When George Romero's movie Night of the Living Dead was released in 1968, it was criticized for its gory violence, and otherwise regarded as a cheap B-movie. But it was scary, and soon made back its production budget 250 times over. In the half-century since then, it's become a classic, and Romero, who also made plenty of other horror films, is regarded as a master of the genre. He single-handedly created the modern concept of the zombie.

Now film students can study the master and his works at the George A. Romero Horror Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh. The university's library department is partnering with the George A Romero Foundation, and has acquired an archive of Romero's materials to be studied. Ben Rubin is the library's horror studies collection coordinator, and has only begun to sort through the collection.  

The collection runs the gamut from correspondence, contracts and legal agreements, and scripts—produced and unproduced— to photographs, DVDs, film and video footage, and promotional material from local theaters. Highlights include the original annotated script for Night of the Living Dead, an unproduced adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s Masque of the Red Death, and a foam latex zombie head used as a prop.

Rubin hasn’t examined the full collection, but he’s intrigued by much of what he’s seen—particularly, he told LJ, drafts of scripts that show the evolution of the films he’s familiar with. “We came across an original version of Night of the Living Dead with his heavy annotations in it, immediately recognizable scenes but that were definitely different, characters that were not yet named—but from the scene I could tell exactly who they were.”

He was also impressed with the number of unfilmed scripts. “While Romero is beloved in the horror community, and had an untold amount of impact, he didn't release a whole lot of films,” explained Rubin. “But this archive is showing that he produced way, way more than was ever made in his life, which is exciting to see how much work he was actually doing all this time.... The adaptations that he has in there show that he was looking at everything from the universal classic horror films of Dracula and Frankenstein to more obscure horror genres, like splatterpunk from the '80s, that aren't as well known.”

Read about the acquisition and the new George A. Romero Horror Studies Center at Library Journal. -via Metafilter

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— nora (@noraaa_3) April 9, 2019

The internet is full of cute dog and cat pictures, but you know for every perfect portrait, there are ten discarded images. A Twitter thread from @baby_b0nes has gone viral, in which she challenged her followers to post the least flattering picture of their pet. The responses came in quickly, because everyone has at least one picture of their dog, cat, or whatever that didn't come out right.

(Image credit: @camicuffari)

(Image credit: Jacquelin de Leon)

You can see the entire thread here. Or check out the top-ranked pictures at Bored Panda.

We are all interested in knowing our limits. What’s the human limitation for pain? What’s the human limits of strength? How far can we push our brains? We all ask ourselves what our limit is, and we also ask if we can overcome that limit. Thankfully, we have science to look for the answers to these questions.

Scientists from Duke University investigated athletes and pregnant women. They were interested in human limitations - specifically in human endurance.

The scientists found out that the cap is 4,000 calories a day for average people or 2.5 times the body’s resting metabolic rate. Anything higher than this would not be sustainable in the long run. They also found out that pregnant women were actually endurance specialists, as they live near the limit of what the human body can endure as they peak to up to 2.2 times the body’s resting metabolic rate.

The study, in Science Advances, showed energy use started off high but eventually levelled off at 2.5 times the resting metabolic rate.

The study found a pattern between the length of a sporting event and energy expenditure; and that while running a marathon may be beyond many, it is nowhere near the limit of human endurance.

•Marathon (just the one) runners used 15.6 times their resting metabolic rate

•Cyclists during the 23 days of the Tour de France used 4.9 times their resting metabolic rate

•A 95-day Antarctic trekker used 3.5 times the resting metabolic rate

"You can do really intense stuff for a couple of days, but if you want to last longer then you have to dial it back," Dr Herman Pontzer, from Duke University, told BBC News.

He added: "Every data point, for every event, is all mapped onto this beautifully crisp barrier of human endurance.

"Nobody we know of has ever pushed through it."

The researchers argue the 2.5 figure may be down to the human digestive system, rather than anything to do with the heart, lungs or muscles.

They found the body cannot digest, absorb and process enough calories and nutrients to sustain a higher level of energy use.

(Image Credit: skeeze/ Pixabay)

A couple of years ago, my daughters complained they had no pockets that would hold their iPhones while jogging. I mentioned fanny packs, but they didn't know the term. Since they also had no idea of the disdain for fanny packs, we bought them and they've been using them ever since. I learned there is a big difference between an elderly American tourist using a fanny pack and a young jogger wearing earbuds wearing a fanny pack. The concept of wearing a purse around your waist goes back much further than you might think, but it only took off in the 1960s.

The 20th-century obsession with the fanny pack seemingly began on the ski slopes in Europe in the 1960s and '70s. Known as bauchtasche, or stomach bags, in Switzerland, skiers traveling away from the base lodge who wanted to keep certain items—food, money, a map, flares, and occasionally alcohol—within arm's reach wore them proudly. Photographers also found them useful when hiking or traveling outdoors and climbing through obstacles, as they reduced the risk of an expensive camera or lens being dropped or damaged.

Read about the rise, fall, and resurrection of the fanny pack at Mental Floss.     

(Image credit: Plot Spoiler)

For his latest project entitled “Inimical Nostalgia”, Jordanian architect and artist Wasim Zaid used an unthinkable material for his masterpiece: cotton candy. With this type of material, Wasim can easily carve what he wants using his hands as the cotton candy is soft enough. What’s his reason for choosing such a material?

The concept behind the work seeks to convey how our sweet, yet rose-tinted view of the past hinders the progress of society in present day.

By using cotton candy, Zaid gives the work a sense of impermanence. Referencing sculptures from ancient civilizations, the features of the face can be effortlessly pulled apart in an effort to convey how our reverence for the past is based on a mere notion (that can also be pulled apart) and can end up becoming a hindrance to development. In essence, by using the sugary substance in this form, the project aims to reveal the necessity of having a complex cultural relationship with the past, in order to benefit from it in a constructive way.

(Image Credit: Wasim Zaid)

We humans always want to make our lives easier and more comfortable. Every day, new studies are conducted, and new things are invented. Technology and our thirst for knowledge have brought us up to this day, albeit at an expensive price: Mother Nature. Moment by moment, the Earth’s resources get depleted, and it gets depleted fast. The Earth’s atmosphere is getting warmer due to climate change, and more and more animal species become extinct by the hour.

One of the animals deeply affected by climate change is the turtle. Their appearance might not show it, but turtles are ecological movers and they do lots of things for ecosystems that they belong to. Fortunately, there are people concerned enough to go to their rescue. John Rucker is one of these people: he finds turtles and preserves turtles with his trained dogs. (Counting the number of turtles is important; this helps the conservationists manage the land better.)

It's a cool spring morning on a 40-acre nature preserve owned by Bur Oak Land Trust in eastern Iowa. John Rucker is scouring a shady hillside with his four Boykin spaniels, looking for turtles.

"Find turtle, find turtle," Rucker calls to his dogs. Turning to a reporter, he says: "Did I tell you I'm the only person in the world that does this?"

In fact, there are a number of conservationists and their canine companions doing similar work (though Rucker may be one of the few who live out of tents and vans while working).

When he's not living off the grid in rural Montana, Rucker travels the country with his specially trained hunting dogs, helping scientists and conservationists find turtles.

The dogs working with Rucker are Rooster, Jenny Wren, Jaybird and Mink.

Rucker and his "super dogs," as he calls them, make their way through the undergrowth, checking in brush piles and under old logs. When the dogs find a turtle, they'll gently pick it up with their mouth and bring it back to Rucker.

"You will notice that as soon as they strike a scent trail their tails will start wagging furiously, and then their whole demeanor becomes extremely excitable," Rucker explains.

…

"It's sort of like a religion for me," Felder says. "Nature is important and somebody has to defend it, protect it, preserve it."

(Image Credit: Kate Payne/ IPR)

Often, we see photos of objects and regions through artists' depictions based on information and data which scientists have gathered or theories from the available data. With more advanced equipment and more frequent space missions being launched, we can now have a glimpse of our universe in its actual form.

However, several centuries ago, astronomers of the time didn't have the luxury of computerized equipment or all the other technology with which we try to view the stars. So it was a necessity for them to draw their observations in order to make records.

In 1610, Galileo published his seminal work, “Sidereus Nuncius”— often translated as “Starry Messenger” — which contained numerous drawings he sketched over long nights in front of his telescope. They included the cragged terrain of the moon, stars invisible to the naked eye, and what would come to be known as the Galilean moons circling Jupiter.

Galileo drew on art techniques like perspective and chiaroscuro — a manner of depicting light and shadows that was relatively new at the time — to show the lofty mountains and craters on the moon’s imperfect surface. Using geometry and his drawings as a measuring stick, he was even able to measure their heights with astonishing precision.

In relation to this, the Hubble Telescope was supposed to be retired in 2004 after completing all of its objectives. But through the initiative of a group of astronomers, they convinced NASA to keep the telescope going. And even today, the Hubble has produced many astounding images of outer space and NASA continues to document them.

(Image credit: NASA/ESA/Wikimedia Commons)

Fifty thousand. Fifty. Thousand.

That’s the amount of microplastic particles the average person is estimated to ingests annually, while children on average eat 40,000 microplastic particles. Plus, we are likely to breathe in the similar quantities of plastic.

If that seems high, fifty thousand microplastic particles is actually the lower estimate. The actual amount is presumed to be many times higher, as scientists only analyzed a small portion of food and beverage for plastic contaimination.

But I guess this finding is not that surprising, considering that we are already aware that plastics are everywhere, be it on land or sea.

The scientists reported that drinking a lot of bottled water drastically increased the particles consumed.

The health impacts of ingesting microplastic are unknown, but they could release toxic substances. Some pieces are small enough to penetrate human tissues, where they could trigger immune reactions.

Microplastic pollution is mostly created by the disintegration of plastic litter and appears to be ubiquitous across the planet. Researchers find microplastics everywhere they look; in the air, soil, rivers and the deepest oceans around the world.

They have been detected in tap and bottled water, seafood and beer. They were also found in human stool samples for the first time in October, confirming that people ingest the particles.

The new research, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, took the data from 26 previous studies that measure the amounts of microplastic particles in fish, shellfish, sugar, salt, beer and water, as well as in the air in cities.

More details about this revelation at The Guardian.

(Image Credit: Paulo Oliveira/Alamy)

Tacos have become so essential that Taco Bell running out of taco shells would be considered a state of emergency, at least for this guy. 

Slidell Police Department posted via Facebook on Monday that someone called them to complain that the Taco Bell on Gause Boulevard ran out of soft and hard taco shells. “While this is truly a travesty, the police can’t do anything about this,” wrote the Department. “Hopefully, they are replenished in time for Taco Tuesday!” assured Slidell Police Department.

(Image Credit: hayme100/ Pixabay)

These life-sized plywood cutouts of famous pop culture icons and characters from various animated shows were the works of Mike Bennett whose inspiration came from a thought about Calvin and Hobbes making a big snowman. From there, his project took off.

He headed to Home Depot, came back with a jigsaw, and went to town on wood from a nearby ReBuilding Center. Bennett, who was once active on the short-video app Vine, where he recreated scenes from movies and TV with little paper dolls, began to fill the yard with pop-culture characters.

He wasn't satisfied with filling his own front yard with these figures. So he decided to put his installation art around town without destroying any property or trespassing, of course.

“I’m a pretty big baby when it comes to trespassing,” he says, and he’s also careful to avoid damaging property or plants. He’ll sometimes fasten his wooden characters to light posts, trees, or telephone poles with a few hooks and twine. His information is printed on the back of the figures, so if someone gets in touch to say that they want one to come down, he can swing by and grab it.

So far, he hasn't received any complaints from people. He has more plans to put up other characters in different places around Portland.

(Image credit: Mike Bennett)

Popular Mechanics magazine has been around a lot longer than most people realize, and they sometimes cover topics that one wouldn't expect to find in a magazine by that name. One such topic covers in detail the planning behind the Normandy Invasion, which occurred 75 years ago today. The scope and depth of the planning is breathtaking, and it makes for spine-tingling reading even today, so much more impressive as it was planned without the use of computers.

I've read elsewhere about the many nuances of the planning, but, most surprisingly, it was the meteorologists that called the shots for exactly when this invasion would take place. They gave Eisenhower a narrow window during which the weather was predicted to be cooperative and he took it. The rest, as they say, is history.

Read through the article and, like me, gain newfound respect for the Greatest Generation.

The greatest military invasion in history began 75 years ago today, and few of those who participated in it are still alive. There have been many films concerning D-Day, such as The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan, but these were fictional recreations based on real events.

Embedded above is a documentary on D-Day, with actual footage of the Normandy landings and subsequent events. My father fought in the Pacific War, so he wasn't there, but my maternal uncle was and he came back in one piece with the nickname 'Machine Gun Doc'.

When I watch this, I see young men for whom I am now old enough to have been their grandfather, when in fact they would be old enough to have been my father. Those were difficult times and I for one am thankful that this country produced so many young men who were up to the task. Good work, soldiers.

Geysers are usually surrounded by land and they spout hot water from underneath which happens as a result of the surface water touching hot rocks very deep underground. However, there are cases when geysers form due to particular hydrogeological conditions such as the one in Reykholt, Iceland. The geyser is surrounded by a river.

Iceland has many geysers but none is stranger than Vellir, also known as Árhver, because it is located smack in the middle of a flowing river. Vellir consists of a cone of cemented clay and gravel which can be clearly seen when the water level in the Reykjadalsá river is low, but at high water levels, the cone usually remains submerged.

(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The first Buck Rogers film was made with apparently no budget at all and was released in 1934, but was not shown in theaters. Not in the usual way, anyway. It was shown in one special theater.

The first Buck Rogers film was shown to the public during the second year, 1934 edition, of the Chicago World's Fair. The Century of Progress International Exposition was held in Chicago in 1933 and 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation. Its motto was "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms" and its architectural symbol was the Sky Ride, a transporter bridge perpendicular to the shore on which one could ride from one end of the fair to the other. After a winter break, the 1934 Fair ran from May 26 through Oct. 31 and included a new Island Midway area that faced Lake Michigan. The "Buck Rogers Show," as it was called on admission tickets, was located on the Enchanted Island playground for children, at #125 on the left hand section of the 1934 Fair Map. It is unknown whether this film was the entire show, or if fans were treated to some live action event as well for their dime. It is certain that after watching the movie, visitors could purchase the very same toy spaceships and ray guns they had just seen. Pretty tricky, huh?

The film was lost for a long time, then rediscovered in 1983. Read the story of the first Buck Rogers film at Café Roxy.  -via Weird Universe