Mug shot and criminal record of Eugenia Falleni, from Sydney, Australia.  

Falleni lived as a man named Harry Leon Crawford and married Annie Birkett in 1914.  Allegedly Falleni killed Birkett when the secret was discovered three years later.  (It is not known whether Falleni was in male clothes when she was arrested, or if the police made her dress that way for the shot.)  Falleni plead not guilty but was convicted and sentenced to death in 1931.  The sentence was commuted and Falleni lived under yet another assumed name for seven years before dying of injuries after being hit by a car.  

The worst part of this story, if you can pick just one part, is that apparently Falleni was under the (incorrect) impression that it was illegal in Australia to dress as a different gender, which probably goes a long way to explain everything that happened subsequently.  Her life could have been—should have been—much different.

(Source: collection.hht.net.au)

2 days ago
Chickens playing baseball.  From “Women’s Work and Child’s Play: Women & Children at the CNE, 1879 to present.”   

Chickens playing baseball.  From “Women’s Work and Child’s Play: Women & Children at the CNE, 1879 to present.”   

(Source: itcamefromthemidway)

1 week ago
sciencecenter: New study is a further testament to the hardiness of the water bear The water bear is the cockroach of microbes; they nearly always pull through when researchers throw them into Armageddon-like conditions. Now it seems that even their unborn young have unprecedented endurance. The microscopic animals called water bears already have quite a number of accomplishments under their belts. In experiments, they’ve survived the vacuum of space, large doses of radiation, extreme heat, extreme cold, and extreme pressure, giving scientists cause to believe that the little guys could potentially live on other planets and weather long journeys across space… But to pull this off, they’d have to reproduce. Scientists have now exposed water bear eggs to three of these stressors—extreme temperature, vacuum, and a dose of radiation so strong that exposure to even a fraction of it would kill a human in days. They found that provided the eggs are given a chance to dehydrate themselves and go dormant, surprising numbers that survive: more than 70% of eggs for the temperature test, and more than 50% for the radiation test, while vacuum-exposed eggs hatched at similar rates as control eggs. (Image credit)

sciencecenter:

New study is a further testament to the hardiness of the water bear

The water bear is the cockroach of microbes; they nearly always pull through when researchers throw them into Armageddon-like conditions. Now it seems that even their unborn young have unprecedented endurance.

The microscopic animals called water bears already have quite a number of accomplishments under their belts. In experiments, they’ve survived the vacuum of space, large doses of radiation, extreme heat, extreme cold, and extreme pressure, giving scientists cause to believe that the little guys could potentially live on other planets and weather long journeys across space…

But to pull this off, they’d have to reproduce. Scientists have now exposed water bear eggs to three of these stressors—extreme temperature, vacuum, and a dose of radiation so strong that exposure to even a fraction of it would kill a human in days. They found that provided the eggs are given a chance to dehydrate themselves and go dormant, surprising numbers that survive: more than 70% of eggs for the temperature test, and more than 50% for the radiation test, while vacuum-exposed eggs hatched at similar rates as control eggs.

(Image credit)

(via mothernaturenetwork)

1 week ago
Vincent and friend

Vincent and friend

(Source: thetemperamentalgoat)

1 week ago
From their factory to your home: worm lozenges, guaranteed free from mercury and opium.  Good to know.  From 1856.  

From their factory to your home: worm lozenges, guaranteed free from mercury and opium.  Good to know.  From 1856.  

1 week ago
A shrunken head, collected from Ecuador roughly around the turn of the last century.  (Is that Loretta Lynn’s hair, though?) Photo courtesy of Library of Congress. Your tax dollars at work!

A shrunken head, collected from Ecuador roughly around the turn of the last century.  (Is that Loretta Lynn’s hair, though?)

Photo courtesy of Library of Congress. Your tax dollars at work!

1 week ago
Horrific bento box, via Boing Boing.

Horrific bento box, via Boing Boing.

2 weeks ago
Alfred has a suggestion.

Alfred has a suggestion.

(Source: cyclops, via envisionambience)

2 weeks ago
Wooden crosses flavor rakija (Serbian brandy).  

Wooden crosses flavor rakija (Serbian brandy).  

2 weeks ago
A baby dragon for sale…. a steal at only $200!  But does Daenerys Targayen know about this??

A baby dragon for sale…. a steal at only $200!  But does Daenerys Targayen know about this??

2 weeks ago
The flayed corpse of Rene de Chalon, Prince of Orange, rendered in stone by sculptor Ligier Richier, who was a student of Michelangelo.  At the Church of Saint Etienne, in Bar-le-duc, France. 

The flayed corpse of Rene de Chalon, Prince of Orange, rendered in stone by sculptor Ligier Richier, who was a student of Michelangelo.  At the Church of Saint Etienne, in Bar-le-duc, France. 

2 weeks ago

archiemcphee:

This awesome creature (yes, this really is a living thing, not a piece of candy or glass) is a Jewel Caterpillar (Acraga coa) spotted by naturalist and photographer Gerardo Aizpuru near Cancun, Mexico. No word if it tastes like a gummi worm, but we’ll let you take the first bite. Here’s Gerardo’s own description:

“Photo take in a mangrove area , found this Stoning translucent caterpillar lay on a Red Mangrove tree leaf this morning early. Just can believe there is some species like this around the world. looks like made of glass whit small red mushroom inside every pic. about 3 cm long.”

The bottom image, as you might’ve surmised, shows the bright and impressively furry moth that this wicked little caterpillar eventually becomes. Transforming from one sort of awesome creature into another different, but still entirely awesome, creature? We’re seriously impressed.

(Bottom photo taken by David Brownell)

[via Geekologie]

2 weeks ago