10 Mind-Blowing Illusion Paintings That Make You Look Twice
via Lifehack by Deji Akingade
In life and in art, perception is reality. Things aren’t always what they seem to be… or are they? Over the years, artists have tried to used the power of illusions with mind-blowing paintings to challenge the human mind. Their works often leave us in awe, as we are left to ponder on the details of creating such strong and enlightening images.
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The 50 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time
via Flavorwire by Jason Bailey et al
Last month, Empire magazine released the results of their online poll of the greatest movie characters of all time, and it was, well, depressingly predictable — pretty much the same crop of characters you see every time one of these lists is made or polls are taken, a slight reordering of the same homogenous assortment of blockbuster protagonists. And to be sure, some of them have earned their iconic status, but there are also plenty of remarkable cinematic creations who don’t get their due. So in an attempt to compile a more up-to-the-moment ranking, Flavorwire’s movie buffs – Jason Bailey, Alison Nastasi, and Judy Berman – put our heads together, and reached out to a couple of our favorite film scribes – Nathan Rabin and Sheila O’Malley – to come up with this definitive (read: totally subjective) ranking of cinema’s most memorable characters.
Have a look and see whether you agree
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What 4,000 years of hallucinations have taught us about our brain
via OUP Blog by Gary L. Wenk
Over the past 40 years, many of my students have shared their personal experiences with hallucinogenic drugs. They are typically more fascinated, than frightened, by the experience. About 60 years ago the scientist C.H.W. Horne commented that “It is remarkable that one characteristic which seems to separate man from the allegedly lower animals is a recurring desire to escape from reality.” He was referring to the widespread use of hallucinogens by young people during the middle of the last century. What is even more remarkable, in my opinion, is how long humans have been documenting their use of hallucinogens. Cultures and religious rituals have been developing around the use of hallucinogens probably for as long as humans have been consuming the plants, fungi, and animals that evolved around them.
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Crate & Barrel: 1864
via Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – Vintage Fine Art Prints by Dave
“City Point, Virginia. Federal headquarters during the Siege of Petersburg, 1864-65. Unloading vessels at landing.’
Wet plate glass negative
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Changing languages
via OUP Blog by Aidan Doyle
In the literature on language death and language renewal, two cases come up again and again: Irish and Hebrew. Mention of the former language is usually attended by a whiff of disapproval. It was abandoned relatively recently by a majority of the Irish people in favour of English, and hence is quoted as an example of a people rejecting their heritage. Hebrew, on the other hand, is presented as a model of linguistic good behaviour: not only was it not rejected by its own people, it was even revived after being dead for more than two thousand years, and is now thriving.
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The Sisyphus Machine creates beautiful patterns in sand
via Boing Boing by Rob Beschizza
Bruce Shapiro makes mesmerizing and impermanent sculptures with commercial motion-control gear, as used in robotics to less artistic ends. He's been doing it for 25 years, he writes, creating kinetic sculptures that embody his love of technology.
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When You Put Shelter Animals in Pet Stores, Something Amazing Happens
via Big Think by Teodora Zareva
Pets are adorable. But our love for pets produces some very unadorable facts. For example, in the U.S. alone there are 70 million stray dogs and cats, and of them only 6 to 8 million enter shelters. Of those that are in shelters, around 30 percent are purebred, and 90 percent are healthy and adoptable. Yet, only 18 percent of owned dogs and 16 percent of owned cats have been adopted from shelters. For most people, the go-to place for getting a pet remains the pet store. This encourages two types of cruelty – one that occurs in puppy mills that breed purebred dogs, and another that occurs in the overcrowded shelters where some of these same dogs go, after being abandoned by their owners.
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The Evolutionary Roots of Altruism
Do altruistic groups always beat selfish groups? A new book claims they do.
via Arts & Letters Daily: Melvin Konner in The American Prospect
With a little teamwork, these ants turn themselves into a bridge for their friends to walk over in Kerala, India
David Sloan Wilson opens his new book, Does Altruism Exist?, with an old conundrum that has animated many late-night dormitory debates: If helping someone gives you pleasure, gains you points for an afterlife, and enhances your reputation, is it really altruism? Wilson wisely decides to put acts before motives: “When Ted benefits Martha at a cost to himself, that’s altruistic, regardless of how he thinks or feels about it.” Great. But what does “cost” mean in that sentence? Does it mean “cost” after considering all those benefits, or not?
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The Last Days of Katherine Mansfield
via 3 Quarks Daily: Pierce Butler at Commonweal
Katherine Mansfield – writer of short stories, friend and literary compatriot of Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence – had a gift for arousing strong opinions. The reckless abandon with which Mansfield threw herself into sexual relationships with both men and women, and the acerbity of her tongue and pen, could provoke critics, family, and friends, not to mention her enemies. Critical estimates of Mansfield’s work—fewer than one hundred stories, an oeuvre curtailed by her premature death from tuberculosis at the age of thirty-four—have risen and fallen over the decades. Her stories fall into two categories: those set in the New Zealand of her childhood that contrast a corrupt adult world with the purity of the child’s experience; and those set elsewhere, frequently peopled by lonely and fearful young women whose attempts to confront their demons seem doomed to failure. Taken as a whole, the stories present a restless sensibility longing for the idyll of childhood and vainly seeking solace and security in adult love relationships.
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TED Talks and DNA
via OUP Blog by Dawn Field
One of the most fun and exciting sources of information available for free on the internet are the videos found on the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) website. TED is a hub of stories about innovation, achievement and change, each artfully packaged into a short, highly accessible talk by an outstanding speaker.
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