YouTube user Matthew Highton masterfully mined stock video archives and wove them into remarkably consistent recreations of TV show introductions. I'm especially impressed that there were appropriate demonic footage reels for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
In this playlist, you can also find Highton's videos for The A-Team, Friends, Duck Tales, ThunderCats, and more.
-via Geek Tyrant
Dogs can get injuries, surgeries, and illnesses too, so they might need blood from their fellow canines! It works a little differently from how we humans do it, though. Popsugar talks to vets to learn what dogs can donate blood, and what the process is for donating:
First and foremost, dogs have to be healthy and up to date on their shots. They must be adults and are usually larger breeds, weighing over 50 pounds. It's similar to humans donating blood in that the blood has to be healthy blood.
It's not so much a casual thing as it can be for humans to drop by a blood donation drive and give blood. Owners of what are considered "donor dogs" are committed to giving their dogs the best care so they can continue to donate blood through their adult lives.
Gary Richter, DVM, a veterinary health expert with Rover.com told POPSUGAR, "The blood can be used for multiple purposes, including anemia (low red blood cells), clotting disorders (toxicity, immune mediated disease, etc.), or for pets with low blood proteins." To get into even more detail, the blood can be separated to be used even further, by giving red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets to dogs in need of just one part.
image via Popsugar
Look, trees take a very long time to grow. Years, decades, some take centuries to grow to their full height. However, trees planted today might not even reach their full growth because a lot of things are trying to kill them, from lumber companies, to housing projects, to cars belching pollution, and to human waste:
American cities are host to 3.8 billion trees—on sidewalks, in parks, in our front yards and backyards, outside houses of worship and office complexes. They’re crucial for urban life: Most notably, trees cool down cities by creating shade and engaging in transpiration, the process by which they return water vapor into the atmosphere. Together, these effects can lower the temperature of a city street a few degrees (and as much as 10 degrees, as one recent study found). Studies have also found that well-placed trees can reduce air-conditioning costs by about one-third. Trees also remove up to 24 percent of dust; studies show that kids who live near urban trees have lower rates of asthma. Trees can even make pavement last a decade longer.
If cities want to keep those benefits, they’ve got to plan
for a future with a different, more hostile climate. As cities heat up, they effectively become different places, where a species that has persisted for hundreds of years can no longer thrive. By some estimates, the habitable zones for 130 of the country’s tree species could move north by more than 400 miles by the end of the century. New invasive species will arrive. Unless cities continually adapt, these shifts could significantly erode their tree canopies, making urban landscapes uglier—and more unlivable.
image via The Atlantic
Considered a gender anomaly, this rose-breasted grosbeak is a "gynandromorphic,"meaning it contains both female and male characteristics that can sometimes be seen in physical traits on the body. Also, as if an added bonus (or emphasis that it is a gynandromorphic), Its body displays an even split down the middle between the male and female coloring, as Popular Mechanics detailed:
The bird's right side shows red plumage (male), while and its left shows golden yellow feathers (female), according to scientists from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Powdermill Nature Reserve in Pennsylvania, who recently discovered it.
The scientists were "very excited to see such a rarity up close, and are riding the high of this once-in-a-lifetime experience," they said in a press release. Annie Lindsay, bird banding program manager at Powdermill, said one researcher referred to the experience as “seeing a unicorn,” while another described the discovery as an adrenaline rush, because it was “so remarkable.”
Image via Popular Mechanics
Believe it or not, researchers are getting new information about the brain thanks to psychedelics. Not only do psychedelic drugs prove effective for treating mental illness, but they also expose the brain regions that are affected by these drugs, as Discovery Magazine details:
Treated disorders have included depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, anorexia, obsessive compulsive disorder and addiction. Dozens of clinical trials are underway, the majority investigating the therapeutic effect of psilocybin, the active component in so-called magic mushrooms. This natural compound belongs to the class of serotonergic psychedelics — those that activate serotonin (type 2A) receptors.
Researchers are examining the distribution of serotonin 2A receptors to help pinpoint the brain areas affected by psychedelics. The greater the density of these receptors, the greater the likelihood that a particular brain region contributes to the psychedelic experience, according to a study published in Neuropsychopharmacology.
Check Discover Magazine’s full piece on the topic here.
Image via Discover Magazine
Humans hunted the Dodo to extinction in the late 1600s, leading us to believe it was the first example of human-driven species extinction. But it was only the first that was well-documented. Long before written records, people have hunted other species into oblivion, and all it takes to know that is to compare the records of human migration since homo set out from Africa 125,000 years ago to the rise and fall of animal populations.
"As [hominids] migrated out of Africa, you see this incredibly regular pattern of extinction," said Felisa Smith, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of New Mexico, who studies how animals' body sizes have changed over the course of history. As she and her colleagues explained in a 2018 study published in the journal Science, each time our ancestors set foot in new places, fossil records show that large-bodied species — the humongous prehistoric relatives of elephants, bears, antelope and other creatures — started going extinct within a few hundred to 1,000 years, at most. Such rapid extinction timescales don't occur at any other point in the last several million years (not since the non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid about 65 million years ago.) "The only time you see it is when humans are involved, which is really striking," Smith said.
But what about the time before that big human migration? There are clues that hominids had quite an effect on other African species long before we ventured out into the greater world. Read about human-driven species extinction at LiveScience. -via Damn Interesting
(Image credit: Ballista)
This first-person action short Everywhere from Alex Schauer is all the more ominous because of the things it doesn't tell us. We don't know who is confronting our protagonist here, but she comes across as some kind of Terminator or something.
What is she, the mysterious woman in leather pants? A robot? A witch? A robot-witch? Is she even real or is this all just a dream? Am I dreaming?
These are all questions we have to answer for ourselves.
-via Geeks Are Sexy
Every state has numerous places that will give you bad vibes, whether from its sad history, gloomy looks, or scary legends. The creepiest have all three, plus the experiences of others who have visited and tell of supernatural observations. These places include houses, hotels, hospitals, prisons, bridges, toads, cemeteries, and even a tree. That would be the Devil's Tree in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.
Out of context, the tree’s silhouette alone is enough to inspire nightmares: a warped, half-dead oak looming in the middle of a lonely field, with dozens of ax marks lining its trunk. Then there’s the gruesome history. A purported meeting place for the KKK, notorious suicide site, and rumored gateway to the depths of hell, the Devil’s Tree is infamous among locals and has evolved into a chilling tourist attraction. Legend has it, anyone who harms the tree will suffer swift and violent retribution—so naturally, it has become a tradition for ballsy teens across the Garden State to pee on its trunk. But do so at your own risk—you might just lose your life (or your manhood) to the tree's sinister curse. Also, that's just unsanitary. —AS-N
Or consider the Wyoming Frontier Prison in Rawlins.
Wyoming’s first state penitentiary was about as miserable as you’d expect a stone prison on a cold, whistling prairie to be. It didn’t have hot water until 1978. It did have something called the “punishment pole,” to which prisoners were handcuffed, then whipped with rubber hoses. It’s been closed since 1981, but guided tours allow you to get up close and personal with the “death house” (which housed inmates on death row), the gas chamber, and offices left exactly as they were. October is the best time to visit, when the prison hosts midnight tours in the days leading up to Halloween. —MM
You may think you know the creepiest place in your own state, but reading through the list, I was surprised that Georgia's was not in Savannah, and Kentucky's was not Waverly Hills Sanatorium, so you are liable to read about places you haven't heard of before. And the list has bonus links to other notable haunted sites. Read up on a possible future road trip to some really creepy places at Thrillist. -via Digg
(Image credit: Maitane Romagosa/Thrillist)
For one, you can help the people in need. In a new research from Canada, researchers discovered that simply giving money to people in need made them spend fewer nights at a shelter, experienced fewer days without enough food, and secured stable housing quicker than those who weren’t given anything more than a workshop. The research was a year-long project, as Gizmodo details:
Beginning in spring 2018, the project recruited 115 individuals who had recently experienced homelessness (an average six months spent homeless). Of these, 50 people received the cash payment as well as training from a workshop on goal setting and personal planning; half were also offered additional life skills coaching. The no-cash group was split into two, with one group receiving the workshop and coaching and the other none. All participants, however, were given access to a savings account if they didn’t have one already. They were also all given questionnaires to fill out one, three, six and 12 months later, and completed an open-ended interview six and 12 months in.
In the first month alone, according to the report, people given the cash were able to cut their days living unhoused from 77 percent to 49 percent, compared to their recent baseline; while those without the payment actually increased their days of homelessness in the first month. On average, it took about three months for cash recipients to find stable housing, compared to the average 5 months it took everyone else.
Moreover, the cash group cut down their level of food insecurity—defined as having trouble eating three meals a day–from 70% to 33% in the first month, and were able to avoid food insecurity more than the control group throughout the year. On average, the group also saved $1,000 of the original payment by the end of the 12 month period, and there was an 39% decrease in the reported use of alcohol, cigarettes, and other drugs in the cash group as well.
image via Gizmodo
Brands go the extra mile to send invitations for their runway shows. It’s no longer just a beautiful enveloped invitation; some brands include other goodies. Take for example, Gucci. For its July presentation, the luxury brand sent out boxes of organic, locally sourced fruits and vegetables to a select number of fashion-industry professionals and people who would see the collection in person. This instance was an early example of brands finding wild and creative ways to send show invites. The Cut lists the best (and frankly, the wildest) show invites brands have sent for its latest fashion shows:
When New York Fashion Week began in March, more packages started going out. In addition to images and information about the collection, some of them included fabric swatches and hardware, which was helpful in bringing the clothes to life while looking at two-dimensional images.
During Paris Fashion Week, brands got a little more intellectual, a little more high-concept. Thom Browne sent a puzzle, for example, which instantly stumped me. Miu Miu sent a notepad and pencil. MM6 Maison Margiela sent — I’m not even kidding — a box with an empty tin can and string in it, with instructions like: “Hold the tin can to your ear and listen to the sea … Put the can on your head. Make it a cute hat … Name it.” My roommate, not a fashion person, was especially perplexed by this one.
The invite you’ve probably seen the most on social media is the Loewe “show on the wall.” It followed the brand’s “show in a box,” which was sent out for its men’s collection over the summer, and included paper dolls, plus a vinyl record that played the sounds of the brand’s Spanish factory. The “show on the wall,” meanwhile, came with a roll of wallpaper designed by Anthea Hamilton; a Loewe-branded paintbrush, scissors, and tool bag; and some scented ceramic, in case you actually wanted to plaster it all over your home. (Some people actually did.)
Image via The Cut
Don’t worry, it’s not a newly-found cult or something. Dark academia is a trend that lets Internet users post photos and videos that romanticise passion for art and knowledge. It’s an aesthetic, so to speak. Some who love the dark academia aesthetic posts photos of themselves in corduroy, plaids, tweeds (the peak academic fashion, alright), as Refinery 29 details:
Although the origins of dark academia remain unclear, its genesis appears to be a heady mixture of a few key cultural works. Donna Tartt’s 1992 novel The Secret History is the trend’s foundational text but films like Dead Poets Society (1989) and Kill Your Darlings (2013) also serve as essential influences. Like the books and films that inspired it, dark academia draws an idealised version of campus life, typically at a hallowed and historic university.
Image via Instagram
For the music video for "Who Dat" by Emmit Fenn, Patrick Jean created a dancing pigeon who struts through the streets like the proudest peacock. His footwork gets pretty fancy after the two minute mark! -via Everlasting Blort
It's a story we've all read in the news at one time or another: an unmarried young woman, not knowing she was pregnant, went to the toilet and gave birth. Frightened, she hid the baby and went about her business. The body was found, and the young woman was arrested. This was the story of Anna Greene of Oxfordshire in the year 1650. Despite testimony from midwives that the infant was premature and stillborn, Anne was convicted of infanticide. She was hanged on December 14.
At her own request, several of her friends pulled Anne’s legs as she hung to hasten her death. A soldier assisted by hitting her several times with the butt of his musket. After thirty minutes or so, the Sheriff pronounced her dead and her body was cut down, placed in a coffin, and taken to a local house to await dissection.
In this period, local by-laws stipulated that the body of any person executed within twenty-one miles of Oxford became the property of the University’s Reader in Anatomy. When, however, the University physicians turned up to prepare the body for dissection (this too was to be done in front of a crowd, albeit a smaller one, that included Anne’s family and friends), someone heard a sound in Anne’s throat. Her pulse was checked and she was found to be alive, just.
While others took pains to avoid being the subject of an anatomy class, it saved Anne's life. But what about her conviction? Read the story of Anne Greene at These Islands. -via Strange Company
(Image credit: W. Burdet)
There are plenty of fossil footprints in White Sands National Park in New Mexico, human and animal alike. What is astonishing is how scientists have identified one individual's path and what happened along the way, all from the footprints left behind.
The footprints were spotted in a dried-up lakebed known as a playa, which contains literally hundreds of thousands of footprints dating from the end of the last ice age (about 11,550 years ago) to sometime before about 13,000 years ago.
Unlike many other known footprint trackways, this one is remarkable for its length – over at least 1.5km – and straightness. This individual did not deviate from their course. But what is even more remarkable is that they followed their own trackway home again a few hours later.
Each track tells a story: a slip here, a stretch there to avoid a puddle. The ground was wet and slick with mud and they were walking at speed, which would have been exhausting. We estimate that they were walking at over 1.7 metres per second – a comfortable walking speed is about 1.2 to 1.5 metres per second on a flat dry surface. The tracks are quite small and were most likely made by a woman, or possibly an adolescent male.
But that's just the beginning. This person was carrying a child, probably around three years old, who was set down occasionally and then picked back up. A sloth and a mammoth came by, but only the sloth noticed a human had been there. We don't know the whole story, but what scientists have found is quite amazing, and you can read about it at The Conversation. -via Damn Interesting
We all know the pain of breaking your earphones. We miss the tranquility that music brings us when we lack earphones. Imagine losing the more expensive version of regular earphones, though. With how easy AirPods can fall off our ears, London-based jewelry designer Suhani Parekh has created earrings that are designed to attach to AirPods to stop them falling out of wearers’ ears, as Cult Of Mac details:
“The earrings fit on as regular earrings do, with a back and post,” Parekh told Cult of Mac. “They’ve been designed so you can slip your AirPods in and out as you use them through the day without the need to take the earrings off.”
Parekh said that the concept was to create earrings that would solve a real problem (stop AirPods falling out), but also look stylish without the need for AirPods. They come in three different styles: Pebble Pods, Minimal/Active Tall Pods and Minimal/Active Tiny Pods. Prices range from $40 to $100, depending on the style you choose.
“The Pebble Pods are handcrafted in sterling silver and plated in 22k gold,” Parekh said. “There’s one for every occasion — from the sculptural Pebble Pods that make a serious style statement to the minimal Active wear options perfect for a busy day at work, a long run or an intense workout at the gym.”
Image via Cult Of Mac
