Does this image look familiar? It's a unique take on Francisco Goya's famous and gory painting Saturn Devouring His Son. DJ Morrow, a balloon artist in Houston, rendered this amazingly realistic sculpture.
The sculpture is one of a series of balloon recreations of famous paintings, including Judith Beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio and The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli.
This video from Ohio shows a classic method of toad hunting. Just draw a circle with chalk around the animal and it will be convinced that it's trapped inside.
What other species do you think might be susceptible to this trickery?
Etsy seller Anisa Liang carves tiny, fragile pearls into unique pieces of jewelry. She's especially fond of skulls (who isn't?) and much of her work focuses on that body part. They're beautiful pieces that make we regret not knowing this was an option before I purchased an engagement ring because this is exactly the right way to pop the question.
I know what you're thinking: it's one more job that robots are taking away from humans. But consider that this robot's job requires access to humans. So when the robopocalypse happens, it will be necessary to keep at least a few of us around to provide employment for the EMMA. This robot, developed by the Singaporean startup company AiTreat, can customize a massage to reflect the needs of each client. CNN reports:
Using sensors and 3D vision to measure muscle stiffness, EMMA (which stands for "Expert Manipulative Massage Automation") identifies pressure points and delivers massages to patients to help offer pain relief and relaxation.
AiTreat CEO Albert Zhang describes a future dominated by these robots:
With soft-touch treatment modules warmed to a temperature of 38 to 40 degrees Celsius (100 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit), patients lying on the table might not even notice the difference between EMMA and a real-life masseuse -- but Zhang doesn't want robots to replace masseuses. Instead, he says that they can help by taking away the back-breaking work massage therapists do every day, and enable them to "focus on the 10% highly skilled part," which can increase their productivity and income while reducing the cost for patients.
-via Dornob | Photo: AiTreat
This cabinet of mysterious origin, now housed in the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam, is a miniature apothecary's workshop and collection of natural curiosities. It's a masterpiece of woodworking, as it contains perfectly fitted spaces and an almost countless number of drawers, many of them with secret openings. Scholars don't know who made it, but they do know that it was made for a wealthy physician who wanted a place to display scientific samples.
-via Messy Nessy Chic | Photo: Rijks Museum
Inventor Ralph Woltstem doesn't call them shock absorbers, but that's basically what he had in mind when he filed this patent in 1928. In order to provide breasts with the support that they need during vigorous movement (e.g. anime), he proposed installing springs that support each breast from the bottom:
Another object of the invention is to provide a breast supporting device in which the breast supporting member is normally held in a vertical position by equalizing springs which allow lateral movement to be imparted thereto upon side bending body movement of a wearer so that upon the return to an upright position, the said breast supporting member will automatically return to normal position, thus readily adapting itself to the said body movement of the wearer.
I see no historical evidence that Woltstem's invention entered mass production.
-via Weird Universe
You may have seen people build skateboard ramps and pipes in their backyards. But Macu Bulgubure, an architect, has incorporated that convenience into the design of this house in Rosario, Argentina.
Writer Hillary Kelly comments, "This is how you do it." Agreed. None of this nonsense about 'Let's stay friends and prolong the agony.' End a relationship with finality and move on, as demonstrated by Helene Schjerfbeck, a Finnish painter who died in 1946.
We learn this lesson thanks to Jennifer Higgie, who arrived at this research dead end while writing The Mirror and the Palette: Rebellion, Revolution, and Resilience: Five Hundred Years of Women's Self Portraits.
-via Lawrence Everett
This sport is called Polish Dragon Boat Racing. It's the aquatic equivalent of tug-of-war. Sometimes rowers are in the same boat, pulling in opposite directions. In other competitions, there are two boats separated by a towline. This video from 2015 shows two highly trained teams throwing themselves completely into the task.
-via Super Punch
Every year, the beautiful countryside around Nishikan ward, Niigata Precture, Japan holds the Wara Art Festival. Artists gather to carefully assemble huge, vibrant sculptures of animals made from straw wrapped around wooden frames. Colossal describes the origin of this captivating event:
Traditionally, the byproduct is used as livestock feed, for compost that revitalizes the soil, and to craft household goods like zori sandals, although farmers increasingly have found themselves with a surplus as agricultural technology and culture changes. This shift prompted a partnership between the people of the former Iwamuro Village, which is now Nishikan Ward, and Tokyo’s Musashino Art University (known colloquially as Musabi) in 2006. At the time, Department of Science of Design professor Shingo Miyajima suggested that the unused straw be used in a collaborative art project between the university and local farmers, resulting in the first Wara Art Festival in 2008.
Core 77 introduces us to the simple but ingenious Paddle Pump. It's a paddle that has a built-in pump so that maneuver your canoe while bailing out the water. Or, in the case of the above video, extract water from the leaky pontoons of a seaplane. New Atlas talked to the inventors about the origin of the idea:
"The inspiration was actually born from seaplanes," says John Hartz, who co-created the Paddle Pump along with its main inventor, Dan Dufault. "Seaplane floats are typically made of riveted aluminum and over time will leak, so part of the pre-flight is to pump out each float compartment. Paddles are also necessary equipment, because you can't motor all the way into the dock and there is no reverse. So this idea was an easy blend of both of those needs."
Nissin's iconic Cup Noodle dried ramen turns 50 this month. To celebrate, Nissin is selling sodas flavored like its most famous ramen flavors. Sora News 24 describes the how these ramen flavors translate into sweet soda:
As the names suggest, each flavour reproduces the flavour of its corresponding Cup Noodle, only in carbonated drink form. The Cup Noodle Soda is said to be a ginger ale-style soda that contains the aroma of salty sauce and pepper, while the Cup Noodle Seafood Soda uses a cream soda-style base with a “hidden” hint of seafood. The Cup Noodle Curry Soda is a cola-style soda finished with curry spices, and the Cup Noodle Chili Tomato Soda is a tomato-style soda with a refreshing tingle that gently stimulates the taste buds.
Question: should the ramen be paired with the corresponding soda, or should one mix them up?
Photo: Cup Noodle
How do you know that the cantina that you're working in is a rough place? It's not that some guy gets his arm chopped off. It's that everyone treats it like a normal event and not a major crime.
It was stressful enough that even Doikk Na'ts, a Dorenian Beshniquel player in the Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, slips and calls his elegant instrument from a more civilized age a "space clarinet."
-via Super Punch
You forgot that the Dungeons & Dragons game starts in two hours and you're the gamemaster. Sure, you could just toss some goblins at the players, but if you're going to have a village encounter in the countryside or even make a map, you'll need some placenames. VillageBot is here to help.
There are at least 18,804 village names in England. VillageBot will spit them out to you in helpful lists like this one:
That will do in a pinch. Now you can focus on pretending to have a plot for your players to ignore.
-via Nag on the Lake
Paleontologist Lisa Buckley is fascinated with birds. So in addition to her scientific research, she applies makeup to match the fashions of the world's most beautiful birds. Buckley calls her art "Bird Glamour".
