Jill Harness's Blog Posts
March is not only National Craft Month, but also National Crochet Month, so it’s only fitting that we feature ten of the weirdest and coolest crochet and knitting projects ever made. As this is, of course, all a matter opinion, feel free to share your favorites in the comments!
Deep Sea Crafting
Coral reefs are some of the most beautiful underwater structures around. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t get to see these beauties in their natural habitats. Enter the world of crochet coral, a collective project by The Institute for Figuring. Crafters from around the world have added their interpretations of crochet reefs and the entire exhibit has travelled through museums across the U.S. Image via Margaret Wertheim [Flickr]
I’m King of The World…He’s Prince of The Cosmos
It’s one thing to say your baby boy is a prince, it’s an entirely different matter to say he is the prince of the universe. Fortunately, with the adorable hat pattern from Itchy Stitchy, you can dress him like the prince of the cosmos from Katamari Damacy without looking like an egotistical jerk. Image from the creator's Flickr stream.
Ukulele Gone Wild
If you’re going to make adorable art out of crochet critters, why not take it a step further and make a stop motion music video out of a pair of amagami playing the ukulele and singing? Apparently these two cuties make up a music group known as U900.
Pinhead Bunny Amagami
Etsy seller Moons Creations always has some interesting bunnies in her shop, including cathulus and Olympic skiers, but perhaps her greatest creation is the Pinhead bunny seen in this blog post. While this one is already sold out, if you PM her, maybe she’ll custom make you your own.
Ultraviolent Pleasantries
Crochet is normally such a sweet and happy medium but the designs created by artist Patricia Waller (some pics mildly NSFW) are anything but. Her goretastic crocheted plushie collection includes a bunny killed with a pitchfork, Miss Piggy falling into a meat grinder and a unicorn that has driven its horn through a teddy bear. While the pieces are quite impressive, it’s probably best to avoid letting your kids see them –unless you’re into the whole traumatizing-your-kid-for-life thing.
The Godfather Part Craft
Perhaps you like your gory crochet pieces to send a message to your enemies though. This knitted horse head pattern from the Anti-Craft is a vegan-friendly way to remind your enemies about the offer they can’t refuse.
Crochetadermy?
Speaking of vegan-friendly dead things,. Artist Shauna Richardson is quite possibly the authority on crochet animals in the wild and has quite the collection of taxidermied crocheted beasts. Anyone who loves taxidermy but hates to see the poor little dead animals is certain to enjoy her creepy-cool gallery.
Knitted Dissection
If you objected to dissecting frogs back in school, then this knitted frog dissection by Etsy seller craftyhedgehog might just be the ethical alternative you were dreaming of. It is also a great gift idea for anyone who overly enjoyed the frog dissection in school. If frogs aren't your thing, she also makes rat dissections as well.
Knitting For Miniatures
No article about crocheting and knitting would be complete without mentioning Anthea Chrome, the amazing artist who created all of the tiny clothing used in Coraline. While she’s best known for her work in the movie, her tiny sweaters are famous in their own right and have been a favorite of collectors and have been featured in museums.
Underground Knitting
One yarn movement that’s been sweeping the country and has even made its way on to the homepage of Neatorama this week is the idea of Knitting graffiti. It has taken place in Massachusetts, Houston, Finland, Ohio, British Columbia, Sweden, and New York –be sure to click on this link for Deputy Dog to see pictures of all of these places. Some of the artists, like those from the International Fiber Collaborative, have obtained permission first, while others are acting rogue in the dead of night. The funniest part to me is that of all the articles I’ve seen, only one person seems to dislike the work. Mark Lukas, who has a winter home in Cape May, told the Press of Atlantic City that he found the tree cozies in his neighborhood hurt the charm and authenticity of the Victorian homes in the area, “I don’t think it’s appropriate. It’s a public space and people should not be able to go in and do what they want to do.” Am I the only one who thinks this guy is a total spoilsport?
This might be the only time you'll ever want to put carpet padding on top of your carpet. The beautiful rug was constructed by artist Carolyn Salas.
http://carolynsalas.com/artwork/847321_Rug_Project.html Via Craftzine
http://carolynsalas.com/artwork/847321_Rug_Project.html Via Craftzine
Feeling low? Is Stuff On My Cat just not cheering you up any more? Perhaps you need to move on to In Almost Every Picture 8, a collection of images taken by one Japanese man of his rabbit balancing an array of items on his unusually flat head. It's hard not to enjoy seeing the fluffball hold up drinks and desserts --unless you're in PETA.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9070478285?ie=UTF8&tag=thechesguitol-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=9070478285 Via CuteOverload
Did you know there's a word for those stunning light beams that shoot through trees, clouds and stained glass windows? I sure didn't, but apparently the proper term is Crepuscular Rays and Environmental Graffiti has a great collection of photos that have perfectly captured these beams of light.
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/incredible-crepuscular-rays/19284?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+environmentalgraffiti+%28Environmental+Graffiti%29 Image by Mila Zinkova
Wednesday would have marked the 163rd birthday of Alexander Graham Bell, were he still alive. While his invention of the telephone has always been subject to controversy, there is no denying that the man was quite a genius. To celebrate the life of this great inventor, let’s take this opportunity to get to know Mr. Bell a little better.
He Wasn’t Always Alexander Graham Bell
At first, he was just Alexander Bell. When he turned ten though, he begged his parents to give him a middle name like they had given to each of his brothers. It wasn’t until his 11th birthday that the famous “Graham” was added to his name. His father chose the name in honor of a family friend, Alexander Graham, who had boarded with the family.
Of course, his family continued to just call him “Aleck” throughout his life. When he was married to his wife (seen with him in the above image) though, she insisted that he begin calling himself “Alec” and from that point on, he started signing his name as “Alec Bell.”
He Was Born Into His Line Of Work
Alexander’s entire family was tied in with the fields of elocution and speech. His father and grandfather (both of whom were also named Alexander Bell) worked in the field before Alec was born, and his brother also started working in the science. Additionally, both his mother and wife were deaf, which gave him even more reason to be dedicated to easing systems of communication. Even as a kid, Bell was fascinated with sound and he taught himself both ventriloquism and piano without any training.
Aleck Started Inventing Young
He finished his first invention, a dehusking device for a flour mill, when he was only 12. When his best friend, Ben Herdman, told him about the laborious process of dehusking at his parent’s flour mill, Bell quickly threw together a machine that combined rotating paddles with nail brushes. The mill used the machine for years to come and the boy’s father was so impressed that he gave the two boys complete access to a workshop in the mill so they could continue to work on inventions.
Despite His Brilliance, He Wasn’t Big On School
When Bell entered the Royal High School, he was known for having bad grades and a history of absenteeism. He excelled at science, but remained indifferent to all other courses. Eventually, he dropped out at only 15 and then moved to London, where he lived with his grandfather, who was able to finally get Bell interested in learning. It paid off too. Before he invented the phone, Bell was a teacher. He used his father’s teaching system to educate deaf students. One of his most famous students was Hellen Keller, who once said that Bell had dedicated his life to breaking through the “inhuman silence which separates and estranges.” Later in his life, he earned a series of honorary degrees from quite a few colleges, including Harvard, Dartmouth, the University of Edinburg in Scotland, the University of Würzburg in Bavaria and more.
The Road to Creation
Bell’s first work with what would later result in the invention of the telephone started when he was hired, along with Elisha Gray, to help find a way to send multiple telegraph messages along the same line. A few years later, he approached the director of the Smithsonian Institute, Joseph Henry, for his advice on an apparatus that would enable the human voice to travel via telegraph. Bell said he was worried he didn’t have the right knowledge to do it though and Henry inspired him by merely replying, “get it!”
Bell May Not Actually Be The Inventor of the Telephone
At the same time that Bell was working on his idea, the other man hired, on the telegraph project Elisha Gray (seen at left) had also been inspired to find a way to transmit speech through the telegraph. He filed a design for an acoustic telegraph that sent vocal transmissions through water the same day that Bell’s lawyer filed a patent for his telephone device. Aleck hadn’t actually gotten his phone working before he filed his patent. Three days after he was issued the patent, he used a liquid transmitter --just like the one Gray had designed, to get the device to work. He only used the water design as part of an experiment and never used the liquid transmitter in his demonstrations or commercial products, but he is still, to this day, accused of stealing the phone from Gray.
A man that worked at the patent office later swore in an affidavit that he had shown Gray’s patent to Bell’s attorney in an effort to pay off part of the debt he owed him. He also claimed that he showed the patent to Bell a few days later and that he was given $100 in return. While Alexander admitted that he learned some of the technical details from Gray’s patent, he swore that he had never paid the patent office employee, Zenas Fisk Wilber, any money.
Bad Business Calls
After Bell finished his work on the telephone, he offered to sell the patent for the device to Western Union for $100,000. The president of the company refused, claiming that the telephone was nothing more than a toy. Two years later, he changed his mind, saying he would consider it a bargain if he could buy the patent for $25 million. Of course, by that point, the Bell Telephone Company was not interested in selling the patent.
Continued Invention Theft Accusations
Throughout the years, the Bell company continued to make improvements on the telephone, even buying Edison’s carbon microphone in 1879. Unfortunately, quite a few inventors had started to work on improving the phone by this point and in only 18 years, the company had to fight over 600 lawsuits over legal rights to the patent. Fortunately, the fact that Alec had been working on sound and speech for his entire life gave him the credibility he needed to fight the lawsuits. Even so, the government moved to annul his patent on grounds of fraud and misrepresentation in 1887, but the Supreme Court ruled in the company’s favor and many other suits were dropped as a result. Through this entire period, the Bell company never lost a case, but the strain put on Alexander from all these court appearances eventually cause him to resign from the company.
His Work Didn’t Stop With The Telephone
While his most famous invention was the phone, Bell continued to invent throughout his life. He worked on optical telecommunications, hydrofoil planes and aeronautics. In 1880, he created the photophone, which he considered to be his most important invention. This creation would allow sound to pass through a beam of light and was the first wireless phone technology ever created. By the time he died, he had thirty patents. He had one patent for the phonograph, nine for transportation devices and two for selenium cells. He also invented a metal jacket that was supposed to help with breathing problems, a meter to detect hearing problems, a device to locate icebergs and more. He invented the first metal detectors, which he used in an attempt to uncover the bullet in President Garfield’s body. Although it worked perfectly in lab tests, it could not help doctors find the bullet, but that was partially because the president was laying on a bed with a metal frame and metal springs that disturbed the instrument and the surgeons refused to move him to a new location.
He Considered His Greatest Invention An Intrusion On His Work
While the telephone was Bell’s best known contribution to society, he considered his real work to be as a scientist and he refused to have a telephone in his study for fear it would intrude on his work.
He Was Far Ahead of His Time
At one point in his career, Bell and his team had considered the idea of pressing a magnetic field onto a record as a way to reproduce sound. While they couldn’t get their idea to work, this same concept was the basic idea behind tapes, hard discs, floppy discs and other media that were invented almost a century later. Also impressive was Bell’s environmentally-friendly inventions that were developed long before anyone had ever considered the idea of global warming. He worried about the effects of methane gas on the environment and experimented with composting toilets and devices that would capture water from the atmosphere. In an interview shortly before his death, he even mentioned the idea of using solar panels to heat houses.
The End of A Legend
Alexander Graham Bell died in August of 1922. Every phone in North America was said to be silenced during his funeral in his honor. Sources: AlexanderGrahamBell.org, Idea Finder, Biography.com, The Franklin Institute, American Heritage and Answers.com
February is American History Month and here at Neatorama, we urge those of you who live in the states to celebrate your country’s past by getting to know a little more about its history. As a result, we’ve decided to bring you a selection of little known facts about American History. While the truth behind many stories may not be pretty, it’s far better to know the facts than to celebrate through myths.
Christopher Columbus Wasn’t Such A Great Guy
The stories of Columbus celebrate him as an all-time American hero who was a genius explorer and first convinced the world that the Earth was round, not flat. In actuality though, the Columbus myth is far greater than the reality of the man’s accomplishments. To start with, Aristotle was the first person to prove the Earth was round and he did so by showing the earth casts a spherical shadow on the moon during an eclipse. By the time Chris was born, most people had accepted this truth.
It wasn’t until the 1828 biography of Christopher Columbus by Washington Irving (the same man that created The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) that this myth was born. Columbus simply believed that the circumference of the Earth was much smaller than it actually is and that by traversing the Atlantic Ocean, he could establish a faster trade route to India and China. Essentially, his discovery of the Americas was purely based on an economic scheme. Columbus was not even the first European visitor to the “New World,” as it is widely accepted that the Norse had made the voyage over 500 years before him. Of course, the Norse failed to mistake the new country for India (thus resulting in the title of “Indians” for the native populace) and they also failed to inform the rest of Europe that this giant mass of land happened to be sitting in the middle of the Atlantic.
Columbus was actually a bit of a barbarian. In fact, he was arrested and returned to Spain after being found to be too barbaric a ruler in his role as governor of the Hispaniola colony. 23 people testified about his cruelty --which, given the time period, means he had to be a really, really bad guy. He even refused to let the natives convert to Christianity because Catholic law dictated that baptized people could not be enslaved. Studies show that there were between 250,000-300,000 people in Hispaniola, but within 56 years of Columbus’ voyage, the number was down to 500. Also, another interesting fact, researchers believe his men were responsible for bringing syphilis into Europe and, thus, caused the deaths of as many 5 million Europeans.
The reason for his near-sainthood( literally, as the church considered turning him into a saint in the 1866) goes back even before Irving’s time. Essentially, Americans felt they needed a national hero and at a time when they resented the British rule over the colonies, he seemed like a great icon. By the way, all those pictures you've seen of Chris (including the ones used here), are not accurate. There still has not been an authentic painting of Christopher Columbus discovered to have been painted by his contemporaries.
Sources: Interesting History, Wikipedia, Christian Science Monitor, Columbus in History
Was Jamestown The First?
As you may have gathered from the bit about Columbus, Jamestown was not the first European colony in North America. In fact, the first temporary colony was created around the year 1000 and located in Newfoundland, Canada, by Norse mariners from Greenland. The first permanent colony in modern day America was actually located in St. Augustine, Florida and was set up by the Spanish in 1565. Jamestown was merely the first British colony, and the first colony in Virginia. These settlers were the first European colonists to do one thing though --resort to cannibalism. Yes, during the exceptionally rough winter of 1609, the colonists were forced to eat their feces and their dead to keep alive. While this fact is undeniably dark, it does show the hardships these settlers went through and their dedication to survival.
Sources: PBS, 100 Things You're Not Supposed to Know Image via Bill Barber [Flickr]
Sir Walter Raleigh Did Not Introduce Potatoes or Tobacco to England
Speaking of the English connection to the new world, the famed explorer Sir Walter Raleigh is wrongly credited for two major contributions to English society. He did not introduce potatoes to England in 1586, as the veggies were first grown in Italy in 1585 and had already spread through Europe, including England) within the next year. As for tobacco, Jean Nicot (the inspiration for the word nicotine) introduced the plant to France in 1560, and it spread to England from France before Raleigh would have had a chance to bring it back to his homeland. Also, while Raleigh was certainly a stud (see image above), he did not ever lay his coat down over a puddle so Queen Elizabeth could cross. This lovely story is yet another romantic tale of a past that never existed.
Source: Greatest Historical Myths
Could Our First President Tell A Lie?
By now you probably know that George Washington never really did cut down the mythical cherry tree (this story came courtesy of Mason Locke Weems, a biographer that rivaled Washington Irving in presenting long-lived fabrications about their subjects). But were you aware that George Washington wasn’t actually the first president?
When you think back to history class, you may recall our first attempt at self-governance was chartered under the unsuccessful Articles of Confederation. Under this document, the first official President of the United States of America was actually John Hanson (seen at left). Hanson was actually quite a good leader and accomplished a good amount of work during his tenure, but he is poorly remembered as he led the country under the Articles of Confederation rather than the Constitution. As for Mr. Washington, he is very well-remembered, but not for his flaws. Washington was not generally the great war hero we remember him for. He actually lost ever major engagement during the first four years of the war. He wasn’t even the great president we have been told about in our school lessons. In fact, he was the first president to get caught in a scandal when the Philadelphia Aura reported that he embezzled over $6,000 more than he was permitted to take as his salary during his term as presidency.
Sources: Wikipedia, Marshall Hall, 100 Things You're Not Supposed to Know
No Wars Have Been Fought to Help Victims of Oppression
Many people think that we went to war with the south over slavery and that we fought in World War II to help stop the Nazis. In reality, the goals of these wars were much less noble. The main things that led the Civil War were economic issues and slavery was only a part of these problems. When the economic tensions got too hot, the South fought for its independence and the North fought to preserve the Union. Most Northerners didn’t care about slavery all that much and many Southerners simply couldn’t afford to own slaves.
Even the reasons behind the emancipation proclamation were more political than moral. The so-called Great Emancipator, Lincoln himself, once said, "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that." The entire speech was merely a way to help de-motivate blacks who were fighting for the South so the North could get an advantage.
Prior to World War II, the majority of Americans were not only uninterested in the plight of the Jews in Germany, but many even supported the forced sterilization of the mentally incompetent, crippled or criminally-inclined. Many states also banned interracial marriages as an effort to prevent the tainting of the races. At least 10,000 Americans were forcefully sterilized, many after being labeled with such vague properties as “sexually wayward,” “depressed,” “deviant,” or “bad girls.”
As a matter of fact, America played a crucial role in Hitler’s rise to power and his efforts to create a “master race.” After funding a number of eugenics scientists in America, The Rockefeller Foundation helped create the entire German eugenics program and they even funded work by the infamous Josef Mengele worked before he went to Auschwitz. Fortunately for us, the researchers believed Americans were not ready to support any “final solutions,” which is why our eugenics program largely stopped at the forced sterilization stage and negligent medical care for the “unfit,” whereas the German program extended into unbelievable horrors. Of course, if the U.S. eugenics scientists hadn’t come up with so many scientific studies and so much research to back their claims, Hitler would have never been able to convince the rational German public to follow his plans.
Sources: Interesting History, HNN
The First Drug Laws Were Racist
Regardless of your opinions on medicinal marijuana and the war on drugs, most people will agree that heavier drugs are not exactly great substances and shouldn’t be easily accessible to the general populace, particularly kids. A little over a century ago, public opinion was quite different and even companies like Bayer were producing opium products. In fact, Bayer invented heroin. These “medical breakthroughs” were even promoted for use on children.
So what would it take for the government to actually illegalize a drug in a time period like this? Racism. The first drug law in America was enacted in San Francisco and prohibited the use of opium in opium dens. The city claimed that they enacted the law because "many women and young girls, as well as young men of respectable family, were being induced to visit the Chinese opium-smoking dens, where they were ruined morally and otherwise.” Of course, using the drug outside of a Chinese opium den was ok.
Sources: Wikipedia on Drug Prohibition, Wikipedia on Heroin History I know you Neatorama readers are a smart breed, so many of you probably already know these facts and others. What’s your favorite little known history bit?
Exactly 80 years ago today, the one-time ninth and smallest planet, Pluto, was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh. In this time, Pluto has gone through a lot of changes, both in space and in its reputation here on Earth. Let’s take a moment to celebrate everyone’s favorite dwarf planet by getting to know it a little better.
Disruptions of Uranus
The driving force that lead to Pluto’s discovery began when late nineteenth century astronomers noticed a strange disruption in the orbit of Uranus. They speculated this disturbance had to be caused by another planet beyond Neptune and in 1906, Percival Lowell started to seek out this so-called “Planet X” in the Flagstaff, Arizona observatory he founded fifteen years earlier. Lowell and his team worked diligently for the next seven years, but when the researcher passed on, the project was forced to temporarily close due to a messy legal battle with Lowell’s widow. Interestingly, during those seven years, the researchers did capture the first ever images of Pluto on March 19, 1915, but the team did not recognize them for what they were. In 1929, the search started back up again with promising, and young, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh (seen above) at the lead. His job consisted of looking at images of the sky taken weeks apart and then look for any shift in position of the objects imaged. On February 18, 1930, he discovered a moving object seen on photos taken in the past January.
Renaming Planet X
As soon as the news hit the papers, the observatory began receiving suggestions for the new planet’s name. The planet’s future name eventually came from 11 year-old Venetia Burney. She was quite the fan of mythology and thought “Pluto” (another name for the god of the underworld) would be an appropriate title for a cold planet so far away from the sun. Her name was officially selected on March 24 and she was given five pounds as a reward. Part of the reason the title was selected was based on the fact that the initials for the new planet would then share the initials for the man who started the whole project, Percival Lowell.
Sounds Like Hell
People were immediately enchanted with the newest member of our Solar System and quite a few things were named in the planet’s honor, including Disney’s newest character, a certain yellow dog you may be familiar with. A little over a decade later, a newly discovered element was named after the planet as well --you may know it as plutonium. While most cultures use the name Pluto, a few languages have interesting translations for the dwarf planet. In Chinese, Japanese and Korean, the name is translated into “underworld king star” and in some Indian languages, the planet is named after Yama, the guardian of Hell in Hinduism. Image by Gene Duncan of Walt Disney World.
The Myth Of Planet X
Even though the discovery of Pluto occurred while astronomers were searching for a Planet X that would have thrown off the orbit of Uranus, Pluto is not Planet X. It only happened to be in the right place at the right time to get discovered, but its mass is not large enough to disrupt the orbit of Uranus. Scientists now believe there is actually no Planet X, which makes Pluto’s discovery all the more lucky. In 1992, data from Vogager 2 gave scientists new data on the mass of Neptune, which helped them recalculate its pull on Uranus, which eliminated any remaining suspicions about the existence of Planet X.
Getting to Know You
Eighty years after Pluto’s original discovery, scientists still know very little about the dwarf planet. Because it is so far from the Earth, investigation is difficult, in fact, NASA has compared it to trying to examine details in a soccer ball that sits over 40 miles away. They still have made some fascinating discoveries about Pluto though, including its composition, its rotation period, its orbit and the existence of three moons around the planet. One day on Pluto is equal to a little over six days on Earth. The planet rotates on its side, along its orbital plane, which makes for very extreme seasonal variations. During the solstice, one hemisphere remains entirely in the dark, while the other remains in permanent daylight. Because of these factors, the distance from the sun and Pluto’s chaotic orbit, the dwarf planet is said to be one of the most contrastive objects in the solar system. While it is impossible to directly photograph Pluto’s surface details, scientists have been able to process images using pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope. These images show that Pluto’s color seems to change between blue, black, orange, red, brown and white. Even stranger, the images show that it has increased in redness dramatically between 2000 and 2002. The changes are so dramatic, that the astronomer responsible for assembling the pixel-sized images into an actual picture has originally believed he made a mistake.
Knowing What Its Made Of
Using spectroscopic analysis, researchers have been able to discover that Pluto’s surface is made of 98% nitrogen ice with methane and carbon monoxide. The planet’s strange axis orientation and small size make it always oriented towards the Charon moon with the same face at any given time. Interestingly, the face that is always oriented toward this moon contains more methane ice, while the other side has more of the carbon monoxide ice. The surface is believed to look something like what you see above. Image via L. Calcada [ESO]
A Chaotic Orbit
The orbit of Pluto cannot be calculated as far into the future as other planets because it has a somewhat chaotic orbit. Scientists can predict its position for the next 10 million years or so, but small changes in the Solar System can throw the orbit off. Despite the chaos though, certain factors ensure that the object will never stray too far or collide into another planet. Interestingly, Pluto’s wide elliptical orbit appears to put it in line to crash into Neptune, as it periodically crosses Neptune’s orbit and comes closer to the sun than the eighth planet. It stays within Neptune’s orbit for about 20 years and this occurrence happens only once every 248 years, or about once every Plutonian year. The last time Pluto entered Neptune’s orbit was in 1979 and it left this orbit in 1999. While it looks like Pluto could hit Neptune when the orbits are viewed from above, the dwarf planet is far from the planet in a 3D plane. In fact, it actually comes far closer to Uranus than Neptune.
Size Matters
As the popular shirt in the Neatorama store reminds us, Pluto provides ultimate proof that size matters. The dwarf’s entire mass is about a fifth of our moon’s and one third of its volume. When put up on a map of the Earth, like the one seen at right, the diameter of Pluto is just barely bigger than the length of the U.S. from north to south (Charon, it’s largest moon, is pictured beside it). From its initial discovery, Pluto has continued to “shrink” as scientific calculations help better estimate its size. Originally, astronomers calculated the size based on its perceived effect on Neptune and Uranus, but once it was proven that Pluto was not Planet X, its size was re-estimated. In 1955, calculations stated that it was around the size of Earth. Then, in 1971, it was estimated to be closer to the size of Mars. In 1976 though, astronomers in the University of Hawaii discovered that the planet contained methane ice, which meant it had to be highly luminous for its size and could not be more than 1% the size of the Earth. In 1978, when Charon was discovered as Pluto’s moon, it allowed scientists to properly estimate the mass of the dwarf planet. Now that we have a good idea of Pluto’s size, we know it’s smaller than seven of the moons of other planets. Image by Calvin J. Hamilton [Solar Views]
To Be, Or Not To Be (A Planet)
Here’s the part you all knew was coming, the controversial discussion about the little object’s role in our Solar System. As stated before, Pluto is relatively small. As a result, letting it stand as a planet would mean we would at least also have to add Eris as a planet, as this object also directly orbits the sun and is larger than Pluto. Pluto’s role as a planet began to come in question in the seventies, once scientists started to figure out just how small it was. It wasn’t long after that lots of objects that were similar to Pluto began to be discovered, including the aforementioned Eris. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) released the first official definition of a planet, which met cutting Pluto from the lineup. Their rules for planethood said:
- The object must be in orbit around the Sun.
- The object must be massive enough to be a sphere by its own gravitational force. More specifically, its own gravity should pull it into a shape of hydrostatic equilibrium.
- It must have cleared the neighborhood around its orbit
While Pluto met the first two requirements, it did not clear the neighborhood around its orbit because it was part of the Kuiper belt of objects orbiting the sun. As a devastating consolation prize, Pluto was added to a newly defined group of objects called “dwarf planets.” Contrary to popular opinion, Pluto was not the first object to lose its planetary status. That titled belongs to Ceres, which was originally named the eighth planet in the Solar System in the 1800s, but lost its title when it was decided to be an asteroid instead. When Pluto’s planetary status came into question though, Ceres was once again on the table for being reinstated to its former planetary glory.
A Stellar Controversy
Many scientists still argue that the object should keep its status. One of the factors that has kept this argument so strong is the little amount of support, even amongst astronomers, as to the actual definition of a planet. As a matter of fact, only 5% of over 9000 astronomers in the IAU even voted for the definition, and of that number, not all voted in favor of the resolution. To make matters worse, many astronomers say this definition of a planet (particularly the part about clearing its own orbit) cannot not be applied to solar systems outside of our own, making it essentially useless. NASA leader Alan Stern has argued that the definition cannot even work in our own Solar System, as Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune all share their orbits with asteroids. After the definition, some members of the California state assembly denounced the IAU for “scientific heresy,” while New Mexico and Illinois both passed resolutions declaring that Pluto is still a planet under the states’ skies. After the reclassification of Pluto, the American Dialect Society chose the word “plutoed” as its word of the year, meaning “to have demoted or devalued someone or something.”
Where Does It Come From?
Pluto’s origin was a subject of many theories since its discovery. One early hypothesis said that it was escaped moon of Neptune, but scientists criticized this idea since Pluto never comes within close contact of the planet. In 1992, astronomers found a whole population of icy objects beyond Neptune that seemed similar to Pluto. They named this group of objects, the Kuiper Belt (seen in the above image). Pluto is the largest of these objects, but it is believed that Neptune’s moon Triton was originally a part of the belt as well. Scientists now agree that Neptune likely underwent a sudden migration at one point and this helped it grab a moon and knocked some of the objects in the belt (like Pluto) into chaotic orbits. This theory may also explain Pluto’s unique relationship with its moon, Charon. As stated before, the dwarf planet and its relatively large moon are tidally locked together and always face the same side of one another. Image by WillyD [Wikipedia]
New Horizons For the Dwarf Planet
Up until recently, there were no serious attempts to explore Pluto more in depth. In 1992, NASA started working on a program called the Pluto Kuiper Express that would allow a closer investigation of the object, but the project was canned in 2000. In 2003 though, a new project started up called New Horizons. The craft was launched in 2006 and some of the ashes of the man who discovered Pluto, Clyde Tombaugh, were included on the spacecraft. New Horizons will make its closest approach to the planet in 2015, but only time will tell what well will learn of our little dwarf planet, or if it will even hold the same classification by the time the work begins. Sources: Nasa, Wikipedia, Nine Planets, Solar Views, ZD Net, Wired
Need a vacation? While we can't help you get out of the office, we can make it easier to imagine you are. The 26 photos on Web Ecoist's Water on the Rocks series is sure to help you feel relaxed and inspired.
Link
Whoever thinks paper is boring has obviously never seen the Web Designer Depot blog post featuring 100 examples of paper artworks. The methods and styles of each artist vary greatly, but they are all delightfully beautiful and inspired.
Link
Everyone loves a good love story, but when you’re single or competitive, sometimes it’s nice to hear a story about an epic romantic fail to help cheer you up. That’s why we’ve decided to help brighten your Valentine’s Day with this depressingly hilarious list of romantic misfires. If you’re alone on the holiday, it should help remind you that relationships don’t always mean smooth sailing. If you’re in a relationship, these stories might just help you avoid tragic mishaps of your own. Whatever your specific situation this year, have a happy Valentine’s Day and try not to end up like one of these poor suckers.
Bottoms Up, Rings Down!
Putting a ring inside your girl friend’s Wendy’s Frosty may seem romantic, but when you and your friends encourage her to chug it, you might just ruin the surprise. At least, that’s what happened to Reed Harris, when his girlfriend, Kaitlin Whipple, opened up her gullet and downed the contents on her Frosty, only to see her cheering crowd suddenly go blank and look at each other with worry. “I felt nothing at all,” she told Lauer. “I was racing my friends, so there was no way I was going to lose that competition.” That’s right, Kaitlin drank her engagement ring and had to go to the hospital, where the ring was found via X-ray. Reed proposed to Kaitlin with the X-ray image of the ring in place of the actual jewelry. A few days later, with the help of plenty of fiber, the couple recovered the ring --and promptly had it cleaned! Source: MSNBC Image via Kaitlin's Website.
Try Chewing Next Time
Lest you think that Kaitlin is the only woman to have swallowed her diamond ring during an engagement proposal gone wrong, here’s a proposal story that “takes the cake.” Mr. Chen, a resident of China, thought it would be really romantic to bake his engagement ring into a cake to surprise his girlfriend. Chen said he was inspired by romantic comedies he’s seen, which always tends to be a bad start. His girlfriend, Wen, was eating the cake when he bent down on his knee to propose, and then she suddenly passed out. "I realized I had just swallowed the ring with a full mouth of cake," she said. Chen called the police who told him to visit the hospital, where they were able to use a catheter to remove the ring. When Wen woke up, she promptly said yes. Source: Ananova Image via Chotda [Flickr] (not the actual cake in the story)
Leaves Your Emotions Soaring
Admittedly, giving your girlfriend a balloon and then having a ring fall out when you pop it is really romantic, but I’m sure we can all see the infinite number of things that could go wrong through this method of “popping the question.” Lefkos Hajji didn’t consider all those potential problems when he had a florist hide a ring worth over $1,000 inside a balloon. Thought the florist warned him to hold on tight to the balloon, Lefkos lost the balloon moments after leaving the shop when a gust of wind tore it from his hands. He claims he chased the balloon in his car for two days before he gave up hope. "I just watched as it went further and further into the air. I felt like such a plonker. It cost a fortune and I knew my girlfriend would kill me.” While Lefkos may get a lot of points on the romantic scale, his inability to see the obvious dangers in this plan indicate that he may be a little short on the intelligence side. Evidence that his IQ is lower than the average bear is even stronger when you consider that the girl he is so in love with, presumably for her kindness and lovingness, refuses to speak with him until he gets her a new one. Personally, I would laugh and feel bad if my boyfriend did something like this. Of course, I think if he were to come up with a plan like this, he’d have an easy work around to prevent the danger from ever happening. --For example, this all could have been avoided if Lefkos put a note that said “will you marry me” in the balloon and then handed the girl the ring when she read the note. It’s just as sweet, not as dangerous. Source: The Sun UK Image via Kaptain Kobold [Flickr] (not the balloon in the story)
Rejection is Better In Private
I’ve always thought that if you were going to ask a girl to marry you in front of a massive audience, you’d better know she’s going to say yes. In this situation, even if the girl says yes, you still can’t be sure she actually meant it when she had that much pressure on her to agree. Of course, not every girl will say yes no matter how much she feels pressure, as seen in the video above, where a woman rejects her prospective husband in front of a full arena and tv cameras. Video link
The Rejection Should Not Be Televised
Like women swallowing wedding rings, rejecting potential spouses in public is not entirely uncommon. This woman’s face tells the answer before he even asks. This could have been a really romantic moment of television, but when the girl’s obviously not into it, the result is just plain awkward…not to mention painful. This couldn’t have been good for the show’s ratings. Video link
Keep Your Feet On The Ground
Sometimes all it takes for a proposal to go wrong is a little too much romance. When one man proposed on top of a steep hiking trail, the girl was so excited that she managed to fall off the cliffs after excitedly saying yes. She dropped ten feet off a steep rockface (like the one seen above) and went unconscious after hitting the ground. Luckily, park police were able to fly her out of the area with a helicopter and none of her injuries were life-threatening. Source: NY Daily News Image via Sharron McClellan [Flickr]
You Have The Right To Be An Idiot
It’s generally not a great idea to use government resources to scare the hell out of your girlfriend just so you can pop the question, but Baltimore State Delegate Jon S. Cardin is far too much of a risk-taker to heed such common sense. As such, he thought it would be a great idea to borrow a friend’s yacht and then convince local, on-duty police to raid the vessel with both boats and a helicopter, all in a strange, elaborate method of proposing to his girlfriend. Officers searched the boat and Megan Homer thought she was about to be handcuffed when Jon bent down on one knee and asked for her hand. Unfortunately for Mr. Cardin, officials for the Baltimore Police Department asked for his explanation. The officials were furious to hear about such an abuse of police resources when the city was already strapped for resources and police were in short supply even at dangerous crime scenes. Anthony Guglielmi, the Police Department's chief spokesman, stated "The Police Department is not in the business of renting out the helicopter and the boats for bachelor parties and birthdays. We're in the business of upholding public safety in Baltimore." When Cardin actually addressed the public about the matter, he claimed the police performed a “routine safety check,” and left out the part about the helicopter. At least he promised to reimburse the city for any expenses related to the proposal. Source: Baltimore Sun Image via Chris Hau [Flickr]
Don’t Kiss Someone To Deaf
Marriage proposals are not the only romantic gestures that go wrong of course. Even something as simple as a kiss can go very, very wrong in some situations. Take for example the Chinese woman who became partially deaf for two months after receiving a mind-numbingly passionate kiss from her lover. Somehow the kiss created pressure build up in her head so severe that her right ear drum blew out, leaving it completely deaf. "While kissing is normally very safe, doctors advise people to proceed with caution," said the Chinese newspaper that originally covered the story. Source: Reuters Image via Life Photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt
The Kiss Heard Round The World
Speaking of kisses that really make an impact, it’s important to know the cultural implications of public displays of affection before you kiss someone publicly on stage. Richard Gere learned this the hard way when he managed to piss off practically everyone in India by kissing the Celebrity Big Brother winner, Shilpa Shetty, on stage during an Aids awareness rally in New Dehli. In India, it is considered obscene to publicly display any form of affection and Gere’s kissing Shetty’s hands and face were considered vulgar to those watching. Some people were so incensed by his actions that they actually burned effigies of him on the street, while protesters in other areas shouted “death to Shilpa Shetty.” Source: BBC
Only Some Things Are Forever
Getting a life-sized portrait of your wife and children tattooed on your back might not be on most people’s to do list, but it most certainly displays a life-long commitment to your spouse. Unfortunately for Alan Jenkins, his wife was most certainly not willing to return the favor. While he was going through the 20-hour long, $1500 process of a full-back tattoo, she was busy cheating with a man who was 10-years-her-junior that she met at work. Of course, Alan didn’t find out until after the tattoo was complete, "I had it because I thought we loved each other - I feel very betrayed." Strangely, he’s decided to not have her image removed. His wife, Lisa, tried to defend herself by saying she never meant to fall in love with fitness instructor Kaspars Gavars and that she never wanted Alan to get the tattoo in the first place. Still, waiting for your husband to complete his tattoo before you tell him about your affair is pretty heinous. This incident reminds me of the scene in “Born In East L.A.” where Cheech is told to remove the tattoo of a woman on someone’s back. Since he obviously can’t remove it, he draws devil horns and a mustache on the face. Maybe Alan needs to see this movie for some ideas. Source: Daily Mail UK
Passengers Only Beyond This Point
In olden times, it was ok to walk your sweetie all the way down the tarmac just to spend the most possible time together before kissing each other goodbye, but in the days of the TSA, it’s not so simple. Personally, I thought this was pretty common knowledge, but I guess I was wrong because apparently, because one man actually shut down a whole airport for five hours just to kiss his girlfriend goodbye. The couple remains unidentified, but I’m sure more than a few people at the airport wish they knew who was responsible for making every single passenger go through security a second time, delaying flights for hours. The TSA agent that left his post, letting the man slip into the secure area undetected, was suspended on administrative leave. Source: Reuters Image
Only Babies Can Go Naked and Shoot People With Arrows
One of the most frequent reasons men seem to get in trouble for romantic gestures is in a strange attempt to impress a girl. While outrageous methods occasionally catch a woman’s eye, many stupid ideas not only fall flat, but also result in arrests and mayhem. James Miller is a perfect example. This young Romeo had a bit too much to drink one night and decided that relying on cupid wasn’t good enough to take his relationship to the next level --instead, he decided, he needed to be cupid. So he took the next logical step and jumped onto the field of a soccer game dressed in only his boxers, shooting roses from an arrow at the crowd of entertained onlookers. Naturally, he was arrested, fined and banned from any further soccer games for the next three years. Unfortunately for Miller though, his girlfriend, Jade Thompson, had quite the opposite reaction to his stunt and dumped him shortly after the incident. To make matters worse, since he’s in the military, his superior officers warned that he may even be court-martialed for the stunt. "That sort of behavior always seems to work some romantic magic in the movies. Now I have no girlfriend and no job,” he explained outside of a courtroom hearing. Source: Telegraph UK
Crime Doesn’t Pay or Get You Girls
What could be worse than streaking along a soccer field to impress a girl? Drunkenly stealing a plane and then crashing it into a soybean field. Michael Santos had already lost his driver’s license permanently, but that didn’t deter his desire to impress his girlfriend by showing her that he could fly a plane. So, he drove her to the airport while drunk, broke into a plane and then managed to catch the wing on fire before he even reached the end of the taxiway. He then missed a curve in the runway veered into a soybean field and cut up a bunch of the plants with the plane’s propeller. Police estimate the damage to be around $160,000. No word yet on whether his girlfriend actually stuck by him after this moronic stunt, but the fact that she got into the plane with her drunken boyfriend is a good indicator that she seems to lack common sense enough to dump him for this. Source: MSNBC Image via Cranky Guy Media [Flickr] (not the actual plane involved)
Don’t Flash Cash You Don’t Have
The spirit of capitalism is alive and well in China, or at least when it comes to trying to impress women. A man in the Heilongjiang province was arrested last year after trying to impress his girlfriend by depositing a 250 million yuan ($36.5 million) check into his bank account. The only problem, the check was a fake and he bought it only so he could look cool by depositing it in front of her. I’m sure you can guess what happened afterward; bank clerks knew the check was fake and called the police and the man was arrested. He immediately confessed that he bought the fake check for the sake of impressing his lover. The moral here is it’s better to be poor and honest than truthful while under arrest. Source: China Daily What about you readers? Have any love stories from hell, or know someone else that does? Do share.
When most people feel cheated by their lover, they complain to friends or maybe trash some of the other person's property left at their house. But YaVaughnie Wilkins is not most people.
After seeing that Oracle President Charles Phillips was going back to his wife, she bought $250,000 worth of billboards in Atlanta, San Francisco and New York that featured her and Charles together. The billboards also featured a link to her website, but it has since been taken down.
I think this is going a bit far, but I've never been in an eight year long affair with the president of a major company, so maybe I just don't know what it's like. What do you guys think?
Link Via San Francisco Family Law Blog Image Via Gawker
I've never actually tried to pet a toad, but I certainly didn't think they would react to it like this.
Link
Researchers say that Uranus and Neptune may have full oceans of liquid diamonds with giant diamond icebergs floating through them. The research showed that when diamonds are in their liquid state, they function similar to water and similarly, solid chunks can float in them.
Ordinarily, before diamonds are melted, they turn into graphite. It takes a perfect level of pressure and heat to turn them into liquid diamond form. Researchers found that the pressure has to be similar to those found on Neptune or Uranus.
Link
"Diamond is a relatively common material on Earth, but its melting point has never been measured," said J. H. Eggert of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. "You can't just raise the temperature and have it melt, you have to also go to high pressures, which makes it very difficult to measure the temperature."
Ordinarily, before diamonds are melted, they turn into graphite. It takes a perfect level of pressure and heat to turn them into liquid diamond form. Researchers found that the pressure has to be similar to those found on Neptune or Uranus.
Link
Email This Post to a Friend