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2016/03/21

Neatorama

Neatorama

Aerial Archaeology

Posted: 21 Mar 2016 05:00 AM PDT

The following article is from Uncle John’s Factastic Bathroom Reader.

If you had to list the tools an archaeologist uses, you’d probably include a pick, a shovel, and maybe a trowel, a brush, or even a dental pick. Here’s one to add to your list: an airplane.

BACKGROUND

In 1899 Italian archaeologist Giacomo Boni was leading an excavation project at the Roman Forum, the massive collection of structures that made up the center of ancient Rome, when he decided to augment the slow, painstaking work on the ground with something new: he took photographs of the site from a hot-air balloon, floating 250 feet off the ground. The photos gave Boni a perspective nobody had ever seen before. The entire site— about seven acres— was laid out below him, much the way you’d see the site on a map.

Within a decade, aerial photography was being used at ancient sites around the world, and a whole new field of study— aerial archaeology— was born. The field has expanded exponentially in the century since because of advances in both flight and imaging technology, and today is considered a major part of archaeology in general. And while it is most often used to expand understanding about already known sites, it’s used to discover new ones, too. Here are the stories of a few of those discoveries, with some insights into the tools and tricks of the trade developed in the years since Boni’s humble balloon flight.

THE BIG CIRCLES

In 1920, British air force pilot and archaeology enthusiast Lionel Rees was flying over a vast, remote desert region in what is now Jordan when he saw what seemed to be three large circles drawn on the empty desert below him. They were enormous— one was more than 1,200 feet in diameter— and they were so close to perfectly round that Rees felt they had to be man-made. He took photographs from his plane and wrote about the circles in archaeology journals. Amazingly, though, they were largely ignored for decades and have only been formally studied in the last 20 years, during which time several more “Big Circles,” as they are known today, have been discovered in Jordan, Syria, and Turkey. Ranging from 700 to 1,400 feet in diameter, the circles are actually made from low rock walls, a few feet high and a few feet thick, constructed at least 2,000 years ago— possibly much longer. Nobody has any idea who made them or what purpose they served. And nobody had any idea they were there until Rees spotted them from his airplane in 1920. Studies of the circles— and searches for more— are ongoing.

WOODHENGE

(Image credit: GothamNurse)

In 1925 another British air force pilot, Gilbert Insall, was flying over southern England— not far from the famous ancient ruin Stonehenge— when he spotted an odd pattern of crops in the farmland below. It was the discovery of what aerial archaeologists now call “cropmarks.” Simple explanation: the buried remains of ancient ruins can affect crops planted above them, creating discernible patterns in those crops. For example, the remains of a square structure lying beneath a wheat field can result in a square pattern in the field by stunting the growth of the plants directly above them. And while such patterns may be difficult to make out from the ground, they’re often easy to see from an airplane. In this instance, Insall took photographs of the odd patterns he saw and showed them to local archaeologists, who were intrigued enough to start a dig at the site. A few years later, it was announced that Insall had discovered an ancient Stonehenge-like ruin, built around 2200– 2300 BC. Instead of the rings of stone pillars Stonehenge is famous for, however, this site had rings of wooden poles— 168 in total— hence the name “Woodhenge.” (Bonus: In 1928 Insall discovered another ancient ruin, this one more than 5,000 years old.)

THE APULIA SETTLEMENTS

(Image credit: Carlos Delgado)

During World War II, progress in both flight and photographic technology resulted in extensive use of aerial photography to gather intelligence. When the war ended, many people with years of experience studying such photography applied their skills to aerial archaeology. One of the most notable: John Bradford, who, as a British intelligence officer, was stationed in the Apulia region of southeastern Italy. (The region includes the “heel” of the boot of Italy.) After the war, Bradford started studying aerial photographs of Apulia that he’d taken both during the war and after. Through careful study of cropmarks in the photos, Bradford was able to discern the ruins of several previously unknown ancient human settlements in Apulia, some more than 8,000 years old, and all of them holding a wealth of information about Italy’s earliest civilizations. How many ancient settlements did Bradford discover? More than 200. Many of the sites are still being studied today.

THE RADAR RIVERS

(Image credit: NASA)

In November 1981, NASA’s first space shuttle, Columbia, was on its second mission when it took images of a large area of the eastern Sahara using its Shuttle Imaging Radar system (SIR-A). Because the area was covered in exceptionally dry sand, which the SIR-A system was able to penetrate to a depth of almost 20 feet, the images that came back revealed the world beneath the sand— and those images stunned scientists around the world. Reason: they revealed the presence of major river systems, long since dried up— and that the famously barren region was once a lush, watery wilderness. The discovery of the ancient rivers, which researchers came to call the “Radar Rivers,” was of special interest to archaeologists because ancient civilizations settled near fresh water systems. Excavations at locations along the heretofore unknown rivers have since revealed hundreds of ancient human settlements, some dating back tens of thousands of years. Ancient tools, such as stone axes— some dating back hundreds of thousands of years— have been discovered along the rivers as well.

A LOST MAYAN CITY

(Image credit: Pgbk87)

In the early 1980s, the husband-and-wife archaeology team of Arlen and Diane Chase started doing on-the-ground work at the ancient Mayan settlement of Caracol in Belize. In 2009 the Chases heard about LIDAR (an acronym for “light detection and ranging”) imaging technology. LIDAR uses lasers to develop extremely high-resolution, three-dimensional topographic maps of large swaths of land. The technology was of special interest to the Chases because it can “see” through dense vegetation, such as the jungle they had been fighting for more than two decades. In 2009 they arranged for a LIDAR-equipped two-engine plane to fly over the site. After just 24 hours of back-and-forth flying over the treetops, the system produced a map that told the Chases more about the site than they had learned in the previous 24 years. “I’m pretty sure we uttered some expletives,” Diane Chase told the BBC. The images revealed thousands of ancient structures that the Chases had no idea existed, as well as roads, waterways, and farmland. Without realizing it, the Chases had been studying the remains of an enormous Mayan city— roughly 80 square miles in size.

_______________________________

The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John’s Factastic Bathroom Reader. The 28th volume of the series is chock-full of fascinating stories and facts, and comes in both the Kindle version and paper with a classy cloth cover.

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!

Power Loader - Stop That Droid, He's Out Of Control!

Posted: 21 Mar 2016 04:00 AM PDT


Power Loader by Ed Harrington

For decades R2D2 has been wishing he had legs that would allow him to walk instead of roll around and arms that could actually lift stuff instead of just jutting out, so when they discovered that derelict mining ship that little R2 unit got excited. He'd read about these things called power loaders which made the wearer strong enough to lift tons of weight and featured pneumatic legs so the legless can stomp around, and to his delight the mining ship had one on board. R2 hopped right in that sucker and started dancing, knowing that he could now wage war alongside his compatriots and dance better than 3PO!

Add some silly sci-fi humor to your geeky wardrobe with this Power Loader t-shirt by Ed Harrington, it's sure to make you a star among your fellow fans.

Visit Ed Harrington's official website, Instagram and Tumblr, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more ridiculously cool designs:

Three Apples TallIn The Bookcase Aisle, No One Can Hear You ScreamWalker MechanicsLogic Will Tear Us Apart

View more designs by Ed Harrington | More Funny 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!

Pasta Hair Packaging

Posted: 21 Mar 2016 04:00 AM PDT

As you roll your shopping cart through the grocery store, you glance at your shopping list. The next item is pasta. But which among the many brands will catch your eye first?

Nikita, a designer in Moscow, makes this suggestion. He's developed a line of packaging concepts that make boxed pasta look like hair. The noodles become luxurious, fashionable hair in addition to food. You can see more digital renderings of the boxes here.

-via Toxel

Disabled Cat Has a Need for Speed

Posted: 21 Mar 2016 03:00 AM PDT

(YouTube link)

Cassidy was a feral kitten missing his rear paws. He was taken in by TinyKittens, and regained his health. Then he got a gift of a wheelchair and really took off! Since then, he’s outgrown the wheels and tried prosthetic back legs. Here’s the kicker: he’s now using an electric wheelchair. Yes, it’s a Roomba. 

(YouTube link)

You can follow the further adventures of Cassidy and his family at Facebook.  -via Fark

Sculpture of the Predator at the Dentist

Posted: 21 Mar 2016 02:00 AM PDT

The Predator forgot the dental module of his med-kit while packing for his hunting trip on Earth. Now he's having a rough time at the dentist's office.

Artist Simon Lee made this funny, detailed sculpture after listening to a real-life horror story from one of his friends about a visit to a dentist. Which tooth needs a filling? If it bleeds we can fill it.

-via Geek Tyrant

Russian Military Punishes Soldiers By Making Them Carry Large Wooden Props

Posted: 21 Mar 2016 01:00 AM PDT

In Soviet era Russia crimes were punished far more severely than they are today, and soldiers who questioned authority could be shot or sent to work in a Gulag camp for their insubordination.

But Russian soldiers no longer have to fear their lives will be taken by a cruel government, because today's Russian military punishes you with comedy.

Punished soldiers are forced to carry large wooden props shaped like their crimes- rifles for those who show up without their weapons and iPhones complete with an “official” Apple logo for those caught on their phone.

These comic props make the punished an object of ridicule and add weight to the soldier's load, forcing them to sweat for their sins. Yakov Smirnoff would have been proud.

See more pics of Russian Army Punishments here

-Via Boing Boing

Dog Maternity Photo Shoot

Posted: 21 Mar 2016 12:00 AM PDT

Lilica is simply glowing with joy. It's no wonder! She's a new mommy. That's why her human's friend, Ana Paula Grillo, gave her a professional-grade photo shoot. Grillo tells The Dodo that Lilica was smiling and enjoying the entire experience.

Since the photo shoot, Lilica has gone on to give birth to five puppies, each of whom has been adopted by members of Lilica's extended human family.

-via Telegraph

New York In The 1980s Looks Like An Apocalyptic Wasteland

Posted: 20 Mar 2016 10:00 PM PDT

I used to think the gritty and grimy depiction of New York in the 1970s and 80s seen in movies like The Warriors and Maniac, and TV shows like Night Court and The Equalizer was an exaggeration, but it turns out they weren't that far off.

The city streets were crackling with an electric energy during those dark days, and overall New York City was a much more dangerous place, but artists also took license with the city's dark side for dramatic effect.

However, photographer Steven Siegel didn't need to exaggerate or manipulate the truth to make the NYC streets he shot during the 80s look like an apocalyptic wasteland, he just removed the lens cap and documented what he saw.

Steven spoke to Gothamist about the difference between NYC then and now:

New York in the 1980s differed in two fundamental ways from the New York of today. First, 1980s-era New York was an edgier, riskier, dirtier, tenser, more dangerous and chaotic place. I think that fairly comes through in my images. Second, 1980s-era New York had a sense of wide-openness and freedom that was lost following 9/11... and likely never will be regained.

Notice how these two fundamental changes overlap in a number of important ways. A safer city, to some extent, comes at the price of a loss of freedom and openness. Conversely, the edginess and riskiness of the 1980s came at an appalling human and social cost. My photos of South Bronx and Bushwick are—if I might say so—a testament to that. Those who might be nostalgic for the edginess and riskiness of the 1980s were surely not the people who were growing up in the South Bronx and Bushwick in the era.

The trade-off between openness and security is reflected in a very literal way in some of my 1980s photos.

See 21 Incredible Photos Of 1980s NYC As An Apocalyptic Wasteland here

Massage Lotion Leads to Bathroom Gardens

Posted: 20 Mar 2016 08:00 PM PDT

This is what happens when people don’t read the directions on an unfamiliar product. Lush’s Wiccy Magic Muscles massage bar is a disc of solid lotion that slowly melts from your body temperature. It’s also embedded with beans, which gives it a texture to rub stiff muscles. But some people use it as soap in the shower. So the lotion melts, the beans fall out, wash into the drain, and a few days later, you have bean sprouts! See several examples of this at Buzzfeed. 

(Image source: imgur)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Eggs

Posted: 20 Mar 2016 06:00 PM PDT

Dying eggs for Easter is just plain fun, but if you're looking to geek up your eggs this year, you should do more than just dye them. While you can always paint them to look like specific characters, you don't need to have crazy art skills to make something different.

Now you can download printouts and make your whole team from the TMNT cartoon series. We featured the site's previous creations on our 10 DIY ways to decorate Easter eggs article, and you can download the Adventure Time or Avengers printouts on their site as well.

Florida Man Steals BMW after He's Told He Can't Buy One with Food Stamps

Posted: 20 Mar 2016 04:00 PM PDT


(Unrelated photo by nahkon100)

A gentleman approached sales staff at a BMW dealership in Pompano Beach, Florida. He wished to purchase one of their luxury automobiles. Alas, they declined the opportunity when he attempted to buy one with his EBT (electronic benefits transfer) card.

Police say that he returned later that night after the dealership had closed. There, he acquired many car keys and one of the vehicles, then drove off. WPTV reports:

Jackson didn't have money to fill the tank and had run out of gas near SW Baneberry Trail and SW High Meadows Avenue. Detectives say they were able to trace the car and keys back to the victimized dealership.

Jackson got a free lift to the Martin County Jail.

He’s charged with grand theft auto.

-via Florida Man

The Pre-Internet Viral Video

Posted: 20 Mar 2016 02:00 PM PDT

In 1986, two aspiring Washington, DC, filmmakers lugged their video equipment to a parking lot in Largo, Maryland, where people were coming in to see a Judas Priest concert. They shot footage of hyped-up fans and edited it into a 16-minute documentary called Heavy Metal Parking Lot. Now what? John Heyn and Jeff Krulik had no clue how to distribute a film, so they screened it at a local club and took VHS copies to some rental stores. People liked it. Their friends made copies and passed them around. And they kept passing copies around for years.  

Krulik: A friend of mine was moving - his name is Mike Heath. We call him the Johnny Appleseed of Heavy Metal Parking Lot, because he asked for copies because he was moving out west in 1992.

Heyn: I worked at a video dubbing company, so it was free copies with labels and boxes and everything.

Krulik: Mike got copies, took them west. And in 1994, John gets a call from Sofia Coppola. She’d looked his name up in the phone directory in Maryland.

Eventually, Nirvana got a copy and played it on their tour bus regularly. Heyn and Krulik built a website in 1998. And Heavy Metal Parking Lot is still an underground hit. The documentary was screened for its 30th anniversary at SXSW this year, and The Verge has an interview with the filmmakers that tells the story of the movie’s long slow dissemination. Oh yeah, you can watch it, too. The video is full of profanity, minors drinking, unlicensed music, and a couple of criminally loud ads. -via Digg  

The Cookie Muncher - Fine Art For The Famished

Posted: 20 Mar 2016 12:00 PM PDT

The Cookie Muncher by IdeasConPatatas & Raffiti

When Cookie Monster takes an interest in something he goes all in, driving everyone else on Sesame Street crazy with his new obsession. Thankfully, his latest obsession is the least destructive of them all- painting. When he saw how colorful those cookies looked when painted on canvas he just had to try his hand at the art form, now if Bird and Bert can just get him to stop eating his masterpieces as soon as he's done painting them Cookie might end up with a gallery showing someday.

This The Cookie Muncher t-shirt by IdeasConPatatas and Raffiti is a real scream, and it's sure to appeal to both art lovers and those kids who grew up on the Street!

Visit IdeasConPatatas's Facebook fan page, Twitter and Instagram, then head over to his NeatoShop.

Visit Raffiti's Facebook fan page, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more deliciously geeky designs:

American CookieRobot DetectorSleeping...Beauty?Uncle Ralph

View more designs by IdeasConPatatas | Raffiti | More Funny 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!

Maryland Considers Removing "Northern Scum" from Its State Song

Posted: 20 Mar 2016 12:00 PM PDT

(Image: Alexrk2)

In 1861, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, Maryland was a slave state. There were many Confederate sympathizers in the state. There was a small chance that, left to its own devices, Maryland might have secede from the Union.

But the capital of the United States government lay on the southern edge of Maryland, so President Lincoln took no chances. For much of the war, Maryland would be occupied by Federal forces deployed to fight the Confederacy in Virginia.

It would be an ugly war, as Maryland would discover early on. One of the first outbreaks of violence was a riot in Baltimore on April 19, 1861--just a week after the Battle of Fort Sumter. Federal troops and pro-Confederate Marylanders brawled. Several of those Marylanders were killed.

Among the fatalities was a friend of James Ryder Randall, a journalist who would later join the Confederate Navy. In grief and anger over his loss, Randall wrote the song "Maryland, My Maryland." It includes this passage:

Maryland!
The Old Line's bugle, fife, and drum,
Maryland!
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb-
Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! she burns! she'll come! she'll come!
Maryland! My Maryland!

"Maryland, My Maryland" became a Confederate war song and, eventually, the state song of Maryland. But now legislators want to remove the secessionist elements of the song. The Post-Star reports:

Sen. Robert Cassilly, a Republican, said it was wrong to try to eliminate parts of the state's history.

"Our song doesn't belong to the Confederacy. It belongs to us," he said.

Cassilly said the song celebrates the courage of people who are willing to stand up and fight for what they believe in, even if they turn out to be on the wrong side of history.

"It is what it is, but we learn from history, we learn from each other and we build upon it, so the idea that we're trying to excise our history is just, I don't think that's America," Cassilly said. "That's not what we're about." […]

The song calls for Maryland to secede from the Union — at a time when Maryland residents sympathized with the Confederacy. The song begins with a hostile reference to Lincoln, who brought troops through Baltimore to protect Washington: "The despot's heel is on thy shore, Maryland! His torch is at thy temple door, Maryland!"

-via Marginal Revolution

The Evolution of Batman in Television & Film

Posted: 20 Mar 2016 10:00 AM PDT

Burger Fiction put together a timeline of the many Batmans of cinema and TV. There have been a lot more animated versions of teh Caped Crusader than I ever knew! And they say they didn’t even include all of them.

(YouTube link)

It starts with the 1943 serial and go to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which will be out next weekend. You can bet this next week will be full of Superman and Batman both. -via Tastefully Offensive

Captain American Civil War

Posted: 20 Mar 2016 08:00 AM PDT

(Photo: David Ngo)

Professional cosplay photographer David Ngo snapped these two gentlemen at C2E2, an entertainment convention in Chicago. They're taking the title of the movie Captain America: Civil War very literally by portraying Captain America as a US Army officer and Iron Man as a Confederate Army officer.

The Internet Names a Boat

Posted: 20 Mar 2016 07:00 AM PDT

The UK’s Natural Environment Research Council has a new ship. It’s a polar explorer ready to carry 90 scientists and staff to the Arctic and the Antarctic for research expeditions. And they decided to name the boat by an open internet poll. You know how that goes. The current leading name is an awesome one, though: the RRS Boaty McBoatface. Other notable names in the running are:

RRS Usain Boat
RRS Ice Ice Baby
RRS Boat Marley and the Whalers
RRS I Like Big Boats & I Cannot Lie
RRS Pee-Eee Cee Tee
RRS Motörboat
RRS Feed
RRS Icey Smashy-Smash
RRS Thanks for All the Fish

NERC appears to be trying to encourage names like Titan, Orca, Ada Lovelace, or David Attenborough. Good luck with that -Boaty McBoatface is unstoppable, although I really like RRS Pee-Eee Cee Tee. You can suggest a name or place your vote here. This site is overwhelmed right now, but bookmark it, because voting will be open until April 16. Meanwhile, Boaty McBoatfacehas its own Twitter account. -via Metafilter

Woman Disappears During Live TV Broadcast...Or Does She?

Posted: 20 Mar 2016 06:00 AM PDT

The interwebs are all abuzz about a Danish woman who seems to disappear right before our viewing eyes during a live news broadcast, and people are understandably concerned.

Where did the woman disappear to, and does it have anything to do with the return of the X-Files?

Was it all a hoax or a trick done with some sort of real time video editing software? And why does no one seem to care that she's vanished into thin air?

(YouTube Link)

There's bound to be a reasonable explanation for this "sudden disappearance", but don't spoil the fun with truth bombs just yet because the solutions people have thought up are starting to get good...

-Via Daily Mail
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