The short answer is that our brains are programmed to see the world in three dimensions instead of two. There are more details at Discover magazine, as well as a gallery of colorful optical illusions. For example, these two Rubik's cubes do NOT have the same colors. The "blue" squares in the left picture and the "yellow" squares in the right picture are gray.
I took samples from each and put them on a white field to make sure. Link
In 1966, England was preparing to host the World Cup games when someone stole the championship Jules Rimet Trophy out from under their noses! Police received a ransom note and met with the contact -and arrested him. But it took a little dog named Pickles to actually find the trophy. Read the story of how Pickles became the hero of the World Cup at mental_floss. Link
One way to keep oil from the Gulf of Mexico from creeping into Louisiana's marshlands would be to keep water flowing from the opposite direction. Scientists think rerouting a small part of the Mississippi river would do the trick, at least temporarily. A fork in the river normally sends some water to the south via the Atchafalaya River, which empties into the ocean west of the oil spill. If more of that water were directed instead to the mouth of the Mississippi, the marshlands would be flooded with fresh water. National Audubon Society coastal scientist Paul Kemp says this idea should be put in place soon, because it won't work if we wait.
The Mississippi will not be able to keep the oil at bay indefinitely, however. The river's flow naturally declines each summer, and by August, Kemp's idea will no longer be effective.
That's why Kemp rushed to submit a memo on June 9 outlining his idea to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which would have to approve any short-term river diversions.
In addition to rerouting the Mississippi, Kemp suggests that water currently held behind dams farther upriver should be slowly released. This would keep the flow of water as strong as possible.
Today is the official opening of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity in Orange, California. In honor of the occasion, Baierman listed some of the many things he (and the rest of us) learned from watching the cartoon characters Jones created (including Bugs Bunny, the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Daffy Duck, and others).
1. Never stick a body part, or your gun, in to a hole.
2. When your life is on the line, it’s okay to dress like a girl and seduce your captor.
3. Even a Grinch can be lovable.
4. Control your anger at all costs. Otherwise you will end up repeatedly falling off a 500-foot tall diving platform.
There are 25 things in this list; maybe you could think of more! Link
What's not to love about Hawaii? Well, no place is perfect, but knowing the seamier side of the state is not likely to cause you to cancel your dream vacation.
Gangster's Paradise
Hawaii can proudly claim more scientific observatories and and pineapples than any other state in the union. Somewhat less proudly, it claims more Japanese gangsters, too. Also known as the Yakuza, these mobsters have made the island state a major way station for Asian drugs and American guns being smuggled across borders. But why Hawaii? Besides being relatively close to Japan, the state's diverse ethnic makeup and regular influx of Japanese tourists make it easy for the Yakuza to blend in-at least on the surface. Many Yakuza hide full body tattoos under their high-collar long-sleeve shirts. Some are even missing a finger, which are sometimes cut off and offered as penance to mob bosses. Image credit: Flickr user localjapantimes.
Island of the Lepers
One of Hawaii's most famous historical figures wasn't Hawaiian at all. Flemish missionary Father Damien was one of many European settlers who descended on the sunny island chain in the 19th century and brought with them new technologies, new ways of life, and, of course, new germs. The resulting public health crisis necessitated the creation of a fortress-like leper colony on the island of Molokai, also known as "the colony of death". Damien was the only priest to volunteer for what many considered a suicide mission. He spent 16 years making the colonists as comfortable (and Christian) as possible before he succumbed to the disease himself in 1889. Since then, he's gained quite a reputation. Mahatma Gandhi considered him a personal hero; Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1995; and the Flemish media voted him "Greatest Belgian of All Time" in 2005.
Squeaky Beaches
Enjoy quiet walks on the beach? Don't go to the island of Kauai. There, on Barking Sands Beach, dry sand grains emit an eerie sound when rubbed together or poked with bare feet. Various accounts claim the sand sings, whistles, roars, booms, squeaks, or-as the beach's name suggests-barks like a dog.
Having Your Cook (and Eating Him, Too)
After circumnavigating the globe and logging three epic expeditions to the Pacific, the famously intrepid explorer James Cook seemed to be running out of new things to discover. Perhaps as a result, he also seemed to be losing his mind. According to his crew, Cook's bouts of irrational behavior came to a head when a Hawaiian native stole a pair of blacksmith's tongs. He insisted on chasing the thief ashore, whereupon he picked a fight with local villagers. The Hawaiians quickly gained the upper hand, however, and Cook was killed in the skirmish. When the crew of the H.M.B. Endeavour finally got Cook's body back, his flesh had been roasted from his bones. Had he been eaten? No one knows for sure, but it would seem a fitting end for a man who helped cannibalize (er, colonize) much of the South Pacific.
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The article above is reprinted from Scatterbrained section of the May- June 2007 issue of mental_floss magazine.
Be sure to visit mental_floss' website and blog for more fun stuff!
Allie at Hyperbole and a Half (the creator of the Alot) has the same feelings we all do, but she expresses them so much better than most of us. In this essay, she looks at the horrible life of a responsible adult and why we would all choose to remain children if it were possible. Some NSFW language. Link -via Metafilter
The short version of last week's World Cup game between the US and England features only the best parts -both goals, with instant replays. In LEGO! This video was created by the folks at Lego Fussball, who have Lego versions of many games. English translation by The Guardian. -via Laughing Squid
Although Tetris (Korobeiniki) and the Mario Brothers theme songs are easy to sing along with, I always thought that the majestic theme music for The Legend of Zelda was quite beautiful. NeatoGeek showcases that theme today with eight different interpretations of the music from the video game The Legend of Zelda. Which one is your favorite? Link
Using tea candles for pixels, YouTube member brusspup lit and relit for two weeks to create this video game sequence. It's all worth it if you enjoy watching it! -via the Presurfer
Here on land, we undertake great engineering projects to get rid of biological waste from cities and livestock farms. What about the sea, where huge animals produce a lot of it? It turns out that whales have the ability to offset greenhouse gasses with their poop!
Sperm whales in the Southern Ocean release 220,462 tons of carbon when they exhale carbon dioxide at the water's surface, but their poo stimulates the drawdown of 440,925 tons of carbon, according to the research, published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
These ocean giants and certain other marine mammals may therefore be among the most environmentally beneficial animals on the planet.
"If Southern Ocean sperm whales were at their historic levels, meaning their population size before whaling, we would have an extra 2 million tons (2,204,623 tons) of carbon being removed from our atmosphere each and every year," lead author Trisha Lavery Told Discovery News.
Lavery, a marine biologist at Flinders University of South Australia, and her colleagues explained how the cleaning process works.
You can read all about it at Discovery News. Link -via Digg
On June 16th, 1960 -fifty years ago today- moviegoers were treated to a new Alfred Hitchcock film that would change the idea of horror films forever. It was the release date for Psycho, the psychological thriller that introduced us to Norman Bates and The Bates Motel. The simple act of taking a shower become a frightening experience for those who saw the movie. Open Road Media selected this anniversary date to release an ebook version of the nonfiction masterpiece Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello, which takes a deeper look at Hitchcock's masterpiece.
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho is a behind-the-scenes look inside the classic suspense shocker—and the creative genius who revolutionized filmmaking.
Author Stephen Rebello explores the creation of one of Hollywood’s most iconic films, from the story of Wisconsin murderer Ed Gein, the real-life inspiration for the character of Norman Bates, to Hitchcock’s groundbreaking achievements in cinematography, sound, editing, and promotion. Filled with insights from the film’s stars, writers, and crewmembers, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho is a riveting and definitive history of a signature Hitchcock cinematic masterpiece.
The ebook (available now) covers every step of the story of Psycho, from the crime that inspired the novel and then the movie, financing, casting, filming, special effects, trivia, to the reception the public gave the film. Read about the many versions of the story Hitchcock rejected and the writers tweaked, the careful planning that allowed shooting to be completed in just a month, and the trademark suspense Hitchcock used to hype the unveiling of the finished product.
Reprinted here with permission is the very first chapter, the story of murderer Ed Gein, which inspired novelist Robert Bloch to write the story that became the movie Psycho.
THE AWFUL TRUTH
There was a young man named Ed Who would not take a woman to bed When he wanted to diddle, He cut out the middle And hung the rest in a shed. ANONYMOUS, 1957
In late November 1957, no one would have marked Plainfield as unlike any other hardscrabble, rawboned Wisconsin farm hamlet. That winter was especially raw. Ask any of the friendly townies of third- and fourth-generation German and French stock. In flat, laconic tones, they recite litanies of burst water mains and permafrost; of nights spent hunkering down against slashing winds and rains that blew east along Canada’s border. But that November also saw Plainfield mentioned in newspapers across the country. Remind these dairyland types about that little bit of business and their open faces wall up. They begin to study their shoes or make excuses before they beg off. That month, in 1957, Plainfield police smoked out an oafish fifty-one-year-old, odd-job-and-errands-man named Ed Gein (rhymes with mean) as one of the grisliest mass murderers America ever spawned.
Long before the headlines were to brand Gein as a bogeyman, his rural, God-fearing community of seven hundred had chalked him off as a crank. A perpetually grinning, unmarried recluse, Gein rambled over 160 ruined acres once farmed by his parents and brother. Even locals who never gave a second thought to hiring Gein for errands or baby-sitting had wearied of his harebrained theories. He liked to rag on the whys and wherefores of criminals who fouled up, or yammer endlessly, and pitifully, about women. Plainfield-ers recall his clinical obsession with anatomy and with the sex-change operation of Christine Jorgensen. But there was more to Gein than loony talk. That came home with a vengeance with the discovery of bloodstains on the floor of Bernice Worden’s general store on November 16.
Champion skier and author Josh Sundquist {wiki} busts some rhymes about his handy crutches, his expensive prosthesis, and his great parking space. -via Unique Daily
TV survivalist Bear Grylls can live off the land, and just about anything that is even remotely edible. But can you recall exactly what he's eaten on television? Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will test your recall -or did you block out those unpleasant memories? Believe it or not, I scored 90%, even though I haven't watched any of his shows. I'm not psychic; I just have an idea of what would make good television. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/58257
They are everywhere at the World Cup games in South Africa: vuvuzelas! The plastic horns sound like a swarm of hornets when thousands of people play them at once. The sound can reach up to 140 decibels, which can damage hearing, and hundreds of thousands of vuvuzelas have been sold this year.
The horns, FIFA officials said, were too much a part of the South African tradition to silence them. “It’s a local sound, and I don’t know how it is possible to stop it,” Joseph S. Blatter, FIFA’s president, told reporters. “I always said that when we go to South Africa, it is Africa. It’s not Western Europe. It’s noisy, it’s energy, rhythm, music, dance, drums. This is Africa. We have to adapt a little.”
Read about how the vuvuzela came to be such an integral part of the World Cup games at Smithsonian magazine. Link
