Archive Category: Everything Else
Galileo's (other) Finger, Tooth, and Thumb Have Been Found
It’s been a long and undoubtedly strange journey for Galileo Galilei’s various body parts. Some of you will recall that when his body was reinterred in 1737, his middle finger was removed, along with several other body parts. The finger and a vertebra have been stored (and displayed) in museums in Florence and Padua.
However, after passing through various collections for several hundred years, a tooth, a thumb, and another finger “went missing” in 1905. It was just recently that they were identified:
“His lost fingers and tooth were bought by an unnamed collector at a recent auction, where they were being sold as unidentified artifacts contained in an 17th century wooden case…”
So will these appendages now be reunited with the rest of his corpse in the tomb in Florence? Well, not exactly. It seems they will “be exhibited from early 2010, when [Florence's History of Science] museum will re-open after current renovation work and will change its name to the Galileo museum.”
Those who find this entire business a bit bizarre are invited to also read or listen to NPR’s report about “The Twisted Journey of Napoleon’s Privates.”
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The Decade in Seven Minutes
Relive the past 9.8 years in news stories condensed into seven minutes, peppered with snark and wit. via AcidCow.
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5 Amazing Journeys On A Penny Farthing
I don’t know how you can ride for more than a mile on a penny farthing {wiki}. No brakes, no gears, and no stopping, or you’ll fall off! These five lunatics have managed thousands of miles on them. For example, Thomas Stevens rode one of these early bicycles around the world!
The only supplies Stevens had when he set out from San Francisco were fresh socks, one clean shirt, a raincoat that did double duty as a tent, and a Smith and Wesson .38 revolver. Because paved roads and automobiles were so scarce at the time, Stevens restricted most of his journey to wagon trails, towpaths, limited public roads, and, on sometimes even railroad tracks. Naturally, the penny-farthing was not built for the same rugged terrain as a locomotive. Therefore, he was often forced to walk, carrying his bike, hopping the railroad tracks, hoping that he would never hear the sound of a locomotive bearing down on him from behind.
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English Words Quiz
Can you name the most commonly used words in the English language? In this quiz, you’ll have twelve minutes to name the 100 words most used. I only guessed 68 before time ran out, but I ran into trouble by having a space in front of some words. Be careful! Link -via J-Walk Blog
(image by Flickr user the|G|™)
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12 Weird Things to Do With Your Cremated Remains
Interred in a cemetery? Stored in a traditional urn? How old-fashioned! From being fired into space to crushed into diamonds, there’s few limits to what you can do with your cremated remains. If you’re going to go out, might as well go out in style.
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Brits Advised to Spend a Penny on Their Gardens
The National Trust is encouraging their gardeners to urinate on bales of straw. A three-meter-long “pee bale” has been established at Wimpole Hall; gardeners visit the bale when nature calls (and when visitors are not present, because “we don’t want to scare the public.”) The bales are later added to the compost heap.
Only male gardeners are participating, in part because of some dubious claims regarding gender-based differences in urine: “There are obvious logistical benefits to limiting it to male members of the team, but also male pee is preferable to women’s, as the male stuff is apparently less acidic.”
A secondary benefit is anticipated in terms of water conservation:
“An average flush of the lavatory can use anything from four and a half to nine litres of water each time, but what people may not realise is that this water is treated to the same standard as drinking water and shouldn’t be wasted.” Urinating outdoors or in the shower is advocated by environmental activists, including Cameron Diaz, as a way of tacking climate change by saving water and energy.
They are tentatively encouraging the public to follow their lead: ““Adding a little pee just helps get it all going; it’s totally safe and a bit of fun too.”
Links for the Telegraph and the BBC (where there is an explanatory video).
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TSA Says No To Snow Globes
Think before you buy a souvenir snow globe on your next vacation. You probably won’t be able to take it on a plane in your carry-on luggage because of TSA regulations.
“Snow globes are not permitted to be carried through security checkpoints,” said Transportation Security Administration spokesman Dwayne Baird.The reason is that the globes contain liquids, and TSA rules say that only liquids, gels or aerosols in containers of three ounces or less are allowed through security in carry-on bags.
Even a small snow globe with less than three ounces of liquid may be confiscated because security personnel have no way of measuring it. You can pack a snow globe in your checked luggage, but be careful to pad it well, or you may end up with wet clothing by the time you reach your destination. Link -via Metafilter
(image by Flickr user revrev)
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Google's Famously Difficult Job Interview Questions
At The Business Insider, Alyson Shontell wrote about her unsuccessful job interview with Google, which has gained a reputation for asking hard and bizarre questions that test a candidate’s creativity, priorities, and critical thinking skills. She provided 15 examples from other people who’ve interviewed with Google:
How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?Why are manhole covers round?
Design an evacuation plan for San Francisco.
You have eight balls all of the same size 7 of them weigh the same, and one of them weighs slightly more. How can you find the ball that is heavier by using a balance and only two weighings?
You can read more questions and the preferred answers at the link.
Link via Gizmodo | Image: US Department of State
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Scientists Discover Coral That Eats Jellyfish
Up until now, scientists believed that coral only ate plankton and other micro-organisms, but a new discovery shows the mushroom coral can actually eat jellyfish almost its same size. Scientists were diving near the Israeli city of Eilat in the Red Sea, when they photographed the phenomenon for the first time.
“We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw it,” Ms Alamaru, a member of the research team, says. “This is definitely unusual. As far as I know no other coral are reported to feed on jellyfish. However, some sea anemones, which are close relatives of corals, are documented feeding on other jelly species.”
Scientists have suspected that coral must eat microscopic baby jellyfishes, but this is the first time they were presented with evidence of the animal eating adult jellies.
Link Image by Omri Bronstein from the Tel Aviv University
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Who's Afraid of Friday the 13th?
If you’re afraid of Friday the 13th (the date, not the movie), you’re in good company. There’s a certain US president who shared your paraskevidekatriaphobia:
It’s also the number that prompted FDR to alter his own travel plans on any day of the week that landed on the 13th.
"FDR would not depart on a (train) trip on the 13th," said Thomas Fernsler, a University of Delaware mathematician who has studied the number enough to earn the moniker "Dr. 13." He recounted a story that originated with FDR’s personal secretary, Grace Tully, who said the former president would order the train to leave the station before midnight on the 12th or after midnight on the morning of the 14th.
In a final act, FDR died in 1945 on April 12. Thursday, April 12.
"He avoided traveling to the beyond on the 13th," joked Bob Clark, head archivist at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
More about Friday the 13th phobia in this article by Don Babwin of AP: Link
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The Politically Correct Humpty Dumpty
Think that the ending of Humpty Dumpty is too harsh for little children? Change it! That’s what the BBC’s CBeebies programme Something Special did:
Instead of being unable to ‘put Humpty together again’, the new version claimed all the King’s horses and all the King’s men ‘made Humpty happy again’. [...]
The Something Special show, presented by Justin Fletcher, is aimed at children with learning difficulties but is popular with all children under the age of five.
The BBC insisted the nursery rhyme was not modified due to its target audience and said it had only been changed for ‘creative’ purposes.
Was it political correctness or a sensible attempt to make the nursery rhyme more cheerful for kids? Link
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Vatican: Aliens May Be Free From Original Sin
Earlier this year the Vatican issued a statement acknowledging that Darwin’s theory of evolution was compatible with Christian theology. Now the Vatican’s chief astronomer has postulated that extraterrestrial life is possible.
Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space. Father Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory near Rome, is a respected scientist who collaborates with universities around the world. The search for forms of extraterrestrial life, he says, does not contradict belief in God.
Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could even be free from original sin, he speculates.
Link. The photo does not depict an alien free from original sin – just a random chestbusting alien.
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How to Build a Coracle
This video incorporates footage from 1935, in which Irish craftsmen build a coracle from willow and an ox hide, then use the craft to set their nets in the River Boyne. One has to admire the skill and experience required to propel a keel-less craft in a reasonably straight line. As the narrator notes, these river craft are related to the larger currachs that were capable of substantial ocean voyages.
Found at Scribal Terror.
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Navajo Code Talkers
The Navajo language is incredibly complex, with syntax, tonal qualities and dialects that render it unintelligible to outsiders. A spoken language, it has no alphabet or symbols, and is used only in remote Navajo areas of the American Southwest. For these reasons, it was selected as a code language during World War II by the U.S. Marines.
In 1942, Japanese translators and codebreakers were regularly intercepting U.S. military communications and sabotaging U.S. plans in the Pacific. Philip Johnston, a white man who was raised on the Navajo Reservation, convinced Major General Clayton Vogel, commanding general of the Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet, that the Marines should recruit Navajos to transmit important military communications.
From the Naval Historical Center:
“In May 1942, the first 29 Navajo recruits attended boot camp. Then, at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California, this first group created the Navajo code. They developed a dictionary and numerous words for military terms. The dictionary and all code words had to be memorized during training.
…The developers of the original code assigned Navajo words to represent about 450 frequently used military terms that did not exist in the Navajo language. Several examples: ‘besh- lo’ (iron fish) meant ’submarine,’ and ‘dah-he- tih-hi’ (hummingbird) meant ‘fighter plane’…
Once a Navajo code talker completed his training, he was sent to a Marine unit deployed in the Pacific theater. The code talkers’ primary job was to talk, transmitting information on tactics and troop movements, orders and other vital battlefield communications over telephones and radios…Praise for their skill, speed and accuracy accrued throughout the war. At Iwo Jima, Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division signal officer, declared, ‘Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.’”
For decades after the war, the contributions of the Navajo code talkers were not publicly acknowledged, because of the continued value of their language as a secure code. The code talkers were finally honored at the Pentagon in 1992, and the Navajo code talker exhibit is now a regular stop on the Pentagon tour.
Of the approximately 400 Navajos who trained as code talkers, only about 50 are still alive, most of them living in the Navajo Nation that includes part of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Today, for the first time, a group of 13 code talkers will take part in the Veterans Day parade in New York City.
AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca of Navajo code talker Keith Little, 85, at a book signing in Albuquerque, N.M.
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The WHY Super-Yacht
When Hermés yacht brand executive Pierre-Alexis Dumas met Wally builder Luca Bassani Antivari they hatched a dream- to combine the terrestrial luxury of your own island with the aquatic bliss of yachting. The fruit of their efforts is WHY (Wally Hermés Yachts), a 36,000 square foot, energy-saving, sustainable yacht unlike any seen before.
Antivari: This revolutionary concept of the moving island is developed with latest and most advanced technologies, recycling thermal energy, as well as any organic and inorganic waste. The architecture of the project fits perfectly in the environment- there are no excesses, nothing is superfluous, the impact on the sea is minimal.
Dumas: We hope to open a new path, to offer a new lifestyle that is different, serene, contemplative and respectful of the environment, moving slowly on the water, combining the pleasure of sailing and absolute comfort.
The whole fascinating story, lots of pictures, stats and more video at Twisted Sifter. WHY’s website. (Photos by WHY HWSam)
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Man Impaled By Tree And Lives To Tell The Story
Jack Weir was clearing trees in his family farm with a Bobcat when a large cottonwood hit back and impaled him with a piece of wood 20 feet long and 6 inches thick.
What happened next was nothing short of a miracle:
A broken limb came flying in under the roll bar, spearing Jack through the belly with a piece of wood 20 feet long and six inches thick.
“I’ve always had a pretty high tolerance for pain. I had no pain, I had none,” Wier said.
Still, he knew the situation was desperate. That’s when Jack remembered the military mantra he relied on during his 38 years in the army.
“You define the problem…you identify alternatives… you accumulate relevant information… and then you make a decision. My problem was I got this tree in me,” explained the tree accident victim.
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The Jobless Rate for People Like You
The New York Times has an interactive graph that plots the jobless rate for different groups of Americans compared to the average for all those who are unemployed. Mouseover to find lines for different races, ages, and levels of education. In this screenshot, the label refers to the very faint red line above the dotted line which represents the average jobless rate. Link -via Metafilter
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Moments
William Hoffman is a New York filmmaker who put this video together and uploaded it last August. It’s finally getting some viral activity, and rightfully so. It’s “a celebration of life that was inspired by David Eagleman’s book, Sum.”
I do enjoy a perfectly realized edit, and this one’s full of them. William’s website.
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Lost Persian Army Discovered Almost 2,500 Years Later
A massive army of Persian King Cambyses II was said to be swallowed up by the desert in the year 525 B.C. The army, containing a whopping 50,000 soldiers, made it to a desert oasis and then was never heard from again –until now.
“A wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing with it vast columns of whirling sand, which entirely covered up the troops and caused them wholly to disappear,” wrote Herodotus.
Up until now, most historians thought this was mostly just a story, but the discovery of a massive collection of bones and silver and bronze jewelry in the desolate Sahara Desert has them reconsidering.
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The Fall of the Berlin Wall -- 20 Years Later
Twenty years ago today, the Berlin Wall was breached and collapse of European Communism rapidly accelerated. From the archives of the BBC:
At midnight East Germany’s Communist rulers gave permission for gates along the Wall to be opened after hundreds of people converged on crossing points.
They surged through cheering and shouting and were be met by jubilant West Berliners on the other side.
Ecstatic crowds immediately began to clamber on top of the Wall and hack large chunks out of the 28-mile (45-kilometre) barrier.
Link | Timeline of the Wall | Interactive Map of the Wall | PBS Documentary | Image: U.S. Department of State
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Jilted Bride Turns Wedding Into Party
34-year-old Teane Harris of Bensenville, Illinois had planned a big wedding, but it was called off when the groom backed out only a week before the big event. Harris and her mother were told it was too late to get their deposit back for the reception. What to do? Harris decided to use the facilities and all the wedding supplies to throw a party for the Asbury Court Retirement Community.
Just like that, the Halloween party planned for the 340 residents at Asbury Court turned into a lavish banquet, with a sumptuous meal, elegant flowers, sparkling masks right out of a masquerade ball, and a disc jockey who kept the mood lively.
“We knew we weren’t going to be getting our money back,” says Harris, during a phone interview from Hawaii, where she followed through with her honeymoon trip. “So after doing damage control and not wanting anything to go to waste, we looked for somebody who would benefit from it, and we saw the retirement center.”
Asbury officials still marvel over the turn of events, and of the selfless act by Harris. On Friday, they mounted a marquis sign thank you to Harris to show their appreciation.
“It was out of the blue; she knows no one here,” says Eric Haugan, resident services director. “And yet when she came to the party herself, she had all these grandmas wanting to give her a hug. She just broke down.”
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Teeny Tiny Books
This is sort of like the library necklace, but with real books. From the Publishing House of Miniature Books in Russia come these tiny masterpieces measuring less than half an inch tall. I used Google Language Tools to try and translate some of the titles, and found one title translated as “And Bunin. A. Antonovsky apples”.
An Amazon search brought me to Ivan Bunin’s Collected Stories. The first story is called “The Scent of Apples,” and I learn on the first page that antonovka means autumn apple:
“I remember a fresh and quiet morning…The big garden, its dry and thinned out leaves turning golden in the early light. I remember the avenue of maples, the delicate smell of the fallen leaves, and the scent of autumn apples — antonovkas –that mix of honey and fall freshness. The air’s so clear it seems there is no air at all…”
There is a long history of miniature books in Russia, and you can read more about it here.
Via Nag On The Lake.
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Optical Illusion - Impossible Object With a Twist
[YouTube - Link]
If one looks closely at the construction of this figure, it quickly becomes apparent that something is just, well…wrong with it.
This initially-baffling video exhibits how the human visual system can subconsciously interpret and thoroughly "see" a three-dimensional object even though it is impossible for such an object to exist. Thankfully, the creator reveals how it was constructed.
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Volunteers Work to Save Ash Trees
7.5 billion ash trees are endangered in the United States. (Photo credit Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune)
The culprit is the well-known emerald ash borer, an invasive Asian beetle that first arrived in Michigan seven years ago. The infestation has spread to Ohio, Canada, and now Minnesota, threatening to do a log power more damage than the famous Dutch Elm Disease. Federal and state authorities have responded to the emerald ash borer by limiting transportation of timber and wood products, but have been unable to quarantine the disease.
Now volunteers in are spreading out across Minnesota and several other states, collecting seeds which may be needed to restore the white, green, and black ash species if the current epidemic destroys the currently standing trees. Some of the seeds will be stored in the National Plant Germplasm System, a depository maintained by the Agriculture Department and at the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation. Others will be retained by Native American tribal authorities.
A map showing states and Canadian provinces at risk, with links to sources of local assistance, is available at the Emerald Ash Borer website.
Further details on seed preservation are available in a story written by Bill McAuliffe for the Star Tribune.
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VideoSift Clips of the Week
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The Official Shotgun Rules
I have four kids who all want to sit in the front passenger seat as I drive. There is an elaborate set of rules they must follow to decide who gets the honor of “riding shotgun”.
You must say the word “Shotgun” to stake your claim on Shotgun. This must be done clearly and loud enough so that at least one other to-be occupant of the vehicle can hear you. No variations of this word are acceptable. After you have rightfully called Shotgun, you have exclusive rights to Shotgun for that ride. However, if no one hears you call Shotgun it is still fair game for everyone.
But that’s just the beginning! There are many more rules to learn, such as the importance of having your shoes on when you yell “Shotgun!” and the crucial “hand on the door” rule. Link -via Bits and Pieces
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Iron Age Gold Treasure Found in Scotland
A young man, using his metal detector for the first time, walked about seven steps from his car and got a signal.
The four gold Iron Age neck ornaments, or torcs, date from between the 1st and 3rd Century BC and are said to be worth an estimated £1m… The find is the most important hoard of Iron Age gold in Scotland to date.
Neatorama has previously posted stories about a Viking hoard and an Anglo-Saxon hoard found in the British Isles. One factor that favors the discovery and preservation of these archeological treasures is the Treasure Act of 1996, an Act of Parliament that requires treasure hunters to turn in their finds to local authorities, but then guarantees them monetary compensation based on a market value of the treasure. In many countries without such laws, finds such as these would be sold on the black market or melted down for bullion, destroying the remarkable artistry of the pieces. The Treasure Act does not apply in Scotland, where this was found, but indications are that this fellow will be richly compensated in order to encourage others to report their discoveries.
At the BBC link the other pieces can be seen in a brief video.
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Flags of the World (the Hard Ones)
If you had to learn to recognize the world’s flags in school, here’s your chance to finally put that knowledge to use! In today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, you’ll be given 12 flags. They are not all national flags. How many can you identify? I was surprised to get 8 out of 12, or 67%. Link
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One-Way Mars Missions?
Photo: NASA
Going to Mars is costly. The conventional thinking of round-trip missions is losing more and more ground to an idea made public last year. Theoretical physicist/cosmologist Paul Davies addressed the NASA Astrobiology Science Conference, and laid out a solid (and sometimes humorous) case for the One Way Ticket plan.
He points out the commercial angle, saying that not only would a patent trade emerge from discoveries, but televised coverage of the pioneers would be lucrative as well. And those pioneers? He says our planet is full of risk-takers seeking adventure that would fill the role nicely.
By comparison, a one-way trip to Mars would not be so risky. But it does need a spirit of adventure of the sort that the early explorers had, in particular the people who opened up Antarctica. These people often went knowing that there was a high probability that they would not come back, and that if they didn’t come back, they were going to their deaths. I’m not suggesting that going to Mars necessarily means an instant death, but it may mean a premature death, it may mean your life expectancy is shortened by a little bit. But as I said, people attempt that risk in all sorts of other walks of life.
And what I have in mind is not just four miserable people sitting around on the martian surface waiting to die, (laughter) but that they would actually be doing useful job work.
You wouldn’t be going there as tourists, you wouldn’t be going there for fun. You’d be going there to do science, and emailing all this stuff back. Your publication record would be sensational. (laughter) You would no doubt have all sort of honors heaped on you.
But you wouldn’t be coming home.
Link. Previously on Neatorama: Chart of Missions to Mars
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The History of Daylight Saving Time in the US
Daylight Saving Time ends in most of the United States a 2AM on Sunday, November 1st (Hawaii and Arizona have been on standard time all summer). We remember which way to set our clocks by thinking “spring forward, fall back.” It makes you wonder how we ever got our clocks coordinated in the first place. Believe it or not, standard time and time zones were the railroad industry’s idea.
“In the early 19th century … localities set their own time,” said Bill Mosley, a public affairs officer at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“It was kind of a crazy quilt of time, time zones, and time usage. When the railroads came in, that necessitated more standardization of time so that railroad schedules could be published.”
In 1883 the U.S. railroad industry established official time zones with a set standard time within each zone. Congress eventually came on board, signing the railroad time zone system into law in 1918.
The 1918 law assigned the Interstate Commerce Commission to oversee the time zones, and legislated Daylight Saving Time. Later, the decision whether to observe DST was left up to the states. Link
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