Neatorama

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• Disco Clam
• Ingenious Invention: Tire Chains That Deploy with the Flip of a Switch
• Strange Fruits: Now That's Fruit Art!
• Shortest Film
• Have a Nice Lunch Bag
• Say "Cheese!"
• The Evolutionary Biology of Star Trek
• Wayne Dobson Doesn't Have Your Lost Cell Phones
• Modeling Agency Specializes in Ugly People
• Cat Survives 1,700 Miles Under Train
• Twins Married Twins, Begot Twins
• Dear Abby Dies at the Age of 94
• TARDIS Coasters
• Cleaning Out the Electricity
• Heartbroken Dog Goes to Church to Wait for Dead Owner
• Movie Spoiler Pictograms
• The Infidelity Phone
• Hand Sanitizer
• Collages from Recycled Computer Parts
• Defrosting a Frozen Building
• Savory Bacon Sticks
• Laundry Basketball
• What Is It? game 260
• Papercraft Higgs Boson
• Ten Things You Probably Didn't Know About Muhammad Ali

Disco Clam Posted: 18 Jan 2013 04:00 AM PST Disco didn't die, it just moved ... into this Disco Clam who has its own far-out strobe-light show! Meet the Wakatobi Disco Clam, the only bivalve known to produce a controlled light show in its mouth. But why does the Disco Clam produce such a Disco Inferno display? It's probably related to how it is, erhm, Stayin' Alive. Or perhaps That's The Way I(t) Like(s) It. In any case, UC Berkeley researcher Lindsey Dougherty and colleages are Think(ing) About It: "Displays are only useful when the intended receiver has the photoreceptors and neural network necessary to process it," says Dougherty. The researchers are now trying to determine the purpose of the display. Although clams are filter feeders, the light show might help lure additional prey. It could also be a way of warding off predators, although there is no proof that it's distasteful or toxic. It might also be a mating call used by females to attract juvenile males, causing them to settle nearby before they mass spawn. "We think the clams might be hermaphrodites, starting out as small males and maturing into large females, but we have yet to confirm this," says Dougherty. Link - via PopSci

Ingenious Invention: Tire Chains That Deploy with the Flip of a Switch Posted: 18 Jan 2013 02:00 AM PST (Video Link) Brilliant! Apparently these things have been around since the 70s, but I've only now heard of On-Spot tire chains. These gadgets have short lengths of steel chain attached to a spindle. When the driver encounters heavy snow, s/he can lower them to tire level. The spindles spin with the wheels, driving the chains beneath the tires. When the driver turns them off, spring tension raises the spindles back up. -via TYWKIWDBI

Strange Fruits: Now That's Fruit Art! Posted: 18 Jan 2013 12:00 AM PST We've told you about Sarah Illenberger's food art before on Neatorama, but the German artist has new ones for her art series aptly titled "Strange Fruits." Check 'em out: Link: Sarah Illenberger's official website - via designboom

Shortest Film Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:00 PM PST (YouTube link) Shortest Film is a very short film by John Elerick. The credits are another story. They are very long, but probably the only credits you'll see this year that are worth reading at all -unless, of course, you're in them. -via Laughing Squid

Have a Nice Lunch Bag Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:00 PM PST Have a Nice Lunch Bag It's a new year! Are you resolved to pack more lunches and eat out less? You need the motivational Have a Nice Lunch Bag from the NeatoShop. This adorable insulated smiley face bag is great to keep your lunch fresh and your mood upbeat and happy.   Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Lunch Bags.  Link

Say "Cheese!" Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:00 PM PST Professional photographer Lotte van den Acker wants to take your picture. Smile at her gorgeous tattoo of an Asahi Pentax 35mm SLR, a classic camera made from the 70s to the 90s. The tattoo was inked by her own mother, Helma van der Weide. Link -via Lustik | Photo: Helma van der Weide

The Evolutionary Biology of Star Trek Posted: 17 Jan 2013 09:00 PM PST For hundreds of thousands of years, several species of humans existed at the same time: the Neanderthals, the Denisovans, Homo erectus, Homo floresiensis, and possibly others we don't know about. An essay at io9 compares the speciation of early humans with the different aliens in the world of Star Trek. Now this might seem silly on the surface, but bear with me. The Star Trek franchise began in 1966, before computers made special effects aliens possible, and they had a limited budget anyway, so all the aliens from different galaxies were human-shaped, with only slight differences in prothetic makeup to distinguish them -and they could even interbreed. Six TV series, a dozen films, and five decades later, that trope continues. The series tried to explain it away in an episode of Star Trek: TNG called "The Chase" in which the connections between all the humanoid aliens are explained by a common ancestor, who left a message: We knew that one day we would be gone, and nothing of us would survive - so we left you. Our scientists seeded the primordial oceans of many worlds, where life was in its infancy. The seed codes directed your evolution toward a physical form resembling ours: this body you see before you, which is of course shaped as yours is shaped, for you are the end result. The seed codes also contain this message, which is scattered in fragments on many different worlds. The episode was deemed ridiculous and universally hated by fans. But it led Annalee Newitz to consider the possible analogies that could be made about early humans and their separate evolutionary histories. The different species of early humans all arose from Africa, but left the continent for other parts of the world at different times. When one species splits into two or more, that's called speciation. Usually it happens when two groups of the same species are separated for long enough that they evolve to the point where they are no longer able to produce offspring. The big question is, were groups like erectus and the Neanderthals another species, or were they humans who just had facial and body structures that were different from modern humans? There is now a lot of DNA evidence that Homo sapiens interbred with Neanderthals and Denisovans. So it's likely that all three groups were, in fact, the same species. But we still know almost nothing about Homo erectus, and are similarly in the dark when it comes to the Hobbits and other hominin groups that are still being discovered. It's possible that Homo sapiens interbred with Neanderthals, Vulcan/Romulan style, but couldn't interbreed with Homo erectus. Whether human evolution is actually anything like a reverse-engineered explanation for economically-designed extraterrestrials is hard to say, but the essay and the points it raises about our ancestors on earth is a "fascinating" read. Link

Wayne Dobson Doesn't Have Your Lost Cell Phones Posted: 17 Jan 2013 08:00 PM PST If you lost your cell phone, don't go bothering Wayne Dobson. See, for the past two years, the 59-year-old retiree has been confronted by people who showed up at his doorstep at all hours of the night, claiming that he's got their lost phones: What has become a powerful tool for police hunting down bad guys and people who lose their phones or who call 911 has backfired on Dobson. An unexplained glitch with at least one cellphone company is directing people with missing phones to his North Las Vegas home. And the glitch is also affecting police, who have twice been wrongly directed to his house on domestic violence calls. That has forced Dobson to post a sign on the front of his house telling people he doesn't have their phone. The problem seems to be the way Sprint translates GPS info of these lost phones to Dobson's home address. Lawrence Mower of the Las Vegas Review-Journal explains: Link (Photo: John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Modeling Agency Specializes in Ugly People Posted: 17 Jan 2013 07:00 PM PST Dell, pictured above, is a professional model. Yes, really! He may be...uh, aesthetically challenged, but that's only to his benefit. Ugly Models, a London-based modeling agency, specializes in getting photographers models with unusual physical appearances. At their website, you can view their four categories: men, women, "specials" and Guinness World Records. That last category is...wow. Just wow. Link | Agency Website | Photo: National Geographic

Cat Survives 1,700 Miles Under Train Posted: 17 Jan 2013 06:00 PM PST Polly the cat was found after riding 1,700 miles around England and Wales in the undercarriage of a train. It is thought that she stayed in the undercarriage for at least two days in fear after badly mangling her front limb. Train manager Emily Mahoney-Smith found the cat when she heard meowing at a stop on the way to Cornwall.    Emily took her on board and fed her tuna from a sandwich from the train's buffet and put her in a box in her compartment. She then asked controllers to alert the RSPCA and the charity got in touch with on-call vet Matthew Berriman in Penzance. Matthew, 34, said Polly was in such a bad state he thought she was a stray and was preparing to put her down. But she used up her final life when he decided to check if she had been microchipped - and found she had. The chip gave the details of the cattery in Plymouth who had looked after Polly before giving her a home with retired train driver Arthur Westington, 84, and his wife Louisa. Polly's owners had not seen the cat in three weeks and thought she was gone for good. They gave permission for her limb to be amputated. Polly is recovering well and will be returned home soon. Link   -via Arbroath, where you can see a video.

Twins Married Twins, Begot Twins Posted: 17 Jan 2013 04:00 PM PST Photo: TODAY Life is two-riffic with twins, but twins that married twins and begot twins? Now that's life straight out of a Doublemint gum advertisement. When twin brothers Craig and Mark Sanders met twin sisters Darlene and Diane Nettemeier, they fell in love and had a double wedding (of course). Now, one of the couples ended up with ... you guessed it: identical twin boys! The odds of having identical twins are three in every 1,000 births, but the odds of an identical twin marrying another identical twin and then giving birth to identical twins are millions to one. Genetically, the five combined children of the two couples are technically siblings, although in reality they are considered cousins. “We told (the doctor) the history of our families (when Diane was pregnant),’’ Craig said. “She said, ‘Oh yeah, it’s twins.’ We thought she was joking, but she said, ‘No, come look. It’s two.’’’ TODAY News has the full story and video clip: Link

Dear Abby Dies at the Age of 94 Posted: 17 Jan 2013 03:35 PM PST Pauline Phillips, better known as Dear Abby, has passed away at the age of 94. Philips did not begin her professional career as a writer until she was 37 when she wrote to a newspaper complaining that she, a housewife and mother of two, could give better advice to the readers. The editor of the paper apparently agreed. Her first "Dear Abby" column appeared in the San Francisco chronicle on January 9, 1956. It was syndicated that same year and went on to become the world's most widely syndicated column. Phillips continued writing the column until 2002 when it was announced that she suffered from Alzheimer's Disease. Pithy advice seems to runs in the family. Pauline Phillip's twin sister was known by the pen name Ann Landers. Phillip's daughter Jeanne Phillips has continued the legacy of writing the column known for its succinct, yet meaningful, advice.

TARDIS Coasters Posted: 17 Jan 2013 03:00 PM PST TARDIS Coasters Are you tired of the good Doctor popping up unexpectedly and making a mess of your place? Encourage your favorite time traveling friend to be respectful of your coffee table with the TARDIS Coasters from the NeatoShop. This great set includes four TARDIS shaped coasters. They make a wonderful gift for any Doctor Who fan.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic Doctor Who items.  Link

Cleaning Out the Electricity Posted: 17 Jan 2013 03:00 PM PST What do you do -should you call an electrician or a plumber? Good luck getting either one to touch this! -via reddit

Heartbroken Dog Goes to Church to Wait for Dead Owner Posted: 17 Jan 2013 02:00 PM PST Photo: nikon@rte After the death of its owner two months ago, a brokenhearted dog waits in vain in the church where her funeral was held. Many years ago, Maria Lochi of San Donaci, Italy, found a stray dog abandoned in a field near her home and adopted it. The dog followed her everywhere, including to church for weekly mass. After her funeral, Father Donato Panna let the dog come to Mass to wait patiently: 'He's still coming to Mass even after Maria's funeral, he waits patiently by the side of the altar and just sits there quietly. I didn't have the heart to throw him out - I've just recently lost my own dog so I leave him there until Mass finishes and then I let him out. 'Tommy's been adopted by everyone in the village now and he is everybody's friend. Everyone looks out for him and leaves food for him - although it would be nice to find a proper home for him.' Nick Pisa of The Daily Mail has more: Link | More on the loyalty of man's best friend: And My Dogs Can't Even Roll Over

Movie Spoiler Pictograms Posted: 17 Jan 2013 01:00 PM PST Designer Matteo Civaschi of Studio H-57 made a series of movie pictograms that spell out the entire plot. "This new set of stories shows our passion for the great, super-popular movies of all time," Civaschi tells us. "You have the movies that made the world cry (E.T.), scream (Alien, The Shining), think (The Matrix), hope (Robin Hood), and so on. Each movie, if it's really great, can create a whole new world, tell a story that's never been told before, and give life to unforgettable characters. "Squeezing all of these things into a few icons is fun. In the case of particularly long movies or sagas (like The Lord of the Rings), the final result is even funnier." Yes, they all contains spoilers, but they are all classics. In the off chance you haven't yet seen the movies, you probably wouldn't understand the pictogram anyway. See the rest at My Modern Met. Link  -via Geeks Are Sexy

The Infidelity Phone Posted: 17 Jan 2013 12:00 PM PST Ladies, if your man has this phone, he may be a cheater. Photo: House of Japan Got a cheatin' heart? Better ditch that iPhone and get yourself the phone of choice by adulterers: the Fujitsu F-Series flip phones. In the era of smartphones, the Fujitsu F-Series flip phones aren't the coolest looking - but it has a feature that make it uniquely suitable for cheaters. Sure, you can lock your smartphone and that there are apps that can erase text messages and call history, but the genius of these flip phones - nicknamed the "uwaki keitai" or "infidelity phone" is that they have a "private mode" that hides incoming calls and messages: Fujitsu's "privacy mode" is a layer of nearly invisible security that hides missed calls, emails and text messages from contacts designated as private. If one of those acquaintances gets in touch, the only signal of that communication is a subtle change in the color or shape of how the battery sign or antenna bars are displayed. If ignored, the call doesn't appear in the phone log. The changes are so subtle that it would be impossible to spot for an untrained eye. When the privacy mode is turned off through a secret combination of keys, the concealed calls and messages appear, and voice mail becomes accessible. The subtle call signal of the Fujitsu F-Series. Photo: Crooz.jp via Oddity Central A Japanese blogger named Bakanabe told The Wall Street Journal: "Women may want to check my phone for strange emails or calls when I'm not around. With Fujitsu's 'privacy mode,' they can't see that information at all," he said in an email. "The key is to give off the impression that you're not locking your phone at all." An ex-senior executive at Japan's mobile phone carrier NTT DoCoMo quipped that if Tiger Woods had this phone, he wouldn't have gotten in trouble. Daisuke Wakabayashi of The Wall Street Journal has more: Link

Hand Sanitizer Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:00 AM PST If you are trying to avoid the flu, simple math tells us that placing all your faith in hand sanitizer is a mistake. Randall Munroe at xkcd even did the math for you! Wash your hands, cover those sneezes, and get a flu shot. Link  -Thanks, Ned Scioneaux!

Collages from Recycled Computer Parts Posted: 17 Jan 2013 09:00 AM PST Artist Anna Dabrowska, who goes by Finnabair, creates lovely collages by reusing discarded computer parts, mechanical leftovers, and other objects that an imaginative mind can find useful. The fantastic textures seen in these works of art are created by pasting the assorted pieces and parts onto canvas. The artist then skillfully colors her work using a mixture of inks and sprays. With these collages, she manages to transform recycling from a practical, mundane activity into a process for creating objects of beauty. See a selection of Finnabair's works at the new site Tech Graffiti. Link

Defrosting a Frozen Building Posted: 17 Jan 2013 08:00 AM PST Bike manufacturer SRAM bought a unique storage building in Chicago. It was formerly a ten-story freezer for Chicago’s Fulton Market District. All that freezer space had to be defrosted before it could be used for anything else! After decades of use, the building literally had to be defrosted like an old freezer. See the Time Lapse Video (courtesy of Sterling Bay Companies.) At the: 24 second mark, you can see the large propane heaters brought in to accelerate the melting process. See more pictures at Perkins+Will. Link -via Boing Boing (Image credit: Gary R. Jensen, courtesy of Sterling Bay Companies)

Savory Bacon Sticks Posted: 17 Jan 2013 07:00 AM PST Savory Bacon Sticks Are you planning a romantic Valentine's Day dinner? Don't forget the Savory Bacon Sticks from the NeatoShop. Nothing screams romance like bacon-flavored snack sticks. Each box of bacony goodness includes a bonus temporary tattoo.   Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more delciously fun Bacon items.  Link

Laundry Basketball Posted: 17 Jan 2013 07:00 AM PST (YouTube link) Everyone plays basketball with the laundry hamper occasionally, but it's so much more fun when you have an agile kitten to complete the layup! -via Arbroath

What Is It? game 260 Posted: 17 Jan 2013 06:30 AM PST Once again, it's time for our collaboration 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 more mystery items of the week. Good luck!

Papercraft Higgs Boson Posted: 17 Jan 2013 06:00 AM PST Gaze into eternity. Papercrafting duo Zim and Zou created this depiction of the Higgs boson particle as a cover illustration for an issue of Le Monde that explored the fifty-year search for the particle. This is just the cover image. They made several other sculptures to express the nature of the Higgs boson. You can see them at the link. Link -via It's Okay to Be Smart

Ten Things You Probably Didn't Know About Muhammad Ali Posted: 17 Jan 2013 05:00 AM PST Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.  Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) was the greatest boxer ever to lift a glove. Heavyweight boxing, without his amazing presence, is nowadays dull and almost completely uninteresting. Can anyone name the current heavyweight champion of the world? Ali turns 71 today, and in his honor, here are ten facts about "The Greatest." 1. He never turns down an autograph request. As a young boy, Cassius Clay asked his idol, boxer Sugar Ray Robinson for an autograph. Robinson rudely told the boy "I don't got time." Young Cassius never forgot how hurt he was by Robinson's rejection. To this day, he has never once turned down a request for an autograph. He even has a special P.O. box for anyone who wants his autograph. 2. He used to race the school bus. As a kid growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius didn't ride the bus to school like other kids. Instead of riding, Cassius would literally race the bus to school every morning. 3. A stolen bicycle started his boxing career. Why did Cassius Clay become a boxer? As a 12-year-old boy, he was given a beautiful new bicycle as a gift. The bicycle was stolen, and when Cassius went to the local police department to report the theft, he met officer Joe Martin. Martin introduced Cassius to the world of boxing, and this was the beginning of his boxing career. Also Cassius vowed that he was "going to whip whoever stole his bike," but the stolen bicycle never turned up. 4. He only wore Elvis' robe once. Elvis Presley gave Ali a boxing robe as a gift, with the words "The People's Champion" inscribed on the back. Ali wore it to his next fight, but he lost. He never wore the robe to fight again, thinking it was bad luck. 5. He threw away his gold medal. Young Cassius Clay won a gold medal as a light heavyweight at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. Later, upon returning to the United States, Clay was refused service at a small diner because of his race. Clay walked out of the diner and threw his gold medal (which he wore all the time) off a bridge and into the Ohio River. He claimed he didn't want to wear a medal in a country where he couldn't be served. 6. He rode in the Tournament of Roses Parade. In 1988, Ali rode on a float in the Tournament of Roses Parade. The float commemorated the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution. 7. He record a record album and a single. In 1963, the 21-year-old Clay recorded a record of Ben E. King's song "Stand By Me." The record was released in early 1964 and hit #102 on the charts. The single was from the Columbia album he recorded that year called I Am The Greatest. I Am The Greatest was mostly a spoken-word album, with the sound of a bell separating each individual sequence. 8. He was KOed by Kent Green. Want a good bar bet? In over 110 amateur fights, Cassius Clay was only knocked out once. Who KOed Clay? Kent Green is the only boxer to knock out Cassius Clay, defeating him in the third round on a technical knockout. Green's record as a pro boxer was 14 and 2. 9. Ali helped give us Rocky. In 1975, Ali fought a little-known boxer named Chuck Wepner ("The Bayonne Bleeder"). Ali was a heavy favorite, and he did win, but it took him the full 15 rounds to get the decision. Wepner's courage in going the full distance with the famous world champion inspired a young, unknown writer/actor named Sylvester Stallone to write the screenplay for his classic film Rocky. Rocky's opponent in the film, Apollo Creed, was based on Ali.   10. Ali has quite a show business resume. Ali has starred as himself in four motion pictures. In December of 1969, he had the lead in a Broadway show called Buck White. A 21-year-old Cassius Clay was actually interviewed by Jerry Lewis on the biggest flop of Lewis' career, the ill-fated talk show The Jerry Lewis Show in 1963. The Lewis-Clay interview is a fairly solemn, unfunny affair, especially considering the two such colorful personalities. The Jerry Lewis Show was cancelled after a handful of episodes shortly after Clay's appearance. "The Story Of Muhammad Ali" by Udi Verma & Paul Lane (YouTube link)

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