Astronaut and "first man" Neil Armstrong is "doing great" after undergoing cardiac bypass surgery. He and his wife live in the Cincinnati, Ohio area and he just celebrated his 82nd birthday this past Sunday (same day as me!). From NBC: "On Tuesday, surgeons bypassed four blockages in his coronary arteries. His wife reports that his spirits are high, and the doctors expect no problems with his recovery, Cernan told NBC News' Jay Barbree." — Xeni
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This does not bode well for food prices: the Plains states where corn and soybeans are produced in greatest quantities are receiving the worst of excessive drought conditions, in the wake of the hottest month ever recorded in the US. Welcome to the new Dust Bowl? — Xeni
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Wired Science has a revealing post about a particularly notable plume of whale poop spotted by a scientist off the Southern California coast. From giant animals come giant poo. Marine biologists and oceanographers get to study stuff like this with their serious-face on. — Xeni
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Behold Travis Louie's magnificent take on the Thylacine! Declared extinct in 1936, thousands of unconfirmed sightings have made the beautiful animal a darling of cryptozoology. Louie's painting is part of the Lush Life Four group show opening tomorrow evening at Seattle's Roq La Rue Gallery. The exhibition also includes work by BB faves Jessica Joslin, Camille Rose Garcia, Annie Owens, Glenn Barr, and more. Lush Life Four preview
[Video Link] Joey deVilla says: "Here’s an interesting compilation: 70 minutes of (mostly) Russian car collisions, from mild fender-benders to all-out flip-the-car moments, most of which were shot using dashboard-mounted cameras. None of the video depict injuries; just car and other property damage, plus some exclamations in Russian."
Waxahachie, Texas's excellent Webb Gallery is hosting an exhibition of more than a dozen vintage sideshow banners! Titled "The Greatest Show On Earth," it runs until September 9 and can be browsed online too. Above left, "Crime Wave" by an unknown artist, circa 1930; right, "2 Face Man" by famed sideshow artist Snap Wyatt, circa 1940s.
My friends Richard Metzger and Tara McGinley of Dangerous Minds re-sparked my interest in early Pink Floyd the other night, when I visited their home: they were playing a quadrophonic version of Wish You Were Here on their excellent quad-compliant speaker system, while some of the experimental films the band played during the tour for that album ran on a nearby monitor. It was a great night. Today, Richard shares word of "The Making of Wish You Were Here" (2012), a really cool documentary film about the making of that album, and that era in the band's evolution.
I'm sure this didn't cause any psychological issues in the Catholic boys forced to wear this.
The rare 19th century item is made of copper and was designed to be worn by boys so they could not commit the 'sin'. Attached to a belt it would have encased the genitalia. The bizarre antique dates back to around 1880 and was used in Catholic France. It is being offered for sale on auction website eBay with a starting price of £750.
Seller David Burns, of Curious Science, says that during a quarter of a century dealing in medical curiosities he has never had one for sale... "This is the first example we have offered for sale in 24 years. The condition is excellent. Three and half inches top to base."
I've been spending rather a lot of time in the cancer ward at a hospital lately, and I think this is a fabulous idea: a "cat immersion tent."
The teen girl in this video, Maga, is a cancer patient at Seattle Children's Hospital. She loves her cat—actually, she loves all cats— and has had to be isolated in the hospital with no cat contact, for health reasons. "During her stays what she misses most is her own cat Merry," the Seattle Children's Hospital folks say.
We asked our Facebook fans to share their favorite cat photos with us, and got an awesome response -- 3,000+ photos! We used these pictures to create this "cat immersion" for Maga -- an audio/visual experience to bring thousands of "virtual" cats to Maga's room.
More of the photos they received on this Facebook page. This is the same hospital that produced the viral "Stronger" video. Sounds like a really cool environment for pediatric cancer patients.
[ Video Link] This video has it all: a giant truck carrying tons of lumber, a manic suspect, a maudlin news narrator (added after the fact) intoning cliches, cops shooting guns, and lots of fire and 'splodey stuff.
It's weird how something like this would be terrifying and tragic if you were there or someone you loved was affected, but it's the stuff of lulz in YouTube form now. So surreal.