In the early Christian church, different sects interpreted the scriptures in many different ways. The second century Adamites based their culture on Adam and Eve, and lived their lives as if they existed before sin. That meant no clothing, no marriage, and no laws. They might even be seen as ancient hippies. Another thing they had in common with hippies is that they annoyed the surrounding establishment, Christian or otherwise.    

Adherents of an early Christian group in North Africa between the 2nd and 4th centuries, this forgotten society lasted longer than America is old, and was also revived hundreds of years later in the Netherlands during the Middle Ages. Various factions in Bohemia also took up the doctrines of this obscure sect, but were met with firm opposition from the mainstream churches. The Bohemian Adamites took to the practice of parading naked through towns and villages, preaching that God considered exclusive marriage to be a sin. They lived in lawlessness, maintaining that such concepts of monogamy would never had existed but for sin.

Historian Norman Cohn explains that “in this sect free love seems to have been the rule. The Adamites declared that the chaste were unworthy to enter the Messianic kingdom … The sect was much given to ritual naked dances held around a fire. Indeed, these people seemed to have spent much of their time naked, ignoring the heat and cold and claiming to be in the state of innocence enjoined by Adam and Eve.” The sect was also often criticised for “never thinking of earning their own living by the work of their hands”.

Despite occasional revivals, the Adamites were pretty much squashed out of existence all at once. Read how that happened at Messy Nessy Chic. -via Strange Company

(Image credit: Rolf Kranz)

Until recently, there were only 27 species of trapdoor spider, which are found all over the world. However, it's been 50 years since any new species of the genus Ummidia were described, and the technical tools for examine the species (meaning DNA) has come a long way. Rebecca Godwin and Jason Bond from UC Davis have now reworked the spiders' taxonomy and have reclassified and named 33 new species among spiders that have already been studied. You can imagine the opportunity for naming this presented.

U. neilgaimani, U. gingoteague, U. rongodwini, U. okefenokee, U. richmond, U. macarthuri, U. colemanae, U. rosillos, U. mercedesburnsae, U. paulacushingae, U. waunekaae, U. gertschi, U. timcotai, U. gabrieli, U. pesiou, U. rodeo, U. huascazaloya, U. anaya, U. cuicatec, U. brandicarlileae, U. riverai, U. frankellerae, U. hondurena, U. yojoa, U. matagalpa, U. carlosviquezi, U. varablanca, U. quepoa, U. cerrohoya, U. quijichacaca, U. tibacuy, U. neblina, U. tunapuna.

You might recognize some of the names. U. neilgaimani is for author Neil Gaiman, who had another spider named for him in January. U. gabrieli is named for musician Peter Gabriel, U. brandicarlileae is for singer Brandi Carlile, and quite a few others are named for scientists. -via Boing Boing

Paints, dyes, and other colorants have been very important in history- particularly those colors that are hard to manufacture. Red was among those up until Spanish conquistadors came to the Americas and found native industries cranking out red dye from the cochineal insect.   

Spain, realizing it had a precious product, cornered the market on cochineal red. It became one of their most valuable exports from Mexico, second only to silver. They even put laws on the books to protect cochineal—and the mysterious bug that created it. “You couldn’t take gold or silver or cochineal out of Spain, without authorization, on pain of death,” Greenfield says.

The country also had strong censorship policies to control information about cochineal and keep it from other countries. For years, Europeans remained unaware that the dye came from an insect. Many wondered if the dried cochineal that formed dyes was some sort of plant or animal. Once the secret source of Spain’s coveted dye eventually got out, it wasn’t long before Europe’s monarchies were plotting ways to fight—and kill—for it.

Read the history of cochineal red and how it took Europe by storm at Mental Floss. -via Strange Company

(Image credit: José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez)

Are Americans obsessed with sharks? Well, in 1975, Jaws defined what we now call the summer blockbuster. And Shark Week still draws audiences more than 30 years after it began. But the real obsession with sharks began earlier, when Americans were put in real danger from sharks. That wasn't their greatest danger, because we're talking about World War II. But it was the time that millions of Americans were introduced to ship travel in the armed forces, where surviving an enemy attack could lead to yet more danger.

Local newspapers across the country transfixed civilians and servicemen alike with frequent stories of bombed ships and aircraft in the open ocean. Journalists consistently described imperiled servicemen who were rescued or dying in “shark-infested waters.”

Whether sharks were visibly present or not, these news articles magnified a growing cultural anxiety of ubiquitous monsters lurking and poised to kill.

The naval officer and marine scientist H. David Baldridge reported that fear of sharks was a leading cause of poor morale among servicemen in the Pacific theater. General George Kenney enthusiastically supported the adoption of the P-38 fighter plane in the Pacific because its twin engines and long range diminished the chances of a single-engine aircraft failure or an empty fuel tank: “You look down from the cockpit and you can see schools of sharks swimming around. They never look healthy to a man flying over them.”

There were some fairly terrifying incidents of ship attack survivors being eaten by sharks, drawn by the blood of the wounded and the dead. Read about the rise of shark fear and how it lingers all these years later at The Conversation. -via Damn Interesting

Which wine pairs well with chicken? Any will do, so as long as the wine decants in this glass chicken made by Simone Crestani, a glass artist in Italy. His Instagram page is filled with many wondrously shaped and delicately formed glass objects, many of which, like this decanter and pair of glasses, can be put to practical use in the home.

-via Ugly Design

While I know some people who would want this, it's not an official LEGO set, just the latest project from LEGO artist Iain Heath, also known as Ochre Jelly (previously at Neatorama). Besides, we know that while the lightsaber was eventually recovered, the hand was never seen again. -via Mark Hamill

#TooSoon 😢 https://t.co/r1RVaNUeee

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) July 9, 2021

Some cats prefer sitting in empty boxes rather than a well-made cat bed. Big boxes, tiny boxes-- regardless of the size, if a cat finds it, there’s a big possibility it will sit on it. The question now is: why? Why do cats have the tendency to sit on boxes, and on any square-shaped item? Animal psychology researcher Gabriella Smith did an experiment to find out: 

"When we ask, 'What is this animal seeing?' people think of using dogs because they're so easily trained," Smith says. "But cats are the perfect candidate because we already know they will sit in a 2D square." Not only do cats not have to be trained to do this, they don't even have to come into the lab to do it. Cat owners (or as cats call them, servants) could easily tape shapes to the floor and record their cats' reactions.

Thus the first cat cognition experiment to use citizen scientists was born. And what better timing than during the COVID-19 pandemic? Smith put out the call for volunteers (via Twitter, of course) in June 2020. Much of the world was on lockdown to some degree, and cat owners were looking for something — anything — to do in their homes. Plus, Smith notes, "Cats perform best at home. In the lab, they wouldn't behave naturally."

She designed the experiment so the humans could gather cat data over six days. Participants were given templates to print out: a square to tape on the floor, and a set of "Pac-Mans," as Smith calls them, that could make an illusory square. Officially, this is called a "Kanisza square," which means that pieces of an image construct a complete image in our brains. Our minds see an image, in this case of a square, in the negative space.

Image credit: Jackie Zhao (Unsplash) 

The medieval kingdom of Makuria ranged over parts of what is now Sudan and Egypt. Its capital was Dongola, a Sudanese site on the Nile River where archaeologists have been digging since the 1960s. They previously found a church, and expected to find a town square as well. However, the massive structure they uncovered appears to be a much-larger cathedral.   

Archaeologists from the University of Warsaw’s Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology (PCMA) believe they have found two walls of the church’s apse, painted portraits of the Twelve Apostles, and the domed covering of a tomb. Artur Obłuski, director of the PCMA, told The Art Newspaper that the tomb could be the resting place of a powerful archbishop from Nubia’s Christian period, which ran approximately from the 6th century to the 14th century. That theory is based on the layout of another ancient church found in Sudan in the 1960s, just west of a bishop’s domed tomb.

At its height, Dongola was about the size of Paris today, so it only makes sense that they would have a large cathedral. Read about the discovery and the kingdom of Makuria at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: Artur Obłuski, Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw)

British comedian Chris McCausland is blind. On the TV show Would I Lie To You? he tells the story of that time he had a neighbor who ignored him... or so he thought. This is really funny, but it also shows us how modern technology can enable communications between people who otherwise would not communicate at all. -via Digg

A farm near Amesbury, in Wiltshire, UK, hosted a particularly unusual contest in 1883. Two men battled it out to decide who could work better- a laborer who had been drinking beer, or a laborer who only had water. Mr. W. F. Terrill, a farmer from Wiltshire, drank beer and harvested corn, while Mr. J. Abbey of the Church of England Temperance Society did the same while drinking only water.

From the very start in the contest, Mr. Terrill assumed the lead. At four o’clock, he had cleared 15a. 3r. 16p. [acres, roods, and perches], and Mr. Abbey had cleared 14a. 3r. 0p. Therefore at that time Mr. Terrill was about one acre ahead. A short cessation of work took place. Mr Terrill, it was stated, was “annointed” by his friends, the “ointment” consisting of whisky. But this is denied. However, he worked well after the pause.

After four o’clock, Mr. Abbey gained steadily, continuing to so so to the finish, when he was only 3r. 21p. behind, having gained something like an acre in about three hours and a quarter. The quantity pitched by Mr Terrill was 29a. 2r. 7p., and that of Mr. Abbey 19a. 2r. 26p. It is stated that a man who clears 12 or 13 acres in a day is considered have done a good day’s work. After the contest, Mr. Terrill and Mr. Abbey shook hands in a most cordial manner, and each proposed cheers for the other.

You might guess that the real winner of the competition was Mr. George Melsome, the owner of the farm, who cleared 48 acres with free labor. But the question of the benefits of beer vs. water was far from settled, once you look into the background of the contest and the men who took part. Read the whole story of the competition at Singular Discoveries.  -via Strange Company

🤹🏾‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/BrwAEA6SSV

— Zaila Avant-garde (@Basketballasart) April 17, 2021

Zaila Avant-garde, 14, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She's a true Renaissance woman because spelling words correctly isn't her only field of excellence. She also holds 3 Guinness World Records for basketball dribbling.

Those records are bouncing 4 basketballs simultaneously 307 times in 30 seconds, bouncing 6 basketballs simultaneously, and bounce juggling 4 basketballs 255 times in a minute.

In addition having an astonishingly high DEX score, her INT is off the charts. The AP reports:

The time commitment required to master roots, language patterns and definitions is what keeps many top spellers from seriously pursuing sports or other activities. But Zaila, who is home-schooled, claims to have it figured out.

“For spelling, I usually try to do about 13,000 words (per day), and that usually takes about seven hours or so,” she said. “We don't let it go way too overboard, of course. I've got school and basketball to do.”

Seven hours a day isn't going overboard?

“I have my suspicions. I don't know. I have some suspicions that maybe it's a bit less than what some spellers do,” she said.

-via Super Punch

Historians have determined the current number of living descendants Leonardo da Vinci has. Da Vinci has 14 living male relatives, according to a new analysis of his family tree. Alright, they got that number down, so what? According to Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato, who spent more than a decade tracing the family tree of the artists, knowing the descendants would ‘help anthropologists sequence the DNA of da Vinci by sequencing the DNA of his descendants:’

Beyond establishing the identity of his possible remains, sequencing the artist's DNA could also give scientists a better understanding of "his extraordinary talents — notably, his visual acuity, through genetic associations," claim representatives from the Leonardo Da Vinci DNA Project, an initiative that aims to use the genetic information to create 3D images of da Vinci through a process called DNA phenotyping.

Da Vinci was a painter, architect, inventor, anatomist, engineer and scientist. Primarily self-educated, he filled dozens of secret notebooks with fanciful inventions and anatomical observations. To accompany famous sketches such as the "Virtruvian Man", da Vinci would write messages coded into his own shorthand, mirrored back to front to hide his studies from prying eyes. Along with detailed drawings of human anatomy, taken from observations of dissected cadavers, his notebooks contain designs for bicycles, helicopters, tanks and airplanes. 

In a new study, Vezzosi and Sabato used historical documents from archives alongside direct accounts from surviving descendants to trace the five branches of the da Vinci family tree. According to the historians, Leonardo was part of the sixth generation of da Vincis.

Image credit: Zach Dyson (Unsplash) 

Oh, dear! A new epidemic has hit multiple bird species in North America. Birds across the United States have been hit with mysterious illnesses since April, DW reports. Experts stated that the affected avians had swollen eyes and neurological issues that caused them to lose balance. It isn’t unusual to see birds with eye problems, and it took experts a while to realize that the phenomenon was unusual: 

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) published a report on the mysterious bird deaths in early June. Details remain hazy, but experts are trying to trace the epidemic back to its origins.

"The first one we saw was in April. In the beginning of June, that's when we started sending birds to an animal center, where they were alarmed to hear our numbers at the time. Now, we're up to just under 200 that are infected," Monsma reports.

[...]

Animal centers have been examining the birds for a possible cause of death or illness, but tests have been inconclusive so far.

"West Nile [disease] is ruled out. . . Everything has been ruled out. To date, we still do not know," says Monsma, citing tests conducted by Wildlife's clinic director, Cheryl Chooljian.

Image credit: Vincent van Zalinge (Unsplash) 

Utagawa Hiroshige is an artist that was known for his mastery of ukiyo-e, the art of woodblock-printed “pictures of the floating world.” Hiroshige is the last of the form’s masters, producing more than 8,000 works-- that’s a lot! Besides his inclination to produce prints of urban and rural landscapes, Hiroshige also created a set of instructional pictures for children on how to make shadow puppets: 

Hiroshige explains in clear and vivid images “how to twist your hands into a snail or rabbit or grasp a mat to mimic a bird perched on a branch,” writes Colossal’s Grace Ebert. “Appearing behind a translucent shoji screen, the clever figures range in difficulty from simple animals to sparring warriors and are complete with prop suggestions, written instructions for making the creatures move — ‘open your fingers within your sleeve to move the owl’s wings’ or ‘draw up your knee for the fox’s back’ — and guides for full-body contortions.” The difficulty curve does seem to rise rather sharply, beginning with puppets requiring little more than one’s hands and ending with full-body performances surely intended more for amusement than imitation.

Image credit: The Minneapolis Institute of Art 

I, too, would love a big cat to greet me during my everyday commute. Just outside Shinjuku station, a billboard hosts a cat that happily greets visitors and passers by in the area. Commissioned by Cross Space, the cat is a 4K 3D moving image created MicroAd Digital Signage and Yunika Vision: 

Backed by an impressive sound system, 4K image quality and 3-D imagery created using curved LED screens, the display gives the impression of a living, breathing cat prowling the rooftop above the thousands that pass by each day!

During the day, the cat will appear periodically between ads, so if you’re lucky you’ll be able to catch sight of it, and you don’t have to be in Japan to see it either, thanks to this livestream of the building on Cross Space’s YouTube channel.

Image credit: cross_s_vision