Neatorama

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• The Art Deco Capital of Central Africa
• A New Fruit Is Growing On Trees This Summer
• The One and Only Time Submarines Fought Each Other While Submerged
• Hungry Ducks Instantly Finish Off A Bowl Of Peas
• When Did Humans Arrive in the Americas?
• A Different View of Earth
• Ridiculous Window Shutters
• This Wristband Might Just Be The Future of Wearable Tech
• This Wheel of Cheese Is A World Record-Holder!
• A Guide To Keeping Snakes Away From Your Yard
• Surreal Murals by Falko One
• Climate Change May Wipe Out Polar Bears
• Can You Wait?
• Old Japanese Woman Fights Off Bear, Bear Flees
• This App Will Take You To Unexpected Places

The Art Deco Capital of Central Africa Posted: 23 Jul 2020 05:24 AM PDT The city of Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has more than 100 Art Deco buildings. They were constructed in the 1930s by Belgian colonizers as a European neighborhood where the Congolese weren't allowed -except for household help.    "Art Deco architecture was abundant in colonial cities in the 1920s and '30s," says the architectural historian David Rifkind. "Colonial authorities liked Art Deco because it portrayed an image of technological modernization that was intended to present colonization as a benevolent and 'civilizing' gift to native inhabitants." Its association with glamour and international travel, says Rifkind, gave the impression that the colonizers were dynamic and forward-thinking. In Bukavu, colonial-era buildings exemplify a particular type of international Art Deco architecture that emerged in the 1930s, according to Adedoyin Teriba, an assistant professor of art and urban studies at Vassar College. "There is no doubt that the buildings exemplify 'Streamline Moderne,'" says Teriba. The style was inspired by aerodynamic engineering, as seen in the curvilinear edges of many of Bukavu's buildings, imitating the surfaces of airplanes. To architects and historians, these buildings capture a signature style of colonialism, of an imperial drive toward the future. But for today's residents, these buildings are a daily reminder of both a painful colonial history and a frustrated, politically futile present. While these buildings are a reminder of colonization, they are also beautiful and well-built, but are falling into disrepair. Preservationists want to keep them as both a part of history and as a tourist draw. Read about the Art Deco architecture of Bukavu at Atlas Obscura. (Image credit: Esther Nsapu for Atlas Obscura)

A New Fruit Is Growing On Trees This Summer Posted: 23 Jul 2020 05:24 AM PDT Some are chonky, while some have an average body size. These new summer fruits also vary in color, probably depending on the tree where they have grown. And if there's one thing common in all of them, it is their love for sleep. For some reason, they look similar to cats, but it isn't proven by science that cats grow on trees, so maybe these are different species. What are your thoughts about this one? (Image Credit: Sad and Useless)

The One and Only Time Submarines Fought Each Other While Submerged Posted: 22 Jul 2020 11:19 PM PDT Yes, at other times, submarines have fought each other. But only while one was surfaced. What was unique about the battle between Britain's Venturer and Germany's U-864 on February 9, 1945, was that both vessels were submerged at the time. At The National Interest, Sébastien Roblin explains why technology limited such combat at the time: During World War II, submarines came to make greater use of hydrophones as well as active sonar; however, the latter models could only plot out a submarine's location on a two-dimensional plane, not reveal its depth. Furthermore, the torpedoes of the time were designed to float up to near the surface of the water to strike the keel of enemy ships. Although the "tin fish" could be reprogrammed to an extent, it was not standard to adjust for depth, and guessing the azimuth of an enemy submarine with the limited targeting information available posed an immense challenge. U-864 was on a journey from Germany to Japan. The collapsing Germany hoped to deliver cutting edge technology to its ally, including jet fighter design schematics, two aeronautical engineers, V-2 missile parts, and 67 tons of liquid mercury. The Royal Navy's submarine Venturer caught up with the U-864 off the coast of Norway. At the end of the chase, Captain Launders made a desperate ploy to sink the Germans: After three hours of pursuit, the Venturer was running short on battery and would soon have to surface itself. Launders decided he would simply have to attack U-864 while it remained submerged. He calculated a three-dimensional intercept for his torpedoes, estimating his adversary's depth by the height of the snorkel mast protruding above the water. However, he knew the enemy submarine would quickly detect a torpedo launch, and planned his firing solution to account for evasive maneuvers. At 12:12, Venturer ripple-fired all four of its loaded torpedoes in a spread, with 17.5 seconds between each launch. Then the British submarine dove to avoid counterattack. The U-Boat immediately crash dove as well, then swerved evasively. After four minutes, it had managed to duck under three of the incoming torpedoes. But Launders had launched the second pair of torpedoes at lower depths. The fourth torpedo struck U-864, breaking it in two; the gruesome sound of popping rivets and cracking metal filled the Venturer's hydrophones. The U-Boat fell 150 meters to the bottom of the ocean, taking with it all seventy-three onboard and sinking Operation Caesar along with it. -via Glenn Reynolds | Image: HMS Venturer by Imperial War Museums

Hungry Ducks Instantly Finish Off A Bowl Of Peas Posted: 22 Jul 2020 11:18 PM PDT Because who doesn't want to eat when they get served their favorite food? For us humans, our favorite food could vary. Some like sweets, while others like salty food. But for ducks, it would be peas, and boy do they get excited when they see a bowlful of these seeds! Watch as these ducks, named Pepé and Arnold, gobble up a bowlful of green peas in less than a minute! Via Laughing Squid (Image Credit: Pepé and Arnold/ YouTube)

When Did Humans Arrive in the Americas? Posted: 22 Jul 2020 11:18 PM PDT For a long time, common knowledge about human migration held that people who crossed over the Beringian land bridge stayed in the far north until around 13,000 years ago, when they began to populate North America, moving gradually into South America. But subsequent discoveries keep pushing this timeline back further. Now a cave in Mexico has evidence that humans lived there least 26,500 years ago. Chiquihuite cave is perched high in the Astillero Mountains, 9000 feet above sea level and 3,280 feet higher than the valley below. Excavations there were launched when a 2012 test pit unearthed a few stone artifacts that suggested a human presence dating back to the Last Glacial Maximum between 18,000 and 26,000 years ago. More extensive excavations detailed in the new study were carried out in 2016 and 2017, unearthing some 1,900 stone points or possible tools used for cutting, chopping, scraping, or as weapons. The artifacts were dated by 46 different radiocarbon samples of adjacent animal bones, charcoal, and sediment samples. To the team, they represent a previously unknown technological tradition of advanced flaking skills. More than 90 percent of the artifacts were of greenish or blackish stone, though those colors are less common locally, suggesting to the authors that they were singled out as desirable. The bulk of the material is from deposits dating to between 13,000 and 16,600 years ago, leading the scientists to hypothesize that the humans may have used the cave for more than 10,000 years. Evidence from this cave and other sites indicate that people traveled from Asia to the Americas either much earlier than previously thought, or else they traveled across glaciers. Read about the implications of these finds at Smithsonian. (Image credit: Mads Thomsen)

A Different View of Earth Posted: 22 Jul 2020 11:18 PM PDT You've probably never seen an image of Earth like this one. It is centered on the middle of the Pacific Ocean, which gives us a taste of just how enormous it is. As Minnesotastan points out at TYWKIWDBI, there are places in the Pacific Ocean for which the antipode is also in the Pacific Ocean. On the bright side, this map features New Zealand prominently, while many omit it. (Image: Google Earth)

Ridiculous Window Shutters Posted: 22 Jul 2020 11:17 PM PDT I once lived in a house that had real, functional window shutters, and those things were cool, but heavy! Homes built more recently mostly use shutters as decoration only. The problem is that some people have forgotten what shutters were originally for, and how they worked. Scott Sidler is a historic preservation contractor, so he knows real from fake. He's seen so many poorly-thought-out shutters that he started using the Instagram hashtag #ShudderSunday to draw attention to them. There are examples of shutters that aren't the right size, aren't in the right place, and would never work if anyone ever tried to cover a window with them. See a ranked gallery of Sidler's worst shutter finds at Bored Panda.  Also check out his pictures of not only shutter failures, but also of lovely preservationist renovations at Sidler's Instagram.

This Wristband Might Just Be The Future of Wearable Tech Posted: 22 Jul 2020 08:38 PM PDT With a wristband designed by researchers from Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, the future of wearable technology is bright. The wristband, called FingerTrak, can track the entire human hand in 3-D space, ...including 20 finger joint positions, using three or four miniature, low-resolution thermal cameras that read contours on the wrist. This device could be used in various fields such as sign language translation, human-robot interaction, and virtual reality. "This was a major discovery by our team—that by looking at your wrist contours, the technology could reconstruct in 3-D, with keen accuracy, where your fingers are," said Cheng Zhang, assistant professor of information science and director of Cornell's new SciFi Lab, where FingerTrak was developed. "It's the first system to reconstruct your full hand posture based on the contours of the wrist." FingerTrak's breakthrough is a lightweight bracelet, allowing for free movement. Instead of using cameras to directly capture the position of the fingers, the focus of most prior research, FingerTrak uses a combination of thermal imaging and machine learning to virtually reconstruct the hand. The bracelet's four miniature, thermal cameras—each about the size of a pea—snap multiple "silhouette" images to form an outline of the hand. More details about this amazing gadget over at TechXplore. (Image Credit: Sambeetarts/ Pixabay)

This Wheel of Cheese Is A World Record-Holder! Posted: 22 Jul 2020 08:38 PM PDT On May 12, 2019, the small municipality of Loculi in the island of Sardinia assembled this pecorino cheese. The cheese was then subjected to seasoning for the next 12 months, and, after the said period, a Guinness adjudicator officially examined the creation. After the examination... The massive pecorino was declared to be the largest cheese made from sheep's milk, beating a 1,178.8-pound block of pecorino made in Ascoli Piceno, in Italy's Le Marche region, in 2009. "The cheese was made with traditional methods and, above and beyond the record, it was a chance to rediscover the local area's artisan skills and food culture," Anna Pitzalis, who designed the wooden wheel holding the record-breaking cheese, told ANSA. The cheese weighs 1,319.5 pounds. Yum! (Image Credit: Corriere dela Sera/ YouTube)

A Guide To Keeping Snakes Away From Your Yard Posted: 22 Jul 2020 04:20 PM PDT Snakes are unwelcome visitors in anybody's home, and they could sometimes be the cause of panic and fear to children and adults alike. If snakes can be commonly spotted in your yard, then what should you do to keep them away? Quick and Dirty Tips gives us four ways to keep these slithering creatures away from our yards. You might be surprised at how common kitchen stuff like white vinegar, and even your own hair, could be used as tools to keep these unwelcome visitors away. But when you do spot a snake crawling in your yard, make sure to immediately call animal control if you suspect that it could be venomous. See the tips over at the site. (Image Credit: Tigerpython/ Wikimedia Commons)

Surreal Murals by Falko One Posted: 22 Jul 2020 03:44 PM PDT   View this post on Instagram SNAIL ________________________________________________ #falko1 #streetartsouthafrica #montanasouthafrica #streetphotography #objectinclusive #sitespecificart #worldwidestreetart #sprayplanet #graffitisouthafrica #instagraffiti #topstreetart #misturaurbana #streetarteverywhere #streetartnews #streetart #streetartchat A post shared by Falko Fantastic (@falko1graffiti) on Aug 5, 2019 at 9:25am PDT Falko One, a street artist from South Africa, leaves elephants, snails, snakes, and more in unusual but perfect places. All of his subjects, such as Mister T, fit just right into their backgrounds. He explains to Colossal: "My approach is just to add a bit of color to the space without breaking the scenery," he tells Colossal. "I try not to make them too intrusive. I always respect that for that moment I am just a tourist to that specific community."   View this post on Instagram EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE DOWN WITH THE DUDE ON TOP OF THE STAIRS __________________________________________________________________________ #falkofantastic #graffitisouthafrica #streetartsouthafrica #sprayplanet #streetart #graffitiartist #spraycanart #artderue #graffart #muralart #graffiti #beststreetartoftheday #topgraffiti #elephantstreetart #streetartphotography #beststreetartintheworld streetart #tv_streetart #jj_urbanart #elephantstreetart #topstreetart #beautiful #rsa_graffiti #streetarteverywhere #streetartphotography #streetartandgraffiti #streetartnews #streetart_addiction #instagrafite #artinthestreets A post shared by Falko Fantastic (@falko1graffiti) on Jul 21, 2020 at 1:02am PDT   View this post on Instagram LEGLESS LEGO SPIDERMAN __________________________________________________ #falko1 #streetartsouthafrica #montanasouthafrica #streetphotography #streetartglobe #streetartistry #instaart #instagrafite #urbanwalls #sprayart #graffiti #graffitisouthafrica #lego #legospiderman #sitespecific #worldwidestreetart A post shared by Falko Fantastic (@falko1graffiti) on Jan 7, 2019 at 7:53am PST   View this post on Instagram WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY ________________________________________________________________________________ #falkofantastic #graffitisouthafrica #streetartsouthafrica #sprayplanet #streeart #graffitiartist #spraycanart #artderue #graffart #muralart #graffiti #beststreetartoftheday #topgraffiti #elephantstreetart #streetartphotography#nycstreetart #tv_streetart #jj_urbanart #elephantstreetart #townshipstreetart #beautiful #rsa_graffiti #streetarteverywhere #streetartphotography #streetartandgraffiti #streetartnews #streetart_addiction #instagrafite #artinthestreets @topstreetart @streetartunitedstates @blackappleart A post shared by Falko Fantastic (@falko1graffiti) on Jun 27, 2020 at 1:10am PDT   View this post on Instagram TIRED ____________________________________________ #falko1 #streetartsouthafrica #montanasouthafrica #streetphotography #streetartglobe #streetartistry #instaart #instagrafite #urbanwalls #sprayart #graffiti #graffitisouthafrica #streetartworldwide #sprayplanet #cobra #sitespecificart #worldwidestreetart #objectinclusive A post shared by Falko Fantastic (@falko1graffiti) on May 25, 2019 at 11:22pm PDT

Climate Change May Wipe Out Polar Bears Posted: 22 Jul 2020 03:23 PM PDT Polar bears might be extinct by 2100 if climate change continues, according to research. With the shrinking sea ice cutting short the time bears have for hunting seals, polar bears are now being driven into starvation. If polar bears are starved, their chances of surviving Arctic winters without food plummet, as Rappler details:  "The bears face an ever longer fasting period before the ice refreezes and they can head back out to feed," Steven Amstrup, who conceived the study and is chief scientist of Polar Bears International, told the Agence France-Presse (AFP). On current trends, the study concluded, polar bears in 12 of 13 subpopulations analyzed will have been decimated within 80 years by the galloping pace of change in the Arctic, which is warming twice as fast as the planet as a whole. There is not enough data for 6 others to make a determination as to their fate. "By 2100, recruitment" – new births – "will be severely compromised or impossible everywhere except perhaps in the Queen Elizabeth Island subpopulation," in Canada's Arctic Archipelago, said Amstrup. image via wikimedia commons

Can You Wait? Posted: 22 Jul 2020 03:23 PM PDT Some people are tasked to stay standing up and wait near the customer as he or she picks his/her order from the menu. These people are called "waiters." Others, on the other hand, are tasked to float beside the customer as he or she picks an order. These people are called "waitless," and oftentimes they can be a bit impatient, and thus the name. This sushi restaurant at Tucson Arizona seems to be looking for both types of restaurant servers. Which one is you? Image via Engrish.com

Old Japanese Woman Fights Off Bear, Bear Flees Posted: 22 Jul 2020 03:23 PM PDT It was a fine afternoon in the rural town of Kita Hiroshimacho in Japan's Hiroshima Prefecture, and Rumiko Sasaki and her husband were taking advantage of the long daylight hours weeding their backyard. Suddenly, at around 5:30 in the afternoon, a bear came to Rumiko's backyard. Rumiko's husband then alerted her of the wild animal's presence. ...and when Rumiko looked up from where she'd been pulling weeds, sure enough, that's what she saw. "When I stood up, there was a bear standing there, and it came right at me, aiming right at my face [with its claws]," she says. But instead of cowering in fear, Rumiko faced the bear head-on. "So I went 'Aaaahhh!' and tossed him off me and sent him flying. I think I hit him a few times too. Then he went running away." According to the 82-year-old woman's estimate, the bear was about a 150 centimeters tall (around 4' 11"). After Rumiko's counterattack, the bear fled into the nearby woods, and hasn't been seen since. The local hunting club, called Kuma Rangers ("Bear Rangers," like they're a tokusatsu team), has set up three capture cages in the forest, and is also patrolling the area. Although Rumiko suffered several scratches to her face in her encounter with the bear, she was still in good spirits when she was interviewed. Now that's a brave woman. (Image Credit: news24ntv/ Twitter) 【80代の女性 自宅裏庭でクマに襲われる】 被害者の女性「立ち上がってみたらクマがそこにいて。私の顔をめがけてバッと来て『キャーッ』っと言って私が吹っ飛ばして叩いたみたいな気がする」#北広島町#広島pic.twitter.com/syUewT3nmD — 日テレNEWS / 日本テレビのニュース・速報 (@news24ntv) July 17, 2020

This App Will Take You To Unexpected Places Posted: 22 Jul 2020 03:22 PM PDT With us staying home for many weeks, we've gotten bored due to the lack of variety in our everyday lives. As the same things happen day in and day out, it's only normal for us to desire something new… and something random, and that's what this app, called Randonautica, is all about: taking us into random places. Randonauting is… simple. You can do it using the free app Randonautica, which asks you for your location, prompts you to select one of a handful of different "entropy" generators—which one you choose should not really matter—and then asks you to focus your mind on your "intent." Then it spits out a set of coordinates that could, allegedly, be influenced by your mind interacting with the machine, or not, and you can choose to go there, or not, and submit a report of what you find, or not. (You can generate 10 sets of coordinates a day for free and pay to generate more.) The app's logo, fittingly, is an owl, because owls see in the dark; randonauts see what other people don't. In particular, they see what they otherwise wouldn't. Through these months, this app has led people to weird, if not creepy, places such as abandoned houses and quiet forests. Aside from that, it has led people to disgusting objects such as water bottles filled with pee, and horrifying discoveries such as a suitcase containing corpses. With its rather strange gimmicks, the app was downloaded 6 million times since the beginning of April. The allure of Randonautica is bigger than "It allows me to be outdoors and kill time," however. It is janky-looking, sure, and does not always load. And the science behind it—the idea that human thoughts can influence random-number generators—does not make a lot of sense. But it plays with concepts that people tend to love: that we can do something amazing whenever we feel like it, that the universe will talk to us if we try to listen, and that randomness can be tamed if we have a good attitude and a clear mind. More details about this app over at The Atlantic. What are your thoughts about this one? (Image Credit: Megan_Rexazin/ Pixabay)

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