Despite Edison's controversy in scientific history, a lot of Japanese people admire him for he shares a history with Japan. As he worked on improving the light bulb's lifespan, he experimented with different materials until one of his workers, William H. Moore, sent him bamboo samples growing near the Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine in Kyoto.

It’s not clear whether Edison asked Moore to send him that particular species of bamboo, or Moore sent them to Edison of his own volition. In any case, Edison discovered that carbonized bamboo made excellent lamp filaments.

To make these filaments, pieces of a single bamboo plant was sliced lengthwise into extremely fine strips, and bent to their desired hairpin or looped shapes in order to fit into the bulb.

They were then covered with powdered carbon and heated inside a furnace at an extremely high temperature for several hours before allowing them to cool. During this process, the bamboo strips turns from its initial cellulose structure to a pure carbon structure, ready to be mounted in the glass bulbs.

The carbonized bamboo filament weren't brighter but they lasted significantly longer than any existing filament at the time with some burning for over 1,200 hours. Until 1904, carbon filament was used in manufacturing incandescent lamps after which the tungsten filament was discovered. Edison's company, General Electric, then switched to tungsten.

The people of Iwashimizu Hachimangu then built a monument in honor of him three years after he died.

(Image credit: Katie/Flickr)

Do dogs smile at us? When they open their mouths in a grin and their tongue sticks out, are they smiling at us? Most of us think that expression means they are smiling but researchers say there's no strong evidence for that to be the case.

The problem with dog expressions is that our research tools are typically subjective, and paired with our anthropomorphizing tendencies, it's very possible that we misinterpret what we see on dogs' faces.

In fact, there's very little objective research to support the idea that dogs "smile." Some findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, show that this particular expression, called "relaxed open mouth" in dogs, typically occurs in positive settings, like when dogs are inviting one another to play.

But whether it's really what we would call a smile, or whether dogs are directing it at us intentionally to communicate something, remains unknown.

However, there have been expressions which could suggest that dogs try to communicate and develop a special bond with humans, particularly the puppy dog eyes. Studies have suggested that when dogs exhibited that expression, there is some connection being formed between the dog and humans.

For her research, Kaminski and colleagues visited a dog shelter, where they used something called a facial action coding system (FACS) to measure the minute facial motions dogs made while they interacted with people.

Afterward, the researchers kept track of the time it took for each dog to get adopted. The scientists discovered that "the more the dogs produced that movement [puppy dog eyes], the quicker they were rehomed," said Kaminski. No other behavior the researchers analyzed had as strong an effect.

So whether dogs are smiling at us intentionally, there is no objective research the would suggest so. However, we can say that dogs have a way of communicating through expressions which might have developed through their history of domestication.

(Image credit: Adam Griffith/Unsplash)

I have taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator a couple of times before. When I first learned about it, I was fascinated because I never knew how to define my personality. I knew I was an introvert but that was about it. Human personality however is more complex than a single trait.

Psychologists and researchers have been criticizing and debunking the MBTI ad nauseam mostly because it doesn't have any scientific evidence to back up the results. Moreover, many test takers have observed that their outcomes change over time, meaning the MBTI doesn't perfectly capture human personality based on its four categories.

Some research suggests the MBTI is unreliable because the same person can get different results when retaking the test. Other studies have questioned the validity of the MBTI, which is the ability of the test to accurately link the "types" to outcomes in the real world — for example, how well people classified as a certain type will perform in a given job.

One limitation is the MBTI's black-and-white categories: You are either an extrovert or introvert, a judger or a feeler. The MBTI may be missing even more nuances by assessing only four aspects of personality differences.

I have also come to see the flaws in the MBTI's design but it doesn't mean that the results taken from the test are completely useless. Rather, one can compare and gauge their assessment of themselves to what the test indicates.

In this sense, the MBTI can serve as a starting point for self-exploration by giving people a tool and a language to reflect on themselves and others. The test is "a portal to an elaborate practice of talking and thinking about who you are."

You can use the MBTI in whatever way you wish. It could give you a starting point for self-introspection, where you would probably get a good idea of your tendencies.

But remember that your personality does not have the limitations that the MBTI sets. It has more facets and dimensions. It is a lot messier. Sometimes it can be confusing. The thing we need to do is to embrace every part of our personality instead of trying to box ourselves in one category or another.

(Image credit: Greyerbaby/Pixabay)

I recently discovered the History Buff Channel on YouTube and am favorably impressed. This episode concerns the ill-fated attempt in 1845 to discover the fabled Northwest Passage - the shortcut to Asia from Europe - and the horrific aftermath of that voyage. Join us, won't you?

The History Buff Channel has a number of other videos that look to be must-see to me. Next up - '300'.

CodeBullet has been experimenting with artificial intelligence. Can he teach a neural network to race cars around a virtual track? There's honestly not a lot of "teaching" going on here, but some sort of natural selection. The cars that go the furthest before crashing get to reproduce, and what do you know, their progeny does even better! From the video description:

Teaching a neural network to drive a car. It's a simple network with a fixed number of hidden nodes (no NEAT), and no bias. Yet it manages to drive the cars fast and safe after just a few generations. Population is 650. The network evolves through random mutation (no cross-breeding). Fitness evaluation is currently done manually as explained in the video.

So, if you are set on getting a self-driving car, you might want to wait until version 4.0 comes out. -via reddit

There is a certain style that companies in the mid-20th century have. The vintage or retro look is pretty recognizable as compared to the modern-looking designs we have today.

Reagan Ray has collected an abundant list of classic airline logos from defunct airlines. And he has even gone further by looking at regional versions of different brands of airlines.

-via Kottke

(Image credit: Adam Moreira/Wikimedia Commons; CC by SA 4.0)

Canadian astronaut Dr. David Saint-Jacques, who is currently on board the International Space Station, puts his scientific training spanning decades of intense labor to work by playing with a tub of honey in zero gravity.

Maple syrup could not be reached for comment on the incident.

-via Marilyn Terrell

Kevin Parry made a stop-motion video by slicing thin layers off various produce to show us what they're like inside. Yeah, you've seen the insides before, when you eat them, but this is super cool. That part goes by pretty fast, then he shows us how it was done, which is cool, too! -via Boing Boing

Several islands in the Bahamas are home to the same species of iguana, the endangered Allen Cays rock iguana. The species only came to Allen Cay in the 1990s, but for some reason, the iguanas on Allen Cay are enormous, compared to their cousins on U Cay, Leaf Cay, and the other islands they inhabit. Biology professor John Iverson wanted to find out why they became so big in a relatively short span of time. It had to be something special about the environment of Allen Cay.

He puzzled over how this tiny island could have turned its resident iguanas into Goliaths. In certain ways, it’s just like the other islands the subspecies inhabits. All are essentially predator-free (save for herons that will occasionally snatch a baby iguana). And all of the islands grow similar shrubs, grasses, and flowers for the plant-loving reptiles to eat.

At the same time, Allen Cay boasts far fewer white sand beaches than its neighbors. Instead, most of its surface is heavily pockmarked due to the honeycomb limestone that covers it. “There are holes everywhere. Some folks call it razor rock because the holes are like razors,” says Iverson. The cavities make the island treacherous for human visitors, but ideal for nesting seabirds. That’s why Allen Cay attracts a dense colony of brown and white Audubon’s shearwaters. Until recently, the island was also overrun with house mice that had been introduced by humans.

Iverson began to suspect that these so-called vegetarian iguanas might be supplementing their diets with seabirds and mice. The scenario seemed to add up: If you take animals that eat plant matter and give them animal protein, they’ll grow faster, he reasoned.

The idea made sense, but where was the evidence? Read about the experiment that solved the puzzle, and the unintended consequences of the hypothesis itself at Atlas Obscura. 

(Image credit: Kristen Richardson)

I was looking on YouTube hoping to find the old Tim Conway western comedy Rango, circa 1968, and found this instead. It'll have to do.

Another of the films from my childhood, The Time of Their Lives is a good family film and will let the young'uns see Abbott and Costello up close and personal, since they may have seen only their caricatures up till now. From the IMDb:

The film is set in the Revolutionary War period and then in 1946, with Costello playing the same role in both parts, and Abbott playing different roles (although the characters are related, just spread over 170 years!). There are a lot of funny sequences, but the historical angle makes the rest of the film very interesting in its own right. With appearances by such b-movie stalwarts as Kirk Alyn and Rex Lease, a fine supporting cast, and good-looking historical settings,the film is handsome looking and holds up well today. THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES is a nice change-of-pace for the Abbott and Costello fan, and once again shows that Costello was capable of carrying an entire feature film himself--and that Bud Abbott was excellent in character roles, not just as half of a comedy team.

My father told me that this was the first film that he saw with my mother after they were married, so it holds some personal significance, but it is certainly worth watching on its own. Two thumbs up.

It's summertime for all practical purposes (technically not until the summer solstice in late June, realistically the Memorial Day Weekend, and essentially, now, since it is already 88-feels-like-97 in the Houston area) and you know what that means. I mean besides kids out of school, hot weather, vacation plans, hurricane threats (in Gulf Coast states), crowds (everywhere), decent watermelon (at last), baseball, and water parks. I mean grilling.

Delish has offered up 71 grilling recipes that do indeed look delish, alright. Here in Texas we are partial to grilled beef, pork, chicken, seafood, veggies (especially corn and peppers), fruit (especially pineapple), and even desserts. Delish has us covered and so they will probably have your needs covered too. Beautiful photos, great recipes, and wild imaginations; what are you waiting for?

The Dodge City Peace Commission. Wyatt Earp is sitting, second from left. Bat Masterson is standing on the right.

Dodge City has long been a metaphor of the lawless Old West. You'll not be surprised to find that it is a rather normal Kansas town, and has been for most of its existence. Dodge City was founded in 1872 along the new railroad. The town's reputation was made quickly, and then stuck.

Newspapers in the 1870s crafted Dodge City’s reputation as a major theater of frontier disorder by centering attention on the town’s single year of living dangerously, which lasted from July 1872 to July 1873. As an unorganized village, Dodge then lacked judicial and law-enforcement structures. A documented 18 men died from gunshot wounds, and news­papers identified nearly half again that number as wounded.

But the newspapers didn’t merely report that news: They interwove it with myths and metaphors of the West that had emerged in the mid-century writings of Western travelers such as Frederick Law Olmsted, Albert D. Richardson, Horace Greeley, and Mark Twain, and in the “genteel” Western fiction of Bret Harte and its working-class counterpart, the popular yellow-back novels featuring cowboys, ­Indians, and outlaws.

In other words, Dodge City was the victim of fake news. That resulted in a struggle between residents who wanted to promote Dodge City as an upstanding place to do business, and those who wanted to capitalize on the publicity, however lurid. Learn more of the history of the real Dodge City at the Saturday Evening Post. -via Damn Interesting

For a while, we were oversaturated with article about how companies can market products to Millennials, who don't care about brands and don't have money anyway, until those articles were replaced by the same questions about Generation Z. That's really nothing new. Big companies are always looking for a way to tap into the zeitgeist of their biggest target demographic. In the 1990s, that was Gen X, and Coca-Cola thought they were onto something.  

No one quite knew what to do with Generation X (born from the late 1960s to the early ’80s), but marketers were especially stumped at how they could appeal to this new, generation of globalisation that was disillusioned with the status quo. The heart of the matter was, and remains, incredibly subversive – a challenge to dive head-first into a risky marketing ploy that raises eyebrows even today: could such a blatant anti-advertising message be profitably used by advertisers? In 1993, Coca-Cola tried with a new, intentionally drab soft drink called OK Soda. “It underpromises,” Coke’s projects manager said, “It doesn’t say, ‘This is the next great thing.’ It’s the flip side of over-claiming.” It was supposed to be the marketing world’s greatest reverse psychology triumph, a mastery of consumerism over postmodern disillusion. But things didn’t quite work out at planned, and retracing the lifespan of OK Soda is reveals not only an embarrassing snapshot from Coke’s past, but a window into what consumers really (don’t) want to hear.

OK Soda was remarkably short-lived, but exceedingly strange. Read the story of OK Soda at Messy Messy Chic.

(Image credit: TeemPlayer)

A woman goes to her mother for a little help with her job. Turns out that Mom is a bit over-extended herself. Sometimes you have to consider how much is too much and how good is good enough. -via Laughing Squid