John Farrier's Liked Blog Posts

This Skeleton Couple Has Been Locked in an Embrace for 5,800 Years


(Photo: Greek Ministry of Culture)

Archaeologists in southern Greece uncovered the well-preserved skeletal remains of two people. DNA testing confirms that one is a man and the other a woman. According to Anastassia Papathanassiou, a member of the excavation team, they probably died in each other's arms. If so, it's a touching display of tragic love from a lost era, now frozen in time.

-via Huffington Post


Breathtaking Photos from Inside a Glacier

Iceland, a land abounding in natural wonders, is a favorite for nature photographers. The glaciers in particular are places where they can find the full magnitude of what natural forces can create. Nicolas Brousse, a photographer from Malmö, Sweden, journeyed there to witness ice melting off Breiðamerkurjökull, a glacier on that island. He explored an ice cave that formed beneath the glacier and snapped incredible shots of it. You can see more photos in the series here.

-via The Presurfer


Tired of People Ignoring You for Their Phones? Use Present Spray


(Video Link)

Tired of people ignoring you while fooling around on their phones? Comedians Tripp and Tyler offer you their great invention: Present Spray. This handy gadget subtly draws their attention back into the conversation. Present Spray is ideal at home, the office, restaurants, and public restrooms.

I'm sympathetic to people who want to buy Present Spray. But sometimes there's a reason why people pay attention to their phones instead of you. That's why I occasionally think about carrying and distributing these cards at certain times:

-via 22 Words | Image via College Humor


New Furby Looks Like Chewbacca

Furbacca looks cute. But he hates to lose and has been known to rip people's arms out of their sockets when he does. So play nice, pet him, and let him win.

He's Hasbro's latest Furby electronic toy. He turns, responds to you (in a friendly way), and displays Star Wars-related images on his eyeballs. Mashable describes him:

There are sensors on his head, under his stomach, mouth and tail, so if you give him a little scratch between the ears, he'll love you even more. If you pull his tail, he gets cranky — you can see the anger building in his LCD eyes. Depending on his mood, Furbacca's eyes can populate with pictures of X-Wing Fighters and Imperial Star Destroyers.

-via The Mary Sue


Which Book Have You Read the Most Times?

(Image: Amazon)

Stephen Marche, a columnist with The Guardian, advocates what he calls "centireading"--the practice of reading one book 100 times. He has done this with two texts: William Shakespeare's Hamlet and P.G. Wodehouse's The Inimitable Jeeves. The former he did for his doctorate and the latter just for fun. The practice has had an effect on him:

The main effect of reading Hamlet a 100 times was, counter-intuitively, that it lost its sense of cliche. “To be or not to be” is the Stairway to Heaven of theatre; it settles over the crowd like a slightly funky blanket knitted by a favorite aunt. Eventually, if you read Hamlet often enough, every soliloquy takes on that same familiarity. And so “To be or not to be” resumes its natural place in the play, as just another speech. Which renders its power and its beauty of a piece with the rest of the work. […]

The psychology of my love for The Inimitable Jeeves isn’t exactly hard to understand. As we rolled through that strange country, laughing at the English with the English, the family was both inside and outside. My associations with The Inimitable Jeeves are as powerful as they could possibly be, a fused sense of family unity and childhood adventure. The book is so much more than just a happy childhood memory. In such ways, books pick us, rather than the other way around.

I have never read one book a hundred times, but I've read Richard Adams's Shardik about a dozen times. It is not truly great literature like Hamlet, but with each re-reading, I saw elements of the text that I had not noticed before. Reading the author's biography contributed to this deeper understanding. And absorbing the text has added phrases, expressions, and symbols (e.g. fire, water, the bear) to my own internal language. The story has become part of me.

On Thursday, Ria Misra of io9 asked her readers a great question: Which book have you read the most number of times? And furthermore: what impact has reading and re-reading that book had on you?

-via Marginal Revolution


Every Day for the Past 30 Years, This Man Has Written a Love Letter to His Wife


(Video Link)

Preventative maintenance is one of the keys to a healthy marriage. Bill Bresnan of Toms River, New Jersey understands this. He loves his wife, Kirsten, dearly. That's not just an involuntary emotion, but a deliberate decision. Bill loves her and shows his love by writing a romantic note to her every day.

He's done this for more than 30 years. 

Kirsten keeps her husband's romantic notes. She's organized them so that they can always go through them and reflect on their past times together. He describes the practice in the Asbury Park Press (warning: auto-start video):

We read my compliments to Kris on something special she may have cooked one night, see what the weather may have been that day, etc.

One thing that holds true throughout every sentiment — every single card is an expression of my deep love for Kris by being signed, "I love you madly++, my Darling," followed by the infinity sign.

This is only one of the practices they consciously maintain in order to nurture their relationship:

We eat by candlelight every night with romantic music playing in the background; every good night kiss is followed by I love you, the morning ones, too.

There is no TV in our bedroom and never has been.

I fully agree with a sentiment that Bresnan explains in this video: love is act that you can consciously practice and a relationship is something that you can grow and build intentionally.


Stained Glass Basketball Backboards

Literally Balling is Victor Solomon's novel interpretation of the traditional basketball hoop, net, and backboard. He made 3 sets that faithfully imitate the style of Louis Comfort Tiffany, a famous glass artist of the early Twentieth Century. Each of the 3 sets required over 100 hours of work to cut and assemble using only the finest materials, including gold plating on the rims.

-via Junkculture


Microbiology-Themed Valentines

Webcomic artist Twisted Doodles writes, "I made some microbiology themed Valentine’s cards for other people in the lab." I suspect that Neatorama owner Alex, who has a doctorate in that field, is probably swooning right now.


NASA Wants to Send a Submarine to Titan

Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, has liquid seas made of methane and ethane. Since it is the only planetary body other than the Earth within our solar system known to have liquid seas, it fascinates scientists. Some want to learn more about those seas in ways that space probes flying by can't. They have a radical proposal to do so: build a submarine and send it to Titan.

Their plan is to build an autonomous submersible probe than can spend 3 months on Titan examining the largest sea there. The proposal offers serious engineering challenges due to the powerful currents and extreme cold on Titan. Discovery News reports:

Envisaged as a possible mission to Titan’s largest sea, Kracken Mare, the autonomous submersible would be designed to make a 90 day, 2,000 kilometer (1,250 mile) voyage exploring the depths of this vast and very alien marine environment. As it would spend long periods under the methane sea’s surface, it would have to be powered by a radioisotope generator; a source that converts the heat produced by radioactive pellets into electricity, much like missions that are currently exploring space, like Cassini and Mars rover Curiosity.

Communicating with Earth would not be possible when the vehicle is submerged, so it would need to make regular ascents to the surface to transmit science data.

But Kracken Mare is not a tranquil lake fit for gentle sailing — it is known to have choppy waves and there is evidence of tides, all contributing to the challenge. Many of the engineering challenges have already been encountered when designing terrestrial submarines — robotic and crewed — but as these seas will be extremely cold (estimated to be close to the freezing point of methane, 90 Kelvin or -298 degrees Fahrenheit), a special piston-driven propulsion system will need to be developed and a nitrogen will be needed as ballast, for example.

-via Zach Weinersmith | Images: NASA


Beautiful Calligraphy with Snow

Faust, a street artist in New York City, finds joy in the midst of heavy winter snows. It's the pleasure in a winter day that we have as children and lose as adults. Faust never left it behind. He writes:

I believe everyone has an affinity for writing in the snow as a child. When most people grow up they lose the urge. I guess I just haven't been able to shake it.

For the past few years, his response has been to compose calligraphy on snow-covered cars. You can see more examples of his work here.

-via Colossal


Scholars Determine That Climate Shapes How Languages Sound

(Image: CBS)

Caleb Everett, Damián E. Blasi and Seán G. Roberts recently published the results of their research into common characteristics of languages based on native climate. They conclude that as languages evolve, their dominant sounds reflect the climates where they develop. In particular, humidity plays a major role. Tonal languages are more likely to develop in wet climates. Science Daily explains that:

. . . languages with complex tones --those that use three or more tones for sound contrast -- are much more likely to occur in humid regions of the world, while languages with simple tone occur more frequently in desiccated regions, whether frigid areas or dry deserts. […]

One explanation, supported by extensive experimental data discussed in the study, is that inhaling dry air causes laryngeal dehydration and decreases vocal fold elasticity. It's probably more difficult to achieve complex tones in arid climates--particularly very cold ones--when contrasted to warmer and more humid climates. The result is that deviations of sounds, including increased jitter and shimmer, are associated with very cold or desiccated climates, the study says.

-via Seriously, Science?


Check out This Incredibly Intricate “Prayer Nut”

This is a “prayer nut”—a type of wooden bead sometimes included on a rosary. It dates back to Sixteenth Century Flanders. Objects like these were devotional tools of wealthy people in northern Europe. Shaped like nuts, they unfolded to reveal delicately carved scenes from the Bible. This one, which measures about 2 inches across when closed, shows the crucifixion of Jesus and the marriage of Mary and Joseph, among others. It’s an astonishingly precise work of craftsmanship that testifies to the skill of its artist that is, sadly, lost to history.


(Photos: British Museum)

-via Visual News


City Trains Become E-Book Libraries

(Image: CNTV)

In the capital city of China, train rides may become a lot less boring. The Beijing Metro Transportation Railway and the National Library are making e-books easily available. Passengers with smartphones can scan QR codes to download e-books to read on their commutes. PSFK explains:

Beijing’s program takes cues from other cities like New York who have their own versions of underground libraries. In 2013, students of Miami Ad School devised a way for subway riders to read the first 10 pages of popular books using near field communication (NFC) technology. The idea is that readers could get a preview and then discover the nearest library location that carries the title.

-via Pop-Up City


You Can Now Name an Heir to Your Facebook Account


(Image: Facebook)

The throne, the titles, the lands—you can get them all by arranging the right “accident.” But access to the private Facebook account? Until recently, that was impossible. But now Facebook has added a feature called a “legacy contact.” In the event of your death, even under dubious circumstances, your designated heir will inherit your Facebook account. This permits the inheritor to change the profile and cover photos, respond to friend requests, and make other changes to your account. Geoffrey A. Fowler writes in the Wall Street Journal:

Being a legacy contact is different from simply logging into the account of the deceased, and there are important things legacy contacts can’t alter. They can’t edit what the deceased has already posted, or what his or her friends post on the page. If you chose to post a photo while you are living that looks embarrassing when you are gone, your legacy contact can’t do anything about it. A legacy contact also can’t decide to delete a whole account. […]

There’s more fine print worth paying attention to: You can only select one person—and no backup—so spouses and partners who often travel together may face a difficult choice about whether to designate each other. Ms. Seth says Facebook is continuing to think about how it might allow for contingent legacy contacts.

Facebook members can change their legacy contact selection at any time, but once they’ve died, a legacy contact can’t pass along the responsibility to someone else.

-via Joe Carter


Woman Donates Her Kidney to a Stranger. Now They’re Getting Married.

It’s the perfect pick-up opportunity! I wish that I had thought of this while I was single.

Step 1: Donate a major organ to woman.
Step 2: Ask her on a date.

It’s a foolproof plan!

At least it worked for Ashley McIntyre and Danny Robinson of Louisville, Kentucky. Robinson needed a kidney transplant. McIntyre heard about him on a local radio show and wanted to help, even though he was a complete stranger. She was tested for compatibility and they were a match. On April 17 of last year, doctors transplanted one of her kidneys into him. The surgery was completely successful.

(Photos by Ashley McIntyre and Danny Robinson)

It turned out that McIntyre and Robinson were a match in more ways than one. They grew closer and spent more time together. On Christmas Day of last year, Robinson proposed to McIntyre. The Courier-Journal describes the scene:

"On Christmas Day, we went to my mom's and started opening gifts," he said. "I told her I'd forgotten one and pulled out a small box" with an engagement ring. He got on his knees and asked her to marry him.

She said yes.

-via Huffington Post


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