July 2010
103 posts
2 tags
Pareidolia →
Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse.
submitted by eatablockoftofu
“Construction was subsequently halted for almost a century, because the Pisans...”
– Leaning Tower of Pisa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (via zachrose)
2 tags
2 tags
List of mass murderers and spree killers by number... →
submitted by crunkinpublic
Infinite monkey theorem →
The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.
The probability of a monkey exactly typing a complete work such as Shakespeare’s Hamlet is so tiny that the chance of it occurring during a period of time of the order of...
Neglect of probability →
The neglect of probability bias, a type of cognitive bias, is the tendency to completely disregard probability when making a decision under uncertainty and is one simple way in which people regularly violate the normative rules for decision making.
AOL disk collecting →
AOL disk collecting is the collecting of CD-ROMs and diskettes distributed by the America Online company, containing computer software for accessing the America Online service. These CD-ROMs and diskettes are somewhat infamous for their excessive distribution. While disliked by many Americans who received them en masse during the late 1990s and early 2000s, AOL disks also provide an entertaining...
2 tags
Ghoti →
Ghoti is a constructed word used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling. It is a respelling of the word fish, and like fish is pronounced /ˈfɪʃ/. It has,
gh, pronounced /f/ as in tough;
o, pronounced /ɪ/ as in women; and
ti, pronounced /ʃ/ as in nation.
submitted by krsti
Phantom time hypothesis
tamburina:
The Phantom time hypothesis is a hypothesis developed by Heribert Illig in 1991. It proposes that there has been a systematic effort to make it appear that periods of history, specifically that of Europe during Early Middle Ages (AD 614–911) exist, when they do not. Illig believed that this was achieved through the alteration, misrepresentation and forgery of documentary and physical...
I-400 →
The Sen Toku I-400-class Imperial Japanese Navy submarines were the largest submarines of World War II and able to carry three aircraft underwater to anywhere in the world.
submitted by cuedisappointment
Münchausen by Internet →
Münchausen by Internet is a pattern of behavior in which Internet users seek attention by feigning illnesses in online venues such as chat rooms, message boards, and Internet Relay Chat (IRC).
As manipulation is integral to most cases, the need to control others to feel as if the perpetrator is in control of his or her own life is apparent, as is the pre-existence of underlying personality...
High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program →
The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is an ionospheric research program jointly funded by the US Air Force, the US Navy, the University of Alaska and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
The project has been blamed for triggering catastrophes such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, thunderstorms, and devastating earthquakes in Afghanistan and the Philippines...
Bat bombs →
Bat bombs were bomb-shaped casings with numerous compartments, each containing a Mexican Free-tailed Bat with a small timed incendiary bomb attached. Dropped from a bomber at dawn, the casings would deploy a parachute in mid-flight and open to release the bats which would then roost in eaves and attics. The incendiaries would start fires in inaccessible places in the largely wood and paper...
K-hole →
At sufficiently high doses of the drug ketamine (.25 - .5 grams or more), it is common to experience a “K-hole”. This is a slang term for a state of dissociation from the body which may mimic the phenomenology of schizophrenia.
Experience of the K-hole may include distortions in bodily awareness, such as the feeling that one’s body is being tugged, or is gliding on silk, flying,...
As Slow As Possible →
Organ²/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible) is a musical piece composed by John Cage and is the subject of one of the longest-lasting musical performances yet undertaken. It was originally written in 1987 for organ and is adapted from the earlier work ASLSP 1985; a typical performance of the piano piece lasts for about 20 to 70 minutes. In 1985, Cage opted to omit the detail of “exactly how slow...
Gaslighting →
Gaslighting is a form of intimidation or psychological abuse in which false information is presented to the victim, making them doubt their own memory and perception.
The classic example of gaslighting is to change things in a person’s environment without their knowledge, and to explain that they “must be imagining things” when they challenge these changes. Similarly, the Manson...
Aokigahara →
The forest, which has a historic association with demons in Japanese mythology, is a popular place for suicides; in 2002, 78 bodies were found, despite numerous signs, in Japanese and English, urging people to reconsider their actions.
Due to the wind-blocking density of the trees, and an absence of wildlife, the forest is known for being eerily quiet.
submitted by email by paige
Hiroo Onoda →
Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda is a former Japanese army intelligence officer who fought in World War II, and did not surrender until 1974, having spent almost thirty years holding out in the Philippines.
On 20 February 1974, Onoda met a Japanese college dropout, Norio Suzuki, who was traveling the world and was looking for “Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the Abominable Snowman, in that...
1 tag
1 tag
Essex (whaleship) →
The Essex was an American whaleship from Nantucket, Massachusetts. She is best known for being attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in the Pacific Ocean in 1820. The incident was an inspiration for Herman Melville’s 1851 classic novel Moby-Dick.
By the time the last of the eight survivors were rescued on April 5, 1821, they had consumed the corpses of seven fellow sailors.
submitted by...
Space accidents and incidents →
About five percent of the people that have been launched have died doing so (because astronauts often launch more than once).
submitted by cuedisappointment
List of college dropout billionaires →
The average net worth of billionaires who dropped out of college, $9.4 billion, is more than double that of billionaires with Ph.D.s, $3.2 billion.
Even if you factor out the world’s richest man, Bill Gates, who left Harvard University and is now worth $60 billion, college dropouts are worth $5.3 billion on average, as compared to those who finished only bachelor’s degrees, who are...
Devdasi →
Devadasi originally described a Hindu religious practice in which girls were “married” and dedicated to a deity (deva or devi). In addition to taking care of the temple and performing rituals, they learned and practiced Bharatanatyam and other classical Indian arts traditions and enjoyed a high social status.
submitted by exempli-gratia
Illustrated list of hairstyles →
Depersonalization →
Depersonalization is a malfunction or anomaly of the mechanism by which an individual has self-awareness. It is a feeling of watching oneself act, while having no control over a situation.
Sufferers feel they have changed, and the world has become less real, vague, dreamlike, or lacking in significance. It can be a disturbing experience, since many feel that, indeed, they are living in a...
List Of Films Considered The Worst Films Ever Made →
submitted by liketheorange
Cat communication →
Cats are also known to make chirping or chattering noises when observing prey, or as a means of expressing interest in an object to nearby humans.
While this behaviour was originally viewed as the feline equivalent of song, recent animal behaviorists have come to believe this noise is a “rehearsal behaviour” in which it anticipates or practises the killing of prey, because the sound...
Phantom rings →
Phantom rings are the sensation and the false belief that one can hear his or her mobile phone ringing or feel it vibrating, when in fact the telephone is not doing so. Other terms for this concept include ringxiety and fauxcellarm.
“In June 2005 scientists at the University of Pittsburgh’s Safar Center for...”
– Suspended animation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (via dkeen)
Poon Lim →
Poon Lim or Lim Poon BEM (March 8, 1918 – January 4, 1991) was a Chinese sailor who survived 133 days alone in the South Atlantic.
When told no one had ever survived longer on a raft at sea, Poon Lim replied, “”I hope no one will ever have to break that record.” People have lived longer lost at sea, the current record being ten months for three Mexican sailors in a disabled...
Lost Cosmonauts →
The Lost Cosmonauts, or Phantom Cosmonauts, are cosmonauts who allegedly entered outer space, but whose existence has never been acknowledged by either the Soviet or Russian space authorities.
Alexey Belokonev is reportedly one of three (two men and a woman) cosmonauts aboard a November, 1962 flight. The Torre Bert tower in Italy allegedly picked up a frantic set of messages relayed by the three...
Beetle →
Beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are classified in the order Coleoptera, which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal kingdom, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms.
La Rinconada, Peru →
Many miners work at the gold mine owned by Corporación Ananea. Under the cachorreo system they work for 30 days without payment. On the 31st day they are allowed to take with them as much ore as they can carry on their shoulders. Whether the ore contains any gold or not is a matter of luck.
Interrobang →
The interrobang, interabang[1] (pronounced /ɪnˈtɛrəbæŋ/) or quesclamation mark, ‽, is a nonstandard English-language punctuation mark intended to combine the functions of the question mark (also called the interrogative point) and the exclamation mark or exclamation point (known in printers’ jargon as the bang).
A sentence ending with an interrobang asks a question in an excited manner,...
Hollywood accounting →
..the opaque accounting methods used by Hollywood to reduce or eliminate the profit of a project thereby reducing the amount which the corporation must pay in royalties or other profit-sharing agreements.
submitted by cuedisappointment
Adam Rainer →
Adam Rainer is the only person in recorded history ever to have been both a dwarf and a giant. In 1920 at age 21, he was measured at 1.18 m (3 ft 10.5 in). For unknown reasons, he had a dramatic one metre growth spurt so that by 1931 he had reached a height of 2.18 m (7 ft 2 in).
When he died in 1950 he had reached a height of 2.34 m (7 ft 8 in). He grew 117 cm (46 in) during...
Slow slicing →
Slow slicing , also translated as the slow process, the lingering death, or death by a thousand cuts, was a form of execution used in China from roughly AD 900 until its abolition in 1905. In this form of execution, the condemned person was killed by using a knife to methodically remove portions of the body over an extended period of time.
The process involved tying the person to be executed...
Hart Island (New York) →
Hart Island is the location of the largest tax-funded cemetery in the world, more than 850,000 dead are buried there.
In 2005 there were 1,419 burials in the potter’s field on Hart Island. Ceremonies have not been conducted at the burial site since the 1950s, and no individual markers are set except for the first child to die of AIDS in New York City who was buried in isolation.
...
Grimoire →
wordjournal:
noun • /ɡrɪmˈwɑr/ • a textbook of magic
Hug →
Hugging has been proven to have health benefits. One study has shown that hugs increase levels of oxytocin, and reduce blood pressure.
submitted by jagolevert
Toilet paper orientation →
There are two choices of toilet paper orientation when using a toilet roll holder with a horizontal axle parallel to the wall: the toilet paper may hang over or under the roll. In surveys of American consumers and of bath and kitchen specialists, 60-70% of respondents prefer over.
Tori Spelling, actress: “Over is just more chic.”