Estonian gentleman Illimar Lepik Von Wirén tweets that a grocery store was built around a glacial boulder. This is a grocery store that is part of the Viimsi Shopping Center in the town of Haabneeme. Another photo of the rock suggests that it provides a space for a shopping cart-shaped sculpture.
Estonia has many "erratic boulders" left over from previous ice ages. They have government protection.
Photo: Nordecon
Like all decent and right-thinking people, I enjoy pineapple on pizza. Bubba Pizza, a pizzeria chain in Australia, agrees and affirms my lifestyle with pineapple on pizza. The chain's bold, experimental thinking embraces other culinary possibilities. Not all of them work out, such as the failed kimchi pepperoni pizza. But the research continues.
In March, Bubba Pizza's research cooks considered that, since pineapple does so well on pizza, perhaps another citrus fruit would, too. This summer, the New York Post reports, the chain is offering pizzas with orange slices and ham. Online reaction has been lively, although, oddly enough, not universally positive.
-via YoDanno
We are wrapping up what is probably the biggest weekend of the year for our friends at Geeks Are Sexy. It was Montreal Comiccon! The Palais des congrès hosted thousands of comic book superheroes, TV and movie characters, literary figures, gaming icons, fairy tale princesses, pop stars, and clever mashups. Organizers said a record number of people showed up, surpassing the expected 65,000 attendees. Above you see Deadpool offering Lady Deadpool a gift. She appears quite touched, although she already has plenty of bling.
George Johnson is an architect in Minneapolis. He and his wife have lived in their 1915 home for 25 years. Recently, he decided to replace the siding, and when it was removed, the wall underneath revealed a full-size red and green Gold Medal Flour sign! Further work found that there was another such sign on the back of the house. Johnson found out his house was actually built in 1912, and was a grocery store on the next lot over. In 1915, it was moved to its present location and converted into a house.
Johnson wants to keep the historic signs, displaying the ad on the front of the house, and covering it on the south facing back side to protect it from the sun. He is working with the Minnesota Historical Society and General Mills, owners of the iconic Minneapolis Gold Medal Flour brand, to make it happen. See more pictures in this post. -via reddit
When a museum is online, that means it's not only free, but accessible to people all over the world. That's what MOBOTOYS is. Check out the extensive collection of 20th century toys that move, light up, and play music or speak, thanks to the household batteries that became available around the turn of the century. These toys highlight the intricacies of mechanical design, and range from simple cars that go and animals that bang drums to a full telephone switchboard with an operator plugging calls through. Each exhibit has photographs, packaging details (when available), the toy's history and provenance, and a video to show how it works. Many of the videos have a closeup view of the mechanics at work inside.
The museum is operated by Kelly Kegley, who takes his rather flamboyant ride out in Seattle "just to have fun and make people smile." The toys are from his private collection. -via Metafilter
This is a real intercollegiate soccer tournament, but instead of athletes, the schools deploy their robotics teams. The ROBO League Football Tournament was held in Beijing on June 28th. The 3-on-3 game above is between Tsinghua University and the Beijing Information & Science Technology University. The robots, built by Booster Robotics, seem a little hesitant, like they are nervous playing in front of a crowd. When the referees appear, you notice the robots are only three feet tall, and it then makes sense- they are playing as children! Or at least that's what they look like to us. They make goals, but there is no celebrating, no swinging kicks with followthrough, and barely any defense. The players spend their time and effort trying to identify the ball and follow it without falling down. There are no Terminators here.
In previous robotics soccer games, the robots were guided by remote control. Here, remote control is disabled when the players take the field. Their movements are all programmed by artificial intelligence, which is where the real competition between the teams comes in. This video is just the highlights; you can see more and longer videos at Laughing Squid.
British author Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) is perhaps most famous for his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and his play The Importance of Being Earnest. Hugely popular but controversial in Victorian society, Wilde's career and reputation collapsed when he was convicted of gross indecency in 1895 and sentenced to two years in prison. He died in poverty three years after his release.
The Guardian reports that when Wilde was convicted the Board of Trustees of the British Library, then known as the British Museum Reading Room, revoked Wilde's access to that celebrated nexus of intellectual discourse. On October 16, on the occasion of Wilde's birthday, the British Library will restore Wilde's access--posthumously, of course.
-via reddit
If someone were to ask you what Superman stands for, what would you say?
Truth and justice.
Truth, justice, and freedom.
Truth, justice, and the American way.
Truth, justice and other stuff.
Truth, justice and peace for all mankind.
Truth, justice and a better tomorrow.
This is not a poll, and it's actually a trick question. The fact is that every one of those phrases has been associated with Superman at one time or another. The phrase "truth, justice, and the American way" is the one we are most likely to recall, as it was in the opening of the 1950s TV show starring George Reeves. It was coined in 1942, years after the Man of Steel's debut, to reflect America's entry into World War II. But it was never used in comic books until 1991. Read how Superman's motto has evolved over his 87 years (although he still doesn't look a day over 30) at Smithsonian.
Daniel Xu and his wife bought a house in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. They'd been inside, and had a home inspection, but Xu hadn't seen the crawl space himself. The tiny opening led down a few stairs and revealed a huge area totally covered with a miniature railroad setup! Neither the realtor nor the previous owners had mentioned it, and it turns out that their father had built the railway in the 1960s and it hadn't been used in many years. Why didn't the home inspector mention it? He probably assumed the buyer knew about it, and he had other things to attend to.
The real kicker is that Daniel Xu is a railroad engineer himself. He's also a model train enthusiast with his own model trains, but nothing as extensive as what he just bought. He plans to restore and upgrade the railway with modern technology, while keeping the vintage look. Xu has his work cut out for him, as the whole room is covered with dust and spider webs. But that work is what makes model railroading a hobby. -via Metafilter
Shakespeare wrote the play Macbeth in the early 1600s as a work of fiction. But there was historical inspiration from the annals of Scottish royalty, including a real king named Macbeth from the 11th century. The most intriguing character in the play is Lady Macbeth, whose lust for power for her husband led her to murder and madness. The inspiration for Lady Macbeth was a woman named Gruoch, whose husband, Gille Comgáin, was a regional ruler in Scotland and had a first cousin and rival named Macbeth. All three were related to Scottish King Malcolm II in one way or another. That seems like a tenuous connection, but it's only the beginning of the story.
A deadly feud between Gille Comgáin and Macbeth's family led to the death of Macbeth's father, followed years later by Comgáin's death, along with 50 of his men. What could mend the rift between these two clans? It happened when Gruoch married Macbeth, who became king a few years later. We don't know much about Gruoch, or her motivations, but Shakespeare gave her plenty in the form of a murderous thirst for power 600 years later. Read what we do know about the Scottish queen Gruoch at History… the Interesting Bits! -via Strange Company
We think of chickens as mindless egg layers, or bird brains. Considering Mike the Headless Chicken, you may be forgiven for thinking so. But the process of reproduction, even when it relies basically on instinct, is quite complex and amazing. Hormones and instinct cause a hen to go broody, meaning she devotes everything to her clutch of eggs, even to point of not eating. Cartoons depict broody hens as being surprised when their eggs hatch. Real hens know when that's going to happen, because the chicks actually start chirping! The hen gets excited and cheers on the chirping and the pecking until the baby chick is out of the egg. All that commotion encourages the other eggs to hatch, regardless of the fact that they were laid on different days. After all, it would be difficult for a hen to keep up with chicks when there are remaining eggs that need to stay warm. This new video from BBC Earth is from the series Secret Life of Farm Animals. -via Damn Interesting
Every once in a while, a performer becomes famous for their lack of talent. Florence Foster Jenkins was so convinced of her operatic talent that she rented Carnegie Hall, and people came to marvel at her terrible singing. Tommy Wiseau produced, directed, and acted in a movie that people only watched because it was so awful. But they came in late to the game compared to Robert Coates, who took to the stage as a Shakespearean actor in 1809.
Coates was convinced he had a talent for drama, and he was certainly dramatic. He designed his own costumes, improvised his lines, and repeated death scenes over and over on stage until he got it right. The audience thought Coates' debut as Romeo was a comedic take, and loved it. When it became clear Coates was confidently earnest, just very bad at what he was doing, he became a sensation in England. Audiences flocked to see Coates act, so they could laugh, ridicule him, and sometimes throw vegetables at him. The actor was just as flamboyant off stage. Read about the notorious Robert Coates at Amusing Planet.
The 16th-century song "Greensleeves" is a familiar tune, which you most likely know as the Christmas song "What Child is This?" The original song was written in the year 1580, and the oldest surviving lyrics were written down in 1584. There are 18 verses, and they tell of a man who has a crush on a woman and showers her with gifts of clothing, which are described in the song. Together, they make a stalker tale and a fine Tudor outfit. Was it a true story? Or a song written in the throes of unrequited love? Who knows- maybe it was written by someone who just wanted to write about fashions.
The Greensleeves Project has been working to decipher and recreate all the clothing mentioned in the song, which gives us a glimpse into the fashions of the Elizabethan Era. The longer documentary that was mentioned at the end is here. You can keep up with The Greensleeves Project at Instagram. -via Metafilter
The San Antonio Express-News passes along this video of mysterious origin. A man plays--and plays well--pool in what appears to be a bar and on what is definitely a horse.
Is he actually in Texas? We have no direct evidence, but this is a very Texan thing to do. Working from horseback is a normal thing to do, including my own work at a library. Texas is a big place and requires constant movement.
-via Dave Barry
On July 6, 1944, thousands of people were packed into the big top to watch the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus in Hartford, Connecticut. The temperature hovered around 90 degrees, and the tent was waterproofed with paraffin and gasoline, as was customary at the time. Access to the tent was strictly controlled by metal gates, and some were lined with animal cages and chutes. Just a few minutes into the matinee performance, a fire broke out near the main entrance. It took a few minutes for the audience to notice the fire, and some thought it was part of the show. Circus employees scrambled to extinguish the blaze, but the flames crawled up the fabric tent walls with amazing speed.
Evacuation was hampered by the fire, the chutes and cages, and the lack of emergency exits. There were hundreds remaining in the tent when its roof collapsed, and 167 people died. Hundreds were rushed to hospitals with burns and injuries from falling debris, jumping from bleachers, and the stampeding crowd. Now 81 years later, some of those who attended the circus that day as children still have psychological scars from the trauma of that day. Read about the Hartford circus fire that became known as "the day the clowns cried" at Smithsonian.
