American poet William Carlos Williams is most famous for his short work "This Is Just To Say", which goes as follows:
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
It's quite an adventure and thus the basis for an excellent video game by Calum Rodger, which is free and playable in your browser. Drag the character around the kitchen and click on objects to interact with them. Eat as many plums as you can.
Photographer and designer Tamara invents new uses for common objects, including her braided pigtails. They're ideal for holding small items, such as earbuds and eating utensils, so that she can keep her hands free.
That's "Coming Home" by the acclaimed British poet Nadim Shamma-Sourgen. He's four years old and has landed his first book deal. The Guardian exasperates:
Now he has landed a book deal with Walker Books, which will release his “astonishing” collection next summer. Walker executive Denise Johnstone-Burt said that she had been “astonished that anyone so young could write such sensitive verse”.
“The poems talk about such important feelings, like love and loneliness, and Nadim finds the perfect words,” she added. “They are simple, inspirational and have a wisdom all of their own”.
Clanchy said that the nickname she had given Nadim, the “Four Year Old Poet”, made him sound “scarily precocious”; in fact, as his mother explained on Sky News, he is still learning to read and write and he dictates his poems to her.
A post shared by Mithun H (@mithunhphotography) on Jul 19, 2020 at 7:52am PDT
Wildlife photographer Mithun H has been watching Saaya the panther and Cleopatra the leopard, a bonded pair in the Kabini Forest in India. He writes:
Saaya and Cleopatra have been courting since 4 years now and whenever they are together it’s a sight to behold. The forest comes alive as they trot nonchalantly in his fabled kingdom. Usually in the courting pairs generally it is the Male who takes charge and moves around with the female following close behind. But with this couple it was definitely Cleo who was in charge while the Panther followed.
From this perspective, it looks the leopard is being followed by her shadow.
Two brothers, ages 3 and 10, were saved from an apartment fire in France when they dropped more than 30 feet from a window and were caught by neighbors below. The boys, along with 17 residents of the building, were treated for smoke inhalation. https://t.co/T8RsSpQsVPpic.twitter.com/99DSu5GFhE
An apartment building in Grenoble, France caught on fire. Two brothers, ages 3 and 10, were trapped inside on the third story. They jumped off the balcony and were caught by people gathered on the sidewalk below. Although they were treated for smoke inhalation, the boys otherwise escaped serious injury. BBC News reports that, unfortunately, two of rescuers at the bottom broke their arms during their rescue efforts.
A post shared by Falko Fantastic (@falko1graffiti) on Aug 5, 2019 at 9:25am PDT
Falko One, a street artist from South Africa, leaves elephants, snails, snakes, and more in unusual but perfect places. All of his subjects, such as Mister T, fit just right into their backgrounds. He explains to Colossal:
“My approach is just to add a bit of color to the space without breaking the scenery,” he tells Colossal. “I try not to make them too intrusive. I always respect that for that moment I am just a tourist to that specific community.”
Yes, at other times, submarines have fought each other. But only while one was surfaced. What was unique about the battle between Britain's Venturer and Germany's U-864 on February 9, 1945, was that both vessels were submerged at the time. At The National Interest, Sébastien Roblin explains why technology limited such combat at the time:
During World War II, submarines came to make greater use of hydrophones as well as active sonar; however, the latter models could only plot out a submarine’s location on a two-dimensional plane, not reveal its depth.
Furthermore, the torpedoes of the time were designed to float up to near the surface of the water to strike the keel of enemy ships. Although the “tin fish” could be reprogrammed to an extent, it was not standard to adjust for depth, and guessing the azimuth of an enemy submarine with the limited targeting information available posed an immense challenge.
U-864 was on a journey from Germany to Japan. The collapsing Germany hoped to deliver cutting edge technology to its ally, including jet fighter design schematics, two aeronautical engineers, V-2 missile parts, and 67 tons of liquid mercury.
The Royal Navy's submarine Venturer caught up with the U-864 off the coast of Norway. At the end of the chase, Captain Launders made a desperate ploy to sink the Germans:
After three hours of pursuit, the Venturer was running short on battery and would soon have to surface itself. Launders decided he would simply have to attack U-864 while it remained submerged. He calculated a three-dimensional intercept for his torpedoes, estimating his adversary’s depth by the height of the snorkel mast protruding above the water. However, he knew the enemy submarine would quickly detect a torpedo launch, and planned his firing solution to account for evasive maneuvers.
At 12:12, Venturer ripple-fired all four of its loaded torpedoes in a spread, with 17.5 seconds between each launch. Then the British submarine dove to avoid counterattack.
The U-Boat immediately crash dove as well, then swerved evasively. After four minutes, it had managed to duck under three of the incoming torpedoes. But Launders had launched the second pair of torpedoes at lower depths. The fourth torpedo struck U-864, breaking it in two; the gruesome sound of popping rivets and cracking metal filled the Venturer’s hydrophones. The U-Boat fell 150 meters to the bottom of the ocean, taking with it all seventy-three onboard and sinking Operation Caesar along with it.
Well, wouldn't you? It's a very Instagrammable moment!
These hikers at the Chipinque Ecological Park in San Pedro Garza García, Mexico saw a black bear on the trail. It approached, sniffed, and pawed at them. At the 0:30 mark, she appears to get a picture of herself posing with the bear.
By concealing her models in blackout paint and arranging them precisely, artist Riina Laine (content warning: artistic nudity) turns them into living vegetables. She made three as advertisements for the Finnish food company Apertit.
Every now and then, I'll randomly say out loud "Computer, deactivate holodeck program."
You know--just in case.
While out for a jog in a park in Los Angeles, Jeremy Yoder discovered these holodeck command interfaces. They were running a program called "Los Angeles City Park."
So Yoder has become a self-aware holodeck program character, thanks to a piece of street art by Arthur Edward Chadwick.
It's not so bad. Vic Fontaine has a pretty good life. If we're well-written and play our parts well, we can visit some pretty swell joints.
While kayaking on the Waccamaw River in North Carolina, Peter Joyce was suddenly charged by a submerged alligator. At the 0:50 mark in the above video, the gator rammed the kayak and flipped Joyce over for a few seconds before he was able to right himself.
Even after that terrifying experience, Joyce isn't done kayaking in the river. He tells WXII 12 News:
Joyce thinks the alligator could have been more aggressive because it was protecting its young and it is currently mating season.
He said he plans to paddle down this part of the river again, just at a different time of year.
A post shared by Ellie Lewis (@ellielewisartistry) on Nov 14, 2019 at 11:06am PST
Ellie Lewis, a makeup artist in the United Kingdom, has been experimenting with large-scale bodypainting lately. She's been composing herself as figures from pop culture, such as Rick Sanchez's brief time as a living pickle in Ricky and Morty.
A few years ago, Dylan Walters of Pensacola, Florida, began experimenting with epoxy molding. He's developed a specialized skill within this carpentry field: crafting the resin so that it looks like waves crashing on beaches. This particular table uses a sheet of parota wood. I'm ready to dive into the water.
