John Farrier's Blog Posts

The 12 Least Appropriate Smurf Figurines



Blogger Kevin J. Guhl has a list of twelve Smurf figurines that probably shouldn't have been marketed to children, including scenes of intoxication, gambling, murderous rage, and wardobe malfunctions. Pictured above is a Smurf soon be drunk off his Smurf, if not Smurfed from alcohol poisoning. All images are courtesy of Smurfs über-site Blue Buddies.

Link

A Tower Made from Human Teeth


(YouTube Video)


This dentist no doubt inspires confidence in his patients with his tower made from 28,000 teeth from previous patients:

This 8ft tower of teeth is foul, and the summit of 15 years work by Yu Qian, a Chinese dentist who is trying to raise awareness about dental hygiene by word of mouth. Or, as it turns out, an awesome viral film gone global.

His piece of art is made from 28,000 human teeth (URGH). So far he has treated 100,000 patients, and ‘harvested’ 28,000 diseased teeth from his patients.


Link via The Presurfer

How the Brain Localizes Sound

With sound sources bouncing off walls and other surfaces, how is the brain able to sort out from what direction and distance sound is traveling? Robert Goodier explains:

In an April study, neuroscientists led by Sasha Devore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tested the widely held hypothesis that specialized cells in the brain actively suppress neuronal response to echoes. Using electrodes in a cat’s midbrain, researchers measured cells’ responses to a sound and its reverberations. They found that the cells that sense a sound’s direction of origin responded more strongly to the first 50 milliseconds of sound waves than they did to the later waves—their activity simply tapered off after the onset of the sound. The tapering response, a much simpler mechanism than the earlier theory of suppression, allows the brain to easily tune in to original sounds and pinpoint who or what is making noise.


Link

Image by flickr user mystical child used under creative commons license

100 Years Ago Today: The World's First Chemotherapy Treatment


Image: Robert Thom, University of Michigan Health System


One hundred years ago to this day, German doctor Paul Ehrlich developed the first effective chemotherapy drug. Specifically, he was trying to find a cure for syphilis:
Ehrlich and Japanese student Sahachiro Hata produced their 606th preparation of an arsenobenzene compound in 1907. Ehrlich watched on Aug. 31 two years later, as Hata injected chemical No. 606 into a rabbit with syphilitic ulcers. The next day, no live spirochetes could be found on the animal’s ulcers, and within three weeks, the ulcers were completely gone.

After testing the drug on mice, guinea pigs and many more rabbits, Ehrlich and Hata sent their miracle cure to the chemical firm Hoechst, which marketed it under the name Salvarsan. The drug became an almost instant success around the world, although many criticized Ehrlich for creating a chemical that might encourage promiscuity.

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NASA's Weirdest Mission Patches


Photo: CollectSpace


Wired has a list of some of the strangest mission patches that NASA has produced. The patch above was for the creation of the Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules of the International Space Station. NASA selected a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle to represent the project because three of the four modules share names with those characters. The modules were built by the Italian Space Agency, so they are named after the Italian Renaissance artists, rather than the turtles.

Link

LEGO House Under Construction


Photo: Flynet


A month ago, I linked to a news story about plans for a full-sized LEGO house in the UK. James May, the TV host responsible, has construction of the three-million brick project well underway. And yes, it has a functioning bathroom. You can view twenty photos of the construction process at the link.

Link via Geekologie

The Cycologists: A Bicycle-Themed Band


(YouTube Link)


Linsey Pollak, Brendan Hook, and Ric Halstead comprise The Cycologists, an Australian band that bases its preformances on a bicycle theme. They've fitted their instruments into their bicycles, as the video above demonstrates when the musicians use their seats as clarinets. Other instruments include tuned bicycle bells, flutes that work as handlebars, and panpipes powered by tire pumps. The Cycologists' stage shows are quite complex and you can see videos of them at the link.

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Möbius Strip Music Box


(Video Link)


Brooklyn-based artist Ranjit Bhatnagar works with sound installations and homemade instruments. He created this music box guided by a Möbius strip. It'd be perfect for playing "The Song That Never Ends"! Bhatnagar made the music box as part of a project to create a musical instrument every day for a month.

Artist's Website via Popular Science

Venn Diagram of Mythical Creatures



This is a slice of cartoonist Jim Unwin's diagram of mythical creatures. Unwin, based out of South London, is also noted around the Internet for his "virtual collection" of chairs from The Incredibles and as the designer of the video game Little Big Planet. Full sized image at the link.

Artist's Website

Link via Popped Culture

The Evolutionary Origins of Depression

Psychologists Paul W. Andrews and J. Anderson Thompson, Jr. argue that depression may be an evolutionary advantage developed early in human history. What could be good about depression?

Depressed people often think intensely about their problems. These thoughts are called ruminations; they are persistent and depressed people have difficulty thinking about anything else. Numerous studies have also shown that this thinking style is often highly analytical. They dwell on a complex problem, breaking it down into smaller components, which are considered one at a time.

This analytical style of thought, of course, can be very productive. Each component is not as difficult, so the problem becomes more tractable. Indeed, when you are faced with a difficult problem, such as a math problem, feeling depressed is often a useful response that may help you analyze and solve it. For instance, in some of our research, we have found evidence that people who get more depressed while they are working on complex problems in an intelligence test tend to score higher on the test.


Link via Instapundit

Photo credit: Guillermo Perales Gonzalez

100 Years of Special Effects


(YouTube Link)


YouTube user bengraphics created this montage of film clips from the past 100 years, demonstrating the evolution of cinematic special effects.  It was originally just intended for a class lecture, but has gone viral.  Featured films include The Enchanted Drawing (1900) Thief of Baghdad (1940) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008). Run time: 5 minutes.

Via Geekologie

Peter Jansen's Sculptures in Motion



Dutch artist Peter Jansen creates polyamide and bronze sculptures that look like a split second in time. They don't actually move, but they look like they are in motion. Perhaps appropriately, he started out as a physics student rather than as an artist.

Link via Dyscario

A Building Shaped Like a Möbius Strip


Image: BIG Architects


Kazakhstan has commissioned BIG Architects to build a library and cultural center in the city of Astana. The design that the firm submitted in response is shaped like a Möbius strip -- a structure that has only one side:

The building itself is a complicated juxtaposition of different ideas and concepts. It forms a spiraling circle around a strong vertical core that allows visitors to the library to move between floors. The museum’s curves form a möbius strip, so the interior becomes the exterior and back again; likewise the walls become the roof and the roof transforms back into the walls. The interior corridors are naturally daylit through geometric openings in the exterior shell, creating beautifully lit spaces perfect for reading.

To minimize cooling loads on the library, BIG Architects employed some advanced computer modeling to calculate the thermal exposure on the building envelope. Because of the warping and twisting of the exterior, some parts of the building receive more light than others. By taking that information, BIG was able to create a geometric pattern or “ecological ornament” to regulate the solar impact.


Photo gallery at the link.

Link via io9

You may not be able to travel to Kazakhstan to view the building, but you can experience the same one-sided sensation with our Möbius strip t-shirt, now on sale at the Neatorama Shop.

How to Cook Salmon in Your Dishwasher



MacGyver Chef is a new series at the gadget blog Gizmodo about attempts to cook meals without conventional cooking implements. Author Dan Nosowitz has previously poached chicken and couscous in a coffee maker. In his most recent post, he experimented with steaming salmon and cilanto sauce in a dishwasher. You can view read a step-by-step guide and view photos of the process at the link.

Link

MacGyver Chef archive

SpiderBot Walks on the Ceiling by Shooting Retractable Suction Cups



The robotics lab at Ben Gurion University in Israel has created a robot that walks on the ceiling. SpiderBot has suction cups tethered to the ends of its four legs.  It aims a leg at a spot on the ceiling, then shoots the cup at it.  Then it reels itself toward the spot, releases a rear leg's suction cup, and slowly repeats the process.  Video at the link.

Link via DVICE

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