Some residents in the Upper Midwest were surprised to be shaken by an earthquake last night.

The United States Geological Survey reported that the earthquake, which had an estimated magnitude of 4.3, was centered near Virgil, about 50 miles northwest of Chicago, at a depth of about three miles. There were no immediate reports of aftershocks… Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist with the agency, said that the tremor was only the second notable earthquake in more than 30 years to rattle the area. Even though the quake was relatively small, it was felt by residents as far away as southern Wisconsin…

One of the best sources for information on earthquakes is the U. S. Geological Survey; the map above shows that earthquakes are common along the Pacific coast, but in just the past week they have also been recorded near the New Madrid fault and in New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, and the Rockies. A comparable map of world earthquakes is available at the same link.

News link. USGS link.

1. Although appearing on Sullivan was a huge “We’ve finally made it” moment for most bands, the Beatles agreed to come on the show only if their travel expenses were covered. Ed and his producers said that was fine, but only if the Beatles would make multiple appearances.
2. In addition to travel expenses, the Beatles also received $10,000, which covered both the famous debut appearance and the other two “multiple appearances” Sullivan had requested in return for paying their airfare. Adjusting for inflation, that’s about a $70,000 paycheck.
3. It’s been reported that 73 million people turned on their television sets to check out these long-haired boys who had been causing a sensation overseas. If that’s true, that was 38% of the population of the United States at the time. Talk about a ratings bonanza!

4. Remember Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall? No? That’s OK. Neither do the majority of the 73 million people who watched that night. Brill & McCall were the unfortunate act who had to follow the earth-shattering, industry-changing Beatles performance. The married sketch comedy duo pretty much bombed – their audience was rather distracted – and they later said they thought it ruined their careers. Here’s an extra bit of unrelated trivia for you: Brill and McCall are the godparents of Melissa Gilbert.

5. You’ve surely heard that old legend that the crime rate in the U.S. dropped dramatically during the Beatles’ appearance on the show. Apparently the whole nation was so transfixed by the lads from Liverpool that everyone preferred to tune in instead of running around committing felonies and such. It’s a nice story, but according to Snopes, it’s not true. The rumor started when a reporter from the Washington Post snarkily remarked that while the Beatles were on that evening, no hubcaps were stolen anywhere. It was meant to infer that the Beatles appealed to the type of degenerate who would do such a thing, but the meaning was twisted and reprinted by Newsweek. The Post ended up printing a tongue-in-cheek retraction on February 21, 1964:

“It is with heavy heart that I must inform Newsweek that this report is not true. Lawrence R. Fellenz of 307 E. Groveton St., Alexandria, had his car parked on church property during that hour – and all four of his hubcaps were stolen. The Washington Post regrets the error, and District Liner Fellenz regrets that somewhere in Alexandria there lives a hipster who is too poor to own a TV set.”

6. Wasn’t it nice that Elvis kicked off the Beatles’ American “debut” (see #5 for the explanation for the quotes) with a personal telegram? Just before John, Paul, George and Ringo took the stage, Ed Sullivan announced that he had received a “very nice” telegram from the King, wishing the Fab Four “tremendous success.” Notoriously known for being jealous of the Beatles, Elvis had actually done no such thing. His manager, Colonel Tom Parker, was responsible for the note, and only sent it because he thought it would make Elvis look good.

7. As our own David Israel pointed out in September, this was not really the Beatles’ American T.V. debut. They had appeared on NBC’s The Huntley Brinkley Report on November 18, 1963, in a whopping four-minute-long segment on the craze that was sweeping England.

8. Davy Jones was also on The Ed Sullivan Show that night, but not as part of the Monkees. Davy was performing with the cast of Broadway’s Oliver! Jones played the Artful Dodger (and ended up being nominated for a Tony for the role).

9. The Beatles had been gaining steam in the U.S. prior to the Sullivan show: the show was flooded with 50,000 ticket requests for the February 9 show – and it wasn’t because of the show’s other guest, Frank Gorshin (the Riddler from Batman the T.V. show). More than 49,000 people were disappointed because the studio only held 703 guests.

10. If you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing the performance (and hearing the ear-splitting shrieks of a crowd packed full of teenage girls), you’re in for a treat:

Supporters say the scouting experience builds strong, confident leaders. They point with considerable pride to its roster of former Scouts who went on to great achievement, including President Kennedy, astronaut Neil Armstrong, baseball great Hank Aaron and filmmaker Steven Spielberg.

“I think the Scouts have changed America profoundly, because as of now, 110 million people have worn the Scout uniform in one way or another. And the moral lesson and the experiences that have been imparted to them have obviously percolated through society as a whole just too profound to really enumerate,” said Wills.

Link via Fast Company | Image: Norman Rockwell

Read about four different sightings of wild kangaroos in the United States. Not surprisingly, some people believe that the mystery animals of North America are paranormal manifestations of some kind. But that might be jumping to conclusions.

Various theories have been put forward in an attempt to explain the bizarre phenomenon, but to date no satisfactory answers have been found. Some commentators suggest that kangaroos in the United States are the shy descendants of animals that, on some unknown occasion in the past, escaped from a circus or zoo. One rational explanation is that they are native marsupials not yet officially discovered or classified; however, the only evolutionary ancestors come from South, not North, America.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by MrGhaz.

Actually, this isn’t just one photograph — it’s a composite of 31 different images, taken in the shadow of the solar eclipse that passed over Asia and parts of the Pacific back in July for 6 minutes and 39 seconds. That’s the longest solar eclipse anyone on Earth will witness this century; a longer one isn’t coming until 2132. Mathematician and eclipse photographer Miloslav Druckmüller didn’t waste a second of it, positioned with a team of colleagues on Enewetak Atoll in the South Pacific, which just happens to be where the first hydrogen bomb was tested by the United States back in 1952. (Sounds like the setup to an un-aired episode of Lost, but anyway.)

The photo shows the solar corona that make up the sun’s “atmosphere” in glorious detail. Its whorls and loops extend millions of miles into space, are nearly 200 times hotter than the visible surface of the sun, and yet aren’t nearly as bright (by a factor of something like a million), hence, we can only see them during eclipses. I love the delicate beauty of this photo, and how it makes various features of the corona so plainly visible, like the difference in activity around its polar regions, as well as the dim, cratered surface of the moon. Ain’t the universe purdy?

Photo via Scientific American.

In the current experiment, the researchers found that three other patients identified as vegetative showed similar responses. To open a channel of communication, they instructed one of them, the 29-year-old man, to associate thoughts about tennis with “yes” and thoughts about being in his house with “no.”

They then asked questions, repeating the procedure numerous times, switching the associations — tennis with yes, then with no — to make sure the patient was in fact making conscious choices. The researchers had previously tested the technique in healthy volunteers.

“We asked basic biographical questions, like ‘Is your father’s name Thomas?’ and ‘Have you ever been to the United States?’ ” said Adrian M. Owen, a neuroscientist at the Medical Research Council in Cambridge, England, who developed the method and was a co-author of the paper. “We then checked whether the answers were correct. They were.”

Video at the link.

Link via Popular Science | Image: New York Times

Previously on Neatorama:
Man Actually Conscious Throughout Two Decades of “Coma”
Is This Man Fully Alert and Communicating – or Not?

Joe Peacock (previously on Neatorama) has been collecting Akira cells and production art since he was 14 years old, and now he has collaborated with ToonSeum to show the entire world why Akira is the pinnacle of Japanese anime:

No other film has ever looked like Akira, before or since. It’s stunningly fluid and detailed animation often required as many as nine separate cel layers. The 125 minute feature was comprised of over 160,000 cels and almost as many backgrounds, each one completely hand–drawn and hand-painted. Purists recognize Akira as the last completely hand-created animated feature, as cel animation quickly gave way to cheaper digital production and CGI technology.

Filmmakers, animators, art students and anime fans have largely missed out on in-depth looks at how original, cel-based animation was created – and what better example than the magnum opus that is Akira? No other animation in history – from Japan, the United States or otherwise – focused so much attention to detail in every single aspect, on every single frame and background. Each piece is a study in color theory, layout, motion dynamics and technical artistry. And it is my mission, along with ToonSeum, to expose as many people as possible to the brilliance inherent in this collection.

Links: Art of Akira – via The Journal of Joe The Peacock. Yay.