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2015/11/02

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Four Facts About Bagpipes

Posted: 02 Nov 2015 05:00 AM PST

Let's learn something we didn't know about bagpipes, courtesy of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Attack of the Factoids.

1. SCOTLAND DIDN’T INVENT THEM.

Long before bagpipes reached Scotland, much of Europe, southwestern Asia, and northern Africa were already playing early versions of the instrument. In fact, many historians believe that it was a form of the bagpipe that the Roman emperor Nero famously played, not a fiddle as is commonly reported. Bagpipes probably arrived on the English Isles sometime after AD 43 during Rome’s 400-year occupation. But it wasn’t until the late 13th century that they began to appear regularly in British art. Finally in the 14th century, The Canturbury Tales cemented the bagpipe’s place in literature, describing a virtuoso this way: “A baggepype wel coude he blowe and sowne, / And ther-with-al he broghte us out of towne.” It was the Scots who made bagpipes famous worldwide, however. And in the late 20th century, electronic versions of the instrument appeared, shaped and played like the regular kind but with synthesized tones, no air, and no reeds.

2. BAGPIPES DON’T PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS.

There are a few reasons that bagpipers don’t typically appear in jazz, country, or rock groups. First, bagpipes are made for outdoor use, so they’re loud and not easily modulated to quieter tones. Second, they are hard to tune. But probably the biggest problem is that bagpipes are tuned to different tones than the notes of pianos, violins, guitars, horns, woodwinds… well, everything, actually. For example, an A on any other instrument is 440 hz (vibrations per second). But what is called an A on a bagpipe is anything between 476 to 480 hz, a tone between B-flat and B on any other instrument. As a result, when traditionally tuned bagpipes play with other instruments, the result sounds like horns in a traffic jam, only not quite so musical.

It’s possible to modify a bagpipe to something close to the modern scale, but not with great accuracy, meaning that any accompanying instrument has to try to tune to the bagpipe. That’s reasonably doable with brass and woodwinds, harder with stringed instruments, prohibitively time-consuming with pianos and electronic keyboards, and impossible with pipe organs, xylophones, and vibes. Also, any arrangements must avoid the bagpipe’s high G: it won’t be tuned right, no matter what you do.

3. A BAGPIPE DOESN’T PLAY THAT WELL BY ITSELF, EITHER.

If you’re reasonably skilled on a modern Western musical instrument, you can play almost any song. That’s because they all offer the 13 notes on the modern Western scale, tuned to the white and black keys on a piano: C, C sharp, D, D sharp, E, F, F sharp, G, G sharp, A, A sharp, B, and C. But that’s not true of a bagpipe. It will play only two of the black-key notes (C sharp and F sharp) and won’t play two of the white-key notes (C and F). Traditional bagpipes also have a note that doesn’t appear on any other Western instrument: a high G that is halfway between G and G sharp.

(YouTube link)

4. ORIGINAL BAGPIPES AREN’T VEGETARIAN.

What’s the bagpipe’s bag made of? Today, it’s usually something like Gore-Tex, but traditionally, players used the skin of whatever goat, sheep, pig, cow, or dog happened to be available.

_______________________________

The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Attack of the Factoids. Weighing in at over 400 pages, it's a fact-a-palooza of obscure information.

Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out!

Heist Specialist - Also Available To Invade Picnics

Posted: 02 Nov 2015 04:00 AM PST


Heist Specialist by Papyroo

If you're looking for a thief who can handle any job, big or small, then you need the services of Scott Lang- heist specialist. He used to be a regular old catburglar, able to handle all jobs small to medium sized, but that was before he was given Pym's super suit which allows him to shrink down to the size of an ant. Now he's twice the thief he used to be at about a hundredth the size! Man, what did crooks do before crazy scientists came up with all this marvel-ous tech gear?

Add some big time fun to your geeky wardrobe with this Heist Specialist t-shirt by Papyroo, it's the stylish way to show love for your favorite size shifting superhero!

Visit Papyroo's Facebook fan page, official website and Instagram, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more delightfully geeky designs:

Toasty GrillVision Is BornCactus IslandClare's Poetry Club

View more designs by Papyroo | More Comic T-shirts | New T-Shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

Cat Staircase Surfing

Posted: 02 Nov 2015 04:00 AM PST

Wayne Burns keeps his cats--and himself--entertained by encouraging them to surf down the stairs in a cardboard box. They need just a bit of encouragement to climb in. A laser pointer is sufficient for the task.


(Video Link)

-via Gifsboom

The Sleeping Beauty Problem

Posted: 02 Nov 2015 03:00 AM PST

I’m not sure whether this is totally a math problem or a logic problem, but it has elements of both.

We plan to put Beauty to sleep by chemical means, and then we'll flip a
(fair) coin. If the coin lands Heads, we will awaken Beauty on Monday
afternoon and interview her. If it lands Tails, we will awaken her Monday
afternoon, interview her, put her back to sleep, and then awaken her again
on Tuesday afternoon and interview her again.

The (each?) interview is to consist of the one question: what is your
credence now for the proposition that our coin landed Heads?

When awakened (and during the interview) Beauty will not be able to tell
which day it is, nor will she remember whether she has been awakened
before.

She knows the above details of our experiment.

What credence should she state in answer to our question?

Now, Sleeping Beauty is the lamest of all the Disney Princesses, and never struck me as smart enough to even know what credence means. That’s beside the point, because the subject could be anyone.

Most of us would have a 50% belief that the coin landed on heads, without taking the rest of the experiment into consideration, because it’s a coin toss. I would think that not remembering a past awakening would make the day of the week moot to the person being awakened.

But there are those who crunch the numbers differently, and say the chance of the coin toss landing on heads would only be 33%. See, there are three possible outcomes.

Heads/Monday
Tails/Monday
Tails/Tuesday

And the probability of any of them is one third. But the way that “thirder position” is explained at Wikipedia would lead me to wake up and say there’s a good chance it’s Monday and you math nerds haven’t even tossed a coin at all yet.

What do you think?

The possible answers and their reasonings are still being argued about. There are discussions at both Google and Metafilter with people giving various explanations for their answers.

Clever Dog Surfs to Her Tennis Ball in the Pool

Posted: 02 Nov 2015 02:00 AM PST


(Video Link)

Christie the Westie may love to swim, but Abby the Labrador has other plans. She just wants her tennis ball, which is inconveniently in the middle of the pool. So she paws a boogie board over to herself, climbs on, then paddles it toward her ball.

This is tricky work because the board really isn't bouyant enough to support her. She has to balance herself very carefully.

It works! Abby gets the ball and is able to drift toward the side of the pool. She got a bit wet, but not completely soaked.

-via Nothing to Do with Aborath

Young Goodman Brown

Posted: 02 Nov 2015 01:00 AM PST

“Young Goodman Brown” is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, about a Puritan man who dabbles with the concept of evil -the Dark Side, if you will. I wasn’t familiar with the story, so I got the short version from Wikipedia. Kate Beaton at Hark! A Vagrant tackles the story with humor in a series of eight strips. If this piqued my curiosity, wouldn’t it do the same for students who are facing required reading? Some teachers are already using Beaton’s work in that way. She says,

While on book tour, I visited Salem and got to see the House of Seven Gables! So I am pumped on Hawthorne. How many people have had to read this and suffer essays over the pink ribbons and etc? I used to think that for literature to be REAL it pretty well had to be chock-full of allegory and symbols. But for real, I do love it when my comics get used in a classroom setting, and I often hear from teachers who do that to warm the class up to a topic. That's great! I should ask for a list of books to cover for this reason. Feel free to email, teachers!

See the rest of the Young Goodman Brown strips at Beaton’s website.

An Awkward Conversation with Patrick Stewart

Posted: 02 Nov 2015 12:00 AM PST

Patrick Stewart, the actor who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation, offers this tweet without context or explanation. None is needed.

Before we Neatorama authors post anything here, we are supposed to search the archives to make sure that it has not already been posted. So if Alex ever looks through the database of search queries for the site's content management system and sees "patrick stewart enema," he will know why.

The Science Behind Cheating

Posted: 01 Nov 2015 10:00 PM PST


YouTube Link

Are you cheating on your significant other? If so, this AsapSCIENCE video might give you some scientific excuses as to why. There may be some chemistry involved. Or certain circumstances of your situation might increase the likelihood of infidelity. But hey, just because it's science, it doesn't mean you'll get off the hook if your secret's revealed! How about looking for some scientific ways to spice up your sex life with your partner instead? Nothing like using science for the forces of good! Via Design Taxi

Argument: Jar Jar Binks Was a Brilliant Sith Manipulator

Posted: 01 Nov 2015 08:00 PM PST

Many Star Wars fans despise Jar Jar Binks as his silly comedic presence disrupted the dramatic nature of the Star Wars prequels. He was comedy relief in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But redditor Lumpawarroo argues that Jar Jar was anything but a buffoon who survived only through good luck and the mercy of the other characters. He systematically explains that Jar Jar was actually a highly skilled Force user, combatant, and political manipulator who was the true power behind the intrigue of Episodes I-VI:

Here I will seek to establish that Jar Jar Binks, far from being simply the bumbling idiot he portrays himself as, is in fact a highly skilled force user in terms of martial ability and mind control.

Furthermore, I assert that he was not, as many people assume, just an unwitting political tool manipulated by Palpatine-- rather, he and Palpatine were likely in collaboration from the very beginning, and it's entirely possible that Palpatine was a subordinate underling to Binks throughout both trilogies.

And finally, given the above, I will conclude with an argument as to why I believe it is not only possible, but plausible that Jar Jar will make a profound impact on the upcoming movies, and what his role may be.

The real Phantom Menace is not Palpatine and the Sith, but Jar Jar. Lumpawarroo argues for this with clear evidence.

-via Wired

Oliver the Goldendoodle's Halloween Costumes

Posted: 01 Nov 2015 06:00 PM PST

Eighties sitcom fans everywhere will know and love this absolutely adorable Halloween costume worn by Oliver the Goldendoodle -that's right, it's Alf, the lovable, cat-munching alien.

Oliver is a multi-talented guy though and he also has many interests, which is why he couldn't be limited to just one Halloween costume. Here he is as the adorable and always hilarliously unfunny Fozzie Bear.

You can see more of Oliver's delightful costumes and just revel in his overwhelming cuteness over at his Instagram. 

Via Buzzfeed

A <i>Coming to America</i> Halloween

Posted: 01 Nov 2015 04:00 PM PST

Coming to America

A photo posted by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Nov 1, 2015 at 1:15pm PST

We’ve hit the Coming to America trifecta for Halloween this year. First, we saw King Jaffe Joffer in the list of 2015 Halloween costumes. Then we find out that Weiner's Circle in Chicago changed into McDowell’s from the movie.

Now it comes out that Beyoncé, Jay Z, and Blue Ivy dressed as characters from Coming to America for their Halloween festivities. Beyoncé is Queen Aoleon, Jay Z is Prince Akeem, and their daughter is Imani Izzi, the prince’s chosen bride. Next we need to find out who dressed as the flower girls, Extremely Ugly Girl, and Randy Watson. -via Buzzfeed

Reverse Trick-or-Treating

Posted: 01 Nov 2015 02:00 PM PST


(Video Link)

Trent Toney and his friend played this classic Halloween gag last night. They carried a door frame up to houses, then knocked on the front doors. When residents came out to offer candy to trick-or-treaters, they found their roles reversed. Toney and his friend pretended to be elderly female homeowners who adored the costumes worn by the little adults who knocked on their door.

-via Boing Boing

Nightmares Serious - Jack Seems To Be Everywhere This Time Of Year

Posted: 01 Nov 2015 12:00 PM PST


Nightmares Serious by Amidiggory

When the moon hangs heavy and orange in the sky, and clouds hover and look like little eyes, that's when you'll know a nightmare is upon you. It tends to fall somewhere between Halloween and Christmas, in that dark period when the temperatures drop and dreams of candy give way to dreams about unwrapping presents. Some say they see the face of Sandy Claws in that fat orange moon, but no one can be sure when that slithering Sandy will appear, no one that is besides old Jack Skellington himself...

Keep your dreams nice and dark with this Nightmares Serious t-shirt by Amidiggory, you'd have to be a joker not to adore this heavenly design!

Visit Amidiggory's Facebook fan page, official website and Twitter, then head on over to her NeatoShop for more geek-tastic designs:

Sailor Of The UniverseA Circle Of LifeTotoro And The Blind ForestIced Heart

View more designs by Amidiggory | More Movie T-shirts | New T-Shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

Why Do Dogs Tilt Their Heads When We Talk to Them?

Posted: 01 Nov 2015 12:00 PM PST

(Photo: Taro the Shiba Inu)

When we talk to dogs, sometimes they tilt their heads while looking at and listening to us. Why? What does this attentive behavior represent?

There are at least 2 possibilities. Dr. Meredith Stepita, animal behaviorist and veterinarian, thinks that a dog is adjusting its inner ear in order to hear more precisely:

Since dogs can understand some human language, including words and tone of voice, a head-cocking dog could be concentrating on picking out a key word or inflection that relates to that favorite activity. So your dog may cock her head when you start talking about taking her for a walk or giving her a bath or playing a game of fetch — whatever it is that she loves to do.

Stanley Coren, a specalist in dog behavior, says that dogs carefully read the body language and facial expressions of their humans. Since their muzzles create blind spots, a head-tilting dog may be trying to get around the blind spot in front of its nose in order to read your expressions more carefully:

We know that dogs continually scan our faces for information and to read our emotional state. Hence it is likely that one reason why dogs may tilt their heads when we talk to them is because they want to see our faces better, and to compensate for the way in which their muzzles obscure part of their vision.

-via VA Viper

Bubble Wrap Art

Posted: 01 Nov 2015 10:00 AM PST

Michael Fischler created this work of art (titled Birmingham) by injecting paint into the cells of bubble wrap! He has a TV production career, and does this as a creative outlet. It’s a portrait of musician Beth Thornley.

(YouTube link)

The company he buys the bubble wrap from published an interview with Fischler after his first bubble-wrap painting, in which he explained that the idea grew out of his photography.

I took a photo I had shot and blew it up until each pixel was about a half inch in size – this made for a picture approx. 5 sheets (8.5x11) across and 7 sheets down. It kind of worked, but I had issues with the colors being true and the fact that this didn’t seem very different (David Hockney, for example, created a picture out of Polaroids he had taken). I put the project aside and it wasn’t until several months later when I was visiting some family in England that I used some old bubble wrap to pack and it suddenly occurred to me – bubbles could be pixels - what if I put paint inside the bubble?

The finished product is lovely, but I have to wonder- does the paint ever dry? What if someone had an irresistible urge to pop one of the bubbles? That could be a disaster! -via Digg

Slave Leia Loki

Posted: 01 Nov 2015 08:00 AM PST

(Photo: David Ngo)

Harley Kat offers this fresh take on Loki, the bad boy of The Avengers movies who makes so many people swoon. Loki has fallen far since being cast out of Asgard. She ended up on Tatooine in the service of Jabba the Hutt, who is apparently visiting Comikaze Expo in Los Angeles.

Christy the Westie Loves Her Pool

Posted: 01 Nov 2015 07:00 AM PST


YouTube Link

Christy the West Highland white terrier and her humans have just arrived in Florida for their vacation. What's the first thing on Christy's mind? Water! No, not the ocean and not in the form of a cool, refreshing drink. She wants to swim in her pool! As soon as she's let out through the sliding glass door to the pool area, we see the enthusiasm that has led to the pool being "owned" by Christy. Via Arbroath

“Men’s Delusion Curry” Comes with a DVD of a Beautiful Woman Pretending to Be Your Girlfriend

Posted: 01 Nov 2015 06:00 AM PST


(Photo: Village Vanguard)

You don’t have to be alone. Technology makes highly realistic relationship simulations possible. This particular one comes packaged with instant curry, which is probably when you need a girlfriend approximation the most.

Rocket News 24 reports that the newly-released Men’s Delusion Curry—Orange Flavor comes with a DVD of the lovely model Mao Harada. You can call her Haradan. She’ll gladly chat with you over curry during the story, which has 3 chapters:

1. The Younger Girlfriend
2. The Older Girl Who Lives Next Door and is Sort of Risqué
3. Haradan Made a Home-Cooked Meal

How the High Five Was Invented (and What Baseball and Gay Pride Have Got to Do With It)

Posted: 01 Nov 2015 04:00 AM PST


The world's first documented high five occurred between Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke of the Los Angeles Dodgers on October 2, 1977 at the Dodger Stadium

High five!

Did you ever wonder why we started giving high fives to each other and how it began in sports but made its way to become a symbol of gay pride and identification?

Our pal Today I Found Out explored the life of Glenn Burke, the first openly gay Major League Baseball player, who was credited for "inventing" and popularizing high five in 1977. Watch it on YouTube:
@

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