Happy St. Patricks Day! Oh, I know the feast day isn't until tomorrow, but since the holiday falls on Sunday, I can imagine that many of the traditional American drinking parties will be held today. Check out the "related links" at the bottom of this post for some of our St. Patrick's Day articles from the past -although you need to isolate this post to see them. Meanwhile, I hope you can find some time to catch up on what you may have missed this week at Neatorama.
Eddie Deezen told us about Orville Wright and the First Person to Die in an Airplane.
The Birth of Frosted Flakes came from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
The Annals of Improbable Research brought us a rare serious article on The Essence of a Sniff.
When Opposites Attack: 5 Artistic Rivalries That Got Ugly was from mental_floss magazine.
Alex gave us a couple of really neat photo collections. Toy Stories by Gabriele Galimberti: Fantastic Photos of Children from Around the World with Their Prized Possessions was the serious one posted at our Spotlight Blog, and Headline Will Go Here Blah Blah Blah just made us laugh.
Our series of brainteasers from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader continued this week with Disemvoweled, Balloon on a Bus, and The Donkey and the Carrots.
In this week's What It It? game, the contraption shown is a set of shepherd's crook crosscut saw set spiders or saw set gauges. That's a lots of words to describe a tool to check the amount of set (bend) in saw teeth. You can read more about it at the What Is It? blog. The first person to guess correctly was Steve Pauk, who wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! Among the many funny answers, the funniest came from pismonque, who said,
These are Victorian-era bustle stays, which prevented the embarrassing "sidecar effect" of an inadvertently rotated bustle. The device clamped onto the midline of the bustle, with the fin keying into the wearer's conveniently placed natural cleft, thus preventing lateral bustle drift.
That conjures up a picture, and also wins pismonque a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! Thanks to everyone who entered, and thanks to the What Is It? blog!
Congratulations to the Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt #24 Winners! Look for another contest from Tokyoflash coming soon.
The post with the most comments this week was (by far) What Is the Answer to That Stupid Math Problem on Facebook? followed by Is Sending a One-Liner "Thank You" Email or Text Rude? Tied for third place were Company Offers Free Beer to Employees Every Friday and The Train Optical Illusion. That proves to us that the easiest way to get a lot of comments is to add a poll to a post.
The comment of the week came from Frau, who, when asked What Is the Answer to That Stupid Math Problem on Facebook? answered "42." That is, of course, the answer to everything.
The most popular post of the week was The Birth of Frosted Flakes, followed by What Is the Answer to That Stupid Math Problem on Facebook? Coming in third was To Avoid Wearing Seat Belts, Chinese Drivers Wear Shirts Like These, which may eclipse the others before the weekend is over. Update: yeah, it's number one for the week even before the day is over!
Usability Tip of the Week: Have you signed up for NeatoMail yet? You'll get a weekly update of news from Neatorama and extra chances to win prizes. Those already subscribed had exclusive access this week to the Choose Your Own Prize Star Wars Giveaway. As soon as I learn who the winners are, we'll post them, either here or in a new post. Sign up now (in the right sidebar), because you don't want to miss the next opportunity for a subscriber-only giveaway!
If you haven't checked in with the Neatoramanauts Facebook page, you're missing out on extra stuff you won't find on the main page. For example, we asked for caption for this cat, and got 209 suggestions (so far)! You can still add yours. You're also invited to follow Neatorama on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, too!
Have a safe and happy St. Patricks Day!