TITLEOFMAGAZINE

Archive for the ‘Neat’ Category

Beautiful Infographics from a 1939 design handbook

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

These beautiful infographic images are scanned from the 1939 book Graphic Presentation by Willard Cope Brinton. Visit Professor Michael Stoll’s Flickr stream to view more pages at high resolution.

Tags: data, design, Graphic Design, infographics, visualizing
Posted in Neat, Raw Materials | No Comments »

Carl Jung’s The Red Book

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Last week the New York Times published an article by Sara Corbett on Carl Gustav Jung’s unpublished The Red Book entitled “The Holy Grail of the Unconscious.” Corbett’s article covers all of the story from how Jung created the book to its secrecy and ultimate shelving in a safe so there is no need to repeat it here.

The book is the outpouring of Carl Jung’s exploration into his own psyche. The few who have read it said they either read with bated breath or felt it the ramblings of a psychopath.

The illustration and typography of the book from scans looks amazing, as in these full color scans of The Red Book. Reminds me of the Voynich manuscript– a mysterious illustrated work from the Renaissance filled with peculiar imagery.

Though unlikely to live up to the hype of those who have read it, The Red Book promises to be a substantial work by one of the twentieth century’s great minds.

Tags: carl jung, Graphic Design, inspiration, psychology
Posted in Neat | 2 Comments »

12 Lies Every Douche in a Bar Insists Are True

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

There are many, many lies we all believe. Every douche at a bar will swear these 12 fictoids are true despite science– As everyone know these things to be ‘true’. Here are twelve of the most common that I have heard recently.

Ostriches put their head in sand.

If you have seen it, it’s called “Photoshop” as in the case of a recent Newsweek cover. We can all blame Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) who attempted to catalog all knowledge of the Roman Empire. In Book 10, Chapter 1, he wrote “…they imagine, when they have thrust their head and neck into a bush, that the whole of their body is concealed.” Thanks, Pliny. In fairness animals are hard to categorize; for some time it was thought a kangaroo had two heads due to the young baby in tow.

Disney is frozen

Disney maintained an extremely private life leading to rumors that he was a harsh anti-Semite, a puppet of Zionists, a Communist and a Fascist. One confirmed fact is his remains were cremated at Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, California– much more prosaic than cryogenic suspension. Very few have taken the leap to become a cryonaut, most notably baseball legend Ted Williams, Williams’ son John Henry Williams, and futurist FM-2030.

Sugar causes hyperactivity

Sugar is called empty calories for a clear reason: its just calories without vitamins, proteins, or lipids. Our bodies need calories for energy, but we can find them in every food we consume. Sugar is no different than any food with calories and does not provide any excess energy. Excess amounts of oranges, pork, or even burgers provides the same if not more for bouts of energy.

Every seven years your cells regenerate

Do you remember any event from seven or more years ago? Good, as that means a neuron in your head has survived  seven years. Brain cells– among other cells– last longer than seven years. It’s nice to think that every seven year your body gets a refresh but unfortunately that’s not the case. We just get seven years older.

You only use 10% of your brain

The origin of this myth is dubious but perhaps stems from upstate New Yorker Orson Squire Fowler a proponent of the pseudoscience phrenology, life-style pundit, and inventor of the octagon house. Phrenology claimed the brain was divided into neat platonic sections controlling “friendship,” “love,” and “ailments.” It’s a soothing idea to think that 90% of your brain remains untapped of potential. Perhaps one we could utilize that, and realize our dream as a 6 year old of being the greatest person, ever. CAT scans and logic tells us we use that 90% all the time– and you don’t want to part with that 90%.

We lose 90% of heat through our head

So what does that 90% of your brain do? According to suburban mom wisdom it is where 90% of the heat in your body escapes. The ancient Greeks among others thought of the brain as simply a cooling mechanism for the body. For 90% of the heat in your body to escape from your body, 90% would need to be in your head. If you want to do an experiment, walk around with a hat but completely naked in the dead of winter. Chances are you will be arrested and pretty damn cold.

Drink 8 glasses of water a day; coffee causes you to lose hydration

Though not recommended, you can get daily requirements for liquid from daily food intake. Many will insist though that water is a cure-all, able to solve any and all problems. They will also insist that beverages such as coffee, soda, or tea are a diuretic meaning a net-loss of water. Though coffee and soda are not as efficient as water, they do not cause a loss of water.  While drinking eight glasses might not be necessary, it is not a requirement.

Lemmings jump off a cliff

Uncle Walt may not wait in cryogenic suspension. His company did force numerous lemmings to die and create the myth of lemming suicide. Lemmings do on occasion fall into the ocean from cliffs, as do people on occasion. However, it is not a habit and not the norm. While filming the nature documentary White Wilderness the set staff pushed the poor critters off a cliff dramatically. Killing the lemmings but a myth was born. [Edit: Let's go to tape on this one: lemmings getting White and Wild]

Tequila worms

Tequila does not have a worm in it. Mezcal, however, does. Tequila, by definition, is made exclusively from blue agave. According to liquor standards in the US and Mexico tequila cannot contain insects or larvae.

More importantly though eating the worm will not provide any additional inebriate, aphrodisiac, or any effects. It’s just a gimmick.

Cow tipping

Cows do not sleep standing up. Period. Nor do they lock their legs. Period. Approaching a field for cow-tipping has simply become a faux right-of-passage for hick high school students in the US. While cows are docile, tipping them is physically impossible.

Purple cloud in a pool when you pee

Many even recall seeing a cloud of purple or red around someone in a public pool indicating that person was urinating. There is no such chemical. Though this discouraged youths from peeing in the pool, this chemical cannot be purchased and does not exist. How often urination in pools happens would require constant draining and refilling of every public pool which is beyond budgets or feasibility. Discouraged from swimming yet?

Water spins in a different direction in the southern hemisphere

The Coriolis effect does have a weak force on objects on Earth. That force is too weak to effect water or any other liquid. Water spins both clockwise and counterclockwise on both sides of the equator. Movement in water from origin will dictate its direction regardless of hemisphere. Try it in your sink by pushing water one way or another. This will not even require a trip across the hemisphere to Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, etc.

Tags: empty promises, lies, science, weird, wtf
Posted in Neat, Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Jimmy Stewart, Tom Slick, and a Yeti Hand

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

In the late 1950’s Texan oil  tycoon Tom Slick launched an expedition to Nepal. He searched of a rumored hand of yeti hand, now called the Pangbouche Hand, allegedly used as part of a ritual in the Himalayas. That area is home to many legends such as “The Abominable Snowman” with white fur and its redheaded stepchild Almas.

He located the hand at a Buddhist monastery in Pangboche. Subsequent treks brought photos of the hand and ultimately the hand itself. The monks declined these fast talking city slickers in coats request to have the hand removed for study.

Slick’s associate Peter Byrne cracked a plan: replace the hand with human remains and smuggle it out of Nepal. Then what?

That’s where Byrne and Slick’s hunting buddy/flying pal and all around American good-guy actor Jimmy Stewart comes in. Yes, It’s a Wonderful Life, Harvey and Rear Window Jimmy Stewart. Stewart rushed to India and smuggled the hand to London. To avoid confiscation Stewart hid the hand in his wife’s unspeakables– her underwear. This was confirmed in a letter Stewart wrote to Loren Coleman as Coleman was writing Slick’s biography.

Tests so far have been inconclusive if its a genuine article or a hoax. What parts were added by Byrne’s bamboozling or what parts are original also remains unclear.

The only clear thing is lets hope Stewart discarded his lady’s underwear after being wrapped in rotten yeti flesh.

Tags: 1950's, bigfoot, celebrity detrius, cryptozoology, hoax, Jimmy Stewart, Movies, Yeti
Posted in Neat | No Comments »

Disney on Mars

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

Disney cartoon from 1957 shortly after Sputnik orbited Earth. The cartoon speculates on life on Mars. You know, before NASA messed everything up and made Mars boring and full of useless rocks. I remember seeing this as a child, well after Mars was established boring and free from horny Mars princesses.

Tags: 1950's, mars, nostalgia, space, video, weird
Posted in Neat | 1 Comment »

Infinity (In Jest)

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

In the video below one of the Brothers Winn from What You Ought to Know here states several misconceptions on the idea of infinity as well as alternate universes.

Multiverse theory follows that ‘this’ universe exists along side many other universes. Some suppose that when a quantum event occurs, e.g. an electron moves, a different universe is created with each distinct possibility.  Or as what the gentleman in the video below comically says “you are batman, and a woman.”

A popular misconception is infinity means everything or anything can happen. Any mathematician or someone with an elementary school education will tell you there are an infinite set of numbers between 2.34 and 2.35. Numbers such as 2.341, 2.342, 2.3421 and so on.

None of these numbers, however, are 7.938.

Or in other words there might be an infinite set of universes but none where he is right.

Tags: lies, science, video
Posted in Junk File, Neat | 1 Comment »

Philosophy: Mind and Manner

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

Interesting article on Crooked Timber by John Holbo:

“In philosophy, after the speaker is done, it is fine for someone to raise his hand and say: ‘but it seems that your central premise – the claim from which all these other things follow – is actually ambiguous between four different claims, two of which are logically false, one of which is obviously empirically false, and one of which is a tautology that won’t support your conclusions at all …’”

As an armchair philosophy student (technically my minor) I find this sums up much that I have tried to express. Chiefly its important to question base assumptions in process. As Holbo continues:

To put it another way, these aggressive-seeming questions are not intended as conversation-stoppers but as conversation-starters.

Read the whole well writen article on Crooked Timber.

Tags: phillosophy, quotes, specialization
Posted in Human Lessons, Neat | No Comments »

365 Days of Minifigs

Monday, June 8th, 2009

My old friend Dan just wrapped up a year’s worth of putting LEGO minifigs in compromising situations.  Not as controversial as The Brick Testament but beautifully shot and quite entertaining.

Creating scenes like this were my original medium of storytelling, back in the hazy days of the 80s with mismatched action figures and hammered Matchbox cars lorded over by plastic dinosaurs.  For whatever reason, I never took pictures of any of my ’setups’ but instead opted for detailing the action in intensely adjectived detail into a portable cassette recorder.  Hours upon hours were sunk into making and then unmaking wood block cities with precisely arranged He-Man characters, GI Joes and lots of dollar store knockoff action figures that served nicely as canon fodder, all to an excited eight year old’s breathless play-by-play.

If I ever track down one of those old tapes, I’ll be sure to post it.  Gold mine of remix material, I’m sure.

Tags: 365, empty promises, friends, LEGO, minifigs, nostalgia, setups, X-a-day
Posted in Neat | No Comments »