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2012/01/20

Neatorama

Neatorama

Five Medical Innovations of the Civil War

Posted: 20 Jan 2012 05:01 AM PST

Last year marked the 150th anniversary of the first gunshots of the Civil War -and the first gunshot wounds. As it turns out, the bloodiest war in American history was also one of the most influential in battlefield medicine. Civil War surgeons learned fast, and many of their MacGyver-like solutions have had lasting impact. Here are some of the advances and the people behind them.

Life Saving Amputation: The General who Visited his Leg

The old battlefield technique of trying to save limbs with doses of TLC (aided by wound-cleaning rats and maggots) quickly fell out of favor During the Civil War, even for top officers. The sheer number of injured was too high, and war surgeons quickly discovered the best way to stave deadly infections was to simply lop off the area -quickly.

Among those saved by the saw was Daniel E. Sickles, the eccentric commander of the 3rd Army Corps. In 1863, at the Battle of Gettysburg, the major general’s right leg was shattered by a Confederate shell. Within the hour, the leg was amputated just above the knee. His procedure, publicized in the military press, paved the way for many more. Since the new Army Medical Museum in Washington, D.C. had requested battlefield donations, Sickles sent the limb to them in a box labeled “With the compliments of Major General D.E.S.” Sickles visited his leg yearly on the anniversary of its emancipation.

Daniel Sickles' leg on display at the the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

(Image credit: Wikipedia user Nis Hoff)

Amputation saved more lives than any other wartime medical procedure by instantly turning complex injuries into simple ones. Battlefield surgeons eventually took no longer than six minutes to get each moaning man on the table, apply a handkerchief soaked in chloroform or ether, and make the deep cut. Union surgeons became the most skilled limb hackers in history. Even in deplorable conditions, they lost only about 25 percent of their patients -compared to a 75 percent mortality rate among similarly injured civilians at the time. The techniques invented by wartime surgeons -including cutting as far from the heart as possible and never slicing through joints- became the standard.

As for the nutty-sounding behavior of the leg-visiting commander, Sickles can be justifiably accused. In 1859, while serving in Congress, he shot and killed U.S. Attorney Philip Barton Key for sleeping with Sickles’ wife. Charged with murder, Sickles became the first person in the United States to be found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity.

The Anesthesia Inhaler: A Knockout Breakthrough

In 1863, Stonewall Jackson’s surgeon recommended the removal of his left arm, which had been badly damaged by friendly fire. When a chloroform-soaked cloth was placed over his nose, the Confederate general, in great pain, muttered, “What an infinite blessing,” before going limp.



But such blessings were in short supply. The Confederate Army had a tough time securing enough anesthesia because of the Northern blockade. The standard method of soaking a handkerchief with chloroform wasted the liquid as it evaporated. Dr. Julian John Chisholm solved the dilemma by inventing a 2.5 inch inhaler, the first of its type. Chloroform was dripped through a perforated circle on the side onto a sponge in the interior; as the patient inhaled through tubes, the vapors mixed with air. This new method required only one-eighth of an ounce of chloroform, compared to the old two-ounce dose. So while Union surgeons knocked out their patients 80,000 times during the war, rebels treated nearly as many with a fraction of the supplies.

Closing Chest Wounds: The Cub Doctor who Kept Lungs from Collapsing

In the early part of the war, Benjamin Howard, a lowly young assistant surgeon, was shuttled to the sidelines with medical grunt work: changing bandages, suturing wounds, and grabbing grub for the docs. But when other surgeons decided there was no point in treating chest wounds, Howard experimented with a new life-saving procedure.

At the onset of the war, a sucking chest wound was almost certainly a death sentence. Among French soldiers shot in the chest during the Crimean War (1853-1856), only eight percent survived. The problem, as Howard came to realize, wasn’t the wound itself, but the sucking. The negative pressure in the thorax was created by the opening in the chest cavity. The effect often caused the lungs to collapse, leading to suffocation.

The sub doctor found out that if he closed the wound with metal sutures, followed by alternating layers of lint or linen bandages and a few drops of collodion (a syrupy solution that forms an adhesive film when it dries), he could create an airtight seal. Survival rates quadrupled, and Howard’s innovation soon became standard treatment.

Facial Reconstruction: The Plastic Surgery Revolution

Carleton Burgan of Maryland was in terrible shape. The 20-year-old private had survived pneumonia, but the mercury pills he took as treatment led to gangrene, which quickly spread from his mouth to his eye and led to the removal of his right cheekbone. He was willing to try anything. In a pioneering series of operations in 1862, a surgeon from City Hospital in New York used dental and facial fixtures to fill in the missing bone until Burgan’s face regained its shape.

The doctor was Gurdon Buck, now considered the father of modern plastic surgery. During the war, he and other Union surgeons complete 23 revolutionary “plastic operations” on disfigured soldiers. Buck was the first to photograph the progress of his repairs and the first to make gradual changes over several operations. He also pioneered the use of tiny sutures to minimize scarring.

To some, it seemed pretty wacky, like sci-fi for the 19th century. An Illinois newspaper enthusiastically and erroneously described the new treatments: “Such is the progress of the medical department in these parts that half a man’s face demolished by a ball or piece of shell is replaced by a cork face!”

The Ambulance-to-ER System: The End of Drunks and Cowards

The Union went into the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, expecting a mere skirmish. The rebels brought a war. Although 1,011 Union soldiers were wounded, empty ambulances led the retreat to Washington, D.C. Most of the civilian drivers at the time were untrained and “of the lowest character,” according to Dr. Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, and activist whose son died after lying for hours following a charge. Many were cowards or drunkards, he added.

It took Jonathon Letterman, the medical director of the Army of the Potomac, just six weeks to implement a brilliant system to evacuate and care for the wounded, becoming the model for ambulance-to-ER system we know today. On September 17, 1862, the Battle of Antietam left 2,108 Union soldiers dead and nearly 10,000 wounded. Letterman established caravans of 50 ambulances, each with a driver and two stretcher bearers, to ferry the injured to field hospitals. He hired private wagons to carry medical supplies to circumvent enemy damage to railroad lines. He even introduced spring suspensions to ambulances and added a lock box under the driver’s seat to make it harder for soldiers to steal protein, bedsacks, and morphine reserved for the wounded. The rest is history.

_______________________

The article above, written by Chip Rowe, is reprinted with permission from the November-December 2011 issue of mental_floss magazine. Get a subscription to mental_floss and never miss an issue!

Be sure to visit mental_floss‘ website and blog for more fun stuff!

 

One in Six American Adults is a Binge Drinker

Posted: 20 Jan 2012 04:26 AM PST

According to the CDC, one in six American adults is a binge drinker:

The study — which defines binge drinking as five or more drinks in a short period of time for men and four or more for women — breaks down the nation’s 38 million binge drinkers by a variety of measures, including geography, age and income level. Wisconsin is the state with the most binge drinkers at 25 percent of the population, while Utah, home to the teetotaling Mormon church, comes in last at less than 11 percent. [...]

The CDC report noted that half of all alcohol consumed in the U.S. is consumed during binge drinking. For young people, that rate shoots up to 90 percent.

Link

How Do Mathematicians Say Hi?

Posted: 20 Jan 2012 02:18 AM PST

With this equation, of course:

Graph that and you'll get this:

via Krulwich Wonders

See also: I Heart Math T-Shirt over at the NeatoShop

Make Your Own Assassin’s Creed Arm Blade

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 11:29 PM PST

(Video Link)

Ever wish you could be a real assassin like Altaïr or Ezio? Then try your hand at making this handy assassin blade, but just don’t lose your hand in the process.

Via The Daily What

One Nail Set To Rule Them All

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 11:24 PM PST

If you put all ten together they spill out the entire inscription put on the inside of the classic One Ring. I don’t know about you other geek gals, but I’d love to wear these to a fancy dress occasion…they’re practically jewelry after all.

Link Via io9

Put Skyrim on Your Calculator

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 11:19 PM PST

(Video Link)

Wanna play Skyrim at school without getting in trouble? Well now you can play on your TI-84 graphing calculator. Sure it might not be as fun as the original, but hey, how often can you play your favorite game in the middle of class?

Link Via Kotaku

When Community Goes Mutant

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 11:14 PM PST

After all the fan movements to save the show, some artists are celebrating with Community-inspired fan art. While there are a bunch out there, this X-Men one might just be the best I’ve seen so far.

Link Via The Mary Sue

An Update On Lil’ Drac

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 11:09 PM PST

(Video Link)

Regular readers might recognize this adorable little guy from Miss C’s post on him from last month, but just in case you don’t recognize him, here’s the original post. Now that you’re familiar with Lil’ Drac, you can watch this update on the cute little bat that stole the world’s heart.

Via Cute Overload

The Forbidden Colors Your Eyes Can’t See

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 07:27 PM PST

Don't even bother making reddish green or yellowish blue colors. Your eyes simply can't see them:

Red-green and yellow-blue are the so-called "forbidden colors." Composed of pairs of hues whose light frequencies automatically cancel each other out in the human eye, they're supposed to be impossible to see simultaneously.

The limitation results from the way we perceive color in the first place. Cells in the retina called "opponent neurons" fire when stimulated by incoming red light, and this flurry of activity tells the brain we're looking at something red. Those same opponent neurons are inhibited by green light, and the absence of activity tells the brain we're seeing green. Similarly, yellow light excites another set of opponent neurons, but blue light damps them. While most colors induce a mixture of effects in both sets of neurons, which our brains can decode to identify the component parts, red light exactly cancels the effect of green light (and yellow exactly cancels blue), so we can never perceive those colors coming from the same place.

Link | Impossible Colors at Wikipedia

EZ Bag Red Rose

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 06:27 PM PST

EZ Bag Red Rose – $3.95

 

Valentine’s Day is on its way. Are you looking for the perfect small token of your affection? Get the EZ Bag Red Rose from the NeatoShop. This beautiful red rose unfolds into a convenient reusable bag.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Reusable Totes.

Link

World’s Largest Koran

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 06:26 PM PST


Photo: Mohammad Ismail/Reuters

Afghan calligrapher Mohammad Sabir Khedri worked for five years to create the world's largest Koran, and man, is it large:

The lavish book has pages 2.28 meters (90 inches) by 1.55 meters (61 inches) in size ... The Afghan Koran weighs 500 kg (1,100 lb) and its 218 pages of cloth and paper, bound inside an embossed leather cover made from the skins of 21 goats, cost half a million dollars to create.

Link

Where Did Gulliver Leave His Glasses?

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 05:46 PM PST

He’d better find his spectacles before he heads into battle. There! Russian street artist Pavel Puhov found them. You can view more creative works by him at the link.

Link -via Colossal | Artist’s Website (Google Translate)

The First Science Fiction Movie Filmed in Space

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 05:30 PM PST

Video game entrepreneur Richard Garriott took a camera with him during his recent stay on the International Space Station. He and the astronauts put it to good use by filming a short movie called Apogee of Fear. In this gripping story, the inhabitants of the ISS discover that too much oxygen is being consumed to account for their number. There must be someone else — or something else — on board!

Watch a recording of a performance of Apogee of Fear at the link. Crow and Tom Servo aren’t in it, but Garriott can probably sign them for the sequel.

Link -via The Mary Sue | Photo: First Run Features

Neither of These Tablets Come With Apps?

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 05:22 PM PST

From our pal Dan Piraro of Bizarro, here's a reminder to update the Ten Commandments to include "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's iPad?"

Link

Feline Agility Training

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 05:21 PM PST


(YouTube link)

We’ve shown you Canine Musical Freestyle competitions and Bunny Show Jumping competitions, and now we have Feline Agility Competitions, too! In this video, a 5-week old Tonkinese kitten named Jumpin Jack Flash starts his training. He’s already got a blue ribbon in “adorable.” Find out more about these competitions from the Cat Fanciers Association. Link -via Buzzfeed

35-Foot Long Camera Exposes 6-Foot Negatives

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 04:58 PM PST

Dennis Manarchy’s ambitious project is to travel across the United States and take pictures of people vanishing from the American experience, such as Native Americans, cowboys and Medal of Honor winners from World War II. That itself is nothing new, but to complete the project, Manarchy plans to build a camera so large that it must be towed by a truck.

Link -via DVICE (where there’s a video) | Previously: The World’s Largest Photo

Pothole Gardens

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 04:42 PM PST

Steve Wheen, a guerrilla gardener, uses plants and miniatures to create sanctuaries of tranquility in broken urban places. Specifically, he alters potholes in east London. His website has many photos of his work. The best are his pictures of people reacting to seeing these tiny green spaces.

Link -via My Modern Met | Previously: When Potholes Become Art

The Helix is Looking at You

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 04:41 PM PST

This is not the first picture you’ve seen of the Helix Nebula, but it’s the best image so far. The Helix Nebula is a cloud of gas that was left when a star expired 700 light years away from us.

This image is in the near-infrared, taken using the European Southern Observatory's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), a 4.1 meter telescope in Chile. Equipped with a whopping 67 megapixel camera it can take pictures of large areas of the sky. The Helix nebula fits that bill: it's close enough to us that it's nearly the size of the full Moon in the sky.

You are right, this would make an awesome desktop wallpaper! You can download the huge version if you like, and get more details about the Eye of Sauron Helix Nebula at Bad Astronomy. Link

(Image credit: ESO/VISTA/J. Emerson/Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit)

Ragtime Version of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Theme

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 04:26 PM PST


(Video Link)

Hello, my baby! Hello, my darling! Hello, my ragtime gal!
Send me a kiss subspace, baby, to my starbase!

Ragtime pianist and composer Tom Brier sent the 24th Century Back into the 1910s with this rendition of the theme music to Star Trek: The Next Generation. He improvises in the first part of the video. You can skip to 1:50 to see the finished product.

-via reddit | Previously: Mario, Harry Potter and Star Wars Music Played in the Ragtime Style

P.S. He also did a great Animaniacs cover!

Paris Hospital Workers Accrued 2 Million Vacation Days

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 04:25 PM PST

Got vacation days saved up? Not as many as the French workers, that's for sure: at one hospital in Paris, workers have accumulated over 2 million days off!

Here's the story of how a law mandating 35-hour work week backfired:

French workers get comped vacation time added to their base five weeks of annual leave if they work longer than the mandated 35-hour work week and apparently even the French can't take all of that time off in a year. Nevertheless, "By law, they must take those days off by the end of this year, but that could mean closing hospitals for months."

Just to put 2 million days into perspective, that's 5,475 years of vacation time. There's no indication of how many employees are sharing that pool of vacation time, but if it were just one, they'd just be finishing a stint of paid time off that started in B.C. 3467, that is just around the time when the Sumerians invented writing and the Sahara started turning into a desert.

Link

The Day that the Sky Crashed

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 03:57 PM PST

Allegedly, this is a photo of an electronic billboard in Odessa, Ukraine crashing. But those of us who understand that the entire universe is actually a holographic projection around the Earth know the truth. Worse: the universe runs on Windows.

Link -via Boing Boing

Totoro Shoulder Bag

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 03:34 PM PST

Totoro Shoulder Bag – $23.95

Are you a total Totoro fanatic in need of a new handbag? Your dreams have finally come true! Behold the Totoro Shoulder Bag from the NeatoShop. This adorable and functional little purse is shaped like your favorite Japanese animated character.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic Totoro items and useful Bags & Totes.

Link

The Curious Case of the Aye-Aye’s Middle Finger

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 03:21 PM PST

The aye-aye, an odd-looking lemur indigenous to Madagascar, has a very unusual extra-long middle finger that it uses to forage for food.

Scientists have discovered that the unusual finger is even more unusual, as the aye-aye can thermoregulate the temperature of that finger by as much as 6C:

When not in use, the finger appeared black on thermal images. This indicated a large difference in temperature between it and the white (hot) ears and eyes.

But when the animal was looking for food, the finger rose in temperature by up to 6C.

"We think the relatively cooler temperatures of the digit when not in use could be related to its [long, thin] form," said Ms Moritz.

"This form results in a relatively high surface-to-volume ratio [but] such a ratio is bad for retaining heat."

In order to sense the vibrations of beetle larvae through the bark of a tree, the finger is "packed with sensitive nerve endings", the scientist explained.

Because of its specialist sense receptors, using this tapping tool is very costly in terms of energy.

"Like any delicate instrument, it is probably best deactivated when not in use," Ms Moritz told BBC Nature.

Link

Indoor Skydiving as PE

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 02:20 PM PST

What? Did you have to run track for PE? You poor thing!

15-year-old Sian Spence nominated indoor skydiving as her GCSE PE exam, and got it approved:

Her father, who works at the Computer Science Department at the University of Wales as a systems supporter. added: "Sian approached the school about doing it.

"This will be the first time anywhere in the UK that indoor skydiving will be assessed as part of a GCSE PE exam.

"We have suggested doing ten one-minute flights, all being assessed for levels of competence, and there will various aspects including testing a range of individual competencies, assessment of ability to deal with a changing environment, ability to deal with other fliers and an element of competition.

Link

The Venice of Africa

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 01:19 PM PST


Photo: Hugo!/Flickr

No, that's not a photo of a flooded village. Rather, it's of the city of Ganvié in the Republic of Benin, which calls itself "The Venice of Africa." Kuriositas has the details on the history of this curious city:

At the beginning of the seventeenth century the country was called Dahomey and was one of the most powerful states in West Africa. The major ethnic and linguistic group was the Fon and they had made a deal with the Portuguese. Rather than their own people being captured and sold in to slavery they made a contract with the Portuguese to hunt and sell tribes people from smaller ethnic groups.

The Fon warriors were numerous and powerful and there was little other groups of people could do to defend themselves against this onslaught. Then, someone among the Tofinu people came up with an idea. Their name is lost to history but one wise person realized that they could take advantage of the religious practices of their

The Fon were forbidden by their religion to advance upon and water bound settlement. Any groups of people who lived on water were, by the law of the Fon, safe. Lake Nokoué is simply immense. Ganvié was established as a means to escape being sold in to a lifetime’s slavery and shipped across the world in appalling conditions. No wonder its name means the collectivity of those who found peace at last. The alternative translation is the much more to the point We Survived.enemy.

Link - via Look At This

Brazil Must Sell Beer at World Cup, FIFA Insists

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 12:17 PM PST

The 2014 World Cup in Brazil is in serious trouble, folks. You see, Brazil has banned alcoholic drinks at all Brazilian stadiums, and that's just not cool with soccer's world governing body, FIFA.

So, in an effort to stand up for the rights beer lovers, FIFA said that beer "must be sold" in the World Cup:

In remarks to journalists in Rio de Janeiro, Mr Valcke sounded frustrated with Brazilian officials:

"Alcoholic drinks are part of the Fifa World Cup, so we're going to have them. Excuse me if I sound a bit arrogant but that's something we won't negotiate," he said.

"The fact that we have the right to sell beer has to be a part of the law."

Budweiser is a big sponsor of the World Cup, but I'm absolutely, positively sure that has nothing to do with Fifa's position on this: Link

Previously on Neatorama: Neatolicous Fun Facts: Beer

Office Colds And The Heroes Who Perpetuate Them

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 11:27 AM PST

The Awl has some great charts detailing how the common cold is transferred, profiling the one guy who infects your entire workplace, and a flow chart to determine whether you will catch a cold. That’s in addition to these handy tips for avoiding a cold. Link -via Nag on the Lake

Victim Concerned About Thief’s Fitness

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 10:51 AM PST

Peter Stevens of Cambridge, England, was in his car Friday when a thief opened up the back door and grabbed his laptop.

The 34-year-old runner and IT expert chased him and was surprised when he caught up with the thief after just 225 metres.

Realising the game was up, the puffed-out criminal dropped the laptop, allowing Mr Stevens to pick it up.

Mr Stevens said: "I was appalled by how unfit this guy was. I thought it would take a lot longer to catch up with him. If you are going to go into the snatch-and-run business at least try and get fit or at least play to your strengths and go for something less energetic."

The thief, who Stevens believes is much younger than he is, has not been caught, but Stevens put his money where his mouth is.

The next day Mr Stevens made a donation to a charity which promotes fitness.

He said: "I made a small donation at Milton Country Park to Cambridge Parkrun to help encourage youngsters to get fit. They seem to need all the help they can get."

Link -via Arbroath

Puppet’s Court

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 10:47 AM PST


(YouTube link)

Former county commissioner Jimmy Dimora is on trial in Akron, Ohio, for corruption. Channel 19 is covering the trial, but are not allowed to take cameras into the federal courtroom. So they did the next best thing -or some would call a better thing- and recreated the court scenes using puppets! This video is day two. You can also see day one at WOIO. Link -via Fark

SOPA and the Rise of the “Nerd Lobby”

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 10:12 AM PST

Yesterday, thousands of websites (including Neatorama) protested against SOPA and PIPA, the two Internet censorhip bills making their way through the US Congress.

The effect was immediate - the bills quickly lost support in Congress. Jonathan Weisman of The New York Times reported that a growing number of members of Congress announced their opposition:

First, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a rising Republican star, took to Facebook, one of the vehicles for promoting opposition, to renounce a bill he had co-sponsored. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who leads the G.O.P.’s Senate campaign efforts, used Facebook to urge his colleagues to slow the bill down. Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina and a Tea Party favorite, announced his opposition on Twitter, which was already boiling over with anti-#SOPA and #PIPA fever.

Then trickle turned to flood — adding Senators Mark Kirk of Illinois and Roy Blunt of Missouri, and Representatives Lee Terry of Nebraska and Ben Quayle of Arizona. At least 10 senators and nearly twice that many House members announced their opposition.

Yay us! Or, as comic Jon Stewart says, "angry nerds." Jon went on to ask whether any of the congressional committees in charge of regulating the Internet actually know what they're talking about (3:30 mark on the video).

Ask a nerd? What a great idea!. They should ask a nerd, so we can tell them how bad SOPA and PIPA are. The precursor to the current version of SOPA was actually even worse. It has a provision that require changes to the Internet's domain name system to "blacklist" rogue websites. That, according to web experts would break the web.

Here's the story by Jennifer Valentino-DeVries of The Wall Street Journal of how the controversial DNS-based blacklisting scheme got dropped in the rise of "nerd lobby" in Washington, D.C.:

Late last fall, a select group met in the White House Situation Room to discuss U.S. Internet security and how it might falter if two anti-piracy bills being debated in Congress were to pass.

The attendees included veteran Washington policymakers and cyberdefense experts. But one person – an engineer named Dan Kaminsky who specializes in an arcane set of rules governing how people connect to the Internet – stood out.

“I’ve never seen anyone in the Situation Room without a tie before,” said one of the Washington policymakers who was there.

Welcome to the world of the nerd lobbyist.

In his defense, Kaminsky said "he didn’t wear a tie because he didn’t know that the meetings would be taking place in the 'actual White House.'"

Bandit Signs

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 09:49 AM PST

Huggie is bothered not only by the decline of his South Philadelphia neighborhood, but also by the numerous signs posted by shady businesses that prey on desperate residents who are strapped for cash.

As a street artist, I decided to fight back against the blight by creating my own humorous bandit signs and posting them up around the city.  I am aware that I might be contributing to the blight as well, but I really hope that my signs make people realize how ridiculous these advertisers are and help them take pride in their community. And if that doesn't work, I hope it makes them laugh.

See more signs at his blog, Gorilla Upskirts. Link

Juliet’s Music Video

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 09:47 AM PST

If you wrote a song about your life, you’d include your favorite things. Australian 8-year-old Juliet made a song about how she loves her dog, Robert. The music video is charming. See it at NeatoBambino. Link

Boston to Select Poe Statue

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 08:59 AM PST

Edgar Allan Poe Foundation of Boston and the Boston Art Commission plan to erect a statue honoring Edgar Allan Poe, and they’ve narrowed down the design submissions to three finalists.

The finalists were selected from a pool of 265 artists from 42 states and 13 countries who submitted their qualifications for consideration. Working with the Edgar Allan Poe Foundation of Boston, the Boston Art Commission will oversee the installation of the public artwork in Edgar Allan Poe Square, the city-owned plaza located at the southeast corner of Boylston Street and Charles Street South between Park Square and Boston Common.

The artists are Jennifer Bonner and her teammate architect Christian Stayner, both of Los Angeles; Ann Hirsch of Cambridge and her teammate Boston architect Robert Olson; and Stefanie Rocknak of Oneonta, New York. Their design proposals were first presented by the artists on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, at the Campus Center of Emerson College (150 Boylston St., four doors east of Poe Square). The proposed concepts will be presented once again at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square by project manager Jean Mineo on Thursday, January 19, 2012, the 203rd birthday of the Boston-born Poe.

The design shown is by sculptor Stefanie Rocknak. See them all and read the artist’s statements at the project site. Or, if you’re in Boston, see them at the library today! Link -Thanks, J.W. Ocker!

Poe Toaster Will Come Nevermore

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 07:44 AM PST

Edgar Allan Poe fans waited after midnight this morning at the cemetery in Baltimore where the author is buried, but for the third year in a row, no “Poe Toaster” showed up. For around 70 years, a mysterious person visited Poe’s grave on the morning of January 19th, Poe’s birth date.

Poe House and Museum Curator Jeff Jerome said early Thursday that die-hard fans waited hours past when the tribute bearer normally arrives. But the “Poe Toaster” was a no-show for a third year in a row, leaving another unanswered question in a mystery worthy of the writer’s legacy. Poe fans had said they would hold one last vigil this year before calling an end to the tradition.

“It’s over with,” Jerome said wearily. “It will probably hit me later, but I’m too tired now to feel anything else.”

It is thought that the tributes of an anonymous man wearing black clothes with a white scarf and a wide-brimmed hat, who leaves three roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac at Poe’s original grave on the writer’s birthday, date to at least the 1940s. Late Wednesday, a crowd gathered outside the gates of the burial ground surrounding Westminster Hall to watch for the mysterious visitor, yet only three impersonators appeared, Jerome said.

The author was born in 1809 and died 40 years later. Link -via Fark

(Image credit: AP)

Video Effects Breakdown

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 07:40 AM PST


(vimeo link)

Brainstorm Digital clues us in on how they provide effects for television, specifically for the second season of Boardwalk Empire. And it’s not all “special” effects, either. Productions now can do away with makeup, props, and even sets! It’s all computer magic. Warning: may cause disillusionment. -Thanks, özi!

What Is It? game 210

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 06:30 AM PST

Here it is, time for our collaboration with the always amusing What Is It? Blog. Tell us what this thing is, if you know. If you don’t, make a wild guess!

Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you’d like. Post no URLs or weblinks, as doing so will forfeit your entry. Two winners: the first correct guess and the funniest (albeit ultimately wrong) guess will win T-shirt from the NeatoShop.

Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don’t include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts?

For another, closer view, check out the What Is It? Blog. Have fun and good luck!

10 Words Originating From Greek Mythology

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 05:05 AM PST

English is a fascinating language, particularly in that most of our words come from other languages. While most words come from some sort of root words that have travelled from ancient languages to more modern lexicons, some come from myths and stories of gods and goddesses, particularly from stories from ancient Greece. Here are a few fascinating English words with roots dating back to stories of Zeus and his fellow gods.

Atlas

If you're familiar with Greek myths, then you'll immediately recognize the name of the Titan who was forced to hold up the heavens after angering the Olympians. Even if you didn't recognize his name from myth though, you certainly recognized the modern use of the term for a group of maps. The connection is logical, but it wasn't used in the cartography until the sixteenth century.

Image Via Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez [Wikipedia]

Chronological and Chronic

These words may not seem to have much in common definition-wise, but there is a good reason they start with the same root –they are both related to time. Chronology deals with the way events happened over the course of time and chronic describes something that takes place over a long period of time. Wondering where we got these words? Well, they are all related to Chronos, the god of time.

Image Via Jorbasa [Flickr]

Echo

This is one of the more famous Greek stories-turned-words. In the ancient tales, Echo was a mountain nymph who talks excessively with her gorgeous voice. Her voice was so lovely that she would often distract Zeus' wife Hera with her long and entertaining stories while Zeus would sneak away and make love with the other mountain nymphs. When Hera found out about Echo's role in her husband's activities, she punished her by taking away her ability to speak, except in repetition of the words of others.

There are many differing ends to the story, but in all of them, Echo eventually dies in some heartbreaking manner, leaving her voice to haunt the earth, where it can still be heard to this day.

Erotic


This word comes from the Greek character Eros, but you probably know him as his more famous Roman name –Cupid. Eros was the god not only of love, but of sexual desire. As a result, his interventions often cause gods and men to fall in love, often when already married.

Image Via Eric Pouhier [Wikipedia]

Hypnosis

Ever been in a highly-suggestible sleep-like state? Well, you can thank Hypnos for your condition as he was the god of sleep who lived in a dark cave where the sun never penetrates. His home had no doors or gates lest he be awakened by creaking of hinges. Other words have been derived from his Roman name, Somnus, most notably, insomnia.

Image Via McMillan and Gage [Flickr]

Morphine

The famous drug that puts you in a dream-like state actually got its name from Hypnos' brother, Morpheus (you know, like the guy in the Matrix). Morpheus was the god of dreams and actually had the ability to take human form and appear in people's dreams.

Narcissism

This might just be the most famous of all the myths on this list. Narcissus was a gorgeous man, half-nymph and half-god, who was so proud of his own looks that he disdained all who dared love him. Eventually, Nemesis (our next word on the list) punished him by luring Narcissus to a pool of water where he could see his own reflection. At this point, there are two endings to the tale, neither of them particularly good. In one version, Narcissus realizes he could never find anyone as attractive as himself, so he finally gives up and kills himself. In the other, Narcissus doesn't realize it is an image and falls in love with the reflection, refusing to leave its side until he eventually succumbs to hunger.

Nemesis

These days, a nemesis is a rival or enemy, but if Nemesis was against you in ancient Greece, you must have done something bad to anger her. That's because Nemesis was the god who took revenge against those who showed arrogance before the gods. Long ago, the term was used to simply mean someone who distributed fortune as it was deserved, good or bad. It wasn't until the 4th century that the word started to mean someone who felt resentment towards another.

Tantalizing

Next time you're tantalized by something you can't have, just think of poor Tantalus and how miserable he must have been. Of course, he kind of brought his punishment upon himself.

Tantalus was a half-god and half-nymph who was invited to dine at Zeus' table in Olympus. He then stole ambrosia and nectar along with other secrets of the gods and brought them to the mortals. Later on, he offered his own son as a sacrifice to the gods and served him at a banquet. The gods learned of his plan and rebuilt the boy and brought him back to life, disgusted by Tantalus' plan.

As punishment for his misdeeds, Tantalus was forced to stand in a pool of water below a fruit tree with low-hanging branches. Whenever he would reach down to take a drink, the waters would recede and whenever he reached up to pluck some fruit, the branches would rise up out of his reach. Thus Tantalus spent the rest of eternity being tantalized by water and food that he could never have.

These are, of course, only a handful of the hundreds and hundreds of Greek myths, many of which have played a fascinating role in modern English words –and I didn't even include any of the Roman versions that have entered our lexicon. Do you guys know of any other Greek or Roman tales that have inspired common English words?

Sources: Your Dictionary, Grose Educational Media, Wikipedia #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9
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