If you browse reddit, you may have noticed that when someone posts a very old picture of a relative, someone always restores and colorizes it as a gift to the submitter. A lot of these amazing photo restorations are done by Swedish artist Sanna Dullaway. She has also colorized many historic photographs.



Dullaway recently started her own business in restoring old photographs, but the website is still under construction. But there are other places to see her work. Link to reddit album. Link to Dullaway's Flickr stream. -Thanks, özi!

(Images credit: Sanna Dullaway)

Yesterday marked 100 years since Robert Falcon Scott and the others of his expedition reached the South Pole. Photographer Herbert Ponting recorded images of the journey, although he did not personally accompany Scott all the way to the Pole.

Staying behind likely saved Ponting's life: Upon reaching the Pole, Scott and his team discovered that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had gotten there first, on December 14, 1911. (Find out how Amundsen won the Pole, in his own words.) Then, weakened by extreme cold and dwindling supplies, Scott's entire party died on the return journey, in late March 1912.

Ponting's photographs survived as well, to this day. National Geographic News has a gallery of those historic images posted in honor of the 100th anniversary. Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!

(Image credit: Herbert G. Ponting/National Geographic)

Nitrozac and Snaggy from The Joy of Tech made a comic to cover the site during the internet strike. See, there are things to do that aren't on the web! Link -via Laughing Squid

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The book by Greg Stones, in video form. -via Everlasting Blort

You've seen mermaid's purses on the beach, in places where skates and rays are common. They are the animals' egg sacs. Not something you'd think of having for breakfast, but that's okay, because this dish only looks like a mermaid's purse! This is made from crepes and eggs, and you'll find complete instructions for making on at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user Windell Oskay)

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A song from LaughPong about the SOPA and PIPA bills now before congress. While many sites have simply gone down for today in protest, Consumerist has a list of posts about the bills you can access to catch up on how the bills came about, why the internet is protesting, and what you can do. Link  -video via The Cheezburger Network

January is Braille Literacy Month. Did you know that? Here are some other things you might not know about Braille.

7. There are three different “grades” of Braille

Every grade represents a different skill level, with 1 being best for those just starting to learn Braille and 3 for the more familiar. Basic letters and punctuation characterize the first, while the second builds off of that to include contractions – making it the most common version found in public. Once a person hits Grade 3 Braille, he or she can learn the shorthand for personal use, such as lists and notes, rather than more formalized literature.

8. “Braille for feet” exists

In order for businesses to meet standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act, Tilco Vanguard developed a veritable “Braille for feet” that assists the visually impaired in knowing the boundaries of dangerous areas. Technically referred to as “truncated domes,” these bright yellow strips spell out a universal message in order to keep store and restaurant patrons safe.

Read the rest of the list, and you'll be a lot more "literate" in Braille than you were yesterday! Link

You know, when someone confides that they sometimes Google themselves, the classic answer is "You'll go blind!" But this Twaggie, illustrated from a Tweet by @IamMsMoneypenny, strikes close to home for me today. You can see a new Twaggie every day at GoComics. Link

The semi-annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society was held in Austin recently, and many space images were shared. Dr. Phil Plait was not at the meeting, so the other astronomers sent him pictures, which he put into a gallery at Bad Astronomy. Each has a link to more information about the picture. The image shown here is a high-energy gamma-ray map from NASA's Fermi telescope. Shiny! Link

(Image credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration)

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This cat has a unique method of climbing up the stairs. Soon you see that it probably has something to do with the "prey" it has caught. -via Buzzfeed

How did this happen? Maybe when they decided to list the house for sale in a hurry, the only exterior picture they had was a dud from the wedding album. Or maybe it was a Photoshop Disaster. Either way, potential buyers are going to assume the house is haunted! Link

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What would America look like if various secession movements of the past had been successful? The company Urban Mapping created maps that follow 30 such movements, and what the results may have been. Link to story. http://demo.urbanmapping.com/map-gallery/secessionist-movements/ to interactive map. -Thanks, Ian!

Who was it: Stefani Germanotta or Jerrica Benton? These singers are better known as pop star Lady Gaga and ’80s cartoon rock star Jem. In today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, you'll be given twelve statements, and you decide which diva it applies to. Believe it or not, I scored 75% without knowing anything about either of them! How did you do? Link

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Actress Betty White is 90 years old today. NBC aired a birthday tribute last night, and President Obama took part by sending a video greeting. Link -via Buzzfeed

A couple of decades of boosting children's self-esteem turns out to not have much effect on a student's grades. Oh, praise is still seen as effective, but educators are beginning to reward students for more than just showing up.

A growing body of research over three decades shows that easy, unearned praise does not help students but instead interferes with significant learning opportunities. As schools ratchet up academic standards for all students, new buzzwords are “persistence,” “risk-taking” and “resilience” — each implying more sweat and strain than fuzzy, warm feelings.

“We used to think we could hand children self-esteem on a platter,” Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck said. “That has backfired.”

Dweck’s studies, embraced in Montgomery schools and elsewhere, have found that praising children for intelligence — “You’re so clever!” — also backfires. In study after study, children rewarded for being smart become more likely to shy away from hard assignments that might tarnish their star reputations.

But children praised for trying hard or taking risks tend to enjoy challenges and find greater success. Children also perform better in the long term when they believe that their intellect is not a birthright but something that grows and develops as they learn new things.

Link -via TYWKIWDBI

(Image credit: Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)