As shown in our recent post about weird inventions, technology goes in lots of different directions. In this case, technology will take you somewhere wonderful without every having to leave your chair.
Use your mouse to explore Vietnam’s Son Doong cave
National Geographic has created a stunning interactive tool that will let you explore this wonder of nature, walking through each zone and looking around as though you were there. The 360° views let you look all around and up into the dizzying heights of the cave.
If you like armchair exploring, you’re not just relegated to tours. the PhET project provides simulations for physics, biology, chemistry and other sciencey-wiencey stuff.
Do you know a virtual adventure that we should know about? Share it with us!
There you have it. Based on what we currently understand about cloning, we don’t have any way to regenerate a dinosaur. We’re just going to have to rely on time travel. Of course, there are other historic creatures that are within the reasonable DNA half-life, including Neanderthal Man. In this interview with Spiegel from several years ago, scientist, George Church, discusses the plausibility of cloning a Neanderthal Man and other topics that may shock or delight you. Church denied that he was seeking an “Adventurous Woman,” as some reported, to be a surrogate for a baby Neanderthal. We don’t know if he didn’t get a volunteer or if there were too many. (Can you just imagine the email?)
Alvin, a bearded dragon, is our official lucky lizard, live and on display
Are these places where science dare not go? If someone discovers a way around the half-life issue or wants to explore brining back a woolly mammoth or Neanderthal should we be worried or buy tickets? As host to the one and only Iceman, we would love to have a pet dinosaur. I guess we’ll have to be content to enjoy our lucky lizard, Alvin, on display in the museum.
It’s a shame that some inventions never caught on. Imagine how stylish flying would have been if the Hoop-Skirt parachute idea, described in the January 1911 edition of Popular Mechanics, had caught on. It’s possible that the manly men at the time balked at the idea of being seen in something that could at any time resemble a skirt. It’s also possible that the idea didn’t really work and they would simply plummet to their death… leaving a good-looking corpse.
Portable library, 1920s style
Another idea in the early 20th century was the first book killer. Long before gadgets like computer tablets, inventors already had their sights set on fixing the problem of carrying around cumbersome books. The June 1922 edition of Scientific American shows one solution. The Fiske Reading Machine printed books in tiny print and provided a modified magnifying glass that you could hold up to your eye to read. One can only imagine how this would work on a bumpy carriage ride.
It’s easy to laugh at these things now, but you never know how the next great thing will appear. It might seem like the famous Inside the Egg Egg Scrambler by Ronco. It might end up being sliced bread.
Think that egg scrambler idea is dead? You haven’t been watching Kickstarter. People will do just anything to avoid cleaning that fork and bowl!
By greyloch from Washington, DC, area, U.S.A. (The Corpse Bride) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia CommonsIn Tim Burton’s film, Corpse Bride, Victor Van Dort finds himself unwittingly married to a woman who has been dead for years. Weird fantasy stuff, eh? Not necessarily. The practice of marrying the dead is quite real and more common than you might think.
Called posthumous marriage, the practice of marrying the deceased is legal in France, with similar customs in India, Sudan and China. In France, the custom dates back to World War I, where a few women were married by proxy to soldiers who had died a few weeks earlier. The living party must be able to demonstrate that there was clear intention for the couple to be married. The Guardian reports a posthumous wedding in France as late as 2009.
It’s not just women. The Daily Mail reports the wedding of Thai TV producer, Chadil Deffy, who married his girlfriend, killed in a car accident.
These stories are touching and heart-wrenching all at once. Such a ceremony could provide closure to someone who has been left behind, completing an important part of life that would otherwise have been left unfinished. Of course, it might go deeper. In my travels I had a fascinating conversation with a widow who told me she was still in regular contact with her husband’s spirit who stayed around her house and continued to participate in her life.
Posthumous marriage is not recognized in the United States, though there are cases where people have tried it anyway. Kirsten Smolensky examines Rights of the Dead in the Hofstra Law Review.
When visiting Austin, you must come by the Museum of the Weird to experience first-hand some of the strangest artifacts on earth. When we visit Washington DC, we’re going to go see the International Spy Museum.
This amazing place houses a collection of items and stories of espionage around the world and from the beginning of recorded history. See the stories of famous men and women considered above suspicion—and doubly effective as spies. A Spy’s Eye View of the Civil War is a gallery to highlight the significant role espionage played during the War Between the States. They even provide Interactive Spy Experiences, where you get to see first hand what it’s like to be a spy.
Would you be interested in interactive experiences through the Museum of the Weird? What kind?
Imagine driving down the road and you see this up ahead.
By Brady Smith; Coconino National Forest [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia CommonsYou might feel that we were being invaded, but what you see is an unusual formation called a “lenticular cloud.” These clouds form in situations where some sort of large object (like a mountain or a building) disturbs the air flow and creates an eddie of air. When the conditions are right, clouds form in these eddies and take on a bizarre saucer shape that looks like something from the film, Independence Day.
These weird clouds may account for some UFO reports. Here are some more amazing examples.
Lenticular clouds and Mount Hotaka from Mount Otensho 1994-06-25 By Alpsdake (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia CommonsBy Brandy Jenkins [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY 2.5], via Wikimedia CommonsLenticular Clouds over Cagliari By fdecomite [CC BY 2.0] Of course, not all reports can be explained by clouds. Soon we’ll examine some of the more detailed reports and the organization that constantly tracks and investigates them.
You’ve probably heard about the epic battle between inventors, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla about how electricity would be delivered to the masses. If not, this video will catch you up.
As the video shows, Edison’s campaign was pretty grim. He was convinced that AC power was unsafe and publicly electrocuted a number of animals, including an aging elephant, to prove it. AC had advantages for cheaply delivering power over long distances, so it ultimately won out…or did it.
It makes one wonder if their battle may continue wherever they may be, if they might look at what their creations have wrought and continue to keep score.
Punishment? No! Cure! This cage was a 1909 treatment for Arteriosclerosis. Click the picture for the article in a 1909 science magazine.
There may be a reason why what doctors do is called “practice.” While medicine has become a more rigorous science over time, the history of medicine is filled with things that would have you swear that people were just making things up.
The picture shows a man in a cage. It’s not some sort of medieval torture, it’s a device that was designed to treat Arteriosclerosis. The cage is attached to some electrical equipment that would make Victor Von Frankenstein proud.
Of course, while we laugh at some of these crazy medical practices of the past, we may not be much better today. In the far future will people look with horror on how we used radiation and chemicals to battle disease? Will what we see as the most sophisticated and compassionate medical techniques look like poking holes in people’s skulls with a rock to let out the bad spirits?
Here’s a video featuring 10 of the most bizarre medical practices in history.
So, you go into your favorite sandwich shop and they punch your card with each purchase as you work your way toward a free sandwich. You go to your grocery store, and you use a card for members-only discounts. Why can’t a marijuana dealer be like that? Well, in Marsaille, France, it seems that they are.
This article in La Provence (French. English translation by Google) describes how drug dealers in Marseille are trying to give their customers a break and reward them with special discounts for regular customers. Just like your sandwich card they give you a stamp for each purchase. Fill the card up and you qualify for special discounts.
Dealing drugs is illegal in Marsaille, as it is in many places. Yet it seems to be lucrative enough that people not only continue to deal, but engage in marketing programs as well. How weird is that?
Are you a fan of paranormal reality shows? If you are, it may feel like the world is filled with psychics who are flooded with feelings and visions surrounded by observers who would put Sherlock Holmes to shame. I know that some people watching these programs become very frustrated with their own explorations. Real paranormal experiences don’t usually happen like they look on TV. They can be more subtle, and certainly a lot less frequent than you would think.
You might take comfort in this blog entry by Kelly Roncace, Paranormal Corner: Intimate experience at Eastern State Penitentiary. She admits that, while an active investigator, she has rarely “felt” any kind of a connection on an investigation. It has happened, but it’s been obscure.
This is very honest and, I think, very important for everyone interested in paranormal investigation to hear. There are spectacular psychic experiences, but there are also many other kinds of subtle feelings and connections that are discarded because they’re not what’s expected and many are trained to ignore such things because they’re not “real.” Just because you’re not flooded with visions and voices doesn’t mean that you’re not connecting with anything. Not everyone experiences the same things in the same ways. Not everyone has the same intensity. Sometimes it grows, sometimes it will always be a whisper.
My own experience, and that of every psychic and medium I’ve interviewed, suggest that the important thing is to keep trying to be open. Record your successes, even when they feel tiny. Share with others who may be able to help you make sense of what’s happening. Experiment with different techniques. Be patient and persistent.
