Here are Optimus Prime from The Transformers, Skeletor from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Opie from Sons of Anarchy. Bart Sandel's nutcrackers make me wonder why there was never a nutcracker transformer, even as a one-shot character for a Christmas episode.

Link -via Technabob

During the early 1940s, 70,000 people worked at the secret faciiity in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, doing the work of the Manhattan Project that would lead to the first atomic bomb. Most of the workers were women, recruited as civil servants to aid the war effort. And they didn't know anything about the job they were doing until they started doing it.

The civil servant was given only one clue where she would be going: a train ticket to Knoxville, Tennessee. She packed her best clothes, wore a new pair of shoes, and gave herself entirely to the project at hand: don’t ask questions, don’t talk unnecessarily, do your part to win the war. She arrived at a place that was more of a camp than a town, half-built prefabricated houses, an administration center, three reactors, and a foot of mud sure to suck off any shoe that stepped in it. On the books, she had arrived at the Clinton Engineer Works, a refinery plant for “Tubealloy.” Off the books, she had arrived at Site X of the Manhattan Project, where uranium would be enriched before it was shipped to Site Y in Los Alamos for use in “The Gadget.”

Brain Pickings bring us excerpts from the book The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan, with pictures of Oak Ridge during the war. Link

(Image credit: Ed Westcott courtesy American Museum of Science and Energy, Oak Ridge)

"Big Daddy" is, I hope, fully grown. This Japanese Spider Crab lives at the Sea Life Centre in Blackpool, UK. Chris Brown, a curator there, is either moving him or wrestling him, neither of which is advisable.

Link -via Foodbeast | Photo: Dave Thompson/PA

Zombie Lincoln Coin Bank

Are you looking for the perfect place to stash your most precious coins and perhaps a few of your favorite dead presidents? You need the Zombie Lincoln Coin Bank from the NeatoShop. This devilishly fun bank is shaped like a zombie version of the Lincoln Memorial.

The Zombie Lincoln Coin Bank is made in the USA. It is handcrafted by local artisans. No two are exactly alike.  

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Zombie items. 

Link

Let's all come in, everybody! It did say "Unauthorized Personnel Only," so we're all invited! Via Bits and Pieces

You've probably seen the viral picture of a drippy faucet night light that was, unfortunately, one-of-a-kind. But you can make your own, and this project from Instructables member boston09 doesn't even require an electrical plug in, because it's a battery-operated LED! The glowing "drip" is made from a pacifier nipple. All the steps are at Instructables. Link -via Boing Boing

Wait--coffee that is 200% more caffeinated than normal coffee? Oh, caffeine! If it was legal in my state, I would marry you. Especially if you come in the form of Mike Brown's Death Wish Coffee:

“I had customers come in and say, ‘give me the strongest cup you got,’ and they wanted a darker roast,” Mike Brown, Death Wish's mad scientist, who also owns a coffeeshop in Pleasantdale, N.Y., told Yahoo! Shine. “I did some research and I blended the strongest beans in the world from Indonesia, Ethiopia, and South America.” [...]

Death Wish Coffee uses Robusta beans that contain "nearly double the amount of caffeine" than the Arabica bean typically used by high-end roasters, coffee expert Matt Milletto, Vice President of the American Barista and Coffee School tells Yahoo! Shine. Though java snobs usually shun Robusta, Brown says they have sought out the best quality fair trade growers. They then grind the beans very fine to extract the most potency.

Supercharged coffee? What's could possibly go wrong?

News Story and Official Website -via Glenn Reynolds

(YouTube link)

Let's see, how many dangerous modern electrical toys can we combine into one stunt? These guys at the 2012 Western Winter Teslathon enclosed a quadrotor (or quadrocopter) in a Faraday cage and flew it between two Tesla coils for a electrifying light show. See another video from the same night at Laughing Squid. Link 

I prefer to live in a place where humans are the apex predators. Australians, however, are more adventurous. Jacob Brant sent this picture to Northern Territory News:

"4.8m croc caught at Palumpa yesterday," he wrote.

Senior Parks And Wildlife Ranger Tommy Nichols says police and council officers trapped and shot the croc in a billabong on the outskirts of Palumpa, about 240km south-west of Darwin.

"We had a report the other day that there was a large crocodile there that was menacing the kids," the ABC reported Mr Nichols as saying.

The croc catchers needed a backhoe to load the beast into the back of a ute.

Link -via Dave Barry

Many book cover re-imaginations are deadly dull, but these ones by London-based graphic designer Sharm Murugiah is like an adrenaline shot right through the heart. Check out these awesome Quantin Tarantino screeplays re-imagined as Penguin-style book covers.

Link - via Geek Tyrant

Canadian artist Bradley Hart fills syringes with acrylic paint, which he then injects into bubble wrap. The results appear as low-resolution photographs. His work is currently on display at Gallery Nine5 in New York City. If you visit, resist the temptation to pop the bubbles.

You can view more works at the link.

Link -via Junkculture

This is what happens when you can't decide whether to have a hamburger or a hot dog. The Sausage Double Beef Burger gives you two hamburger patties topped with two sausages on one bun! The kicker is: it's only available at McDonalds in China. For now. Link

We've told you how a dad hacked Donkey Kong so his young daughter can play Pauline and rescue Mario. Now, it's Zelda's turn. Animator Kenna W. hacked The Legend of Zelda to allow you to play as Princess Zelda and rescue the Hylian boy: Link (heh, get it?) - via Kotaku

(YouTube link)

If TV host Fred Rogers hadn't died ten years ago, he would have been 85 today. In honor of the occasion, mental_floss presents 35 Facts About Mr. Fred Rogers. I honestly did not think I could sit through so many facts, because a) I never watched the show and b) I've read lists of facts about him many times. However, this is full of stories about Mr. Rogers that you probably haven't heard before. Even if you have, they are worth remembering.

Picasso's Two Woman Running Mugzie Travel Mug

Are you always running wildly from place to place? Make sure you stay hydrated and caffeinated with Picasso's Two Woman Running Mugzie Travel Mug from the NeatoShop. This inspiring travel mug features an image of Pablo Picasso's Two women running on the beach. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Glassware & Drinkware. 

Link

Illustration: Marianne Collins

What does the image above remind you of? I know! Acorns, right? That's how researchers found the evolutionary missing link of the modern-day acorn worm, a wee invertebrate that live on the seabed.

Because they lack hard bones, soft-bodied marine animals aren't typically well preserved in fossils, but a specimen was found in the early 1900s in the fossil-rich area of Burgess Shale, Canada. While past researchers in the Smithsonian staff missed the connection, evolutionary biologist Jean-Bernard Caron didn't dick around when it comes to realizing that this was the missing evolutionary link:

... [Caron] “stumbled on drawers full of these worms” at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. “I said, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I noticed a lot of these worms in bizarre-shaped rings, like mini Michelin tires in the rock,” said Caron, a co-author of the study.

After Caron and colleagues looked more closely at the fossils, they realized the newfound worm “really connects a lot of dots” in the evolution of hemichordates.

Get loads more info over at this piece by Christine Dell'Amore over at Neational Geographic's Weird & Wild blog: Link

(Image credit: Flickr user Bill Rogers)

You have two plastic jugs filled with water. How can you put all the water into a barrel, without using the jugs or any dividers, and still tell which water came from which jug?

When you are ready for the answer, continue reading.


Highlight here for the answer: Freeze them first. Take the ice blocks out of the jugs and put them in the barrel. You will be able to tell which (frozen) water came from which jug. 

_________________________

This article is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Ahh-Inspiring Bathroom Reader.  Get ready to be thoroughly entertained while occupied on the throne. Uncle John rules the world of information and humor. It's simply Ahh-Inspiring!

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!

Food artist Hong Yi, whom we've featured on Neatorama a few times before, is back. This time, she illustrates the Three Little Pigs fairy tale with food. As you can clearly see, chili and peanut butter always win.

Here's how she did it:

House 1: Angel hair pasta
House 2: Biscuit sticks
House 3: Dried chilli, with peanut butter as mortar
Ground: peanut butter and dill
Chimney smoke and clouds: Mayonnaise
Wolf: Charcoal bread, and olives for nose
Lines: Marmite

Head on over to her blog to see the third plate and alternate ending to the Three Little Pigs saga: Link - via 22 Words

Now, if all hand dryer instructions in public restrooms were as honestly instructive as this comic from Doghouse Diaries, we'd all be just a little further ahead of the game. Link  -via Gizmodo

A series of thefts in the rural area around Penryn in England have authorities concerned. At one farm, seven bales of hay and straw, a sack of carrots, and a wheelbarrow were taken. In the second theft at a different farm, 14 bales of hay, a pressure washer, and various power tools were stolen.

“I think we are looking for a horse,” said Detective Constable Rick Milburn from Falmouth Police Station.

“Anyone with any knowledge of anyone who has recently acquired a horse or is trying to establish a living space for a horse, we are asking them to contact us with any information.”

Now, what would a horse want power tools for? Link -via Arbroath

(Image credit: Flickr user Corey Harmon)

If you have a little trouble filling out your NCAA tournament brackets because you know nothing about the teams, an arbitrary system will do -like picking winners based on team mascots. InsideHook has a system of ranking athletic team mascots that will help you decide which is the better school in any matchup. At the site, you'll find explanations for each relationship in this chart. Link  -via Laughing Squid

I love this clever stencil work by an artist unknown to me. It's a utility box in Nordhausen, Germany and I gather one of several in that city inscribed with the words "Game Girl."

-via it8bit | Photo: Kevin Vetters

(YouTube link)

One Minute Galactica follows up their first Star Wars Rock mashup "Interjections" with "Unpack Your Adjectives," featuring the original Schoolhouse Rock! song illustrated with appropriate scenes from the original Star Wars trilogy. Dagobah is soggy, Luke is boyish, and Hayden Christensen is wooden. Yup, they nailed it. -via Buzzfeed

The blogger Jockeystreet is now a social worker. But during his wayward, rocking youth, he was in a band. He kinda sorta knew Eddie Van Halen, one of the greatest guitarists of the 80s and 90s.

From a certain point of view, that is.

Jockeystreet carefully connects the 182 points of rock history that ultimately link him to Van Halen, beginning here:

1. The original line-up of Van Halen consisted of:  Eddie, his brother Alex, David Lee Roth, and Michael Anthony.
2. After leaving Van Halen, Michael Anthony went on to formChickenfoot.
3. Chickenfoot included vocalist Sammy Hagar, who had had a long solo career, and also spent a decade or so in Van Halen.
4. Chickenfoot's guitarist Joe Satriani has had a hell of a virtuoso guitar wonk solo career...
5. and drummer Chad Smith is from The Red Hot Chili Peppers (we'll come back to them).
6. After Hagar left VH, he was replaced by Gary Cherone ofExtreme.

And ending here:

174. BNS's original singer went solo as Just Joe...
175. and was very briefly replaced by Joe Sweet, who has recorded solo...
176. and with Jo Mama and the Funk Daddies...
177. Jo Mama and the Soul Train...
178. Dookie Stone...
179. and recently reformed the 90s band Nine Ball.
180. Ken, the drummer from Nine Ball, recorded with Duck Duck Goose...
181. and, more than a dozen years ago, with me, in Alterfiction.
182. That was a few years after the demo I recorded with my college band Carry On.

Link | Photo: Reuters

Captain Kirk on Chair Salt & Pepper Shakers

The kitchen ... the final frontier. These are your voyages. Your continuing mission: to explore strange new ingredients and culinary delights, and boldly cook as no man has cooked before.

The Captain Kirk on Chair Salt & Pepper Shakers are made of glazed ceramic. Captain Kirk is one shaker and the Captain's chair is another. They make a fun and practical gift for any Star Trek fan.  

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Salt & Pepper Shakers and fantastic Star Trek items. 

Link

Every Easter, when there are plenty of marshmallow Peeps available in all colors, several large newspapers hold contests for creative dioramas and artworks made from Peeps. The Seattle Times Peeps Contest is closed for entries, and the winners have yet to be selected, but you can see the entries online. One of the most popular themes this year is the selection of a new pope. It was a shock to the world when Pope Benedict XVI announced his retirement in February. The entire story of what happened is enshrined in Peeps.


The Peep announced he was retiring at the end of February. The moment was captured in marshmallow by 13-year-old Chloe.  

Cardinals from all over the world gathered in Vatican City for the Peepal Conclave, in this diorama by Eric & Meg Brown.


More and more cardinals arrive, ready and eager to elect the next Peep. This scene was a group effort by Katie Ferguson of Bothell and Rachel Klas, Joe Sullivan, and Mare Sullivan of Kirkland.


Cardinals meet in the Peep-al Conclave to select a new Peep, but no consensus was met on the first day. On the second day, the smoke signal went up! This entry is by the the Crone family of Seattle.


Habemus Peepam: We Have a New Peep! The smoke went up and the announcement is made in this diorama by Monique Vescia and Don Rauf.


The First Peep Pope was presented to the people gathered in St. Peters Square. The moment was illustrated by Terri Turner of Seattle in this entry.

Presenting Pope Francis. This scene was constructed by Empi Morn of Rowayton Connecticut.


Peep Francis greets the Peeple from the Peepmobile. This scene was created by Debbie Doty and Kerry Smith of Salon Celebrations in Lynwood, Washington.

Even though the deadline to win prizes has past, the Seattle Times is still accepting Peep scenes for publication.