This Week at Neatorama

Where does the time go? It was eight years ago, August 9, 2005, that Alex published the very first post on his new blog, Neatorama. And eight years later, the link is still good! (However, it could use some ♥s.) Starting out, he vowed to post at least five items a day, and put so much time into it that Tiffany referred to the site as "Crack-o-rama." Eight years and three children later, Neatorama is still going strong, with a totally individualized blogging platform, a few writers along for the ride, and a growing gift shop to support it all. Alex even got Tiffany to join in! And best of all, the site has a great gang of readers we call Neatoramanauts, some who've been around for years, others just joining us, but all are welcome to be a part of the community. What? Today's the tenth? Oh well, we'll do what parents of any eight-year-old would do: celebrate the birthday on the nearest Saturday, so everyone will come to the party! Considering this anniversary, I guess it's appropriate that we had a bonus number of feature articles this past week. In case you missed any of them, here's a chance to catch up.

Alex told us about the recent spate of Fast Food Workers Gone Wild.

Then later, he showed us 10 Amazing Cat Structures.

Alex was very busy this week, as he also gave us the 9 Most Outrageous Things Ever Faked in China.

Jill Harness introduced us to 6 Fictional Holidays You Really Should Be Celebrating.

John Farrier, a librarian and teacher in his non-Ferengi life, wrote How Teachers Can Use Neatorama. That's for a specialized audience, to be sure, but everyone knows a teacher to sent it to.

Eddie Deezen wrote "Stairway to Heaven" -The Greatest Rock Song Ever?

Nobel Thoughts: Murray Gell-Mann came from the Annals of Improbable Research.

For Shark Week, we had A Shark's Deadly Equipment, courtesy of Uncle John's Bathroom Raeder.

And mental_floss magazine gave us Steven Spielberg's Jaws.
 
Hy Conrad returned with another Whodunit, titled The Wayward Will.

David Israel stirred up a conversation with his fairly new weekly column Questions In Need of Answers, asking What Foods Have the Longest Shelf Lives?

In this week's What Is It? game, the cast iron knight is a fireplace tools holder, for hanging a poker, shovel, and tongs. Lots of people knew that, but this week we are looking for wrong but entertaining guesses! One winning guess came from Paul Hitchmough, who said, "It's a tool used by knights to make three-strand woven friendship bracelets for their BFFs, but has the masculine design to keep up appearances. Those Crafty knights." The other winner is Sunfall, who guessed it to be a "a Knight Light. Just plug the prongs into a high-voltage outlet and watch its soothing red-hot metal glow. Your kids will love it! (Use only if children are fireproof.)" Those are both worth a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! Thanks to everyone who entered. See the answers to the other mystery items of the week at the What Is It? blog.

The NeatoShop's Dream Picnic Pin to Win Contest is in full swing! Pinterest users, both established and brand new, can compete to win a whole slew of great prizes from the NeatoShop. The contest closes on August 25th, so go here to get complete contest instructions. Good luck!

We had one reader poll this week, in which the vast majority of Neatoramanauts agree that Shark Week has Jumped the Shark. At least on the Discovery channel -we still have a great time with it on the internet!

Speaking of Shark Week, in the Tournament of Sharks, the Great White won, as expected. The Goblin Shark, the Hammerhead, and the Whale Shark all made the final four.

The (non-giveaway) post this week that received the most comments was Questions In Need of Answers: What Foods Have the Longest Shelf Lives? Then Doctor Who: Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor came in second, with Oprah Walks Into a Store ... in third place.

The comment of the week came when Soulfly responded to the post 10-year-old Saves Family with Mario Kart Skills by saying, "Good thing he didn't play Grand Theft Auto." Ha!

The most popular post was 9 Most Outrageous Things Ever Faked in China, followed by Fast Food Workers Gone Wild and coming in third was 10 Amazing Cat Structures.

The post with the most ♥s was Post No Bills followed by The Ultimate Catwalk and The Thirsty Tree of Chapel Rock.

The most emailed post was 10 Amazing Cat Structures. Coming in second was  Push-up Bra, and Yoga With His Dog was third.

It's back to school time! That's why lunch boxes and backpacks are on sale at the NeatoShop. Send your kids back to school with something special no one else will have!

And don't forget, we have extra content and fun at our Facebook page every day! You are also invited to follow Neatorama on Twitter and Pinterest, too! And mobile users: Flipboard makes it easy to keep up with Neatorama.

I hope the next eight years are as fun as the last eight have been!