STUFF: News, Technology, the cool and the plain weird

[MIKA27]

See-Through Mouse is Good for Science, Bad for Cats

OK, before you read any further, let me warn all rodent lovers that this story doesn’t end well for the mice. Ready? Scientists have developed a technique for creating see-through mice with transparent organs that can be used to help study anatomy from the outside. Viviana Gradinaru of the California Institute of Technology describes the methodology and benefits in the current issue of the journal Cell.

Mice are critical to biomedical research because their systems are so much like humans. The technology to make tissue transparent has been available for over 100 years, but it’s been limited in scope. This is the first time an entire mouse has been made see-through.

Here’s where the squeamish need to skip to the next paragraph. The mouse must first be euthanized and the skin removed.

Chemicals are then pumped through the blood vessels, spinal cord and brain tissue to clear out their organs. This is followed with other chemicals that will gel to hold the tissue in place. A final flush of chemicals cleans out opaque fats and the tissue, but not the bones, become transparent. The total process takes a week for a mouse, two weeks for a rat.

The benefits of having a see-through mouse, even a (spoiler alert) dead one, is significant, according to Dr. Gradinaru.

Our methodology has the potential to accelerate any scientific endeavor that would benefit from whole-organism mapping, including the study of how peripheral nerves and organs can profoundly affect cognition and mental processing, and vice versa.

This will also help facilitate disease monitoring and analysis of the interactions between the brain and the body.

The ethics of using this technique someday on medical school cadavers has yet to be determined. As far as what might happen if this technology could eventually be used on live subjects, ask H.G. Wells.

[MIKA27]

Bear rescues drowning crow

http://youtu.be/IJAwXVBuxyM

One could look at this as an act of benevolence and love, or one could say, "he thought it looked yummy, then changed his mind."

Vali, a grizzly bear at the Budapest Zoo, rescues a drowning crow.

[MIKA27]

Massive whale shark lashed to truck

A fisher in China's Fujian province hauling home his catch of the day, a giant whale shark that reportedly weighed two tons and was 16 feet long.

[Habana Mike]

Massive whale shark lashed to truck

A fisher in China's Fujian province hauling home his catch of the day, a giant whale shark that reportedly weighed two tons and was 16 feet long.

That'll make a few bowls of nice soup!

[MIKA27]

THE REVIVED INDIAN SCOUT IS BETTER THAN EVER

The Indian Scout was one of the most popular cruiser bikes in the early to mid 1900s. There have been organizations that built on the Indian name since it went bankrupt in the 1950s, but it wasn’t until Polaris bought the brand a few years ago that there were bikes worthy of the American brand’s name.

For 2015, Indian just revealed a resurrected Scout with a 69 cubic inch (1133cc) 60-degree liquid-cooled V-twin with 9,000 rpm redline, 100 horsepower (at 8,100 rpm) and 72.2 pound-feet of torque (at 5,900). It’s build with the original model’s triangular shape and proportions in mind and uses a cast aluminum frame.

Now that you can almost smell the gasoline and feel your heart pumping, take a step back and look at this thing. This bike is ******* gorgeous. You’ll be able to pick up your own later this year in black, red, matte grey or matte black… assuming all of your friends don’t buy them first.

[MIKA27]

MICHAEL JORDAN VS KOBE BRYANT

It’s a discussion that dates back several years now – the discussion of Michael Jordan versus Kobe Bryant. Youtuber Youssef Hannoun has put together this incredible video, showing just how similar the two played the game.

Growing up huge Michael Jordan fans (he’s the reason we played basketball growing up), we’d say he’s the best player of all time. In this video, Hannoun is looking to drive home the point that Kobe is essentially Jordan 2.0 – although we’re not quite sure we’re getting behind that one. Either way, this 107-second video depicting two of the NBA’s best players of all time, pulling off many of the same plays during their careers, is quite entertaining.

MIKA: Kobe is a great player but he emulates Jordan who is the King IMO

[MIKA27]

ALUMINUM AND WOOD FUSION FURNITURE

Like raw fish and rice, aluminum and wood didn’t exactly sound like a match made in heaven when we first heard it; but that’s just us. Clearly Israel-based industrial designer Hilla Shamia knows much more than we do about such things, given the gorgeous pieces of fusion furniture she’s created.

The process doesn’t simply involve combining the two materials, oh no. Shamia pours the aluminum directly into the crevices of the wood, beautifully burning it and casting it into the body of the pieces. The end results look pretty darn stunning, with the two sources combining to make a much greater team than we ever imagined. And hey, the tables look they’d do a great job of holding some sushi on too.

[MIKA27]

TAJ EXOTICA | MALDIVES

The mind-blowing Taj Exotica Resort and Spa Maldives is a 5-star exclusive resort, spread idyllically along a pristine beach and serene lagoon. The award-winning resort features 64 impressive villas that boast crisp linens, warm wooden patios, and private infinity pools,. You can also opt to stay at the Rehendi Presidential Suite, a spectacular, one of a kind, 500 square meter water villa, with a 18m fresh water pool overlooking the beautiful Indian Ocean. Someone is going to have to eventually drag you out of this magical retreat...

[MIKA27]

The Desolate State Of Athens Olympic Venues 10 Years Later

Ten years ago this week, the Summer Olympics triumphantly returned to their historic home with splashy opening ceremonies in Athens, Greece. Unfortunately, the glory did not last after the Games. While the dilapidated state of Athens’ venues post-Games has been well-documented, new photos taken this week show just how devastating the Olympics were for the city.

Athens reportedly spent $US12 billion building brand-new venues specifically for the Games, most of which sit unused today, covered in graffiti, with massive cracks in their exteriors. Like haunting relics from a lost civilisation, the stadiums have taken on the same kind of vibe as the 2500-year-old Parthenon.

It’s no secret that of all the cities which have hosted Olympic Games in the last several decades, Athens suffered the worst economic fallout. While the aftermath is certainly not as bad as some cities — Sarajevo, for example, was torn apart by a bitter civil war just a few years after hosting the Winter Olympics — Athens seems to be a special case. Some say the economic devastation wrought upon Greece in the last decade was due to the government financially overextending itself just to host the Games.

We’ve written extensively about the issues many cities face after the Games due to pressure from the IOC to overbuild. Just one look at these images proves how much reform is desperately needed.

[MIKA27]

15 Most Brutally Honest Notes Written By Children

There’s an old saying that there are only three people on Earth who tell the truth: drunks, people who are incredibly angry, and children. Heck, there was even a television show devoted solely to making kids say embarrassing things about their family.

Children have a complete ignorance of social norms and basically have no filter when it comes to speaking their minds. It is this lack of censorship that makes them the best source of comedy when it comes to the written word. While most authors want to craft a long joke or play on words, children opt for complete and total honesty.

If it is true that children are our future, then our future is going to be inappropriate, politically incorrect, and shockingly funny. These kids are our future doctors, lawyers, teachers, and (not surprisingly) our politicians.

However, these notes might be the best form of birth control out there. While yes, children can be cute and cuddly, they can also hold grudges worse than any ex-girlfriend, insult you worse than any bully could, and rip your heart out like your high school crush.

In short, kids are brutal, honest, and hilarious.

That is why we’ve put together this list of the funniest notes that children have written…

15. The Tooth Fairy

14. Dad, You’re Awesome But Mom Holds Grudges

13. Buckets Of Tears

12. “I Am God”

11. Short And To The Point

10. Multiple Choice Turns Into An Essay

9. I Knew You’d Come Eventually

8. This Is How You Use The Bathroom

7. “Hey, What’s Wrong, Billy?”

6. The Neighbor’s Dog

5. Don’t Even Think About It

4. Time For A New Year’s Resolution

3. You Are Much Better

2. Just Cut To The Chase, Young Man

1. Tell Us About Your Mom

[MIKA27]

This Motorbike Uses Bacon For Fuel

Biofuel was to be the saviour for our petrol-powered needs and while development is ongoing, it has yet to take over the world, with LPG and electric vehicles proving more popular alternatives. That hasn’t stopped US food company Hormel, best known as the makers of spam, from converting a diesel motorcycle into one that can run on bacon. It even smells like bacon when you ride it.

As pointed out over at The Awesomer, the bike in question is a Track T-800 CDI, modified to accept B100 (pure) biodiesel. Technically, the bike takes fuel converted from bacon grease, not the meat itself, as we can all agree that would be a terrible, terrible waste of the delicious foodstuff.

The grease is sourced from Hormel’s own facilities and converted into B100. In the clip below, it’s explained that a pound (0.45kg) of grease converts roughly into a gallon (3.78L) of fuel, with the cost being $US3.50 per gallon. That works out to be $US0.92 per litre, a fair discount on ordinary petrol (by our standards).

It’s part of a promotion cross-country tour of the US called “Driven by Bacon”, naturally orchestrated by Hormel.

[MIKA27]

Crazy Ivan Climbs Atop The Frozen Crane Of The 632m Shanghai Tower

Ivan Kuznetsov doesn’t care that the world’s highest construction site — atop the 632m Shanghai Tower, the second tallest building on Earth — is full of ice and it’s slippery as hell. His compatriots did it before himwithout ice, so he had to best them. Here are more of his adventures for you to scream.

Of course these guys really don’t give a damn about ice and slippery surfaces.

[MIKA27]

Google Lets You Watch Live Data From NASA's Long Lost Satellite

NASA’s ISEE-3 was launched in 1977 and sent data home for 20 years. Recently, NASA discovered the abandoned satellite is still transmitting data, and turned over the controls to a group of citizen scientists. ISEE-3 zooms by the moon tomorrow, and thanks to a new Google project, you can ride along at home.

When citizen scientists first discovered that ISEE-3 was still out there transmitting data, they put together a crowdfunding project and took over an abandoned McDonalds a former McDonalds at NASA’s Ames Research Facility, hoping to regain control of the satellite’s flight path and send it on new missions. Unfortunately, ISEE-3′s propulsion systems are shot.

But ISEE-3 is still transmitting data and this weekend the lonely capsule will swing past the moon and wave at earth for the first time in decades. And thanks to the Google Chrome experiment A Spacecraft For All, regular old folks like you and me can tap into ISEE-3′s data feeds and watch live as it cruises through the old neighbourhood.

The real action happens tomorrow — 11 August at 3:30am — with a live lunar fly-by demo, interviews with the original NASA scientists and the Reboot team now monitoring ISEE-3, and a real-time data feed. ButGoogle’s deeply-interactive website for the prodigal satellite has plenty of cool stuff to play with today, whether it’s learning about the history of ISEE-3 or watching the live data it’s constantly beaming down. Perhaps not surprisingly, this Google Chrome project only works in Google Chrome — sorry, Firefox and IE users.

Seriously, go check it out. You’ll be glad you did.

MIKA: I looked at the Google data and it's brilliant. The interactive site is cool.

[Habana Mike]

This Motorbike Uses Bacon For Fuel

Biofuel was to be the saviour for our petrol-powered needs and while development is ongoing, it has yet to take over the world, with LPG and electric vehicles proving more popular alternatives. That hasn’t stopped US food company Hormel, best known as the makers of spam, from converting a diesel motorcycle into one that can run on bacon. It even smells like bacon when you ride it.

It’s part of a promotion cross-country tour of the US called “Driven by Bacon”, naturally orchestrated by Hormel.

Mmmmmmmmmm, Bacon!

[MIKA27]

This May Be The Most Incredible Aeroplane Film I've Ever Seen

If you have never seen the 2005 French movie Les Chevaliers du Ciel (Sky Fighters) and you like aviation or just spectacular cinematography, you should watch it. The movie itself is as bad as Top Gun, but the combat aeroplane sequences are probably the best ever filmed. Here are its best moments.

[MIKA27]

A 'Dumpcano' Of Rubbish Erupted In The Arctic And Won't Stop Burning

It began rather quietly as a underground fire at a dump in Canada’s remote northern reaches. Then in May, the fire “erupted”, spewing forth flames and toxic fumes over the city of Iqaluit. Faced with a football field-sized smouldering dump fire, this week the city council finally scrounged up the $US2.2 million to put it out. How the hell does a dump fire spontaneously ignite — and why is it so expensive to put out?

Dump fires are distressingly common, actually. One estimate puts the number in the US at 8300 a year, but the size and longevity of Iaqluit’s is unusual. Ever since the fire chief likened the dump to a volcano, we’ve been saddled with the unholy portmanteau of “dumpcano”. You can even find the dumpcano on Twitter these days.

But dumpcanos don’t just create themselves. A mix of bad luck and bad policies are behind this massive dump fire.

The Birth of a “Dumpcano”

Iaqluit’s is one of the small minority of dump fires that spontaneously ignited — that’s the bad luck. Spontaneous combustion can happen for a number of reasons: Rotting organic material naturally gets hot as it decomposes, batteries can short circuit, and smouldering things can be accidentally buried.

But Iaqluit’s dump fire was the fourth since December, a pattern that suggests something more than bad luck. As reporter and Iqaluit resident Peter Worden writes in Vice, until 2002, Iaqluit routinely did open-pit burns in its landfill. Then concerned citizens sued the city to get them stop. That’s good news for anyone who wants to breathe clean air (at least when accidental fires aren’t burning), but that also meant more and more rubbish was just piling up, collecting more and more fuel and more and more possible sources of spontaneous combustion.

Worden goes on to note in Vice that part of the reason there’s so much rubbish in Iaqluit is that there is virtually no recycling in the city. The city is so remote that transporting cardboard to recycling plants just isn’t worth the cost of fuel. So everyone’s boxes and old futons and leftover paint and batteries and kitchen rubbish are all left to stew and smoulder in the big old town dump.

One solution, an engineer tells Vice, is sorting out cardboard, wood and paper, which can be cleanly burned off. That will reduce the volume of rubbish (and dumpcano fuel) in the future, but it’s a bit too late for this fire.

The Death of a “Dumpcano”

At first, Iaqluit’s fire department decided to just let the dumpcano burn itself out. A shifting pile of hot garbage is pretty dangerous for firefighters, and it would have sucked up millions of gallons of water the city didn’t have to spare. The wait-it-out strategy, however, obviously did not work.

On Wednesday, the city council finally approved $US2.2 million for a plan to drown the dumpcano after all. Fourteen firefighters will work 12 hours a day for a month to soak the garbage pile in water. It’s pretty much a brunt force method, but it’s cheaper than more high-tech alternatives.

The original plan was more ambitious and also twice as expensive. That would have involved a building a giant saltwater tank in which smouldering garbage was dunked one clawful at a time. Another way to put out dump fires involves depriving it of oxygen, either with foam or injecting an inert gas.

Hopefully, the month-long water offensive will put out the dumpcano once and for all. Let this be a multi-million dollar lesson in taking out your garbage the right way.

[MIKA27]

The Supersonic Nazi Rocket Concept Designed To Bomb Any City In 1 Hour

When WWII ended, US engineers examined a trove of Nazi concepts for rocket-powered weapons and aeroplanes. One of the most terrifying was Eugen Sänger’s antipodal bomber, a manned supersonic plane designed to reach any city on Earth in one hour. Thankfully, it never worked.

Historian Amy Shira Teitel, who runs the fantastic Vintage Space blog over at Popular Science, brings us the story of Eugen Sänger, an Austrian rocket engineer who devised a concept for a rocket plane with a flat-bottomed fuselage. With the right propulsion — in this case, a rocket-powered slingshot on the runway — Sänger theorised that the plane would climb to the upper reaches of the sky, then skip across the lower levels of the atmosphere like a rock on a pond. He figured a pilot could reach any point on the globe within one hour, drop a bomb, and return to a predetermined landing site.

Here’s Amy Shira Teitel explaining the terrifying concept:

The concept however was never built. Though Sänger first envisioned use as a passenger or cargo plane, he approached the Austrian government for funding in the mid-1930s by highlighting the antipodal plane’s potential as an intercontinental bomber. Unfortunately for Sänger, but fortunately for history, the liquid propulsion system the concept was built around was too unreliable for use and his project went unfunded.

Sänger continued to design experimental rockets for the Nazis, but his work was overshadowed by another Nazi rocket scientist: Wernher von Braun. The latter being German-born, he looked down on the Austrian Sänger’s work, and von Braun convinced the Nazi government to quit funding Sänger’s work.

Over at Vintage Space, you can read about how Sänger’s skip-glide concept was tried by US engineers, while Joseph Stalin attempted to kidnap Sänger to work for the USSR. None of it worked out, and to this day the antipodal bomber remains a terrifyingly futuristic concept that never got off the ground.

[MIKA27]

The Trans-Arctic Internet Cable Project Made Possible By Climate Change

Running a telecom cable from London through the Northwest Passage to Tokyo was, for a very long time, impossible: The sea route was solid ice year-round. Now, thanks to rising temperatures, the ice disappears from August to October, and a Canadian telecom startup wants to thread a 16,100km internet cable through that gap.

Toronto-based Arctic Fibre will soon start surveying the underwater route that would connect the UK with Japan and several spots in between, diversifying the globe’s fibre optic data network without relying on land-based cables going through volatile regions of the Middle East, as current connections do. Similar projects, on a much smaller scale, have recently been completed to connect Russia and Crimea.

As BuzzFeed reports, telecoms and corporations are clamouring for redundant data connections, still wary of the trouble caused in 2008 when disruptions to the Mediterranean Sea cable slowed or stopped communications across Asia. But routes through the Middle East could make tempting targets for disruption.

The Arctic Fibre project would avoid that exact scenario: Aside from its termini in England and Japan, and an anchor point in Canada, the cable would run almost entirely undersea. This, of course, will require elaborate surveying to find a path where the cable won’t get snagged by rocks, pulled by tides, or crushed by rock slides.

The $US620 million project will also bring internet connections to northern Alaska and regions of Canada where data is often unreliable.

Undersea surveying will begin in the next few months, using side-scan sonar, digital cameras, electromagnetic probes, and core samples to plot a route across the sea floor. In the past, such a surveying trip wouldn’t have been feasible due to year-round ice. Doug Cunningam, Arctic Fibre’s CEO, didn’t mince words when he explained to BuzzFeed why this project is now feasible: “It is made possible by climate change.”

[MIKA27]

These US Navy Warships Are Really Starting To Look Like Star Destroyers

The USS Montgomery, the second of the Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship made for the United States Navy. Out of the water, it looks like this 127.4m high-speed trimaran (47 knots on sprint!) could have been designed at an Imperial Navy shipyard.

[MIKA27]

Boston's First Police Cars Were Steam-Powered

It’s easy to forget that a century ago, gasoline-powered cars didn’t completely dominate the automobile market. In 1900, roughly 40 per cent of all cars sold in the US were steam-powered. In fact, when the Boston police bought one of the country’s first cop cars in 1903 it was running on steam.

The Boston PD’s 1903 cop car was a Stanley Steamer. But even though we might think of steam-powered vehicles as a joke today, these weren’t lightweights. They were known as some of the fastest cars around. The police force was quick to buy up more steam-powered cars whenever they could.

From the March 15, 1905 issue of The Horseless Age magazine:

The Boston Police Department, which has been making use of autos for some time, has decided to add two high-speed [steam-powered] runabouts, to be used on the parkways and boulevards of the city, in the early spring.

Some of the police department’s steam-powered cars didn’t last very long (one Boston PD steam car bought in 1905 lasted just over 7,000 miles before being decommissioned) but the cars could catch any speeders they were after. There was the added benefit that the police force was hiring civilian chauffeurs (shown above in a 1903 illustration) who stayed with the vehicles when police officers needed to jump out and pursue a suspect.

Always on the hunt for the fastest vehicles available, the Boston PD purchased a Ross steam-powered vehicle in 1909, made in nearby Newtonville, Massachusetts. From the 1910 Annual Report of the Boston Police Commissioner:

Automobile No. 2222, a steam runabout, has been in service since June, 1905. It was on duty 137 days, and covered a distance of 7,672 miles in the West Roxbury district. This machine went out of commission and was replaced on May 10, 1909, by a new Ross steamer, No. 14567.

The police saw their acquisition of cars as an equaliser, allowing them to catch lawbreakers as cars were slowly becoming mainstream in the country. But the press took light jabs at the purchases, pointing out that the police could very well abuse their new toys. The March 9, 1905 issue of The Boston Daily Globe joked that if you wanted to break the speed limit, you’d have to join the police force:

Now that the police automobile chasers are to have two new, powerful steam automobiles, obviously the only safety for automobilists who want to run faster than the law allows will be to get on the force.

While Boston likes to lay claim to the first police car, Akron, Ohio actually had a police patrol car in 1899, pictured below. But Akron’s wagon wasn’t steam-powered. It was electric.

Illustration of Boston’s first police car in July 1903 via Boston Police Department; Akron’s first police patrol wagon

[MIKA27]

Shooter Hits 900m Target In World Record 9mm Hand Gun Shot

Legendary shooter Jerry Miculek used his special Smith & Wesson — created in his honour — to shoot a target 1000 yards (914.4m) away — a new world record. Notice that it takes about four seconds for the bullet to reach its target. Amazing. Jerry had to aim to the sky — 45m above the balloon — in order to hit it.

MIKA: Weather you like guns or not, THAT IS A GREAT SHOT!

[MIKA27]

The Man Behind the Most Iconic Movie Posters of the ’80s and ’90s

Any art-collecting movie nerd worth his or her Reese’s Pieces owns at least one John Alvin creation. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Blade Runner, The Gremlins, Jurassic Park—Alvin designed poster art for all of them. By hand. They are among the most enduring images of recent film history, even if his name isn’t is as recognizable as, say, Saul Bass.

The Art of John Alvin should change that. The book, a collection of Alvin’s best works and the in-progress sketches that formed them, memorializes Alvin’s talent (he died of a heart attack in 2008). But as Alvin’s wife Andrea Alvin writes in the introduction, it also offers “a behind the scenes look at how John created a poster by showing his process and his thinking.”

“This book contains only a small portion of John’s work, so that we could feature much of the preliminary art that led up to the finish,” she writes. “Since illustration is almost never used in posters today, many people don’t understand that the movie posters that he created were actually drawn and painted by his hand.”

Growing up in a military family in the ’50s, the artist moved a lot, and used art to make friends. “At a certain age,” Andrea Alvin remembers, “drawing hot rods and naked women for the other boys became a wonderful form of currency for the ‘new boy.’” After graduating from the Art Center College of Design, both Alvins landed jobs doing layout for Hanna-Barbera. A chance meeting with freelance graphic designer Anthony Goldschmidt led to a gig doing the poster for a new Mel Brooks movie called Blazing Saddles. Alvin found his calling.

The move lead to a career creating posters for some of the best films of the 1980s and ’90s, from The Goonies to The Godfather: Part III. He also designed posters for beloved Disney films like The Lion King and The Little Mermaid. The new book, his wife notes, is intended to make sure his work is remembered.

“Much of his work was created in anonymity and bears no signature, or had the signature removed by the studio, and no credit,” she writes. “It is time to connect the name John Alvin with the incredible body of work he created.”

Check some of exclusive images from the The Art of John Alvin above. The book, from Titan Books, hits stores Aug. 26.

In-progress art for the Blade Runner poster.

Art for Blade Runner.

Art for the poster for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Art for the poster for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Poster art for The Gremlins.

Alvin's poster for Jurassic Park.

Art for Jurassic Park.

A pencil sketch of the Batman Foever poster.

Art for The Lost Boys.

Poster art for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

In-progress art for the poster for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

[MIKA27]

THE EVOLUTION OF RALLYING: 50 YEARS SIDEWAYS

The Evolution Of Rallying: 50 Years Sideways is a wonderful 1.5 hour film covering some of the most iconic rallies in the history of off-road motorsport. Even if you only have a passing interest rally racing this film is an absolute must-watch, the collection of footage alone essential viewing.

If you don’t have a 90 minute window to put aside for this, I’m going to ask you to cancel your plans, quit your job, divorce your wife, or whatever it takes to clear your schedule. You’ll thank me later.

[MIKA27]

FORD TRI-MOTOR MODEL BY AUTHENTIC MODELS

A deep-seated love of the formative years of aviation is an affliction that many of us struggle with, in fact if it wasn’t for the prohibitive cost of entry of aviation many of us would have a Tiger Moth, a Sopwith Camel or a Spitfire out in the garage parked next to the Porsche 911 RSR.

This model is a Ford Tri-Motor by Authentic Models, it’s handmade and measures 26 inches long by 41 inches wide. It has an estimated value of $600 to $800 USD as is due to be auctioned by Bonhams on the 15th of August 2014 at the Quail Lodge.

[MIKA27]

15 Old School Photos That Prove The World Used To Be Completely Insane

Ever played tennis on the wing of a flying plane? Played hockey with Hitler? Taken your pet bear for a walk? No? Well, what are you doing with your life? Plonked on the couch, watching Netflix and reading this – no doubt.

Things change over time, but some things, like, REALLY change over time. Things like snapping shots of your kid with unchained reptilian predators and letting crows tuck them in at night (yes, really) – child protection has ruined all the fun. Nowadays, a kid sniffs a peanut and they’re rushed to Emergency.

In an era where people pay thousands for butt implants and openly have sex on reality TV; where animals are still exploited by humans and innocent children have bombs callously dropped onto their schools, it’s difficult to say the world isn’t still completely screwed. Perhaps people will look back at photos from our generation with evolved mentalities and say WTF… well, let’s face it, we do it to our fellow humans already. At least the majority of our rules and regulations stand to keep this crazy world turning to minimum devastation, though.

Believe it or not – things used to be a hell of a lot worse. What follows is photographic evidence of early inventions, laws, crazes and pets that would send Twitter into an absolute frenzy if they happened today. Takin’ it back to the old skool…

14. Old School Swimming Masks (1920s)

Well this isn’t absolutely terrifying at all. Just imagine that nightmare swimming down the lane at you. What could possibly deem this horror of a swimming mask necessary, I hear you ask? Her bloody hair’s still getting wet, after all. The full-faced covers were actually to protect women from the sun. Thank you, inventor of waterproof sun lotion. Thank you so much.

13. Oh, The School’s On Fire. Carry On, Kids, Carry On (1965)

As crowds of jubilant parents watch their little Jims and Bobs show off their football skills, the school savagely burns behind them. Oh, don’t mind me, said the building’s rafters rapidly turning to flames. Still, the game must go on…

12. Dance ‘Til You Drop, Literally (1920s)

‘Dance marathons’ were a popular craze of the 20s, where the aim was to keep boogying until all other contestants passed out, pretty much. Winners would achieve fame and, of course, cash prizes; which is probably why they pushed their bodies to the absolute feet-tappin’ limit. Judging by the spectators faces in the background, these two lost.

11. Don’t Mind Me, Just Taking My Pet Bear For A Walk (1963)

No doubt tired of it laying dumps on the kitchen floor, Gregory Sukhov takes his pet bear Mickey for a walk in Moscow. Oh, those Russians!

10. You’re A Chain Smoker? *****, Please.

Back in the days when smoking was encouraged, with adverts proclaiming that Camels were doctor’s ciggy of choice and Lucky Strikes kept you thin, this woman has clearly found the greatest invention ever.

9. Testing Out A Bulletproof Vest (1933)

Better safe than sorry, eh? The guy getting shot appears to have a slight smirk on his face, evidently relieved that the pad scarcely covering his whole torso repelled bullets; and equally pleased the dude with the gun had a good aim.

8. Babies Hanging From The Side Of Apartments (1930s)

Nowadays, we freak out if a baby has even a slight dribbly nose. Imagine hanging them from the side of a five-storey flat, suspended by a bit of wood and metal gauze. It was all for good though, as these baby cages of the 1930s were designed for families living in apartments who wanted their children to get more sunlight. Ever heard of a walk?

7. Dogs At The Barbers (1961)

Whoever said there should be a separate place for men and dogs to get groomed in the first place? This handsome chap, called Fritz, was a TV celebrity Boxer, and here we can see him getting shaved by a Californian barber. Let’s hope it’s just a promotional stunt and they’re not actually removing the mutt’s whiskers. Either that, or it’s an Extreme Makeovers programme and this is Brigitte Bardot’s “before” photo.

6. Ice Cold Whisky Dispensers In Offices (1950s)

Can we get a HELL YEAH? The 1950s was quite clearly the place to be. Forget the morning coffee when you roll up to the office for another nine-to-five drag, we’ll have an ice cold whisky mofos!

5. The Greatest Invention For Antisocial People, Ever (1939)

Nothing says ‘stay out my personal space’ like a massive sharp object protruding from your face. These face cones were actually, believe it or not, a super fashionable way to protect oneself in the event of a snowstorm. We want one for the morning commute.

4. Elephant Falling Out Of A Train (1951)

“Okay guys, I have a great idea for the next publicity stunt – we put a baby elephant into a floating train!”

Yeah, great idea, German circus promoters. During the ride, the giant land mammal naturally started to bump about the carriage, broke through the side of the wagon and fell into the river below. Luckily, only minor injuries occurred to all involved and the organisers were fined. Looks like they got the exposure they wanted after all.

3. Lion Drome (1930s)

Business must be really slow if you have to resort to throwing apex predators onto side-cars and having them circle the Wall Of Death, sideways. But that’s exactly what they classed as entertainment in the 30s: a day out for the kids where they could take in petrol fumes and jungle predators in both a physics and nature defying show.

The Wall Of Death with motorcycles alone had been popular for quite some time, but driving sideways round a concrete bowl started to get boring; so, naturally, they threw lions into the mix. When this started to lose it’s edge, they employed hot babes to take a ride with the flesh-eating cats. Sex sells, after all.

2. Women Being Arrested For Showing Off Their Legs (1922)

Careful – this one may be NSFW due to the brazen display of bare appendages on show. Though we sadly still live in a society where violence is more accepted than sexuality and nudity, it used to be a hell of a lot worse for women. Wearing a dangerously provocative one-piece bathing suits without the required leg coverings? Get in the van.

1. Auto Polo (1910s)

Prepare yourselves. We’ve reached the epitome of bat-s**t insane sports; proving there was some absolute lunatics around over 100 years ago. Basically it was equestrian polo, with rickety cars bordering on precarious death-engines instead of horses. Seriously, look at that photo. Men would be hurled through the air, often into the direction of a GIANT MALLET before they hit the ground; and they bloody loved it. It was, obviously, banned due to it’s categorically dangerous nature, and blatant disregard for human life.

Hey, at least we still have the World Cup. Yawn.