The City of Bend, Oregon, which is in roughly the geographic center of the state, appreciates the creativity of its local artists. It even promotes resident artists directly, showcasing their works. But it would prefer to have some oversight of what, where, and how art is displayed.
In an Instagram post, the city government requests that street artists refrain from attaching huge googly eyes to public statues. This is evidently a popular trend locally. The city does not object to the style, but asserts that the use of adhesives damages the statues and the repairs cost too much money.
Santa Claus does magical things every Christmas, like flying all over the world and fitting down a chimney, not to mention surviving at the North Pole. The real historical figure he's based on, Nicholas, the 4th century Bishop of Myra in Turkey, is also credited with many miracles, although his were not appropriate fodder for children's bedtime stories. People apparently treated each other terribly back then.
We know little about the historical Nicholas. There are no contemporary accounts, and he left no writing. But he had a reputation as a generous man, giving away his inherited wealth, and for standing up for common people. Centuries after his death, stories were circulated about St. Nicholas, which have evolved over time. One of them involves a butcher who chopped up three little boys and stored their remains in a tub of brine. Nicholas arrived seven years later and brought the boys back to life. Even if a person's faith made them believe in the miracle, the crime itself makes no sense at all. It's a horrifying tale, but the boys' rescue is the kind of thing Nicholas would do. Read about that one and seven other rather gruesome miracle stories attributed to St. Nicholas at Mental Floss.
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's ...sort of both. We think about bird flight as flapping wings, and plane flight as fixed wings and propellors or jets. But there is a lot more to bird flight than flapping wings. Birds take off by hopping into the air with their spring-loaded legs. A new drone project called RAVEN (Robotic Avian-inspired Vehicle for multiple ENvironments) combines the mechanics of birds and planes to give us a bird-inspired robotic drone, with vertical takeoff and landing.
Getting a bird's takeoff right wasn't easy, as you'll see in this video. Real birds have to learn how to launch themselves, and so do robotic drones. Notice they haven't exactly mastered the vertical landing yet, but they'll get there. Read about the research that went into the birdlike takeoff in the journal Nature. Then when you see a bird in the air, keep in mind that it could be a raven or maybe a RAVEN. -via Metafilter
Imagine, if you will, going to bed on Christmas Eve and instead of visions of sugarplums dancing in your head, you encounter Freddy Krueger invading your dreams! The Montreal Comiccon Holiday Edition was held over the weekend. This Christmas party gave cosplayers from all over a chance to get festive while still portraying their favorite pop culture characters, and boy, did they! They were pretty imaginative in mashing up movie characters and comic book superheroes with Santa Claus and his elves. Not all cosplayers went for a Christmas mashup, and some went totally Christmas. A few weren't even human!
Yes, that's Johnny Five from the 1986 movie Short Circuit, being all alive dressed as a Christmas tree. Geeks Are Sexy was there to take portraits of the best cosplayers, as they do. See and explore 47 of the best costumes from the Montreal Comiccon Holiday Edition in their gallery. Click on each photo to bring up the full-size version.
Celine Rousseau traveled the world experiencing its many culinary wonders in the finest restaurants. Now, from her home in Geneva, Switzerland, she creates foods that delight all of the senses. Her website named La Table showcases her creations for smaller clienteles: her family.
Christmas approaches and Rousseau is in an appropriately festive mood. Her take on burrata pizza featurs the soft cheese in the center of the pie shaped and decorated to resemble a snowman who is having a hard time with the heat of the oven.
Airmen of the 19th Maintenance Squadron at Little Rock Air Force Base have altered the appearance of a C-130A Hercules transport aircraft on static display to resemble Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Beda Koorey of Huntington, New York is a serious Trekkie. She loves the franchise so much that when she owned a car, she got a custom license plate inscribed with the registry number of the starship Enterprise: NCC-1701 -- no bloody A, B, C, or D.
Koorey stopped driving four years ago and disposed of her car and its plates. But NCC-1701 is a popular custom plate request among Trekkies, so it's still associated with Koorey. She receives computer-generated traffic tickets in the mail when cameras see NCC-1701 in states where license plate records are not up to date.
We all recognize the image of Nefertiti, the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled Egypt in the 14th century B.C.E. The limestone and stucco sculpture is 47 centimeters (18.5 inches) tall, with its original colors mostly intact. If the image is accurate, she was a beautiful woman. The visage matches other depictions of Nefertiti from the city that Akhenaten built, Tell el-Amarna.
The bust of Nefertiti resides in the Neues Museum in Berlin, a gift from German art collector James Simon in 1920. Simon did not find the bust, but he financed the German archaeological expedition that did. A team led by Ludwig Borchardt unearthed the bust on December 6, 1912, from a workshop identified as that of the sculptor named Thutmose. Borchardt wrote of the bust, "Description is useless, must be seen." The custom of the time was that Egyptian artifacts would be split between the archaeologists and Egyptian authorities, but there is some doubt as to whether those authorities ever got to fully see Nefertiti.
The ownership of the bust has been a sore spot between Egypt and Germany ever since. Even Hitler got involved, which is why to bust is still in Berlin. Read about the bust of Nefertiti and the hundred-year controversy over where it belongs at Smithsonian.
Have you ever been in for a medical exam of some kind and then decided that you wanted a second opinion? Sometimes you run into a doctor who has a biased outlook, or maybe you get the idea that he doesn't know what he is doing. In this case, it could well be both. This poor fellow just wants his vision checked, but it seems it's the optometrist who is looking for a second opinion. Just how clearly do you see these clues?
It's not the client's vision that needs to be checked as much as it is the doctor who needs to be examined. I guess a random guy who might or might not need glasses is as good a subject as anyone. And after all this, the poor fellow will be billed $150 or so for his vision tests, not counting the glasses. The doctor should be paying him! -via reddit
A popular saying goes, "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away." Perhaps this principle also applies to fire and firefighters, as well as crime and police.
In California, where wildfires routinely destroy whole neighborhoods, some homeowners are preparing to immediately respond to fire threats by acquiring personal fire hydrants. The Wall Street Journal (alternate link) reports that options include hydrants that connect to personal tanks with thousands of gallons of water held in reserve or municipal water supplies. Especially prudent hydrant owners also purchase long firehoses and the training on how to use them effectively.
It's a strong selling point in the home real estate market, as you can see in the Zillow listing for this newly-built mansion north of Los Angeles.
We now have an online app that uses an artificial intelligence algorithm to examine your photos and render judgement. Former Google engineer Vishnu Mohandas and friends harnessed this app to Google’s computer vision API to render a detailed description of what AI sees and can figure out about your lifestyle from the details most people just gloss over. It's called TheySeeYourPhotos.
Our friend at Geeks Are Sexy uploaded the photo above, and the machine, against all odds, determined that he is a geek. I'm sure you are shocked. You can read the complete breakdown of the photo here. I tried it myself and found that the app does not work with images that have an .HEIC suffix, but it works with .jpg, .png, and probably other formats. Depending on the photo, it might return surprisingly accurate and creepy details about you. Mind you, I don't know if the images you upload to this app are stored and how they might be used, so think twice before you try it with images of people who might not want that. I tried this app with a couple of personal photos that I don't mind releasing into the world. The descriptions are pretty wordy, so you can continue reading if you're at all interested.
Tom BetGeorge has a real challenge to outdo himself with his holiday light shows. This Christmas, the computerized lights are supplemented by projections, laser lights, and fireworks, too! The segment above is a medley of songs from the 1980s, from Survivor, Van Halen, Wham!, Eurythmics, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Journey, Fine Young Cannibals, Europe, Toto, Phil Collins, and Guns 'n' Roses.
BetGeorge moved to a more rural area in Linden, California, a few years ago with more room to put on his spectacular Halloween and Christmas light shows without bothering the neighbors. He also runs his own light show company. Here is the entire 23-minute show.
The full show begins with three Christmas trees who serve as masters of ceremony. The songs are as follows:
0:36 "Carol of the Bells" by Lindsey Sterling 4:03 "Satisfaction" by Benny Benassi 7:29 1980s medley 14:40 John Williams medley 20:01 "Wizards in Winter" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra
You might not know the name Henry Every, but he was the pirate who made sailors want to be pirates. He gave the occupation its romantic aura because in 1695 he pulled off the most lucrative act of piracy in history, and then got away with it.
Every went from a career in the Royal Navy to employment as a captain in the slave trade. His life of piracy began when he was first mate on a Spanish expedition that involved raiding French ships. Paperwork stranded his ship and crew for months, and they were not paid, and so finally mutinied, taking the ship off to a life of plunder. Every was a talented leader of the pirates. Each ship they raided brought more and more men onto his fold, which tells us how well governments and trading companies treated their sailors.
Every built a fleet and allied with other pirates, and set upon a Mughal fleet that included the Ganj-i-Sawai, Emperor Aurangzeb's treasure ship laden with gold, silver, gems, and women slaves. The estimated take was between £325,000 and £600,000, a lot of money in 1695, which was the largest pirate plunder in history. That led to giving Every another distinction, as the first target of a global manhunt. Every's exploits ended up in newspapers, songs, literary works, and plays, giving piracy an exciting and romantic reputation. Read what Henry Every did to establish the Golden Age of Piracy at Amusing Planet.
On December 7, 1941 -- 83 years ago today -- US Navy Seaman Second Class John C. Auld died in battle while serving on the USS Oklahoma. He was one of 2,403 American servicemen who fell that day.
CBS News reports that, three years later, the Navy was able to recover bodies of many of the fallen sailors from the Oklahoma. In 2015, the Department of Defense studied DNA from the sailors' bodies to determine their identities. Now it has notified the family of Auld that they have identified his specific remains. These were interred yesterday in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here is his obituary.
-via Ed Driscoll | Photo: Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Colossal introduces us to the works of Caroline Dewison. Her website appropriately named A House of Wonders is filled with wondrously detailed tiny dioramas of scenes from nature. They are little worlds filled with the elements of nature . . . and the supernatural. Or at least the weird. This automaton, for example, presents aliens vessels circling over a lovely tree-lined lake.
