(via Alison)

Share this:

(via Katya)

Share this:

If all you see are three circles filled with dots of the same color, you are normal. If you see something different (such as different colored letters inside each circle) – immediately contact me in the comment section below.

You may be a tetrachromat: very rare and super human.

A tetrachromat is sort of like being a super taster of color vision. To date, only two or three people have been identified as potential tetrachromats.

You might be one.

In simple terms, here’s how normal color vision works:
We all have three types of color photoreceptive cells in the back of our eyes (the retina) – which are often called the red, green, and blue “cones.” We are trichromats. Each of these ‘flavors’ of cone is sensitive to a particular range of colors of the spectrum. And usually when we perceive a color, it is the result of a combination of signals from more than one flavor of cone. For example, seeing “orange” is the result of a moderate signal from a green cone and a stronger signal from a red cone. And we are able to distinguish the range of orange hues from each other by the different strengths of green and red cone signals that each orange hue generates (darker orange would have a stronger red signal, etc).

What would happen if you had a fourth cone, an extra color photoreceptor?
If you are a tetrachromat, the most likely scenario is that you have a mutant form of the red cone while also having normal form of the red cone – two types of red cones that are sensitive to slightly different ranges of the red end of the color spectrum. You would not be able to see extra colors the rest of us can’t (sadly, no ultraviolet vision, etc.), but you would be able to make distinctions between very similar colors that the rest of us cannot. Two samples that would look like the same color of red to me would look like dramatically different reds to a tetrachromat.

The most likely candidate for being a tetrachromat:
• You are a woman
• You have men with red/green colorblindness in your family.
• In particular, you have a son or father with red/green colorblindness.

If you can see more than colored circles in the three tests above, drop me a line in the comment section below.

Share this:

Dr. John Schulenberg, professor of developmental psychology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor:

“We used to think that if things were going well in high school, they’d continue to go well.”

Ha. Ha.

(via Susan, via Psychology Today)

Share this:

Though technically they aren’t “lost” – they know exactly where they are – this population near the Peruvian/Brazilian border has had no known contact with the “outside world” until last month. Recent aerial photos taken in May 2008 offer the first proof of their existence and provide some clues to their way of life.

Some new facts about this recently discovered tribe:
• They don’t like airplanes.
• They aren’t very good at hitting airplanes with spears or arrows.
• They aren’t interested in maintaining front or back lawns.
• They believe that orange bodypaint is “the new black.”

Mail Online article.

(via Neatorama)

Share this:

Not all taco trucks are alike.

The Yum Tacos taco truck guide and news source for all things taco truck.

Share this:

• Uncyclopedia – like Wikipedia, but drunk.

• Conservapedia – like Wikipedia, but stupid and paranoid.

• Dickipedia – like baseball cards, about jerks.

Share this:

Last Fall, someone tried repeatedly to break into a neighbor’s apartment – windowscreens torn or pulled off, and attempts to pry open the window locks. I helped her to better fortify her windows and I decided it would be wise to protect my own.

I went with minor antipersonnel gardening: planter boxes beneath all of the windows, each filled with cacti. The project itself cost around $25 for each antipersonnel planter box, and it took an afternoon to do. IKEA (at the time) had sets of 3 small cacti for ~$5.00 and single large cacti for ~$5.00 each.

Some points to consider:
• This won’t prevent anyone from breaking in if they are hellbent on doing so. It provides ‘disincentive’ – making it uncomfortable or more difficult to casually approach and open windows from the outside. They provide a visual threat (I’ve considered adding poison oak to some of the planter boxes, also).

• The cost is relatively low.

• It is easy to do – Screw the planter box into the bottom of the window sill. I suggest you use BBQ tongs or pliers to handle the cacti when you’re planting them.

• It is easy to maintain – Cacti are low-maintenance and often only need watering on a monthly basis.

• It looks cool – every time I look out the window, it looks like I’m in Arizona.

Share this: