Japanese Bathroom Ghosts.

Illustrations of the 12 different types of Kappa, a water spirit who is sometimes known to haunt outhouses, from the 19th century.

And why not? Lavatories are notoriously spooky, and across cultures. Japanese lav spooks are quite detailed, and there are plenty of urban legends to go around, too.

Kappas may be repelled by farts, but they were known to appear in outhouses all the same. Yoshitoshi/Public Domain.

Never forget the power of a good fart! Atlas Obscura has the full rundown on lavatory spooks, with more to read, videos to watch, and many more images!

The Daily Bird #489.

A big nut thief! From Charly, who notes: For long I thought the holes in some nuts are made by spotted nutcracker, Nucifraga caryocactates, but I have never seen one. This weekend purely by accident I had a camera in hand when I heard the “tok-tok-tok” from the walnut tree and got the opportunity to catch the thief in the act. And it is great spotted woodpecker.

I do not mind them doing this. Everything they destroy is subsequently cracked and given in the feeder for the smaller birds to enjoy. I have more nuts than I can eat anyway. Click for full size!

© Charly, all rights reserved.

Book Note!

Akata Warrior, the long awaited sequel to

is out tomorrow (Oct. 3rd)! I’m happy dance all over, I adore Nnedi Okorafor’s books, and I loved Akata Witch*. All the characters are wonderful, as is their bond of friendship and their often prickly relationship with their mentors. When Akata Witch ended, Sunny was left with a direct communication from her grandmother, Ozoemena, and both she and Orlu decided they weren’t quite ready for second level. It left me wanting, very much, to follow along with the four friends, and now I’ll be able to do so.

*Some highly unimaginative people have called this book the Nigerian version of Harry Potter, or somesuch idiocy. Frankly, I think that’s an insult to Ms. Okorafor, who has one of the most splendid imaginations, and weaves real history and beliefs seamlessly into her worlds, and they bring Nigerian culture into a beautiful blossom, one that would be familiar to many, and a grand learning experience for others, like myself. Akata Witch is brimming with sly humour, intelligence, and heart.

From Riches to Rags: A Money Story.

Midas, Transmuting all into Paper, James Gillray, 9 March 1797.

In 1820 a satirical pamphlet called ‘Satan’s Bank Note’ appeared on the streets of London. Accompanied by a woodcut engraving of five men being executed with the devil sitting on the gallows, the pamphlet offered a biting commentary on the epidemic of forgery trials that had broken out in Britain in the years following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The anonymous author lays the blame entirely at the door of the Bank of England and its biggest debtor, the government of the day:

Near London’s ’Change there is a house,
(To name it I’m unwilling)
Where RAGS are sold, and for each Pound
John Bull gives twenty shillings.

George Cruikshank Bank Restriction Note, published 1819. © Bank of England Museum.

Very interesting reading!

Brewery Biosensors.

Just stay clear of their claws. Fredlyfish4/CC BY-SA 4.0.

There are an endless number of decisions that a brewer can make about a beer recipe, but one ingredient—water—seems like it should be an afterthought. But even for the most basic, cheap beers, brewers pay a lot of attention to water chemistry. If it’s too alkaline, or full of minerals and other contaminants, it will impact the flavor of the final product. So they carefully test their water sources to make sure they’re good enough—and now one brewery in the Czech Republic has hired some tiny new employees to take over this task. They’re paid in food. Because they’re crayfish.

[…]

At the Protivin Brewery—brewers of the Platan family of beers—Reuters reports, they can show whether water pumped from a local natural source is safe to use. Five of the clawed arthropods have infrared sensors mounted on their backs that monitor their heart rates and movement. A portion of the water headed for the brew kettle is diverted to their tank, and if three or more of the crayfish have elevated heart rates, or start moving around a lot, a computer will tell brewers within three minutes that there’s a problem.

The brewery is working with scientists from the University of South Bohemia to develop this biosensor system, which they plan to continue upgrading. Cameras that can monitor the crayfishes’ hearts are a planned addition. The system remains experimental, so brewers still have to monitor water quality in a lab.

Anything in the name of a good beer! Via Atlas Obscura.

Cats on a Tram.

Screenshot from Short Trip (courtesy Alexander Perrin).

Short Trip is an interactive illustration in which you drive a tram for cats as it rumbles up and down the hand-drawn mountains. It’s a peaceful and lovingly designed experience that only lasts a few minutes, yet the attention to detail, from the sound to the sketched trees and turning windmills, is transporting.

Why cats? Australian artist Alexander Perrin was inspired both by his mother’s passion for cats, and his own feline companion in sketching the characters that populate Short Trip.

[…]

Short Trip is planned to be the first by Perrin in a collection of interactive illustrations. This inaugural edition is available to play for free (donations are welcome) on both his site and Itch.io. With all the stress in the world, it is a respite of calm, with birds chirping in the background as the cats leisurely prowl their scenic environment. As Perrin stated, “I suppose cats feel right to support the tramway as they never seem to have a necessary destination, they just move to wherever seems pleasant at the time.”

You can read and see more at Hyperallergic.