Last Monday, Alex posted a rant about how difficult blogging is on April Fool's Day. Is he ever right! You can look all over the internet, and everything you see is either false or suspect. Original content creators were saving their good stuff for April 2. And I learned a lesson. See, I was fascinated by a great story from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader about the guys on the ISS building a satellite out of a space suit, a ham radio transmitter, and garbage. So I posted it. And nobody read it, linked it, or shared it. Well, a lot fewer people than expected. I couldn't figure out why, because it was a neat story. I posted a link to the story elsewhere, and Tuesday night received a comment telling me that was no April Fool, that it really happened. Well, I knew that, but then it dawned on me that no one took the story seriously just because it was posted on April Fools Day! Next year, I'll make our feature story a list of cat pictures on April first. Here's what else happened this past week at Neatorama.

Jill Harness brought us 27 Fantastic Photos of Cosplay At WonderCon 2013.

Eddie Deezen told us about Blazing Saddles: Mel Brooks' Western Laugh Riot.

How to Get Girls Interested in Science came to us from the Annals of Improbable Research.  

Mental_floss magazine contributed The Tunnel That Saved Bosnia.

Oh yeah, that story that no one read? SuitSat-1: The Garbage Satellite, came from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.

We only had two brainteasers this week: Nightclub Password and Seven-letter Word. I was really impressed with the alternate answers you guys came up with for the latter!

Congratulations to the Choose Your Own Doctor Who Giveaway Winners, LisaL, Morgenstern, and Jospeh Cuffe! That's what you get for subscribing to NeatoMail, as the contest was exclusively for subscribers.

In the What Is It? game this week, the mystery tool is a mechanical pry tool that was used to free people who were trapped in cars before the jaws of life were invented. After studying the comments and collaborating with the powers that be, we decided to award two prizes for the correct answer. Craig Clayton said it is a automotive tool to force open body panels. That's sort of right. Then Jonnette Samantha Huntley Mix said "The Jaws of Life for [ pick your favorite Kardashian ]'s pantyhose." That's sort of right, and funny, too! So both Craig and Jonnette win t-shirts from the NeatoShop! The prize for the funniest answer goes to The Professor, who said, "It's the remote control for a North Korean TV set." Alrighty then, that's good for a t-shirt as well! Thanks to everyone who played, and see the answers to the other mystery items of the week at the What Is It? blog.

Oh, you better believe there are more giveaways coming! Alex even asked for your suggestions on what we should give away next. Don't know? Then you should look around the NeatoShop and see what you'd like to have.

The post with the most comments this week was What Should the Choose Your Own Prize Next Week Be? but we should probably eliminate that along with the contest posts for this purpose. In that case, the most commented-on post was Students Fight to Integrate Prom. Others with a good discussion were High School Student Bitterly Responds to College Rejections and Men: Can You Deal With It If Your Wife Wore the Pants in the Family? It's not too late to put your two cents worth in!

The most popular post of the week was How Indiana Jones Was Born, followed by Brainteaser: Nightclub Password and Houdini Octopus. Those were all from earlier in the week and may eventually be eclipsed by the WonderCon or the Blazing Saddles features.  

I finally got around to counting the ♥s that folks leave at the top of each post this week, and it turns out that's the way y'all show love to cute things. The most ♥s went to Micro Piglet in Sweater Vest, The Best Easter Cake of 2013, Houdini Octopus, and Cute Alert! Easter Photo Shoot with Pit Bull, Chick, and Bunnies. Just about all the other posts with lots of ♥s were cute animals, too.

Usability tip of the week: With the new Neatorama design, we have expanded the ways you can interact with others on the site. Registered users can leave comments on the posts AND on other user's profiles -including the authors profiles. But if you don't have time or don't know what to say, you can simply leave a ♥ on the top of a post you like, or beside comments you like or agree with.

And if that isn't enough Neatorama for you, we have extra content and fun at our Facebook page, Twitter feed, and Pinterest pinboard. For mobile users, Flipboard makes it easy to keep up with Neatorama. Oh yeah -look for Neatorama on Instagram, too!

Last week, the Jim Bean distillery sent Foodbeast a few bottles of bourbon and whiskey. You know, for testing purposes. I'm jealous because the Neatorama office never gets stuff like that.

Charisma Madarang and her colleagues put the sweet stuff to good use, inventing a float that includes black cherry ice cream, raspberry soda, chocolate syrup, Oreos and Knob Creek bourbon. 

Link

(YouT7ube link)

What do you know -we finally get a Simon Tofield video featuring Simon Tofield! In this animation, Tofield shows us how to draw his new kitten, which he obviously adores. The kitten is featured in Tofield's latest book, Simon's Cat in Kitten Chaos. Link  -via Tastefully Offensive

While these claims are technically true, they don't stand up well to further questioning at job interviews or first dates. But let me defend the artist in Reza Farazmand's cartoon: she's actually generating revenue.

Link -via Daily of the Day

The tiny town of Ocumicho in the Mexican state of Michoacán is the source for the increasingly popular ceramic diablitos, or devils, in peculiar and even ridiculous scenes. They can be traced back to one artist who designed many of them in the 1960s.    

The women of Ocumicho built molds of various base shapes, which were then differentiated with smaller clay embellishments, like spouts or handles, and finished with colorful glazes. By the 1950s, Ocumicho craftswomen mostly produced bird-shaped whistles and figurine banks, which they would sell at the local markets.

“But there was this one pivotal character named Marcelino Vicente,” says Orr. “Marcelino was the last of 11 or 12 children, all boys,” she continues, “and many townspeople claim that his mother wanted a baby girl, so she dressed him in girl’s clothing. Growing up, he was also really interested in what was considered ‘women’s work,’ which was making pottery, and was totally mocked by the men for doing this. He was a little bit of a renegade.”

Ocumicho was an extremely poor and isolated village, so it was highly unusual for individuals to step out of the prescribed gender roles. Claudia B. Isaac, who analyzed the gender division in Ocumicho in 1996, wrote that, “Although no one I spoke with directly verified that Marcelino was gay, many talked disparagingly of his reluctance to fulfill traditional male roles.”

Despite their prejudices, the town’s female potters recognized Vicente’s gift for working with clay, and he progressed from small whistles and banks to larger sculptural pieces featuring the devil characters he grew so fond of. These diablitos were an unlikely icon in such a conservative religious community; most locals associate the devil with bad luck, and are reluctant to bring diablitos into their homes. Yet when Vicente finally took his wares to the tianguis, and spread them out on a blanket for sale, the wacky diablitos were a hit.

Vicente's story did not end happily, but his assistants and fans continued making the diablitos. They became his legacy, and the signature artworks of the village of Ocumicho. Read the whole story and see more diablitos at Collector's Weekly. Link

Meredith Placko over at Geeks Are Sexy wrote an eye-opener of a post about cosplayers (not just female cosplayers, mind you) who have to endure lewd and inappropriate behavior because of the costumes they wear:

Costumes are not consent. It’s a phrase you may be hearing a lot lately, and one we need to keep talking about. In the past few weeks, the internet has exploded with women speaking up about the treatment we receive at conventions and online. This isn’t a new problem that has suddenly presented itself. The issues have always been there. What is happening now is we finally feel we are allowed to speak up, that doing so will not result in us being ostracized from our community – because we are now acting as a community, a support structure, to create a safe environment for all costumers and convention goers.

A few weeks ago at PAX East an incident happened that would open the door for many costumers to come out and speak up. Meagan Marie, known for her amazing costumes as well as her presence within the gaming industry, encountered a situation that opened up many eyes to the way women are treated at conventions. During a press event, featuring several Lara Croft costumers, a journalist began asking some lewd questions of the ladies. When called out for his actions, he put the onus on the girls; saying that because they were dressed sexy, they were obviously okay with such questions being asked.

Read more about it over at Geeks Are Sexy, including what you can do to combat the growing problem: Link - Thanks Yan!

Stargate Studios shows off some of the visual effects from season three of The Walking Dead. Contains spoilers for season three only. For those who haven't watched the show at all -it's really gory. We get to see how some of the effects were done, but it's mostly bloody zombie-killing. Link 

After a cat named Disaster disappeared from his home two years ago, its owners never guessed who'd find and bring him back: a zombie!

Jeremy Zelkowitz, who dresses in character as a zombie for a year-round haunted house in Times Square, holds a cat named Disaster which he found crossing 42nd Street in Manhattan on March 30, 2013.

Link (Photo: BluePearl Veterinary Partners)

DrinKooliez Drink Sleeve (sold individually)

Are you looking for a fun way to disguise your favorite beverage and keep it chilled at the same time? You need a DrinKooliez Drink Sleeve from the NeatoShop. This neoprene can or bottle koozie helps keep your drink of choice cold and adds a air of mystery. Your drink will go from blase to sexy, fun, or exotic. 

The DrinKooliez is available in:

• Sip of Scotch
• Beer Stout
• Coconut with Umbrella

Buy all three and make it a really cool set. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Barware & Cocktail items. 

Link

Yes, there was life before the internet. And us old geezers did the same things; we just used old-fashioned 3D objects to help us do them. John Atkinson of the webcomic Wrong Hands shows us the real-world analogs to the social networking sites you use online. Link  -via Geeks Are Sexy

Suzy Lee Weiss is a high school student with stellar academic records. A GPA of 4.5, an SAT score of 2120, and even an experience as a page for the US Senate. You'd think she'd be a shoo-in for colleges.

Well, she didn't get accepted to any of the Ivy League school that she applied to. But instead of being bitter in private like many of us would, Suzy Lee decided to pen a scathing op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, titled To (All) the Colleges That Rejected Me:

Like me, millions of high-school seniors with sour grapes are asking themselves this week how they failed to get into the colleges of their dreams. It's simple: For years, they—we—were lied to.

Colleges tell you, "Just be yourself." That is great advice, as long as yourself has nine extracurriculars, six leadership positions, three varsity sports, killer SAT scores and two moms. Then by all means, be yourself! If you work at a local pizza shop and are the slowest person on the cross-country team, consider taking your business elsewhere.

What could I have done differently over the past years?

For starters, had I known two years ago what I know now, I would have gladly worn a headdress to school. Show me to any closet, and I would've happily come out of it. "Diversity!" I offer about as much diversity as a saltine cracker. If it were up to me, I would've been any of the diversities: Navajo, Pacific Islander, anything. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, I salute you and your 1/32 Cherokee heritage.

I also probably should have started a fake charity. Providing veterinary services for homeless people's pets. Collecting donations for the underprivileged chimpanzees of the Congo. Raising awareness for Chapped-Lips-in-the-Winter Syndrome. Fun-runs, dance-a-thons, bake sales—as long as you're using someone else's misfortunes to try to propel yourself into the Ivy League, you're golden.

Having a tiger mom helps, too. As the youngest of four daughters, I noticed long ago that my parents gave up on parenting me. It has been great in certain ways: Instead of "Be home by 11," it's "Don't wake us up when you come through the door, we're trying to sleep." But my parents also left me with a dearth of hobbies that make admissions committees salivate. I've never sat down at a piano, never plucked a violin. Karate lasted about a week and the swim team didn't last past the first lap. Why couldn't Amy Chua have adopted me as one of her cubs?

The reaction was swift: many people accused her of being a whiny, petulant child (and perhaps a racist). Others applauded her describing the brutal college admissions procedure and calling a spade a spade.

Link - via TODAY News

What do you think? Do you agree with Suzy Lee Weiss? Does the college admissions process unfairly penalize good students for being born with the (in this case) wrong skin color?

A border collie named Harley went missing for six freezing nights in the countryside near Aberdeen, Scotland, during a visit to Grandpa's farm. Her owner Leyonee Donald contacted police and made appeals online for the dog's return, but was almost resigned to the fact that Harley was lost forever. Then on Tuesday, her father called and asked her to come pick up her dog at the farm.

“So we rushed back, and there she was. She’d got herself on top of a large stack of hay bales and fallen through a hole which had taken her right down to the bottom and she was trapped.

“My dad had found her while he was seeing his cows on Tuesday morning. They were really restless and mooing a lot.

“Animals have amazing instincts and they were all pointing towards the hay bales so my dad thought Harley might be around there and started shouting for her.

“He heard this tiny little bark and he then realised Harley was trapped between the bales.

Harley was retrieved from the hay and checked out by a vet, who declared the dog in good shape.
Link  -via Arbroath

(Image credit: SWNS)

Shota Katsube's kicking action figures are made out of shiny but otherwise ordinary twist ties. They're currently on display at the Wellcome Center in London:

The word “souzou” has no linguistic equivalent in English, although in Japanese it refers to concepts of both creation and imagination. For these artists, the primary and dominant mode of expression is through the visual rather than the verbal or written. As such, there is an emotional intensity and delightful conceptual inventiveness to their works as they communicate their thoughts on culture and memory in deeply personal ways. From the grotesquely riveting pointillism of Marie Suzuki’s portraits, to Shota Katsube’s meticulously constructed army of action figures made from wire, to Norimitsu Kokubo’s astounding cartographies of teeming urban spaces, Souzou presents an endearing collective account of the peculiar world we live in through pure and fresh eyes. 

Press Release | Gallery

(Photo: Outside In)

April 5th is the day celebrated as the day that humans first contacted aliens -except that won't happen until 50 years from now, and then only in the Star Trek universe. Maybe.

According to Star Trek lore, April 5, 2063 was the day that washed-up, cantankerous old nutter Zefram Cochrane proved he wasn’t so washed-up after all, though he was exactly as cantankerous as he seemed. Cochrane (with a little help from the time-displaced crew of the Enterprise-D) piloted the first warp flight from Earth, attracting the attention of a passing Vulcan ship and alerting human beings to life on other planets for the first time.

The greeting of the day: Live long, and prosper! Link

Learn more at Memory Alpha. Link

Toilet Gnome's beautiful bookcase is made of luan plywood, Baltic birch plywood, wiggle board, makore, cherry and black walnut. It you can keep it upright, it would be the perfect accent to a room with a lot of curves.

Link

Coming up next week on NeatoMail is a brand new Choose Your Own Prize giveaway, a really easy contest where you get to choose what prize to get from the NeatoShop. It's open only to NeatoMail subscribers (so if you're not a subscriber, give it a try!) , but but there's a snag: what should it be?

We've run Funny T-Shirt, Star Wars, and Doctor Who Choose Your Own Prize giveaways - what should we do next? Bacon? Cupcake? Zombie?

Here's your chance to suggest what you'd like: Leave a comment and tell us which category you'd like to see in the next Choose Your Own Prize giveaway. If we pick you category, you may very well win a bonus surprise prize just for helping out!

Not a subscriber? Join your fellow Neatoramanauts in on the fun. We won't share your details with third parties and you can unsubscribe at any time.

P.S. It's a double opt-in, just to make sure that you really want to continue to get the newsletter. So please don't forget to confirm your subscription! Thank you!

In 1973, 15 college basketball players were honored with a Hershberger Award from the National Association of Collegiate Basketball Writers. Some of those players went on to further college glory and the NBA (one now coaches the Harlem Globetrotters). But the awards were not given in 1974, or any other year, because the award was a hoax, cooked up by four students at College of William & Mary. Steven Noll, Paul Pavlich, Reed Bohne, and Tom Duncan selected the players, sent certificates to their colleges, and issued a press release that the AP circulated.

The pranksters went to great lengths to make the award believable. They spent hours at the library, paging through newspaper box scores to help them select recipients. They designed stationery with a spinning basketball and the official-sounding slogan: "Serving the Sport." They sent correspondence from Mr. Noll's parents' address in Garden City, N.Y., for big-city authority.

"My mother thought we'd go to prison for mail fraud," Mr. Noll said.

Paul Pavlich, a co-conspirator, said that plotting the scam was as painstaking as an ascent of Mount Everest. "We tried to figure out everything that could go wrong," he said.

Their preparation paid off. Newspapers printed their fabricated details. An article in the Miami Herald published March 27, 1973, announced the all-rookie team as "selected by the nation's college basketball writers." The Hartford (Conn.) Courant noted that North Carolina State's David Thompson was "the only unanimous choice." News of the award also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Constitution, New York Daily News and elsewhere.

The players who won those awards only recently found out it was a hoax. Forty years on, most think it was a pretty good joke. Read the full story at the Wall Street Journal. Link -via Metafilter

(Image credit: Steven Noll)

C-3PO and R2-D2 are on a mission from Leia. Can they get enough money to pay the Rebel Alliance's tax bill? We can only hope that this painting by Mike Capp and Justin Hillgrove inspires the plot for the next Star Wars movie and raises the necessary money.

Link -via Popped Culture

Norwegian artist Ida Skivenes puts art on toast! Every piece of toast is completely edible (and she eats them). All are photographed by phone and enshrined at Instagram. The Andrew Wyeth scene above was made with cheddar cheese, cream cheese, figs, dried strawberry, and dried blueberry. There are more famous artworks on toast, but Skivenes also loads toast with pop culture characters and other scenes. Continue reading to see some more of them.

Girls on a Jetty by Edvard Munch

The Scream by Edvard Munch

Frida Kahlo

Sydney Opera House

Easter Island

Domokun

See Skivenes' art on toast and other food art at her Instagram gallery. Link  -via The Mary Sue

Zombie Hunter Messenger Bag

Zombie season is right around the corner. Make sure you are prepared with the Zombie Hunter Messenger Bag from the NeatoShop. This 100% cotton canvas bag features a large raw-edge flap with magnetic snap. It comes with an adjustable shoulder strap for cross body or one shoulder wear. The bag includes roomy exterior and interior pockets for storing all your favorite zombie hunting stuff. Plus, hidden inside is a handy dandy D-ring for your keys.  

The Zombie Hunter Messenger Bag is a NeatoShop Exclusive.  

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Zombie items and fantastic Bags & Totes. 

Link

Morphology of Cthulhu macrofasciculumque by differential interference contrast light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

In his house at the gut of termites, Cthulhu macrofasciculumque waits dreaming. Until its slumber is disturbed by researchers at University of British Columbia identified the microorganism and unleashed the horror:

UBC researchers have discovered two new symbionts living in the gut of termites, and taken the unusual step of naming them after fictional monsters created by American horror author HP Lovecraft.

The single-cell protists, Cthulhu macrofasciculumque and Cthylla microfasciculumque, help termites digest wood. The researchers decided to name them after monstrous cosmic entities featured in Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos as an ode to the sometimes strange and fascinating world of the microbe.

“When we first saw them under the microscope they had this unique motion, it looked almost like an octopus swimming,” says UBC researcher Erick James, lead author of the paper describing the new protists, published in the online journal PLoS ONE.

The octopus-like movements and appearance of both protists reminded James of the horrid Cthulhu and Cthylla, and the little protists were baptized after the two monsters. Cthulhu is often depicted as a giant, octopus-like entity with wings. Cthylla is his daughter, and has a similar appearance.

Here's how Cthulhu macrofasciculumque swims:

Link to Press Release | Paper at PLoS ONE

If you love all things Cthulhu, check out the NeatoShop for neat Cthulhu stuff!

On April 14th, KFC will roll out a new product: Original Recipe Boneless. What's more, the company will cease to work on any new products with chicken on the bone, and may eventually stop offering the classic fried chicken on the bone. The aim is to cater to those who grew up eating chicken nuggets and to promote eating in the car to boost lunchtime sales.   

The risky move, three years in the making, is KFC's very public admission that its core product -- a big bucket filled with fried chicken legs, thighs and breasts on the bone -- may ultimately be banished to the dust-heap of fast-food lore. Replacing it: boneless white and dark meat chicken chunks about twice the size of tenders -- but still deep-fried with the same super-secret herbs and spices. The target: an ultra-finicky generation of Millennials.

"This is the biggest new product introduction for KFC in modern times," says John Cywinski, 50, the former McDonald's brand strategist, who has been U.S. president of KFC for two years. USA TODAY was invited behind the scenes for one day at a nondescript, free-standing KFC store at a suburban strip mall, where the new chicken line was being tested for the day. "This will be one of the great American turnaround stories," says Cywinski.

Or not.

KFC representatives cited research that says six in ten customers prefer chicken without bones. The new boneless chicken will cost about 25 cents more per piece than classic fried chicken. Oh yeah, the new product is skinless, too. Colonel Sanders was reported to be rolling in his grave. Link -via Fark

Rhett Allain, a physicist at Southeastern Louisiana University, thinks that the scientific method--or how it is commonly taught--is flawed:

The problem is that this scientific method does not encompass all of science. In short, science can be done this way but it doesn’t have to be.

Allain then provides several examples of less systematic scientific research, such as the accidental discovery of penicillin. 

As an alternative to the scientific method, Allain sketches out a different approach, illustrated above. He explains:

How about instead of memorizing these science steps, lets focus on the nature of science instead. There are a lot of key elements, but I think I could boil it down to this: make models of stuff. Really, that is what we do in science. We try to make equations or conceptual ideas or computer programs that can agree with real life and predict future events in real life. That is science.

Link -via Glenn Reynolds

POLL: Should we ditch the traditional scientific method for Allain's approach?

• Yes, it's superior for actual research.
• No, the steps in the traditional model are important.

In the aftermath of the Cold War, Bosnia became a red-hot battleground teetering on the edge of destruction—until one man and his family dug their countrymen to freedom.

In 1990, Communism was falling apart. The Soviet Union was on the brink of collapse, Eastern European nations were peeking out from behind the Iron Curtain, and people were literally dancing on the remains of the Berlin Wall. But the end of the Cold War wasn't all blue jeans and Bruce Springsteen. In some parts of the world, Communism was preserving order in extremely volatile areas. This was especially true in Yugoslavia, a federation of Slavic peoples—including Serbians, Bosnians, Croats, Albanians, and Macedonians—created after World War II.

When the Communist government in Yugoslavia fell in 1990, war broke out along ethnic lines. Primarily, that meant the Serbs fighting the Bosnians, Croats, and Albanians. The war crimes perpetrated by the Serbs against the Bosnians were so brutal that the United Nations declared them genocide in 1992.

At the center of all this madness was the picturesque Bosnian city of Sarajevo. Filled with gorgeous alpine mountains and graceful valleys, Sarajevo had wowed the world in 1984 when it hosted the Winter Olympics. For decades, Sarajevo had served as an important example of Bosnians living together peacefully with Serbs and Croats. But all of that ended on April 5, 1992. Serbian tanks rolled across Bosnia and opened fire on Sarajevo. Then the Croatian army, which also wanted control of the city, did the same. Suddenly, Sarajevo's citizens were being attacked from all sides. It was the beginning of a disastrous four-year siege.

(Image credit: Flickr user David Dufresne)

Tunnel Vision

As bombs rained down on Sarajevo, Serb snipers hid in the hills while Serb tanks blocked every road leading out of the city. The people of Sarajevo were trapped and starving, living in their basements and rationing their last cans of food. The city would have fallen if not for one man—Bajro Kolar.

Kolar was a typical middle-class family man living in Butmir, a tiny community in the Sarajevo suburb of Ilidza. His house had the strategic advantages of being beyond Serb lines, as well as being close to the Sarajevo airport, which made it perfect for hoarding fresh supplies. When the Bosnian army approached him with the idea of building a tunnel from his cellar into a garage in Sarajevo, Kolar didn't hesitate to say yes.

In early 1993, Kolar, his wife, his son, and about 200 soldiers began burrowing through nearly 2,500 feet of soil—digging every inch by hand. The tunnel was less than 5 feet high, so miners had to crouch low with their picks and shovels. They reinforced the walls with wood and steel beams, like an old-fashioned coal mine, and even laid a railway track on the floor. Working in eight-hour shifts, the diggers completed the tunnel that July.

(Image credit: Wikipedia user Baumi)

Saving a City

The Sarajevo Tunnel was the Trojan Horse of the Bosnian War. Historians estimate that more than 1 million trips were taken through the shaft, allowing the import of about 20 million tons of food. Machine guns and crates of ammunition also flowed through the Tunnel, helping the Bosnian army defend itself against the well-armed Serbs.

There was nothing romantic about the Tunnel, though. Dark, dirty, and cold, the passage was so narrow and crowded that a one-way trip could take as long as two hours. And the constant explosions outside vibrated through the walls and threatened the support beams. It was miraculous that no part of the passage ever collapsed.

Among those who passed through the tunnel was Alija Izetbegovic, then-president of Bosnia. For the sake of his country, Izetbegovic needed to make appearances on both sides of the Serb lines, and the Tunnel was the only dependable route. But it wasn't easy. At one point, Izetbegovic was wheelchair-bound, and he had to roll through the corridor on its primitive railway tracks.

(Image credit: Flickr user Martijn.Munneke)

When the war ended, the Tunnel's story became international news, and the Kolars were showered with honors. Today, the house serves as a museum, and it's easy to find. The locals eagerly give directions, and taxis and tour buses make regular visits. While the Western press has given the landmark many names—the Tunnel of Life, the Tunnel of Hope—in Bosnia, all you have to say is Tunnel (pronounced TOO-nell), and everyone knows what you're talking about.

The article above by Robert Isenberg appeared in the Jan - Feb 2010 issue of mental_floss magazine. It is reprinted here with permission.

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