Amazing Photos Shot on an iPhone

New York-based photographer Eric Van Nynatten produced gorgeous photos using an iPhone6/8 Plus and editing with VSCO and Snapseed.

More:  Fubiz Media

A Sketchy History Of Pencil Lead

A question from the 5th graders at Green Acres School in Lebanon, OR sent NPR's Skunk Bear on a quest to find the origin of pencil lead.

April Fool’s pranks written by neural network

Janelle Shane wanted to find out if she could get a neural network to invent new April Fool’s pranks. The neural net learned individual words and phrasing from the dataset and rearranged them into weird and humorous new combinations:

• Place a pair of pants and shoes in your ice dispenser.
• A meat and mashed potato sundae makes for quite the hand soap dispenser.
• Conference call two people then, when, when your kid asks what it is, say “Dinner.”
• Glue all the eggs in the hubcaps of someone’s computer.
• Put food coloring in the mailbox.
• Take the door knob off your kid’s shoes.

More here 

Via

Alexa Ruins Families

'She's a son of a b*tch, ma'. Cartoonist Lauren Lorenzo tapes her family interacting with Alexa.

Via everlasting blort

How "trickle-down economics" works

Via TYWKIWDBI 

Readings from Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in their original languages.

hƿæt ƿe gardena in geardagum þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon…. Those are the first words of the Old English epic Beowulf, and MIT literature professor and medievalist Arthur Bahr teaches a course in how to read them.

In the video below Bahr reads from Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in their original languages, respectively Old English and Middle English.



Via kottke

First 3D visualization of a melting snowflake

This visualization of melting snowflakes in the atmosphere was developed by scientist Jussi Leinonen of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Knowing how snow melts can help scientists better predict the hazards caused by heavy, wet snow.



Via  Boing Boing

DIY Hand Puppet

Watch Darrell Maloney of Broken Nerd make a beautiful hand puppet from raw material.

Via 

Sicilian Arches of Bread

Image: CIPRIANO MESSINA

For a month each year, residents of San Biagio celebrate Easter by building life-size wicker structures covered with local herbs, cereals, and bread. The Arches of Bread display is believed to have started in the 1700s when townspeople sought to forget poverty and hunger and display their gratitude for abundance.

More here 

Amish For Sale

Forty ultra creepy life-size Amish wax models are for sale in a Lancaster County Craigslist ad. Because you can never have too many zombie-like beings haunting your premises, right? Put them on your front lawn and you will never have to deal with door-to-door solicitations again. The adult figures are going for $350 apiece, the children and dog for $250.

Via

Easter egg folklore

An Easter warning: BEWARE THE BLACK EGGS. #FolkloreThursday pic.twitter.com/0snOZMoviU

— Undine (@HorribleSanity) March 29, 2018

On This Day

French post-Impressionist artist Georges Seurat died on March 29, 1891. He developed pointillism, a technique in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image.



Via

Illuminated Castle In The Sky

A giant illuminated castle sits fifty-two storeys above Tokyo. It is part of a 30-year retrospective of Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation studio known for anime films like Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Princess Mononoke.

More Cross Connect Magazine

Definitely Not Your Everyday Balloon Creatures

Japanese artist Masayoshi Matsumoto crafts amazingly complex creatures using only balloons—no markers, adhesives, or other sealants.

More here

Experience the power of a nuclear blast in your area

Outrider - Bomb Blast allows you to view the likely devastation of dropping a nuclear bomb on any location in the world with realistic looking nuclear fallout effects. The map shows the likely radius of the fireball, radiation, shock wave and heat. It also provides an estimate of the number of fatalities and injuries your nuclear weapon would cause.

Don't let political leaders take us there.

Via Maps Mania

Champagne For A Boat Christening

When christening a boat you don't have to waste a good bottle of bubbly. West Marine sells a special christening bottle to crack on your vessel’s prow. The bottle doesn't contain alcohol and is scored around the middle and housed in a net to ensure that your first swing is a smashing hit.

Here's a boat christening ceremony using the phoney champers:



Via

Edgar Wright directs Beck's new music video

Edgar Wright has directed Beck’s latest video for album title track, Colors. Starring Beck and actress Alison Brie, the short is a fully choreographed video, with dance routines designed by Ryan Heffington.



Via It's Nice That

The EU cheese stability index

Former French president  Charles de Gaulle articulated the despair of French officials throughout history when he said, “How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties ofcheese?”

Politico set out to test that theory by comparing the number of cheeses each EU country produces with its political stability.

SOURCE: European Dairy Association and World Bank. 
The World Bank’s political stability index ranges from 2.5 (most stable) to -2.5 (most unstable). 
Country codes follow ISO standard. 
Source images by Smashicons/Flaticon.

More: POLITICO

Via

Look who was waiting to have a bath with me this morning

It's a conifer seed bug and they are harmless and not invasive. We're wondering if it came with the cedar shakes when we had the roof done.

Radio Caroline

Pirate radio station Radio Caroline began to broadcast off the coast of England on this day  in 1964. It aimed to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly.



Radio Caroline now sends multiple music streams on the internet.

Via Dr. Caligari's Cabinet

Cat Epitaphs

In the mid 17th century, epitaphs for pet cats, usually in the form of poems, begin to appear in various newspapers and magazines.

This one was published anonymously in the London Magazine of 1733, obviously by a poet:

Oppressed with grief, in heavy strains I mourn

The partner of my studies from me torn.

How shall I sing? What numbers shall I choose?

For in my favourite cat I’ve lost my muse . . .

. . . She in the study was my constinate;

There we together many evenings sate.

Whene’er I felt my towering fancy fail,

I stroked her head, her ears, her back and tail;

And, as I stroked, improved my dying song

From the sweet notes of her melodious tongue.

Her purrs and mews so evenly kept time,

She purred in metre and she mewed in rhyme . . .

Here's another from the Gentleman’s Magazine 1769:

Here lies beneath this verdant hill

Tom, a favourite cat,

Who when alive, did never spill

The blood of mouse or rat.

Read more: Pen and Pension

Nuclear Fabric

Morris&Co fabric, Tudor Rose, 1883, used to upholster British
nuclear submarine interiors

William Morris was one of the most outstanding and influential designers of the Arts and Crafts Movement. I was surprised to learn that from the early 1960s to the mid-1990s, British nuclear submarines were upholstered in William Morris fabrics. The Morris company used locally mined arsenic in their prints but in low concentrations so the fabrics were unlikely to kill anyone (but the nukes could have).

Via 

Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Winners

Smithsonian magazine has chosen the eight winners of their annual photo contest. Contestants had the opportunity to submit their work in the following categories: Natural World, the American Experience, Travel, People, Altered Images, and Mobile.

Breakfast at the Weekly Market - Travel Finalist

In northern Vietnam, people come to the weekly market to exchange goods and culture. They usually wake up very early to go to market and have breakfast here.
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/photocontest/detail/travel/breakfast-at-weekly-market/#bTo9SfX0qxwpVbhL.99
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

Image Source: © Thong Huu. All rights reserved.
In northern Vietnam, people come to the weekly market to exchange goods and culture.
They usually wake up very early to go to market and have breakfast here.

Making Incense — Travel Category Winner

Image Source: © Tran Tuan Viet. All rights reserved.
Decoratively dyed bundles of incense dry in Quang Phu Cau, a commune in Hanoi, Vietnam.
In Buddhist countries like Vietnam, incense is an irreplaceable part of traditional festivals
and religious ceremonies."

More here

Beautiful Quilt

Hand-quilting the 1842 Tithe Map & the field names around our home back into existence. This is the third piece I’ve tried & this one feels right. Work in progress. pic.twitter.com/lilPmNQ5OU

— dovegreyreader (@dovegreyreader) March 25, 2018

Don't eat the orange snow

Orange snow has been falling on eastern Europe. Meteorologists say the phenomenon is caused by sand from Sahara desert storms mixing with snow and rain. It occurs roughly once every five years but concentrations of sand are higher than usual this time.

More: BBC News

Breathe the air of five cities in pollution pods

Can art change people’s perceptions of climate change? Michael Pinsky’s installation at London’s Somerset House consists of geodesic domes whose air quality, smell and temperature accurately recreates that of London, Beijing, Sāo Paulo, New Delhi and Tautra, a remote peninsula of Norway. It opens on Earth Day, April 22.

More: It's Nice That 

The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist

Photo James O. Jenkins

The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist by Iraqi-American artist and provocateur Michael Rakowitz is an ambitious project that began in 2006. Rakowitz is attempting to recreate archaeological artefacts that were looted by Isis after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Winged bulls with human faces had guarded the gates of the ancient city of Nineveh for more than a thousand years. These lamassu were among the casualties. Now a recreation of one of these creatures will be unveiled atop the fourth plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square. It is “armoured” with brightly coloured tin from 6,000 cans of date syrup.

More here 

How to make a kitchen knife from aluminum foil

Need to do some chopping but don't have a kitchen knife? Do you have a roll of aluminum foil and a lot of time on your hands? Kiwami Japan demonstrates how to turn that foil into a functional knife.



Via Boing Boing

The Outsiders: Hunter S. Thompson, Lou Reed & Frank Zappa

Lou Reed, Frank Zappa and Hunter S. Thompson from a collection of recordings made between 1967 and 1987 thanks to Joe Smith, Howard Smith, and Studs Terkel.



Via

Will, the wacky tube man

Will always wanted to be a "tube man", one of those inflatable arm-waving advertising products that are set in front of businesses to get your attention. His wish came true when he became a professional tube man in an ad for a car dealer.



Via Miss Cellania

Statue of David Bowie unveiled in Aylesbury

The world’s first statue of David Bowie has been unveiled in Aylesbury, UK. Created by Devon-based sculptor Andrew Sinclair and cast in bronze by Paul O’Boyle, the statue, titled Earthly Messenger, depicts David Bowie in several guises in honour of his many personas.

The Aylesbury location was chosen because Bowie performed the world debut of two of his most iconic albums, Hunky Dory and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, at Friars Aylesbury in 1971 and 1972.

More: It's Nice That 

Visit the Graves of 75 Famous Writers

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

Monk’s House garden, Rodmell, Lewes District, East Sussex, England

What to know: Virginia Woolf committed suicide by filling her pockets with stones and walking into the River Ouse. She was cremated, and her ashes are buried beneath an elm tree in the garden of Monk’s House, the 18th-century cottage where she lived with her husband, Leonard Woolf, from 1919 until her death. When Leonard Woolf died of a stroke, 50 years later, he too was cremated, and his ashes buried with his wife’s. The elm has since blown down, and busts of the Woolfs were erected in the garden in its place.

Literary Hub has posted a guide to the graves of 75 famous writers, at home and abroad, that are available to visit. Photos are accompanied by interesting facts about their final resting places.
A full list of authors is at the bottom of the post and you can click on the sites you want to see.

Via My Own Private Book Club

Rare Video of Mating Anglerfish

Scientists have rarely observed anglerfish alive in their natural environment so this video, captured near Portugal’s Azores islands, is an important discovery for deep-sea biologists (and interesting for the rest of us as well).



Read more

Thanks Bruce!

Wands for Wildlife

The Appalachian Wildlife Refuge is looking for old mascara wands to remove fly eggs and larva from the fur of wild animals.



Before mailing, wash wands in soapy water to remove residual mascara. ​Mail form, old wands and donations to: P.O. Box 1211, Skyland, NC 28776. Please get package weighed and send with correct postage amount.

The Camels of Arabia

Every year titans of business and politics in the Middle East flock to the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival where camels go head-to-head in a frenzied race and beauty contest for a chance to win roughly $57 million in prize money, and a chance to meet Saudi Arabia's king and crown prince.

Got It!

Getting that perfect headshot

Via

Music For Sunday Morning

Historia de un Amor on February 6th, 2015 at the Ann Kreis Scoring Stage in the Berklee School Of Music's Valencia Campus.



Via

Sunday Links

APOD: 2018 March 20 - Chicagohenge: Equinox in an Aligned City

Panorama of the Thames project: It contains panoramic images and videos, accompanied by an extensive database to cover every feature along 52 miles of rapidly changing riverbank.

Flag Waver: A Website Where You Can Make Any Photo Wave Like A Flag

Mr. Nag's favourite drink: Martini, Up, with a Blue Cheese-Stuffed Olive  Via Coudal

Iggy Pop’s cockatoo’s Instagram

1910: A Cat, a Bulldog, and a Lobster Walk into a Harlem Restaurant Via Miss C

'Alien' Mummy Found in Atacama Desert Is Actually a Tiny, Mutated Human

Woman Tattooed With 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' Is Not What She Appears To Be

List: What Your Favorite Website Says About You 

How to get back your privacy online without completely checking out 

Are these the most psychedelic pieces of classical music? 

The Jumpsuit That Will Replace All Clothes Forever

The Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal, explained with a simple diagram

3 famous artists’ homes for sale: Follow in the footsteps of Michelangelo, Rubens and Constable.

Interactive map of  Old Toronto

How phoney is Instagram? A blogger faked an entire trip to Disneyland to prove how easy it is

The Perfect Oil Field Burgan Oil Field in Kuwait is not the biggest oil field in the world but it is arguably the best example of reservoir "perfection" the world has ever known. Thanks Bruce!

Masterpiece Rental: My Life in the ‘American Gothic’ House 

Lovely Images of a Trip Through Bali 

Public Restroom: A Bathroom Reimagined as a Town Square 

Glacial Concretions  or "Fairy Stones" are made of fine sand and clay, solidified by nature. The originality and the forms of these stones are a phenomenon unique to Northern Quebec, especially on the bottom of the big Lakes with a glacier origin. Thanks Bruce!

Pigeon Bras

There is a maiden form for every type of figure!” Even the figure of a pigeon!
National Museum of American History, Archives Center,
Maidenform Collection, 1922-1997. 

The pigeon vest was created to protect carrier pigeons as they parachuted through the air strapped to the chest of paratroopers during World War II. Once the paratroopers hit the ground behind enemy lines, they would release the pigeons so they could fly off to deliver important messages.

It was designed and manufactured by the Maidenform brassiere company who made 28,500 pigeon vests for the U.S. government, switching, as many companies did, from peacetime production to producing necessary supplies for the war.

Read more: National Museum of American History

Take an hour to save our planet

Today is Earth Hour, a global event organized by World Wildlife Fund. It is celebrated annually by asking households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness of the need to take action on climate change.



Via Dr. Caligari's Cabinet

1920s' Style Genderless Swimsuits

I like the look of these old school style Beefcake genderless swimsuits. They are designed by tomboy surfer Mel Wells of Portland, Oregon to suit any body. Sublimation printing ensures that the color will never fade or crack, even after multiple washings.

Via Boing Boing

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Japanese anime director Makoto Shinkai's masterful portrayal of food is gathered together in a mouth watering supercut.



Via

Saskatchewan woman gives clumsy porcupine a hand

When a Saskatchewan woman spotted a porcupine in distress, on its back and unable to get up she knew she had to lend it a hand - or, in this case, an ice scraper.



Via CBC News

Did Ancient Greeks Sail to Canada?

A team of Greek researchers believe that the Hellenistic Greeks visited Newfoundland in search of gold, in triremes powered by sail and oar in the first century CE, nearly a millennium before the Vikings. The proposal, which has been received with skepticism by many in the field, is based entirely on a new examination of a dialogue written by the influential Roman author Plutarch, who lived from 46 to 119 CE. The bulk of their argument is based on astronomy, and it all starts with a total eclipse of the sun.

Read more: Hakai Magazine

Thanks Bruce!

Over Paris

Parisian photographer Alain Cornu's series Sur Paris brings us gorgeous nighttime shots of the iconic rooftops of of the City of Light.

More here
Via

Ancient Monuments Come To Life

These  GIFs from Expedia recreate iconic ruins including the Parthenon, the Luxor Temple, and the Nohoch Mul Pyramid. See them come to life before your eyes.

The Parthenon in Athens is the most recognizable example of Classical Greek
architecture,the Doric temple was built as a monument to the goddess Athena
and was completed in 432 BC.

The Temple of Jupiter was built in 150 in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii,
which was destroyed in 79 AD with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

More: Curbed

Remarkable video of minke whale feeding

Scientists in Antarctica attached a camera to a minke whale and captured incredible evidence of how it feeds.


WWF

1797 temperance thermometer

A 1797 temperance thermometer, drawn to warn the world of the evils of alcohol and celebrate the virtues of drinking in moderation... pic.twitter.com/lBqLn9bRix

— Myko Clelland (@DapperHistorian) March 22, 2018

Elaborate Game Of Tag

For one month every year, five highly competitive friends hit the ground running in a no-holds-barred game of tag they’ve been playing since the first grade—risking their necks, their jobs and their relationships to take each other down with the battle cry: “You’re It!”
It's a true story that has made it to the big screen. Here's the trailer:

Via kottke

Aerial Footage of Lahore

Photographer Asif Rashid shares beautiful aerial footage of his hometown of Lahore, Pakistan.



Via The Awesomer

2018 Sony World Photography Award Winners

The winners of the prestigious 2018 Sony World Photography Awards have been announced and the  imagery is stunning.

Martin Stranka, Czech Republic National Award

‘An unexpected meeting' © Justyna Zdunczyk, Poland, Winner,
Open Wildlife and Winner, Poland National Award

Suphakaln Wongcompune, Thailand National Award

Browse the various galleries to see the full range of images from around the world.


Link

Bob Dylan On CBC Quest in 1964

Quest aired on CBC Television from 1961 to 1964. It was a Canadian entertainment series that took an experimental approach which evoked negative reaction. MP Edwin William Brunsden, denounced the episode in Parliament as "depraved... disgusting... garbage... and a rank violation of the sanctity of the Canadian home and family." CBC received more critical letters from viewers for Quest than for any other program. Facing cancellation, show producer Daryl Duke decided to go out with a bang: 27 minutes of nothing but Bob Dylan, his guitar.

Via

Downloadable Posters For March for our Lives Protest

Studio Number One

Amplifier design lab is releasing a series of free posters donated by various artists to be used as placards at this weekend's March for our Lives gun reform protests across the US. Artists include Shepard Fairey, Laci Jordan, Studio Number One, Koy Suntichotinun, Chanelle Librada Reyes, Raychelle Duazo, Micah Bazant, Natalie Dettmer, Nisha K Sethi, Icy and Sot.

Koy Suntichotinun

Download the posters or read more about the project here.

More:  It's Nice That

The Pocket Telephone: When Will it Ring? 1919

W. K. Hasleden’s  'The Pocket Telephone: When Will it Ring?’ was first published in The Mirror on March 5th 1919.

More here

Calling All Kubrick Fans

Stanley Kubrick memorabilia from the collection of his assistant Emilio D'Alessandro is up for auction, including Jack Torrance's jacket in The Shining and the Eyes Wide Shut clapperboard. Lots of other goodies too, from the director's blue military jacket to notes about his pets.

“He always wore these very comfortable military jackets … He had them sent in batches
from the US, then had them dyed navy blue. Stanley said he had twenty-eight of them.
He would pat the chest and pockets of his jacket and say to me, ‘This is my office’.” 

Pandora, Leo, Jessica, Victoria, Freddie and Polly are some of the four-legged
friends of the Kubrick family, and this lot includes some autographs about them,
a total of 16 cards and typed notes. Recommendations range from flea cure
to medicine to varying food for dogs and cats. 

More Aste Bolaffi

Planet Express Spaceship

Quantum Mechanix’s collectible light-up replica of the Planet Express spaceship from Futurama has lights on its cockpit, portholes and exhaust.

You can purchase it here

Via The Awesomer

Hypnotic Vegetable Designs

Brad is a grocery stocker at a Festival grocery store downtown Madison, Wisconsin. Every day he creates beautiful artwork in the vegetable aisle.  Sometimes the arrangements have themes, other times they are more abstract. You'll find them between the parsley and the Swiss chard.

Brad really puts his heart into it and describes arranging vegetables as "the only good part" of his day.

More: Gastro Obscura

Ocean Blues #2

Romane Granger, an animation student at the National School of Decorative Arts in Paris, created this gorgeous seabed from clay.


Ocean Blues #2 from Romane Granger on Vimeo.

Via Fubiz

Lacoste's Save Our Species Edition Dropped Iconic Croc

Fashion brand Lacoste, in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature, produced a limited collection to raise awareness of threatened species. They replaced the iconic crocodile on their polo shirts with endangered animals. The number of polos that the brand produced for each threatened species corresponded to the number of animals left in the wild.

"For instance, the polo bearing the icon of the Gulf of California porpoise was released in a run of only 30, while the Anegada iguana had a total of 450 produced. Other species featured include the Sumatran tiger, the Javan rhino, and the Burmese roofed turtle."

The Save Our Species run sold out almost instantly but you can still donate to the IUCN for wildlife conservation here.

Via PLAIN Magazine

'Mad Men' Prop Auction

Mad Men has been off the air for three years and I really miss it but an auction of props from the show started this week and will continue until April 6. From Bobby Draper's bunny figurines to Don's cherry red Chrysler convertible there's something for every Mad Men fan at the Screenbid website.

Via 

Gloomy Sunday

Deep Learning Artificial Intelligence algorithms have attracted a lot of interest recently. Memo Akten's Learning To See series uses state-of-the-art Machine Learning algorithms to reflect on ourselves and how we make sense of the world. gloomy sunday shows a pre-trained deep neural network making predictions on live camera input, trying to make sense of what it sees, in context of what it’s seen before.


gloomy sunday from Memo Akten on Vimeo.

It can see only what it already knows, just like us.

More here
Via

Algorithmic Architecture

Algorithmic Architecture by ManvsMachine is part of a campaign by Apple to demonstrate how its iMac Pro can be pushed to creative limits.


Apple ~ iMac Pro from ManvsMachine on Vimeo.

Via It's Nice That

Infrared Paris

Parisian photographer Pierre-Louis Ferrer’s infrared technique creates a dreamy, winterlike vision of The City Of Light. He chose a blue and white filter to create a pure look that emphasises the white foliage surrounding the buildings.

Pierre-Louis on Instagram

See more:  Fubiz Media