The concept of "twilight sleep" during childbirth arose around a hundred years ago. Doctors in Freiberg, Germany, would give a woman in labor a combination of drugs, including scopolamine, which gave them the experience of going to sleep and waking up with a new baby. In reality, the drugs did not alleviate pain, but merely caused women to not remember their experience. Patients were often restrained, and even made to wear straightjackets for childbirth. But for the women who experienced it, particularly after several natural births, twilight sleep was a miraculous experience.

“I was so happy,” one women declared. “The night of my confinement will always be a night dropped out of my life,” says another. The association celebrated when a “tenement house mother” gave a twilight sleep speech on the corner of her street.

The twilight sleep movement was immediately controversial, though. While feminist women pushed for access to the technique, doctors fought back. They “refused to be ‘stampeded by these misguided ladies,’” historian Judith Walzer Leavitt wrote, in her account of the movement. Doctors wrote in the popular and academic press about the dangers of twilight sleep and argued that one popular article shouldn’t guide medical practice. But the practice also had advocates in the medical community, and soon American doctors were also traveling to Freiburg to train in twilight sleep techniques.

The campaign was so successful that twilight sleep became the thing to do, and for decades, women weren't given the choice to remain alert during childbirth. With the rise of better painkillers and exposes about twilight sleep, the practice finally faded out in the 1960s. Read about the controversial technique and the campaign to bring it the the U.S. at Atlas Obscura.

A group of artists from Shutterstock took on a project to make art posters for the movies that are nominated for Best Picture at the 2017 Academy Awards. The occasion is the 30th anniversary of Andy Warhol's death, so they each drew inspiration from a famous artist when approaching the films. Alice Lee created the above poster for Arrival, taking inspiration from the style of Roy Lichtenstein. You can see all nine of their creations at TVOM.

These well-fed tigers live at the Harbin Siberian Tiger Park in Heilongjiang Province, China. A quadcopter was sent in to get some footage of the cats in the snow. But the cats chased the drone just like any prey, and actually caught it!

(YouTube link)

They soon found out it didn't taste good, and it wasn't quite dead, either. The staff was able to recover the drone and the footage. -via Gizmodo

The following article is from the book Uncle John's True Crime: A Classic Collection of Crooks, Cops, and Capers.

If the Americans hadn’t disrespected Canadian borders, we might not have the Mounties.

LAWLESSNESS IN THE WEST

In 1869, with Canada about to take control of its interior from the Hudson’s Bay Company, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald outlined his plan for a paramilitary police force to patrol the region. The idea didn’t really get going, though, until 1873, after the Cypress Hills Massacre. That year, American wolf trappers in Montana lost a lot of horses to thieves who appeared to be headed for the Canadian border. The trappers followed and lost the trail, but stumbled on a camp of 300 Nakota natives. In a tense standoff full of accusations and alcohol on both sides, the wolf trappers opened fire on the Nakota camp, killing at least 20 people.

The massacre outraged Canadians for a number of reasons, including the fact that Americans were invading their territory with impunity. And it wasn’t the first time either. Just a few weeks earlier, whiskey traders had started illegally selling alcohol at Fort Hamilton (nicknamed “Fort Whoop-Up” because of the whiskey trade) near what is now Lethbridge, Alberta, and rumors swirled that the traders had flown the American flag over the fort. They didn’t really, but the incident was enough to speed up the formation of Macdonald’s police force, which he named the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), or Mounties. They got guns, horses, and red uniforms, in part to differentiate them from the blue of the American cavalry ...just in case the recurring border incursions turned into a full-scale war.

ON THE MARCH...WITH A TRANSFER IN CHICAGO

The first squad of 309 Mounties was assembled in 1874. Scoring an early point for multiculturalism, if not for sensitive language, Macdonald had specified that the new force should be a “mixed one of pure white, and British and French half-breeds.” Pay was 75¢ a day, and recruits had to be between 18 and 40 years old, physically active and able, and literate in either English or French.

Kenya's Tsavo West National Park has seen no rainfall at all since last June. The waterholes have dried up, and wildlife is suffering. But Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua spends hours every day driving a water truck to concrete-lined waterholes in the park to make sure elephants, zebras, buffalo, and antelopes have enough water to survive. Mwalua is not a park ranger, but a pea farmer with a soft spot for animals. When he and his truck approach a waterhole, huge beasts make their way over to relieve their thirst.  

Between road trips, Mwalua runs a conservation project called Tsavo Volunteers. The 41-year-old also visits local schools to talk to children about the wildlife that is their legacy.

"I was born around here and grew up with wildlife and got a lot of passion about wildlife," he says. "I decided to bring awareness to this so when they grow up they can protect their wildlife."

Last year, Mwalua started renting a truck and driving water to several locations in Tsavo West. His mission would extend to several trucks, keeping him on the road for hours every day as he drives dozens of hard miles between stops.

A few Americans are raising money to help Mwalua pay for gas and truck costs as he delivers water to wildlife. See how his road trips help the animals at The Dodo. -via reddit

(Image credit: Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua)

Andrew Huang (previously at Neatorama) synched a drawing of a unicorn with his midi program and made some pretty music! How did he do that? There's no trick to it, and it's not an automatic program, just a lot of work and experimentation. He'll tell you about it.

(YouTube link)

Huang was inspired by the work of musician Savant, who has midi art on his Facebook page.  -via Laughing Squid

Comic book heroes can be great fun, but when they are perfect, they can get boring over time (see: Superman). Batman has no superpowers, but all the money, gadgets, skills, and ethics he ever needs -which got boring over time. But sometime after I quit reading comic books, DC introduced flaws in Batman's psyche. Psychological problems made the character all the more interesting, although some may argue that the idea has occasionally been taken too far. His nemesis the Joker was always portrayed as criminally insane, but there have been a few times that Batman himself was shown to be more mentally troubled than even the Joker. Check out five of those times explored at TVOM.  

Ochre Jelly (Iain Heath) is back with a Star Wars LEGO creation from the movie Return of the Jedi. It's the scene where Princess Leia gets her revenge on Jabba the Hut.

Carrie Fisher had been scheduled to appear at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this year, so I decided to make a LEGO tribute to her character from Star Wars, for the Brick Nation display that I'm involved in at that event. I had already seen LEGO tributes showing a demure Princess Leia shoving a floppy disk into some poor hapless droid, but I wanted to reimagine a moment from the original trilogy that really captured Fisher's feisty character!

This image is captioned "You gotta kill a lotta frogs to find your prince!" See other angles and closeups at Flickr. -Thanks, Iain!

See more pop culture LEGO art from Ochre Jelly. 

NASA has announced that the Spitzer Space Telescope had identified a dwarf star about 40 light years away, with seven Earth-size planets revolving around it. Three of those planets are in the habitable zone, meaning they have temperatures that could support liquid water and possibly sustain life. The star itself has been named TRAPPIST-1, and the planets are named the same, with letters appended to denote their position.

Using Spitzer data, the team precisely measured the sizes of the seven planets and developed first estimates of the masses of six of them, allowing their density to be estimated.

Based on their densities, all of the TRAPPIST-1 planets are likely to be rocky. Further observations will not only help determine whether they are rich in water, but also possibly reveal whether any could have liquid water on their surfaces. The mass of the seventh and farthest exoplanet has not yet been estimated – scientists believe it could be an icy, "snowball-like" world, but further observations are needed.

"The seven wonders of TRAPPIST-1 are the first Earth-size planets that have been found orbiting this kind of star," said Michael Gillon, lead author of the paper and the principal investigator of the TRAPPIST exoplanet survey at the University of Liege, Belgium. "It is also the best target yet for studying the atmospheres of potentially habitable, Earth-size worlds."

The planets revolve closer to their star than Earth to the sun, because TRAPPIST-1 is smaller and cooler than our sun. The planets are also fairly close to one another. Read more about the discovery at NASA, and at the website dedicated to TRAPPIST-1.  -via The Daily Dot

(Image credit: Peter and Maria Hoey)

During the 17th and 18th centuries, people knew electricity was the next big thing—they just weren’t sure how to use it. So they tried it all.

1. RUDIMENTARY DENTISTRY

For most of history, treating a toothache was a matter of tenacity and creativity. The Aztecs sought to stave off pain by eating chilis. Native Americans chewed on mistletoe berries. Ancient Scots wrapped caterpillars in cloth and tucked them near the ailing tooth. In 1700s pre-dentistry England, people simply had the tooth extracted—by barbers and blacksmiths. So it’s no wonder that, by the late 18th century, those suffering from dental laments didn’t think twice about trying an electric shock to the mouth. Doctors would take a metal wire, encased in glass or strung through a feather, and apply it to the throbbing molar. Unfortunately, the jolting pain offered no relief, making berries and caterpillars seem like a tea party.

2. HIGHLY UNETHICAL ENTERTAINMENT

In 1730, an Englishman named Stephen Gray realized that electricity moves through some objects (like metal or people) but not others (like rubber). Today, we know this as conductivity. To demonstrate the phenomenon, Gray built a harness out of silk cords and paid an orphan boy to be his guinea pig. He strapped the 47-pound boy to the silks, suspended him in midair like Superman for an audience, and gave him a charge with an electrostatic device. The boy appeared to acquire mystical powers: Small objects floated toward him. He could turn book pages without touching them. When people tried to poke him, sparks flew. Gray was awarded a medal for his experiments. But, presumably, not custody of any children.

3. SHOWING DEATH WHO’S BOSS

The spillway at Lake Berryessa in California's Napa Valley works like a sink or tub overflow drain. It just automatically drains when the water level in the reservoir behind the Monticello Dam gets to a certain height. The locals call the round, accessible spillway the Glory Hole. Last week, after torrential rains, the water level got high enough to reach the Glory Hole for the first time in ten years -and this time, we have drones to record it. Bonus: AC/DC.

(YouTube link)

The concrete funnel is 72 feet wide, and goes to work when the water reaches 440 feet above sea level. In the video, it is draining at about two million gallons a minute. In case you are wondering, here's what the Glory Hole looks like when the water level is low.  -via Digg

Wichita chiropractor Daniel Dopps has a patent and a website for a new menstrual product called Mensez. It a "Feminine Lip-Stick" use to seal the vagina until a convenient time. Women across the internet saw the obvious drawbacks of the idea and the marketing behind it.

A Male Chiropractor Developed Period Glue and Yes, It's What You Think It Is https://t.co/FmDbjpTuMY

— pajiba (@pajiba) February 22, 2017

An OB/GYN has more reasons why this is not a good idea. Mensez is not yet for sale, but the Facebook page for the product received such backlash that it was taken down. Still, one statement from Dr. Dopps was archived with a screenshot, which doesn't help his case at all. -via Metafilter

(Unrelated image credit: Brian Dys Sahagun)

(YouTube link)

Some things become memes because they are funny, others because they were an easy target, and sometimes the reason is completely incomprehensible. Of course, the easiest way to produce an internet sensation is to have a funny cat. In this the latest episode of the mental_floss List Show, Mike Rugnetta has story after story about internet memes and the people behind them.

The next movie in the "A Star Wars Story" series will tell the adventures of Han Solo in his younger days. The yet-untitled film is expected to be in theaters on on May 25, 2018, although that may change. Principle photography began this week, and Disney/Lucasfilm has released details and a photograph of the cast.



The movie will star Alden Ehrenreich as Solo, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, and Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca. The 6' 10" Suotamo played Peter Mayhew's body double in episodes VII and VIII. Mayhew may return for episode IX, depending on his health (he is 72). Suotamo posted a tribute to Mayhew on the official announcement of his Han Solo movie role.

I'm ecstatic. It's official. And here is my statement to this terrific piece of news https://t.co/a1DPsNDb2P pic.twitter.com/r4EUZ2r17V

— Joonas Suotamo (@JoonasSuotamo) February 21, 2017

-via Uproxx

Osaka photographer hotkenobi stages superhero action figures in comedy scenarios for our enjoyment. See characters from DC Comics, Marvel, and occasionally Star Wars interact with each other in a way you haven't seen before.

See a selection of hotkenobi's funniest images at TVOM.