Millénium Condor? That totally would have worked, even in English. And Chewie is a Chico for sure. But Jabba the Woodsman? Maybe the French version has a different backstory for him.
Cartoonist James Chapman publishes many cartoons showing how different words and expressions are conveyed in languages other than English, including the sound of frying bacon and how to answer the phone. In a recent production, he took us back to il ya longtemps dans une galaxie lointaine, très lointaine.
(Photo: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)
Alberto Frigo (warning: not safe for sanity) documents his life. Specifically, he records images of what is right hand is doing. For 11 years, Frigo has carried a camera. Whenever his right touches something, Frigo photographs it.
(Photo: Cianan Brennan/TheJournal.ie)
He has used the resulting collection to build a massive repository of images now on display at the Science Gallery in Dublin, Ireland. The exhibit is named Lifelogging: Do You Count. With magnifying glasses, visitors can see the long history of Frigo's right hand.
How do people respond to his practice? Frigo responds:
I generally try not to speak too much about it and first let them talk about their lives. Obviously, once somebody gets to know me, he or she will become curious about all my procedures, but in the long run I think the general feeling is that my lifelogging practice is rather unobtrusive.
He hopes to continue the practice until he's ready to retire in 2040. With an average of 76 photos a day, that's about 970,900 more pictures.
-via Flowing Data
The Wellington Greenway is a hiking and biking path in Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA, which is the local government transportation network, removed much of the show that blocked train traffic. It did so by piling the snow into the Greenway.
This angered local cyclists. But the MBTA did nothing. So the cyclists took action on their own. Working in shifts, over 8-10 hours, they dug a tunnel through the snowbank. The 40-foot structure re-opened the Wellington Greenway. The cyclists call it the "Big Dig II," which references a 16-year tunneling project in Boston.
You can see more photos of the snow tunnel at BDCwire.
-via Marilyn Terrell
Maximo Riera understands the importance of creating furniture designs that fit into any home or office. A good furniture maker knows that a piece that goes anywhere is more marketable than a weird oddity. That's why he's continuing to develop chairs and couches that look like large animals. In the past, we've seen his walrus chair and octopus chair. Now he's added to that line this couch that looks like a hippopotamus. It's made to a 1:1 scale with leather lined and creased like a real hippopotamus.
-via Marginal Revolution
This photograph, which was taken 70 years ago today, is instantly recognizeable by any American.
On February 19, 1945, United States Marines landed on the rocky volcanic island of Iwo Jima in the western Pacific Ocean. The plan was to capture this island, build air bases on it, then use those bases to bomb mainland Japan, beating it into submission.
18,000 dug-in Japanese soldiers defended this 8-square mile island. 70,000 Marines took responsibility for rooting them out. It took almost a month to do so. It was only on March 16 that it was finally secured. That victory cost the lives of 7,000 Americans with 20,000 wounded.
Before that time, the Americans had the opportunity to announce that they intended to stay. On the fifth day of the battle, the Marines took Mount Suribachi, a high point on the southwestern tip of the island. They raised the stars and stripes on a staff over the top. Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press was there to photograph it. They are, from left to right, Cpl. Ira Hayes, PFC Franklin Sousley, Sgt. Michael Strank, Cpl. Rene Gagnon, Pharmacist’s Mate John Bradley (USN), and Cpl. Harlon Block.
Sgt. Strank, PFC Sousley, and Cpl. Block later died in battle on Iwo Jima.
(Photo: Beverly & Pack)
This moment of their lives would live on in the historical memory of generations of Americans. It would also form the basis of the design of the US Marine Corps War Memorial outside of Washington, D.C.
I make things. This is a practice that I have maintained over the past few years. I like the idea of being a maker--a person who learns new skills by creating objects. In the past, I have made a deacon's bench for my children, a bookcase, a small cabinet with drawers and doors that replaced an old end table, and a hanging My Little Pony cupboard. Each project concept intentionally required that I learn new skills. As a result, I've become a reasonably good carpenter.
(Asrial, Ichi, and Jeremy from Ninja High School by Ben Dunn)
In the past 2 years, I have also deliberately embraced and nourished my own geeky interests, recovering so many of the joys of my lost youth. Among them is collecting and reading the entire run of my favorite comic book franchise, Ninja High School.
This project was my most daunting yet. Since each one of my projects must be functional in some way, I decided to build a lamp. This required that I learn electrical wiring, which I found confusing and non-intuitive. Thankfully, my father, who is brilliant in all things technical, very patiently taught me the rudiments of electrical wiring.
It's an incredible machine that appears to be both fast and easy to use. The rider places his bike in the trench. The machine grabs the bike, lowers it down a central shaft to a designated spot, and parks the bike there. When the owner returns, he swipes and electronic card and the machine reverses the process, returning the bicycle.
This locker system is in Kyoto, a city that Rocket News 24 tells us is ideal for bicycle travel. The system costs about $3.61 million each. So at this point, it's affordable only for areas where bicycles are a major form of transportation.
-via Twisted Sifter
Josh Carmody is a furniture designer and builder in Melbourne, Australia. When viewed from the right angle, his Legless Bar Stool looks like a stable, 4-legged stool. But that's only because you're looking at a cross brace and assuming that it's a leg. This makes it a bit more unstable. But, hey: beer.
-via Daily of the Day
(Photo: National Geographic/Steffen Reichle)
National Geographic offers a larger version of this image as a downloadable computer wallpaper. Steffen Reichle's incredible shot shows a swarm of butterflies in the Tucavaca Valley Municipal Reserve, a wildlife protection area in Chiquitos Province.
-via Marilyn Terrell
In Japan, February 22 is, in addition to being Ninja Day, Cat Day. To celebrate, food and craft blogger Caroline made 6 colorful eclairs shaped like cats (translation). Some of them hold bits of fruit, such as strawberries and blueberries. All of them want cuddles from you.
The Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska is now the home of 7 baby Carpet Chameleons who were born between January 12 and February 12. The species is native to Madagascar and is among the smallest chameleon species in the world. At this stage, they're really small. Each baby weighs about as much as 4 toothpicks!
He needs to shovel the snow. He has no time for falling down on the slippery ice, so the man vigorously resists the fall. His winter thrill ride lasts a full 9 seconds.
-via Ace of Spades HQ
I had never thought of it, but it's true: President Franklin Pierce, drunk or sober, looks pretty sharp.
43 men have been President of the United States. How effective were they? Nevermind. Here's a better question: how hot were they? The website The Hottest Heads of State has ranked them from scorchin' hot to dull and cold.
I don't agree with all of them. James K. Polk really deserves the #1 position.
And Chet Arthur's muttonchops (which were prehensile, by the way) were awesome, even when he kept them trimmed to an abbreviated two and a half feet long.
-via Althouse
(Photo: Pascal Radique)
Are you a modern, forward-thinking leader who inspires people in the workplace to follow you?
No? Then Jerry Toner, a classicist at the University of Cambridge, has advice for you. He's gathered together the wisdom of slave owners from ancient Rome in a thoughtful essay at Aeon. Roman slave management manuals and other surviving records of slave-master relationships offer a lot of insight into corporate leadership. Toner explains:
Most Romans, like Augustus, thought cruelty to slaves was shocking. They understood that slaves could not simply be terrified into being good at their job. Instead, the Romans used various techniques to encourage their slaves to work productively and willingly, from bonuses and long-term inducements, to acts designed to boost morale and generate team spirit. All of these say more than we might imagine about how employers manage people successfully in the modern world.
You have to start from the beginning. Don't count on your company's human resources department to get new slaves ready for work. You, the leader, must get them into the right frame of mind and keep them there:
Once he bought them, the Roman master tried to rebuild his slaves’ characters to suit his own needs. He made them forget their old gods and start worshipping at the household shrine instead, ridiculing their former beliefs. He might choose to brand them with his own mark. So, too (if less brutally), the modern manager ‘rebrands’ new recruits by teaching them their company’s mission. They must carry out rituals to publicly proclaim their faith in these new goals, such as attending away days (or off-sites) and taking part in humiliating group activities such as paint-balling or karaoke.
-via Spencer Haley
The 1984 film Dune--which I will continue to insist is one of the greatest movies ever made--includes a scene in which the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam instructs young Paul Atreides to place his hand inside the box. What's inside? Pain. Lots of it. Paul must, by his willpower alone, keep his hand there or Mohiam will stab Paul with a poisoned needle held at his neck.
Surely we have all watched this scene and thought, "I need a device like that box." It would be tremendously helpful in getting to know people, such as on first dates.
Bryan of Hack A Day is working on building a real Dune pain box. His goal is to create "excruciating burning sensation without causing any actual damage." The technical means that he is currently considering is called a thermal grill illusion:
The thermal grill illusion is a sensory trick originally demonstrated back in 1896. The trick is made up of two interlaced grills. One is cool to the touch, and the other is warm. If the user touches a single grill, they won’t experience any pain because neither temperature is very extreme. However if the user places their hand over the interlaced grills simultaneously they will immediately experience a burning heat. This usually causes the person to pull their hand away immediately. It’s a fun trick and you can sometimes see examples of it at science museums.
The thermal grill illusion sounded like the perfect way to make the pain box a reality. [Bryan] has set specific constraints on this build to make it more true to the Dune series. He wants to ensure the entire package fits into a small box, just big enough to place an adult hand inside. He also wants to keep safety in mind, since it has the potential to actually cause harm if it were to overheat.
The project is still in progress. Stay tuned for updates and mind the gom jabbar.
