Red shirt? Naw, man - She's too cute to die! And that borg telling the dude that "Resistance is futile"? Subtle. Real subtle.
After you ask her to marry you, ask this question next: "So, Star Trek or Star Wars wedding?" If she said yes to either, then she's a keeper!
Miss C wrote a really neat article for mental_floss about science fiction wedding: Link
If the word "opera" brings an image of a fat lady singing and sends you running away, you're missing out. Many operas are so famous that they've entered into pop culture. In fact, you probably already know more about operas than you think. Here are the 10 Operas You Didn't Know You Already Like*:
Note: Belay that hate mail - I know that technically these are arias, but let's not quibble, mmkay?
This is one is my personal favorite: Dame Joan Sutherland and Jane Berbié sing the Flower Duet [YouTube Link], lyrics
Read the rest of the article:
We all know that the compass needle points north because of the Earth's magnetic field, but how exactly does the that field come about?
Geophysicist Dan Lathrop at the University of Maryland wants to find out ... by building his own planet!
His latest effort at the University of Maryland towers over him, a massive stainless steel sphere that looks like a prop from some old science fiction movie. Later this year he plans to fill it with molten metal and set the whole 26-ton ball spinning. At top speed the equator will whirl by at 80 miles an hour.
"It was a little scary the first time we spun it up," he says.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90947943&ft=1&f=1026
"Human beings are the only creatures that allow their children to come home."
- Bill Cosby, comedian and actor
Image: Mark Changizi, RPI
Look at the image above: the red lines are completely straight, but if you stare into the central (vanishing) point, then they appear to curve outward. Now, researcher Mark Changizi of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York has discovered the secret to not only this optical illusion, but many other optical illusions: it's because the brain sees into the future!
When light hits your retina, about one-tenth of a second goes by before the brain translates the signal into a visual perception of the world. Scientists already knew about the lag, yet they have debated over exactly how we compensate, with one school of thought proposing our motor system somehow modifies our movements to offset the delay.
Changizi now says it's our visual system that has evolved to compensate for neural delays, generating images of what will occur one-tenth of a second into the future. That foresight keeps our view of the world in the present. It gives you enough heads up to catch a fly ball (instead of getting socked in the face) and maneuver smoothly through a crowd.
That same seer ability can explain a range of optical illusions, Changizi found. "Illusions occur when our brains attempt to perceive the future, and those perceptions don't match reality," Changizi said.
Here's how the foresight theory could explain the most common visual illusions — geometric illusions that involve shapes: Something called the Hering illusion, for instance, looks like bike spokes around a central point, with vertical lines on either side of this central, so-called vanishing point. The illusion tricks us into thinking we are moving forward, and thus, switches on our future-seeing abilities. Since we aren't actually moving and the figure is static, we misperceive the straight lines as curved ones.
You're looking at something that is quite strange: these are rocks found in Romania called "trovants." The locals call them "growing stones," and for a good reason: after the rain, small round protrusions appear as the rocks grow!
During a road trip, the gas light on Justin Davis' car went on and he pondered the question that has puzzled mankind since the invention of the automobile: just how far can you drive after the gas light comes on?
The "Tank on Empty" concept is simple: Your light comes on, you hit the trip meter, drive for as long as you can -- or dare -- and then go to the site to submit the number of miles you travelled beyond E. For example, 129 drivers have entered data for the Toyota Corolla, which I drive, logging an average of 44 miles after the light.
Davis continues: "The feedback I receive usually identifies three types of people: The ones who think it's a fun idea (my favorite); people who don't think the information is detailed enough because it doesn't take into account engine size or number of passengers or something (the pedants); and, the people who have to warn against driving on low gas because it'll hurt your car or could kill you or something (the overreactors). It's fun to categorize them as people leave messages."
Link: Davis' website Tank on Empty | Article on Network World by Paul McNamara
A metajoke is a joke that references itself as a joke.
Here's an example:
An Englishman, an Irishman, and a Scotsman walk into a bar. The bartender turns to them, takes one look, and says "What is this - some kind of joke?"
Or for all you scientists:
An engineer, a physicist and a mathematician find themselves in an
anecdote, indeed an anecdote quite similar to many that you have
no doubt already heard. After some observations and rough calculations
the engineer realizes the situation and starts laughing. A few
minutes later the physicist understands too and chuckles to himself
happily as he now has enough experimental evidence to publish a
paper. This leaves the mathematician somewhat perplexed, as he
had observed right away that he was the subject of an anecdote,
and deduced quite rapidly the presence of humour from similar
anecdotes, but considers this anecdote to be too trivial a corollary
to be significant, let alone funny. (Source)
Woohoo! Spotted in the wild: a gorgeous Neatorama t-shirt worn by Neatorama reader Rich at Carr's One of a Kind in the World Museum in Spokane, Washington (he's coming out of Jackie Gleason's 1968 limo).
If you get your own t-shirt, you'll have my undying love and gratitude! http://shop.neatorama.com/ - Thanks Rich!
Our pal the Art of Manliness blog is asking your help to locate and map barbershops in the United States:
Barbershops are one of the last bastions of manliness today. What other place can you get a sharp haircut and good conversation with a bunch of men? Having difficulty finding a decent barbershop? Well, your
troubles are over with this handy dandy barbershop locator.In order for this to work, we need everyone to collaborate. If you know where a good barbershop is, please add it on the map along with a short review of the place. A picture of the shop would be fantastic. The more people who contribute, the better the locater will be. That way next time you move into a new town, you’ll know exactly where to go to get your ears lowered.
I used to go to a barbershop, it was fun but the barber just took too long ... Now I just go to Sport Clips, well at least they still have the scalp massage! Link - Thanks Mu!
Yup - it's one day early, but here it is: our weekly collaboration with What is it? blog. Do you know what this strange tool is used for?
Place your guess(es) in the comment section - one guess per comment, but you can enter as many as you can think of. Please post no URL (let others play). First person who guessed right will win a free Neatorama T-shirt! If no one got it right, then the funniest guess will win it instead.
Check out What is it? Blog for more clues. Good luck!
Update 6/6/08 - The answer is: A lumberjack's log marking hammer, two more rows of numbers could be attached to the head. Congrats to Paul D. who got it right!It's sad to see this wee elephant named Mocha got its leg blown off by a land mine (grrr ... stupid land mine!). But thanks to modern science and the Friends of the Asian Elephant organization in thailand, Mocha can walk again ... with a prosthetic leg!
Check out Miss C's post at our pal mental_floss about all sort of animal prosthetics (including a rubber tail for Fuji the dolphin, new beak for Uzonka the stork, and a pegleg for George the Pegleg Parrot!)
Link - via Miss Cellania (new bite-sized format for her blog, it's nice - check it out!)
This is pretty cool: an interactive Flash website by NOVA at pbs.org about reading ancient Mayan writings. This is the Stela 3 from the pyramid at the Maya site of Piedras Negras in Guatemala.
A series of Maya hieroglyphs may look like just so many pretty pictures or symbols to you. But they actually say something, of course, as Mayanists have known for some time (see Time Line of Decipherment). In this feature, you can actually "read" a passage of glyphs carved into an ancient Maya stela, or dedicatory stone monument. You can both read the ancient Maya (transcribed using the Roman alphabet) and hear it spoken (by Mayanist Barbara MacLeod) as well as read the English translation.
Link - via Scribal Terror
Michigan designer Paul Julius Martus designed this awesome "hand" wrench out of cast bronze - just don't let it pinch you! Link - via Super Punch
