Just in case they didn’t teach you about this.
The Silent Parade was a silent protest march of between 8,000 and 10,000 African Americans that started at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in New York City on July 28, 1917. The purpose of the parade was to protest murders, lynchings, and other violence directed towards African Americans. The parade was precipitated by the East St. Louis riots in May and July 1917, when between 40 and 250 Black people were killed by white mobs.
Nintendo String Art made by Atthedrivein
Scientists invented fabric that makes electricity from motion and sunlight. To create the fabric, researchers at Georgia Tech wove together solar cell fibers with materials that generate power from movement. It could be used in “tents, curtains, or wearable garments,” meaning we’d virtually never be without power. Source
In 1997, 14-year-old Nathan Zohner got 43 out of 50 9th graders to vote in favor of banning dihydrogen monoxide, also known as water. The hoax was a science fair project, which he titled ‘How Gullible Are We?’ He not only won the science fair, but also inspired the term 'Zohnerism,’ defined as 'the use of a fact to lead a scientifically ignorant public to a false conclusion.’ Source Source 2 Source 3
1/13/17 @coldsunnyday The ducks aren’t actually green. They’re untrustworthy creatures, and they’re lying about what color they are. Don’t listen to them.
It’s an optical illusion called “structural color.” Their feathers are black. The fluffy side bits of the feathers (barbs) are also black. The little hooks that keep the barbs all lined up (barbules) are also black. There are microscopic little ridges (tubules) on the barbules that are also black. But the tubules are exactly the same size as a wavelength of green light, so instead of absorbing green light the way a black object should, they reflect it and the ducks look green.
If you put one of the ducks under a good enough microscope, you’d see that no individual part of it was actually green in any way.
Avian biology generally can’t produce blue or green pigments. Birds that look blue or green are lying about it. Don’t trust them.
Except for turacos. They’re actually green, and very pleased with themselves about it. Look at this guy, here’s a bird you can trust:
Link to the original tweet
For some reason a bird speaking Japanese is mildly off putting.
> Literal translation
Bird:“ ‘Uhm Hello, this is the Ono family.”
Bird: “What’s wrong?”
Owner: “Abe-chan, you’re a little too early. Once the phone’s picked up, then properly say hello.”
Bird: “Okay, understood.”
Owner: “Do you really understand? I’m counting on you. Hello, this is the Ono family residence in Gifu.”]
Bird: “Okay, I understand!”
Owner: “Got it.”
> That’s clearly some sort of Pokemon.
> Off-putting? It’s like birds were meant to speak Japanese!
> For some reason it’s never occurred to me that birds can mimic languages other than English. It’s so cool, though!
Consider that you can see less than 1% of the electromagnetic spectrum and hear less than 1% of the acoustic spectrum. As you read this, you are traveling at 220 km/sec across the galaxy. 90% of the cells in your body carry their own microbial DNA and are not ‘you’. The atoms in your body are 99.9999999999999999% empty space and none of them are the ones you were born with, but they all originated in the belly of a star. Human beings have 46 chromosomes, 2 less than the common potato. The existence of the rainbow depends on the conical photoreceptors in your eyes; to animals without cones, the rainbow does not exist. So you don’t just look at a rainbow, you create it. This is pretty amazing, especially considering that all the beautiful colors you see represent less than 1% of the electromagnetic spectrum.
(via we-are-star-stuff)
Total hunk Will Grant
It is possible for wonderful encounters and beautiful things to exist.
-Hayao Miyazaki