Dinosaur fossils are often found in this dramatic posture, with the head thrown back, the tail extended, and the mouth wide open. The reason isn’t clear. It could be caused by muscle spams during the animal’s death throes, or the contraction of neck ligaments after death, perhaps facilitated by immersion in water. It’s called the opisthotonic death pose.
In 1970, Penn State meteorologist Hans Neuberger examined 12,000 European paintings to reconstruct historical climate data between 1400 and 1967. He found a marked increase in darkness and cloud cover between 1550 and 1849, corresponding roughly to the Little Ice Age. Painters in the Mediterranean School depicted bluer skies and clearer conditions than their British counterparts, whose paintings showed overcast skies and lower visibility. No English paintings depicted a completely clear sky.
In 2011, researchers Karen Aplin and Paul Williams quantified the frequency of musical allusions to weather in orchestral music over time. Storms, not surprisingly, were the weather type most frequently represented, followed by wind, cloud, rain, sun, and fog. Of the pieces they chose to study, all those depicting frontal storms were in minor keys, and all those depicting fair weather were in major keys. By a large margin, the most common nationality of weather-depicting composers was British. “This appears to support the stereotypical assumption that people from the UK are more enthusiastic about the weather than their colleagues overseas, although this effect could be due to sampling bias, given that the authors of this paper are both from the UK.”
(Hans Neuberger, “Climate in Art,” Weather 25:2 [February 1970], 46-56; Karen L. Aplin and Paul D. Williams, “Meteorological Phenomena in Western Classical Orchestral Music,” Weather 66:11 [November 2011], 300-306. Here’s a related study looking at popular music.)
It is related that Anne of Austria one day told Bautree — a councillor of State, poet, and member of the French Academy, but famous for his facetiousness — that she desired to see his wife. Bautree promised to present her. ‘Only, madame,’ he added, ‘she is hard of hearing.’
‘Never mind,’ replied the Queen; ‘I’ll speak loud.’
Bautree hurried home and announced this flattering news to his wife, but at the same time told her to raise her voice, even to the pitch of shouting, as Her Majesty could only hear with difficulty. As soon as the Queen perceived Madame Bautree she began to raise her voice and Madame Bautree shouted back with all her might. The two ladies made a pretty noise between them, and the King, to whom Bautree had confided the audacious hoax, held his sides with laughter.
— “Hoaxes,” Strand, October 1903
“Have you noticed … there is never any third act in a nightmare? They bring you to a climax of terror and then leave you there. They are the work of poor dramatists.” — Max Beerbohm
In 1078, Saint Anselm of Canterbury presented a proof that God exists. We define God as a being than which no greater can be conceived. If God existed only in the mind, then we could conceive of a greater God, one who exists in both mind and reality. Therefore God cannot be merely imaginary — he must exist in reality.
Australian philosopher Douglas Gasking offered this response. The creation of the world is the worthiest achievement imaginable. Its merit is the product of its intrinsic quality and the ability of its creator. The greater the creator’s handicap, the more impressive the achievement. The most grievous handicap would be non-existence. An existent creator would be subordinate to one that does not exist. Therefore, if God is the greatest conceivable being, then he does not exist.
(William Grey, “Gasking’s Proof,” Analysis 60:4 [October 2000], 368-370.)
Artist Jeff Lieberman designs “Impossible Corners,” a wall art illusion that exploits the same principle as this mistrustful dragon.
A code of principles proposed at the 1889 National Hobo Convention:
The convention was held by Tourist Union #63, a union of hobos created in the mid-1800s. Members sought to resist anti-vagrancy laws by representing themselves as itinerant workers rather than idle miscreants.
In 2023, the artist collective SFHIR created this nine-story mural in Fene, Galicia, for the first Perla Mural Fest. At night the instrument comes to life as the building’s stairwell is illuminated.
The mural was judged best among 50 finalists in the Street Art Cities 2023 awards.
“To be sure, the dog is loyal. But why, on that account, should we take him as an example? He is loyal to men, not to other dogs.” — Karl Kraus
A visual proof that the sum of all positive odd numbers up to 2n – 1 is a perfect square.
