It took humans no time to crack into a skull. Cracking the art of neurosurgery? That’s a different story.
2ND CENTURY
Greek physician and philosopher Galen performs the first experimental studies on the brain. He wants to find out whether an animating life force, known as the “psychic pneuma,” exists in the brain’s ventricles. Since human dissection is taboo, he focuses on goats.
900
Western knowledge goes dark, but progress continues in the Islamic world, thanks to star surgeons, like Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi. He emphasizes that locating pressure on the brain is important for making head injury prognoses.
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The funniest thing to arise in the wake of The Force Awakens in 2015 was the SNL skit Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base, in which Kylo Ren disguised himself as a radar technician named Matt to find out what the crew of his First Order ship thought of him. Two years later, you can play Star Wars: Battlefront II as Matt the Radar Technician.
A cluster of links about the mod can be found at the YouTube page. Matt the Radar Technician isn't the only new mod that's cropped up in Battlefront II. When EA CFO Blake Jorgensen had this to say,
One way EA isn't considering is leaning in too heavily on character-based cosmetic items, since it could interfere with the canon of a renowned franchise like Star Wars. "If you did a bunch of cosmetic things, you might start to violate the canon," the CFO said. "Darth Vader in white probably doesn't make sense, versus in black. Not to mention you probably don't want Darth Vader in pink. No offense to pink, but I don't think that's right in the canon."
Players, of course, took that as a challenge. Yes, there's now a pink Darth character. And a white Darth is coming soon. -via The Mary Sue
BTW, I don't see why Matt couldn't be canon. After all, the actor is right there and available. He should make a cameo in episode IX.
A viral image of a home decor idea encourages us to display our books with the page edges out, to produce a uniform neutral-color look. What? How would we ever find the book we're looking for? Apparently this has been a decorating trend for at least a year. While some think it's ridiculous, others will take the time to explain why they do it.
The library at El Escorial in Spain shelved books with the spines to the wall, in order to protect the leather bindings. But the page edges were gilded, and the book titles were written on the gilding. It wasn't the only place books were displayed that way. But the recent decor idea displays no titles. What do you think? What would be you impression if you went to someone's house and saw all their books displayed this way? -via Metafilter
We don't build robots to be killers. We just treat our existing robots badly enough to make them homicidal. Anyone who's worked under a boss with a profound empathy deficit can relate. This fairly disgusting story is brought to you by Chris Hallbeck at Maximumble.
Thomas Edison held over a thousand patents for gadgets that changed the world. Many he invented, and the ones that he appropriated from other people still found success by being associated with Edison. You might not know that Edison started working on a science fiction novel he called Progress in 1890. But Edison had little formal education, and struggled with putting his ideas on paper. The author George Parsons Lathrop approached the inventor about writing his biography, Edison didn't like that, but proposed a collaboration on the novel.
Edison, probably the most celebrated American scientist of the day, and Lathrop, considered an author of the first rank by contemporary critics, must have seemed like an unbeatable combination; press from around the world published news reports of their project.
By late 1892, though, the project seemed to be in trouble. “The electric novel which Mr. Edison was said to be writing is ‘off,’” The Australian Star, a Sydney newspaper, announced.
“Edison was all enthusiasm at first, and Lathrop had five or six interviews with him, in which Edison poured out suggestions faster than Lathrop could assimilate them.” the account went on to explain. “Then Edison’s enthusiasm cooled. He tired of the whole thing and would have nothing more to do with it, leaving Lathrop in the lurch with a novel about half done.”
The story was eventually published, but Lathrop, while acknowledging Edison's contribution took credit for the story. Who was really responsible for the story? And what was it about? Learn about Edison's science fiction story and how its publication played out at Smithsonian.
Cats are carnivores. They mainly eat meat. But everyone has a story about a cat they knew who ate melons, or corn, or something else that cats normally don't eat. This kitten is one of those weird cats, but he's not alone!
Yeah, his brother likes a bite of that strawberry, too. There's something very appealing about watching these cats nom on a bit of nature's candy. (via Digg)
Bright Lights Big City is a 1988 movie starring Michael J. Fox as a man whose life is falling apart. He confronts a death in the family, divorce, job loss, drug use, depression, and pretty much everything that can go wrong at once. Critics thought the movie was well-made but ultimately pointless. While Michael J. Fox did a decent job with the material, the consensus was that the young comedic actor was just wrong for this role. Bright Lights Big City was a financial flop. What went wrong?
3. There are two different endings to this movie.
There’s the original ending and then there’s an ending in which Jamie has written a novel titled after the movie and has a girlfriend that is proud of his accomplishments.
2. Fox was trying to change his image.
He wanted to show that he could do more than sitcoms and light movies by moving into something a little more serious.
It appears that alternative choices might have saved the film. Read more about Fox's little-known film Bright Lights Big City at TVOM.
Neatorama is proud to bring you a guest post from history buff and Neatoramanaut WTM, who wishes to remain otherwise anonymous.
At the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, there was found on the Midway an interactive ‘scenograph’ exhibit of something called the “Johnstown Flood”. Similar exhibits concerning this “Johnstown Flood” would later be found at Coney Island in New York and the Atlantic Boardwalk. All were immensely popular with the viewing (and paying) public for reasons that will be made clear.
In 1926, there was released a film by the name of The Johnstown Flood, it being the type of drama termed a ‘potboiler’ at the time. From the movie poster below, one can easily deduce that the Johnstown Flood was some sort of epic disaster involving a flood, prominent enough to warrant an exposition midway exhibit and a film.
And in a scene found in the 1931 film Public Enemy, purported to take place in 1909, there is a sign on a wall that states, "Don't Spit ON THE FLOOR Remember the JOHNSTOWN FLOOD!" This sign or facsimile was typically employed in early 20th century restaurants, businesses, and movie theaters, on the silver screen during intermission in theaters and on the walls in other venues, as a gentle reminder in an age when many men chewed tobacco and would spit the results indiscriminately. (A similar reminder of the period was, ‘Do not expect to rate as a gentleman if you expectorate on the floor.’) But what exactly was this ‘Johnstown Flood’ in which there was such interest, especially in films, and why and how did it become such a cultural phenomenon?
British philosopher Alan Watts has an important reminder for all of us. Even though we are raised to look at everything we do as a progression towards a goal, that's not how it is. Sure, some things are a journey, like high school or actual travel, but we can't apply that idea to our entire lives. Or we shouldn't.
Americans have been taught since birth that being a "goal-oriented" person is commendable, and it is -for your employer. To get the most out of life, you have to learn how to stop and smell the roses. -via Laughing Squid
Dani Bostick at McSweeney's Internet Tendencies brings us a list of proposed state mottos that are more realistic and descriptive than their existing mottos. They aren't always as flattering as those state governments would prefer.
California
Ubi secedere possumus?
“When can we secede?”
Michigan
Nos paenitet aquam atram habere
“We are sorry we have poisonous water”
New Mexico
Nolite pittas super tectos iacere
“Don’t throw pizzas on our roofs”
I wondered how the Latin held up in translation, since some of the English words were never used in ancient Rome, so I ran a few of the mottos through Google Translate. North Carolina's motto is supposed to mean “No barbecue without vinegar.” Google Translate rendered it as "Nothing reigns on smoking without acid." Okay then. Pennsylvania's motto came out a hot mess, while Ohio's, Alaska's, and Utah's translated perfectly. I'm sure Bostick did the best she could with what she had to work with. Read all the new state mottos in Latin at McSweeney's. -via Metafilter
Horse trainer Emma Massingale has a pony named Comet and a cat named Louis. They are good friends who go on adventures together. Louis doesn't need a saddle when he goes horseback riding; a horse blanket will do, but a saddle will do fine if that's what's on the horse. It's not like he could get his feet into the stirrups!
In this video, they take a lovely ride together through the countryside of Devon, England. Or at least Louis takes a ride, while Comet does the walking. -via Tastefully Offensive
The elder Jedi master Luke Skywalker retired to a life of solitude on a remote island on the planet Ahch-To. Or he ran away and hid there, if you want to be brutally honest. The beautiful island scenes in The Last Jedi were filmed on Ireland's Skellig Michael, which really has existing ancient stone huts.
The ancient Jedi shelter where Luke Skywalker resides is a very terrestrial building type called a clochán, a primitive stone dwelling that can still be found on Skellig Michael. These structures, also called beehive huts, were built by the ascetic Christian monks who first settled the island in the 6th or 7th century. Although beehive huts can be found across Europe and particularly western Ireland, the examples on Skellig Michael are probably the most striking and isolated in the world.
Skellig Michael is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. While The Last Jedi was filmed on location there, they did not use the island's ancient clocháns. Reproductions were built for the movie. Atlas Obscura looks closer at these stone domes and how they were built in a place where there was no wood or mortar, hundreds of years ago.
(Image credit: Jibi44)
The big snow last week left treacherous conditions on US31 in Muskegon, Michigan. The guy recording this was driving southbound with his wife. They managed to not hit anyone when they encountered a pileup, and for safety they pulled off the road and into the median. It wasn't all that safe, as they were then hit several times by other cars who couldn't stop in time. This video contains NSFW language.
With nothing else to do while the road was blocked by wrecked cars, they provided a play-by-play narration as more and more drivers could not stop before joining the wreckage. -via Digg
We can't say for sure whether this was the first hidden camera stunt, but it goes pretty far back. Nineteen-year-old Norwegian math student Carl Størmer bought a small camera and surreptitiously took photos of people on the main street in Oslo from 1893 to 1897.
In his biography for the Fellows of the Royal Society, he revealed it was actually a secret crush that led him toward photography. “When he was a young man at Oslo University he fell in love with a lady whom he did not know and with whom he was too bashful to become acquainted,” writes his biographer. “Wishing at least to have a picture of her, he decided that this was possible only by taking a photograph of her himself, without her knowing.”
The candid shots from the streets of Oslo are much more revealing than the portraits of the era. Around 500 of Størmer's photograph's were later exhibited when he was in his 70s. See a selection of them at My Modern Met. -via Boing Boing
Matthias Wandel (previously at Neatorama) built a mouse maze last year, which got him wondering how small of a hole a mouse can get his whole body through. To find out, he built a mousetrap with different-sized holes and set up a camera to catch any mouse trying it out. Mice did come by, and they learned that the peanut butter bait was easier to retrieve through the larger holes, and there was no need to try the smallest hole. Mice are not dumb. You can follow the timeline of his experiments here. But the unexpected part was when a shrew showed up for some peanut butter, and that little fellow was much hungrier.
My camera set-up didn't record sound. But as a silent film, it wasn't that interesting. I searched the Internet for some sound effects to add but couldn't find what I was looking for. So the sound effects (but not the music) were all made by me. Most I made with my mouth or by scratching or tapping my fingers on my desk. The squeezing through the hole sounds took the longest to figure out, but rubbing my fingers on a balloon made a very satisfying "squeezing through" sound effect. Once the mouse made it through a hole, I wanted a popping sound like a champagne bottle, but less sharp. Slamming my palm against the opening of a small glass jar made just the right sound.
With so many clips, and all the sounds to add, it took several days of editing to put this together. But every time I watched some of the clips, I couldn't stop laughing. So I'm hoping this video will have a similar effect on viewers and that the extra effort becomes justified.
Yeah, it was worth it. Thanks for the laughs! -via Metafilter
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