, he's been creating minimalist but effective portraits of pop culture icons, such as Cobra Commander, Jake the Dog and Bender. You can view all of them at the link.

Link -via Jennifer Landa | Artist's Website

If only evolving to adapt to changing conditions were this easy… Well, things would still go wrong. From Pie Comic by John McNamee. Link

I was in debt.
Serious debt.
The “how-will-I-ever-pay-this-back?” kind of debt. The kind that haunts you in those moments right before you fall asleep.

And what’s worse: I’d been carrying this unpaid balance for over two decades.

How much did I owe? More than I could write a check for because it wasn’t a financial debt...

Back when I was in my early 20s, I got into real estate. I started working in my father’s office. You probably remember that I was actually really good at real estate, out-earning the entire office where I worked in my first year. But what you may not know is it was a rocky start. The other people in the office didn’t like me very much, and I can’t blame them. I was aggressive, arrogant and alienated myself from all of them within the first week.

Well, all but one.

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This 30-minute audio CD contains the only known recording of “The Millionaire Maker” giving the speech that changed the lives of all who heard it. Needless to say, YOU are in for the experience of a lifetime! Hurry! Special price offer ends Sunday, September 8, 2013, at midnight Central Time.

FEATURED ARTICLE Better Than Smart IQ is an important factor for success. But so are certain personality traits—some more than IQ—that you can learn and refine. Read more MORE FEATURED ARTICLES Interactive vs. V2V: How SXSW’s Landmark Event Stacks Up Against Its Newest Conference Saving Green FEATURED ARTICLE Maximum Leadership: Looking Upward Follow these steps to make your habits healthier. Making small changes is big, and Hilary Tindle, M.D., shares her tips to help you do just that. Read more MORE FEATURED ARTICLES On a Heater Yahoo’s Purple Pop Up

An expert in online networks, Chris Brogan gives his take on the difference between online marketing and mobile marketing—and the importance of both.

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Kauffman Series: Plum Organics CEO on Design Thinking

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” —Walt Disney

“I wish I got a real job when I was young instead of following these delusional plans to work for myself.”

This is what an older dude said to me. This gentleman is likely in his 50s and he hates his job/likely his life. He’s not the happiest person. Actually, he’s pretty miserable most of the time. I just don’t entertain the negative conversations because we all know that misery loves company.

However, this time around, he got me thinking. He said something that made sense. We all like to glorify those that followed their passions. We all put entrepreneurs on this pedestal. We cheer them on for being so bold and so courageous. We write books about them. This all happens… when they succeed!

What about the dark side of trying to work for yourself when you’re young?

There are many negatives to following your passions. It’s not all glamorous. You don’t go for drinks every night and tip with hundreds. You don’t make thousands of dollars while you lounge around the beach. You likely work harder than those that have a job. You can’t leave your work at work. You can’t forget about things. You’re responsible for everything.

I was trying to explain this to a student of my newest course of dominating life in your 20s. You don’t have to start a business. It’s okay to move up the corporate ladder or to work a part-time gig while you try your hand at other ideas. It’s okay to do whatever you want. You don’t have to listen to your family and those around you.

What if I really don’t want a steady job?

Maybe, you’re just in the wrong field or the wrong company. That could be causing trouble. Not the actual idea of going to work everyday.

You also may think that you want to work from home, but what happens when your family thinks that being self-employed means that you’re there to do things for them all day? What happens when you discover that you can’t focus at home or without a boss breathing down your neck? These are all harsh realities.

I’ve seen friends first-hand claim that they’re going to be self-employed and then nothing happens. They just can’t launch. They do nothing. Time passes them by and they keep on delaying that launch. This happens to the best of us.

This is a guaranteed ticket to permanent misery. Not being able to do what you want just because you can’t put it all together.

This then begs an important question…

Do you want to get rich or build an ideal lifestyle?

I personally am a huge proponent of lifestyle. I enjoy going out. I also like having money in the bank. I want to travel. I also don’t want to go broke.

For me, the goal is to build the ideal lifestyle today without comprising tomorrow.

There will always be the negative aspect to trying to get rich as well. The problem with focusing all of your energy on profits is that you might end up doing something you don’t like, be miserable, miss out on amazing connections, and never really get there.

Then there’s the other side to working for yourself. There’s also that something that keeps me up at night.

What is this? The thought of regret for what you didn’t do.

I don’t want to have any regrets. I really feel that I would rather be able to say that I tried than to wonder about what could’ve been. The aforementioned gentleman isn’t too happy with how things turned out.

Maybe he didn’t try hard enough? Maybe he was close to achieving his goals when he quit? Maybe, just maybe, he might be right?

The truth is that you can load up on motivational quotes and buy every eBook on the Internet, but none of it matters until you execute something. Execution is also pointless until you see some results and make some moves on those results.

How do you become miserable forever?

It might happen when you spend your youth chasing dreams. It might also happen when you do NOT spend your youth trying to work for yourself.

This post was intentionally all over the place. I just wanted to throw all of my thoughts out into one post. I don’t want anyone reading this to be miserable today or 20 years from now. I would love to hear from you guys.

Are you afraid of quitting your current job? Are you tempted to become self-employed, but just don’t know if you have what it takes?

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose." — Steve Jobs

(Video Link)

Okay, Wifey, here's a romantic comedy I'm willing to watch on date night: the tale of two lovers, Batman and Bane, drawn together across social barriers. Watch the movie that should have been made from the Nicholas Sparks novel.

-via Bits & Pieces

Ron Gordon is the man behind some of the weird "calendar holidays" you've seen on Neatorama, such as Square Root Day and Odd Day. We've had a lot of fun with those, and I've even won a couple of his contests. However, I received a notice that the next Odd Day is cancelled. Not the day, just the celebration.

       Odd Day has brought many smiles since our first celebration on 1/3/5.  But we unfortunately cannot change our dates, and the next is 9/11/13.  Hence, the very respectful silence for the day.  We will emerge in 2 years for 11/13/15, the final Odd Day of the century.

       We do, however, have some spectacular news on the math holidays front.  The new guy??  On 2/2/22 we celebrate Trumpet Day---just say it aloud---“to to to toooo!!”  Yes, it’s simple and funky, but folks really love it---see www.trumpetday.net    People are as happy to hear about it today as if it were on the calendar next month!

       We’ve also made significant progress on our trek toward the next Square Root Day—we’re now a bit closer to the next one (4/4/16) than to the last (3/3/9).  Be patient, we’ll get there!

       Odd Day for most of the world is November 9th (“hey diddle diddle, the month’s in the middle”).  We will change the website next month and, of course, will sponsor our contest (their final Odd Day---for 11/13/15 doesn’t work without a 13th month.)  thanks for your interest, see you in a couple years!!  Regards,  ron  :)

I'm glad he can keep up with all this, because I would totally miss those numbers. Link  -Thanks, Ron!

Monster Mash Potato Masher

You were cooking late one night when your eyes beheld an eerie sight. A  little monster did arrive. Suddenly to your surprise you did the mash. You did the monster mash.

You were having so much fun. With this little Monster Mash the kitchen party had really began.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Cooking Tools. 

Link

Yuuichi Ito, a barista who works at an Italian restaurant in Ichinomiya City, Japan, is an impressive latte artist. He's created a vast portfolio of works featuring Disney, Peanuts and anime characters--many of them in 3D. You can view more at the link.

Link | Photos: IT Media

(YouTube link)

Imagine suddenly finding yourself in a monster movie! A Japanese TV show pranked unsuspecting passers-by with a puppeteer in an awesome Allosaurus costume. Here's the next clip from the same show:

(YouTube link)

-via Viral Viral Videos

That's No Moon by The 50ft Snail

The possibility of successfully creating a Star Wars and The Nightmare Before Christmas mash up tee is approximately 3,720 to 1, but don't tell T-shirt artist The 50ft Snail the odds. See, he's pulled it off with this That's No Moon design.

Visit out The 50ft Snail's Facebook page for more neat stuff, then visit his NeatoShop page for more cool T-shirts! Your purchase helps support the blog as well as indie artists.

Xenomorph Meal Time	Spirit of Adventure	My Neighbor's Breakfast	No GLaDOS or Kings

View more designs by The 50ft Snail | More Funny T-shirts | New T-Shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop, earn generous royalties, and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

A hundred years ago, there were thousands of carousels in operation in the U.S. Today, there are fewer than 150 of those old carousels featuring hand-carved wooden horses. Those horses (and other animals) are works of art, and the more modern factory-made fiberglass carousel steeds cannot compare. But even in the carousel's golden age, there were two tiers of quality: the exquisite artworks that were made for permanent installation in parks, and the plainer horses designed for traveling carnivals. Collectors Weekly tells the history of carousel horses, from the development of the ride through the immigration of master woodcarvers to America to modern preservation and restoration efforts. Link

(Image credit: © Aaron Shepard, via The National Carousel Foundation)

What if the pie chart used vibrant, pastel colors and had a 3D effect? I read somewhere that doing so improves the quality of polling data. Doghouse Diaries is being too skeptical.

Link

(YouTube link)

Last week we got the news that Ben Affleck will play Batman in the sequel to The Man of Steel. Then we learned that Bryan Cranston has been cast as Lex Luthor. And already, we have a fan-made trailer for the film, starring Affleck, Cranston, and Henry Cavill as Clark Kent, edited together from many sources by solyentbrak1. -via Uproxx

(Photo: NOAA)

During World War II, the US converted two sidewheel steamships into aircraft carriers and operated them entirely on the Great Lakes. But their mission wasn't to guard America's freshwater border with Canada. The USS Sable and the USS Wolverine (pictured above) were training vessels for pilots.

I learned about these carriers through a post written by Glenn Reynolds. He comments:

You know, Nick McCall and I were going to write a novel about a U-boat in the Great Lakes, being chased by, among other things, these very carriers, but we couldn’t come up with a good way to get it there. 

That would be a fine alternate history challenge!

Link -via Glenn Reynolds

(YouTube link)

Now this looks like a fun wedding reception! I don't know what they are saying, but my guess is that it's something like:

Guy one: Anything you can do, I can do better!

Guy two: Hold my vodka and watch this!

-via Daily Picks and Flicks

When you need burritos under the harshest weather and terrain conditions, call upon the Roving Mammoth. This food truck delivers essential burrito nutrients around Mammoth Lakes, California, a popular ski resort area. It's one of 10 extreme food trucks rounded up at Thrillist. You can view the rest at the link.

Link -via Foodbeast

The Verge has an extensive article on the rise of broadcast censorship. Despite the devotion to freedom of speech, broadcasters have always been terrified of audience response, and did what they could to avoid offending anyone. The first incidence of broadcast censorship occurred in 1921, when Vaudeville performer Olga Petrova visited one of the earliest radio stations. Petrova was known to be opinionated, and a friend of birth control advocate Margaret sanger.

One night in 1921, Petrova, then engaged at a Newark theater, went to the local radio station WJZ to perform. The Great War had just ended, during the course of which the government had forbidden the use of private radio equipment. After the armistice the Navy tried to retain monopoly control of radio, but Congress put a stop to their power grab. Wartime restrictions were lifted, but the pioneers of broadcasting such as those at WJZ were mindful of potential government interference, and Petrova had a reputation as a firebrand. She disarmed her hosts by announcing that she would be performing her own versions of Mother Goose rhymes, and then proceeded to read the following:

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, She had so many children because she didn’t know what to do.

The 1873 Comstock laws, which banned the distribution of “obscene” materials, including information about contraception, were still in force; Petrova had, arguably, kind of broken the law.
"The means for censoring broadcast content came years before the emergence of the first national broadcast network"

“The staff was terrified,” Barnouw relates. “They were certain there would be trouble from Washington. Westinghouse [then owner of WJZ] executives were already nervous about possibilities of this sort, and had wondered what to do if a 'red' got on the air. An emergency switch was provided for the engineer in the shack.” Thus, he could switch to that “phonograph beside him — on his own judgment or on a signal from the studio.”

Petrova marveled at how broadcasters had to take control over the possibility of offending, as if listeners at home could not control their own radios. That was just the beginning of a system that evolved to protect the delicate sensibilities of the general public. Link  -via Digg

Smart Ass

Are you looking for the perfect gift for someone who enjoys giving you flippant or sarcastic answers to real questions? Reward their smart-aleck behavior with the Smart Ass mask from the NeatoShop. This over-sized butt dons a pair of glasses and a graduation hat. The mask comes complete with its own poop-shaped prop cigar.  

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Masks. 

Link

These Domestic Rebel's treats might just be the ultimate dessert -it features not only brownies and cookie dough, but also s'mores goodness complete with graham cracker crumbles, mini marshmallows and a layer of chocolate. 

Link

Jenny Lawson of The Blogess has an unusual hobby of sorts: she collects taxidermied animals dressed up as characters from Harry Potter.

As you can see from the pic above, she's got Ron Weasel-y, Ermine-y Granger, and Mad-Eye Toady. She's still on the look out for Draco Mouse-foy, Severus Snake, Harry Otter and Dumble Dormouse.

(YouTube link)

Have you ever seen baby ostrich chicks? Apparently they like to spin around in circles. Or maybe they just don't know which way to turn! -via Tastefully Offensive

Harold Knapke met his wife Ruth in third grade, began their romance during World War II and married soon afterwards. The couple died on the same day, just hours apart, after 66 years of marriage. Their children called their deaths "final act of love":

[The couple's daughter Margaret] said Ruth contracted a rare infection shortly before her death and it was clear she was not going to recover. When Margaret and her siblings told her father the news, she recalled, he took it calmly but they saw a "shift" in him.

Just a few days later, Margaret and one of her sisters noticed that their father appeared to be very ill, she said.

"My sister said, 'It's almost like he's trying to catch up to Mom.'"

Three days later, Harold died, at 7:30 a.m.

"I think he realized what was happening and wanted to pave the way for her," the couple's son, Ted Knapke, said.

After their father died, the Knapke children surrounded their mother -- who was not lucid -- and told her, "Dad's up there waiting. They got the card game going and it's time you got up there. Don't stick around for us," Ted Knapke said.

Ruth Knapke died that night, at 6:30 p.m.

Harold was 91 and Ruth was 89.

Allie Malloy of CNN has the touching story - Thanks Tiffany!

An American has won the 2013 Air Guitar World Championships, which took place in Oulu, Finland, over the weekend. Eric "Mean Melin" Melin bested the competition, including fellow American  Doug "The Thunder" Stroock in the final matchup.

Air Guitar World Championships 2013 was a tight twist to two Dark Horses. Thursday's victorious Eric "Mean Melin" Melin (US) also nailed both of his performances in the Friday's World Final - after being challenged by his countryman, Doug "The Thunder" Stroock. As a result, The Thunder's oozingly sexual air guitar moves couldn't compete with Mean Melin's straight-forward rock charisma: the Kansas-based Dave Grohl lookalike is inevidably going home with the World Title of Air Guitar and hand-made Flying Finn electric guitar.

Americans took four of the top give final rankings, but many other nations are represented in the finalists. Link -via Laughing Squid

(Image credit: Maiju Torvinen)

Continue reading to see a video of Melin's winning performance.

(YouTube link)

Jesse Cottle and his wife Kelly were on a family photo shoot when photographer Sarah Ledford suggested the couple take a picture in the water. That's when Jesse - a former Marine who lost his both of legs in Afghanistan - hopped on his wife's back.

It was on patrol in Afghanistan in 2009 when Jesse's life changed forever.

"About 5 hours into that patrol, into that mission, I was struck by an anti-personnel IED," Jesse said. "It was a pressure plate, I stepped on it and lost both legs right away."

One of his fellow Marines was wearing a helmet camera, and the explosion that injured Jesse was caught on tape.

"I remember most everything," he said "I was awake the whole time."

The couple's photo has now gone viral on Facebook, as explained by KTVB7: Link

Gordon Cooper, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, flew the final Mercury mission 50 years ago this week. It was the longest U.S. space mission yet: 22 orbits in a 34-hour solo flight. Cooper became the first person to sleep in space.

The story doesn't end there, though: Cooper also ran into some trouble. On his 19th orbit, the solo astronaut encountered a problem with the indicator light on the craft he named himself, Faith 7. On the 20th, he lost his attitude readings. On the 21st, a short-circuit occurred, leaving the tiny craft's automatic stabilization and control systems without electrical power.

Suddenly, the crackling radio connecting Gordo to Earth became even more crucial than it had been before. John Glenn, aboard a ship in Japan at the time, communicated with Cooper as he swept around the planet, helping the solo space traveler to revise the checklist NASA had prepared for his entry back to Earth. Meanwhile, Mercury Control Center was in a flurry of worried activity," one history has it, "cross-checking Faith 7's problems and Cooper's diagnostic actions with identical equipment at the Cape [Canaveral] and in St. Louis, then relaying to each communications site questions to ask and instructions to give."

The team soon had another problem to wrestle with: rising carbon dioxide levels in Cooper's craft -- and in his suit. The cabin temperature was rising to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. "Things are beginning to stack up a little," Cooper told the ground of the issue, understatedly.

Cooper was forced to land the craft manually, which would have been impossible of the Mercury astronauts had not fought to be able to control their spacecrafts. Read what happened at the Atlantic. Link -via Metafilter

Zoinks ... They're Zombies by Warbucks Design

Ruh-roh! The undead is upon us! Scooby, where are you? We've got some work to do now ... killing zombies!

Visit Warbucks Design's Facebook Page for more, then check out his NeatoShop page for more T-shirts. Your purchase helps support indie artists as well as this blog - thank you!

Mount Doom	You're A Zombie, Chuck!	Shmowzow	Misbehave

View more designs by Warbucks Design | More Funny T-shirts | New T-Shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop, earn generous royalties, and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

(Image: Kipfox32)

Crime is rampant in Marseille, France, so citizens of that city have started an online petition asking Batman to come and rescue them:

Criminal gangs are increasingly using heavy duty weapons such as AK-47 assault rifles, thought to arrive in the city through its Mediterranean sea port.

Two murders earlier this month also saw an 18-year-old stabbed in the chest during a fight outside a nightclub and a 25-year-old man shot in his car by men on a motorbike.

The government has said it is sending in 130 extra riot police - who will be patrolling the city by the end of the month - as well as 24 more detectives.

But many residents of the southern city are critical of that response and say politicians are not doing enough.

"Today finished the soundbites and rhetoric ... The city needs action!" says the petition.

"Or are we preparing to always call more police and army ... then Batman!"

Link -via Geekosystem

(YouTube link)

The German science video producers Kurzgesagt made this lovely motion graphics video explaining our Solar System, newly translated into English. It is simple enough for schoolchildren, but if you watch long enough, you'll surely run into something you don't already know. -via mental_floss

Sally Bib and Hat

Attention The Nightmare Before Christmas fans! Are you looking for a spooctacular way to dress up mealtime at your house? Get your little doll the Sally Bib and Hat from the NeatoShop. This delightfully functional set features a baby bib with matching hat. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Mealtime Fun!

Link

I was out one night last week with our friend Jeff from Pleated-Jeans.com. We got to talking about which blogs are worth reading these days and between us could only come up with a handful. What about YOU all?

What blogs are you loving these days? Maybe you can help us bookmark some new ones! (And bookmark Jeff's blog if you haven't already!)

(Cartoon via gapingvoid.com)

David Bowie the dog was just introduced to Cute Overload and this is one fashionable pooch that certainly lives up to his name. In fact, I think David Bowie would be quite a Shibu Inu if he was a dog.

Link Via Cute Overload

Artist Michele Banks (previously at Neatorama) has her biological art available  on handmade silk chiffon scarves! The scarf here is based on her watercolor "Portrait of a Human."   

A variety of different cell types, including blood, brain, muscle, retina, bone, egg, sperm, lung and liver, are presented as brightly colored squares against a black background. Awesome for doctors, nurses, researchers, or anyone who thinks humans are pretty on the inside.

Other scarves show brain cells, neurons, mitosis, and things grown in Petri dishes, along with art prints. Link  -Thanks, John Page!

Stomach: I'm hungry. Brain: Chill out, dude, she's in a meeting. Stomach: I WILL NOW DEMONSTRATE A WHALE'S MATING CALL.

— Ruxin McWhiskey (@KCCOTyler) April 10, 2013

 Want it on a t-shirt? Click the shirts below!

This Tony Stark amigurumi is not only adorable, it's also impressively detailed. Iron Man's mask flips up and his helmet comes off completely, revealing Tony's hair and facial hair. Maybe it's just me, but I'd love to see a picture of Robert Downey hanging out with this litttle guy.

Link

Here's a beauty tip from Uncle John: If your great-great-great-grandma is still living, don't ask her for beauty tips. If what we found in these old books is any guide, you'll probably get some pretty odd advice.

To lose weight: "New York society women usually go upon the milk diet during Lent, as being the most convenient time, and for a week they will take nothing into the system but milk. The dose for the milk diet is: Take a glass of milk upon rising, then follow it with a glass every hour all day. Add a pinch of salt if you prefer. The milk will wash all impurities out of the system, and milk taken thusly is not fattening."

-The Household Physician (1905)
 

Another way to lose weight: "Keep on bearing children as long and often as possible."

-Creative and Sexual Science (1876)
 

For wrinkles: "A wrinkle is like a crinkle in a piece of tissue paper. It is there, but is easily smoothed out. The plaster treatment has been tried with good results: The wrinkle is stretched flat, and slender strips of plaster are applied. When taken off, the wrinkle will be much lighter."

-The Household Physician (1905)
 

Bathing: "The vigorous and strong may bathe early in the morning on an empty stomach. The young and weak had better bathe three hours after a meal."

-Cassell's Household Guide (1880)
 

"Bags under the eyes destroy the beauty of the face. To get rid of these bags, massage persistently, and also reform the diet. It is good to swat apples, cooked and raw; correct the liver and the eye sacs will disappear."

-The Household Physician (1905)
 

"Every intelligent dentist knows that the whiter the teeth are, the sooner and more certainly they will decay. He also knows that those teeth last the longest and are the most useful, which have a yellowish tint."

-Fun Better Than Physic (1877)
 

"To enlarge the bust: An efficacious, yet safe method to enlarge the bust is a persistent massage with some bland oil, of which coconut or olive are good examples."

-The Household Physician (1905)
 

"To cure pimples: Take a fairly full breath and hold it momentarily while contracting the abdominal muscles and straining lightly. This brings a flush to the cheeks and fills the capillaries of the skin, insuring a better skin circulation. Standing on the head will have the same effect as the exercise given, and is worth a try."

-Home Health Manual (1930)
 

"Freckled hands in the summer are caused by letting the sun touch the hands immediately after they have been washed. The freckles can be removed with lemon juice followed by cold cream."

-The Household Physician (1905)
 

"The very best way of making the hair grow is to rub paraffin into the roots, but of course you must be very careful afterwards not to go near a fire or light of any kind."

-The Girl's Own Annual (1903)
 

"Fat faced women always have small eyes. As the fat increases, the cheeks puff up and the eyes dwindle. Eyes can be made larger if one massages the cheeks until the fat is less noticeable."

-The Household Physician (1905)

To freshen the breath: "A lump of charcoal held in the mouth two or three times a week and slowly chewed, has a power to preserve the teeth and purify the breath. Those who are troubled with an offensive breath might chew it very often and swallow it but seldom."

-Polite Manual for Young Ladies (1847)

The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Curiously Compelling Bathroom Reader, a fantastic book by the Bathroom Readers' Institute. The 19th book in this fan-favorite series contain such gems like The Greatest Plane that Never Was, Forgotten Robot Milestones, Ancient Beauty Secrets, and more.

Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out!

Are you the rightful heir to the Seven Geekdoms? Then you'll need to be ready to fight your way through the Game of Nerds in the hopes that one day you can ascend to the Keyboard Throne as created by artist Mike DeWolfe.

Link

Rainbow Blast Socks

What? You thought rainbows were made with sunlight and raindrops? Nah, that's just the story they tell you keep you from the real truth. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Footwear. 

Link

This "impossible" jigsaw puzzle is borderline criminal genius! Now, if they only make it in all white:

(YouTube link)

Oh, there's a lot of good ones here …and they get funnier as they go along. The sequence that starts at 7:30 had me rolling on the floor (figuratively). -via Laughing Squid

Some authors on this list died before publishing their final works. But others, such as E.M. Forster, hid their work from public view:

Purposely kept under wraps during his lifetime, E.M. Forster's tale of same-sex love was written in 1913 and kept secret for nearly 60 years. Maurice’s manuscript famously bears the author’s note to himself: “Publishable, but worth it?”

At the link, you can learn about 9 other novels that emerged only after their authors died.

Link -via Katherine Miller | Image: W.W. Norton

Rebel Rider by Dann Matthews

You don't wanna get mixed up with a rebel like him. He's a loner, Dottie. A Rebel that can walk in both worlds.

Well, you may not be able to buy that bike for all the money in the world. Not for a hundred million, trillion, billion dollars, but you can buy the T-shirt* by Dann Matthews from the NeatoShop for just a few shekels.

*No, the shirt won't be animated like this nifty animated GIF that Dann whipped up. But we promise it'll be just as hot!

Visit Dann at his official website and Facebook page, then check out his NeatoShop page for more cool T-shirts!

X-Ray Bill	Soft Lucky Kitty	Banana Nana	Maneki Nekobasu

View more designs by Dann Matthews | More Funny T-shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop, earn generous royalties, and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

(YouTube link)

Slackstory explores another movie trope by making it into a supercut. How many times have you seen two people almost kiss but don't quite make it? In real life: never. In movies: all the time! -via Tastefully Offensive

What time is it? Does it matter? We're all dead already. There can't be only one of those things on board. Artist Eddie Escher surely made more:

This stunning sculpture/clock was created by Rockstar Games artist Chris 'Eddie Escher' Edwards using polymer clay, wire, plastic and oodles of skill. Hand painted and laquered, the Facehugger looks a little too alive to completely relax around but with this item comes our promise that it won't impregnate you with an unstoppable killing machine while you sleep, he will, however, keep good time with its Quartz movement, glow in the dark hands and free battery!

I won't believe that promise about not impregnating me with an alien killing machine unless it comes with a money-back guarantee.

Link -via Technabob

Just when you thought you'd memorized the periodic table of the elements, along comes a new one. The atomic weight is 115, and ununpentium is its temporary name (it just means 115).

The heaviest element in nature is uranium, which has 92 protons. But heavier elements-which have more protons in their nucleus-can be created through nuclear fusion. (Related: Learn how to make an element.)

The man-made 115 was first created by Russian scientists in Dubna about ten years ago. This week, chemists at Lund University in Sweden announced that they had replicated the Russian study at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research in Germany.

Element 115 will join its neighbors 114 and 116-flerovium and livermorium, respectively-on the periodic table just as soon as a committee from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) decides on an official name for 115.

Don't think for a minute they will name it by internet poll. Chemistry professor Paul Hooker talked to National Geographic News about the process for discovering and confirming this new element. Link

(Image credit: Albedo.ukr)

For his project entitled "V12 Laraki," artist Eric van Hove enlisted the aid of 35 craftsmen to help him duplicate a Mercedes car engine using materials not commonly used in the construction of car engines:

Nine months in the making,V12 Laraki began when van Hove dismantled a mercedes engine and then set about creating faithful reproductions of every single component, some 465 parts and 660 bolts made of casted copper. Contracting with artists around Morocco the engine was made with white cedar wood, high Atlas red cedar wood, walnut wood, lemon wood, orange wood, ebony wood of Macassar, mahogany wood, thuya wood, Moroccan beech wood, pink apricot wood, mother of pearl, yellow copper, nickel plated copper, red copper, forged iron, recycled aluminum, nickel silver, silver, tin, cow bone, goat bone, malachite of Midelt, agate, green onyx, tigers eye, Taroudant stone, sand stone, red marble of Agadir, black marble of Ouarzazate, white marble of Béni Mellal, pink granite of Tafraoute, goatskin, cowskin, lambskin, resin, cow horn, rams horn, ammonite fossils of the Paleozoic from Erfoud, Ourika clay, geometric terra cotta with vitreous enamel (zellige), green enamel of Tamgrout, paint, cotton, argan oil, cork, henna, rumex. In case you were interested.

Link | Artist's Website

Earlier this year, the world was introduced to the wonderful spectacle of a cat riding a Roomba dressed in a shark costume while chasing a duck. The whole thing was so crazy that it was bound to end up immortalized across the web. Now we can enjoy the beauty of this magnificent weirdness through LEGO thanks to Flickr user Ochre Jelly.

Link Via Laughing Squid

(Photo: Canada Tourism)

This requires a bit of explanation.

There's a bar in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada that has--or had--a preserved human toe. Since 1973, for a fee, drinkers could sip their whiskey with the toe inside. Because Canada.

Then, last week, one bar-goer swallowed the toe:

Terry Lee, the bar’s “Toe Captain,” said that on Saturday night, an American patron, who had drunk the cocktail before, decided to ingest it this time.

Mr. Lee said the customer was a card-carrying member of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club, a distinction given to each person who tries the drink. To gain full membership, people agree to abide by the club rules, including a $500 fine if the toe is ingested. He said the patron drank the cocktail, swallowed the toe, put the money on the table and left. “He just wanted bragging rights, that’s what he wanted,” Mr. Lee said, adding the patron deliberately swallowed the toe.

To be fair, he abided by the rules. Anyway, there's no need to worry because the bar has a large supply of severed human toes. Terry Lee, the owner, explained:

He said the bar receives toes through donations: either people who have lost toes in accidents or through illness, or have stipulated in their wills that they want a toe or toes donated to the bar.

Link -via Nag on the Lake

Pixel-8 Hair Bows

Are you hunting for a fun way to reboot your style? Capture the Pixel-8 Hair Bows from the NeatoShop. Each pack includes 2 fun hair clips that look like pixel shaped bows. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Apparel & Accessories. 

Link

Great dubstep musicians aren't born, they're MADE great by going to dubstep school like this one where rhythm and beat are pounded in their head at a young age.

YouTube user named Licker set this Russian clip of school children doing what children do to the appropriate music, a track called I'm in Need by Savoy.

A few years ago we told you about Männerspielplatz, a theme park in Germany where visitors can operate heavy equipment and use power tools. Now you can do that here in America! Dig This is a "heavy equipment playground" in Las Vagas, where you can control a full-size bulldozer or excavator.

No experience necessary. All you have to do is be 14 years or older, and not drunk. A 90 minute session runs for $249, a group session for up to 10 people runs for $1100. The company also offers a Dig & Destroy package which combines the excitement of operating construction equipment in an adult-sized sandbox with the exhilaration of firing semi-automatic and fully-automatic weapons.

Link -via the Presurfer

Jeremy Kaye expresses this wisdom: wisdom is overrated. Boosting your stat by 10 points will do nothing but show you your failures in life. Go for increased strength, dexterity or just plain gold pieces.

Link

Peter Hillary, Sir Edmund Hillary, Mike Dunn, and Neil Armstrong.

Remember that time Sir Edmund Hillary and Neil Armstrong went to the North Pole? No? It sure sounds like a tall tale, but it happened in 1985. Professional expedition leader Mike Dunn offered to take them both out -and who'd pass up that kind of opportunity? Certainly not men who's already showed the world they were ready for anything!

Hillary, legendary for being the first to scale Mount Everest with teammate Tenzing Norgay, was on board, and Armstrong was, too, saying he was curious to see what the North Pole looked like from ground level, as he'd only seen it from the moon. Astronaut problems.

The party also included Steve Fosset — the first man to fly a balloon around the world — and Patrick Morrow — the first person to climb the highest peaks of all seven continents.

But after they stood at the pole, they were caught by bad weather on the way back and had to camp for three days. That's when several of the most accomplished men in the world had a chance to really tell some stories. Read more about the expedition at Atlas Obscura. Link

Some of us are content to live in our plain white rooms, but others know just how important it is to personalize their space. When those people are gamers, the decor can turn out truly fantastic in the geekiest way possible. Our own Miss C did a great round up of rooms with decor inspired by video games -including the Mario nursery above.

Link

Anyone Can Cook by Alberto Arni

Anyone can cook, but only the fearless can be great. The famous saying by Chef Auguste Gusteau is surprisingly applicable to a variety of "cooking" methods, like this T-shirt by Alberto Arni shows.

Visit Alberto's official website and Facebook page, then visit his NeatoShop page for more neat shirts. Your purchase helps support indie artists as well as this blog!

Practical Milk Joke	Piano Night	Panda in My FILLings	Pixel Sculptor

View more designs by Alberto Arni | More Funny T-shirts | New T-Shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop, earn generous royalties, and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

(YouTube link)

This week's mental_floss video is hosted by Grace Helbig of DailyGrace. She runs down some celebrity arrests that you might not have heard of because they happened long ago or before the perpetrator reached stardom, were swept under the rug, or you just forgot. Many are embarrassing because they are just plain weird.

It's hard to beat the Bacon Taco Shell that John posted here on Neatorama last year, but Nick of Dude Foods has improved upon that timeless design, by weaving the strips of bacon together (what simple yet genius improvement in structural stability!) and making it a breakfast food: Link

Like that? More Bacon-y goodness at the NeatoShop

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad featuring Sherman Oliver Holmes, a mysterious crime solver and great-great-grandson of Sherlock Holmes. Can you solve the crime?

(Image credit: Flickr user Michael Schmit)

Sherman Holmes and Sergeant Wilson stood side by side. They were staring at a bloody corpse sprawled face up in the living room of a suburban tract house.

Sherman spoke first. "A premeditated crime, what ho?"

Wilson frowned. "What makes you say that?"

"Choice of weapon." The round little man pointed at the fireplace poker. It had been used like a sword, stabbing its victim several times in the chest and stomach. "When we were walking up the drive, I didn't see any chimney."

Wilson looked around. "You're right. So, the killer brought the poker from another location, which indicates a planned murder. Very observant."

Holmes and Wilson had been in the midst of one of their occasional lunches when the call came in on the sergeant's cell phone. A mail carrier, making his rounds in a quiet neighborhood, had happened to glance through a living room window. He saw pretty much what they were seeing now, a large, elderly man who had died trying to fend off a brutal attack.

The responding patrolmen interviewed the next-door neighbor, a nearly deaf woman who claimed not to have heard or seen a thing.

"Harold Kipling." The sergeant was reading from the patrolman's notes. "A widower living alone. Three children, none of whom seemed fond of him. A life insurance policy was split among the kids, plus some savings. There had been lights about a nursing home and money."

"The children all live locally?" asked Sherman.

As if to answer the question, a patrolman eased open the door. "The victim's kids are here, Sarge. I told them he was dead. I hope that's okay."

The sergeant and his civilian partner walked out onto the lawn to face two middle-aged men and a woman. Wilson adopted his best corpse-side manner.

"Your father was murdered," he told them. "We don't know much more than that. The murder weapon was a fireplace poker."

"Fireplace poker? Dad doesn't have a fireplace," the older son said.

"We know that."

"So, what happened? Someone broke in with a poker and stabbed him to death?"

"There were no signs of forced entry," Wilson explained.

"Did your father get into many fights with people?"

The younger son found this amusing. "Just with us. He wanted to move into a nursing home. We didn't feel it was necessary."

"He wanted to go?" asked Wilson. This was certainly a switch.

"It's an expensive nursing home," volunteered the daughter. "He wanted to cash in his life insurance and use up his savings. It was a very selfish idea."

"I dropped over this morning," said Gary, the younger son. "Dad had already signed the papers. We argued about it, then I left. I called Jason and Jennifer."

"Right," said Jennifer. "Jason, Gary, and I decided we would come over as a group and try one last time. We got here just a few minutes ago."

"Can we see him?" Jason asked. There was a nervous timidity in his voice.

Sherman had been silent throughout the interview, but now he spoke up. "I think it would be fine for two of you to see the body. But one of you needs to answer a few more questions."

WHICH SUSPECT DOES SHERMAN WANT TO QUESTION?

WHAT CLUE MADE SHERMAN SUSPICIOUS?

Show Answer

The whodunit above was provided by American mystery fiction author Hy Conrad.

In addition to his work in mystery and crime puzzles, Hy was also one of the original writers for the groundbreaking TV series Monk.

Currently, Hy is working on mystery novel series "Abel Adventures" as well as the Monk series of novels, starting with Mr. Monk Helps Himself (published by Penguin, order from Amazon here)

Check out Hy's official website and Facebook page - and stay tuned for more whodunits puzzlers on Neatorama from the master of whodunit mysteries himself!

Poor little Buttons was an orphan, but fortunately, Farasyn Farm’s Wildlife Rescue in Oregon rescued the little gal and will be taking care of her until she is old enough to return to the wild on her own. In the meanwhile, that means we get all kinds of great photos of this adorable little babe.

Link

Mickey & Minnie's Wedding Salt & Pepper Shakers

Attention Disney fans! No you can celebrate the everlasting love of Mickey and Minnie Mouse with the Mickey & Minnie's Wedding Salt & Pepper shakers from the NeatoShop. This heart warming set is made of glazed ceramic and held together by magnets.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Salt & Pepper Shakers. 

Link

This unnamed man was arrested for an undisclosed crime in Idaho. His appearance earned him a spot on The Smoking Gun's weekly mugshot roundup. Now you know, some guys get face tattoos to make a statement. Others consider it art. This guy, well, I think he just likes getting tattooed. Link -via Arbroath

Ukrainian designer Andrey Privalov made nothing but net with this shot. It's a lamp that he calls "Light Ball." Make sure that your friends don't try to dunk it.

Link -via NotCot

If the name didn't give it away, the Megaburgerpizza is a burger with two cheese pizzas subbing in for the boring old bun. The fast food monstrosity weighs in at an impressive 2.65 pounds and the Japanese treat will run you $26.

Link Via Food Beast

One of my favorite adages is "An uncluttered desk is the sign of an uncluttered mind." It appears to be true that a messy desk fosters creativity. Kathleen Vohs of the University of Minnesota cites three experiments in which a neat or messy setting influenced a person's thinking process. In one experiment, 48 subjects were placed in either a neat or a messy room, and told to come up with creative uses for ping pong balls.

Two assistants rated each idea on a one-to-three scale (from not at all creative to very creative). After adding the scores, the researchers found that those who worked in the messy room were more creative overall, and came up with more highly creative ideas, than those who performed the same task in the neat room. On average, those working in the pristine environment came up with as many suggestions as those in the messy one; their ideas just weren’t as innovative.

“Being creative is aided by breaking away from tradition, order and convention,” Vohs and her colleagues conclude, “and a disorderly environment seems to help people do just that.”

An interesting observation here is that the subjects did not select whether their experimental environment was neat or messy, so a person's natural messiness or creativity did not come into play. And a neat desk has its advantages, too. Vohs tells us of other experiments in which people working in a neater environment tended to be more generous and to select more nutritious foods afterward. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user Ali West)

(Image: University of Wisconsin-Platte)

Ask the Past is a delightful blog that conveys medieval advice to modern readers. For example, would you like to haze college freshmen? According to a Leipzig University statute promulgated in 1495, it is forbidden:

Statute Forbidding Any One to Annoy or Unduly Injure the Freshmen. Each and every one attached to this university is forbidden to offend with insult, torment, harass, drench with water or urine, throw on or defile with dust or any filth, mock by whistling, cry at them with a terrifying voice, or dare to molest in any way whatsoever physically or severely, any, who are called freshmen, in the market, streets, courts, colleges and living houses, or any place whatsoever, and particularly in the present college, when they have entered in order to matriculate or are leaving after matriculation.

Behave yourselves.

Link -via Marginal Revolution