A mountain climber was making his way down the rock ridge of Mt. Nishidake near Chichibu City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, with an attached GoPro camera. He didn't see the bears, but mama bear saw him descending toward her cub, so she went into attack mode and surprised him from behind. The climber, who does not give his name, immediately began screaming, kicking, and using a Hammer Fist. It could have ended much worse, but the mama bear fell and ran to her cub. The climber, now full of adrenaline, climbed back up to put some distance between himself and the bear, and to get a better view of where she might have gone. This happened on October first. He may still be there. -via reddit
Henry Paget held several titles: he was the 2nd Earl of Uxbridge, the 1st Marquess of Anglesey, and during the Battle of Waterloo, he was a cavalry commander. He also held several military ranks afterward, but it was at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 that Paget's leg was injured so badly that it was amputated.
Paget stayed at the house of Monsieur Hyacinthe Joseph Marie Paris during his surgery and recovery. Paris asked if he could have the amputated leg so he could bury it, and Paget consented. The leg was buried in a wooden box with an inscribed tombstone marking the spot.
Paget later used a wooden leg that was state-of-the-art at the time, with tendons and an articulated knee, so innovative that its maker applied for a patent. The discarded leg, however, became a tourist attraction in Belgium. This situation did not sit well with Paget or his descendants, and the controversy over the leg lasted until 1934! Read about Paget's right legs, both his first one and his wooden one, at Amusing Planet.
If the name sounds familiar, this Henry Paget was the great-grandfather of another Henry Paget previously featured at Neatorama.
(Image credit: Constantinus Fidelio Coene)
The birds have declared war on earthbound animals, threatening them and making life miserable by bombing them with poop. They've even harnessed a rooster to provide more ammunition! The situation couldn't be more dire. The humans don't know what to do, and the dog is useless as usual, so it's up to the cats to save the day. You might not know it, but our feline friends have fighter jets at their disposal. Go figure.
This war movie from Aaron's Animals (previously at Neatorama) is incredibly elaborate and richly-designed, yet still as ridiculously stupid as cats flying fighter jets should be. It's got action, comedy, romance, and rooster poop. What else could you ask for?
In the 1970s, NBC was presented with an idea for merging a cop show with a medical show by focusing on forensic pathology. The show would revolve around a young, attractive medical examiner who solved crimes from the morgue. The premise of Quincy, M.E. was somewhat changed when the production snagged the very popular Jack Klugman for the role of Dr. Quincy. Klugman himself had a vision for the show. He wanted it to focus on people and their problems more than chase scenes and shooting. Klugman won that battle, which is one reason why Quincy M.E. scripts were 50% longer than that of a typical cop show.
Over time, the series focused more on little-known social justice issues, such as child porn and elder abuse. A 1981 episode titled "Seldom Silent, Never Heard" was inspired by Adam Seligman, a man who suffered from Tourette’s syndrome and testified before Congress about the difficulty of obtaining effective medicine. The episode introduced viewers to the idea of "orphan drugs," medicines that pharmaceutical companies didn't want to invest in because there were too few people affected to make a profit. Read the story of how Quincy -and Klugman- rallied popular opinion to pass the Orphan Drugs Act of 1983. -via Metafilter
Remember the uproar about red dye #2? It was banned in the US because in high doses, it can cause cancer in rats. But that was small potatoes compared to other colors that lead to real deaths among real people in history. Humans have always treasured bright, true, and lasting pigments to give color to... well, everything. It's only been relatively recently that their chemical nature became closely studied and regulated. Before that, way too many people died because of our search for pretty colors. This TED-Ed lesson looks at white, green, and orange and how deadly they once were. -via Nag on the Lake
David Bingham writes about cemeteries and the stories behind the people buried in them at the blog The London Dead. He admits he usually skips the more recent gravestones, as he prefers to dig up history, so to speak. But during one visit to Highgate East Cemetery in London, where relatively wealthy people are buried, Bingham noticed an intriguing headstone for a woman who died in 2019. It said, "This is life." That's a definite head scratcher. So he looked at others and found that the way many people want to be remembered (or really were remembered by the person who ordered the stone) were stories in themselves. Sally Hunter, who died in 2015, has a grave marker saying "LAWYER should have been a marine biologist". He hunted down the stories behind that and other epitaphs, such as the man who had five words describing his life, including "nudist," but couldn't find out anything at all about the man buried under the gravestone you see here. -via Strange Company
Nobody’s gonna pick on the band kids any more!
— Nathan Pryor (@nathanpryor) April 23, 2021
I built my buddy a chainsaw clarinet, combining his two passions into one ridiculous multi-tool: the Clarisaw! Or would that be the Chaininet? pic.twitter.com/PQ0ibZiw7o
Nathan Pryor comes from a "DIY family" and grew up making things, many of which are useful. The chainsaw clarinet is certainly one of those for the times in life when one desires to make music, but also clear away brush and cut up firewood.
Pryor made the instrument for a friend who is a professional clarinetist in a symphony orchestra, as well as the owner of a wood milling business. The saw is an adapted angle grinder powered by a battery and a motor from a drill.
This is as close to an example of why we exist as you can probably get.
— US Consumer Product Safety Commission (@USCPSC) October 12, 2022
Pryor's invention has gathered the strong approval of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, a US federal agency responsible for ensuring that unsafe commercial products stay out of the hands of consumers.
Amazing walnut carvings.. đź‘Ś pic.twitter.com/H8YbOjqOe2
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) October 14, 2022
These dioramas are attributed to xiujun1314, a user of Douyin, a Chinese-language social network that I gather is identical to TikTok. The artist hollows out walnut halves with a craft knife and adds miniature hinges to allow them to easily open and close. Tiny homes exist inside. They're cozy due to space limitations, but full of useful furniture and homey decorations. Lights provide illumination for those cold nights when you want to crawl inside your shell and shut out the world.
And perhaps the rent is, at least temporarily, affordable.
King Tut, who ruled Egypt over 3,000 years ago, captured America's imagination in the 1970s when the exhibit called The Treasures of Tutankhamun toured the US and showed off the golden artifacts he was buried with. The impression we've had ever since was that King Tut lived a glorious life of immeasurable wealth. While he was a wealthy king, he suffered from birth defects and poor health, then died while most likely still in his teens.
The tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered in 1922. His embalmed remains got their first x-rays in 1968. A full CT scan of his body was performed in 2006. They reveal that Tut suffered a cleft palate and a club foot, possibly due to generations of inbreeding. He also had malaria and a broken leg. An article at Mental Floss looks at the speculation on what his cause of death may have been, and there are plenty of possibilities.
(Image credit: EditorfromMars)
'Dead Men's Bones' cookies are just one way that the island nation remembers the dead. Check out the recipe here.https://t.co/KrD4Fmkgce
— Atlas Obscura (@atlasobscura) October 12, 2022
Malta, the island nation in the Mediterranean, marks November as the Month of the Dead. One of the traditions associated with the Month of the Dead is a cookie called Għadam tal-mejtin, which translates to Dead Man's Bones. Thanks to the influence of Halloween, these cookies start showing up in Maltese bakeries in late October.
They are more than bone-shaped. The outer layer is a sweet vanilla cookie with a consistency that you're used to in regular shortbread cookies. Inside, however, is the "marrow." It is a chewy yet crumbly dough made of almond flour with spices like cardamom and cloves. The baked cookie is often decorated with icing. Għadam tal-mejtin is more than a treat; it serves as a memento mori, a reminder that we are all destined to die one day. That reminder spurs people to remember and honor those that have gone on before them.
That said, who wouldn't want to try one of these cookies? You'll find the story of Għadam tal-mejtin, plus a recipe so that you can make your own, at Atlas Obscura.
When the time comes when we are alerted of an asteroid approaching our planet, what can we do to defend Earth? Is it possible to alter the course of that celestial body? It may very well be possible, it turns out.
NASA has been thinking of methods to defend against near-Earth objects (NEOs) for a long time. Recently, the agency sent one of its missions to space. The mission, called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), had a straightforward objective: to crash into Dimorphos (the minor-planet moon of the asteroid Didymos) in hopes of altering its course.
On September 27, 2022, the DART spacecraft successfully collided with Dimorphos. The spacecraft wasn't even able to send its last photo completely back to NASA. But did the attempt work? Yes, it did. It was a smashing success.
A few days ago, on October 11, NASA announced that they were able to shorten the orbit of the Dimorphos asteroid by 32 minutes, which surpassed NASA's humble goal of only 72 seconds.
Should an asteroid be reported to be approaching Earth, humanity may have a chance of deflecting it.
(Image Credit: NASA/ Johns Hopkins APL)
It's October again, which means the time for spooks is here. Spooky, weird, and bizarre stories. Spooky-themed events. You name it. And if you want to read strange stories, let me introduce you to the Cult of Weird Twitter account.
As its name suggests, this account is for the weird, and you should always expect that in the account's tweets — to be weird. Some can give chills. Some are humorous. And there are some that are straight-up horrifying.
Bored Panda has compiled 30 of "uneasy but captivating pics" from the Cult of Weird, but if you want to satisfy your appetite for the spooky, you can always visit the Twitter account on your own.
(Image Credit: Cult of Weird via Bored Panda)
Recently, the home security company Ring (owned by retail giant Amazon) gave law enforcement access to real-time home surveillance footage through the numerous Ring products installed in homes. While this might be good for monitoring neighborhood activities and potential crimes, this is privacy abuse.
This is not the first time the company disregarded the safety and privacy of its customers. And some have already grown tired of Ring's antics that they began building alternatives to the brand. And it seems these perform better than this mainstream home surveillance system.
Of course, doing the alternative may require "a little extra work," but it is worth the trouble to those who value their privacy.
The alternatives require third-party cameras, NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices, or dedicated NVRs (Network Video Recorders).
And, if you want to take things up a notch, you can embed AI technologies into the NVRs, making your DIY surveillance system on par with Amazon's human detection features. These DIY systems may also outperform Ring, apparently. One user reported having 10 false positive notifications with Ring cameras to only having around 2 or 3 when he decided to go DIY.
But the best thing about creating a homegrown system is that all footage is recorded locally on one's own hardware.
While doing this requires some technical skills, there are helpful resources out there in the form of subreddits (like r/selfhosted or r/homesecurity) and tutorials.
(Image Credit: Frigate)
If you grew up or currently living in Canada or the northern part of America, you've probably heard of the giant monster of the pine forests that "eats people, especially children" — the terrifying Wendigo. Over the centuries, there have been multiple versions of the Wendigo. But how did the legend begin?
According to the Ojibwe People's Dictionary, the Wendigo legend began as a towering "winter cannibal monster" who was always hungry for human flesh. The creature was a metaphor for ice, hunger, cold, death, despondence, and desperation.
The Wendigo went beyond metaphor, however. It became an idea. It is believed that those who put their survival needs over others, and are tempted to, or even do, eat human flesh, can "go wendigo." They will be possessed by the monster's spirit, and their hearts and spines will be encased in ice. The idea of "going wendigo" probably warned people not to be selfish and to consider others, especially in a community located in a harsh environment.
Today, pop culture depicts the Wendigo as this ghostly winter spirit who appears as a humanoid deer with a deer or elk skull as its head. While the scare factor of the Wendigo is significantly toned down, it still is a frightening sight to encounter at night.
(Image Credit: Victoria Ellis/ Atlas Obscura)
Last month, staff from the Millstone Wildlife Center in New Hampshire answered the call of a crying baby bobcat who had been abandoned by its mom. The kitten was assessed to be only about 6 weeks old. Thankfully, she was found to be in good health. Physically, at least. It is without saying that the kitten would be emotionally devastated by its recent experience.
To make things a little better for the bobcat, her rescuers contacted Spicy Cats, a recently established rescue and rehabilitation organization for feral cats. The group gave the bobcat to one of their resident cats named Honeybun, who they describe as "very maternal and patient."
Honeybun has raised several kittens that were not her own. However, this would be her first time raising a wild kitten. The president of Spicy Cats, Caroline, told The Dodo that "it was a bit of a gamble."
Thankfully, their gamble paid off. Honeybun and the bobcat "are doing so great together."
However, as Honeybun is not a bobcat, her role in raising the kitten will only be temporary. The kitten will then be placed under the care of another bobcat back at the Millstone Wildlife Center.
The center hopes she can be released successfully in spring.
(Image Credit: Spicy Cats via The Dodo)
