It's time for another puzzle, in collaboration with Conceptis Puzzles! Every Tuesday, we'll be offering a different logic puzzle, today featuring a 9x9 sudoku puzzle. Please give us some feedback on the new feature- we'd love to hear if you found it too easy, too hard, or what you think about Neato-Puzzles. Ready? Click here to play!

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Synesthesia is when stimuli from one sense is perceived as sensation from a different sense, as in tasting colors and smelling music. Terri Timely created this video to illustrate the concept. -via DocPop

You probably haven't heard the song in at least nine months, so this is a good time to test your memory of the song "The 12 Days of Christmas." Can you name all the gifts mentioned in the song? You have five minutes to complete the task. It took me a whole 58 seconds to type them all, because I don't type well. Link

A goose in Wausau, Wisconsin escaped becoming dinner when the man who was chasing him had to be rescued from the Wisconsin River.

Troy Kaczor, 40, told police he shed his shirt and shoes at Big Bull Falls Park in downtown Wausau before he dove into the river, intending to catch the one-legged bird and then roast it, Wausau Police Lt. Bill Kolb said.

Kaczor, who had been drinking heavily before taking the plunge, was unable to escape the clutches of the cold water and was rescued by Wausau firefighters, Kolb said.

The goose, apparently sober and a better swimmer, came to no harm, but was unavailable for comment. Link -via Arbroath

(Unrelated image credit: Flickr user Nita W)

(Image credit: Flickr user racineur)

A previously unacknowledged plant family of significant economic importance plants has been flourishing around us for many years. The fact that this immense and diverse family has been heretofore ignored by most botanists is astonishing—its members are found worldwide in nearly every society. This family is more than a botanical curiosity. It is a scientific conundrum, as the taxa:

1. lack genetic material,


2. appear virtually immortal and


3. have the ability to form intergeneric crosses with ease, despite the lack of any evident mechanism for cross-fertilization.

In this study, conducted over approximately six years, we elucidate the first full description and review of this fascinating taxon, heretofore named Simulacraceae. The distribution, ecology, taxonomy, ethnobotany and chemistry of this widespread family are herein presented. We have identified more than 80 species, and determined that this cosmopolitan family has a varied ecology. This report delineates seventeen genera (Calciumcarbonatia, Celadonica, Conglomeratium, Dentumadhesivium, Ductusadhesivia, Granitus, Lignus, Metallicus, Papyroidia, Paraffinius, Photophyta, Plasticus, Polystyrin, Prophylactica, Simulacra, Silicus and Textileria).

Figure 1. Performing a species inventory in the Simulacraceae hotspot of the Rainforest Café, Palisades Center, Nyack, New York.

Methods

We used opportunistic sampling as our principal method for the study of the simulacraceae. We first became acutely interested in the simulacraceae during the 2000 Society for Economic Botany (SEB) annual meeting, when we began pondering the identities of ornamental arrangements. At the 2001 SEB meeting in Honolulu, Hawai’i, our interest was piqued by the species diversity evidenced in the culturally important lei (a Hawai’ian traditional garland of flowers, usually worn around the neck). Since then, we have been collecting simulacraceae whenever we stumble upon them. Family, friends and colleagues have contributed to this effort.

Street artist Banksy visited New Orleans in 2008, decorating various buildings with his distinctive paintings. He encountered an enemy who became known as the Gray Ghost.

Fred Radtke made it his mission to erase every bit of graffiti in the city long before Banksy’s arrival, sweeping down the street with his paint roller in hand. The anti-street-art crusader passed quietly through each neighborhood, obliterating all traces of spray paint with his own signature splotches of gray – hence his nickname. Some locals celebrated his dedication to keeping New Orleans clean, while others decried his assault against free expression.

The Gray Ghost upset some property owners because an original Banksy work increases the value of a building considerably. Banksy responded by incorporating the Gray Ghost in some of his works. The battle with the Gray Ghost eventually came to an end in court, but today only one original Banksy image remains in New Orleans. Link -via Rue the Day

A two-year-old boy is fascinated with outer space and all it contains. And he knows more about it than most adults! Watch this cute video submitted to a contest which asked people how scientific discovery impacted their lives, at NeatoBambino. Link

This is something I've never encountered before. Apparently in some parts of the world, notably in the UK, surgeons are referred to as "Mister" or "Ms." instead of "Doctor". Minnesotastan ran across a literary reference in which a surgeon was offended when called "Doctor." Commenter Phyllis says:

Yes. In the UK, surgeons used to be LESS THAN doctors (who were educated and gave out medicines and didn't get their hands dirty like those plebeian surgeons).

Even though they are more like the US now, where they are doctors PLUS extra training, it seems that the term has persisted.

Now I wonder about other countries. How do people refer to medical practitioners and surgeons where you come from? Link

(Image credit: Flickr user  Salim Fadhley)

Alan Becker is at war with his creation in Animator vs. Animation. Watch the flash version of the mutiny as it unwinds. Link -via Nag on the Lake

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Tonight's opening sequence of The Simpsons was written and directed by street artist Banksy. It may be disturbing to some viewers. -via Laughing Squid

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Surprise! Allie Brosch of Hyperbole and a Half looks nothing like the cartoons she draws of herself. But she has some advice on how to put your coat on so you don't look like a fool this winter. -via Metafilter

The following is an article from Uncle John's Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader.

In the late 1950s, teenage culture was big business-Elvis, James Dean, and rock'n'roll were bringing in the bucks. That's when (not so coincidentally) a brand new kind of exploitation film appeared-the teenage monster movie. Today it's just a cliche, but "I Was a Teenage... (fill in the blank)" was hot stuff for a while. Here's Uncle John's salute to the best (and worst) of them.




I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF

Starring: Michael Landon, Whit Bissell, Yvonne Lime, Barney Phillips, Joseph Mell. Director: Gene Fowler, Jr.

The Plot: Tony Rivers-played by Michael Landon in his first feature film-is a hot-tempered teenager who's always getting into fights. (In fact, the first scene is a fist thrown right at the audience.) But when he accidentally hits his girlfriend, Arlene, he realizes things are out of control. So he decides to see Dr. Brandon, a local psychiatrist.

Bad move. Brandon doesn't want to cure Tony... he wants to experiment on him. Using "retrogression therapy", he injects Tony with a serum and hypnotizes the teenager to bring out his "primitive" side. Now whenever Tony gets startled, he grows body hair and fangs and suddenly gets the urge to kill. After killing at least one person and scaring the hell out of everyone in town, the creature is gunned down by the cops. Of course, he kills the crazy shrink just before he dies. Inevitable final line (delivered by the cop): "It is not for man to interfere in the ways of God."

Commentary: Not a bad film, as '50s schlock goes. Legend has it that after seeing the poster, American International Pictures' (AIP) head Samuel Z. Arkoff declared it "A million dollar title in a hundred-thousand dollar movie." AIP knew how to exploit teenagers, but by today's standards, they kept it pretty tame. In her website, "And You Call Yourself a Scientist!", Liz writes:

Astonishingly, I Was A Teenage Werewolf provoked the ire of politicians and moral crusaders alike, who accused the film of "promoting juvenile delinquency." One can only assume that-as is often the case with politicians and moral crusaders-they hadn't actually seen the film they were attacking.

It is quite clear that at first AIP underestimated the cash crop their adolescent audiences represented. Later, when the money began pouring in, the executives pitched their films more and more to teenagers, and cared less and less about upsetting the adults; but this early effort is not only a moral little film, it is populated with some of the best-behaved teenagers and the most caring adults ever put on screen. Cops, teachers, parents-they only want what's best for the kids. There's even a subplot about the perils of parental neglect. As for the kids themselves, well, you should see what constitutes their idea of a hot party. Warning: before you get to the good part of the film, you have to sit through some of the most painfully embarrassing teenage party scenes ever committed to film, which cause Tony's girlfriend to announce that "I've never had so much fun!" -sad, but probably true.

IMMORTAL LINES

They don't write 'em like this anymore.

D. Brandon (the Mad psychiatrist): "At last, after years of searching, I've found a suitable person for my experiment! His record at school, what the principal told me, and what I learned through Dt-Sgt Donovan gives him the proper disturbed emotional background. And with what I found out from the physical examination, this boy's my perfect subject! There were certain tell-tale marks on his body only I would recognize..."
Assistant: "But you know what might happen!"
Brandon: "'Might'? In science, one must be sure!"

Brandon: "Mankind is on the brink of destroying itself! The only hope for the human race is to hurl it back to its primitive dawn, to start all over again. What's one life compared to such triumph?"

Brandon: "Through hypnosis, I'm going to regress this boy back... back into the primitive past that lurks within him! I'm going to transform him, and unleash the savage instincts that lie hidden within!"

Janitor: "I know what killed him. He was killed by... a werewolf!"
Policeman: "A what?"
Janitor: "In the old country, in my little village in the Carpathian mountains, there was a story..."

Assistant: "Alfred, you read the paper! You know what happened!"
Brandon: "There's a difference between a newspaper story and a scientific report!"
Assistant: "Aren't you wasting your time? Or do you have a second victim in view?"
Brandon: "I'm not wasting my time, and I don't like to hear the subject of a world-shaking experiment referred to as a 'victim'!"

Brandon: "We'll have it all on film, from the time I give him the injection to through the transformation! Even the most exacting, the most sceptical of of scientists will be convinced that I have penetrated the deepest secrets of creation!"

MORE TEENAGE MONSTER-MANIA

I Was A Teenage Frankenstein (1957) "Herman Cohen's sequel to I Was A Teenage Werewolf, with Whit Bissell reappearing as a mad doctor-a relative of the infamous Baron. Ludicrous as its title, with severed limbs graphically offered up for their shock value (and severed limbs in 1957 were an onscreen rarity)  ...You, too will be a teenage zombie if you sit through this."

-Creature Features, John Stanley

Teenage Caveman (1958) "After ...I Was A Teenage Frankenstein, American International Pictures further mined the youth market with-what else-Teenage Caveman. Robert Vaughn stars as a boy (he would later become the man ...From U.N.C.L.E., that is), who defies his elders by venturing... into the forbidden land... where he finds 'the monster who kills with a touch.' Directed by Roger Corman in ten days on a $70,000 budget."

-Cult Flicks and Trash Pics

Teenagers From Outer Space (1959) "'They blast the Flesh off humans!' claimed the ads. A young alien falls for a teenage earth girl and ruins the plans of his invading cohorts by blowing them up. The invaders, who arrive in a flying saucer, carry deadly ray guns and breed giant lobster monsters for food. Only the shadow of one of the creatures is shown in this extremely low-budget feature."

-The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film, Michael Weldon

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The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader.

This special edition book covers the three "lost" Bathroom Readers - Uncle John's 5th, 6th and 7th book all in one. The huge (and hugely entertaining) volume covers neat stories like the Strange Fate of the Dodo Bird, the Secrets of Mona Lisa, and more ...

Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. Check out their website here: Bathroom Reader Institute

If you're throwing a geek party, you've got to have geeky refreshments, like these ten Star Trek-themed drinks, with recipes included.

With names like “Beam Me Up Scotchie” and “Phasers on Stun Punch”, there’s no possible way to go wrong if you mix these at your next “Trekker” party… unless the borgs decide to show up of course. Then having a “successful” party is probably the last thing you’ll care about.

I don't know which tastes best, but I love the name "Vulcan Death Grip" for a cocktail! Link

The following is an article from Uncle John’s All-Purpose Extra Strength Bathroom Reader.

It was a dark and stormy night... no, it really was. And that was the perfect setting for telling one of the scariest stories of all time. Here's how it happened.




CABIN FEVER

It all started in the summer of 1816. Percy Bysshe Shelley, the famed English poet, was vacationing along the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland with his 18-year-old future wife Mary Wollstonecraft. In adjoining villas were their friends, the poet Lord Byron, and Lord Byron's personal physician Dr. John Polidori. "It was a wet, ungenial summer," Mary Shelley later wrote, and then the rain "confined us for days."

The group passed some of their time reading German horror stories. Then inspired by the tales, Lord Byron announced to the group, "We will each write a ghost story." And with that challenge, two of the most enduring monsters in English literature came into being.

DYNAMIC DUO

Mary Wollstonecraft wrote a tale about a mad scientist who assembles a monster out of body parts stolen from cadavers and then brings the monster to life. Polidori, she recounted later, "had some terrible idea about a skull-headed lady, who was punished for peeping through a keyhole." Percy Shelley came up with a story "founded on the experiences of his early life" ...and Lord Byron created a story about a vampire.

Wollstonecraft spent the rest of the summer turning her story into a novel-Frankenstein. Lord Byron never did complete his story, but Dr. Polidori was so intrigued by the vampire idea that he scrapped the skull-headed lady and, borrowing from Byron, later wrote The Vampyre, the first vampire novel of any substance to appear in English literature. The Vampyre was published in the 1819 edition of New Monthly Magazine, and earned Polidori £30.

REVENGE!

The Vampyre might have been just another simple retelling of the traditional vampire legends of Eastern Europe, were it not for the fact that Polidori and Lord Byron had once been lovers. Cooped up in the villa in Geneva that summer, they were driving each other crazy. Polidori was jealous of Byron's increasingly close friendship with Percy Shelley, and, perhaps because of this, he decided to make the vampire character a parody of Lord Byron.

The vampires of Eastern European lore were not that different from today's conception of werewolves: They were scary, uncivilized creatures, more animal than human. But Polidori's character was different. His vampire was a nobleman, and an immoral, sinister antihero named Lord Ruthven-not unlike Lord Byron, whose numerous sexual liaisons were the scandal of English society.

The name Ruthven was another dig at Byron. Polidori took the name from Ruthven Glenarvon, the main character of Glenarvon, a popular novel, written by Lady Caroline Lamb, another of Byron's former lovers. Lamb, too, had intended her character to be a satirical slap at Byron.

A new cougar was born at the Oregon Zoo in Portland on September 19th. The cub and her mom Chinook are in seclusion, but you can see a video at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog. http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/archives/224149.asp -via Fark

(Image credit: the Oregon Zoo)