In 2003, artist Robert Wechsler made this novel tandem bike that would be perfect for a group ride to . . . well, nowhere, I suppose. It's made from 9 salvaged bicycles. Wechsler is fond of leaving it in public places for people to discover and play with.
In 1988, Robert Fink published an article in Archaeologica Musica describing how a scholar was able to translate tablets from the ancient Levantine city of Ugarit. These tablets, which date back to about 1,400 B.C., contain a form of musical notation:
For fifteen years Prof. Anne Draffkorn Kilmer puzzled over clay tablets relating to music including some excavated in Syria by French archaeologists in the early '50s. The tablets from the Syrian city of ancient Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra) were about 3400 years old, had markings called cuneiform signs in the hurrian language (with borrowed akkadian terms) that provided a form of musical notation. One of the texts formed a complete cult hymn and is the oldest preserved song with notation in the world. Finally in 1972, Kilmer, who is professor of Assyriology, University of California, and a curator at the Lowie Museum of Anthropology at Berkeley, developed an interpretation of the song based on her study of the notation (fig. 1).
Michael Levy, an expert on the lyre, performed the composition. It sounds like this:
Dr. Uwe E. Reinhardt of Princeton University is an expert on the economics of health care. He's a widely-sought speaker on the topic and has published regularly in the New York Times to an audience of millions.
By his own admission, he has no idea what he's talking about. So Dr. Reinhardt has decided to instead teach about Korean television dramas, of which he has watched many:
After the near‐collapse of the world’s financial system has shown that we economists really do not know how the world works, I am much too embarrassed to teach economics anymore, which I have done for many years. I will teach Modern Korean Drama instead.
Although I have never been to Korea, I have watched Korean drama on a daily basis for over six years now. Therefore I can justly consider myself an expert in that subject.
Inevitably, some of aspects of his former profession are creeping into his current one. He describes how Korean dramas depict hospitals:
Finally, every good Korean drama has many scenes at super clean hospitals with good‐looking doctors and nurses. Koreans love their hospitals and seem to run to them whenever they have a cold or a headache or are lovesick or simply feel “stress.”
To an economist like me, this fondness for hospitals is surprising, because hospitals are expensive in Korea and much of the bill is not covered by Korea’s National Health Insurance system. Price‐elasticity of demand does not seem to work in Korean drama.
This is all most likely a joke, as Dr. Reinhardt appears to still be employed by Princeton University as a professor of economics.
Derek VanCauwenbergh, a stained glass artist in Sandusky, Ohio, makes shiny things for geeks of every fandom. He made this beautiful arm lamp that he turned out so well that he's decided to build the rest of Artoo, too! You can find more of his work on Etsy and Instagram.
This is no rotgut! Four carefully selected stocks from Dalmore's reserves ranging from 1868 through 1939 were combined to form a select blend of some of the finest Scotch whisky in the world. And it had better be at $164,100 per bottle!
That's a lot, but it's not even close to the most expensive whiskey in the world. You can find more delicious-looking and extremely costly whiskeys at First We Feast.
Artist Thomas Mailaender was once described as "an insatiable and compulsive collector of photographs and sociological patterns." For his project titled Illustrated People, Mailaender selected old photographic negatives from the Archive of Modern Conflict and placed them on the skin of volunteers. By shining a UV lamp over them, he sunburned the images onto their bodies. You can see more examples from the series at Juxtapoz.
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is conducting humanity's first close observation of the planet Pluto. Scientists are mesmerized by the first high-resolution images of this mysterious world at the border of our solar system.
Pluto is ancient, but our knowledge of it is not. It was in only 1930 that Clyde Tombaugh, a 23-year old astronomer from Kansas, found it hidden away in the distance (though this is disputed). Tombaugh went on to have a long and fruitful career in astronomy before dying in 1997 at the age of 90.
When NASA launched New Horizons in 2006, the probe carried a portion of Tombaugh's ashes. So in a way, he's now traveled all the way to the world that he discovered. NBC News talked to his family:
"My dad would have been thrilled," Alden Tombaugh, 70, told NBC News. "He always said that if he had the chance, he wanted to visit the planets. And a little part of him is going to get to do that."
In 1931, artisans began work on the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. They inscribed on the outside, "Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God." One unidentified American soldier who perished in World War I was laid to rest there. In later years, other American soldiers from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War were also interred in the tomb.
America's Tomb of the Unknowns is not the only such place of honor in the world, nor was it even the first. Many nations across the world have carefully crafted and guarded tombs for unnamed fallen soldiers. Pictured above is that for Greece located in Athens. It is guarded 24 hours a day. The changing of the guard ceremony is a carefully choreographed and physically demanding task.
In the universe of The Tick, Arthur is a pudgy and socially awkward accountant who leaves that line of work to become a superhero. Or at least a sidekick. His moth suit, which permits him to glide through the air, gives him the pretext to become one. His superhero name is . . . Arthur.
He's still a good accountant. He loses his job at the firm only because he won't dress in business attire. He's 1 of 11 notably successful accountants in science fiction and fantasy, including The Bursar from the Discworld universe, Leland Owlsley from Dardevil, and Petyr Baelish from Game of Thrones. You can read about all of them at Tor.
Pictured above is Jackie Hockaday who won the 2014 tuna-throwing contest by hurling a 20-pound fish 36.5 feet.
Every year, the seaside fishing town of Port Lincoln, South Australia holds a tuna-throwing competition as part of an annual tuna-themed festival. Port Lincoln has long been a major center for tuna fishing. Many years ago, when men wanted jobs on the docks hauling in fish, they had to demonstrate their ability to hurl a fish a great distance.
This practical feat of strength is now a popular sport. Physically, it's similar to the Olympic sport of hammer throwing. Atlas Obscura explains:
Matt Staunton is a four-time tuna tossing champion (he and his wife Shanell Staunton won the men and women’s titles in 2015) who credits his background as a hammer thrower with his success. Ideal tuna tossing form is so similar to hammer throwing, says Staunton, that “it’s all the preparation you need” In both cases, the ideal method seems to be spinning in a few circles to gather up some velocity and letting the tuna fly at the ideal moment. The current record-holder is Sean Carlin, an Olympic hammer thrower from Adelaide. He managed to throw a tuna 37.23 meters (or 122 feet) in 1998—a record that still stands today.
Joyce Torrefranca of Manila, the Philippines saw this boy doing his schoolwork outside of a McDonald's late at night. She took a couple photos, posted them on Facebook, and said that she felt inspired by him.
Other people shared those photos, which soon went viral and attracted national attention. Reporters tracked down the boy. He's 9-year old Daniel Cabrera. He lives with his mom, who works at the McDonald's. Their home recently burned down, so they're homeless.
After Daniel and his mom made a radio appearance, donations and other assistance have been pouring in to help them. BuzzFeed reports:
A local politician, Rep. Samuel Pagdilao, has given Daniel a scholarship, and Espinosa has been given grants from sponsors to start her own business, ABS-CBN reported.
The family have also received donations of money and food from local law enforcement and are working with a social worker to see how else they can be helped, according to the TV station.
Humans have been misuing them for years. Merry-go-rounds, a staple of playgrounds, are best used by corgis for the manufacture of adorableness. In this video, Meatball personally tests his invention.
