1. First Conductor Dies from Conducting

You probably haven’t heard of the poor guy, but Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687) was the first documented conductor. Before him, most musical groups just followed the lead of their first violinist or their keyboard player.

Lully was the first musician to use a baton. He was also the first musician to ever die by baton.

Let’s rewind back to his technique though. Following in the tradition of other soft walking leaders, Lully carried around a really big stick: one that was six feet long, which he pounded on the ground in time to the music. Unfortunately, this enormous staff proved to be his undoing. One day, while merrily beating time (in a concert to celebrate the king’s return to health), he stuck the wood into his foot by mistake. He developed gangrene and died. Not a good role model for conductors worldwide.

2. Haydn Nearly Gets Castrated

(more…)

The other day I was reading ESPN’s Jayson Stark’s review of the strange happenings in the 2007 baseball season when I came across this nugget.

“Billy Wagner collected his 17th save of the year in the 17th inning of a July 7 Mets-Astros game — an inning that took him (what else?) 17 pitches.”

I was immediately interested in that fact because 17 is my lucky number. Besides being my birth date reversed (7/1 becomes 17), it was also my cubby number in third grade, my favorite birthday and the jersey number of some of my favorite athletes (Anderson Varejao, Braylon Edwards, Lance Berkman and Cristiano Rinaldo).

But 17 isn’t just my lucky number. Princeton mathematician Edward Feller also had a fondness for the number, selecting only 17 students each year to advise and always choosing it as his “random” integer when solving problems. According to a variety of studies, it’s also the “most random number“; if you ask a group of people to choose a number between 1 and 20, you’ll get an excess of people choosing 17. Knowing my adoration for the number, a friend turned me on to this site from a French professor who tracked occurrences of the number seventeen. From that site and some others, here are some interesting tidbits.

(more…)

It’s a crash course in science at your fingertips! Evolving Thoughts has a list of articles on Basic Concepts in Science.

*
Trampolinists simulate modern advertising methods in the video Grip. This was shot in one take.

*
The Best Times to Shop for Bargains. You might figure that winter would be the time to get a good deal on a gas grill, but who knew that flooring was at its cheapest in winter?

*
Twas the Day After Christmas. If there were (or have ever been) any toys or gadgets under your tree, you can relate to this.

*

Can Planes Get in Midair Traffic Jams? The answer is yes, and here’s why.

*

The first half of this video features a guy singing a song in reverse. The second half is where you find out what song he is singing, when the video goes backwards!

*

2008 Web Predictions. Among other things, these experts think a lot of company trading will happen.
*
How To Be An Astronaut. Some of the details you didn’t know about this strange profession.

Having been vegetarian for years, and having suffered through high school, college and Alabama on a meat-free diet, I’m pretty aware of how hard it is to eat well as a vegetarian. There’s a lot of dining on fries when your pals want fast food, and a lot of forcing down plates of boiled vegetables when you’re pressured to go to a steak house. In any case, of all the places I’ve heard of where vegetarian food is scarce (Mongolia, Australia, Arby’s), I always imagined prison was the worst. Amazingly, though, PETA has changed my mind. If you’re a vegetarian or vegan prisoner looking into incarceration options, you might want to consider one of their Top 10 Veggie-Friendly Prisons. Idaho stands at the top of the list with offerings like vegan Mexican pies, lentil shepherd’s pies, vegan biscuits, cookies, and even puddings. Other veggie standouts include cafeterias in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Hampshire and Utah. Who knew? In any case, Idaho prison spokesman have gone out of their way to assure the public that while there’s definitely some good variety, no one within the system is raving about the food. According to spokesman Jeff Ray, “I haven’t heard any compliments, and I would think there’s probably not a lot of compliments going around about prison food… When the meals cost 90 cents each, you can’t do much with that.” Click here to see PETA’s full list.

In the lead-up to Christmas, I made a series of trips to the grocery store to pick up odd items. Each time I managed to forget half of what I needed, so I just kept going back when I thought up a new thing or two to buy. On my third trip, I realized I was standing in the checkout line with this combination of items:

Underwear (1 pack)
Clear vinyl tarp
Tom Petty “Greatest Hits” CD
Big box of Ginger Snap cookies

What did the checkout lady think I was going to do? Thinking about this reminded me of a story I heard in college. A friend of mine had gone to Wal-Mart near midnight on a Friday to purchase:

Smashing Pumpkins tape
Single white tee shirt
Box of shotgun shells

No comment from the checkout clerk. When I mentioned this line of thinking to a friend, she came back with another classic:

Box of wine
Discount DVD of “It’s a Wonderful Life”
Big knife

I know this is silly, but let’s hear it: what’s the most suspicious combination of items you’ve bought?

Ben was the only one to correctly identify all 15 of the song intros from out “Soft ‘70″ puzzle. Congratulations, Ben — we’ll be in touch via email. Try them here, and then see the answers below.

1. “Instant Karma” - John Lennon
2. “Close to You” - The Carpenters
3. “Come and Get It” - Badfinger
4. “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” - B.J. Thomas
5. “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” - Creedence Clearwater Revival
6. “The Bells” - The Originals
7. “Solitary Man” - Neil Diamond
8. “Reflections of My Life” - Marmalade
9. “Let It Be” - The Beatles
10. “The Letter (live)” - Joe Cocker
11. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” - Simon And Garfunkel
12. “Lola” - The Kinks
13. “Make It With You” - Bread
14. “Look What They’ve Done to My Song, Ma” - New Seekers
15. “Fire and Rain” - James Taylor

Sonification is the act of representing data as sound. Any data will do, but data that has a pattern will make better music, and if you don’t know whether your data has a pattern or not, sonification may help you find out.

A fractal is “a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided in parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole”, according to Wikipedia. Many musicians have experimented with converting fractal shapes into music. Fractal Vibes has examples and links to more fractal music.

Your chance to hear music from brain waves, gene sequences, and more after the jump.
(more…)

USA Today, my #1 source for all lobster-inspired technology, is reporting that a California company has co-opted “crustaceans’ uncanny ability to see through dark, cloudy, deep sea water” as their inspiration for a new X-ray device. The hand-held tool, dubbed the LEXID (Lobster Eye X-ray Imaging Device) can actually see through wood, concrete and even steel, and it’s hoped that Homeland Security officials will use it to locate everything from caches of weapons to terrorists on the lam. But don’t pigeon-hole the product just yet. Company officials expects that it won’t just be government men and women wielding LEXIDs in the future. According to the piece, “they hope to make it inexpensively enough so that it could have wide commercial appeal, including to pest control companies and contractors who need to look inside walls for rats or pipes.” I’m just hoping they’re not including paparazzi and frustrated voyeurs in this future target market as well. Link via TheRawFeed.

It is with misty eyes and trembling voice that I’m reporting that Borat and Ali G are now dead. Rumors of their demise had been lingering for a while, but according to G4’s TheFeed, Sacha Baron Cohen has officially retired that sweet, sweet mustache and put away his gold chains for good. Apparently, his two most popular characters became simply that- too popular, making working the gag impossible. I’m hoping you’ll join me in taking a pull of eggnog, then spilling some on your floors for these two ignorant homies. They will be missed.

How wonderful that Santa left you a new computer for Christmas! Lifehacker has plenty of links to help you set it up properly.
*
Interactive Flash Physics. I know there’s an opportunity to learn things here, but I had so much fun slinging things around, the time just flew by!
*
How would you like a batcave in your basement, complete with a bat-theater? A retired naturalist has just that, a completely batty home theater in her cellar.
*
Advice on choosing your college major. This is attributed to Dave Barry, so it won’t be what your academic advisor will tell you.
*
Sports journalism doesn’t get the highest respect in j-school, but have you looked at the salaries sports writer’s make? No wonder they love what they do!
*
Which Do You Prefer? One Cat? Or A Thousand Rats? We’re talkng about your grocery store.
*
How to prevent lost luggage. Useful tips from a former airline baggage agent.
*
Jungle girl and monkey boy. Although increasingly rare, these modern examples of feral children boggle the mind.