Stravinsky and Nijinsky

The most infamous riot in the history of the performing arts began with the violins in Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” But more remarkable than the fistfight was the way the piece revolutionized classical music and ballet.

On the night of May 29, 1913, an elegant Parisian crowd assembled for the first performance of Igor Stravinsky’s eagerly anticipated new ballet, “The Rite of Spring.” The opening seemed promising, but then the violins kicked in with a pulsing chord so dissonant that it made spectators wince. As the orchestra continued, the audience hissed and booed. They rose to their feet and shouted—some defending the music, but most denouncing it. People began whacking each other with canes, umbrellas, and, before long, bare fists. Stravinsky’s musical revolution had arrived.

Prelude to “The Rite”

By one account, the idea for “The Rite of Spring” came to Stravinsky in a dream. He envisioned a pagan rebirth ritual, with people throwing themselves before vengeful gods. Rather than a cheerful celebration of springtime, it was a dark and superstitious rite. To compose music appropriate for such a vision, Stravinsky tossed aside convention and broke new ground in rhythm and harmony. He constructed atonal chords never heard before and developed a meter so complex that he struggled to accurately record it on paper. At times in the piece, parts of the orchestra actually seem to be playing against each other.

Stravinsky first performed “The Rite of Spring” for ballet director Sergei Diaghilev and orchestra conductor Pierre Monteux. Both men were shocked and overwhelmed. Later, Monteux wrote that he didn’t understand one note of it and wanted to flee the room. Nevertheless, plans for the ballet got under way. Diaghilev entrusted the choreography to dance phenom Vaslav Nijinsky, whose steps proved just as inspired as the music.

Concept, costumes, and set designs by Nicholas Roerich.

The first signs of trouble came during rehearsals. The ballerinas complained that Nijinsky’s flat-footed, straight-knee jumps jarred them to their bones, and the musicians struggled to keep up with Stravinsky’s galloping pace. At one point, after practicing a particularly dissonant section, the orchestra couldn’t help but burst into nervous laughter.

The Least Quiet of Riots

On opening night, the scene was chaotic. Only minutes into the performance, the audience’s reaction was so loud that the ballerinas couldn’t hear the music. Horrified, Stravinsky fled backstage to find Nijinsky standing on a chair desperately calling out the time for the dancers. Meanwhile, Diaghilev was frantically turning on and off the house lights in an attempt to pacify the crowd. By intermission, the police had arrived, and the theater manager took to the stage, begging the audience to calm down.

The Ballet Russes 1913

The truth is that the spectators were reacting as much to the dancing as to the music. “The Rite of Spring” contained no elegant arabesques or ballerinas in tutus. Instead, the dancers moved more with their hips than their feet, evoking something raw and primitive. What’s more, they dressed as pagan tribesmen, wearing rough tunics and stylized masks on their faces. It was the antithesis of classical ballet. In one scene, the dancers encircle a girl who stands transfixed with fear. Tribal elders swarm around this “chosen one” until she begins to leap frantically into the air. Her dance becomes more and more frenzied until she finally collapses dead—a ritual sacrifice to spring.

After the Revolution

Vaslav Nijinsky and an unnamed ballerina.

For several more nights, Diaghilev and Nijinsky performed “The Rite” to outraged Parisians. Stravinsky, however, grew too sick to attend. Five days after the ballet’s premiere, he fell dangerously ill with typhoid fever. But the following March, the piece was played again in Paris as an orchestral work (without the ballet). This time, instead of rioting, the audience cheered and then carried the composer aloft on their shoulders.

These days, “The Rite of Spring” is more likely to elicit polite applause. The innovations that made it revolutionary nearly a century ago are staples of dance and music today. In the world of ballet, “The Rite” introduced the idea that dance didn’t have to be refined to be significant, and Nijinsky’s choreography deeply influenced modern dance pioneers, such as Martha Graham. In the realm of music, the impact was just as profound, advancing the notion that abrasive music could also be beautiful. The genius of the piece is that it contains all the basic principles of a successful composition—compelling melodies, dynamic rhythms, contrast, repetition—while also pushing them to extremes. After the scandalous riot, it only took a few short years for “The Rite of Spring” to be widely embraced. By the 1920s, it was being performed in the United States, and by the 1940s, it had become background music in a Disney movie. By expanding the boundaries of acceptability, Stravinsky made room for all the dissonant music of the 20th century, from Arnold Schoenberg to Sonic Youth, and changed the definition of music forever.

The Mouse & The Musician

In 1940, “The Rite of Spring” took a big leap from avant-garde to mainstream when Stravinsky let Walt Disney use the piece for an animated movie. In the score of Fantasia, a truncated version of “The Rite” plays during the scenes depicting the beginning of life on Earth, from the primordial ooze to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Years later, Stravinsky wrote critically about Disney, claiming the film company had pressured him into licensing the rights to the music. He went on to describe the performance as “a dangerous misunderstanding” of his composition. Disney representatives were baffled and offended. In response, they released photos of Stravinsky in the studio holding up animation mockups and smiling.

The Kirov Ballet

(YouTube link)

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The above article by Elizabeth Lunday is reprinted with permission from the July-August 2008 issue of mental_floss magazine.

Be sure to visit mental_floss‘ entertaining website and blog for more fun stuff!

This is why the Internet exists. The long march of human progress has finally ended; we have reached our destination. Rest and rejoice in our accomplishments. Then:

1) Take a piece of bread
2) Cut a hole approximately 1 inch larger than your cat’s head. This trips some people up. Remember: the bread has to fit around not just the cat’s head, but it’s ears, too.
3) Gently place the bread around your cat’s head.
4) Take a picture & post it! We love Cat Breading!

Link -via Nerdcore

Ice floes on the Black Sea are scraping past each other, creating weird noises. If you couldn’t see the video, what would you guess is making the sound?

-via The Presurfer

This might just be a better movie than both the Phantom Menace or The Adventures of Tin Tin. Would you go see it?

Link

I don’t know about you guys, but unless the applicant was absolutely terrible, I would totally hire him after that.

Link

(Video Link)

This might just be one of the strangest scenes in The Shining, but The New York Times Correction on the matter might just be even weirder. Here goes:

Correction: January 29, 2012
An earlier version of this article incorrectly described imagery from “The Shining.” The gentleman seen with the weird guy in the bear suit is wearing a tuxedo, but not a top hat.

It’s darn good they changed that. I mean how would the readers possibly lived without knowing the bear was not, in fact, wearing a top hat?

Link Via io9

(Video Link)

Wikki wikki wikki what. Go Frenchie, it’s your birthday.

Via I Has A Hot Dog

FreddeGredde’s medley of songs from The Simpsons gives me an idea: turn the show into a musical. You know, like Cop Rock or Rags to Riches. It’s guaranteed to breathe new life into the series.

-via The Uniblog | FreddeGredde’s Website

Previously by FreddeGredde: Classic Cartoon Theme Song Medley

In 1956, 12-year old Jim Berger wanted to build a house for his dog. So he asked the Frank Lloyd Wright to design one.

In Berger’s favor, Wright had designed his family’s house. So he knew Berger and was on good terms with the kids’ family. The famous architect composed a complete set of plans for a dog house that would fit the same style. Berger never built it, but his family did in 1963. The family dogs, however, disapproved of its organic style and refused to live in it.

Link -via Flavorwire | Photo: Architects + Artisans

I am at a loss to explain why I love Downton Abbey, but I do. This is not an unusual sentiment. And the Dowager Countess has become my favorite character. She’s unflappable, faithful to her sense of honor, and knows how to lay down a few words. Sunday Avery summarized her neatly in this cross stitch.

Link -via Craft

Vinnie’s Pizza in Brooklyn gets creative with its menu board, showing themed meals for fans of A Clockwork Orange, Lost, Sons of Anarchy, and more. Stop by and exterminate a pizza during lunchtime.

Link -via reddit | Official Website

These videos by James Hutson are designed to introduce high school students to rational thinking. The style is reminiscent of the animated title sequences of Saul Bass. Therefore Saul Bass wanted people to think rationally. So watch the other five videos in the program at the link.

Link | Hutson’s Website

3d printing continues to take us boldly into the brave new world of the 21st century, and not surprisingly medical applications are at the top of the innovation ladder, since replacement parts are always in demand.

Recently, an entire mandible was created in a 3d printer by mixing titanium with the printing compound, and an elderly woman got a new lease on life thanks to the 3d printing of this replacement part. Here’s the scoop:

The patient was an elderly woman of 83 years who had developed a chronic bone infection in her lower jaw. Reconstructive surgery would be risky (and expensive) at her age so they decided to try something new – an operation that is literally the first of its kind.

They crafted a brand new jaw for her, made from titanium powder fused in a 3D printer. The complex body part comes complete with articulated joints, cavities to promote muscle attachment, and grooves to direct regrowth of nerves and veins. It will also be equipped with a specially made dental bridge into which false teeth can be screwed into holes. That will happen later this month during a follow-up surgery.

The operation was done in June last year, but has only recently been publicized – probably because they decided to make sure it actually worked first!

And work it did: our lovely old granny got to walk away from the hospital only four days after a surgery that only took four hours – a fifth of the time it would have taken to do a traditional reconstructive surgery. The day after the surgery the woman was already able to swallow with her new mouth!

Now, doctors just need to team up with Pirate Bay and start sending bones to each other via torrent file. Modern medicine just keeps getting cooler and cooler!

Link   –image credit: organprinter

The iconic weapon wielded by the main character(s) in the Portal video game franchise is about to become a reality thanks to the team at Neca, makers of fine replicas and awesome action figures.

This 1/1 replica looks so good that your fellow cosplayers will be sooooo jealous when they see you sporting this bad boy! And the quite affordable $208 price tag makes it perfectly accessible to all who want to strap this sucker on during playtime.

You can see lots more pretty pictures of this cool life-size replica at the link below. I predict a flood of Portal cosplayers will be in attendance at Comic-Con this year, and every one of them will have one of these strapped to their arm. The world could use a few more Portal costumes, and about a thousand less anime cosplayers!

Link  –via Kotaku

I'm sure you all agree that a little Jar Jar Binks goes a long way to improving your filmgoing experience. Why, just take a look at these 8 movies recast with the famous Gungan. After all, he rose from humble beginnings to become a Senator of the Galactic Republic.

Link - Thanks Andie!

No? Then you're just a Gungan hater.

Is the key to losing weight as simple as replacing "om nom nom" with just "om"? That's the principle behind Mindful Eating, a movement which invites you to meditate with your food:

The concept has roots in Buddhist teachings. Just as there are forms of meditation that involve sitting, breathing, standing and walking, many Buddhist teachers encourage their students to meditate with food, expanding consciousness by paying close attention to the sensation and purpose of each morsel. In one common exercise, a student is given three raisins, or a tangerine, to spend 10 or 20 minutes gazing at, musing on, holding and patiently masticating.

Lately, though, such experiments of the mouth and mind have begun to seep into a secular arena, from the Harvard School of Public Health to the California campus of Google. In the eyes of some experts, what seems like the simplest of acts — eating slowly and genuinely relishing each bite — could be the remedy for a fast-paced Paula Deen Nation in which an endless parade of new diets never seems to slow a stampede toward obesity.

Jeff Gordinier of The New York Times has the juicy morsels: Link

Is that a woman dressed in a burka or ninja gear? Perhaps we shouldn't be suprised to find that thousands of Iranian women are now training to become ninjas.

From Oddity Central:

The Ninjustu school in Iran was started in 1989 by Sensei Akbar Faraji. This was the first time the martial art was introduced to the country. While the club now has over 24,000 members, the number of female participants is slowly on the rise. According to Faraji, in Ninjutsu, men are called ninjas, while women are addressed as kunoichi.

Link

So. Do you carry reusable bags to shop at the grocery store? Do you sort empty plastic containers into the correct recycling bin? Did you trade-in your gas guzzler for a well-worn pair of sneakers?

Do you think that all those enviro-goody-two-shoes things you did matter? Think again.

No hate mail, please! That's what economist Gernot Wagner at the Environmental Defense Fund said. He argued that in order to save the planet, we need much more than environmentalists. Instead, we need smart economic policies.

Here's an interesting interview at Co.Exist:

Co.Exist:What does the average environmentalist get wrong?

Wagner: Environmentalists, all too often, think that the best way to go about solving the problem is to get everyone to do as they--we, I included--do. I don’t eat meat. I don’t drive. But individual do-gooderism won’t solve global warming.

And it may actually be counter-productive, for two reasons. First, there’s a well-documented psychological phenomenon called “single-action bias.” You do one thing, and you move on. You carry your groceries home by foot, in a cotton canvas bag, and you think that single act of environmental kindness makes up for other sins.

Second, you spend all your energy thinking about these tiny things. Should you buy the local apples that have been stored for months in a cool house somewhere, or should you buy the fresh apple flown in from across the world? Or should you not buy apples at all when they are not in season and risk not getting enough vitamins?

You’d go positively crazy trying to figure out what to do, and you’d miss the big picture: That, at the end of the day, none of that really matters.

So what should we do? Read on at Co.Exist: Link

Nisheisha lives in Jamaica, but there’s no chance you will find her home. I have learned from experience that you never trust directions given by children or by people who do not drive. I’ve also learned from experience that those are the people who will ask you for a ride. Oh, they may be able to show you where they live, but you’ll be past a turn before they tell you to turn “back there.” Go ahead, ask a child near you for directions to some nearby landmark! -via Cynical-C

Grant Snider at Incidental Comics found the secret to making life a lot more artful, interesting, and …strange. Link -Thanks, Rich!

While the group of friends at Lake Geneva imagined the ghoulish possibilities of galvanism, one young woman was so horrified by the idea of reanimating corpses that she subsequently had a dream in which she saw “the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together.” This dream inspired her to write a horror story in which a “mad scientist” creates a monster out of dead body parts, a monster that wreaks havoc and kills innocents. The author is Mary Shelley. The story, of course, is Frankenstein. Considered by many to be the first true work of science fiction, it was certainly the world’s first cautionary tale about the perils of science messing around with life.

There are other examples in a post at Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Author Laura H. Kahn wants to encourage scientists to write more fiction, so that stories about science could be more informative, and maybe a little less horrifying. Link -Thanks, Janice!

The person who submitted this photo to Black and WTF took the picture himself in the 1950s. Link -via Buzzfeed

How could somebody talking to me in a diner on 7th Avenue have also talked to somebody that ancient? It just didn’t seem possible. Yet the old guy said, “Rasputin and my dad were friends. He used to come over for tea.”

I thought about it. Rasputin was assassinated in 1916. A 70-year-old man in 1973 would have been 13 when Rasputin was alive. It was not inconceivable that this guy had actually met Rasputin.

Other stories involve an eyewitness to the Lincoln assassination who appeared on television, Civil War widows who saw the 21st century, and the man who met both President John Quincy Adams and President John Kennedy. Link -via Breakfast Links

Caleb Kraft decorated his 1977 VW Microbus with a mural of an “octophant,” an elephant head with a trunk and tentacles! That’s not all -he installed handmade stained glass in the van as well. So if you see a Microbus with stained glass and an elephant inside, you know who it is. Or continue reading for a video of the project.

(YouTube link)

You can see more pictures of the project at his blog. Link -Thanks, Caleb!

You have to wonder if the eight-foot-tall woman has to pay extra to get her legs waxed. Or is the aesthetician just very small? There’s some question of whether this picture is a Photoshop disaster or just a photo taken at a strange angle. What do you think? Link

Zookeepers at the Tama Zoo and the Ueno Zoo, both in Tokyo, undergo annual training in what to do if an animal escapes. Although the training is serious business, it appears ridiculous to onlookers because they cannot use real animals. This year’s escaped animal drill at the Ueno Zoo featured a papier mâché rhinoceros. It appears to be the same fake rhino they used for the drill in 2008. Link -via Arbroath

See also: the Ueno Zoo’s zebra drill and the tiger drill at the Tama Zoo.

Here it is, our collaboration with the always amusing What Is It? Blog! Tell us what this object is, if you know. If you don’t, make a wild guess!

Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you’d like. Post no URLs or weblinks, as doing so will forfeit your entry. We’ll have two winners: the first correct guess and the funniest (albeit ultimately wrong) guess will win T-shirt from the NeatoShop.

Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don’t include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts?

There are more pictures of this thing at the What Is It? Blog. Have fun and good luck!

Neatorama presents

The incredibly strange life of Boston Corbett.

Abraham Lincoln, our 16th U.S. president, was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865. He died the next day. Okay, what is this, a history class? Everybody knows that! But who shot Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth? Well, let’s find out by looking into the life of one of the strangest, little-known men who had a part in United States history. Let’s look at the strange life of Boston Corbett.

Thomas Corbett was born in England in 1832. He immigrated to Boston where he became a born-again Christian. He adopted the city’s name in honor of his conversion. But Corbett wasn’t your normal convert. His religious zeal knew no bounds.

Fearing temptation by prostitutes, he used a pair of scissor to castrate himself. After which, he casually attended a prayer meeting (he did receive medical attention afterwards). Corbett had been married earlier, but his wife died in childbirth.

During the Civil war, Corbett became a Cavalry sergeant. After the 1865 assassination of President Lincoln, his unit took part in the search for John Wilkes Booth. On April 26th, his unit surrounded the barn where Booth was hiding and set it on fire. Corbett saw Booth through a crack in the barn and fired a single shot, mortally wounding him.

“Providence guided my hand,” Corbett told his commanding officer. By an odd coincidence, Corbett’s bullet had struck Booth in the same spot Booth’s shot had hit president Lincoln. When told of this, Corbett said, “What a fearful God we serve.”

His reward money for killing Booth was $1,653.84, the exact same amount as every other man in his unit.

Corbett instantly became famous as “Lincoln’s Avenger.” He was flooded by requests for autographs and cheered when he walked the streets. But fame, once hot and heavy, gradually died down.

Boston Corbett started suffering from severe delusions. He imagined John Wilkes Booth’s men were stalking him and thought he was in grave danger. He fled to Kansas.

In 1887, he was given a job as doorman to the Kansas House of Representatives. One day he showed up waving a gun, declaring the House adjourned. Corbett was declared insane and sent to an asylum. The following year he escaped, and no one ever heard of Boston Corbett again.

He is thought to have settled and spent the final part of his life in the forests of Hinckley, Minnesota. There is no conclusive proof of this, but the Great Hinckley Fire of September 1894 lists a “Thomas Corbett” on the list of the dead or missing.

Corbett was a hatter by trade. The mercury used to cure beaver pelts is thought to have contributed to his madness.

Visit guest author Eddie Deezen at his website.

What could be cooler than a compilation of nuclear cooling towers undergoing demolition? Those towers imploding with surprised faces drawn on them! It’s an ad from Ecotricity, a wind-power advocacy group. -via Geekosystem

(YouTube Link)

Are you tired of catching flack from hardcore Harry Potter fans about how you’ve never sat through all eight of the movies?

Do you want to check out all the films without committing more than a minute of your time to the task?

Is watching a recap of Harry going from apprentice wizard to defeater of Voldemort the only way you can start your day?

Well then this snack sized video should satisfy any/all of these requirements as quickly as possible.

–via The Mary Sue

This illustrated chart by H. Caldwell Tanner shows how much time is needed to properly enjoy each genre of video game, from casual games to epic length RPGs, and in my opinion it pretty much sums up what all hardcore gamers know-each genre has a different level of commitment, and appeals to a particular type of gamer.

This chart is a great way for newbie gamers to figure out what kind of games they’re looking for, instead of borrowing your copy of Mass Effect 3 for six months just to discover that they don’t really like RPGs.

Link  –via Geeks Are Sexy

Meet Agata Oleksiak (aka OLEK), a “New York-based Polish artist” who’s the world’s first crochet street artist. Her works have been seen all over New York and London, and she’s bringing a bit of crocheted color to the world with her psychedelic yarn works and twisted gimp-esque crocheted bodysuits.

Head to the link to see some of her awesome guerilla artworks, from a crocheted car to the Wall Street Bull and some seriously twisted yarn covered rooms in-between. Olek seems hell bent on making the world a warmer place, one bright pink skein at a time.

Link  –via DesignTAXI

Hooters, the chain restaurant that is built around showing off women’s *ahem* assets, is getting an extremely unlikely crossover in their Japanese restaurants as they introduce Hello Kitty elements just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Apparently, the Japanese don’t feel like characters intended for children should be kept separate from adult and sexually suggestive merchandising, which makes me wonder-where do they actually draw the line?

And were those Hello Kitty “personal massagers” I saw online actually licensed by Sanrio? Ewwwww!

Link

Movies and television shows always show scientists as being stuffy older folks shrouded in white lab coats, but real scientists look much more like the rest of us than they would have you think. That’s why This Is What A Scientist is so great -it shows real scientists living their everyday lives, looking like regular people. What a great way to counter the stereotypes.

Link

He’s so cuddly you might just be tempted to let your kids play with him, until they actually see the movie and suddenly start refusing to go to bed and having nightmares every day.

Link Via CraftZine

If your boyfriend has been looking for a little validation lately, a sign that shows you appreciate him and think he’s a good guy, then you might need to get him a Boyfriend Badge this Valentine’s Day. Here’s what creator Ashley J. has to say about them:

My boyfriend is an achievement whore when it comes to gaming, so these buttons are a perfect v-day gift.

The ($8 — or $1.50 apiece) set includes (from top left to bottom right): Drunk Make Outs, You’ve Accepted My Fetish, Breaking the Fart Barrier, My Pet Likes You, Met the Parents, and Moral Support While Puking.

These are one of the most relatable sets of relationship related merch I’ve ever seen, and I should have a set of these from each of my ex-girlfriends, except the one that had a dog that just did not like me very much, and that other one whose parents were dead. I’m still very good, I promise! *wink*

Link  –via Geekologie

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Here comes the dragonborn bride. Let’s face it, its funny and unique, but this certainly isn’t the most romantic first dance ever.

Via Geekologie

Of course, I’d hate to see this Dovahkiin actually slay the equally adorable elder dragon.

Link Via Geekosystem

(Video Link)

The Superbowl might be over, but it’s never too late to enjoy a party with some sweet Slurm and Bachelor Chow. To be fair, it’s not quite Slurm being as how it is not made from the butt of a giant slug, but it certainly looks more delicious than the original.

Via io9

For many of us, the 1939 film is the first thing that comes to mind when we think of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. But it wasn’t the first movie version of Baum’s book. This version, based on a 1902 stage musical, was produced by the Selig Polyscope Company just ten years after the publication of the novel. If the 1939 film is your standard, then this version is surreal to watch. You can find part two at the link.

Link

The main disadvantage to getting up in the morning is compelling your body to move from a horizontal position to a vertical position. This experience has been vastly overrated and is avoided by all right-thinking people. Here’s a breakthrough design by the home design firm Dornbracht that reduces, but not eliminates, this problem. The next necessary development is a machine that moves you from the bed to the shower (and then back to bed) without any personal effort. What do you think? Would you like to use a horizontal shower?

Content warning: nudity at both links.

Link -via Gizmodo | Photo: Dornbracht

You don’t speak binary? That’s okay. The bride-to-be explains what happened:

My boyfriend told me I had to close my laptop for a couple minutes, then when I logged back on this was posted to my facebook wall. He sat across the room as I transcribed and then decoded it. After about a half hour I found out it says, “Rachel, you are awesome. Will you marry me?” I said yes, of course :B

Marriages that are founded on ones and zeroes are the only ones that are stable and healthy because there’s no such thing as two.

-via Geekologie

I’m amazed that this is possible. Jim Dingilian adds a layer of soot inside bottles and then etches at the surface until he makes sharp looking landscapes. If you’re in New York City, you can visit an exhibit of his work that opened yesterday.

Link and Exhibit Website -via Craft | Photo: MacKenzie Fine Art

Why don’t Daleks on Doctor Who get cutie marks? There have to be different ways of exterminating life, and therefore different ways to earn them. This should be explored in a crossover episode.

Link -via The Mary Sue | Image: deviantART user XFizzle

Here at Neatorama, we often feature the work of artist Brock Davis. His genius lies in seeing hidden forms in ordinary objects, like a treehouse in a sprig of broccoli or a bearskin rug in a gummi bear. One of Davis’s latest projects depicts famous explosions using cauliflower and skewers. Pictured above is the tragic destruction of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986. His other pieces in the set show the wreck of the Hindenburg and the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

Link -via @JosephHolmes

By killing mice and rats in barns and grain storage areas, cats are vital for keeping those pests in check. In India, Beck said, cats are believed to play a significant role in lessening the amount of grain loss caused by consumption or contamination by rodents. In other words, it may be true that humans feed cats, but without cats, humans would have less food in the first place. [...]

And if the rodent population shot up, this would of course trigger a cascade of other ecological effects. On that same island in New Zealand, for instance, ecologists observed that, as rat numbers increased in the absence of cats, the population of seabirds whose eggs rats preyed upon declined. If the approximately 220 million domestic cats in the world all bit the dust, seabird populations would likely fall worldwide, while the populations of non-cat predators that prey on rats would be expected to increase.

Link -via @AlexisMadrigal | Photo: Flickr user wapico

For $2,000, a Dixie State College of Utah donor could have been the namesake of a porcelain castle complete with a locking door, a generous supply of off-brand toilet paper and an occasional copy of yesterday’s sports section.

In a brazen effort to raise funds, Dixie State offered naming rights to individual bathroom stalls in a musical theater company’s planned building. The college wanted to help the troupe, which had moved on campus after being evicted from its previous stage, raise money for a new home somewhere else.

Dixie State’s fundraising plan didn’t work and the theater company shut down. But other colleges, including Harvard University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Pennsylvania have named bathrooms for donors. It’s a mark of pride:

A University of Pennsylvania donor funded a bathroom renovation (subscription required) in the campus library. His philanthropy had one catch — that the walls be lined with plaques reading, “The relief you are now experiencing is made possible by a gift from Michael Zinman.”

If you’re a college student right now, look around a bathroom on your campus and dream of your future. Someday, this is what you could be known for.

Link -via @BrainPicker | Photo: Inside Higher Ed

In the film’s final segment (which sounds awesome) an eight-foot high insect wandering a Martian landscape is attacked by blue-skinned aliens (led by NBA All-Star Nate Thurmond) as a cowboy plays Wabash Cannonball.

There are 24 films in this list at io9. Link -via mental_floss

Elderly bloggers and internet junkies in the year 2062 reminisce about the good old days of social media and social networking. I’m not sure how they get the idea of “hipsters” out of these folks. This video was produced to promote Social Media Week 2012. Link -Thanks, Lauren O’Neil!

This blog has the tagline “an illustrated introduction to criminal law and procedure.” It’s part webcomic and part law class, and all interesting. Author Nathaniel Burney breaks down criminal culpability into small pieces so we can understand some of the many facets of crime and the justice system. In the latest post, there are quite a few people who hate “you,” but they have different intents and take different actions. Which ones are guilty of attempted murder? The concepts are laid out in logical order from the beginning of the blog, but it’s not totally necessary to read them in order. Link -Thanks, Wiseayse!