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Robocop the cat can't help himself -there are too many things running around in the washing machine! -via Cynical-C
Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
The headline is Cracked's way of saying that humans have introduced invasive species to places where they wrecked the ecosystem. Some of these were accidental; others were caused by the silliest of reasons.
Of course, the birds just took over.
And that's just the first of eight stories! Contains NSFW text. Link
In the late 19th century, a group called the American Acclimatization Society released about a hundred starlings in New York City's Central Park as part of a project to introduce all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare's plays into America. Even knowing nothing about starlings, you may recognize this as an idea that is both baffling and terrible.
Of course, the birds just took over.
The released birds went on to reproduce like mad, increasing their numbers to somewhere around 200 million. By all accounts, starlings are natural terrors. They will force other birds out of their nests and eat their eggs. They swarm in those massive flocks, just eating absolutely everything they can fit in their beaks, stealing food from other species and wreaking havoc on agriculture.
And that's just the first of eight stories! Contains NSFW text. Link
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This animation is a 3D rendering of Mortimer's Cave, one of many available at the Nottingham Caves Survey. You'll also find photographic virtual tours of caves, movies, images, and a Google map to find more of the 450 specific caves in Nottingham. You could get lost in here! Link -Thanks, John James!
Neatoramanaut lonewolfe13 won a t-shirt in the What Is It? contest. The Support Cloning shirt he selected from the NeatoShop lent itself well to this photography art project. The shirt fits all five of him! Link
33.3 rpm is the speed at which a turntable ran to play record albums. It is also the theme of the 33.3 Art Show, in which 33.3 artists rework classic album covers (the .3 artist is a 4-year-old). Shown is Whipped Cream and Other Delights by Herb Alpert, illustrated by Tammy Duncan. See them all at the show's website; click on an image to read the story behind it. Link -via BoingBoing
Michael Powell and Juergen Horn are continuing their living experiment in moving to a new city every three months, and writing about them on their blog 91 Days. Currently in Savannah, Georgia, USA, they visited The Old School Diner and got a lesson in Southern hospitality.
The evening really got going when Chef Jerome came out of the kitchen to greet us. He does all the cooking, and clearly enjoys meeting the people who’ve discovered his little place. The first thing he did was give us all big bear hugs. “You’re family here”. And he meant it! He took us on a tour around the restaurant, telling us about his life and work. We saw pictures of famous people who’ve eaten there, including Ben Affleck and Michael Oher (from the Blind Side). He showed us love letters he’s written to his wife over the years (complete with drawings) and into his kitchen and its wall-to-wall deep fryers. The staff clearly love him, and were just as friendly and welcoming as their boss.
I think we spent about an hour talking to Chef Jerome, and he even walked us out onto the carpeted driveway to say goodbye. “Don’t forget now! This is your home, and you are family when you’re here!” And as I gave him a final farewell hug, I didn’t doubt it. It was an incredible night, and the Old School Diner is truly a special place.
There are more photographs of the restaurant's eccentric decor at 91 Days. Link
An unnamed 81-year-old man went missing in Arbroath, Scotland. Two Coastguard helicopters were dispatched to search the seaside cliffs.
He had apparently let himself in. No one thought to check the neighbor's house until after the helicopter search had begun. Link -via Arbroath
The man was originally reported missing to Tayside Police at 11.40pm after his wife became concerned and contacted her son who raised the alarm.
After hours of searching, the pensioner was eventually found safe and well in the flat next door to his own home, where he appears to have let himself in.
He had apparently let himself in. No one thought to check the neighbor's house until after the helicopter search had begun. Link -via Arbroath
Artists Benedetto Bufalino and Benedict Deseille installed these lights as part of the Festival of Trees and Lights in Geneva, Switzerland. Seeing these would surely "brighten up" the evening commute! Link -via The Daily What
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It's always reassuring to buy a used car from someone who you think only went for Sunday drives -but appearances can be deceiving! This German Dutch ad for Volkswagen illustrates that point. -via The Awesomer
Quite a few college towns have a bar named The Library, so you can honestly say you were at The Library last night (The Office is also a popular bar name). However, there is a trend toward bringing books and bars together, particularly in Los Angeles. These are real taverns that are lined with books that patrons can read and discuss -or you can just bask in the literary atmosphere. Styleture shows us four such bars, like The Wellesbourne, pictured here. Link -Thanks, chris!
Ryan Andrew drew a wordless story about grief and fear ...and overcoming those fears. Each part is linked to the next part of the story. http://ryan-a.tumblr.com/post/1325972211/nif01 -via Metafilter
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This is why no one goes to the Consumer Electronics Show anymore -because it's so crowded! This is the line to get into CES:Unveiled, the first event of the trade show going on now in Las Vegas. -via Boing Boing
During the Civil War, Confederate leaders didn't just want to defeat the Union Army, they wanted to create a giant Latin American empire.
In the years leading up to the Civil War, many Northerners and Southerners alike wanted the federal government to take a more aggressive approach to acquiring new territory. In fact, some private citizens, known as filibusters, took matters into their own hands. They raised small armies illegally; ventured into Mexico, Cuba, and South America; and attempted to seize control of the lands. One particularly successful filibuster, William Walker, actually made himself president of Nicaragua and ruled from 1856 to 1857.
For the most part, these filibusters were just men in search of adventure. Others, however, were Southern imperialists who wanted to conquer new territories in the tropics. Abolitionist forces in the North greatly opposed their efforts, and the debate over Southern expansion only increased tensions in a divided nation. As the country drifted into war, U.S. Vice President John Breckinridge of Kentucky warned that "the Southern states cannot afford to be shut off from all possibility of expansion towards the tropics by the hostile action of the federal government."
But Abraham Lincoln's election in November 1860 put an end to the argument. The anti-slavery president refused to compromise, and war broke out in April 1861.
CONFEDERATE COLONIES, SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Winning the war was clearly a higher priority for the Confederacy than conquering Latin America, but growth was certainly on the post-war agenda. Confederate president Jefferson Davis made sure the Confederate constitution included the the right to expand, and he filled his cabinet with men who thought similarly. He even hinted that the slave trade could be revived in "new acquisitions to be made south of the Rio Grande."
During the Civil War, Confederate agents attempted to destabilize Mexico so that its territories would be easy to snatch up after the war. One rebel emissary to Mexico City, John T. Pickett, secretly fomented rebellion in several Mexican provinces with an eye to "the permanent possession of that beautiful country." Pickett's mission ended in failure in 1861, but fate dealt the South a better hand in 1863. French Emperor Napoleon III seized Mexico, and the move provided the South with the perfect excuse to "liberate" the country after the Civil War.
Of course, Mexico was just part of the pie the South hoped to inherit. Confederate leaders also had their eyes squarely on Brazil -a country of nearly 4 million square miles and more than 8 million people. Prior to the outbreak of the war, U.S. Naval Academy founder Matthew Maury dispatched two Navy officers to the Amazon basin, ostensibly to map the river for shipping. Instead, they were secretly plotting domination and collecting data about separatist movements in the region. When the South lost the war, Maury refused to abandon his plans. He helped 20,000 ex-rebels flee to Brazil, where they established the Confederate colonies of New Texas and Americana. To this day, hundreds of descendants of the Confederados still gather outside Americana to celebrate their shared heritage of rocking chairs and sweet potato pie. In a strange way, a part of the Old South still survives -thousands of miles below the U.S. border.
Be sure to visit mental_floss' entertaining website and blog for more fun stuff!
In the years leading up to the Civil War, many Northerners and Southerners alike wanted the federal government to take a more aggressive approach to acquiring new territory. In fact, some private citizens, known as filibusters, took matters into their own hands. They raised small armies illegally; ventured into Mexico, Cuba, and South America; and attempted to seize control of the lands. One particularly successful filibuster, William Walker, actually made himself president of Nicaragua and ruled from 1856 to 1857.
For the most part, these filibusters were just men in search of adventure. Others, however, were Southern imperialists who wanted to conquer new territories in the tropics. Abolitionist forces in the North greatly opposed their efforts, and the debate over Southern expansion only increased tensions in a divided nation. As the country drifted into war, U.S. Vice President John Breckinridge of Kentucky warned that "the Southern states cannot afford to be shut off from all possibility of expansion towards the tropics by the hostile action of the federal government."
But Abraham Lincoln's election in November 1860 put an end to the argument. The anti-slavery president refused to compromise, and war broke out in April 1861.
CONFEDERATE COLONIES, SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Winning the war was clearly a higher priority for the Confederacy than conquering Latin America, but growth was certainly on the post-war agenda. Confederate president Jefferson Davis made sure the Confederate constitution included the the right to expand, and he filled his cabinet with men who thought similarly. He even hinted that the slave trade could be revived in "new acquisitions to be made south of the Rio Grande."
During the Civil War, Confederate agents attempted to destabilize Mexico so that its territories would be easy to snatch up after the war. One rebel emissary to Mexico City, John T. Pickett, secretly fomented rebellion in several Mexican provinces with an eye to "the permanent possession of that beautiful country." Pickett's mission ended in failure in 1861, but fate dealt the South a better hand in 1863. French Emperor Napoleon III seized Mexico, and the move provided the South with the perfect excuse to "liberate" the country after the Civil War.
Of course, Mexico was just part of the pie the South hoped to inherit. Confederate leaders also had their eyes squarely on Brazil -a country of nearly 4 million square miles and more than 8 million people. Prior to the outbreak of the war, U.S. Naval Academy founder Matthew Maury dispatched two Navy officers to the Amazon basin, ostensibly to map the river for shipping. Instead, they were secretly plotting domination and collecting data about separatist movements in the region. When the South lost the war, Maury refused to abandon his plans. He helped 20,000 ex-rebels flee to Brazil, where they established the Confederate colonies of New Texas and Americana. To this day, hundreds of descendants of the Confederados still gather outside Americana to celebrate their shared heritage of rocking chairs and sweet potato pie. In a strange way, a part of the Old South still survives -thousands of miles below the U.S. border.
(Image source: Os Confederados)
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The above article is reprinted with permission from the July-August 2008 issue of mental_floss magazine.Be sure to visit mental_floss' entertaining website and blog for more fun stuff!
Astrophotographer Thierry Legault (featured previously at Neatorama) went all the way to Oman to take a picture of a solar eclipse. The shot he wanted was only available for a split second today, and he got it! Not only is the moon moving across the sun, but you can see other things in the picture (see the full-size version at the link). The small spot towards the bottom is a sunspot twice the size of the earth, and toward the top is something that looks like a TIE fighter. That is the International Space Station (ISS)! The Bad Astronomer explains how rare this picture is:
That’s why Thierry sojourned to Oman; due to the geometry of the ISS orbit, it was from there that he had the best chance of getting a picture of the station as it passed in front of the Sun during the relatively brief duration of the actual solar eclipse. But talk about brief; the ISS was in front of the Sun for less than second, so not only did he have one chance at getting this spectacular once-in-a-lifetime shot, but he had only a fraction of a second to snap it!
The ISS was only in front of the sun for .86 seconds during the eclipse. Link
(Image courtesy of Thierry Legault)
Rocky Balboa vs. the Soviet giant Ivan Drago. The fate of the Cold War rests in his hands. That was 25 years ago already? I guess so! Rocky IV is the subject of today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. I guess it was a long time ago -I only got 3 out of 10 correct! Surely you will do better. Link
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