Quiddity

8 Mysterious Tales of Traveling Dogs

8 Mysterious Tales of Traveling Dogs.  If you love dogs, this article will make you a little weepy.

Major Brian Dennis adopted an abused mixed-breed dog in Anbar Province, Iraq. He named the dog Nubs because his ears had been cut off. Dennis nursed Nubs back to health over four months, but then he was ordered to move his squadron 70 miles away. Two days later, Nubs rejoined Dennis! The dog had tracked him down despite subfreezing temperatures and rough terrain. But the major received orders to get rid of the dog within four days or he would be shot.

Link via neatorama.

Guardians of Russian Art Museums

                 

Female guardians of Russian art museums.

In the art museums of Russia, women sit in the galleries and guard the collections. When you look at the paintings and sculptures, the presence of the women becomes an inherent part of viewing the artwork itself. I found the guards as intriguing to observe as the pieces they watch over. In conversation they told me how much they like being among Russia’s great art. A woman in Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery Museum said she often returns there on her day off to sit in front of a painting that reminds her of her childhood home. Another guard travels three hours each way to work, since at home she would just sit on her porch and complain about her illnesses, “as old women do.” She would rather be at the museum enjoying the people watching, surrounded by the history of her country.

Link via boingboing.

The Five Stages of Your Life

The five stages of your life.  Sad, but true.

Link via look at this.

Happy 29th Birthday...Ugh

          

No, not Johnny Depp.  Me!  (I just like this picture.)  Only 1 more year until the big 30.

We suck at noticing changes

Even though we are able to recognize familiar scenes, we have a difficult time noticing if they have been modified or not.

But Luke Rosielle and Jeffrey Scaggs point out that change blindness isn't much of a problem in the real world because things don't ordinarily disappear or change right in front of our eyes, or in the moment when we glance away. A much more common type of change happens when we've been away for a longer period of time. If you leave town for a few weeks, you might be likely to notice that your favorite coffee shop has been repainted. This is the sort of change we may be more likely to notice. Or are we?

Did you figure out the changes made to the two dimes in the article?  I could, but I think it's because I recently taught a math unit on money a few weeks ago.  I'll freely admit that I suck at noticing changes.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson |MTV Music

RIP Michael. Thanks for all of the great music. Hopefully, you're in a place where people will finally leave you alone.

Futuristic Movie Timeline

                    

Ever wonder what year your favorite sci-fi flick took place in.  Well, wonder no more!

Link via driko.

Vintage Medicine Ads

             

Here's an interesting collection of vintage medicine ads.  I totally need some Nervine. 

Link via dark roasted blend.

Teenage girl dug up to be 'corpse bride'

A grieving father paid to have the corpse of a young girl dug up in order for her to marry his dead son.  Apparently there's a lot of money to be made from ghost brides.  This practice occurs mostly in rural China and the tradition goes back almost 2,000 years.

For Sung, the relative shortage of the dead kind led him to set his sights on living women in the countryside, often those who suffered from mental disorders and were left roaming outside of their homes, itself an obvious problem in rural China.

Fresh dead bodies, known as wet goods, also could fetch higher prices than bodies buried in the grave for some time, which is known in the industry as dry goods, with the prices for female corpses fast rising due to the lack of supply.

Via Look at This.

Dunhuang Star map

             

The Dunhuang Star map is the first known Chinese atlas of the stars.  Very cool.

Among the manuscripts was an exquisite star chart. It shows the entire sky as visible from China, skilfully drawn by hand in red and black inks onto a fine, four-metre-long paper scroll. In 1907, archaeologist Marc Aurel Stein took the chart and more than 7,000 other cave manuscripts to the British Museum in London.

Dated to between 649 and 684 ad, the chart is the oldest extant graphical star atlas in the world, explains Susan Whitfield, director of the British Library's International Dunhuang Project, which aims to make information and images about the artefacts available on the Internet. The atlas is on display at the British Library in London this summer to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy.

Link via the map room.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Movie Trivia

Here are some interesting facts about the classic film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure that you may not have known about. 

In one of the early scripts, Rufus was a 28-year-old sophomore in high school whose van traveled through time. The van idea was thought to be too similar to the DeLorean in Back to the Future, so the phone booth concept was used instead.

You also get to find out what happened to the phonebooth prop from the film.