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Sesame Street has been campaigning to reach a billion views on their YouTube channel. They've now met that goal! In celebration the channel has released a new video featuring The Count, singing and counting YouTube viewers. That's a lot! Link

Cédric Le Borgne's enormous wire birds grace the Rue de la Fontaine in Geneva, Switzerland. Lights set below the birds illuminated their wire frames. These were Le Borgne's contribution to the outdoor light festival Festival Arbres en Lumière. You can view more photos at the link.

Link -via Colossal

News reporter has to stay stoic and professional at all cost. AT ALL COST! Because if they don't this happens:

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via Cubiclebot

At the Anvil Pub in Dallas, you can find cocktail scientists hard at work developing the most extreme Bloody Marys ever imagined. They've previously turned that classic drink into a light meal. Now they've pushed even further, turning the bloody mary into a full meal that includes a (yummy!) crawfish.

Link -via Foodiggity

Java Jr. Coffee Creamer

Designer coffee be damned. Do you feel the best coffee comes from a diner? Now you can recreate that diner-esque feeling at home with the Java Jr. Coffee Creamer from the NeatoShop. This adorable coffee creamer looks like miniature version of the coffee pot found in your favorite dive. 

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

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I thought that Daleks were supposed to be heavily armored. They don't look so tough to me! Let's exterminate them back, starting with this balloon Dalek costume created by Patricia Balloonia.

Link -via Nerd Bastards

On March 10, the first annual Symmys will be awarded for the best palindromes of 2012. Ten finalists in four categories will compete under the eye of linguists, palindromists, and celebrity judges. The forty finalist palindromes are anonymous until the winners are announced in Portland,Oregon, and online.

The criteria for judging were left up to the judges, whom we surveyed via email. Their ranks will determine a winner in each category and an overall champ. “Weird Al,” who names “Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo” as a personal favorite, says a winner should show a sense of humor or a spark of wit, as he did in his palindromic song “Bob,” which contains another renowned Agee line: “Go hang a salami, I’m a lasagna hog.”

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Palindromist and judge Jeff Grant says he’s also looking for a “natural” quality in palindromes, as in one of his favorites: “Sex at noon taxes.” Comedian Jackie Kashian, who hosts the podcast “The Dork Forest,” says she’ll be looking for depth, though she also loves the simplicity of creations like “evil olive.” Other judges include comedian Demetri Martin and musician John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants.

You can see a couple of the entries at Time Newsfeed. Link

This, apparently, is a scene from the 2003 movie Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior. Is there a reason why the hero's legs are on fire? Is there a plot? Should we care? No. A movie that includes this scene and 89 minutes of a blank screen is worth watching.

Trailer of Awesomeness -via Kotaku

It's dangerous to go hungry! Take this Hylian shield cake from Zelda made by redditor Riorus' mom for his 18th birthday: Link - via Geekologie

Three years ago, photographer Sacha Goldberger became an internet sensation with his photos of his then 91-year old grandmother "Mamika" dressed as a superhero. Now Mamika is back, traveling the world with her friend, Bob the chicken. You can see more photos at the link.

Link -via Lustik

This psychedelic image of Emperor penguins is not a fancy blacklight poster (although it would make a good one), but a thermal image taken to help find out how penguins stay warm in the Antarctic. THe surprising find was that while the birds generated heat inside like all warm-blooded animals, a large part of the penguins' outer feathers were actually colder than the surrounding air! How can this adaptation possibly help them?  

The penguins do lose internal body heat to the surrounding air through thermal radiation, just as our bodies do on a cold day. Because their bodies (but not surface plumage) are warmer than the surrounding air, heat gradually radiates outward over time, moving from a warmer material to a colder one. To maintain body temperature while losing heat, penguins, like all warm-blooded animals, rely on the metabolism of food.

The penguins, though, have an additional strategy. Since their outer plumage is even colder than the air, the simulation showed that they might gain back a little of this heat through thermal convection—the transfer of heat via the movement of a fluid (in this case, the air). As the cold Antarctic air cycles around their bodies, slightly warmer air comes into contact with the plumage and donates minute amounts of heat back to the penguins, then cycles away at a slightly colder temperature.

Most of this heat, the researchers note, probably doesn’t make it all the way through the plumage and back to the penguins’ bodies, but it could make a slight difference. At the very least, the method by which a penguin’s plumage wicks heat from the bitterly cold air that surrounds it helps to cancel out some of the heat that’s radiating from its interior.

When you're trying to get through the winter at the bottom of the world, every little bit counts. Read more about the research at Smithsonian's Surprising Science blog. Link

(Image credit: © Université de Strasbourg and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Strasbourg, France)

via Weird Vintage and Miss Cellania

I found this vintage photo of Chicken man in Miss Cellania's always awesome blog (you guys should visit), and I demand explanation! Who's first?

Tyler will be 65 later this month. That's an age when most people are gray-haired or overweight, or both. Still, this Tweet from Chase Mitchell was irresistible for a Twaggie, illustrated by Josh from Formal Sweatpants. See new illustrated Tweets regularly at Twaggies. Link

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by Nick Perks

The folks over at Comics Should Be Good blog reimagined iconic album covers with superheroes. The results are fantastic! Here are a few of our favorites:

Michael Jackson's Bad by Marco D'Alfonso

Wham!'s Make it Big by Steve Howard

The Beatles' Rubber Soul by Paul Hostetler

Ramones by Josh Gowdy

Abbey Road by Cynthia "Thea" Rodgers and Amanda Rodgers

View the rest over at CSBG: Link - via Pleated Jeans

San Francisco artist Klari Reis is creating a new artwork inside a petri dish every day in 2013. The project is called The Daily Dish, not to be confused with political commentator Andrew Sullivan's blog of the same name. Reis hand paints the insides of plastic petri dishes, each completely different. The paintings are an attempt to “explore our complex relationship with today’s biotechnological industry.” Can she do it every day? She already did one every day in 2009, so expect success with this year's series! Link -via Colossal

Bows and Roses Strapless Apron

Spring has nearly sprung. Now is the time to awaken your kitchen wardrobe with the cheery Bows and Roses Strapless Apron from the NeatoShop. This beautiful apron features a unique and flattering strapless design. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Aprons and fantastic Easter items. 

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The 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is about a future American society where books are banned and burned (by firemen who start fires, rather than put them out). The title refers to the temperature at which the author believes paper auto ignites.

Fast forward to 2013, where art director and graphic designer Elizabeth Perez created this conceptual work, Fahrenheit 451 match book. Link - via NerdCore

It takes a lot more than smarts to get far enough to be called a genius. After all, we are judged more on results than on potential. From Incidental Comics by Grant Snider. Link  -via Tastefully Offensive

Pixar artist Josh Cooley, who made the awesome Inappropriate Golden Book artwork we featured on Neatorama a few years ago, created this little gem of a cartoon that you just have to see. It's about a lonely unicorn who decided to end it all, only to find the love of his life. And when he thought things were turning around ... well, you'll see.

Meet the Loneliest Unicorn:

But it doesn't end there ... Now aren't you curious to see how this story ends? Check out the rest over at Josh's blog post. You'd love the ending: Link

If a TV show is so bad that it is cancelled after one episode, you have to wonder how it ever got that far. Here's a sampling:

7. Co-Ed Fever (1979)

The CBS sitcom attempted to capture the success of Animal House but failed to attract viewers. Even though it only aired one episode, TV Guide named it one of the ’50 Worst Shows Of All Time.’

12. Heil Honey I’m Home! (1990)

The British sitcom focused on Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, who lived next to a Jewish couple. The lack of laughs got the show axed before anyone could say Lehem.

25. The Rich List (2006)

The game show was adapted from a U.K. version during which people competed at naming the most ABBA songs.

I didn't manage to see any of these. Have you? Link -via Geekosystem

Dutch artist Frank Halmans, who created "houses" out of functional vacuum cleaners we've featured before on Neatorama, has another neat art project. He's created Built of Books, a series of miniature houses made from hardcover books by carving out windows and doors:

Designboom has more pics: Link - via My Modern Met and Visual News

This is what might happen when you have a birthday party in winter. Freezing rain covered the balloons, then they deflated somewhat in the cold. The ice remains as evidence of the original balloon size. Someone needs to do this on purpose, with thicker ice, and make transparent snowmen out of the resulting balls! Link  

Darin Shock of State of Shock Studios drew this marvelous mash up of Star Wars meet American Gothic, featuring Luke Skywalker's Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen. Moisture farmers have never looked so good (and we love the Stormtrooper lurking in the background!). Link - via The Autumn Society

Italian artist Pietro D'Angelo attaches paperclips to wire frames, making enormous, often life-size sculptures. Normally, he shows ordinary people or reproductions of classic works of art, but he's also made these friends from the Mushroom Kingdom.

Artist's Website -via GearFuse

Mad World was one of my favorite songs. It was great as originally sung by Tears for Fears, and, dare I say, made even better when Michael Andrews and Gary Jules covered it in a slower style.

So. How do you improve a song that's already great to begin with? You let Smeagol sing it.

Here's YouTuber James Walters singing Mad World as Gollum/Smeagol from The Lord of the Rings:

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via Blame It On The Voices

A clapping-type game called "cups" is spreading rapidly among young schoolgirls. The modern revival, with its accompanying song, is considered to have started with Lulu and the Lampshades' video You're Gonna Miss Me. Their routine was included in the movie Pitch Perfect, which was released on video in December. But why are cups and other clapping games so appealing?

The games are encoded with sociocultural significance, said Elizabeth Tucker, a folklorist and English professor at Binghamton University in New York.

They have existed since at least the late 19th century and their functions include teaching dexterity and serving as tools for forming friendships. And new research is showing that these primitive clapping and chanting games have endured around the world, despite competition from hand-held technology.

Kyra Gaunt, a social science professor at Baruch College in New York, researches hand games. There are so many distractions these days, Gaunt said, that hand games are harder for children to master. And as playtime has become more structured — soccer leagues and play dates — students are discovering the games in different ways, often through music classes, movies and, of course, on the Web.

The spread is easy to explain: you see it, and you say, "That's neat! I wanna learn to do that." Luisa Gerstein of Lulu and the Lampshades said she doesn't know who invented cups, as she had learned it years earlier in school. Some things never change. Link -via TYWKIWDBI

(Image credit: Matt McClain/Washington Post)

Corn on the Bone

Spring is almost here. Does the hope of warmer weather have your inner caveman grunting with excitement? Before you fire up the grill for your next delicious meat fest make sure you have all the proper tools. No proper caveman feast would be complete without the Corn on the Bone corn holders from the NeatoShop. This great set of four corn holders are shaped like pieces of bone. 

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

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(YouTube link)

Two-year-old Oscar gets his first ride in a wind tunnel, the kind people use to train for skydiving. He sure does have fun! -via Daily of the Day

Well, now I can't unsee it. Whenever I pass by Lord Vader in the hallway, I'll be tempted to crack open his helmet and make a Hawaiian salad. Ludo, a French street artist, composed this image in Paris.

Link | Artist's Website

A horse's normal lifespan is around 25-30 years, but Old Billy was an outlier. In fact, when Old Billy died at age 62, he became the longest-living horse ever known.  

Old Billy was born in 1760 in Woolston, Lancashire and worked as a barge horse, dragging barges in the canals from the shore for Mersey and Irwell Navigation. (This was a common job for horses prior to the arrival of boat engines.) As he passed his life expectancy and continued to live even as his back became bent and his bones protruded from his thinning flesh, he become something of a local celebrity.

When Old Billy finally bought the farm, so to speak, some of his remains were preserved. In fact, his head is in two places: the skin was mounted on a taxidermy head, and his skull was displayed separately. Part of Billy is now in Manchester, the other in Bedford. Read more about the horse at Atlas Obscura. Link