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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Neatorama

Posted by KeepHoliness at 5:07 AM

Neatorama

Hot Sauce Love

Posted: 05 Feb 2013 04:00 AM PST

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Hava (@realbridges) describes this chart as "A testament to my complicated love affair with spicy condiments." Any hot sauce lover can relate! It's much easier to read full-size at Twitpic. Link

Baseball Recovered from a Civil War Battlefield

Posted: 05 Feb 2013 03:00 AM PST

baseball
From April 6-7, 1862, Americans slaughtered one another near a small log church in Tennessee called Shiloh. The nation suffered more casualties those two days than in all previous wars combined. It was a horrible shock to the divided nation--and there were worse to come.

Giles Hellum, an African American employee of the Union army, found this baseball on the field. Slate's Frank Ceresi writes:

During the War Between the States, the game was played on the battlefields and even in wartime prison camps. Baseball was, after all, portable, and even amid the horrors of war, soldiers sometimes found opportunities to play on the vast open fields where they needed only a bat, a ball, and a few willing participants. [...]

The artifact is a “lemon peel ball,” looser and softer than today’s baseballs, and it is hand-stitched in a figure 8 pattern with thick twine. 

Link | Photo: The National Pasttime

Feed Me

Posted: 05 Feb 2013 02:00 AM PST

(YouTube link)

Simon Tofield takes altogether too long to feed his cat in the latest Simon's Cat cartoon. -via Laughing Squid

South Korean Boot Camp Toughens Kids Up

Posted: 05 Feb 2013 01:00 AM PST


Photo: China News

No sissy kids here, ma'am! South Korean Army is offering a boot camp vacation for civilians that's designed to make soft kids into tough ones:

The kids are put through all kinds of hardships during the rigorous training schedule lasting up to 10 hours a day, like basic exercises, rappelling, river crossing simulations, mock parachute landings in the pouring rain, and various team events. 15-year-old Yeom Huck said that he was “very nervous but thrilled” just before he hurled himself off an 11-m parachute jump tower. “Everything is fun – but right now I miss my parents,” he added. [...]

Not all the kids are equally thrilled, however. 15-year-old Cho Byung-Chan was angry with his parents for sending him. He does love his computer games, but his parents felt it’s time for him to grow up. “It’s hard. I’m hungry,” he complained.

Oddity Central has the story: Link

Valentine's Day T-Shirts

Posted: 05 Feb 2013 12:00 AM PST


Love Machine T-Shirt by Thomas Fuchs

Valentine's Day is coming up soon, so how about something different than just flowers this year? How about some nifty Valentine's Day themed T-shirts from the NeatoShop?

We have 38 heart-inspired designs by Thomas Fuchs of A Heart A Day blog:

Shirts that profess your undying love for a Zombies and horror Valentine:

And something for you web geeks:

View more Heart stuff | Valentine's Day Gifts over at the NeatoShop

Be My Valentine Heart Pot Mitt

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 11:00 PM PST

Be My Valentine Heart Pot Mitt

Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Are you looking for fun and functional gift that screams hot stuff? You need the Be My Valentine Heart Pot Mitt from the NeatoShop. This heart shaped potholder comes with a soft terry cloth lining. It makes a sweet present for your favorite cook. 

Matching Be My Valentine Bib Bombshell Apron also available. 

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

Link

The Worst Swing Ever Is Somehow Fun

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 11:00 PM PST

Louis Gan

Louis Gan painted this image in Penang, Malaysia. The kids are happy, even though they won't be able to swing far. Presumably their slide is a straight drop.

Link -via Street Art Utopia | Photo: Avinash Advani

Diary of a Body-Snatcher

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 10:00 PM PST

In the 19th century, medical education was making great strides, and professors needed cadavers for demonstrations and lectures. However, the only legal way to procure bodies was after criminal executions, and there weren't enough of them. This gave rise to the profession of body-snatching, and grave robbers could make a pretty penny for their clandestine efforts. A "Resurrection Man" named Joseph Naples was one of the rare body-snatchers to keep a diary of his work. An excerpt:

13th January 1812

Took 2 of the above to Mr Brookes & 1 large & 1 small to Mr Bell. Foetus to Mr Carpue. Small to Mr Framton. Large small to Mr Cline. Met at 5, the Party went to Newington. 2 adults. Took them to St Thomas’s.

Large and small refer to adult and child corpses. The diary is in the possession of the Hunterian Museum in London. Read more about it at Atlas Obscura. Link

The Solution to All Problems

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 09:00 PM PST

If it moves and it shouldn't use duct tape. If it should move but doesn't, use WD-40. Consider your problem solved! Via +JD Rucker

Giant Pine Cones Made from Shovel Blades

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 08:00 PM PST

These beautiful sculptures by Canadian artist Floyd Elzinga are perfect for a large garden. They're made from the blades of shovels. Their great size expresses what he calls "the aggressive nature of seeds." You can view more at the gallery link below.

Gallery and Artist's Website -via Recylart

The Centrifuge Brain Project

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 07:00 PM PST

(YouTube link)

In the mockumentary The Centrifuge Brain Project by Till Nowak, the Institute for Centrifugal Research builds its own thrill rides to see how they affect brain development. The amazing rides are based on real carnival rides in Germany, although they've been "enhanced" somewhat. At least I hope so. -via Metafilter

Mark Summers: The Man Behind the Iconic Barnes & Noble Author Portraits

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 06:00 PM PST


Edgar Allan Poe

You've probably seen the wonderful portraits of famous authors at your local Barnes & Noble. Ever wonder who made them and how? Behance spoke with the man behind the pictures, scratchboard artist Mark Summers:

Can you describe your process in creating this project?
I work in scratchboard so, all of these portraits started off as a square of black. I use an X-acto knife to scratch the white lines into the black, giving it an engraved look. There have been questions sent to me about if I have used “plug ins” and “filters” etc. and I have no idea what they are talking about. These are all hand drawn with zero use of computer. The original drawings are surprisingly small. If you look at the head of the Marcel Proust, that’s about 2 and a half inches high. The same goes for most of them.


Walt Whitman


Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.


Leo Tolstoy


Jules Verne


Virginia Woolf

What Blinded Mary Ingalls?

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 05:00 PM PST

vIt was a jarring moment when generations of young readers got to the fourth book in the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder and saw that it opened with the simple statement that her sister Mary had gone blind from scarlet fever. Ingalls wrote her remembrances late in life for young readers, and many believe they were heavily edited by Rose Wilder Lane, but what made it into print left a distinct and frightening impression. But it turns out that scarlet fever doesn't cause blindness. Dr. Beth A. Tarini deduced, after a decade of research, that Mary probably went blind in 1879 due to viral meningoencephalitis. But why does it matter so many years later?

“When I’m in clinic,” Dr. Tarini said, “and I tell parents their child has scarlet fever, I see their eyes widen. In my mind, it’s no different than a strep throat with a rash, but the specter of history colors their reaction.” Those emotional words describing Mary’s lost vision still carry weight with the parents who read and remember “By the Shores of Silver Creek” and all the books that came before and after it.

“We’re taught to find out what’s wrong and give a patient a diagnosis,” Dr. Tarini continued, “but that’s only one of the things the patient needs. If I say ‘scarlet fever’ and a mother is thinking, ‘Mary Ingalls’ then if I don’t know to pull that out, I’m not doing my job.” It matters to pediatricians if it matters to their patients.

Read more about Tarini's research at the New York Times. Link -via Boing Boing

Ice Skull

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 04:00 PM PST

Ice Skull

Are you dead tired of serving up boring rectangular ice cubes to your hipster friends? You need the Ice Skull from the NeatoShop. This frightentingly fabulous Ice Skull mold is easy to use and makes a 3" tall skull out of ice. Simply fill the mold with water, freeze, and remove the ice skull from the mold. It makes a piece of ice art that is just to die for. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Ice Trays. 

Link

Sheriff Tyrone Lewis Wishes You a Happy Valentine's Day

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 04:00 PM PST


Photo: The Clarion-Ledger

Dapper suit, chocolate, and law enforcement. What's not to like, girl?

When Hinds County, Mississippi, Sheriff Tyrone Lewis wants to wish his constituents a Happy Valentine's Day, he does it in style. Emily Lane of The Clarion Ledger has the post: Link

It's Not My Dog

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 03:00 PM PST

(YouTube link)

How many different kinds of dogs are on YouTube? All of them! This compilation of canines makes a fine music video for the song "It's Not My Dog" by Bombay Monkey. -via b3ta

Cookie Monster Suspected in Cookie Sculpture Theft

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 02:00 PM PST

Last month, a gilded bronze sculpture of a giant cookie outside the cookie baker Bahlsen's office in Hanover, Germany, was stolen. This week, the culprit - all dressed up in Cookie Monster outfit- sent police a ransom note with cut-up letters:

"I have the cookie! And you want it," the letter read, according to the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (HAZ) newspaper. The letter - comprised in the traditional ransom note style of newspaper cuttings - is said to be signed by a "Cookie Monster". The individual wants Bahlsen to supply the hospital with its Leibniz biscuits, preferably the whole milk variety.

The real Cookie Monster claimed he was framed:

But we're not so sure about his innocence. After all, cookies are irresistible to voracious Muppet.

Pokémon Pancakes

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 01:00 PM PST

Pokemon pancakes

Got to eat them all! Pancake artist Nathan Shields made 9 Pokémon pancakes. Hopefully he plans to make the full 151. Now how do I get syrup out of my Pokédex?

Link

Science Puts Fear in Fearless Person's Heart

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 12:00 PM PST

Fearless? Not if science can help it! Science can scare anybody, even those who are born with a rare genetic disorder that make them fearless.

But first, let's talk about the amygdala, a small almond-shaped structure deep inside the brain that's been dubbed "the seat of fear." Patients with Urbach-Wiethe disease have atrophied amygdalas, and as a result, they experience no fear.

Justin Feinstein of the University of Iowa and colleagues posited that because these patients don't have the necessary brain structure for fear, they'd be immune to things that would scare a normal person:

One situation in which the amygdala triggers fear and panic attacks is when it detects unusually high concentrations of carbon dioxide — a sign of possible suffocation — by sensing increased acidity in the blood. This may occur even if CO2 is inhaled in concentrations that are not lethal. Feinstein and his colleagues therefore predicted that patients with damaged amygdalas would not feel fear after inhaling the gas.

To test this, they asked S.M. [a patient], two other patients with Urbach-Wiethe disease, and 12 healthy controls to inhale 35% carbon dioxide through a mask. To their surprise, the researchers found that the brain-damaged patients did experience fear immediately after inhalation — and, in fact, became even more fearful and panicky than did the healthy volunteers.

“The patients experienced significantly more fear and panic than the controls,” says Feinstein. In interviews conducted afterwards, all three patients reported feeling scared of suffocating and dying while inhaling the gas. For S.M., this was the first time she had experienced fear since childhood.

Link

Folds

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 11:00 AM PST

v

Folds is a game of origami. Can you fold the paper into the desired shape? Oh, it looks easy, but you only have a limited number of folds for each level, and it rapidly gets difficult just when you think you've got it licked. Link -via Look At This

Interactive Display at a Children's Hospital

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 10:00 AM PST

Jason Bruges

Children in the hospital need every distraction they can get. Enter artist Jason Bruges. He created an interactive display at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. Animals appear on the wall with the touch of a finger:

The brief was to design and install a distraction artwork helping to create a calming yet engaging route that culminates in the patient’s arrival at the anaesthetic room. Inspiration came from the idea of viewing the patient journey as a ‘Nature Trail’, where the hospital walls become the natural canvas, with digital look out points that reveal the various ‘forest creatures’, including horses, deer, hedgehogs, birds and frogs, to the passerby.

Link (warning: auto-starting video) | Jason Bruges's Website

Pencil Eraser Hats

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 09:00 AM PST

 

Pencil Eraser Hats 

Is your favorite writing utensil failing to live up to your fashionable expectations? Dress your pencil for success with the Pencil Eraser Hats from the NeatoShop. This dapper set includes: Top Hat, Bowler, Homburg, and Fedora. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Office Supplies. 

Link

How To Be Daniel Radcliffe

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 09:00 AM PST

(YouTube link)

"Sure, you're a famous movie star, but can you do this?" Daniel Radcliffe, who gained fame as the title character in the Harry Potter films, tells us how he keeps from getting the big head about it. It helps when you constantly have to play one-up with your talented assistant. -via Tastefully Offensive

Liquor Bottle Bouquet

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 08:00 AM PST

alcohol bottle bouquet

Here's a great gift giving idea! Instagram user Justinerio received this intoxicating bouquet from her boyfriend. To make one, place styrofoam in the bottom of the basket, then shove in little bottles of liquor attached to sticks. Garnish with a few artificial flowers to make the presentation eye-popping.

Link | Photo: Justinerio

Polka Dot Cake

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 07:00 AM PST

v

The cake was pretty fancy on the outside, but it made everyone's eyes pop when they cut it! This polka dot cake was made by redditor reburn's wife for their daughter's birthday. The secret? Make cake pops first, then bake the rest of the cake around them. Here's a tutorial on the process. Link

What'chu Lookin' At?

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 06:00 AM PST


Photo via Nugg is Nugg and Photojojo (Does anyone know the original source?)

Answer: Oh, nutt'n. OK, you try.

Cold War Tales: Operation Paul Bunyan

Posted: 04 Feb 2013 05:00 AM PST

This article is republished from the book Uncle John's 24-Karat Bathroom Reader.

The unoccupied Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea has been a tense place since the end of the Korean War in the 1950s. It's been the site of periodic flare-ups, one of which involved a tree.

v(Image credit: Wikipedia user Filzstift)

TWO KOREAS

For most of its history, Korea has been a single country, often a very powerful one. In the late 19th century, the nation lost its independence to Japan. At the time, Japan was trying to build a global empire, and Korea was a valuable strategic target. After World War II, the Japanese Empire fell apart, and the countries it once controlled became independent nations again. But a new conflict was developing: The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Korea's strategic location made it an important ally to both sides.

v

The United States assumed the administration of the southern part of Korea, taking steps to assure it would develop into a capitalist economy. American diplomats and politicians micromanaged the region's political process to produce leaders sympathetic to the West. At the same time, the Soviet Union oversaw the development of the north, and encouraged that part of Korea to develop along socialist lines. The split was formalized in 1948, when the north refused to participate in the United Nations-supervised free elections. Both sides claimed to be the only legitimate government on the Korean peninsula. The Korean War was fought over this issue, which led to two separate nations. To this day, South Korea claims that it lawfully controls North Korea, while North Korea believes the same about South Korea.

Technically, the Korean War never formally ended. There was no peace treaty -only an armistice that ended the shooting (it was temporary, but it's lasted since 1953) and established a two-mile wide DMZ, or Demilitarized Zone, as a neutral buffer between North Korea and South Korea.

STAY POSTED

Like all Cold War hot spots, the DMZ was rife with political intrigue and paranoia (and heavily guarded by troops). North Korea accused the South of periodically sending spies into the North, and in 1975 South Korea discovered secret tunnels that North Korea had built under the DMZ.

vCommand Post #3 in 1975.

In the early 1970s, the United Nations set up multiple command posts within the DMZ to help control the situation. UN Command Post #3 was critical. It was the northernmost post, situated within sight of North Korean territory. North Korean soldiers had repeatedly attempted to kidnap UN officials from Command Post #3, so soldiers stationed at the southern end of the DMZ believed it was vital to keep a close eye on the post at all times. Only problem: Commands Post #3 was surrounded by dense foliage, which made the post impossible to observe during summer months. One particularly troublesome poplar tree directly blocked the view.

THE KOREAN AXE MASSACRE

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So on August 18, 1976, under UN orders, the South Korean military sent five soldiers, escorted by a dozen US troops, into the DMZ to chop down the poplar. Because soldiers are not allowed to carry firearms inside the DMZ, the squad carried only the axes and machetes they planned to use.

Just as troops began trimming the tree, a delegation of North Korean soldiers arrived at the site and demanded that the South Koreans drop their axes. The tree in question, they said, had been personally planted and tended by Kim Il Sung, North Korea's first "great leader." Despite repeated warnings from the North Koreans, the squadron from the South continued to chop… prompting the commanding officer of the North Korean detachment to order, "Kill them!"

v

The South Korean troops immediately dropped their axes and attempted to flee. The North Koreans -unarmed because of the weapon-free DMZ rule- then picked up the axes and attacked the American escorts, killing the commanding officer, Capt. Arthur Bonifas, and fatally wounding Lt. Mark Barret, and injuring most of the South Koreans. United Nations soldiers at Observation Post #5, watching the proceedings unfold, recorded the entire incident on camera, and it was quickly reported to the leaders of North Korea and to the general public in South Korea. Through it all, the poplar tree remained standing.

THE ART OF WAR

Because two Americans had been killed, many expected the full military power of the United States to come down on North Korea. But waging all-out war would have been extraordinarily dangerous during the Cold War. Seoul, the bustling capital of South Korea, was located directly south of the DMZ, well within range of North Korean artillery. And while the US had superior air and sea power, North Korea maintained a close diplomatic relationship with China, which had tens of millions of troops that it almost certainly would have sent to aid North Korea.

v

Henry Kissinger, then serving as both US Secretary of State and national security advisor to President Ford, was prepared to fight. He suggested to Ford that the best course of action would be a full-scale bombing campaign of the North. Kissinger believed that holding back would make the United States appear diplomatically and militarily weak. Ford, however, did not want to start a new Korean War, or worse, another world war, so he devised a solution that he hoped would allow the US to save face while avoiding a major escalation: Send in the troops… and chop down the tree.

TIMBER!

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"Operation Paul Bunyan," as it was called, commenced on August 21, 1976, just three days after the original confrontation -which was being referred to as "the axe murder incident"- and involved a major military incursion into the DMZ. The primary "attack arms" consisted of two six-man units from the US Army Corps of Engineers, all armed with chain saws. Each unit was accompanied by a support unit of 30 heavily armed soldiers, and backed up by two dozen attack helicopters and a wing of B-52 Stratofortress bombers. Meanwhile, every military unit south of the DMZ was on high alert: Aircraft patrols were launched from air bases all over South Korea, and the USS Midway carrier group held a position just off the Korean Peninsula. Artillery units stood by to detonate critical bridges in the vicinity, and South Korean special forces ran secret scouting missions along the most critical areas of the DMZ. North Korea responded in kind, dispatching hundreds of sharpshooters and machine gunners to their forward posts along the DMZ. Northern forces set up machine-gun nests in view of Command Post #3.



Despite the armed build up on both sides, the operation ended without incident. The poplar tree was chopped down in just under an hour. The chain-saw crew left a stump 19 feet high as a visible reminder of what had occurred there, and that was that.

v

In the mid-1980s, Command Post #3 was abandoned, and in 1987 the rest of the stump was removed. But in its place, a small shrine -a stone monument with a bronze plaque- was erected to honor the memory of the two American soldiers who died there.

___________________

The article above was reprinted with permission from Uncle John's 24-Karat Bathroom Reader.

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!

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