Weird origins of a popular musical instrument

Back in 16th century, Spain saw the ascension of Carlos to the throne and great was the divide between the wealthy royal class and the dirt poor serfs. The new king wanted more and levied the highest tax the country had ever seen. With no hope of relief in sight, a small band of thieves, “los pañuelos azules” (the blue bandanas), schemed how they might garner some of the royal treasure.

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Rats Have Rhythm

Rats Have Rhythm and Totally Get Down to Lady Gaga and Queen

Humans can’t help but move to the music and it turns out that rats have the same instinct. Without even realizing it, we move our heads along to the beat, a behavior long thought to be exclusively human. But scientists have discovered rats do the same thing. Yes, it’s true: rats have rhythm. The rodents even keep time at the same rhythm as humans, 120-140 beats per minute. So when the researchers played songs like “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga, “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen, “Beat It” by Michael Jackson, and “Sugar” by Maroon 5, along with Mozart, the rats bopped their heads along just the same as the humans in the study. Check out their dance moves in the video above.

Roland v-1hd Owner’s Manual

Mix up to four video sources at up to 1080p resolution with the Roland V-1HD video mixer. Four HDMI inputs are ready for video cameras, computers, Blu-ray players and other sources. Utilize professional compositing effects like picture-in-picture and keying effects. Controls are simple and laid out intelligently, and you can even control the V-1HD remotely via USB or MIDI, with the software control app for Mac, PC and iPad.

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A common Hebrew word we mispronounce

Israel

The way many Americans pronounce this word has become one of my major pet peeves. I’ve researched everywhere I can think of and asked everyone who I though might have the answer as to where we got the idea that there is an “eye” sound in the name, typically mispronounced as “IZ-RYE-YELL.” The following video demonstrates how the name is actually pronounced.

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