February 2012
10 posts
“No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did he would cease to...”
– Oscar Wilde
Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) →
Alice-in-Wonderland syndrome (AIWS) is a disorienting neurological condition that affects human perception. Sufferers may experience micropsia, macropsia, or size distortion of other sensory modalities. A temporary condition, it is often associated with migraines, brain tumors, and the use of psychoactive drugs. It can also present as the initial sign of the Epstein-Barr...
Casu marzu →
Casu marzu (in Italian formaggio marcio, “rotten cheese”) is a traditional Sardinian sheep milk cheese, notable for containing live insect larvae. It is found mainly in Sardinia, Italy.
Derived from Pecorino, casu marzu goes beyond typical fermentation to a stage most would consider decomposition, brought about by the digestive action of the larvae of the cheese fly. These larvae are...
If your house was burning, what would you take... →
Language affects how you see →
"He's in a coma," the doctor, Emery Brown,... →
January 2012
30 posts
Paedophryne amauensis →
Paedophryne amauensis is a species of frog from Papua New Guinea discovered in August 2009 and formally described in January 2012. At 7.7 mm (0.30 in) in length, it is the world’s smallest known vertebrate.
[…]
The frog lives on land and its life cycle does not include a tadpole stage. Instead, members of this species hatch as ‘hoppers’—being fully formed adults....
Unknown known →
Unknown knowns are the things that we know, but are unaware of knowing. The coining of the term is attributed to Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek and it refers to the unconscious beliefs and prejudices that determine how we perceive reality and intervene in it. It is the Freudian unconscious, the “knowledge which doesn’t know itself.”
[…]
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.”
– Proverb
30 Story Hotel Completely Built and Finished in... →
Space Shuttle Discovery →
Perceptual adaptation (Wikipedia) →
[…]
One experiment in which Stratton conducted was when he wore a reversing telescope for a whole twenty four hours. To his disappointment, his vision was unchanged. Determined to find results, Stratton wore the telescoping glasses for eight days straight. By day four, his vision was upright (not inverted). However on day five, images appeared upright until he concentrated on them; then...
Monkeys keeping cats as pets →
"...one of the first genetically modified animals... →
Pepper's ghost (Wikipedia) →
Pepper’s ghost is an illusionary technique used in theatre and in some magic tricks. Using a plate glass and special lighting techniques, it can make objects seem to appear or disappear, transparent, or make one object seem to morph into another.
[…]
The world’s largest implementation of this illusion can be found at the Haunted Mansion and Phantom Manor attractions at...
“Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand.”
– Chinese Proverb
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else...”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe”, a...”
– Albert Einstein
December 2011
31 posts
Panorama from the top of Mt. Everest →
“Accept who you are and revel in it.”
– Mitch Albom
Watchfuckyeahtedtalks:
Mark Bittman on what’s wrong with what we eat
“Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.”
– Heraclitus
Sedlec Ossuary →
The Sedlec Ossuary (Czech: kostnice Sedlec) is a small Roman Catholic chapel, located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints (Czech:Hřbitovní kostel Všech Svatých) in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic. The ossuary is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, many of whom have had their bones artistically arranged to form decorations and...
Watchfuckyeahtedtalks:
Svante Pääbo: DNA clues to our inner neanderthal
Operation Bernhard →
Operation Bernhard was the codename of a secret Nazi plan devised during the Second World War by the RSHA and the SS to destabilise the British economy by flooding the country with forged Bank of England £5, £10, £20, and £50 notes. It is the largest counterfeiting operation in history and has been fictionalised in books, the BBC comedy-drama miniseries Private Schulz and a...