The Mystery of Van Gogh's Ear

Duplessy & the Violins of the World "Petard Chinois"

For The Snowflake In Your Life

snowflake afghan https://t.co/I6sGR0JNBS pic.twitter.com/2AWL61UF6x

— Knitting and crochet (@knltt) November 27, 2017

A Guide To Taking Ethical Selfies In Low-Income Countries

Think before you snap that selfie.
That's the serious message of a joint campaign created by two groups that have spent the past few years poking fun at problematic photos taken by Western volunteers who often have the tendency to paint themselves as saviours to needy people in low-income countries.



More: NPR

Beethoven's Ode to Joy Played With 167 Theremins Placed Inside Matryoshka Dolls

Recorded at Jiyugakuen Myonichikan auditorium in Tokyo on 22 Jan. 2011. "Symphony No.9, Boogie" by Matryomin ensemble "Da"
Via Open Culture

Happiness

This video by animator Steve Cutts tells the story of a rodent's quest for happiness and fulfillment.


Happiness from Steve Cutts on Vimeo.

Via The Awesomer

This Cat And Dog Love Hiking Together

Cynthia Bennett and her boyfriend found that their adopted their dog Henry shared their love of hiking. He is so agile they call him their "little mountain goat." Things got even more interesting when they adopted a cat, Baloo, who fell in love with Henry. The four of them now take family hikes together and the photos are adorable.

Check out their Instagram account.
More here

World's most entertaining police recruitment video

New Zealand Police use Kiwi humour to attract new recruits.



Via MetaFilter

The Codex Quetzalecatzin

The Codex Quetzalecatzin, a manuscript dating back to the late 1500s is viewable online for the first time. Created during a period when both Spanish colonizers and indigenous people were using maps to lay claim to their land, it covers an area that includes present-day Mexico City and Puebla.

For centuries, the Codex was in the hands of private owners, including media magnate William Randolph Hearst.

More here

Locations

 Matthew Lyons is an illustrator based in Stoke-on-Trent. Locations is a short animation about Inside-Outside.


Locations from Matthew Lyons on Vimeo.

Sunday Links

Aardwolves come from the same family as the hyena, but these guys have mohawks!

James Joyce’s Burnt Kidney Breakfast

A history of flooding in the sinking city of Venice  Via

Moonlight towers

The Last of the Iron Lungs Anti-vaxxers need to read this.

Walk Through Old Tokyo with a 300-Year old Map of Edo 

Who Owns The Fish? This brainteaser, reportedly written by Einstein is difficult and Einstein said that 98% of the people in the world could not figure it out.

Fancy A Pint? Here’s Some Little London Pub Drawings 

Magnetic Tape Create magnets using postcards, photos, paintings, cards

The Longform Guide to Adaptations  a collection of great articles that became (mostly) great movies. Via

Browse the CIA's photos of the 1963 Moscow Fair, including declassified cat pics

Holly Golightly would be "divinely and utterly happy," because now, finally, it's possible to have breakfast at Tiffany's

Inside the beguiling sets of coming-of-age film Call Me By Your Name. Intrigued? Here's the trailer.

Dog Folklore: Companion Dogs as Seers, Healers, and Fairy Steeds

Hyper-realistic paintings by Michael Zavros

Canadians Choose Their Favourite Small Towns My town, Niagara-on-the-Lake, is number 2.

12 Pieces of 100-Year-Old Advice for Dealing With Your In-Laws some solid, some dubious, some just plain ridiculous. Via

North Carolina’s thermal inversion and rare sea of clouds

The Treasures Blooming in Canada's Largest Seed Catalog Archive The RBG is home to about 30,000 horticultural catalogs, the largest such collection in Canada. Thanks Bruce!

Space Age style Florida home for sale

The Dark Past of Sea Monkeys

This is the story of how a tiny, magical creature was transformed into a cultural phenomenon by inventor, marketing genius and complicated eccentric Harold von Braunhut.



Via

Duck and Cover

Duck and Cover was a social guidance film produced in 1951 by the United States federal government's Civil Defense branch shortly after the Soviet Union began nuclear testing.



Via

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Today marks the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The date is historically based on the 1960 assassination of the Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic whose killings were ordered by dictator Rafael Trujillo.

More here 

Craft Your Own Pennywise

Just in time for Christmas! Crochet this horror for the special child in your life. Pennywise the Dancing Clown amigurumi doll by Allison Hoffman measures almost 14” tall.

Pattern available at Ravelry

OK Go video features 567 printers, and a lot of paper

OK Go has released its latest epic video for track Obsession.  In the video, the band performs against a kaleidoscopic backdrop of of colour and pattern, created by 567 expertly choreographed printers.



Via It's Nice That 

Lego Kinetic Sculptures

Lego artist, Jason Allemann, creates mechanic and robotic kinetic sculptures made entirely out of Lego bricks. Find instructions on his website.

Black Friday Tip

Via Miss Cellania

A Day That Will Live On In Infamy

On this day in 1966 there were terrifying developments in the world of ties. A visibly shaken John Timpson delivered this report

#OTD 1966: There were terrifying developments in the world of ties. A visibly shaken John Timpson delivered this report pic.twitter.com/UPst7zaBMP

— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) November 24, 2017

Projected Images Illuminate the History of Paul Robeson's Hometown

Photographer Wendel White shot artifacts unearthed in the Princeton, NJ house where singer and political activist Paul Robeson was born and projects these images against the facade of the house as part of the exhibition Reconstructed History.

More here 

Net Neutrality Explained

Vi Hart's 11-minute video explains what net neutrality is, what benefits it brings and what you stand to lose.



Write or call Congress now and make a last stand for the open web.

Via Open Culture

Art Project Has Built Over 3,500 Urban Bird Houses Since 2006

Happy City Birds is a project by Danish artist and designer Thomas Dambo. He builds bird houses in urban centers, installing the new homes against buildings, grouped on tall poles, or spaced throughout existing trees.

More:  Colossal

Days of Night Nights of Day

Russian documentary photographer Elena Chernyshova's documentary Days of Night Nights of Day is about the daily life of the inhabitants of Norilsk, a mining city northernmost of the polar circle with a population of more than 170 000. Built by Gulag prisoners, it is the 7th most polluted city in the world. The average temperature is -10C, reaching lows of -55C in winter, when for two months the city is plunged into polar night.  The documentary investigates human adaptation to extreme climate, ecological disaster and isolation.

Powerful Portraits Of People Living in Remote Places

Freelance portrait photographer Mattia Passarini travels to  remote corners of the globe to capture disappearing cultures, ancient rituals, and the everyday life of those who live there.

More here 

Passarini's Instagram account 

Via

City of Women

Click here for interactive version
Cartography by Molly Roy, from “Nonstop Metropolis,” by Rebecca Solnit
and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro.
Subway Route Symbols ® Metropolitan Transportation Authority

What if the New York City subway map paid homage to some of the city’s great women?

Dead men with live identities haunt New York City and almost every city in the Western world. Their names are on the streets, buildings, parks, squares, colleges, businesses, and banks, and their figures are on the monuments.

In the map “City of Women” American writer, historian and activist Rebecca Solnit pays homage to some of the great and significant women of New York City in the places where they lived, worked, competed, went to school, danced, painted, wrote, rebelled, organized, philosophized, taught, and made names for themselves.

More here 

Via

Are you lost in the world like me?

The official video for Are You Lost In The World Like Me? Taken from These Systems Are Failing- the debut album from Moby & The Void Pacific Choir


Animation - Steve Cutts

Fake Captions Add New Dimension To Library Books

Snide Octopus's Instagram account is dedicated to "causing disturbances to libraries nationwide" by  adding hilarious subtitles to library books.

More:Bored Panda

Cat Prison Backpack

This portable cat prison fully incarcerates your feline friend and you can throw it on just like any other backpack. The best thing about it is you don't have to watch your neurotic cat screaming when you take it to the vet.

Link

Via Boing Boing

Amaranath sasesusos Oronoco initiation secedes Uruguay Philadelphia

My cat, Joyce, striking a pose with my old Underwood

The seven word sentence above was the first one typed on every newly produced typewriter to ensure proper alignment after manufacture.

How does it work? ‘Amaranath,’ the misspelled name of an imaginary flower, checks the alignment of the vowel ‘a’ between a number of common consonants. ‘Oronoco’ checks the ‘o’ key, while ‘secedes,’ ‘initiation’ and ‘Uruguay’ check three vowels that are among the most commonly used of all letters, ‘e,’ ‘i,’ and ‘u.’ ‘Sasesusos’ not only compares four of the five vowels in the same word against the baseline of the letter ‘s,’ but also ‘includes several of the most common letter combinations in twentieth-century business English.’ ‘Philadelphia’ checks the horizontal alignment of ‘i’ and ‘l,’ the narrowest letters on the keyboard.

Link

Via PfRC

Earliest Dog Art

These rock carvings, described recently in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, may be the earliest-known depictions of dogs. Some 7,000 rock art panels at Shuwaymis and Jubbah in Saudi Arabia depict interactions between humans and animals, including numerous livestock and at least 349 dogs.Though the images hint the dogs were heading toward domestication, more work is needed to confirm both age and meaning behind the rock art.

Read more

Yellow Bellies

In the early 1900s knife grinders were also known as “yellow bellies” because of the yellow dust that flew on them from the grinding wheel. They worked lying on their stomach to  prevent back pain from stooping all day. They were encouraged to bring their dogs with them, both for company and for use as foot warmers.

Via 

What will happen when the Queen dies

Although we hope it doesn't happen in the near future, we know that the Queen of England will pass away at some point, triggering protocols most of us have never considered.



Via

No Paris Hilton, you did not invent the selfie

"11 years ago today, Me & Britney invented the selfie!" wrote Paris Hilton on Twitter on Sunday, posting two pictures of the pair from 2006.  Fake news! Neither Paris nor Britney were anywhere near the invention of the selfie.

The oldest existing photo selfie is thought to be by 30-year-old Robert Cornelius, who took it outside his lamp shop in Philadelphia.Technology of the day meant that he would have had to stand still for up to 15 minutes in order to get the shot.

Read more about the early days of selfies

What's new, Atlas?

I welcome our new robot overlords.



Thanks Bruce!

Timely Thanksgiving Tablescapes

We have so much to be thankful for this year! Try making one of these handcrafted Thanksgiving tablescapes to celebrate our bountiful American values:

- A sheaf of aromatic pine boughs that don’t believe in science 

- An empty cornucopia that’s just asking to be grabbed 

- A row of cute little swastikas made of rosemary sprigs 

- A silver bowl of eggs forced to carry to full term 

- A muslin table runner that’s wrongly accused of being a terrorist

More here

A Gorgeous Ancient Egyptian Extravaganza

Michael Jackson's Remember The Time short film from the Dangerous album pushed the boundaries of the music video medium with a star-studded, nine-minute epic co-starring Eddie Murphy, Iman and Magic Johnson.



Thanks Mr. Nag!

Please Use A Toilet Finely

Doug Lansky, author of the Signspotting series of books, share some thoughts on funny toilet signs around the world.

More here

Sunday Links

That Jetsonian Architecture The artists and animators working on “The Jetsons” were inspired by the futurist architecture popping up around Los Angeles Via

I'm absolutely certain I would have abandoned running long ago if it weren't for podcasts. The 50 best podcasts right now

Dying words: when musicians turn their last albums into self-eulogies Warren Zevon's The Wind doesn't appear on this list but it is heartbreakingly poignant and is one of my favourites.

When Ronnie and Reggie Kray, feared criminals of the East End of London, were conscripted, they deserted from the Army within minutes The Krays were evil, violent human beings but I have to admit that I am amused by stories about them.

Rethinking Guernica. Picasso's Twentieth-Century Work-Icon Close-Up: This website presents the extensive research conducted on the artwork by the Museo Reina Sofia, and comprises around 2,000 documents.

A magical, mechanical discovery  Marcin Wichary stumbled upon a hidden typewriter museum in Spain: "This feels like a miracle"...

Photos of celebrities at the airport in the 1970s 

How much is that tall latte in the Starbucks window? It depends on where the window is.

Wouldn't you love to live in this Grade II listed church in Todmorden, Lancashire? Needs work but it is magnificent.

Married Young Between 2000 and 2015 more than 200,000 minors in the US married legally.

How Does It Feel to Die in a Tsunami? I hope I never find out.

The most hated poet in Portland One tweet turned Collin Andrew Yost into a joke. Could he survive it? Via

re.photos is a website where visitors can browse the database according to different search criteria and view a  before and after pictures with an animated transition.

An interesting piece on the The Korean DMZ

This Is What It's Like To Be Wrongly Accused Of Being A Paedophile Because Of A Typo By Police

13 extraordinary writers' homes you can visit

Natalie Wood's Bracelets

What happened to the boys in the picture? When photographer Peter Widing died, his friend decided to do something the two had often talked about: finding the three young players from a picture he had loved since he first saw it 11 years ago. Via

The Newest First Class Perk Is Not Having to See Another Human Being on Your Flight Wow!

Stamps of Vanished Countries, from Van Diemen's Land to Biafra

The etymological stuff of stuffing “stuffynge, or that wherewith any foule is crammed or franked.”

Living Light, a lamp powered by photosynthesis

Dutch designer Ermi van Oers has created the Living Light, a lamp that uses microorganisms to convert the chemical energy that harvests its energy through the photosynthetic process of the plant. It can function off-grid to power entire smart cities.


Living Light from Ermi van Oers on Vimeo.

More here 

Via

Where can you travel without a visa?

Travelscope is an interactive visualization of all the countries in the world that you can travel to without a visa. As a Canadian I can travel to 146 countries visa-free or with visa on arrival.

Click here for interactive map

Via: Maps Mania

A tour of a rare first edition of the Whole Earth Catalog

Lloyd Kahn (of Shelter books) thumbs through his copy of the very first Whole Earth Catalog, the 64-page, fall of 1968 edition.



More: Boing Boing

That Time When Who Drummer, Keith Moon, Passed Out Onstage And Fan Took Over

In November 1973, Scot Halpin, a 19-year-old kid, scalped tickets to The Who concert in San Francisco, California. Little did he know that he'd wind up playing drums for the band that night -- that his name would end up etched in the annals of rock 'n' roll. The video below shows Pete Townsend asking for a drummer in the audience (at 1:19:10) after Moon passed out during "Won't Get Fooled Again." Halpin takes over.



More: Open Culture

Thanks Mr. Nag!

Secrets of the Rockettes’ Wooden Soldier Fall

It takes a lot of preparation to get 36 Rockettes in full costume to flawlessly complete the ultimate trust fall on the Radio City Music Hall stage during the Christmas Spectacular number, “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers.”




Link

Best optical illusion ever?

This is not an animated GIF; whatever appears to be happening on the screen is, in fact, happening inside your head.

Via bookofjoe

Make a simple pumpkin pie for the holidays

No need to track and kill your pumpkin in the wild. You Suck At Cooking shows you how to take the easy way out.



Via

Perpetual Change - Autumn in the Alps

This video by 5kdigitalfilm will smooth your rough edges.


Perpetual Change - Autumn in the Alps from 5kdigitalfilm on Vimeo.

Travelling? Look at this map before you finalize your plans.

Click here to see the interactive map

International SOS and Control Risks have released a map that shows just how tourist-friendly all countries are.
Collecting data from the World Health Organization and other institutions, the interactive Travel Risk Map reveals just how risky countries are regarding road safety, security and medical matters.

Via

Flowery Jelly Cakes

Chefs in Vietnam and Mexico inject designs flavoured with everything from matcha to dragonfruit into a clear, seaweed-derived jelly and the resulting desserts look like flowers or goldfish suspended in glass.



More here

Amanda Palmer Releases Anti-Trump Video for Cover of Pink Floyd's 'Mother'

Amanda Palmer's new song is a daring piece of art which is dedicated to the current administration.

"The lyrics to 'Mother' haunted me during the inauguration. There's a surge in female power right now: Trump and co. can prattle on about how they're going to build a big, beautiful wall, but the mothers of this nation have a different agenda. We don't want our children to grow up in a world of fear, separation, and scarcity."

Amanda Palmer & Jherek Bischoff - Mother from Amanda Palmer on Vimeo.

More here 

The Potemkin Village

The concept of the “Potemkin Village” can be traced back to Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin, a Russian field marshal and favorite of Catherine the Great. When the Empress toured Crimea in 1787, he ordered facades to be erected along her route so she wouldn't have to look at the grim reality. Photographer Gregor Sailer’s latest project shows field exercise centers in the USA and Europe, European city replicas in China, and urban vehicle testing tracks in Sweden. Russia, still fakes whole streets in disguise when high-ranking political celebrities are visiting from abroad.

Images © Gregor Sailer
More here 

Via

Stash Your Dosh In This 'Lei-Lui' Armoured Cabinet

Florence-based furniture company Agresti makes elegant armoured armoires that are exquisitely finished but supremely secure, with biometric tech for opening and secret compartments galore for stashing everything from jewellery to documents.

Via 

‘Attero,’ an Exhibition of Animal Assemblages Built with Trash

Artist Bordalo II just opened the doors to his largest body of work to date, dozens of animalistic assemblages comprised of his trademark medium: waste plastics, car parts, construction materials, and other found detritus. Bordalo is known for his depictions of animals—those most vulnerable to the side effects of our disposable economy.

More here 

The Kids Of Bowery's Hardcore 'Matinee,' Then And Now

From 1983 to 1985 photographer Drew Carolan set up a make shift mobile studio on the Bowery in close proximity to the iconic CBGB's - where he intercepted kids, bands, and assorted characters on their way to and from hardcore matinees.



Recently he found himself wondering "Where are they now? Who have they become?" He decided to track the kids down. In his new book, Matinee: All Ages On The Bowery, he presents his portraits ... the boots, leather, patches, buzzed heads and middle fingers.

Read more here

Matinee: All Ages On The Bowery is out now via Radio Raheem Records.

Thanks David!

Monsoon IV

Mike Olbinski is a Phoenix-based, storm-chasing wedding photographer who makes awesome films

Monsoon IV (4K) from Mike Olbinski on Vimeo.

Previously

Where To Live Based On Temperature Preferences

xkcd

Training Cats

If you've ever watched a Jun's Kitchen video you may have wondered how Jun Yoshizuki gets his cats Haku and Nagi to behave so well around tasty food. Here is your answer:



Via Miss Cellania

The Vocktail Glass Makes Water Taste Like Anything You Want

The ‘Vocktail’ or ‘virtual cocktail’ glass simulates three layers of senses to trick you into tasting flavours that aren’t really there. Invented by Nimesha Ranasinghe, a Research Fellow at National University of Singapore, it can make a glass of plain water taste like expensive scotch.



More here

Inspired by Alien: The Facehugger Chicken

Made from a full-sized roasting chicken, snow crab legs, and a homemade chicken sausage tail, this sweet slab of petrifying poultry will terrify your guests.

Recipe here

Via