North Korea, "Power"

Henry Hargreaves and Caitlin Levin, featured previously at Neatorama for food maps of the world and candy and gingerbread galleries, among other things, present their latest series "Power Hungry." Hargreaves described the series in an interview with BuzzFeed,

"This project began with a look at the foods historical dictators have eaten. Quickly, though, our endeavor evolved as we saw stark similarities between past and present. It became abundantly clear how authoritarian regimes throughout history have used food as a weapon, systematically oppressing, silencing, and killing people through starvatiion."

The pair hopes that the series raises awareness of world hunger. Hargreaves continued,

"We want people to literally and figuratively sit down and look across a table to see the glaring disparities between the ‘haves and have nots’. The world has clearly changed tremendously in just a few short decades. Swathes of the world’s people, once routinely afflicted by sweeping hunger, have more regular access to food than before. Indeed, even some poor populations now face a greater threat from obesity than from starvation. 

Yet tremendous imbalances exist in places both far away and closer to home. Many throughout the world are still forced to survive on the most meager of meals, or nothing at all, while a powerful few lavish in absurd culinary luxuries.” 

See Hargreaves and Levin's full series here at their website.

Via Design Taxi | Images: Henry Hargreaves and Caitlin Levin

North Korea, "Hungry"

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I love animals, but elephants are some of my favorites. They are soulful, smart and sweet to their species and others. This video provides facts about the intelligence of elephants and lists some common behaviors in the context of their brain capacity and function. I continue to hope for a world in which these noble animals are free of captivity, habitat destruction, cruelty and poaching.

Researchers at Stanford have developed gloves inspired by the climbing movement of geckos that give users under 200 pounds the ability to climb a smooth, vertical surface. Their research is published in this week's issue of the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 

Popular Mechanics' William Herkewitz discussed the project, 

"Hawkes and his colleagues developed a dry-adhesive called PDMS microwedges. Unlike duct tape or super glue, this reptile-inspired adhesive works via clingy hair-like nanofibers. These nanofibers flatten out when pulled downward against a surface and grip via electromagnetic attraction (called the van der Waals force) but can be pulled off easily with a perpendicular tug.

Using springs, they anchored 24 microwedge patches to a flat plate that a person could grab with their hand, the idea being that the 24 patches distribute the force of a climber. However, this is actually a well-tested recipe for failure. Normal springs won't distribute weight as evenly as you'd need. Worse, when a single patch is pulled past its breaking point, the failure can avalanche across the entire plate.

Here's the key to Hawkes' system: Instead of using ordinary springs to anchor the adhesive patches, they used springs made of a shape-memory alloy. While normal springs become tenser as you pull them like a rubber band, the scientist's shape-memory alloy springs actually become softer and less tense, like stretching bubblegum.

Anchored by these weird springs, each of Hawkes' microwedges distributed the weight of a clinging climber across the plate with near perfection. Hawkes could easily scale a glass wall, and the scientists have calculated that the gloves could be used by anyone up to around 200 lbs. And if one wedge ever fails, the plate simply self-corrects."

Read more in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, Popular Mechanics and Science News.

Via i09 | Image: Elliot Hawkes

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Mental Floss addresses a number of commonly repeated bits of information about pets that aren't necessarily factual. What is best for your cat to eat and drink? Is your dog really hypoallergenic? And if that dog happens to be old, should you just pack it in instead of teaching him a new trick? Learn the answers to these questions and others in this video.

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This ferret has obviously had an exhausting day of ferret play and is at his consciousness' end. His human's lap seems like a perfect place to collapse (not that he spent a moment of ferret decision-making time considering the issue). All's well that ends well. -Via Tastefully Offensive

Mumbai, India

I know a lot of people in our Neatorama readership are concerned about environmental issues, nature and conservation. Unfortunately, not everyone in the world shares our priorities. This article highlights areas in which we would not want to partake in swimming or other recreational activites in the local bodies of water. Whether it's due to pollution, dangerous wildlife or other risks to our person, we might want to make mental notes of these areas in which we'd be better off locating our nearest jetted bathtub or private pool in which to relax and refresh instead. 

10. Mumbai, India
While there is no shortage of beaches in India's most populous city of Mumbai, none are fit for swimming, and the goverment has made those warnings abundantly clear. The water and shoreline is polluted with a vast amount of untreated sewage. Despite the existence of a sewage treatment facility, much of the city's waste never sees it, and is discharged into the waterways. The cause of the problem is attributed to residents dumping raw sewage into storm drains.

Knowledge of the problem has done nothing to curtail it, and levels of animal and human fecal bacteria at beaches continue to rise, with readings at the most popular beach, Girgaon Chaupati, at four times the acceptable limit, and reports of skin rashes from bathers after contact with the water.


New Smyrna Beach, Florida

9. New Smyrna Beach, Florida
While the water at New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County, Florida, is clean and would, in theory, make for wonderful surfing as well as swimming, there is one major problem: sharks. The waters are rich with fish, which makes them targets of sharks as prime areas for feeding. In fact, the International Shark Attack File considers New Smyrna the "shark attack capital of the world."

Experts in the field estimate that every swimmer at New Smyrna Beach is destined for a close encounter (within 10 feet) of a shark. In the year 2008, over one-third of all shark attacks in the world occurred in the waters off that county coast. Astoundingly, the state of Florida recorded more attacks in the years 2004–2013 than in both Australia and South Africa combined.

I think the only time I'd take a dip in the water of New Smyrna Beach would be with Brody, Quint, Hooper and their "bigger boat."

Read numbers eight through one on the list of places you definitely don't want to go swimming here. 

Images: Wikipedia

Sometimes wealthy people build monuments to their success that are so ostentatious they border on obscenity. This collection of ten such homes lists some contenders for most over-the-top architectural displays of wealth. Number five is described below.

5) Fairfield, The Hamptons

Billionaire Ira Rennert's house, built on 68 acres of property facing the Atlantic Ocean, is worth $198 million. The buildings that make up the complex equal approximately 110,000 square feet; the main house alone is 66,000 square feet, has 29 bedrooms and 39 bathrooms. Amenities include a basketball court, a bowling alley, two tennis courts, two squash courts, a hot tub worth $150,000 and its own power station.  

See this article for descriptions of nine more ridiculously decadent homes here.  

Via The Presurfer | Images: Imgarcade.com 

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Who doesn't remember and love the scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark in which the ark is opened and the Nazis are confronted with the face-melting truth about their coveted, sacred piece? This item from UK company Firebox captures the homeliest of the Nazi visages as a candle that melts into a satisfying pile of waxy goo. This fun bit of movie memorabilia is available here for 30 bucks plus shipping. 

Via Dangerous Minds | Images: Firebox.com 

 
 

Approximated figure proportions of Barbie (l), and Lammily, (r)

Traditional Barbie dolls have been under attack for years regarding what people deem their unrealistically tiny waistline and figure. Digital artist and designer Nickolay Lamm took advantage of the public criticism and created a “normal" Barbie alternative that he named "Lammily." His doll, according to him, has realistic body proportions for a 19-year-old girl. For $6.00 above the $25.00 price of the doll, a sticker kit called "Lammily marks" is available, which makes it possible for the user to apply cellulite, tattoos, warts, acne, stretchmarks, freckles, scars, bruises and other skin variances.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Lamm said of his doll line that he 

"Wanted to show that average is beautiful and that we shouldn’t compare ourselves to unrealistic beauty standards. And I feel Barbie kind of symbolizes that.”

Watch the video below for more of that conversation, and to see second graders being introduced to Lammily. To learn more about the doll, visit lammily.com and nickolaylamm.com. 

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I guess I haven't made up my mind about Lammily's sticker kit. Is it wrong for me to hope for a 19-year-old doll sans cellulite and stretch marks? (Well, I suppose the stickers don't have to be ordered/all applied.) Also, if your goal is to model the doll after an "average" 19-year-old, how about giving her an average name, instead of naming her after yourself, the entrepreneur? Am I being too picky here? Let me know what you think in the comments.  

Via Bored Panda | Images: lammily.com 

Lammily with cellulite sticker applied

Lammily with stretch marks
 
Lammily, afflicted with acne

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This simple yet remarkable animation by Andreas Hykade quite accurately captures the arc of addiction, via a bird character who, in his travels on foot, encounters golden nuggets along the way. When he ingests a nugget out of curiosity, he experiences feelings of elation; feelings that soon change, as does his perception and quality of life in the interim between nuggets. -Via Dangerous Minds

Casu Marzu, found mostly in Sardinia and Corsica, is a cheese infested with maggots, which are capable of jumping up to half a foot when disturbed

This grouping of foods from countries all over the globe is not only unusual, but in quite a few instances, I daresay it's downright disgusting. Fried spiders, rotten eggs, larvae-infested cheese, roasted guinea pigs... these are things I can't conceive of getting close to, much less eating. Of course, one woman's disgust is another's delicacy. If such treats have an enthusiastic market in some parts of the world, I shouldn't be one to judge. In fact, there's a epicurean adventurer and writer right here at Neatorama who just might have an open mind enough to sample some of these treats. *cough* Farrier *cough* 

See more of the world's unusual snack foods here.  

Salted, candied baby crabs from Japan

Buttery tasting, Mexican soup with the consistency of cottage cheese, made with ant larvae

Roasted guinea pig, served in Peru
 "Cake pops" made with pigs' blood and rice, served in Taiwan

Image: Buzzfeed 

This collection of engagement photos includes some unbelievably awkward moments. It's hard to imagine the conversations or ideas that could have led to such photo fiascos. Were some of these the photographers' ideas? If so, what would make the couple go along with such a notion? And vice versa — what photographer worth their salt would agree to pose suggestions that would make their watermark a target of ridicule? Only the people in these pictures (and those who captured them) know for sure.

See the rest of this collection here.

Image: Izismile 

Image: Bad Engagement Photos

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When snow fell on November 17 at Toronto Zoo, the staff captured giant panda Da Mao's joyous mood at the sight of it. He belly-sledded down a hill, what the zoo called "bear-bogganing," with some rolls and tumbles thrown in for good measure. This same panda was featured on Neatorama in February of this year when he romped in the snow then as well. Evidently he's a big fan of the white stuff. -Via Distractify

Hong Kong-based freelance designer David Lo illustrated this graphic series of Batmobiles past and future. Its inception was as a red sedan, only referred to as "his car," in Detective Comics #39 in 1939. From that unceremonious origin to its future in the 2016 film Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the Batmobile has undergone many transformations to more resemble its superhero driver,  while always remaining sleek and stylish. 

See all the Batmobiles in Lo's series here, and visit his website to see more of his work. 

YouTube Link

This video shows what a number of typical human activities — including a couple making out — looks like as viewed by a thermal camera. While the sex scene looked about how I thought it would, I found the working out scene a bit more surprising. Contains a graphic sexual situation; definitely NSFW. -Via Viral Viral Videos