Quiddity

10 Case Reports of Cotard’s Syndrome

Cotard's Syndrome is a bizarre mental disorder that makes you believe that you are dead.  

In 2008, New York psychiatrists reported on a 53-year-old patient, Ms. Lee, who complained that she was dead and smelled like rotting flesh. She asked her family to take her to a morgue so that she could be with other dead people. They dialed 911 instead. Ms. Lee was admitted to the psychiatric unit, where she accused paramedics of trying to burn her house down. After a month or so of a drug regimen, she was released with great improvement in her symptoms.

Women Workers Wearing Gas Masks

Women workers wearing gas masks in Tokyo circa 1939.  

No Rich Child Left Behind

Income inequality (not failing schools) is the real reason why so many children are falling behind in education.  According to this opinion piece in the New York Times, the rich-poor gap in test scores is 40% larger now than what it was 30 years ago.  

With a college degree insufficient to ensure a high-income job, or even a job as a barista, parents are now investing more time and money in their children’s cognitive development from the earliest ages. It may seem self-evident that parents with more resources are able to invest more — more of both money and of what Mr. Putnam calls “‘Goodnight Moon’ time” — in their children’s development. But even though middle-class and poor families are also increasing the time and money they invest in their children, they are not doing so as quickly or as deeply as the rich.

Sadly, the gap is only going to increase thanks to the sequester and local budget cuts.  Funding for pre-school has dropped by more than $548 million dollars since 2010.  My school dropped its pre-school program 3 years ago and a lot of districts are starting to charge for full-day kindergarten.  Parents who can't afford to pay will only be able to send their kids to school half day.

Vintage Victorian Costumes for a Fancy Dance Party

It figures that the guy dressed as bacon would win 1st prize.  Check out these wild Victorian costumes.  Lady Paget as Cleopatra looks amazing.  Love the fan.

Via essie fox.

25 Vintage Photos of Librarians Being Awesome

Flavorwire has a great collection of vintage photographs featuring librarians.  I would love to know the story behind this picture.

Steampunk train barbeque grill

Now this is how you barbeque.

How to create a giant spider for a low budget sci-fi movie.

Hubcab Spaceships, Giant Spiders, and the Charm of Low Budget Special Effects via Neatorama.

The giant spider was made using a VW bug for the body and 8 men moving the legs inside.

“We had to physically make this thing move, so the quickest, cheapest way is to buy a Volkswagen bug,” he says. “It’s low to the ground, the engine’s in the back, and we can put everything on the frame on the front. We built off it, we welded everything to the body. We used it as a mode of transport, of making it move, and it was low enough to the ground where we could hide it. That way we could drive it up over the hill, and into the city. And the same time we’re rowing the legs, and trying to keep everybody in synch!”

 

Tarting up Candy Land

Depressing article about how the characters in Candy Land have been given a freakish Bratz makeover.  I love how they gave Queen Frostine Michael Jackson's nose.  Ugh.

In another study, researchers engaged three-to-five-year-old girls in games of, yes, Candy Land as well as Chutes & Ladders, asking them to choose among three game pieces—a thin one, an average-sized one and a fat one—to represent themselves. While in the past children that age showed little ability to distinguish between average and thin weights, today's wee ones grabbed thin pieces at higher rates not only than fat ones but than those of "normal" weight. When asked by researchers to swap a thin figure for a fat one, the girls not only recoiled but some refused to even touch the chubbier game piece making comments such as, "I hate her, she has a fat stomach," or "She is fat. I don't want to be that one."

I've noticed that the five-year-old girls in my class are already obsessed with fashion and how they look.  A lot of them will come to school dressed in high heels, glitter, and make-up (mascara and eye shadow). They're also not shy about pointing out any fat rolls or muffin tops that they notice on the playground.  Very depressing.