Weird
omnibrain | December 9, 2008I've always joked around about girls who would walk into a tattoo parlor and ask for a Chinese character that means something to them... like love, hope, or faith. Of course the tattoo artists don't know one damn character in Chinese so they just pick a random character from the internet and the girl ends up with something that actually says slut, pink slippery Christmas tree, or something else random. I never imagined a scientific magazine would fall prey to something absolutely ridiculous like this.
Science journal mistakenly uses flyer for Macau brothel to illustrate report on China…
omnibrain | December 8, 2008 Seriously... I'm totally amazed. I've seen pigeons play ping pong (well more like real life pong). But this is amazing.
Check it out:
omnibrain | December 7, 2008 Oh pareidolia. I mean I understand seeing something that maybe looks like something else in the clouds or one time I accidentally peeled an orange that looked like a penis. But thinking that there is something actually significant and spiritually meaningful in seeing a pattern in randomness is ridiculous. This is my favorite example so far. It was only a matter of time until someone saw something like Jesus or in this case the Virgin Mary in an MRI scan. After all the Hippocampus is named after the sea horse since it vaguely looks like one.
Anyway here's the image - and if you want you…
zooillogix | November 28, 2008Very cool video of a bizarre squid from the genus Magnapinna. Also known as bigfin squid, few specimens have ever been observed and only a handful ever captured. The squid in this footage has tentacles 20 feet long.
This footage was filmed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Houston, Texas by cameras attached to deep sea oil rig.
omnibrain | September 23, 2008 well... if PETA had their way they would.
WATERBURY, Vt. -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman.
"PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement…
omnibrain | August 13, 2008So... my girlfriend studies categories and concepts and her adviser wanted her to show a video for her first year project. Of course I went out to youtube and tried to find something sensible since I'm procrastinating right now on my psych 100 syllabus - and of course I found something absolutely ridiculous (hey... it IS youtube). Here is how to categorize all the Alien Species that have been wandering around the earth since our first contact with our galactic overlords at Roswell:
omnibrain | July 5, 2008It seems that vegetarians are screwed on multiple levels, they get called hippies by me AND they might be at an increased risk of dementia in old age. The study recently published in the journal Dementias and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders focused on a number of elderly Indonesians who live across a wide range of areas in Java. They discovered that people who ate tofu at least once a day (which is classified as high consumption) had a statistically higher chance of showing dementia. So what could be causing this higher rate? According to BBC News:
Soy products are rich in micronutrients…
zooillogix | June 27, 2008A not at all exhaustive collection of cool bizarro aquariums.
Modular fish tank
Toilet tank. Kind of like fish purgatory.
The Fish-Bird Tank-Cage
many more below the fold...
Sink tank
The sophisticated ichthyologist's sitting room
A concept piece by a Japanese architectural firm
More of the above
This robotic fish tank senses which direction the fish is swimming and drives off in that direction. Could prove extremely useful in absolutely no circumstances.
In this Korean tank, the pump and aerator are powered via USB. Additionally, temperature is controlled via software on your…
omnibrain | June 16, 2008This is seriously the biggest most obnoxious cross I've ever seen. It is on (If I remember correctly) route 70 in Illinois about halfway between St. Louis and Champaign. Praiiiiiiiizzzzze Jeeeezus!!!!
omnibrain | June 16, 2008
IMG_0340
Originally uploaded by jshiggins
They carve bears with chainsaws! That's disgusting!!
omnibrain | May 20, 2008This gallery is sweet! The Online gallery of modern and vintage psychiatric drug advertising has a large selection of some pretty scary old drug advertisements and packaging.
Like these:
I wonder what the people of the future are going to say about our current psychiatric system?
HT: Dave
omnibrain | May 2, 2008 Delusions are the strangest things...
Once, back in the day, when I was interning in Ted Kennedy's press office we got a call from a woman (this was a pretty usual occurrence) demanding to know why the CIA, et. al. were monitoring her brainwaves. Our quick thinking secretary (a Harvard grad making 16k a year for the privilege of working in the Senate) told her to hold he was going to go check the list. He let her sit for a few minutes, got back on the phone, and told her she wasn't on the list and there must be a mistake. He would have her mind control removed immediately and he was sorry…
omnibrain | April 16, 2008A great new piece of technology turns you into old mister Pickard, your pissy, old, get off my damn lawn, next door neighbor.
Carmaker Nissan Motor is using a specialized driver's suit and goggles to simulate the bad balance, stiff joints, weaker eyesight and extra five kilograms (11lbs) that may accompany senior citizenry.
Associate chief designer Etsuhiro Watanabe says the suit's weight and constriction help in determining functionality and accessibility within cars by putting young designers not only in the minds of the mobility-challenged, but also in their bodies.
"Difficulty in…
omnibrain | April 15, 2008Do you have an extra brain sitting around you want to donate? Do you want to trade brains with someone else but they are too far away to do it in person? Is your brain malfunctioning and you need to ship it back to the factory for some repairs or in the worst case - a replacement? If your answer was yes to any of these questions then this is the tutorial for you.
This is what you'll need:
Two clean, dry ziploc plastic bags
(about 22.0 x 30.0 cm)
Plastic bucket with tightly fitting lid
(about 4.0 liters)
Large plastic bag
(about 40.0 x 50.0 cm)
Envelope for documents
Thermosafe polyfoam…
omnibrain | April 14, 2008Sexing chicks is a very difficult task for naive people. Expert chick sexers are over 98% successful while the naive sexers can only do it with slightly above chance performance. Are you sufficiently confused/pissed yet?
Ok ok... here's what's really going on:
When chickens are born the chicks are examined by experts to determine what sex they are. This important task is performed in order to save money in feed costs and avoid conflict between the male and female chicks (the men are selfish and don't let the females eat or drink). What they do with the male chickens I'm not entirely sure.…
omnibrain | April 7, 2008 This is clearly false advertising. I don't see any pinging going on. This seems more like Pigeons playing pong.
BF Skinner trains two pigeons to perform a chain of behaviors for the classroom demonstration. As a result, pigeons engage in a competition, the so-called "pigeon Ping Pong". Narrated by B.F. Skinner.
-source-
omnibrain | April 7, 2008A number of people have noticed that after getting transplants their personality changes - and not only that- their personality changes to reflect the donors personality.
...though she was born and raised in Tucson, she never liked Mexican food. She craved Italian and was a pasta junkie. But three years ago, all that changed for Jaime Sherman, 28, when she underwent a heart transplant at University Medical Center, after battling a heart defect since birth. "Now I love football, baseball, basketball. You name it, I follow it," said Sherman, a psychology student at Arizona State University…
omnibrain | April 7, 2008 I'm going to be teaching Psych 100 next year and 200 or so lucky kids are going to luck out with me as an instructor. I'm just going to read them previously written blog posts all semester. Maybe I'll read out of a really crappy intro psych text book to them as well. Ok.. just kidding. I really want to make this upcoming year as entertaining as possible for them. There are so many great psychology experiments and stories about classic personalities to share. I think I need a little help with it from you guys though. If you have any suggestions about stories, experiments, or videos you…
omnibrain | April 7, 2008 It looks like one the (if not the) most famous psych hospital in the world is going to be turned into a luxury hotel. The Bellevue Psych Hospital will go under construction some time in 2009. I know The Shining happened in a hotel but it seems like this is along those lines and is prime real estate for a horror film. I'm imagining a combo zombie/ghost film where hoards of crazy dead or undead mental patients goes after the construction crews or something.
Here's the sparse details on the project:
It's true! Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital, previously home to famous names like Normal Mailer,…