"neatorama" news and stories

You might already know that the word "salary" comes from the Latin word for "salt" and that being "worth your salt" or "worth your weight in salt" was once among the highest possible compliments.

You might even know that "the cream of the crop" references the fact that cream, like the finest workers, rises to the top. However, you probably didn't know that the term "cool as a cucumber" references the vegetable's high water content, not its ability to tame spicy food.

Aphorisms are always a lot of fun, and the joy is doubled when they're related to food. If you're interested in checking out a few more, take a peek at Neatorama's list of twelve food phrases explained. It's the greatest thing since sliced bread!

[Via Neatorama]

We've probably all seen crop circles and we've all been exposed to pizza flyers, but recently Papa John's innovated a unique combination of the two.

According to the Fire Wire blog, this advertisement for Papa John's new whole wheat crust is cut into a wheat field near the Denver airport. It'll be seen by everyone flying in to the Denver area, just in time for the Democratic National Convention. The pizza chain apparently wanted to get in on the convention sales, but wanted to have fun with it.

I actually really like this ad. It's a lot more fun and less obnoxious than other Papa John's ad campaigns. What's your take on the pizza ad crop circle?



[via Neatorama]

Hey, would you like to try a piece of radioactive chocolate? I'm not sure how popular this was, but apparently during the first part of the 20th century manufacturers were putting radium in everything. Seriously, check it out (unfortunately it's all in French and I can't read anything on this website).

After Marie Curie discovered radium, everybody wanted a piece of the action, according to Neatorama. This chocolate bar was sold in the early to mid 1930's and was advertised as a rejuvenating food. I wonder if this was discontinued because it was unpopular or if people discovered that radium was harmful?

I know that internet cafes are everywhere nowadays. 'Cause, let's face it, what goes better with surfing the 'net than coffee and snacks?

Neatorama put together this group of interesting to weird internet cafes from around the world. There's the taco cafe, the laundry internet cafe, and don't forget the massage/ manga/ tapioca internet cafe. That last one is may favorite, but you can check them all out here.

Warehouse of weirdness Neatorama recently posted a list of "The Top 10 Coolest BBQ Grills," which they then amended to include many others. Sure, the Big Green Egg and its Kamodo counterpart put in appearances, but that's just the beginning. There's a HEMI-powered grill, and not one, but two different smokers shaped like 10- and 20-foot-long pistols. There are also plenty of new, hi-tech smoke boxes. And then there's the "World's Largest Transportable Smoker," which has 90,000 square feet of cooking space and, like the pistol smokers, comes from Texas.