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In a study at Tokyo University, 5-year-old chimpanzees displayed better short-term memory than college students!
That challenges the belief of many people, including many scientists, that “humans are superior to chimpanzees in all cognitive functions,” said researcher Tetsuro Matsuzawa of Kyoto University.
“No one can imagine that chimpanzees – young chimpanzees at the age of 5 – have a better performance in a memory task than humans,” he said in a statement.
Matsuzawa, a pioneer in studying the mental abilities of chimps, said even he was surprised. He and colleague Sana Inoue report the results in Tuesday’s issue of the journal Current Biology.
Researchers believe that relative youth helped the chimpanzees, so the next step is to match the chimps against young children. Link
How well do you know your TV theme songs? Test yourself with this quiz. Choose from 10, 20, or 30 rounds. I scored 585 in 10 rounds. And I don’t even watch TV! Link -via the J-Walk Blog
This strange looking abandoned structure was, as the English Russia website put it, “shot by some Russian guy in the forests of Russia”. Anyone who knows what it is? A transformer station, props from the upcoming X-Files 2 movie?
This clever mug automatically displays “OFF” when it is empty and ‘ON” when it is filled with coffee or tea. It is covered with a heat sensitive pigment which allows it to change from black to white or vice versa depending on whether it is filled or not. Charles & Marie are now selling the mug for $25.
Via: Charles & Marie
Hanukah/Chanukah/Hanukkah is a holiday about a Jewish military victory, so what better way to celebrate than using Israeli Defense Force Dreidels. Via Standing on the Wall.
I’ve also posted a round up of fun Hanukah links here, including strange menorahs, Hanukah super hero costumes, and other oddities.
This Christmas, don’t go with that ho-hum, run-of-the-tree-farm tree your family always gets year after year. Try something new and unusual…. Like these 10 strange Christmas trees, for instance:
The upside of this upside-down 7-foot pre-lit Christmas tree is that you’ll have more room for presents underneath! This strange tree was originally designed for specialty stores to display ornaments while using as little floor space as possible.
It’s $600 and is currently sold out at Hammacher Schlemmer: Link
In Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the Grinch may have realized that Christmas doesn’t come from a store, but in this case, the Whoville desktop Christmas tree does come from one! Link
Good Grief! If Cindy Lou’s Whoville Christmas tree above wasn’t sad enough, maybe you’ll like this one: Charlie Brown’s Pathetic Christmas Tree as featured in Charles Schulz’ excellent comic strip Peanut…. This tree needs you!
Afterall, Linus van Pelt did say "It’s not a bad little tree. All it needs is a little love." Link
It’s probably too late for you to start doing this one: the awesome Mountain Dew Christmas Tree. It took about 3 months of soda drinking (approximately 400 cans of Mountain Dew) and 4 days of building. Link (with video clip)
Mountain Dew? Weaklings… Try Grolsch beer instead: Link
If you’re into knitting and crafts, why not knit yourself a Christmas tree? Like this big one done by about 1,000 knitters at Eden Project: Link (scroll down)
Don’t want to bother with shedding pine needles or the hassle of putting together an artificial Christmas tree? You can make one out of books and magazines like this Shelf Tree by Frank Visser of IJM [Flash] instead.
Last year, Singapore jeweler Soo Kee Jewellery created this Christmas tree with 21,798 diamonds totaling 913 carats and 3,762 crystal beads. The tree looked like (and was actually worth) a million bucks! Link
This is the mother of all Christmas trees: a gigantic 7-story "tree" made from 350 regular-sized artificial trees! Approximately 70 staffers of Yilong Media company of China constructed a steel framing and then stacked this pyramid of Christmas trees. Link
Not celebrating Christmas? Are you celebrating Festivus [wiki] instead? Then you’ll need this Festivus Pole!
In case you don’t know anything about Festivus, it’s a made up holiday popularized by the TV show Seinfeld. The holiday includes such traditions as the "Airing of Grievances," in which you tell people how they disappointed you over the past year, and the "Feats of Strength," where the head of the household is wrestled to the floor.
The photo is Mark Metcalf ("Maestro" from Seinfeld) standing with his Festivus Pole at his restaurant Libby Montana in Mequon, Wisconsin. More photos here: Link
You can get Festivus Pole from The Wagner Companies here: Link
John of Locust and Honey wrote:
One of the ironies of human life is that greed and wealth are inherently at odds with Christian teaching, but it is only greed which creates wealth and only wealth that can give to the poor. Capitalism, as an economic system, does the most good for the most number of people, but is predicated on unChristian premises. I know of no resolution to this dilemma.
The Wesleyan solution is to earn all you can so that you can give all you can, but is not poverty greater where there is no capital investment?
Would a society where people did not invest their excess money but gave it away have more or less poverty?
What if Jesus were, gasp, a supply sider conservative? Here’s an animated clip by Wes Ball, from a satirical comic strip in Al Franken’s 2003 book Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them-A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right (original artwork by Don Simpson).
[Pontius Pilate summons our hero]
Pontius Pilate: Bring me this King of the Jews that I might meet him .. This Supply Side Jesus.
[Supply Side Jesus Arrive]
Pontius Pilate: So you’re Supply Side Jesus … What a magnificent robe you have.
Supply Side Jesus: Because of this robe, ten craftsmen were able to feed their families! The goldsmith who made the trim and the filigree was able to hire an apprentice because I paid him so handsomely.
Pontius Pilate: And what a beautiful haircut you have, Supply Side Jesus!
Supply Side Jesus: The barber who gave me this haircut was able to hire a manicurist … She had been a prostitute but because I needed a pedicure, she is now able to fulfill her true potential.
Pontius Pilate: Yes, the cuticles are absolutely perfect!
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – via Locust & Honey
"The best computer is a man, and it’s the only one that can be mass-produced by unskilled labor"
– Wernher von Braun, rocket scientist (1912 – 1977)
Here are some eco-friendly Christmas ornaments that show off your geek cred: they’re made from recycled circuit boards!
Link – via GeekAlerts
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Jess Weixler starred in this strange movie coming out. It’s a horror flick, but for a reason you’ll find out, it has got Miss C behavin’ badly:
I saw it was a horror film. Then I laughed. Then I reminded myself it’s a horror film. Then I felt bad about laughing. A man’s worst nightmare come to life. Limited release in February.
Curious? Here’s the trailer explaining what it is all about: Link [embedded YouTube clip] – via Miss Cellania
Ooh, here’s a cute gift idea for someone who loves Pirates of the Caribbean, a fan-made plush doll of Captain Jack Sparrow by Etsy seller with the appropriate name of piratequeen13!
Link – via Super Punch
Comments Off I’ve always wanted to be one of those one-in-a-million, handy humans who can make this eggstractor hard boiled egg peeler machine!
Here’s the “hand” method on which the machine is based:
via I Can’t Believe They’ve Invented it
Photo: jonathan_moreau [Flickr]
This public library in Kansas City, Missouri, has one seriously cool façade! From Deputy Dog:
Local residents were asked to nominate influential books that represent kansas city, humungous versions of the winning nominations were then used as the exterior of the library car-park.
Link – via Scribal Terror
That is the question that Pete Hickey wanted to test scientifically when he conducted this experiment:
People have been saying, "A beard keeps you warmer."
Sure it sounds good, but has anybody ever really tested this theory? In the interest of science, I thought of cutting off my beard for a winter to determine if it would be colder without it. Thinking about it for a while, I realized that this was no good. Maybe it would be a warmer (colder) winter this year. Maybe I would forget how cold (warm) it was last year.
I needed a control! Another person was no good; their perception of cold may not agree with mine. I had only one choice. Shave half of my beard.
Here are his findings: Link – via Say No to Crack
