This healthy (i.e. pork-based) meal is perfect for Pi Day or any other. Emily Fleischaker made the bottom crust out of flour and butter and the filling out of macaroni, cheese and bacon bits. The top crust is a carefully woven layer of bacon strips. Yummy! You can find her recipe at the link.

Link -via Foodbeast | Photo: Macey J. Foronda

This fantasy map by Rebeca Cyrineu has a lot of fictional places in it: Narnia, Never Neverland, Westeros, Dinotopia, etc. It doesn't seem to have Freedonia, Starvania, Lower Slobbovia, or Elbonia, but that would require a much larger map. However, there are other funny maps that parody fictional maps in a gallery at Flavorwire. Link

(Image credit: Rebeca Cyrineu)

Hong Kong-based artist Johnson Tsang's stainless steel sculptures look like splashes of molten metal being poured out of cups and glasses. They are frozen moments of time that reveal human faces, like spirits taking fluid forms.

Artist's Website -via Colossal

(YouTube link)

This video from AsapSCIENCE provides no reassurance whatsoever for guys who worry about losing their hair. However, women will tell you that a man who wears his baldness proudly can be quite sexy. This video will explain some of the genetic science behind hair loss. -via Daily of the Day

Mint, chocolate and Oreo cookies--it's the perfect storm for a dessert that you'll eat before dinner. Donna and Chad Elick's chocolate mint Oreo cookie triffle is packed with Andes mints, which makes a great thing even better. You can find their recipe at the link.

Link -via Tasteologie

Well, it's no fluffy down pillow, but a plate of fries can be quite comfy! Just ask Bratten Hale Cook III, 32, who fell asleep on one:

Restaurant staff at the Hardee's on Hickory Avenue in Cookeville, TN, called police after Bratten Hale Cook III, 32, fell asleep with his face planted in a plate of french fries and ketchup.

Workers said Cook been passed out for about an hour.

Police said when they woke up Cook, he was so drunk he started eating his fries and didn't acknowledge the officers.

Scott Sutton of Fox 19 has the story: Link - via Arbroath

Kurt Vonnegut Finger Puppet and Magnet

Attention Kurt Vonnegut fans! We know how much you miss your favorite American writer.  Now you can capture the true spirit of this literary genius with the Kurt Vonnegut Finger Puppet and Magnet from the NeatoShop. Use him to act out all your favorite Slaughterhouse-Five passages or hang him in a place honor on your fridge.

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

Link

I could step away from the computer to go to the restroom. But it's, like, twenty feet away. There's got to be an easier solution. Maybe the toilet could come to me?

This cute toy (the seller informs us that it lacks functional plumbing) speeds around, delivering, um, cargo wherever you wish.

Link -via Technabob

Scientists have discovered living things living in unbelievably hostile environments, from hot thermal vents to a lake buried under Antarctic ice to high-pressure deep ocean trenches. Now we have evidence of living things living in rocks under the bottom of the seas -with no access to sunlight at all.

Persisting in microscopic cracks in the basalt rocks of Earth’s oceanic crust is a complex microbial ecosystem fueled entirely by chemical reactions with rocks and seawater, rather than sunlight or the organic byproducts of light-harvesting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Such modes of life, technically known as chemosynthetic, are not unprecedented, having also been found deep in mine shafts and around seafloor hydrothermal vents. Never before, though, have they been found on so vast a scale. In pure geographical area, these oceanic crust systems may contain the largest ecosystem on Earth.

“We know that Earth’s oceanic crust accounts for 60 percent of Earth’s surface, and on average is four miles thick,” said geomicrobiologist Mark Lever of Denmark’s Aarhuis University, part of a research team that describes the new systems March 14 in Science.

If what the researchers found resembles what’s found elsewhere below Earth’s oceans, continued Lever, “the largest ecosystem on Earth, by volume, is supported by chemosynthesis.”

This ecosystem is completely separated from all other life on earth, living without oxygen. Read about how they do it at Wired Science. Link

(Image crédit: Spencer et al./Science)

What's that smell? It's the smell of refreshing air from the rear end of a cow. Two high school students in Indonesia developed air freshener from a plentiful source of foul odors--cow manure:

Dwi Nailul Izzah and Rintya Aprianti Miki won first prize in the country's Science Project Olympiad with their alternative and environmentally-friendly air freshener.

The air freshener is said to have a natural fragrance of herbs and is good for human health because it doesn't contain any harmful chemicals like other freshener products on the market.

The girls collected cow dung from a cattle farm in Lamongan regency of East Java and left it to ferment for three days.

Secondly, they extracted water from the cow dung and mixed it with coconut water.

Then the liquid was distilled to remove any impurities; the end product is a liquid air freshener with a natural aroma of herbs from digested cow food.

Link -via Dave Barry | Photo: Orange News 

See what makes yesterday's announcement of a new pope different from all the others before it: everyone has a camera, phone, or tablet out to record the event. From a distance, it looks like they are all holding candles, but this is 2013. From the front, the crowd didn't appear to have any lights. See a collection of 34 images from the Vatican's welcome to Pope Francis at the Peoria Journal Star's photoblog, The Eye. Link  -via Blame it on the Voices

(Image credit: Michael Sohn/AP)

Most LEGO bricks taste plain and plastic-y. But not this one made by Matthew Ebisu. The body and the studs of his spice rack are made of chipboard and cardboard. You can download his template at the link.

Link -via That's Nerdalicious!

(YouTube link)

Spider-Man is a fighter, an acrobat, a breakdancer, and a martial arts master -all at the same time! The bad guys don't have a chance. Aaron Gassor is a martial arts instructor, fight choreographer, and filmmaker.  -via Daily Picks and Flicks

Just listen to each other, be open, honest and don't enter any cheat codes. The couple that uses this ring by Brittany Foster is starting out their marriage right. It's made of silver and has sapphire, ruby and emerald stones.

Link -via When Geeks Wed

The blogger at Harribel & Terribel posted this picture of her grandmother and friends. The photo was taken in the spring of 1930 in Estonia. These young teenagers appear to be emulating the slightly older flappers of the Roaring Twenties, and most likely looked forward to growing up glamorous. At the time, Estonia was an independent democracy. In 1934, it fell into a dictatorship, followed by occupation by the Soviets in 1940, then by Nazi Germany in 1941, and the Soviets again in 1944. You have to wonder how those events affected these young girls. Link -via reddit

(Video Link)

Xavi Lozano can make a musical instrument out of anything. What he's holding may look like just a fence segment, but when he puts his lips to it, it turns into versatile flute.

Official Website (warning: auto-sound) -via Yababoon

Canvas Travel Bags (sold separately)

Are you planning a fantastic spring getaway. Make sure your precious belongings are organized and accounted for with the Canvas Travel Bags from the NeatoShop. These adorable and functional bags are made of canvas with a drawstring cinch. They feature beautiful embroidered details. Bags are available in:

• Cinderella is proof that a pair of new shoes can change a girl's life
• Socks do disappear in the laundry 
• Always pack an extra pair of clean underwear

The bags are perfect for storing dirty laundry, shoes, and other travel needs. Buy all 3 to make it an amazing set. 

The Canvas Travel Bags pair perfectly with the Don't Put That In Your Mouth Toothbrush Case. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Bags & Totes. 

Link

A donkey is tied to a rope 10 feet long. Twenty feet away is a field of carrots. How does the donkey get to the carrots? 

Continue reading when you are ready for the answer. 

Highlight the answer here: The other end of the rope isn't tied to anything. Ha!

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The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Absolutely Absorbing Bathroom Reader, a fantastic book by the Bathroom Readers' Institute. 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!

Mmm ... pi T-Shirt by Nathan Mazur over at the NeatoShop | More Pi Stuff

Happy Pi Day, Americans, Micronesians, Palauans and Belizians*! To help you celebrate, here are 3 of my favorite facts about Pi Day:

*Why only these people? Because of the rest of the world logically adopted the Little-endian calendar date format (day, month, year) which would make today 14/3/2013. Americans, just because we're different, use the Middle-endian date format (month, day, year). I don't know how we convinced the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, and Belize into thinking that doing the same thing would make 'em cool like us.

1. It Was Started by the Prince of Pi, Larry Shaw

Pi Day founder Larry Shaw leads an Exploratorium pi parade of museum staff and bemused visitors (Photo: Exploratorium)

In 1988, San Francisco Exploratorium staff physicist (now retired) Larry Shaw started the very first Pi Day. Five years before, Larry was having an evening-long conversation with his mathematician/musician friend Jim Horton, and the two thought that the "mysterious irrationality" of pi should be celebrated. After an all-staff retreat in 1988, the idea came to fruition: 3/14/88 was celebrated as the first Pi Day. (Source)

2. There's a Pi Shrine

To commemorate Pi Day, the San Francisco Exploratorium commissioned a "Pi Shrine" - a round bronze plaque embedded in the floor of the Exploratorium's mezzanine. Most of its visitors, however, walked right over it without noticing so it's now located in front of Pier 15, the Exploratorium's new location.

3. It's also Einstein's Birthday.

How fitting! Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879. Read more about Einstein:

- 6 Things Inspired by Einstein
- 10 Strange Facts About Einstein
- Four Things Einstein Got Wrong
- 13 Photographs That Changed t

Walter White is trapped, but not in the way he thinks. Rachel imprisoned him in this 11 inch tall miniature meth-fueled ecosystem:

Lining the bottom of this open terrarium are pieces of blue sea glass, closely resembling the blue crystals "Heisenberg" cooks. Alongside the crashed meth lab is the tiniest depiction of Mr. White you may ever see, handmade at about 1/4" tall, glasses tighty whities and all. The RV is a whopping 1/2" long, hand sculpted and painted. The desert scene is a slight DIY project, with lichen, a petrified mushroom, stones, a tiny tree and reindeer moss to create a great little sustainable ecosystem that you can keep anywhere in your home or office. With easy care instructions, anyone care care for these tiny worlds, from the most experienced botanist to those with a brown thumb.

Link -via Ian Brooks

To most of us, the term "journeyman" means a trainee between an apprentice and a master craftsman. But in Germany, journeymen still go on traditional journeys, in which they travel the world for three years, practicing their trades in exchange for room and board. The programs for journeymen are supervised by their guilds, and there are strict rules. There are also traditions, such as getting your ear pierced with a nail before starting off. Learn more about these modern day "jacks of all trades" at Buzzfeed. Link

This is the Drum Bridge, a feature of the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It was built in 1894 by the Japanese government for an international fair and exposition held that year in San Francisco. Have you ever visited it?

Link -via reddit | Photos: Harsh Light/Leonard G.

(YouTube link)

Once again the date is 3/14, known affectionately as Pi Day, a holiday in which to pay homage to the ratio of a circle to its diameter. To celebrate Pi Day, Brady Haran of Numberphile produced this video featuring Matt Parker measuring a big circle to calculate pi. With pies.

There are many traditional ways to celebrate Pi Day. You can:

Eat a pie! Or you can read about fancy geeky pies created especially for Pi Day.

Pizza Pi is the traditional Pi Day meal.

Read up on Albert Einstein, who was born on Pi Day!

Listen to Music based on the digits of pi, either on piano or a full band.

Watch a movie. The Life of Pi is out on home video.

Give someone a nice pi gift, wrapped up in Pi Gift Wrap.

Serve drinks with ice shaped in the pi symbol.

Put together a Pi Pie Jigsaw Puzzle.

Don't forget to wear your Pi Day shirt!

And now it's time for our collaborative contest with the always amusing What Is It? Blog! Do you know what the object in this picture is? You can win even if you don't know!

Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you'd like. Post no URLs or weblinks, as doing so will forfeit your entry. Two winners: the first correct guess and the funniest (albeit ultimately wrong) guess will each win a T-shirt from the NeatoShop.

Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don't include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts?

Check out the What Is It? Blog for another picture of the mystery object. Good luck!

Twilight Sparkle

We've previously featured Han Jan's clever drawings of My Little Pony-inspired Gundams, but Nate Raybin's painted toys bring the dream a little closer to reality. He took classic Gundam models and painted them with the colors and cutie marks of the six main characters of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

If you had a cutie mark, what would it be?

Link

The sale of Kinder Eggs has been illegal in the U.S. since 1938. We Americans learned of these wonderful chocolate eggs with toys inside them from European friends, and just had to be jealous, unless we traveled abroad. But that will change very soon with the introduction of Choco Treasures!

But first, a history lesson. In 1938, the FDA passed The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which prohibits “non-nutritive (inedible) object inside a candy.” Furthermore, the toys in Kinder and other such surprise eggs are also only safe for kids 3 and up, which violates the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s requirement that all candy-encased toys be safe for children of all ages.

But Choco Treasures are different. First off, each of the three different editions of Choco Treasure has its own collection of all ages toys, from the original chocolate eggs to sports balls to even a Spider-man-inspired egg, licensed from Marvel. Second, each egg features a specially-designed capsule that separates the two halves of the chocolate so even a small child can see the there’s something on the inside.

Choco Treasures should be in major retailers before Easter. Find out more about them at FoodBeast. Link  -Thanks,  Dominique!