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Holy holy! (Holy via Devour!)

Here's a video of a Cumberland County, Tennessee school safety officer illegally arresting a parent who disagreed with the school's policy on picking up kids. The policy had recently changed, creating a long traffic jam, so the soon-to-be-arrested man walked to the school to get his kids.

The school safety officer was reportedly upset because the parent had called the local sheriff to complain about the school's new pickup policy and the long waits, and what followed was an argument in which the reasonable, quiet-spoken and polite parent was arrested for "disorderly conduct" by the school safety officer, who put him in cuffs and then into the back of a cruiser without advising him of his rights or enumerating the charge against him.

Presumably the officer was trying to help the local school board get rid of excess cash on its books by creating enormous, pointless liabilities for it.

Update: Here's local coverage from 6ABC/WATE: The school is South Cumberland Elementary. Officer Absolute Obedience is actually Sheriff Deputy and School Resource Officer Avery Aytes. Jim Howe is the dad. Amanda Long, his fiancee, shot the video.

Aytes's boss, Cumberland County Sheriff Butch Burgess is described as saying he "hasn't seen the video and doesn't need to, because it won't tell the whole story. He says Aytes was just doing his job."

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Either that or there's going to be a lot of squished people needing to be scraped off the tiles at the deep end. Currently under construction at the Schlitterbahn park in Kansas City, the Meg-a-Blaster slide will open in Spring 2014, dropping people from nearly 140 feet up.

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Viola Organista built by Slawomir Zubrzycki

Codex Atlanticus by Leonardo Da Vinci, (page 93r)

Buried in the pages of Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous 15th century notebooks, amongst the sketches of flying machines, parachutes, diving suits, and armored tanks, was a curious idea for a musical instrument that merged the harpsichord and cello. The Italian Renaissance polymath referred to it as the viola organista. The general idea for the instrument was to correlate keyboard fingerwork with the sustained sound of a stringed instrument, but among the dozens of ideas pursued by the gifted artist and inventor, this was one he never explored further. Nearly 100 years would pass before an organist in Nuremberg would build the first functional bowed keyboard instrument, and many others would try throughout history to realize Da Vinci’s vision with various levels of success.

Now, after an estimated 5,000 hours of work over three years and nearly $10,000 invested in the project, Polish concert pianist Slawomir Zubrzycki has unveiled his own version of the viola organista. Not only is the new instrument gorgeous, it’s fully functional and Zubrzycki demonstrated it in public for the first time at the 5th International Royal Krakow Piano Festival a few weeks ago. Above is a video of that performance where you can hear how beautiful the strange instrument sounds. Via the Hindustan Times:

The flat bed of its interior is lined with golden spruce. Sixty-one gleaming steel strings run across it, similar to the inside of a baby grand. Each one is connected to the keyboard complete with smaller black keys for sharp and flat notes. But unlike a piano, it has no hammered dulcimers.Instead, there are four spinning wheels wrapped in horse tail hair, like violin bows. To turn them, Zubrzycki pumps a peddle below the keyboard connected to a crankshaft.

As he tinkles the keys, they press the strings down onto the wheels emitting rich, sonorous tones reminiscent of a cello, an organ and even an accordion. The effect is a sound that da Vinci dreamt of, but never heard; there are no historical records suggesting he or anyone else of his time built the instrument he designed.

Here’s an additional interview with Zubrzycki, where you can see the instrument up close (click the “CC” icon for English captions):

You can learn more about Zubrzycki and the history of the viola organista over at the History Blog.

Winona Ryder just spilled the beans that she probably going to return as the great Lydia Deetz for Beetlejuice 2. Okay, she didn't outright SAY that, but the implication is there, and it is awesome. Three important questions remain: What is Lydia Deetz up to now? What is she wearing? And where can I buy it?

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Googlyify is a tool that allows you to add googly eyes to animated GIFs. After entering the URL of the GIF you’d like to enhance, you can add googly eyes into each frame of the GIF.

GIFs via Googlyify

via Waxy.org Links

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For the socially savvy, hashtags and trending topics are very much a part of the 21st century vernacular. For others, these terms may prompt a question: What is Twitter?

A YouTube video answering that very question was tweeted out by @TwitterGuide, one of Twitter's experimental accounts, last week.

The video was published in February, but has fewer than 100 views, likely because it is unlisted and comes with the standard warning: "This video is unlisted. Be considerate and think twice before sharing." You can only view unlisted videos when someone shares the link, as they are unsearchable. Read more...

Food Network Magazine wants to know which side you’re on. Vote in the poll below and tell FN Dish whether you prefer to nosh on pancakes or waffles.

The Toyota pickup has a reputation for being indestructable, and here's some more evidence for that file.

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