So now we are halfway through February and we've got the majority of its holidays behind us. Still, coming up Monday is President's Day, which is a big one, because banks will be closed and the mail won't run. President's Day used to be Washington's Birthday (which is actually the 22nd), but since Abraham Lincoln was born in the same month, that created some sort of competition between the two president's legacies until they were combined into President's Day, which since then has become a day to celebrate even more of the former leaders of our country. I'm all for that -there was even some discussion of how we need a movie about James K. Polk: we've already got a theme song for it. Some other neat stuff happened this past week at Neatorama, too!
John Farrier rounded up the ways people try to make the sport of kings even more challenging in 12 Bizarre Chess Variants.
We learned some video game history in Mr. Game Boy, courtesy of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
The Annals of Improbable Research gave us a formula for a hit movie in Script an Astronomer, Then Reach for the Stars.
And 10 Ruthless Rock Managers came from mental_floss magazine.
Our exclusive "short subjects" from Uncle John's Bathroom reader this week were Ol' Jay's Brainteasers and Flubbed Headlines.
In this week's What Is It? game, the complicated-looking tool is is a bonde cutter - the bonde is the tapered wooden plug (often a soft hardwood such as poplar) that fits into the filling hole of a wine barrel. You can read more about it at the What Is It? blog. Finally, ladybugs came up with the answer, and wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! The funniest answer was by ColShorts, who said, "It looks like that thing that I made in shop class, to get out of making things in shop…" He wins a t-shirt for that! Thanks to everyone who participated, and look for another What Is It? game coming soon!
This week's posts with the most comments was Should Bookstores Charge You to Browse? followed by Stuck at 125mph for an Hour. But if we look back the previous week, the post about Coffee Enemas racked up a much bigger discussion since last week's update.
The most-viewed post of the week was 10 Candidates for the Next Pope, which was exactly was people were searching for Tuesday. That was followed by Ol' Jay's Brainteasers, What Nemo Did, and 12 Bizarre Chess Variants, in that order.
Usability tip of the week: If you're a registered user, you can use your profile page for all kinds of things. You can display something about yourself by going to "edit account," and add whatever you like to your bio field. And you can leave comments under your profile, or someone else's profile. When you open the comment field, you have the option of making your message private. Just click on a user's name to go to their profile page (see mine as an example). The same rules of civility apply to profiles as they do to the main page. It's a neat way to ask questions, hold off-topic discussions, and get to know your fellow Neatoramanauts.
At the NeatoShop, we've got something to make graduation, showers, and occasions like Mother's Day extra special: pageant sashes! Anyone can be a beauty queen with the proper sash -this one is my personal favorite.
When you get caught up on what's here at Neatorama, go see what's happening at our Pinterest board, Facebook page, and Twitter feed, where we put extra stuff for those who care to follow.