Henri the Existential Cat shares his thoughts on Halloween. Yes, it's full of gloom and despair, but what else would you expect? -via The Daily What
Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
Teddy Bear the talking porcupine gets a Halloween pumpkin to chew, play with, and talk about. -via Daily of the Day
Previously: more Teddy Bear videos.
Werner has a little trouble fitting into the modern world, until he re-embraced his dark side and became the modern version of the vampire: out for everyone's money as well as their blood! -Thanks, Chris!
Artist Chet Phillips (previously at Neatorama) designed this downloadable mask for those who waited until the last minute to plan your Halloween costume. It's described as "a cross between a monkey skeleton, the Grim Reaper, and a lucha libre mask." However you see it, it's scary cool! Link -Thanks, Chet!
Residents of Suðurnes, Iceland, called police on Sunday after they observed several cats going in and out a window of an unoccupied house.
Police arrived at the scene and, entering the house, found no people there. However, two to three cats - the exact number is still unclear - were allegedly occupying the house. According to police reports, the cats were "snuggling" on a couch that had been left behind by the previous residents.
Officers on the scene sprang into action, immediately evicting the cats from the house. They then ensured that all doors and windows into the house were securely closed and locked, in the hopes of preventing an incident of this sort from ever happening again.
Squatters holding parties in abandoned buildings will not be tolerated -even if they are cats. Link -via Metafilter
How can a woman possibly say no to a man who put his heart and soul into this lovely autumn display? She didn't; she said yes! Link
You remember Anakin the Two-legged Kitten? He is six months old now, and is taking life by the horns. Anakin played with this wonderful paper mailing bag for several days. Link -via The Daily What
This parody of "Creature of the Night" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show has to do with all the horror films we watch leading up to Halloween. A clip from Transylvania TV by Not Literally Productions. -Thanks, Ginny, Dana, and Erik!
by Christopher D. McManus Silver Spring, Maryland
Laypeople, many of whom are laypersons, mistakenly think that medical researchers care only about real people and their diseases. Not so. Maladies of fictional characters are the focus of a large body of medical literature. Of course, one expects some analysis of the maladies of Lear, Don Quixote, Medea, and other figures of classic tragedy. The surprise is that articles about characters in light, popular fiction are also numerous. These imaginary personalities include the denizens of fairy tales, nursery rhymes, novels, comic strips and comic books. Their physical, psychological and psychosomatic afflictions have all received the clinicians’ careful ministrations. Here is a small sample of the researchers’ earnest solicitude.
All the references below appeared as authentic articles in respected journals. Despite their sensational associations, the articles (at least, those which I have been able to get copies of and read) are all carefully researched, soberly written, and rewarding to study. The articles are listed, below, alphabetically by character.
In-Depth Analysis
Intentionally not included here are the case studies which use fictional characters simply to designate a syndrome observed among real patients. For example, “Rapunzel syndrome” describes a gastric complication characteristically found in girls. “Alice in Wonderland syndrome” is a manifestation of acute Epstein-Barr virus infection. The “Mickey Mouse sign,” “Snow White syndrome,” and “Pinocchio’s nose” are just a few of the medical terms derived from the realm of literature and applied to real patient classes. There are other journal articles, also not mentioned here, that use storybook names simply to characterize some medical procedure or process; Cinderella and Humpty Dumpty, to name a pair, are common labels in journal articles.
Heavies and Lightweights
The characters chronicled below can be divided into two categories: (a) horror figures (such as Dracula, Wolfman, the Terminator, Darth Vader, and Frankenstein’s monster), and (b) lighter figures (all the rest). Of the articles below about horror figures, four principally treat their psychological conditions, and one treats a physical condition. For articles on lighter characters, the ratio is 42 articles about the characters’ psychological health to 12 concerning physical conditions. Chi-square analysis confirms that the two ratios do not differ with any statistical significance. So, at least in the medical literature, Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, and their horror-genre compatriots are no more mentally conflicted than their comic counterparts.
As previously reported, however, both horror and lighter fiction characters have significantly more reported psychological problems than real-life celebrities. (See “Dante’s Hair, Buddha’s Teeth, and Tutankhamun’s Breasts: Intimate Gleanings From the Medical Literature,” C.D. McManus, Annals of Improbable Research, vol. 8, no. 5, September-October 2002, pp. 14-19.)
Real Conclusions About Imaginary Characters
Four further conclusions must be faced squarely:
If he were alive, TV painter Bob Ross would have turned 70 years old today. In honor of the occasion, mental_floss is dedicating their Lunchtime Quiz to the artist and his happy little trees. How much do you know about Bob Ross? Take the quiz and find out! Link
Where there's a will, there's a way, whether it's the best way or frighteningly unique. Dark Roasted Blend has a big collection of people finding ways to get things done, from eating lunch without a fork to working on the roof without a ladder. Link
This video shows us the strangely fascinating process behind the formation of coffee rings on a surface. As the water evaporates, the solid particles of coffee rush to the edges of the spill. The research was done by the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. Because we all know that scientists are obsessed with coffee. Read more about it at Open Culture. Link
Previously: The Physics of Spilled Coffee.
Whatever you think of politics, President Obama, or the upcoming election, you have to hand it to this guy who rigged up a Halloween costume as Shepard Fairey's "Hope" poster. At the link, you'll see a different angle that makes it look real. Link
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