Fast thinking and a little fancy footwork turned an awkward fall into a crowd pleaser! The title of this video is "How we do track in Hawaii." -via I Am Bored
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Breaking china turns into art when it's done in super slow motion. This requires a slingshot, a glass marble or two, and a camera that can take thousands of frames per second. Oh yeah, and china. -via Laughing Squid
Here is the last known photograph of the RMS Titanic, on the morning of April 11th, 1912. It was taken by photographer and later priest Francis Browne, who traveled only from Southampton to Cork on the ship. Passengers had to be ferried away from the enormous boat, as the dock had no accommodations for a ship that size. That fact gave Browne a chance to get the entire ship in a frame just before it started across the Atlantic. Browne took many other pictures of his one-day stay aboard the Titanic. See eleven of them at Buzzfeed. Link
Oscar developed a method for getting frozen fish out of the freezer. Next, we'll see a video of Oscar using the microwave to thaw it out. The family that took this video installed a lock after they discovered and recorded Oscar's particular talent. -via Arbroath
If anyone can teach us about love, it should be the great philosophers. But as it turns out, a lover of wisdom and a wise lover are two very different things.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU Putting Babies in the Corner
One of the most important figures of the French Enlightenment, Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that humankind's natural state had been corrupted by society. "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains," the philosopher once wrote. Rousseau believed that marriage was a necessary "chain" that mankind needed to submit to, and he argued that the nuclear family -built around the core of a husband and wife- was integral to society's success.
Of course, Rousseau's personal appetites were in stark contrast to the conventional morals that he publicly championed. He enjoyed flashing women, claiming to get an "absurd pleasure" out of the practice. And while he praised the nuclear family as that necessary straightjacket that all men must wear, it wasn't cut to his own liking. In his autobiography, Rousseau recounted his many relationships with upper-class women ...and their staffs. When Madame de Warens took Rousseau into her home in 1729, the philosopher initiated a menage a trois with the noblewoman and her property manager. The three only broke up when Rousseau took a job in another city.
But the philosopher didn't restrict his philandering to high society. In fact, Rousseau's longest relationship was with Therese Lavasseur, an illiterate seamstress whom he met in March 1745. They had a sizable family -or would have, if they'd kept any of their offspring. Rousseau personally abandoned every one of their five children to a French foundling hospital (sort of a YMCA for unwanted children). These tinier chains, he argued, would have interfered with his important work.
Neither Rousseau nor Lavasseur was faithful to the other, but after abandoning their fifth and final child in 1768, they decided to marry. The ceremony wasn't legal, though, as marriages between Catholics (Rousseau) and Protestants (Lavasseur) weren't recognized in France at the time. That appeared to be fine with Rousseau, who barely acknowledged Lavasseur anyway: Instead of referring to her as his wife, he preferred to call her his "housekeeper." He kept her "services" until his death in 1778.
ARISTOTLE The Man, the Myth, the Misogynist
Continue reading
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU Putting Babies in the Corner
One of the most important figures of the French Enlightenment, Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that humankind's natural state had been corrupted by society. "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains," the philosopher once wrote. Rousseau believed that marriage was a necessary "chain" that mankind needed to submit to, and he argued that the nuclear family -built around the core of a husband and wife- was integral to society's success.
Of course, Rousseau's personal appetites were in stark contrast to the conventional morals that he publicly championed. He enjoyed flashing women, claiming to get an "absurd pleasure" out of the practice. And while he praised the nuclear family as that necessary straightjacket that all men must wear, it wasn't cut to his own liking. In his autobiography, Rousseau recounted his many relationships with upper-class women ...and their staffs. When Madame de Warens took Rousseau into her home in 1729, the philosopher initiated a menage a trois with the noblewoman and her property manager. The three only broke up when Rousseau took a job in another city.
But the philosopher didn't restrict his philandering to high society. In fact, Rousseau's longest relationship was with Therese Lavasseur, an illiterate seamstress whom he met in March 1745. They had a sizable family -or would have, if they'd kept any of their offspring. Rousseau personally abandoned every one of their five children to a French foundling hospital (sort of a YMCA for unwanted children). These tinier chains, he argued, would have interfered with his important work.
Neither Rousseau nor Lavasseur was faithful to the other, but after abandoning their fifth and final child in 1768, they decided to marry. The ceremony wasn't legal, though, as marriages between Catholics (Rousseau) and Protestants (Lavasseur) weren't recognized in France at the time. That appeared to be fine with Rousseau, who barely acknowledged Lavasseur anyway: Instead of referring to her as his wife, he preferred to call her his "housekeeper." He kept her "services" until his death in 1778.
ARISTOTLE The Man, the Myth, the Misogynist
The following is an article from Uncle John's Giant 10th Anniversary Bathroom Reader.
BRI member Ben Brand sent us this information about a couple of experiments conducted by a Stanford professor a few years ago. The results are a little scary -but frankly, they're not that surprising, are they?
EXPERIMENT #1
Researchers: Dr. David Rosenhan, a professor psychology and law at Stanford University. He was assisted by eight people, carefully chosen because they were "apparently sane in every measurable aspect, with no record of past mental problems": three psychologists, a psychiatrist, a pediatrician, an artist, a housewife, and a psychology graduate student.
Who They Studied: The people who run America's mental institutions.
* Using pseudonyms, the researchers presented themselves at 12 different mental institutions around the U.S. as patients "worried about their mental health." They were admitted and diagnosed as insane. According to Ron Perlman in the San Francisco Chronicle, "All told the same tale of trouble: they had been hearing voices which seemed to be saying 'empty' or 'hollow' or 'thud.' This was the only symptom they presented, and the pseudopatients were scrupulously truthful about all other aspects of their lives during interviews and therapy sessions."
* Perlman adds, "As soon as they were admitted to the hospitals, they stopped simulating any symptoms at all, and whenever they were asked they all said they felt fine and that their brief hallucinations were gone. They were cooperative a patients and behaved completely normally. The only symptom they might then have shown was a little nervousness about the possibility of being found out."
* They remained in the institutions for as long as 52 days, getting regular treatment.
* The eight "mental patients" scrupulously kept a written record of both their treatment and the things that happened around them in the mental wards. At first they did it furtively, hiding their notes so that the staff wouldn't find them. But gradually they realized that the staff didn't care, and never even bothered to ask what they were writing. "One nurse," writes Perlman, "noticing that a pseudopatient was taking regular notes, saw it as a symptom of a crazy compulsion. 'Patient engages in writing behavior,' she wrote portentously on his chart day after day."
Continue reading
BRI member Ben Brand sent us this information about a couple of experiments conducted by a Stanford professor a few years ago. The results are a little scary -but frankly, they're not that surprising, are they?
EXPERIMENT #1
Researchers: Dr. David Rosenhan, a professor psychology and law at Stanford University. He was assisted by eight people, carefully chosen because they were "apparently sane in every measurable aspect, with no record of past mental problems": three psychologists, a psychiatrist, a pediatrician, an artist, a housewife, and a psychology graduate student.
Who They Studied: The people who run America's mental institutions.
* Using pseudonyms, the researchers presented themselves at 12 different mental institutions around the U.S. as patients "worried about their mental health." They were admitted and diagnosed as insane. According to Ron Perlman in the San Francisco Chronicle, "All told the same tale of trouble: they had been hearing voices which seemed to be saying 'empty' or 'hollow' or 'thud.' This was the only symptom they presented, and the pseudopatients were scrupulously truthful about all other aspects of their lives during interviews and therapy sessions."
* Perlman adds, "As soon as they were admitted to the hospitals, they stopped simulating any symptoms at all, and whenever they were asked they all said they felt fine and that their brief hallucinations were gone. They were cooperative a patients and behaved completely normally. The only symptom they might then have shown was a little nervousness about the possibility of being found out."
* They remained in the institutions for as long as 52 days, getting regular treatment.
* The eight "mental patients" scrupulously kept a written record of both their treatment and the things that happened around them in the mental wards. At first they did it furtively, hiding their notes so that the staff wouldn't find them. But gradually they realized that the staff didn't care, and never even bothered to ask what they were writing. "One nurse," writes Perlman, "noticing that a pseudopatient was taking regular notes, saw it as a symptom of a crazy compulsion. 'Patient engages in writing behavior,' she wrote portentously on his chart day after day."
Titanic just keeps getting improved! Now with more effects, more directors, more monsters, and more explosions! -via reddit
Liverpool artist Rowan Stocks-Moore created a series of beautiful posters of classic Disney movies, most with some kind of optical illusion included. See ten of them at TQS magazine. Link -via Metafilter
This Easter-themed parody of the 1979 film Alien may make you think twice about digging into those chocolate eggs! Or maybe not... -Thanks, Vincenzo!
A botched dye job takes painter Bob Ross on a surreal Easter adventure! Or does it? -Thanks, Woodcreek Faction!
Scientists have been speculating and arguing about when hominids mastered the art of producing fire for a long time. Estimates ranged from a few hundred thousands years ago to two million years ago. But now hard evidence of a one-million-year-old cave fire has emerged.
The age of hominid fire is important, because fire is a crucial ingredient of the theory that humans developed bigger brains due to eating cooked food (previously at Neatorama). Read more on this discovery at Smithsonian's Hominid Hunting blog. Link
(Image credit: Wikimedia user 4028mdk09)
The new evidence comes from South Africa’s Wonderwerk Cave. Archaeological investigations there in the 1970s through 1990s turned up Acheulean tools—stone handaxes and other implements that were likely produced by Homo erectus. In 2004, Francesco Berna of Boston University and his colleagues began new excavations. They found several signs of fire, including tiny charred bone fragments and ash from burned plants. They also found ironstone—which the hominids used to make tools—with telltale fractures indicative of heating. Using a technique called Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy, which examines how a sample absorbs different wavelengths of infrared light, the team determined the remains had been heated to more than 900 degrees Fahrenheit, with grasses, leaves or brush used as fuel.
The shape of the bone fragments and the exceptional preservation of the plant ash suggest the materials were burned in the cave—not outside and then transported in by water, the team reports this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Spontaneous combustion of bat guano was also ruled out (apparently this sometimes happens in caves). That left hominids as the most likely source of the fire.
The age of hominid fire is important, because fire is a crucial ingredient of the theory that humans developed bigger brains due to eating cooked food (previously at Neatorama). Read more on this discovery at Smithsonian's Hominid Hunting blog. Link
(Image credit: Wikimedia user 4028mdk09)
James Cameron works with NatGeo to recreate the movements of the Titanic as she sank in real life, in this clip from Titanic: The Final Word With James Cameron, which will air Sunday night on the National Geographic Channel. It may not be as exciting as his movie version, but accuracy has its place. So Cameron has managed to promote his film in theaters and a TV show in one fell swoop.
Artist Paige Smith at A Common Name has a street art project in which she installs faux crystals made of paper inside nooks and crannies to make them resemble geodes. You can see them around Los Angeles; there's a map at the project site to help you find them. Link -via Laughing Squid
Puppies wearing bunny ears on their collars romp with bunnies, chicks, and ducklings among colorful Easter baskets. This is so sweet that you won't need any chocolate eggs or Peeps anymore. video by Devin Graham; original music by Stephen Anderson. -via The Daily What
Miss Demeanor at Criminal Crafts was going to buy some zombie chocolate Easter bunnies, but the vendor was sold out. So she made her own! If you want to try this, stock up on chocolate bunnies while they are available, and read the tutorial for step-by-step instructions (and more pictures). Link -via Boing Boing
(Image credit: Flickr user Miss Demeanor)
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