A bizarre creature that lived in the ocean more than 500 million years ago has emerged from the famous Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies. ..."Most interesting is that this feeding system appears to be unique among animals. Recent advances have linked many bizarre Burgess Shale animals as primitive members of many animal groups that are found today but Siphusauctum defies this trend. We do not know where it fits in relation to other organisms,” says lead author Lorna O’Brien. ..."Our description is based on more than 1,100 fossil specimens from a new Burgess Shale locality that has been nicknamed the Tulip Beds,” adds O’Brien.

uncategorizable ancient and kind of cute animalian species

CURBSIDE HAIKU

Via image, text and qr code, NYC's DOT will install over 200 signs around the city on light poles and at public parking lots using image and haiku to engage distracted pedestrians, cyclists and drivers in an attempt to make them more sensitive to their whereabouts and encouraging them to share the street.

 

Imagine a world
Where your every move matters.
Welcome to that world.

 

Aggressive driver.
Aggressive pedestrian.
Two crash test dummies.

 

8 million swimming,
The traffic rolling like waves
Watch for undertow.

Sales of the poster of all twelve signs and poems by artist John Morse benefit the Safe Streets Fund: http://safestreetsfund.org/store/

From the very wonderful Brain Pickings site:

But what’s perhaps most interesting is Darwin’s remarkable cross-disciplinary curiosity, a quality I believe is the key to combinatorial creativity. Though he never studied art formally, he had an active interest in art, read art history books, visited art museums, and mingled with the artists on his HMS Beagle voyage. Eventually, the sensibilities of art seeped into his work.

 

Increasingly, I see that the very things I’d prefer not to invite in are the sources of true comedy. In the world of clown, when things go awry on stage, it’s considered a gift from the gods. Nothing could be better than things falling apart, because in that groundless place something fresh and surprising can occur—if you’re open to it.

We all know that painful things happen, and that ultimately we’re going to die. But we don’t have to take it so personally. Being able to laugh about incontinence, heartbreak, and the many painful attachments we humans fall prey to is a great relief. It goes a long way to reduce suffering, particularly when we are reminded that things aren’t happening to us, they’re just happening. Bringing a sense of humor and curiosity to our fear and anxiety is liberation.

* What did the Buddhist say to the hot-dog vendor? “Make me one with everything.”

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Elaine Smookler is a comedic actress and playwright living in Toronto. Her most recent theater
production was Brigitte’ s Bardo, a musical comedy based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead.

 

Views from the Beautiful Mind

1 | 7

The much-debated graph of mental illness by profession

Genius: What is it and how do geniuses get that way? This diverse panel of scientists and artists discussed the characteristics that define a genius, its relationship with mental illness, sacrifice, and whether modern information overload could degrade creativity.

Quotables:

..."You have to be simultaneously inside and outside of what you're doing: receptive, rebellious, able to go into places you're scared to go." –Julie Taymor, on generating ideas

"The idea of 'gamechanging' is when someone changes the language so radically that no one gets it. But then eventually they do get it and everything is different." –Philip Glass

"Don't get the idea that the person who's inventing it actually knows what they're doing." –Glass