(Image credit: Flickr user Windell Oskay of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories)
This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so plain, you would think nothing was wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it. It is unusual, though. Study it, think about it… but you still may not find anything odd.
Continue reading to find out what is unusual about the above paragraph.
For an episode of the BBC Explainer series, Territory Studio designed this animated video to accompany an explanation of DNA as we now understand it, narrated by molecular biologist Dr. Matthew Adams. -via PopSci
The effect that became known as "bullet time" astonished us in the film The Matrix. Since then, you've seen it used in movies, TV, and advertising. Now it's in the realm of home video, as Marc Donahue of Permagrin Films shows us. He assembled a collection of GoPro cameras into a homemade array to do his own bullet time scenes. Learn some of the particulars on how he did it at Fstoppers. Link -via Viral Viral Videos
Why do people turn to cannibalism? There's desperation for food, and there are the psychotic murders, and… well, in other times and other places, cannibalism has been used for other purposes, not all of them nefarious.
Non-survival cannibalism is a whole other thing. And it didn’t used to be that uncommon either. Cultures all over the world have incorporated human flesh into rituals and events. Some of these rituals, like eating the flesh of a recently deceased person at the funeral, have positive associations. Some, meant to intimidate enemies, involved eating the flesh of their warriors. It’s not necessary to go that far back in the past to find that sort of intimidation, either. In World War II, a few Japanese soldiers were tried with war crimes for cannibalism. Except the U.S. realized it hadn’t really ever technically outlawed cannibalism in international law so it had to technically try them for something else.
Read more about the various purposes of cannibalism, which didn't always carry the taboo it does today. Link -via Not Exactly Rocket Science
(Image credit: Flickr user tarale)
In case you don't get outside away from light pollution at the right time of the evening between now and Easter, enjoy this time-lapse video of the comet called Pan-STARRS.
Pan-STARRS first peeked over the horizon in the Northern Hemisphere on Mar. 7 but shortly thereafter it disappeared when it went too close to the sun. Since Mar. 11, though, it has reappeared each night in the west a bit after sunset for a short time. Particularly stunning views came on the evening of Mar. 12, when the comet flew near the thin crescent moon. The object will continue to shine, getting fainter and fainter, through the end of the month.
There's another video of the comet at Wired. Link -via mental_floss
In 1962, at the height of Cold War tensions, Air Force Captain Charles Maultsby flew a U2 spy plane on Arctic missions to collect high-altitude air samples that the military would test to determine what other countries were testing nuclear weapons. His October 27 mission was supposed to take him to the North Pole and back, but his navigation by the stars was disrupted by the Aurora Borealis. So he decided to turn back. His return did not go as planned.
By 8 a.m., though, Maultsby was starting to get worried. He should have reached Barter by then but his radio remained silent. He also noticed that Orion wasn’t where it ought to be.
Suddenly, the crackling voice of a rescue pilot came over the radio.Concerned that he didn’t have a visual on Maultsby, the rescue pilot started firing signaling flares before asking the U-2 pilot to identify stars. Maultsby radioed that he saw Orion 15 degrees to the left of his nose. A quick check of his own star charts had the rescue pilot instruct Maultsby to turn 10 degrees to the left, but this advice was immediately contradicted by another voice ordering him to turn 30 degrees to the right. Maultsby had no reason to distrust either order; both had used a correct call sign.
The conflicting orders added to the Maultsby’s growing concern. He didn’t know exactly where he was, but he did know that he was running out of fuel. He’d left Eielson with nine hours and 40 minutes of fuel and had been airborne for over eight hours. If he couldn’t get his bearings and get back to the base soon, he’d have to bail out of the U-2, and that wasn’t an appealing prospect. The best advice he’d been given about bailing out of a U-2 flying above the Arctic Circle was to not pull the cord on his chute: it was a better way to go than freezing to death on the ground.
You guessed it: one of the voices directing Maultsby was Soviet. The USSR had no reason to think that Maultsby wasn't carrying nuclear bomb into their territory. The Americans who were also tracking Maultsy knew what the Soviets were thinking, and had to find a way to get him back. Read what happened at The Crux. Link -via Not Exactly Rocket Science
The saint we celebrate on March 17th is very different from the man who became St. Patrick. The historical Patrick didn't drive the snakes out of Ireland, did not use the shamrock to teach about the Trinity, and wasn't even born in Ireland. However, what he did was quite remarkable. It stemmed from a vision he had after escaping slavery in Ireland, that told him he needed to return and minister to the Irish people.
He spent his last 30 years there, baptizing pagans, ordaining priests, and founding churches and monasteries. His persuasive powers must have been astounding: Ireland fully converted to Christianity within 200 years and was the only country in Europe to Christianize peacefully. Patrick's Christian conversion ended slavery, human sacrifice, and most intertribal warfare in Ireland. (He did not banish the snakes: Ireland never had any. Scholars now consider snakes a metaphor for the serpent of paganism. Nor did he invent the Shamrock Trinity. That was an 18th-century fabrication.)
According to Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, Paddy's influence extended far beyond his adopted land. Cahill's book, which could just as well be titled How St. Patrick Saved Civilization, contends that Patrick's conversion of Ireland allowed Western learning to survive the Dark Ages. Ireland pacified and churchified as the rest of Europe crumbled. Patrick's monasteries copied and preserved classical texts. Later, Irish monks returned this knowledge to Europe by establishing monasteries in England, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy.
Read Patrick's story, and learn how his legacy was appropriated and made into something entirely different, at Slate. Link
A cat named Wadsworth in Bedford, England, may be the oldest documented living cat. Ann Munday adopted Wadsworth from a veterinarian in 1986. For years, he lived in pubs owned by Mrs. Munday.
Now in a house he leads a quieter life and "doesn't really play any more".
Mrs Munday said: "He's like a little old man really, he gets up, goes out, comes in, has his food and then goes back to sleep."
She said she has no idea how he has managed to reach such an age as he had been the "runt of the litter".
"He was very poorly and sick when we got him," she said.
"He was back and forth to the vets in the first few weeks, he was full of infection but with the help of the vets we nursed him back to health."
She said he has had health "ups and downs" over the years and the moggy currently takes pills which cost her about £45 per month but he "is still going".
The veterinary clinic that treated Waddy as a kitten is still in business, and has confirmed his age. The world record for cat longevity was set by a 38-year-old cat in Texas, who died in 2005. Link -via Fark
Happy St. Patricks Day! Oh, I know the feast day isn't until tomorrow, but since the holiday falls on Sunday, I can imagine that many of the traditional American drinking parties will be held today. Check out the "related links" at the bottom of this post for some of our St. Patrick's Day articles from the past -although you need to isolate this post to see them. Meanwhile, I hope you can find some time to catch up on what you may have missed this week at Neatorama.
Eddie Deezen told us about Orville Wright and the First Person to Die in an Airplane.
The Birth of Frosted Flakes came from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
The Annals of Improbable Research brought us a rare serious article on The Essence of a Sniff.
When Opposites Attack: 5 Artistic Rivalries That Got Ugly was from mental_floss magazine.
Alex gave us a couple of really neat photo collections. Toy Stories by Gabriele Galimberti: Fantastic Photos of Children from Around the World with Their Prized Possessions was the serious one posted at our Spotlight Blog, and Headline Will Go Here Blah Blah Blah just made us laugh.
Our series of brainteasers from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader continued this week with Disemvoweled, Balloon on a Bus, and The Donkey and the Carrots.
In this week's What It It? game, the contraption shown is a set of shepherd's crook crosscut saw set spiders or saw set gauges. That's a lots of words to describe a tool to check the amount of set (bend) in saw teeth. You can read more about it at the What Is It? blog. The first person to guess correctly was Steve Pauk, who wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! Among the many funny answers, the funniest came from pismonque, who said,
These are Victorian-era bustle stays, which prevented the embarrassing "sidecar effect" of an inadvertently rotated bustle. The device clamped onto the midline of the bustle, with the fin keying into the wearer's conveniently placed natural cleft, thus preventing lateral bustle drift.
That conjures up a picture, and also wins pismonque a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! Thanks to everyone who entered, and thanks to the What Is It? blog!
Congratulations to the Tokyoflash Treasure Hunt #24 Winners! Look for another contest from Tokyoflash coming soon.
The post with the most comments this week was (by far) What Is the Answer to That Stupid Math Problem on Facebook? followed by Is Sending a One-Liner "Thank You" Email or Text Rude? Tied for third place were Company Offers Free Beer to Employees Every Friday and The Train Optical Illusion. That proves to us that the easiest way to get a lot of comments is to add a poll to a post.
The comment of the week came from Frau, who, when asked What Is the Answer to That Stupid Math Problem on Facebook? answered "42." That is, of course, the answer to everything.
The most popular post of the week was The Birth of Frosted Flakes, followed by What Is the Answer to That Stupid Math Problem on Facebook? Coming in third was To Avoid Wearing Seat Belts, Chinese Drivers Wear Shirts Like These, which may eclipse the others before the weekend is over. Update: yeah, it's number one for the week even before the day is over!
Usability Tip of the Week: Have you signed up for NeatoMail yet? You'll get a weekly update of news from Neatorama and extra chances to win prizes. Those already subscribed had exclusive access this week to the Choose Your Own Prize Star Wars Giveaway. As soon as I learn who the winners are, we'll post them, either here or in a new post. Sign up now (in the right sidebar), because you don't want to miss the next opportunity for a subscriber-only giveaway!
If you haven't checked in with the Neatoramanauts Facebook page, you're missing out on extra stuff you won't find on the main page. For example, we asked for caption for this cat, and got 209 suggestions (so far)! You can still add yours. You're also invited to follow Neatorama on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, too!
Have a safe and happy St. Patricks Day!
The definition of "cool" not only changes with the times, but means different things to different age groups. Rust Blazenhoff of Laughing Squid posted a three-page list of ways to be a cool person by her second-grade daughter. One thing never seems to change: "cool" for a young person involves contravening the wishes of authority. See the other two pages of this list at Laughing Squid. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user Rusty Blazenhoff)
Violinist Wallace Hartley was the leader of the band that performed on the RMS Titanic on its tragic voyage in 1912. The band famously played music to sooth the passengers as the ship went down. After years of research, a violin found in 2006 has now been authenticated as the instrument Hartley played aboard ship. Hartley's personal effects that were salvaged from the site were returned to his father, who gave them to Hartley's fiancee, Maria Robinson. Robinson had given Hartley the violin, inscribed for their engagement in 1910.
She kept the jewellery and violin in the leather case as a shrine to her late fiance. She died from stomach cancer in 1939 aged 59 at her home in Bridlington, East Yorkshire.
In dealing with her estate, her sister, Margaret, found Hartley's leather valise that had his initials of 'WHH' on and the violin inside.
She gave the bag to the Bridlington Salvation Army and told its leader, a Major Renwick, about the instrument's association with Titanic.
The research shows Maj Renwick in turn gave the valise to one of his members, a local music and violin teacher.
In the early 1940s, the current owner's mother was a member of the Womens' Auxiliary Air Force stationed at Bridlington.
She met the music teacher who later dispatched the valise and violin to her.
A covering letter that has been found states: 'Major Renwick thought I would be best placed to make use of the violin but I found it virtually unplayable, doubtless due to its eventful life.'
The unnamed owner inherited the valise and its contents, including the violin and jewellery, years later and contacted Henry Aldridge and Son of Devizes, Wilts.
The violin will go on display at the Titanic museum in Belfast, and is expected to be auctioned later. Link -via the Presurfer
The first full video of the new mental_floss YouTube channel has John Green quickly dispelling many things you've heard over the years. Green will be hosting a weekly series on the channel. Link
Nekofont lets you spell out anything you like in letters made of cats! Just enter your text, upper case, lower case, or a combination, and a neat image like this one will be generated. You'll even get a script to copy and paste if you choose. Meow! Link -via Everlasting Blort
March Madness is never limited to basketball. Lucasfilm is presenting their own tournament to determine who is the favorite character in the entire Star Wars universe. The bracket is divided into the Light Side and the Dark Side, guaranteeing matchups between the two in the final four and possibly in the championship round. No seeds or odds are apparent, but the way the brackets are laid out, Yoda, Obi-Wan, Luke, and Han are all in same region, so only of those can make it to the final four, but Darth Vader vs the Emperor will be a possibility. Voting in the first round will begin Monday, and the final matchup is on April 9th. Link -via CNET
This castle in Amsterdam, New York, is for sale for only a million dollars. It has quite a history.
Built in 1894 by the state of New York for the National Guard, Amsterdam Castle is a 36,000 square foot private residence listed on the National Register of Historic Places New York originally built 100 of these armories, of which nearly 50 are still in use by the National Guard. Other “sister” armories uses include a military museum (Saratoga), art gallery (Manhattan East Side), and a concert hall (Albany). This armory was decommissioned in 1995 and is the only armory converted into a home.
This magnificent building has 2 suites (featuring King sized beds in each turret) for overnight guests in addition to a 10,000 sq ft gymnasium, a rifle range, a fallout shelter and billiard room. The current owners bought the building in 2005 and embarked on an extensive renovation and redecoration. In addition to returning the building to its lush Victorian decor, the renovation featured environmentally friendly building materials such as low VOC paints and repurposed wood. The castle has Wi-Fi, cable TV and high speed internet, onsite parking for 40 and ample street parking. The gymnasium can hold 1000+ (and 500 seated), making us the largest event and reception facility in the county. The 18” brick walls hold the temperature at a surprisingly ambient level, making it pleasant in summer and heat-effective in winter.
The sale is being handled by Sotheby's International Realty. At the home's website, you can read about the building's history and browse through pages and pages of photographs. Link -via Boing Boing
