Archive for December 5th, 2007
The Geology of the Delphic Oracle.
The first-century Greek historian Plutarch was a priest of the Delphic oracle and personally responsible for interpreting her prophecies. According to his first-person account, the ecstatic trances in which the oracle, called the Pythia, made her famous predictions were induced by inhaling noxious gases. Emma Gatti at The Naked Scientists writes:
The oracle spoke through a local woman, the Pythia, who was chosen from among the peasants of the area. Documents provided by the Greek historian Plutarch (AD 46-120) describe the Pythia inhaling vapours from a fissure called Adyton. Shortly after she would go into a trance, which enabled her to contact Apollo, the god to whom the oracle was dedicated. Occasionally these trances deepened into delirium and even death, but more normally the woman would utter extremely cryptic and freely-interpretable rhymed answers, which were sometimes conflicting. According to local legend, these powerful vapours were the breath of Piton, the sacred guardian of the temple. Apollo defeated her and closed her dragon-body in a deep cave under the surface, and the vapours inhaled by the Pythia corresponded to the beast’s breath.
Gatti’s article describes the geological formations that made this possible:
The Delphi faults are NNW-SSE trending fractures which cross beneath the oracle site. Where faults join like this they can provide pathways through which ground water and gases can rise to the surface, especially in a tectonically active zone like the Corinth zone (the most important earthquake for this zone was the Corinth earthquake of 373 BC, which probably influenced the reactivation of the fault, as during each seismic event new pathways were created and additional volumes of gas may have been squeezed from the underlying formations). The gases themselves are likely to include methane, carbon dioxide and
hydrogen sulphide, which can bring about euphoric effects when inhaled.
The photo is from Wikipedia, which also has a video tour of Delphi and lots of other information about this fascinating site.
Comment (6)
Permalink
Please share:  email
this 
|
| Neatorama Shop » Science T-Shirts (Geektastic!) | ||
 |
 |
 |
See more Science
T-Shirts »  |
||
Mass Attack - Addictive Flash Game
Mass Attack is a highly addictive flash game where your goal is to even scales by dropping weights in the right size on them.
Busy getting things done in time for Christmas? Don’t click the link.
|
Comment (13)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
How To Make Your Own Lock Picks (Video)
A video tutorial on how to make you own lockpicks. If you’re going to try your new tools out, you might want to take a look at these videos first:
Link [Metacafe] – via Miniature Brainwave
|
Comment (4)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Boombox Cat House
Some creative person has taken the time to build a neat cat house that looks like a ghetto blaster.
What do you think your cat would prefer, taking a nap in a boombox or roll around on a Cat Spa?
|
Comment (2)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Tommy's 12 Days of Christmas
Joel Veitch {wiki} of Rathergood is a big supporter of Tommy’s Charity, a UK-based foundation funding research into miscarriages, stillbirths, and premature births. Last year he created the ultra-silly animation Tommy’s 12 Days of Christmas to help raise awareness and funds for the organization. Link -Thanks, Bill!
|
Comment (4)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
| Neatorama Shop » T-Shirts About The Economy | ||
 |
 |
|
See more T-Shirts
About The Economy »
|
||
Cops Forced to Chase Doughnut Truck
Sometimes the jokes just write themselves. Via Instapundit.
|
Comment (7)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Holiday Survival Kit
As Alex quoted George Burns a while back “Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” That doesn’t happen during the holidays. Be prepared. Link
|
Comment (3)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
1984, Blade Runner, soft drinks and you
If George Orwell or Philip K. Dick could have engineered the flavor and color of a new variety of Mountain Dew, what would their products be like? This seems to be the theme behind a strange new marketing push by the makers of Mountain Dew called DEWmocracy.com. I wonder what Soylent Green flavored Mountain Dew would be like? “Elixir of freedom,” my ass. Always Youtube.
|
Comment (9)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Red State Update: Evel Knievel R.I.P.
Wherein Jackie and Dunlap lament the passing of one of America’s great redneck idols who is now in heaven “jumping over angel buses.” (Rated R). YouTube.
|
Comment (0)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Sexy Beijing: Bad Boys of Beijing
I love the ongoing “Sexy Beijing” YouTube series starting Anna Sophie “Su Fei” Loewenberg, a nice Jewish girl from the US who is living and working in Beijing. Sexy Beijing is a documentary series that explores the lighter side of love and life for both Chinese and Westerners in Beijing. Bad Boys of Beijing is the latest installment wherein Su Fei asks, “Why is it that good girls like such bad boys?” If you enjoy it, please do take the time to check out some of the previous episodes. There are about 20 altogether and as an old “Asia hand” myself, I think they are some of the coolest online documentary work in English about Asian culture being made today. Su Fei Wan Sui! (Long Live Su Fei!) YouTube.
|
Comment (6)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
| Neatorama Shop » Ambigram T-Shirts | |
 |
|
| Clever / Stupid Ambigram | See more Ambigram
T-Shirts »
|
Doctors Baffled By Green Sweat
Doctors in China admit they are baffled after a man began to perspire green sweat.
Cheng Shunguo, 52, of Wuhan city, says his sweat turned green in the middle of November. “I noticed that my underwear and bed sheets were all green, and even the water in the shower,” he said.
Cheng says he feels no discomfort, but went to hospital because he was worried about his condition. Doctors thoroughly cleaned his armpits but it took only 10 minutes for his sweat to turn a piece of white gauze green again. They have carried out blood tests on Cheng, but found everything to be normal.
“We can’t find the cause,” admitted a spokesman for the hospital which reported the case to the media in the hope of finding a solution
Source: Ananova
|
Comment (39)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Virtual Balls
I don’t know what this is, or how to adequately describe it. It’s pretty and interactive. It’s from Adobe Japan, and I don’t read Japanese. If you do, maybe you can find out something about it. Go take a look. Link -via Grow-A-Brain
|
Comment (3)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Christmas Tree Farm Robbed by Grinch
The owner of a Christmas tree farm in east Tennessee found that someone had sawed off the tops of 28 large Christmas trees that were ready for market. The thief took about six feet of each tree, leading authorities to believe they will be sold as whole Christmas trees. The damaged Frasier firs would have been sold for $100 to $150 dollars each to organizations and businesses with high ceilings. Link -via Fark
|
Comment (2)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Calorie Counting Beer Mug
This Japanese beer mug has a scale that tells you how many calories you are consuming while you try to enjoy your glass of beer.
300ml equals 150cal, according to the mug.
|
Comment (7)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Flickr Online Photo Editor
The Flickr online photo community has announced a partnership with the Picnik online photo editing company.
The Picnik/Flickr collaboration works similarly to other 3rd party services who’ve built additional tools on top of the Flickr API: You’ll need to pass through the step of giving the Picnik service permission to edit and save your photos… It’s a little bit like you’re “installing” Picnik on your Flickr account, but with nothing to download.
|
Comment (0)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
R2-D2 Translator
Ever wondered what that trash can-shaped droid is beeping about in the Star Wars movies? Here’s your chance to find out.
The online “R2-D2 Translator” lets you type in a word (30 characters max) and get it translated into droid language. You also have the option to download the sound as an MP3 file.
|
Comment (1)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Shoe Tester.
Circa 1938, originally featured in Mechanix Illustrated. From Modern Mechanix via Gimcrack, which is frequently NSFW. Those are some serious old lady shoes!
|
Comment (5)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Man Banned From Breaking Wind in a Club
A social club in Devon UK, has banned a 77-year-old man from breaking wind while indoors.
Maurice Fox received a letter from Kirkham Street Sports and Social Club in Paignton asking him to consider his actions, which “disgusted” members.
Mr Fox, a club regular for 20 years, said: “I am happy to oblige them, there is no problem. I do get a bit windy – I am an old fart now.”
He said he had to leave the club about three times a night and added “I think someone has complained about the noise. I am a loud farter, but there is no smell.”
Source: BBC News
|
Comment (6)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Court Orders Tweety, Donald Duck, Other Toons to Witness Stand
The above pictured is cute Tweety X Roen Jeans, a resin figure which you can order here.
Tweety Bird may get a chance to take the witness stand and sing like a canary. An Italian court ordered the animated bird, along with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and his girlfriend Daisy, to testify in a counterfeiting case.
In what lawyers believe was a clerical error worthy of a Looney Tunes cartoon, a court in Naples sent a summons to the characters ordering them to appear Friday in a trial in the southern Italian city, officials said. They were summoned as damaged parties in the criminal trial of a Chinese man accused of counterfeiting products of Disney and Warner Bros.
“Instead of naming only the companies and their legal representatives, clerks also wrote in the witness list the names of the cartoons that decorated the toys and gadgets the man had reproduced”, said Fiorenza Sorotto, vice president of Disney Company Italia.
The Naples court will have to rewrite the summons, although this will probably delay the trial, said Disney lawyer Cristina Ravelli. “Let’s hope the characters will not be prosecuted for failing to appear,” Ravelli quipped.
Source: CNN
|
Comment (2)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
56 Geeks
Scott Johnson of ExtraLife created a poster identifying 56 Geeks. You may recognize some of your friends here! Link to an image of the full poster. Link to order. -via the Presurfer
|
Comment (15)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
| Neatorama Shop » Home & Garden » Kitchen Gadgets | ||
 |
 |
 |
See more Kitchen
Gadgets » |
||
Neatorama and mental_floss: Show Off Your Smarts and Win a Free T-Shirt!
Get out your thinking cap and get ready to win free stuff because this week Neatorama and mental_floss are teaming up to challenge you to SHOW OFF YOUR SMARTS!
Each day we’ll throw out a topic and all you have to do is come up with the smartest, funniest, most interesting fact related to it. Simply enter your fact in the comment below and if yours get chosen, you’ll win a brand new prize from the mental_floss store (along with endless bragging rights!). One fact per comment, but you can enter as many facts as you’d like.
Today’s topic: Be the Scrooge of the Holiday Party! Share a Debbie Downer fact that’s totally fascinating but won’t make you any friends at the holiday party.
Here are two examples to get your brain going:
»It’s estimated that more than 100,000 people die from bedsores each year.
»Ever day, about a cup of your own snot goes down the back of your throat into your stomach.
Today’s prize: The great "Pluto: Revolve in Peace" T-shirt.
And even if you don’t have a winning fact, mental_floss is giving Neatorama readers a special discount in the mental_floss store. This week only, visit mentalfloss.com/store and get 15% off anything in the store by entering "neatorama" into the coupon code.
Good luck, guys!
|
Comment (117)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
-
Your purchase helps support the blog - Thank you!
