Nice picture, huh? But why are they all leaning to their right slightly? And what's with the ropes? It's because they're all high. It would help if you turned the picture the correct way up.
These 14 students at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Hes-so) Valais-Wallis campus climbed 2,400 meters (7,874 feet) up the mountain called Pierre Avoi in the Swiss Alps. If you think that's an awful lot of trouble to get a picture, you haven't seen the half of it. Watch the process they went through to make this photograph happen.
They say raising boys and girls couldn't be more different, since each sex requires a different form of parenting, and parents will say boys or girls are harder to deal with depending on their experience.
There may be no real answer to this question, since each kid presents their own challenges for a parent, but there is one thing we know for sure- boys tend to play differently than girls.
Boys like to roughhouse more than girls, they make getting dirty into a full-fledged sport, and when it comes to getting into trouble boys are always ready to lend each other a hand.
Arlington, Texas-based photographer Sara Easter has been documenting day-to-day life with her three boys, ages 4, 7 and 9, and her photos reveal not only all the brattiness found in young boys but also all the love these brothers have for each other.
Remember the super blue blood moon eclipse from January? William Briscoe was in Fairbanks, Alaska for the event on the morning of January 31 and captured it on 8K panoramic video, along with the Aurora Borealis! The time-lapse footage is stunning.
It's also interactive, so you can adjust the viewing angle as it goes. That means you can watch it again and again and never see the same exact video. -via Laughing Squid
Sometimes the difference between victory and defeat is a mighty arsenal of weapons capable of tearing the enemy to bits and armor that cannot be penetrated by any manmade weapons.
And then there's the argument that training, courage and teamwork can help any soldier overcome any obstacle and defeat an entire army, which is fine and dandy as long as said soldier isn't Darrell.
Because as you can see in this Jake Likes Onions comic Darrell is a real dweeb who seems to think his shield is some sort of weird backpack.
Back when California's Salton Sea was really a sea, or at least a big lake after the last flooding in 1905, Captain Charles E. Davis made it his home. Davis had already been a fishing boat captain, a gold prospector, and a world explorer before he settled down to become one of California's more memorable eccentrics.
There, Davis developed and inhabited Mullet Island, on top of an inactive volcanic butte and among what Salton Sea historian Pat Laflin calls “an inferno of hissing geysers and boiling mud pots.” It was befitting of Davis’ character to live atop a dormant volcano, and that is said to have been one of the site’s major draws for him. The island was named for the alfalfa-fed mullet that Davis raised, which later became famous throughout California. It also became the site of Davis’ passion project, Hell’s Kitchen, a combination boat landing/restaurant/dancehall where boaters and fishers often stopped for good food and a good time. Davis built it alone, along with his own cabin.
In the 1920s, Hell’s Kitchen’s heyday, motorcyclists and adventurers frequently wrote about Hell’s Kitchen’s oddball charms. Describing Mullet Island as “the headquarters of the Salton Sea fishing industry,” one 1922 periodical noted that Hell’s Kitchen was so named because it was “on top of a volcano and may blow off into space any minute.” (The same could be said, perhaps, of Davis.)
Davis provided both food and entertainment to those who visited his island. He also developed a slew of side projects that rarely succeeded: fish farming, painting, historical investigation, and various tourist draws. Read about the unique Captain Davis at Atlas Obscura.
(Image credit: Coachella Valley Historical Society)
When life presents a problem, dilemma or obstacle that can't be solved or overcome through simple means the uncreative are stumped, flummoxed or stymied while the creative get to hackin'.
Wanna turn your smartphone's flashlight into a UV light? Apply clear tape with marker on it in 3 layers, two blue one red, over your phone's LED flash panel and you've got an UV light in your pocket.
If you're in need of an emergency candle you can light the marker's felt tip on fire to create a small but steady flame, and the marker might even work still after you're done.
Hedy Lamarr was a world-renowned actress referred to as "the most beautiful woman in the world," but that was only the most public part of her story. A new documentary on her life, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, looks beyond the stardom to unveil her complicated life story, and especially her work in science and technology. While earning a living in Hollywood films, Lamarr studied all kinds of subjects, did her own experiments, and filed patents on her inventions.
Hedy’s most significant invention was one she worked on with the avant-garde composer George Antheil. The pair wanted to help the Allied cause during WWII, so they began designing a radio guidance system that allowed torpedos to avoid enemy detection. Ultimately it was rejected by the Navy and Hedy was told that she’d be more helpful as a fundraiser, using her celebrity status to sell war bonds and entertain troops.
But after raising millions of dollars doing exactly that, her patent was seized when she was deemed an alien due to her Austrian nationality. Twenty years later, with her name removed from the invention, her technology was put to use during the Cuban Missile Crisis. “Sons of bitches!” Mel Brooks howls when he learns of this in the film.
Those very same principles are now a core component of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and various military technology – an invention with an estimated market value of $30bn. To make matters worse, it’s been disputed that Hedy came up with the idea at all, with some believing she stole it from the Nazis and hid it in her shoe – an assertion Bombshell proves false.
Parkour videos are pretty fun to watch, and that POV GoPro footage can give viewers quite a thrill, but the Parkour obsessed seem like they'd be kinda annoying to hang out with.
They seem like the type of people who'd spend the whole time jumping around and climbing over stuff, an assumption that seems to be backed up by this video put together by Kuma Films.
But as the video goes on you discover a) of course they're flipping around and jumping off of stuff, they're filming the whole thing and b) this particular group of Parkour enthusiasts seem like pretty chill guys with mad skills. Plus- most of their shirts still have sleeves on them!
Every wizard knows the best way to win a battle is to hedge your bets by arming yourself with as many backup spells as you can remember, but there comes a point when both magic and melee weapons must be used to defeat the darkness. So while it's always good to have some extra spells handy it's even better to have every nerdy weapon imaginable in your pocket should one of Voldie's minions get within striking range. Because a lightsaber or two will still cut the mustard even if you don't know how to use the Force, and the Sting of a magical blade stays with a bad guy long after they've fled the field of battle!
Add the power of a geeky weapon or three to your wardrobe with this The Nerdy Hallows t-shirt by Thompson Custom Art Creations, it's all the protection you'll ever need against the forces of dorkness!
Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!
Mary Ann Patten came from a seafaring family and married a sailor, Joshua Patten, who soon became a ship's captain. That ship, Neptune's Car, had a cursed history, but Joshua was game to command, and Mary accompanied him. She studied navigation while they sailed around the world. On their second voyage, Joshua fell ill, and the first mate broke his leg. The financiers behind the voyage wouldn't wait, and replaced the first mate with the first guy they found, William Keeler.
Keeler proved an incompetent shitheel in record time. His list of infractions are staggering: he’d sleep through half his shifts; he set course through reef beds; he had to be ordered to do simple tasks; and finally, he just outright refused to do some tasks, like putting out sails. About a month in, Joshua put him in chains and confined him to his cabin.
While he didn’t have many other options, this choice proved deadly for Joshua. He’d relied on Keeler to keep the course while Joshua slept. But with Keeler gone, the ship facing constant gales of snow and sleet, and no other crew members able to handle navigation — the second mate was illiterate, the third an idiot — Joshua had to stay up all day and night.
Increasingly, he relied on Mary to help confirm the position, course, and speed. He recognized she was a better mathematician than he was, even when he wasn’t out of his mind from staying up all day and night.
But by the eighth day of staying up, it became clear Joshua was out of his mind from more than that. After navigating to the Le Maire Strait, he collapsed. He’d developed pneumonia, which only exacerbated the undiagnosed ailment he’d started the voyage with: Tuberculosis meningitis.
That's when Mary took command of Neptune's Car. She was 19, pregnant, and had a sick husband to care for. The weather was horrendous. Keeler tried to incite a mutiny. Read the story of Mary Patten and the ship she commanded at Rejected Princesses. -via Strange Company
There is some really, really bad fan art out there that makes you want to cringe when you come across it online, but the vast majority of the fan art shared online is okay, mediocre, so-so, good enough.
This sea of mediocre fan art makes the really great pieces stand out, but you don't need to see a bunch of bad fan art to appreciate this piece- because it's a standout blockbuster all on its own!
It took artist James Raiz, aka TheBoxOfficeArtist, 450 hours over the course of 7 months to complete this massive Star Wars mural, which is made up of eight smaller sections one for each live action movie released.
But you don't have to sit through over 400 hours of footage to see James create this amazing mural, because this timelapse video shows the entire creation process in around ten minutes!
It's desperation time for the spring semester. This guy apparently didn't do all that well on his midterms, because he has better things to do than study. But he has a good grasp on what the real world is like. The professor wouldn't fair so well in his plan, since she is not only a woman, but is old enough to have gray hair. This comic was based on something mentioned in the book The Case against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money by Bryan Caplan. The comic is from Zach Weinersmith at Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.
The Dread Crew Of Oddwood call their musical genre "heavy mahogany," while others just call it pirate music. They perform at Renaissance festivals, fan conventions, and their own concerts. You can keep up with their schedule at their website. Check out their performance of the classic "They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard."
Dr. William Horatio Bates was a well-respected ophthalmologist in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. He was wealthy and appeared happy to those who knew him. One night in 1902, he wrote a note to his wife explaining that he was going out of town to perform surgery. Six weeks later, Dr. Bates turned up working at hospital in London, with no memory of his previous life! He didn't even recognize his wife, who sailed to England to help him.
The doctor was reluctantly persuaded to join Mrs. Bates at the Savoy Hotel for a period of rest and recovery. There, he dimly recalled being called away from New York to board a ship and perform an operation on someone with a brain abscess.
Confused but relieved, Mrs. Bates planned to stay in London for as much time as necessary for her husband to recover from his ordeal, and for some further memories of his previous life to surface again. Her hopes, however, were dashed when Dr. Bates abruptly walked out of the Savoy two days after taking up residence there, disappearing once more into the London crowd. Mrs. Bates never saw her husband again.
The whole idea is definitely nightmare fuel, but yeah, it happens. Millions of spiders falling from the sky, as if they were descending from the clouds in a rain shower, until they cover the ground. In fact, there could be spiders floating above you right now! And that's why we invented houses.
Simon Whistler of Today I Found Out explains how spider rain happens, and why it is often seen as a good thing. Not by me! Luckily, spider rain is more likely to happen in Australia, where nature is always out to get us anyway. -via Laughing Squid
