Fourth of July is Independence Day
The Fourth of July, or Independence Day, is a federal holiday that celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of the Independence on July 4th, 1776.
Image Credit: Apollo 17 Crew, NASA
Explanation: In December of 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent about 75 hours on the Moon in the Taurus-Littrow valley, while colleague Ronald Evans orbited overhead. This sharp image was taken by Cernan as he and Schmitt roamed the valley floor. The image shows Schmitt on the left with the lunar rover at the edge of Shorty Crater, near the spot where geologist Schmitt discovered orange lunar soil. The Apollo 17 crew returned with 110 kilograms of rock and soil samples, more than was returned from any of the other lunar landing sites. Now forty years later, Cernan and Schmitt are still the last to walk on the Moon.
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2012 June 26
A Sundial that Shows Solstice
Image Credit & Copyright: Jean-Marc Mari
It is an auto engine that runs on air. That's right; air not gas or diesel or electric but just the air around us. Take a look.
Tata Motors of India has scheduled the Air Car to hit Indian streets by August 2012
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ANSWER: Thomas Hobbes.
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Click on photo to enlarge
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev presented Caroline Kennedy with a puppy named Pushinka in 1960. Pushinka's mother was Strelka, one of two dogs who had successfully been launched into space and returned safely on Sputnik 5.
Calvin Coolidge's roster of pets included a donkey, a pygmy hippopotamus, a bear cub, an antelope, and a pair of lion cubs, most of which were gifts from foreign leaders and diplomats. But of all his four-legged friends, his very favorite was a raccoon named Rebecca.
When the Hoover family moved to the White House, Herbert's son Allan brought his pet alligators with them. The alligators slept in a bathtub at night but had free roam of the Executive Mansion during the day, which invited more than a few startled looks from visiting dignitaries.
Theodore Roosevelt's sons had a favorite pet: a calico Shetland pony named Algonquin. When young Archie Roosevelt was confined to his bed with the measles, his brother Quentin came up with the perfect plan to cheer him up. He quietly led Algonquin inside the White House, into the elevator, and up into Archie's second floor bedroom.
President William Howard Taft pampered his pet cow, Pauline. When she wasn't outside grazing on the front lawn, she sought shelter in the White House garage among the president's four automobiles. Pauline earned her keep, however - she provided fresh milk for the first family.
The most pampered presidential pet was Fala, the Scottish Terrier that was Franklin Roosevelt's constant companion. He traveled with Roosevelt by train, car, and plane. The president always personally fed Fala by hand, and the pooch slept in a chair at the foot of FDR's bed.
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Image Credit & Copyright: Jean-Marc Mari
Explanation: What time is it? If the time and day are right, this sundial will tell you: SOLSTICE. Only then will the Sun be located just right for sunlight to stream through openings and spell out the term for the longest and shortest days of the year. And that happened last week and twice each year. The sundial was constructed by Jean Salins in 1980 and is situated at the Ecole Supérieure des Mines de Paris in Valbonne Sophia Antipolis of south-eastern France. On two other days of the year, watchers of this sundial might get to see it produce another word: EQUINOXE.
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My 14-year-old daughter, Maggie, and her best friend, Joannie are fans of 60′s music. They recently got front- row tickets to attend a Peter, Paul, and Mary concert in our town.
When they returned home from the concert that night, I wanted to hear all the details of the concert. My daughter says, “Mom, during the show, we looked back an saw hundreds of little lights swaying to the music. At first we thought people were holding up cigarette lighters. Then we realized that the lights were the reflections off all the eyeglasses in the audience!”
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In its youth, Portland, Oregon, combined a rough-and-ready logging camp with a gritty, hard-punching deep-water port. Lusty lads dallied with hard-eyed beauties in dark alleys, and crimps and captains bartered in blood money for the drunk and drugged. From the seedy waterfront to the notorious North End, Portland's sin sector offered vices packaged in pint glasses and perfumed corsets. Establishments like Nancy Boggs's floating bordello and city police chief James Lappeus's Oro Fino Saloon beckoned to the city's wastrels and grifters, votes could be bought for the price of a pint, and Bunco Kelly's Mariner's Rest fronted a shanghai operation. In Wicked Portland: The Wild and Lusty Underworld of a Frontier Seaport Town, Finn J. D. John of "Offbeat Oregon" reveals the roughest, most colorful era of Portland history, when the Rose City enjoyed an international reputation for violence and lawlessness.
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TATA MOTORS
WE'LL NEVER SEE THEM IN THIS COUNTRY, unfortunately probably so. Politics will again win over practicality. The nearly perfect car for around town.
Will it be the next big thing?
Tata Motors of India thinks so.
What will the Oil Companies do to stop it?
Will it be the next big thing?
Tata Motors of India thinks so.
What will the Oil Companies do to stop it?
It is an auto engine that runs on air. That's right; air not gas or diesel or electric but just the air around us. Take a look.
Tata Motors of India has scheduled the Air Car to hit Indian streets by August 2012
The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy N. for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air to push its engine's pistons and make the car go.
The Air Car, called the "Mini CAT" could cost around 365,757 rupees in India or $8,177 US.
The Mini CAT which is a simple, light urban car, with a tubular chassis, a body of fiberglass that is glued not welded and powered by compressed air. A Microprocessor is used to control all electrical functions of the car. One tiny radio transmitter sends instructions to the lights, turn signals and every other electrical device on the car. Which are not many.
The temperature of the clean air expelled by the exhaust pipe is between 0-15 degrees below zero, which makes it suitable for use by the internal air conditioning system with no need for gases or loss of power.
There are no keys, just an access card which can be read by the car from your pocket. According to the designers, it costs less than 50 rupees (approx. $1.12 US) per 100 KM, that's about a tenth the cost of a car running on gas. It's mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric car, a factor which makes it a perfect choice for city motorists. The car has a top speed of 105 KM per hour or 60 mph and would have a range of around 300 km or 185 miles between refuels. Refilling the car will take place at adapted gas stations with special air compressors. A fill up will only take two to three minutes and costs approximately 100 rupees and the car will be ready to go another 300 kilometers.
This car can also be filled at home with it's on board compressor. It will take 3-4 hours to refill the tank, but it can be done while you sleep. Because there is no combustion engine, changing the 1 liter of vegetable oil is only necessary every 50,000 KM or 30,000 miles. Due to its simplicity, there is very little maintenance to be done on this car.
This Air Car almost sounds too good to be true. We'll see in August. 2012.
The Air Car, called the "Mini CAT" could cost around 365,757 rupees in India or $8,177 US.
The Mini CAT which is a simple, light urban car, with a tubular chassis, a body of fiberglass that is glued not welded and powered by compressed air. A Microprocessor is used to control all electrical functions of the car. One tiny radio transmitter sends instructions to the lights, turn signals and every other electrical device on the car. Which are not many.
The temperature of the clean air expelled by the exhaust pipe is between 0-15 degrees below zero, which makes it suitable for use by the internal air conditioning system with no need for gases or loss of power.
There are no keys, just an access card which can be read by the car from your pocket. According to the designers, it costs less than 50 rupees (approx. $1.12 US) per 100 KM, that's about a tenth the cost of a car running on gas. It's mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric car, a factor which makes it a perfect choice for city motorists. The car has a top speed of 105 KM per hour or 60 mph and would have a range of around 300 km or 185 miles between refuels. Refilling the car will take place at adapted gas stations with special air compressors. A fill up will only take two to three minutes and costs approximately 100 rupees and the car will be ready to go another 300 kilometers.
This car can also be filled at home with it's on board compressor. It will take 3-4 hours to refill the tank, but it can be done while you sleep. Because there is no combustion engine, changing the 1 liter of vegetable oil is only necessary every 50,000 KM or 30,000 miles. Due to its simplicity, there is very little maintenance to be done on this car.
This Air Car almost sounds too good to be true. We'll see in August. 2012.
Thanks, Mike
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Name All 30 Major League Baseball Teams
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The Physics of Toilets
How a rush of water, a carefully placed tube that you can’t see and the physics of water cohesion and siphons keep the canoes running downstream:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~“Toilets have three major components. The first is a bowl. We all know what that’s for. The second is a tank. We can all see that. The last is behind the bowl, in that little tube from whose bourn - hopefully - no traveler returns. That part is a siphon. As simple machines go, siphons get less respect than wheels, levers, or inclined planes; but to be fair, not that many people know that siphons make flush toilets possible. If they did, siphons would be celebrated.”
Could you be fooled by a computer pretending to be human? Probably...
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32 Innovations That Will Change Your Tomorrow
Friedrich Nietzsche, made famous all over again by Ray Bradbury in Zen in the Art of Writing:
We have our Arts so we won't die of Truth.
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When his .38-calibre revolver failed to fire at its intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California, robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder: he peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. Happily for most concerned, this time it worked.
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A woman went to the bar with a black eye.
"How'd ya get that?" asked the bartender.
"From my husband," she replied.
"But I thought he was out of town?" he asked.
"So did I!" she said.
"How'd ya get that?" asked the bartender.
"From my husband," she replied.
"But I thought he was out of town?" he asked.
"So did I!" she said.
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Francis Ford Coppola in a recent interview:
An essential element of any art is risk. If you don't take a risk then how are you going to make something really beautiful, that hasn't been seen before? I always like to say that cinema without risk is like having no sex and expecting to have a baby. You have to take a risk.
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Can this loop of string be freed from its wire? Stewart Coffin, who devised the puzzle in 1974, writes, “I soon became convinced that this was impossible, but being a novice in the field of topology, I was at a loss for any sort of formal proof.” He published the challenge in a newsletter and has been receiving requests for a solution ever since. Adding to the confusion, in 1976 a British puzzle editor mistakenly claimed with that Coffin’s creation was equivalent to another puzzle with a known solution, and Pieter van Delft and Jack Botermans published an amusingly bewildering “solution” of their own in their 1978 book Creative Puzzles of the World.
In the meantime, fans around the world have continued to experiment, and mathematicians Inta Bertuccioni and Paul Melvin have both offered proofs that the puzzle is unsolvable. “Whoever would have guessed that this little bent piece of scrap wire and loop of string would launch itself on an odyssey that would carry it around the world?” Coffin writes. “Will it mischievously rise again, perhaps disguised in another form, as topological puzzles so often do?”
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The Greek philosopher Aristophanes, writing in the 4th century B.C.:
Let each man exercise the art he knows.
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On the art of moving words that move people.
- People learn best in 20-minute chunks. There must be a reason for the successful TED-sized talk format.
- Multiple sensory channels compete. During a talk, you engage both the auditory and visual channels – because we're visual creatures and the visual channel trumps the auditory, make sure your slides don't require people to read much or otherwise distract from the talk.
- What you say is only one part of your presentation. Paralinguistics explores how information is communicated beyond words – be aware the audience is responding to your body language and tone. Record yourself presenting to get a feel for those and adjust accordingly.
- If you want people to act, you have to call them to action. At the end of your presentation, be very specific about exactly what you would like your audience to do.
- People imitate your emotions and feel your feelings. If you're passionate about your topic, this excitement will be contagious for the audience. Don't hold back.
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Meet the Grandfather of Everyone in Britain
Meet Ian Kinnaird, 72, who turned out to be the grandfather of everyone in Britain. Genetically speaking, that is: Ian Kinnaird, 72, has a genetic marker inherited from his mother that traces his ancestry to an African lineage that has not been found before in Western Europe. Researchers from Britain’s DNA, who carried out the tests, said the result meant that in genetic terms he was a “thoroughbred”, and could be described as the “grandson of Eve, or the grandfather of everyone in Britain”. Auslan Cramb of The Telegraph has the post: Link
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The Mayor as Sausage in Hot Water
Jill Makinson-Sanders is the mayor of Louth, Lincolnshire, England. When the Olympic torch relay made its way through her town, she attended the event not in the traditional ceremonial garb of a mayor, but in an 8-foot-tall pink sausage costume! Her aim was to promote Lincolnshire bangers (sausages), but some mistook her for a penis. One witness said,
Jill Makinson-Sanders is the mayor of Louth, Lincolnshire, England. When the Olympic torch relay made its way through her town, she attended the event not in the traditional ceremonial garb of a mayor, but in an 8-foot-tall pink sausage costume! Her aim was to promote Lincolnshire bangers (sausages), but some mistook her for a penis. One witness said,
“She didn’t carry the torch but when you saw her running down the street by the torch relay team nearby it really looked like she was wearing something obscene.” Link -via Arbroath
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Who would you trust during an alien invasion -- from outer space?
http://eideard.com/2012/07/01/who-would-you-trust-during-an-alien-invasion-from-outer-space/#comment-35212
http://eideard.com/2012/07/01/who-would-you-trust-during-an-alien-invasion-from-outer-space/#comment-35212
Hell with the aliens, what about zombies from space???
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The Missing Secrets Of Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was a world-renowned Serb-American inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer and electrical engineer. Tesla is regarded as one of the most important inventors in history. Tesla was regarded as a mad scientist and became noted for making bizarre predicyions.
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HP Printer Commercial - Evian Babies - Brand New Key
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Fantastic Sculptures By Odani Motohiko
These massive, milk white sculptures by Japanese artist Odani Motohiko have an ethereal nature about them, with wispy details and fantastic subjects to match.
They have the appearance of fine porcelain, which adds to the delicate nature of these works, and would probably look even more impressive in a room where the walls are painted black, so they would really stand out.
Hit the Hi Fructose link below and take a tour of Odani’s latest showing at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco-it’s almost like being there in person, even though it really isn’t the same at all!
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In the Hall of Mechanical King
In 11,000 photographs, YouTube user nothinghereok documented his overhaul of a Triumph Spitfire engine. Watch this enchanting stop-motion animated presentation of the engine disassembling, cleaning and reassembling itself…followed by a terrifying conclusion. -via Colossal
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Don’t Have Access to Book Mobiles? Try a Book Mule!
Book mobiles are great, but there are some places they just can’t reach. That’s why the University of Momboy in Venezuela introduced the Bibliomulas, aka the book mules, to their local countryside.
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Trust Me, I’m An Engineer
Here's a video clip by Vilkaz Zebigwan for you to show your favorite engineer. They'll love it. Trust me, I'm a blogger.
Trust me, I'm an engineer
With epic skill and epic gear
With epic skill and epic gear
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] (Warning: A bit of salty language)
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Exploring the "negative path" to well-being.
Burkeman writes in The Guardian: [Research] points to an alternative approach [to happiness]: a 'negative path' to happiness that entails taking a radically different stance towards those things most of us spend our lives trying hard to avoid. This involves learning to enjoy uncertainty, embracing insecurity and becoming familiar with failure. In order to be truly happy, it turns out, we might actually need to be willing to experience more negative emotions – or, at the very least, to stop running quite so hard from them.
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If Life Had An Airplane Safety Manual
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Robotic grippers based on granular jamming.
Thanks, Dave K
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Wisdom from Grandpa…
- Whether a man winds up with a nest egg, or a goose egg, depends a lot on the kind of chick he marries.
- Trouble in marriage often starts when a man gets so busy earnin’ his salt, that he forgets his sugar.
- Too many couples marry for better, or for worse, but not for good.
- When a man marries a woman, they become one; but the trouble starts when they try to decide which one.
- If a man has enough horse sense to treat his wife like a thoroughbred, she will never turn into an old nag.
- On anniversaries, the wise husband always forgets the past – but never the present.
- A foolish husband says to his wife, “Honey, you stick to the washin’, ironin’, cookin’, and scrubbin’. No wife of mine is gonna work.”
- The bonds of matrimony are a good investment, only when the interest is kept up.
- Many girls like to marry a military man – he can cook, sew, and make beds, and is in good health, and he’s already used to taking orders.
- Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age, and start bragging about it.
- The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.
- Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know “why” I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved.
- How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
- When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to your youth, remember about Algebra.
- I don’t know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.
- One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young.
- Ah, being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.
- Old age is when former classmates are so gray and wrinkled and bald, they don’t recognize you.
- If you don’t learn to laugh at trouble, you won’t have anything to laugh at when you are old.
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These are the sort of games we need: Perspective.
Scott Brooks huddles with OKC Thunder during final timeout showing them class.
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Scott Brooks huddles with OKC Thunder during final timeout showing them class.
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The north pole is the south pole. Earth’s north magnetic pole is actually the south pole of its magnetic field — a compass needle points “north” because opposites attract.
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"Inspiring hope in a cynical world might be the most radical thing you can possibly do."
We've become a society seeking instant gratification. We want simple answers, clear pathways to success… Life does not work that way. And instead of looking for answers all the time, my wish for you is that you get comfortable living the questions.
Novogratz's four pieces of advice, synthesized:
- Focus on being interested, not on being interesting – don't fall for status, seek opportunities that help you grow. (Cue in Paul Graham on prestige.)Focus more on listening and learning – the rest will come.
- Don't worry about what other people think of you. (Cue in Hugh MacLeod on ignoring everybody.)Take risks. Ask the "dumb" questions. Fail if you have to, and then get up and do it again.
- Avoid cynicism. Pessimists can tell you what's wrong with the world, but it's the optimists who set out to change it. (Cue in E. B. White on the duty to elevate rather than lower down.)Inspiring hope in a cynical world might be the most radical thing you can possibly do. Hope may not feed us, but it is hope that sustains us.
- Build on what came before. (Because we know creativity is combinatorial, everything is a remix, and giving credit matters.)Before you finished getting out of bed, brushing your teeth with clean tap water, putting on clothes, making breakfast, turning off the light, walking out the door, you are benefiting from the work of hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals from all around the world. They all deserve your spirit of generosity. So walk with humility and reverence for the human endeavor, and know it's your job to help take that endeavor forward.
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Juvenile Delinquency
A policeman brought four boys before a judge.
“They were causing an awful lot of commotion at the zoo, your Honor,” he said.
“Boys,” said the judge sternly, “I never like to hear reports of juvenile delinquency.
Now I want each of you to tell me your name and what you were doing wrong.”
“My name is George,” said the first boy, “and I threw peanuts into the elephant pen.”
“My name is Pete,” said the second boy, “and I threw peanuts into the elephant pen.”
“My name is Mike,” said the third boy, “and I threw peanuts into the elephant pen.”
“My name is Peanuts,” said the fourth boy.
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Wow, I just don’t know what to do with this money we won in the lottery, so why don’t you take it to the mall and see if you can find something to buy with it.
Hey, how about inviting your mother to spend the summer with us.
Oh, go ahead and eat that third piece of chocolate cream pie. If it’s one thing I hate it’s skinny women.
What luck, they had a special rental rate at the video store on romance movies.
You know, that Pam Anderson just doesn’t seem to have the brain power that I find so attractive in a woman.
What a break, I won a prize on the radio station…. tickets to either the super bowl or the opening of the New York Ballet. I got first choice so pack your bags for New York, we get to go to the ballet!!!
Who wants to play golf when I can get to see how good the lawn looks when it’s freshly mowed.
Shoot, there’s nothing on TV but football games. Let’s go furniture shopping.
Man I tell you, nothing feels better than getting all spruced up in a suit and tie.
I’m getting a little tired of steak on the grill. How about a nice quiche?
You know, I think I’d really prefer the four-door sedan to that impractical Corvette.
Golly I think we’re lost. Let me find a gas station to ask for directions.
My golf clubs are only 30 years old. Why don’t you use the money my parents gave us to get something nice for the house.
If the guys call and want me to go to that new sports club with them, tell them I’m busy. I really want to get the living room painted tonight.
Sports cars are just such stupid little toys for men who have never really grown up.
If you’re looking for me later, I’ll be over there looking at the home decorating magazines.
You know, we really don’t visit your relatives enough.
Why don’t you relax this weekend. I’ll take care of the cooking and housework.
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I read an interesting article the other day which listed seven symptoms a person will display if he or she is not getting enough sex.
Unlike food, water and sleep, sex isn't a biological necessity, but it's still pretty important. And if you haven't gotten any in a while, it can have some seriously negative effects on your mind and body.
Such as:
�Excessive nervousness
�Migraine headaches and long periods of unjustified anxiety
�Permanent stress
�Lack of appetite
�Insomnia
�Contradictory feelings about certain people
�And frequent sexual fantasies, especially at night
Now, I don't know who wrote this, but I have almost all of these symptoms constantly (except maybe for lack of appetite), and I get laid regularly. So either this guy is a complete quack, or I am some sort of insatiable, sexual freak.
"Dogs in Britain are being trained to sniff out diabetes when their owners' blood sugar drops. They're great at it, but only when diabetes is in your crotch." -Jimmy Fallon
Unlike food, water and sleep, sex isn't a biological necessity, but it's still pretty important. And if you haven't gotten any in a while, it can have some seriously negative effects on your mind and body.
Such as:
�Excessive nervousness
�Migraine headaches and long periods of unjustified anxiety
�Permanent stress
�Lack of appetite
�Insomnia
�Contradictory feelings about certain people
�And frequent sexual fantasies, especially at night
Now, I don't know who wrote this, but I have almost all of these symptoms constantly (except maybe for lack of appetite), and I get laid regularly. So either this guy is a complete quack, or I am some sort of insatiable, sexual freak.
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"Dogs in Britain are being trained to sniff out diabetes when their owners' blood sugar drops. They're great at it, but only when diabetes is in your crotch." -Jimmy Fallon
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They appear throughout the Middle East: Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan have these antique Persian designs dotted around their towns and cities. They are windcatchers, known in the area as Bâdgir. Serving as ventilation systems they have given the people of the Middle East air conditioning for thousands of years. Yet despite their antediluvian origin, windcatchers may even provide a solution for some very modern architectural problems.
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Jun 24 - Bark collar testing.
Jun 24 - An unlikely friendship saves a life.
Jun 24 - The parkour guys are becoming more talented.
Jun 24 - An unlikely friendship saves a life.
Jun 24 - The parkour guys are becoming more talented.
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This is significant because it would indicate not just transatlantic contact with North America, but migration or mating in the preColumbian era.
Although most mtDNA lineages observed in contemporary Icelanders can be traced to neighboring populations in the British Isles and Scandinavia, one may have a more distant origin. This lineage belongs to haplogroup C1, one of a handful that was involved in the settlement of the Americas around 14,000 years ago. Contrary to an initial assumption that this lineage was a recent arrival, preliminary genealogical analyses revealed that the C1 lineage was present in the Icelandic mtDNA pool at least 300 years ago. This raised the intriguing possibility that the Icelandic C1 lineage could be traced to Viking voyages to the Americas that commenced in the 10th century...
If the Greenland and ancient European hypotheses are rejected, what we have is a woman who entered the Icelandic society from an extinct lineage of Native Americans, probably from the northeast (or perhaps her Greenland Norse mother was of this line). What the Norse would have termed Markland. It is tempting to point to the Norse settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. Perhaps the Europeans had enslaved a native woman, and taken her back to their homeland when they decamped? But more likely to me is the probability that the Norse brought back more than lumber from Markland, since their voyages spanned centuries.
Finally, does this explain Björk? I doubt it...
Although most mtDNA lineages observed in contemporary Icelanders can be traced to neighboring populations in the British Isles and Scandinavia, one may have a more distant origin. This lineage belongs to haplogroup C1, one of a handful that was involved in the settlement of the Americas around 14,000 years ago. Contrary to an initial assumption that this lineage was a recent arrival, preliminary genealogical analyses revealed that the C1 lineage was present in the Icelandic mtDNA pool at least 300 years ago. This raised the intriguing possibility that the Icelandic C1 lineage could be traced to Viking voyages to the Americas that commenced in the 10th century...
If the Greenland and ancient European hypotheses are rejected, what we have is a woman who entered the Icelandic society from an extinct lineage of Native Americans, probably from the northeast (or perhaps her Greenland Norse mother was of this line). What the Norse would have termed Markland. It is tempting to point to the Norse settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. Perhaps the Europeans had enslaved a native woman, and taken her back to their homeland when they decamped? But more likely to me is the probability that the Norse brought back more than lumber from Markland, since their voyages spanned centuries.
Finally, does this explain Björk? I doubt it...
Original publication in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in 2010, via Discover Magazine.
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Five surgeons are having drinks together at a surgical convention and making jokes...
The first, a Florida surgeon, says: "I like to see accountants on my operating table, because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered."
The second, a Michigan surgeon, responds: "Yeah, but you should try electricians. Everything inside of them is color coded."
The third, a California surgeon, says: "No, I really think librarians are the best; everything inside of them is in alphabetical order."
The fourth, an New York surgeon, chimes in: "You know, I like construction workers. Those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over."
But the fifth, from Washington D.C. shut them all up when he observed, "You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on. There's no guts, no heart, no balls, no brains, no spine, and the head and the ass are interchangeable."
The first, a Florida surgeon, says: "I like to see accountants on my operating table, because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered."
The second, a Michigan surgeon, responds: "Yeah, but you should try electricians. Everything inside of them is color coded."
The third, a California surgeon, says: "No, I really think librarians are the best; everything inside of them is in alphabetical order."
The fourth, an New York surgeon, chimes in: "You know, I like construction workers. Those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over."
But the fifth, from Washington D.C. shut them all up when he observed, "You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on. There's no guts, no heart, no balls, no brains, no spine, and the head and the ass are interchangeable."
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QUOTE: "Appetite, with an opinion of attaining, is called hope; the same, without such opinion, despair."
HINT: (1588-1679), English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy.
HINT: (1588-1679), English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy.
ANSWER: Thomas Hobbes.
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Australia’s oldest artwork found
Click on photo to enlarge
An archaeologist says he has found the oldest piece of rock art in Australia and one of the oldest in the world: an Aboriginal work created 28,000 years ago in an outback cave…
The archaeologist Bryce Barker, from the University of Southern Queensland, said he found the rock in June last year but had only recently had it dated at the radiocarbon laboratory of New Zealand’s University of Waikato.
He said the rock art had been made using charcoal, so radiocarbon dating could be used to determine its age; most rock art is made with mineral paint, so its age cannot accurately be measured…
The oldest known rock art is in Spain, where hand stencils and red discs made by blowing paint on to the wall in El Castillo cave are at least 40,800 years old, according to scientists using a technique known as uranium-thorium dating.
Sally May, an archeologist from the Australian National University who is not involved with Barker’s research, said his find was “incredibly significant”.
“I don’t think it will surprise anyone that rock art is that old in Australia because we know people have been here a lot longer than that, and there’s no reason to believe they weren’t producing art,” she said.
Barker said he had found evidence that the cave where he found the rock art had been occupied for 45,000 years.
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RANDOM TIDBITS
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev presented Caroline Kennedy with a puppy named Pushinka in 1960. Pushinka's mother was Strelka, one of two dogs who had successfully been launched into space and returned safely on Sputnik 5.
Calvin Coolidge's roster of pets included a donkey, a pygmy hippopotamus, a bear cub, an antelope, and a pair of lion cubs, most of which were gifts from foreign leaders and diplomats. But of all his four-legged friends, his very favorite was a raccoon named Rebecca.
When the Hoover family moved to the White House, Herbert's son Allan brought his pet alligators with them. The alligators slept in a bathtub at night but had free roam of the Executive Mansion during the day, which invited more than a few startled looks from visiting dignitaries.
Theodore Roosevelt's sons had a favorite pet: a calico Shetland pony named Algonquin. When young Archie Roosevelt was confined to his bed with the measles, his brother Quentin came up with the perfect plan to cheer him up. He quietly led Algonquin inside the White House, into the elevator, and up into Archie's second floor bedroom.
President William Howard Taft pampered his pet cow, Pauline. When she wasn't outside grazing on the front lawn, she sought shelter in the White House garage among the president's four automobiles. Pauline earned her keep, however - she provided fresh milk for the first family.
The most pampered presidential pet was Fala, the Scottish Terrier that was Franklin Roosevelt's constant companion. He traveled with Roosevelt by train, car, and plane. The president always personally fed Fala by hand, and the pooch slept in a chair at the foot of FDR's bed.
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Random Facts:
When examined at the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, MI, a 2,700-year-old Egyptian Mummy was found to still have red-painted fingernails.
In 1994, archaeologists in Zanjan, Iran, discovered a perfectly preserved body of a man who was buried in a salt quarry, 2,600 years prior.
When examined at the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, MI, a 2,700-year-old Egyptian Mummy was found to still have red-painted fingernails.
In 1994, archaeologists in Zanjan, Iran, discovered a perfectly preserved body of a man who was buried in a salt quarry, 2,600 years prior.
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Giving new meaning to the word "spearheaded"
As reported by the BBC: Medics at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami said the 3ft (90cm) projectile entered his brain over his right eye and went out the back of his head... He was shot with the projectile as he swam in a lake near his Miami area home on 8 June when his friend set off the trigger of a spear gun he was loading.Fortunately he was a teenager, and survived with little damage.
As reported by the BBC: Medics at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami said the 3ft (90cm) projectile entered his brain over his right eye and went out the back of his head... He was shot with the projectile as he swam in a lake near his Miami area home on 8 June when his friend set off the trigger of a spear gun he was loading.Fortunately he was a teenager, and survived with little damage.
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This Is One Amazing Garage Escape
What’s a bear to do when locked in a garage? That’s easy! Just climb to the highest point, then wait for the reinforcements to arrive. Via I Can Has Cheezburger
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Limbic Revision: How Love Rewires the Brain
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/06/25/limbic-revision/
On the capacity for transformation and its prerequisite of letting go.
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http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/Announcing-the-Winners-of-Our-9th-Annual-Photo-Contest-160287535.html?utm
Our editors pored over more than 67,000 photographs, each one a postcard from a unique time and place
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Archaeologists are finding signs of surprisingly sophisticated behavior in the ancient fossil record
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Togetherness
What location on this line segment has the smallest sum of distances to the labeled points?
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If God makes decisions, then he has a future.
But if he’s omniscient, then he already knows that future.
Can he then have free will?
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"ROFL" evolves
We all know that language evolves, but sometimes the speed with which it does so is startling. ROFL originally was an acronym for "rolling on the floor laughing," but it has already taken on new meanings, as explained by the DCblog:
“To rofl now means sort of, to waste time in a pleasant way either alone or in a group. So someone sitting around looking at YouTube videos is rofling. So is someone throwing a football around with their 3-year-old. It's like ‘hanging out’ but with more positive and silly connotations, as if wasting time were a desirable thing.
You can also use to rofl to mean to fudge, or to make it up as you go. As in, ‘What's the plan on Friday?’ ‘We'll rofl it.’
On top of that, a few people also seem to be using it to mean ‘beaten badly in a competition or fight.’ As in, ‘We tried fighting the orcs in our game of Dungeons and Dragons this weekend, but we got rofled.’ ...
There always was a figurative sense to rofl: no one ever actually rolled on the floor. So it's not surprising to see it extending in meaning in various directions.
Now you know. And you won't be befuddled the next time you hear it used in a new way.
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“Even if the propeller had the power of propelling a vessel, it would be found altogether useless in practice, because the power being applied in the stern it would be absolutely impossible to make the vessel steer.” — Sir William Symonds, Surveyor of the Royal Navy, 1837
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My Motorcycle Gang
Polar Play
Here’s something that might make you feel cooler! Nature photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen observed and recorded polar bears in their natural habitat in northern Manitoba. Watch these adorable cubs wrestle with each other in the snow! -via the Presurfer
The end of this is too cute!
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$4.2 Million Home Is a Tear-Down
People buy houses and tear them down all the time, but most people don't spend millions of dollars on them. Not Clark and Sharon Winslow of Belvedere, Marin County, California. They just bought their neighbor's house for $4.2 million and tore it down so they could have a better view.
Alan Farnham of ABC News has the story: Link
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London in 20 Gigapixels Cool zoomable image
The Origin of the Boy Scouts Forged in the heat of battle
Cow attacks reflection in window… Ends up in woman’s kitchen
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Trivia Tidbits:
Portland, Oregon, got its name in a coin toss…tails, and it would have been Boston, Oregon.
Actress Minnie Driver’s real first name is Amelia.
Jay Leno and David Letterman were both writers for the TV show Good Times.
A flamingo gets its pink color from the algae and shrimp it eats.
Largest joint in the human body: the knee.
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A Visit to the Murphy Ranch
The Murphy Ranch in Southern California has an obscure history of being a compound for Nazi sympathizers from 1930 to 1942. Recently the Los Angeles chapter of the Obscura Society took a hike to the abandoned buildings at the ranch in Rustic Valley.
Located in the Santa Monica Hills and built in the 1930s, the compound once suspected of harboring Nazi sympathizers in WWII has stood more or less abandoned since the 1940s. It is now covered in graffiti and falling down around the edges, and there are rumors that it will soon be torn down once and for all.We approached the remains of Murphy Ranch from the back, climbing down over 500 stairs to the valley floor to find the remains of the power station, shed and machine shop, then the collapsing and bee infested barn, before the winding ascent past a massive water tank to the front gate. Exploring does little to shed light on the mystery of the place, unfortunately, but in a city where so many people are disconnected from the local history it’s something amazingly weird to see, and always a conversation starter, even in jaded LA.
Read more about it, and see lot of pictures at the Atlas Obscura Blog. Link
The Obscura Society holds expeditions like this all the time. You can join a chapter near you, in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City. Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, or Chicago.
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City Life Before Air Conditioning
Is it hot enough for ya? Don’t you hate hearing that? Imagine a world in which no one, except maybe the movie theater, had air conditioning. In 1998, playwright Arthur Miller wrote a nostalgic piece about the New York City summers of his youth in the 1920s, during which people had to use their creative juices to beat the heat.
We kids would jump onto the back steps of the slow-moving, horse-drawn ice wagons and steal a chip or two; the ice smelled vaguely of manure but cooled palm and tongue.
People on West 110th Street, where I lived, were a little too bourgeois to sit out on their fire escapes, but around the corner on 111th and farther uptown mattresses were put out as night fell, and whole families lay on those iron balconies in their underwear.
Reading the essay might make you feel cooler, or at least appreciate the modern convenience of air conditioning. Link -via Metafilter
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Weaving Your Way Into Space
<img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-69146" title="woven-space-invaders-10" src="http://uploads.neatorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/woven-space-invaders-10-500x545.jpg"; alt="" width="500" height="545" />
<img src="http://uploads.neatorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/strawberries-500x333.jpg"; alt="" title="strawberries" width="500" height="333" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-69696" />
<img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-69146" title="woven-space-invaders-10" src="http://uploads.neatorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/woven-space-invaders-10-500x545.jpg"; alt="" width="500" height="545" />
Mini-eco’s Kate is quite the paper knitter. After all, not everyone could make an adorable invader this wonderfully. Of course, if you want to do the same, you can learn how on her website. As for potential uses for these cute little works, she suggests using them as gift toppers in place of bows -something I’m sure any geek would appreciate. Link Via Geek Crafts
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Multiplication is mie vexation,
And Division is quite as bad,
The Golden Rule is mie stumbling stule,
And Practice drives me mad.
And Division is quite as bad,
The Golden Rule is mie stumbling stule,
And Practice drives me mad.
So wrote an anonymous English student in 1570.
Matters had not progressed far in 1809, when 6-year-old Marjorie Fleming wrote in her diary: “I am now going to tell you about the horible and wretched plaege my multiplication gives me you cant concieve it — the most Devilish thing is 8 times 8 & 7 times 7 it is what nature itselfe cant endure.”
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One hundred guitar riffs arranged in chronological order. An impressive musical accomplishment, but also a test of your "musical knowledge age." Those of you who are younger will go much further (but may miss some of the early ones).
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Prototype floating wind turbine affirms offshore wind potential
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Tortoise Sex
What the fuck! Is that a penis? And why is it way over there?
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Why is America’s favorite game show consolation prize called “Turtle Wax”?
Benjamin Hirsch started mixing up batches of his special formula liquid car polish in his Chicago bathtub in 1945. He called his product Plastone, and as the company’s only employee he was the sole member of the sales force. His tried and true method of selling Plastone was going to a large venue – like the parking lot of Wrigley Field – and shining the fenders of parked cars. When the owners returned to their vehicles, they were usually so impressed with the beautiful sheen that they purchased Hirsch’s product.
One day in the early 1950s, Hirsch was headed home after a sales call in Wisconsin. He stopped to rest at a tranquil place called Turtle Creek. According to company lore, it occurred to him that Plastone gave a car a shine that was as reflective as the water of Turtle Creek. He further reasoned that his polish gave cars a wax coating as tough as a turtle shell, and promptly renamed his product Turtle Wax.
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Freaky but fascinating these vintage photographs reveal circus sideshow acts in all their glory. Photographer Charles Eisenmann followed performers in the mid-1800s in New York City and offered to shoot their portraits so they could tout for business. The freak show was popular with the lower classes, causing 'dime museums' to spring up in some of the city's most impoverished neighborhoods.
As science improved and led to many of the 'freaks' physical differences being explained as genetic mutation or disease, the sideshow fell into decline as the individuals were treated with compassion and sympathy instead of fear and disgust.
As science improved and led to many of the 'freaks' physical differences being explained as genetic mutation or disease, the sideshow fell into decline as the individuals were treated with compassion and sympathy instead of fear and disgust.
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Patron: Waiter!
Waiter: Hi, my name is Bill, and I’ll be your Support. What seems to be the problem?
Patron: There’s a fly in my soup!
Waiter: Try again, maybe the fly won’t be there this time.
Patron: No, it’s still there.
Waiter: Maybe it’s the way you’re using the soup. Try eating it with a fork instead.
Patron: Even when I use the fork, the fly is still there.
Waiter: Maybe the soup is incompatible with the bowl. What kind of bowl are you using?
Patron: A SOUP bowl!
Waiter: Hmmm, that should work. Maybe it’s a configuration problem. How was the bowl set up?
Patron: You brought it to me on a saucer. What has that to do with the fly in my soup?!
Waiter: Can you remember everything you did before you noticed the fly in your soup?
Patron: I sat down and ordered the Soup of the Day!
Waiter: Have you considered upgrading to the latest Soup of the Day?
Patron: You have more than one Soup of the Day each day??
Waiter: Yes, the Soup of the Day is changed every hour.
Patron: Well, what is the Soup of the Day now?
Waiter: The current Soup of the Day is tomato.
Patron: Fine. Bring me the tomato soup, and the check. I’m running late now.
[waiter leaves and returns with another bowl of soup and the check]
Waiter: Here you are, Sir. The soup and your check.
Patron: This is potato soup.
Waiter: Yes, the tomato soup wasn’t ready yet.
Patron: Well, I’m so hungry now, I’ll eat anything.
[waiter leaves.]
Patron: Waiter! There’s a gnat in my soup!
The check:
Soup of the Day . . . . . . . $5.00
Upgrade to newer Soup of the Day. . $2.50
Access to support . . . . . . $1.00
Soup of the Day . . . . . . . $5.00
Upgrade to newer Soup of the Day. . $2.50
Access to support . . . . . . $1.00
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How a Mesopotamian mix-up led to 8,000 years of cold suds. Ancient civilizations in the Middle East made a bread out of malted barley. When that bread got mixed with water, met some airborne yeast and was left to sit in the dark, the bakers fell over when they tried to drink it. That’s how the legend goes anyway. Beer and other fermented drinks have been behind our transition from hunter-gatherers to agriculture, many advances in early chemistry and even how we organized early American towns. Since all graduate student paths lead to beer, it’s high time we scientists get to know our best friend’s origins. (via Inside Science)
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Bad News: You Cut Your Finger.
Good News: That Might Have Been Your First Step Toward Saving A Life.This kit is one of the mos
Good News: That Might Have Been Your First Step Toward Saving A Life.This kit is one of the mos
t brilliant ideas I’ve seen in a while
. The simplicity is remarkable and makes it shockingly easy to find out if you’re a potential hero to someone in need.
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Skateboarding Time!
Yes, you’ve almost certainly already seen a video of a skateboarding dog, but these amateurs are utterly adorable as they try to figure out the proper method. Via I Has A Hot Dog
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31 Cool and Easy DIY Projects
Looking for an easy project to try out over the weekend? Well, this list is certain to offer something to your liking. Personally, I want to try painting my high heel soles to make them look cooler. Link
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Snail Takes a Shower
This giant African land snail is taking a relaxing shower after a long commute home from work. You think it’s big? Some members of this species grow up to ten inches long. -via Blame It on the Voices
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This is the kind of thing you would expect to see on a Saturday morning cartoon, not on the streets of a major Texas metropolitan center. Although we are talking Texas so I guess anything goes.
Investigators say a 45-year-old woman was hit by a car last Sunday night while she was carrying her grandson across an intersection in San Antonio. Police said the 2-year-old being carried by the woman flew out of her arms, over the hood of the car and rolled into the vehicle's sunroof, landing inside the vehicle without serious injury.
The woman was thrown to the ground by the impact and the young boy was thrown toward the windshield of the car, which he rolled up and before landing inside the sunroof, police said. The toddler suffered only minor injuries and police said his grandmother was taken to University Hospital in critical condition but was expected to make a full recovery.
Police said the incident was being treated as an accident and the driver has not been charged with a violation.
Investigators say a 45-year-old woman was hit by a car last Sunday night while she was carrying her grandson across an intersection in San Antonio. Police said the 2-year-old being carried by the woman flew out of her arms, over the hood of the car and rolled into the vehicle's sunroof, landing inside the vehicle without serious injury.
The woman was thrown to the ground by the impact and the young boy was thrown toward the windshield of the car, which he rolled up and before landing inside the sunroof, police said. The toddler suffered only minor injuries and police said his grandmother was taken to University Hospital in critical condition but was expected to make a full recovery.
Police said the incident was being treated as an accident and the driver has not been charged with a violation.
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Animated Short – FABLE
This beautiful and artsy animated short is called Fable, and it was created by artist and animation teacher Daniel Sousa. Daniel brings the strange to the natural world, with wondrous results. Fable is full of suspenseful moments, dark realism and a painterly look that makes it oh so nice to watch. –via Cartoon Brew
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How to Make Fourth of July Strawberries
<img src="http://uploads.neatorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/strawberries-500x333.jpg"; alt="" title="strawberries" width="500" height="333" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-69696" />
To celebrate America’s Independence Day, try making these red, white and blue strawberries. The Five Sisters Café made them out of strawberries, white chocolate and blue sugar.
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Fun at the Beach
Whenever you have access to an excavating machine, you have an automatic homemade thrill ride. The consensus seems to be that these are Romanian tourists at the Black Sea, in a video uploaded from Poland. But what is that thing they are riding on? -via The Daily What
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"When I find the man who wears the same gloves as I, looks like me, has the same DNA as I, and has a history of beating his former wife Nicole, then I will have found the real killer." - O.J. Simpson
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Video: Were you a fan of 'Dallas'? Remember giant cellphones? Did you love leg warmers? Rock a mullet? Discover more clues that the '80s were your decade.
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They say a man's home is his castle -- in some cases literally. Check out the world's best-protected homes.
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I’ve Heard of Swimming Pool Bars, But This Is Just Crazy
Sure, swimming pool bars are fun, but your shoulders are bound to get burned as the rest of you starts to prune. If you prefer a more even pruning, then maybe you’d prefer this imaginary pool invented for this ad promote waterproof watches. Of course, the real reason you’d never want to swim in an underwater bar is because you know at least a few patrons would pee in the water and that’s really not a good thing in a place where you happen to be drinking. Via Geekologie
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Bill Murray’s Sally League Hall Of Fame Acceptance Speech
Bill Murray was recently inducted into baseball’s South Atlantic League Hall of Fame, and his speech confirms that the League clearly chose the best man for the award.
Bill’s speech is heartwarming, funny and reveals the deep love he’s had since childhood for America’s national pastime, and how he came to be co-owner of the Charleston RiverDogs.
They should reserve an award from each and every ceremony ever invented for Bill Murray, because he’s still one of the funniest people on the planet, and one heck of a cool guy! –via TDW
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Creepy Test Footage From Alien
This is test footage from the classic scifi film Alien which shows Bolaji Badejo, the unknown star who played the xenomorph, getting a feel for how the creature should move.
The video still manages to be quite creepy, which I attribute to the fact that Bolaji put a lot of work into playing the role, going so far as to consult with H.R. Giger to make sure he moved properly while in costume.
Man, I miss the good old days of actors wearing badass latex suits, although I’m sure the actors don’t miss the constant battle with heat exhaustion!–via i09
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The Little Library Project
<img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-69141" title="DSCN0018" src="http://uploads.neatorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/DSCN0018-500x378.jpg"; alt="" width="500" height="378" />
"A man wearing an Obama mask robbed a bank. Either that or Obama has an exciting new plan to reduce the deficit." -Conan O'Brien
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"Instead of sending in a written resume, a man in California recently got a job because of a YouTube video he made. As opposed to most people, who lose their job because of a YouTube video they made." -Jimmy Fallon
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Before my son could start going on job interviews, he needed to dress the part. That, he decided, required a $500 suit.
"What!?" I answered, gagging at the price tag. "I've bought cars for $500!"
"That's why I want the $500 suit," he said. "So I don't have to drive $500 cars."
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When my husband pointed out my tendency to retell the same stories over and over, I reminded him that he was just as guilty.
"Allow me to clarify," he said in response. "I review. You repeat."
Excerpts from a review in Roger Ebert's Journal at the Chicago Sun-Times:
So what truly happens inside of a black hole? We may know the truth soon enough thanks to recently launched voyage to the center of a black hole.
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<img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-69141" title="DSCN0018" src="http://uploads.neatorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/DSCN0018-500x378.jpg"; alt="" width="500" height="378" />
Would you install a tiny library outside of your house? Sure someone might just take the books without putting out new ones, but if you’ve already read them and weren’t going to do anything with them, does that really matter? If you’re interested in putting out your own library then you too can join the Little Free Library Project, which aims to create more libraries than even Andrew Carnegie funded -that’s a whopping 2,510. It’s a big goal, but with a project this cool, it’s certainly possible. So far they have over 200 libraries installed in over 20 countries. In fact, I happened to see one myself when I went out to the surfing dog contest.
If you haven’t seen any yourself, maybe it’s a good time to install one in your neighborhood.
Link Via Laughing Squid
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Let’s all agree to start using the Greek pronounciation from now on, Mkay?
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"Apparently the recession ended last June. So for those of you that are still broke and without a job, it's all in your head." -Jay Leno
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Boundary, n. In political geography, an imaginary line between two nations, separating the imaginary rights of one from the imaginary rights of another. -- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
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"A man wearing an Obama mask robbed a bank. Either that or Obama has an exciting new plan to reduce the deficit." -Conan O'Brien
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"Instead of sending in a written resume, a man in California recently got a job because of a YouTube video he made. As opposed to most people, who lose their job because of a YouTube video they made." -Jimmy Fallon
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Before my son could start going on job interviews, he needed to dress the part. That, he decided, required a $500 suit.
"What!?" I answered, gagging at the price tag. "I've bought cars for $500!"
"That's why I want the $500 suit," he said. "So I don't have to drive $500 cars."
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When my husband pointed out my tendency to retell the same stories over and over, I reminded him that he was just as guilty.
"Allow me to clarify," he said in response. "I review. You repeat."
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Quvenzhané, star of "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Excerpts from a review in Roger Ebert's Journal at the Chicago Sun-Times:
If there is one 2012 movie that seems to have a lock on a best picture nomination, it is "Beasts of the Southern Wild." And if there is a single reason its early viewers have loved it so much, it is an 8-year-old girl named Quvenzhané Wallis, who was six when she filmed it. Here is a case of a great role finding the perfect actress to play it.Ebert's video interview with the young lady is at his column (8 minutes), where I also found the trailer for the movie -
"My computer has trouble pronouncing names," I told Quvenzhané not long ago in my living room.
"That's okay," she said. We worked together on a phonetic spelling: kwa van je nay. A beautiful name for this composed young woman, who deserves her own Oscar nomination, and whose nickname is Nazie.
The film is the feature debut of Benh Zeitlin, whose first short subject was made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It's set in The Bathtub, an isolated island area offshore from New Orleans, where the poorest of the poor scramble to survive. Shanties perch on stilts in the delta marshlands. A boat is made from the bed of a pickup truck. The world of prosperity could be on a distant planet. We focus on a girl named Hushpuppy, whose mother has disappeared, whose father is loving but sometimes harsh, and whose determination is indomitable. The feeling is post-apocalyptic, and there are rumors of another storm on the way, one that will flood the islands and their people.
"Beasts" opens on July 6, but is already famous in film circles. At Sundance 2012, it won the Grand Jury Prize. At Cannes, it won the Camera d'Or as best first film. At both, the small girl from Louisiana won hearts with her spunky, straightforward manner in the face of calamity.
- and this comment: "Anybody calls for Quvenzhané, I know they're calling me, cause that's one of a kind."
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Unusual Creatures, In Music - “Jesus Christ Lizard”
The common basilisk, also known as the “Jesus Christ Lizard”, has tiny fringes on its feet that it spreads out when in danger. Using this added surface area to its advantage, it can run across the surface of water at distances of over 30 feet! Here’s that, in a video.
Michael Hearst is a composer. He can not run across water (that I know of). But he has penned an album dedicated to unusual creatures like the “Jesus Christ Lizard”, appropriately named Unusual Creatures. The music is inspired by the appearance and behavior of such oddities as the blue footed booby, the honey badger, and the theremin-heavy chinese giant salamander.
You can learn more about these Earthly animal oddities and listen to the rest of the tracks at his website (there’s also a book!) (by oneringzero)
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I know that the molecules in my body are traceable to phenomena in the cosmos. That makes me want to grab people on the street and say: ‘Have you HEARD THIS?’”
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3D Alphabet
A lawyer was briefing his client, who was about to testify in his own defense.
"You must swear to tell the complete truth. Do you understand?"
The client replied that he did.
Then lawyer then asked, "Do you know what will happen if you don't tell the truth?"
The client looked back and said, "I imagine that our side will win."
Patient: My stomach is getting awfully big, doctor.
Doctor: You should diet.
Patient: Really? What color?
Q: What time is it when a elephant sits on a fence?
A: Time to get a new fence!
Q: What do you find in a clean nose?
A: Fingerprints!
Letters of the alphabets are so ... two dimensional! Well, no more - thanks to Ji Lee of Please Enjoy (previously on Neatorama), who rotated letters around their central axis to give us The 3-D Alphabet: Link- via It's Okay To Be Smart
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To Tell the Truth --*
A lawyer was briefing his client, who was about to testify in his own defense.
"You must swear to tell the complete truth. Do you understand?"
The client replied that he did.
Then lawyer then asked, "Do you know what will happen if you don't tell the truth?"
The client looked back and said, "I imagine that our side will win."
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It's Getting Big, Doc --*
Patient: My stomach is getting awfully big, doctor.
Doctor: You should diet.
Patient: Really? What color?
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Q and A Quickies --*
Q: What time is it when a elephant sits on a fence?
A: Time to get a new fence!
Q: What do you find in a clean nose?
A: Fingerprints!
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naupathia
n. seasickness
n. seasickness
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Alan Mathison Turing (1912 - 1954) was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of 'algorithm' and 'computation' with the Turing machine, which played a significant role in the creation of the modern computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. Today's Google doodle features a Turin machine, a device used to simulate the logic of a computer algorithm and is helpful in explaining the functioning of a CPU. The doodle is interactive and requires users to break a set of six codes and each successful code break adds colour to a letter of the greyed out Google logo.
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There is a language warning here, but this is absolutely the best parenting advice in the age of the internet that I have ever read. Check it out, heed it, and pass it along. It is essential and true.
The cost of progress? Curiosity killed the inventor – here’s list of inventors killed by their own inventions.
So what truly happens inside of a black hole? We may know the truth soon enough thanks to recently launched voyage to the center of a black hole.
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For many, summer camp means a week sleeping in a cabin that doubles as a sweat lodge, spider-infested communal showers, and swimming in a scummy pond. But if you have lots and lots of money, you have options.
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There's a pizza place near where I live that sells only slices.
In the back you can see a guy tossing a triangle in the air.
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This is what happens if a box of garbage falls into a volcano lake.
Kodi the Kitten: How to walk your human.
Mining minerals from seawater.
Kodi the Kitten: How to walk your human.
Mining minerals from seawater.
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1. It doesn’t take minutes to build the picture when you change TV channels.
2. When was the last time you tuned in to “Friends” and got a “Not Found 404″ message?
3. There are fewer grating color schemes on TV–even on MTV.
4. The family never argues over which Web site to visit this evening.
5. A remote control has fewer buttons than a keyboard.
6. Even the worst TV shows never excuse themselves with an “Under Construction” sign.
7. “CSI” never slows down when a lot of people tune in.
8. You just can’t find those cool infomercials on the Web.
9. Set-top boxes don’t beep and whine when you hook up to cable.
10. You can’t surf the Web from a couch with a soda in one hand and chips in the other.
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2 Foot Hot Dog at the Ballpark
It’s a 2-foot-long hot dog loaded with chili, nacho cheese, onions and jalapeños, available for a limited time at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The one pounder cost $26.
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Ones in a Million
Of the integers from 1 to 1,000,000, which are more numerous: the numbers that contain a 1 or those that don’t?
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How to clean a 40-foot spectrograph, from R.W. Wood’s Researches in Physical Optics, 1913: The long tube was made by nailing eight-inch boards together, and was painted black on the inside. Some trouble was given by spiders, which built their webs at intervals along the tube, a difficulty which I surmounted by sending our pussy-cat through it, subsequently destroying the spiders with poisonous fumes.
This was the least of Wood’s exploits. Walter Bruno Gratzer, in Eurekas and Euphorias, writes that the physicist “would alarm the citizens of Baltimore by spitting into puddles on wet days, while surreptitiously dropping in a lump of metallic sodium, which would explode in a jet of yellow flame.”
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Ride A Bike, Shorten Your Prison Sentence
Inmates at the Santa Rita do Sapucai prison in Brazil are being offered a deal too good to pass up-put in 16 hours on a bicycle and get a day knocked off your sentence.
It’s an interesting way to encourage prisoners to cooperate and literally work towards their freedom, and the stationary bikes are being used to charge batteries which are then taken into the city and used to power streetlights. Sounds like a great way to stay in shape, give back to society and whittle your sentence down while biking. Link
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Metaphorically speaking, to open a can of worms is to examine or attempt to solve some problem, only to inadvertently complicate it and create even more trouble. Literally speaking, opening a can of worms, as most fishermen can attest, can also mean more trouble than you bargained for. No surprise, then, that the phrase was inspired by real live creepy crawlies.
While the exact origin and first usage isn’t clear, various dictionaries and historians of slang and idioms agree that the phrase was born in the U.S. in the 1950s or earlier and references an actual conveyance for Oligochaetes. In the days before plastic and styrofoam containers were ubiquitous, bait shops often sold earthworms and other live bait to fishermen in metal cans with handles and lids.
The great thing about live bait is that it’s alive, so it wriggles on the hook and tempts fish with its movement. The bad thing about live bait is also that it’s alive, and leaving the lid of the container loose or off is a great way to lose your bait. Given the opportunity to exit, worms will often either escape or just generally make it difficult to get them all back in the can and replace the lid. Once you’ve opened a can of them, you’ve got a problem on your hands.
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How ammonites got their name
The name ammonite, from which the scientific term is derived, was inspired by the spiral shape of their fossilized shells, which somewhat resemble tightly coiled rams' horns. Pliny the Elder... called fossils of these animals ammonis cornua ("horns of Ammon") because the Egyptian god Ammon (Amun) was typically depicted wearing ram's horns. Photo credit R. Weller/Cochise College.
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The Good News About Growing Old
< img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-69277" title="Wise-Up-631" src="http://uploads.neatorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Wise-Up-631-150x200.jpg"; alt="" width="150" height="200" />You know what they say -don’t complain about getting old because it beats NOT getting old! But there are some advantages. While some mental capabilities diminish, others get better. And the wisdom of age comes in handy in social situations. For a 2010 study, researchers at the University of Michigan presented “Dear Abby” letters to 200 people and asked what advice they would give. Subjects in their 60s were better than younger ones at imagining different points of view, thinking of multiple resolutions and suggesting compromises. It turns out that managing emotions is a skill in itself, one that takes many of us decades to master.And what’s even better, people over 50 tend to be happier. Read a roundup of recent research on aging at Smithsonian. Link
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Dachshund Encounters Crab
Madeline the puppy sees a ghost crab and isn’t sure what it is. The crab is sure he wants to escape to the safety of the ocean. -via Arbroath
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Heat Wave Fuels Wildfires in the Rockies
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Does your child enjoy using the internet, but you're worried about some sites not having the right content for them? TinyTube compiles the best videos from around the internet and brings it to you on one site, making it easy and safe for your child to laugh, learn and play throughout their time spent on the internet.
Ranging from movie trailers to educational videos and funny videos, TinyTube has everything your child needs on one site to be entertained for as long as you'd like. Improve math and reading skills, watch funny animals or simply go through the many kids' movie trailers to come up with that family movie night selection in the future.
Ranging from movie trailers to educational videos and funny videos, TinyTube has everything your child needs on one site to be entertained for as long as you'd like. Improve math and reading skills, watch funny animals or simply go through the many kids' movie trailers to come up with that family movie night selection in the future.
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- Reason to smile: Every 7 minutes of every day, someone in an aerobics class pulls a hamstring.
- One of life’s mysteries is how a 2 pound box of candy can make a woman gain 5 lbs.
- The best way to forget all your troubles is to wear tight shoes.
- The nice part about living in a small town is that when you don’t know what you’re doing, someone else does.
- The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends.
- I gave up jogging for my health when my thighs kept rubbing together and setting my pantyhose on fire.
- Amazing! You hang something in your closet for awhile and it shrinks two sizes!
- Skinny people irritate me! Especially when they say things like, “You know, sometimes I just forget to eat.” Now I’ve forgotten my address, my mother’s maiden name, and my keys. But I’ve never forgotten to eat. You have to be a special kind of stupid to forget to eat.
- A friend of mine confused her Valium with her birth control pills. She had 14 kids, but she doesn’t really care.
- The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing … and then they marry him!
- I read this article that said the typical symptoms of stress are: eating too much, impulse buying, and driving too fast. Are they kidding? That is my idea of a perfect day.
- I know what Victoria’s Secret is. The secret is that nobody older than 30 can fit into their stuff.
- If men can run the world, why can’t they stop wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a noose around your neck?
Garbage Disposal in a Volcano
Campers in Ethopia threw a bag of garbage into a volcanic crater to see what would happen. The bag broke through the thin crust covering a pool of magma and allowed the lava to spew out. And, of course, the garbage was incinerated. No word on whether they were fined for littering. -via reddit
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Roman Artifacts Found in Fifth Century A.D. Japanese Tomb
Even with the limited transportation technologies of the time, the passage of trade over the world carried glass beads from the Roman Empire to the Fifth Century A.D. Utsukushi burial mound in Nagaoka, Japan:
It found that the light yellow beads were made with natron, a chemical used to melt glass by craftsmen in the empire, which succeeded the Roman Republic in 27 BC and was ultimately ended by the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.The beads, which have a hole through the middle, were made with a multilayering technique — a relatively sophisticated method in which craftsmen piled up layers of glass, often sandwiching gold leaf in between.
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The Legend of King Arthur
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It was election time and a politician decided to go out to the local reservation and try to get the Native American vote. They were all assembled in the Council Hall to hear the speech. The politician had worked up to his finale, and the crowd was getting more and more excited. “I promise better education opportunities for Native Americans!”
The crowd went wild, shouting “Hoya! Hoya!”
The politician was a bit puzzled by the native word, but was encouraged by their enthusiasm. “I promise gambling reforms to allow a Casino on the Reservation!”
“Hoya! Hoya!” cried the crowd, stomping their feet.
“I promise more social reforms and job opportunities for Native Americans!”
The crowd reached a frenzied pitch shouting, “Hoya! Hoya! Hoya!”
After the speech, the Politician was touring the reservation, and saw a tremendous herd of cattle. Since he was raised on a ranch, and knew a bit about cattle, he asked the Chief if he could get closer to take a look at the cattle.
“Sure,” the Chief said, “but be careful not to step in the hoya.”
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There are countless Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts backpacking through forests in 155 countries around the world. But while those iconic khaki uniforms are associated with childhood adventure, scouting was actually forged in the heat of battle by a desperate British military officer
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The Busy Trap
Hello, Neatoramanauts! Howyadoin'? If you answer "busy" or better yet, "craaazy busy" then welcome to modern life. You're not alone. Most of Americans in the 21st century live in the perpetual state of "busy"-ness.
And that, argues, Tim Kreider, author of We Learn Nothing
, is actually trap.
, is actually trap.
I know, I know. You're busy, but trust me. Take a moment from your busy schedule and read the Busy Trap:
It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the stock response is a kind of congratulation: “That’s a good problem to have,” or “Better than the opposite.”
Notice it isn’t generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the I.C.U. or commuting by bus to three minimum-wage jobs who tell you how busy they are; what those people are is not busy but tired. Exhausted. Dead on their feet. It’s almost always people whose lamented busyness is purely self-imposed: work and obligations they’ve taken on voluntarily, classes and activities they’ve “encouraged” their kids to participate in. They’re busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they’re addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence.
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About 100 sharks line 400m of the shoreline of Warroora Station in Australia to feed off a devoured whale. Some were tiger sharks, thresher sharks and others were reef sharks. Horrific yet intriguing.
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In 1975, radio personality Jim Everhart published a three-volume Illustrated Texas Dictionary of the English Language:
ARN: A silver-white metallic element. “Mah muscle is as strong as arn.”
TOAD: The past tense of tell. “Ah toad you never to do that.”
PRAYED: A large public procession, usually including a marching band. “That was some prayed they had downtown.”
TOAD: The past tense of tell. “Ah toad you never to do that.”
PRAYED: A large public procession, usually including a marching band. “That was some prayed they had downtown.”
Four years later, Chase Untermeyer contributed a “Texlexicon” of words uttered by his colleagues in the state legislature:
HARD: Employed, as “I hard him to do the job.” Also a man’s name, as “Mah wife’s a cousin of Hard Hughes.”
RULE: Nonurban, as “He comes from the rule area.”
FORCED: A large group of trees, as “Lemme showya mah pine forced.”
BAR SHUN: The termination of pregnancy, as “Bar shun is murder!”
WHORED: Difficult, as “That was a whored one.”
WON’T: To desire, as “Ah won’t to seeya tonight.”
LOWERED BARN: An English poet (1788-1824).
RULE: Nonurban, as “He comes from the rule area.”
FORCED: A large group of trees, as “Lemme showya mah pine forced.”
BAR SHUN: The termination of pregnancy, as “Bar shun is murder!”
WHORED: Difficult, as “That was a whored one.”
WON’T: To desire, as “Ah won’t to seeya tonight.”
LOWERED BARN: An English poet (1788-1824).
“The amazing thing about this is that I never had one single Texan tell me he resented it,” Everhart told the New York Times. “They have accepted it more enthusiastically than anybody else. I think they’re kind of proud of it.”
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Researchers Terry Hunt of the University of Hawaii and Carl Lipo of California State University Long Beach test a new theory that suggests how ancient Easter Islanders may have used ropes to 'walk' the moai to their platforms.
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As I left a meeting at a local hotel, I desperately gave myself a personal TSA pat down. I was looking for my car keys. They were not in my pockets.
A quick search in the meeting room revealed nothing. Suddenly I realized I must have left them in the car. Frantically, I headed for the parking lot.
My wife has scolded me many times for leaving the keys in the ignition but my theory is the ignition is the best place not to lose them. Her theory is that the car will be stolen. As I burst through the door, I came to a terrifying conclusion.
Her theory was right. The parking lot was empty.
I immediately called the police. I gave them my location, confessed that I had left my keys in the car, and that it had been stolen.
Then I made the most difficult call of all, (after waiting some time to compose myself). “Honey,” I stammered; I always call her “honey” in times like these. “I left my keys in the car, and it has been stolen.”
There was a period of silence. I thought the call had been dropped, but then I heard her voice. “Idiot,” she barked, “I dropped you off!”
Now it was my time to be silent. Embarrassed, I said, “Well, come and get me.”
She retorted, “I will, as soon as I convince this policeman I have not stolen your car.”
Yep it’s the golden years.
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Today's lesson is about Japan...
Why Japan? Because they have a
"National Penis Day" -- (I kid you not!!!)
I only forwarded this to you because
some prick sent it to me!Thanks, Mike
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Ursa ~
ursarodinia@aol.com
ursarodinia@aol.com
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