Neatorama

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• High Tech Contact Lenses That Are Straight Out Of Sci-Fi
• The Meaning Behind Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden Of Earthly Delights
• One Man's Quest to Park in Every Slot at His Local Grocery Store
• There’s a Lot More to Masala Chai Than Spiced Milk Tea
• Shoes That Look Like Cars and Cars That Look Like Shoes
• Rare Double Moonbows Captured In Film
• The Cave Where Vikings Offered Sacrifices To Stop The Apocalypse
• Tinytini: Cocktails For Babies
• Demolition, Disease, and Death: Building the Panama Canal
• The Christianburg Sign War

High Tech Contact Lenses That Are Straight Out Of Sci-Fi Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:34 AM PDT If these new prototype lenses can successfully monitor changes in intraocular pressure ( the pressure within the eyeball), then who knows what kind of upgrades and advancements researchers could do with contact lenses? Researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology developed the prototype lenses that change in shape to monitor the changes within the eyeball, as the Conversation details:  The continuous monitoring provided by the contact lens could come in handy for people suffering from glaucoma. This lens can monitor changes in intraocular pressure throughout the day, and can responsively release drugs to alleviate the glaucoma. A similar lens, called Sensimed Triggerfish, has received regulatory approval in the United States and Japan. Thanks to the ubiquity of electronic devices, we are currently living in a world constantly bathed in electromagnetic radiation. Although a clear consensus is absent, studies have pointed out that exposure to electromagnetic radiation could possibly induce some effects in human tissue. Engineers in South Korea have applied a layer of graphene to contact lens to help shield the eyes from electromagnetic radiation. The thin graphene layer also reduces dehydration. Image via unsplash

The Meaning Behind Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden Of Earthly Delights Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:34 AM PDT The Garden of Earthly Delights, painted by Hieronymus Bosch between 1490 and 1510, has been a cause of debate and different interpretations as to what Bosch wanted to portray in this artwork. From sexual freedom, to acid trips, to anti-church ideology, the triptych oil painting's meaning leaves a lot to imagination. London curator James Payne believes that the artwork is just "pure and simply, hardcore Christianity:" Depicting the Biblical creation of the world on its outer panels, the work opens up to reveal elaborately detailed visions of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, then humanity indulging in all known earthly delights, then the consequent torments of Hell. It is that last panel, with its abundance of perverse activities and grotesque human, animal, and human-animal figures (recently made into figurines and even piñatas) that keeps the strongest hold on our imagination today. Payne's explanation goes into detail on all aspects of the work, highlighting and contextualizing details that even avowed appreciators may not have considered before. While identifying both the possible inspirations and the possible symbolic intentions of the figures and symbols with which Bosch filled the triptych, Payne emphasizes that, as far as the artist was concerned, "his images were a realistic portrayal of sin and its consequences, so in that sense, it wasn't surrealism, it was realism." This bears repeating, given how difficult we moderns find it "to look at this painting and not see it as surrealism or a product of the subconscious, not see it as a sexual utopia, a critique of religion, or even a psychedelic romp." Just as The Garden of Earthly Delights tells us a great deal about the world Bosch lived in, so our views of it tell us a great deal about the world we live in. Image via wikimedia commons

One Man's Quest to Park in Every Slot at His Local Grocery Store Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:34 AM PDT In the Hero's Journey narrative structure developed by mythologist Joseph Campbell, the hero, who is often an ordinary person (and thus demonstrating, in egalitarian fashion, the latent ability of all people) who accepts a call to adventure. In today's retelling of the great story at the heart of the human journey is Gareth Wild, a video producer in London. The challenge that reached out of our collective unconscious into his life was to park in every single slot in the parking lot of his neighborhood grocery store. Arthur needed Excalibur. Moses needed his staff. Gareth Wild needed Google Sheets. There were 211 parking spaces. Odysseus needed 10 years to return home from Troy. Gareth Wild, a more capable hero, accomplished his goal in merely 6 years. This is his tale. -via Kottke

There’s a Lot More to Masala Chai Than Spiced Milk Tea Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:01 AM PDT Masala chai is a delicious blend of tea, spices, and milk enjoyed by, well, everyone, but it has a special significance for the Indian diaspora. The traditional drink, correctly made, is a connection to home and family. While meaningful, it's not an ancient tradition. Indian people didn't drink tea until the early 19th century, when the British Empire needed a place to grow tea after China began closing off trade with the West. Plantations in India took a long time to produce quality tea, and the Indian Tea Association (composed of British plantation owners and tea traders) boosted sales of the inferior product by promoting tea drinking among Indians. Chaiwallas—street or roadside stand vendors that sold tea—started adding masala to tea sometime between World War I and the 1930s. This innovation was likely inspired by those Ayurvedic and Muslim medicinal spice brews—and because the cheap tea tasted bitter and strong. The Association took notice in the 1930s and started inspecting tea stalls to prevent the practice from spreading, even sending out competing tea hawkers who didn't brew with spices—the addition of spices, the Association believed, meant that less tea would be used per serving and thus lower profits. While my research is ongoing, I suspect that many chaiwallas did not scale down the tea: Most modern masala chai recipes call for just as much (or more) tea as a plain cup would. But the Association shut down those tea stalls that used masala, calling it an adulteration of the product. As history proves, that wasn't the end of masala chai. "Adding the spices was really an act of rebellion against the British," says Sana Javeri Kadri, owner of Diaspora Co., a single-origin sustainable spice company that supplies turmeric and other spices to chai drinkers and manufacturers. "Therefore, as our national symbol or a national drink, it's a very symbolic one." The history of masala chai is a fascinating story told at Epicurious. But there's more, as we get a rundown of the spices and a lesson in making authentic Indian tea, too.

Shoes That Look Like Cars and Cars That Look Like Shoes Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:01 AM PDT You might get the impression that these shoes and cars were designed at the same time, but they're just coincidences. Niek Pulles, a graphic designer from the Netherlands, found perfect matches between many cars, both stock and custom, and shoes. He calls his project SNEACARS. You can view more works in this series on his Instagram page. -via Core77

Rare Double Moonbows Captured In Film Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:01 AM PDT A moonbow is the rare nighttime counterpart of a rainbow. Photographer Brian Haislip was lucky enough to see and take a shot of a double moonbow as it seemed to entangle itself with a crash of lightning (an added bonus, if you ask me). The magical photos that he got are beautiful:  "This particular night," he tells My Modern Met, "the lightning calmed down around 10 p.m. so I packed up and went back home to edit the lightning shots I got." He heard more thunder in the distance around midnight. He was exhausted but as a self-proclaimed "storm addict," he decided to grab his camera and head back to the same spot. "The storm ended up not producing very much lightning, so I decided to call it a night," Haislip recalls. "As I was getting ready to pick my camera up, I started seeing this crazy-looking white formation off in the distance, I had no idea what it was. At that time, the full moon peeked out from the remaining storm clouds, and all of a sudden this full double moonbow appeared. I was not prepared for something like that, which is why the double moonbow picture is out of focus… really threw me for a loop!" Once he realized what he had seen, he adjusted the settings on his camera and snapped as many shots as he could. "During that brief time, I was able to capture a few streaks of lightning coming out of the dissipating moonbow." Image via My Modern Met

The Cave Where Vikings Offered Sacrifices To Stop The Apocalypse Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:01 AM PDT The Surtshellir Cave in Iceland was discovered to be a trove full of Middle Eastern artifacts, and the location was used by the Vikings as an offering pit for sacraments to stop the apocalypse. The most noticeable artifact in the cave was a stone, boat-shaped structure that served as the main offering pit, as All That's Interesting details:  As deputy director and chief curator of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University, Kevin Smith was thrilled at the discovery. The Surtshellir Cave in question was formed by a volcano that erupted nearly 1,100 years ago — and gave Smith a window into what might have happened there. [...] Smith and his team also found 63 beads made of a mineral common in the Middle East but rarely found in Scandinavia. Most entrancing are the specifics of how these animal sacrifices aimed to avert Ragnarök. A study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the study proffers some rather staggering theories. Image via All That's Interesting

Tinytini: Cocktails For Babies Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:01 AM PDT No alcohol was consumed to create these special concoctions. This bartender was able to entertain his toddler son and make his milk! Using formula and pre-boiled water, the father employs his bartending tricks to please his son (and honestly, me too, as I watched the video). Check People Magazine's video here to see the father's full show!  Image via People Magazine

Demolition, Disease, and Death: Building the Panama Canal Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:00 AM PDT The Panama Canal is an engineering marvel and changed shipping for the entire globe. But getting it built was no picnic. Sure, Panama was the natural place to put such a canal, but there was a mountain in the middle of the narrowest part of the place where the two continents meet. This TED-Ed video condenses the long story into a few minutes, which might make you want to study further. -via Damn Interesting

The Christianburg Sign War Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:00 AM PDT First, the people at Bridge Kaldro Music Store in Christianburg, Virginia, put up a sign challenging the nearby shoe shop to a sign war. Super Shoes responded with an insulting sign declaring that their shoe strings are stronger than Bridge Kaldros' guitar strings. Cute, even if they were a little short on Ss. The signs were even posted online for a laugh. They went back and forth for a while and then a sign insulted the Kabuki Japanese Steakhouse, which joined in. Before you know it, every business in Christainburg had a sign up referencing the other signs, and a Facebook group was founded to keep up with them all. See the signs that started it all in chronological order at Bored Panda, and keep up with new ones at the Christiansburg, VA Sign War Facebook group.

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