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Teddy Bear the talking porcupine gets a Halloween pumpkin to chew, play with, and talk about. -via Daily of the Day
Previously: more Teddy Bear videos.
Well, this is morbidly appropriate (or inappropriate, depending on your sense of humor). After it was told that it would cost $80,000 to build a toilet at a local cemetery, the Chamber of Commerce in Millaa Millaa, Queensland, Australia, decided to build their own ... in the shape of a coffin!
Neatorama presents a guest post from Today I Found Out, a website where you can learn interesting facts every day. Check 'em out today!
Photo courtesy of TheTallestMan.com
- used with permission. Visit
their website for more on Adam Rainer
The man was Adam Rainer born in Graz, Austria sometime in 1899 (the exact date isn't known). Rainer's parents were neither tall nor short for the time, with his father measuring in at 5 feet 8 inches (1.72 m) and his mother at 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m). He even had a brother who matched his father's height at 5 feet 8 inches. This wasn't the case for Adam.
Thanks to the fact that Adam attempted to join the army when he was 18 to participate in WWI, we know that at that age Rainer had reached a height of just 4 feet 6.3 inches (1.38 m), and then at 19 he measured in at 4 feet 8.3 inches (1.43 m) when he tried to join up again. Both times he was considered too short and also too weak to be able to join the military. For reference, the cutoff for someone being classified as a dwarf is usually considered to be an adult height of less than 4 feet 10 inches (1.47 m).
While he was short, according to the medical report, he actually had
exceptionally large feet for his height, with his shoes measuring in at
a European size of 43 at the age of 18, which is about a size 10 in U.S.
sizes. According to Rainier by the time he hit 21, while still barely
classified as a dwarf in height, his shoe size had gone up to a European
size 53, which would be about a size 20 in the U.S. (for reference, Shaquille
O'Neal wears a size 22-23).
Although his feet were continuing to grow at a remarkable pace, Rainer himself was staying at more or less the same height. That's when something even more bizarre than his clown-feet happened. For a reason unknown at the time, Adam started growing again... rapidly.
What must have initially seemed a blessing to the short Rainer, soon turned into a curse. From his 21st birthday to his 32nd, Rainer grew from just under 4 feet 10 inches tall to 7 feet 2 inches tall (1.47 m to 2.18 m). It should also be noted that his height would have been greater than this, except by his 26th birthday he started developing a severe spinal curve, which continued to progress as he grew. This, and later difficulty in eating, had the negative side effect of leaving Rainer bed ridden for the majority of the latter half of his life.
If that wasn't bad enough, he also went blind in his right eye and his vision diminished in his left. His hearing also started to go and he became deaf in his left ear.
So what caused this extreme shift in height? After a medical exam done
by Doctors F. Windholz and A. Mandl, they discovered a tumor on his pituitary
gland, which not only explained his rapid growth but his partial blindness
as well. As far as the growth is concerned, this tumor resulted in a condition
known as acromegaly, where the pituitary gland produces excessive
amounts of growth hormone during adulthood. His vision loss was due to
the compression of his optic chiasm, which is where the right and left
eye nerves cross near the pituitary gland.
To try to fix the problem, in 1930 doctors removed the tumor, but he still continued to grow, albeit at a much slower rate that seemed even slower than it was because of his spinal curvature continuing to increase. For instance, from December 1930 to May of 1931, his standing height stayed the same, but his spinal curvature increased.
Over the next and final 19 years of his life, Rainer's spinal curve would continue to increase and he'd grow another 6 inches, dying at the age of 51 in 1950 at a height of about 7 feet 8 inches (2.34 m), making him the only known person to spend time officially classified as a dwarf and then as a giant.
Bonus Fact: The word "giant" ultimately derives from the name of a Greek mythological race of giants defeated by the gods, with the help of Heracles, when the giants tried to free the Titans. This race were called "gigas" and were the children of Gaia and Uranus. They were produced when Kronus castrated Uranus, with Uranus' blood fertilizing Gaia. Once the giants were defeated, they were buried deep underground to imprison them. According to Greek mythology, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are caused by the race of giants struggling to free themselves from the depths of the Earth. The Greek word "gigas" evolved into the English word "giant" via Latin and then the Old French "geant", which by 1350 had been adopted into English as "giant". It was first used to describe a person who is exceptionally tall in 1559 and before that simply as an adjective to describe some attribute that a person had that was exceptional.
Check out more neat facts over at Today I Found Out.
"Geek Overlord" Joss Whedon has endorsed Mitt Romney. He makes logical points, backs up his opinion, and comes to a pragmatic conclusion. He suggests, if you want a zombie apocalypse as he does, you must vote for the Zomney.
Well played sir, well played.
-Via Kotaku
Hedgehogs are good for one thing, at least to a cat: Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]
Kitty see, kitty do! What? Have you never seen a woman dancing with her cat before? -via Daily PIcks and Flicks
It's always nice to catch a glimpse of VIPs doing things everyday normal people do. This image of Tsar Nicholas II playing airplane made me wonder whether the guy supporting him was really a "friend" or a subject forced to carry him -but the source gallery at Retronaut labels him as a fellow royal. Other celebrities in the list at Flavorwire include Albert Einstein, Joe Stalin, Richard Nixon, Franklin Roosevelt, and more. Link
Photo: Michael
Renner/Flickr
All large airports have Air Traffic Control (ATC) towers, and most of them, well, look just like any ol' air traffic control towers. But it doesn't have to be, like the 110-m (360-ft) tall crescent-shaped tower in Abu Dhabi Airport.
Avi Abrams compiled 15 of the most unusual Air Traffic Control Towers in the world: Link - Thanks Dave!
Especially if you're on a first-name basis with them:
During one robbery the teller actually recognized her, asking Heffernan, “Do you want to make a deposit Kerri?”
No, Kerri wanted to make a withdrawal. But before she could complete the transaction, police in Whitman, Massachusetts arrested her for this bank robbery and on suspicion of three others.
Link -via Lowering the Bar | Photo: davidsonscott15
The amount of green screens in film (also known as Chroma keying) and television really goes unnoticed. I used to think I could spot all the places in a film that there was CG, I guess I was wrong. This video may be dated a little, but just imagine what is now possible with the technology at our disposal. Thanks to Reddit user Nuzen for bringing it to our attention, and Stargate Studios for an excellent video.
Update: Stargate Studies has a new reel, just released and embedded below. While different from their green screen work, still cool. So check it out.
Psychology researcher Mikel Delgado and his team asked 189 people to ascribe traits to pictures of cats, and sorted them to see if they tended to judge a cat by its color.
If you thought the orange cat looked friendly, you're in good company — survey respondents were more likely to attribute friendliness to orange cats than to the other colors (except bi-colored, who are apparently also seen as friendly). The study authors found this a bit surprising, since "depictions of some of the most well-known orange cats in American culture, such as Morris, 'The world’s most finicky cat' and Garfield, who is described as lazy and cynical, are not positive." However, it's possible that "the tendency for orange cats to be highly anthropomorphized in advertising and other popular media influences their popularity. For example, both Morris and Garfield are depicted as being able to talk."
White cats, meanwhile, were more likely than others to be seen as aloof, calm, and shy. Tortoiseshell cats were aloof and intolerant. Black cats were just average at everything — no traits stood out as being more commonly applied to them.
The next question is, why do people believe those things? Is it because of media images like Morris? It may be from the experiences of cat owners, although when generalized to all cats, it sounds like prejudice. I have three cats, and the orange one is the friendly one. The white cat is aloof, and the black cat is the most normal in personality and behavior. How do these traits compare to cats you've had? Link
Here's a clever, and colorful, chart that will help you make sure your Halloween costume doesn't suck this year.
Keep these five points in mind as you're putting your outfit together, and if you see a sad kid on the sidewalk with a sucky costume give them a bit of advice about how to be a better Halloweenie next year. it may change their life forever...
Holy Mary and Joseph! Don't you know those things aren't safe?! Get Jesus out of that thing before he goes down a flight of stairs. Child safety standards in First Century Bethlehem (yes, Bethlehem, not Egypt) were obviously deficient. Or at least as the Clèves Master, an anonymous Fifteenth Century Dutch artist, imagined them in an illuminated manuscript.
After departing the bank, the robber realized that the teller had not actually given him $20,000 in cash. Not one to tolerate bad customer service, he returned, presumably to lodge a complaint:
As officers were responding, Bundrage discovered the teller had not given him the full $20,000.
Officers found him standing at the front door attempting to get back in.
He was taken into custody without incident, police said.
Link -via Dave Barry | Photo: Anonymous Account
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