Married archaeologists Jack Davis and Sharon Stocker wanted to explore the grounds in Pylos, Greece, near the site of the palace of King Nestor, a Mycenaean king described in the Iliad. Denied their first choice of site, they started digging in an olive grove. What they found was astonishing: a grave dating to around 1500 BC, containing a warrior who was very wealthy, or at least very respected, considering the treasure he was buried with.

Over the next six months, the archaeologists uncovered bronze basins, weapons and armor, but also a tumble of even more precious items, including gold and silver cups; hundreds of beads made of carnelian, amethyst, amber and gold; more than 50 stone seals intricately carved with goddesses, lions and bulls; and four stunning gold rings. This was indeed an ancient grave, among the most spectacular archaeological discoveries in Greece in more than half a century—and the researchers were the first to open it since the day it was filled in.

“It’s incredible luck,” says John Bennet, director of the British School at Athens. “The fact that it hadn’t been discovered before now is astonishing.” The spectacular find of priceless treasures made headlines around the globe, but what really intrigues scholars, says Stocker, is the “bigger world picture.” The very first organized Greek society belonged to the Mycenaeans, whose kingdoms exploded out of nowhere on the Greek mainland around 1600 B.C. Although they disappeared equally dramatically a few hundred years later, giving way to several centuries known as the Greek Dark Ages, before the rise of “classical” Greece, the Mycenaeans sowed the seeds of our common traditions, including art and architecture, language, philosophy and literature, even democracy and religion. “This was a crucial time in the development of what would become Western civilization,” Stocker says.

Dated to the time when Minoan culture was giving way to Mycenaean culture, the grave gives us new clues as to how that happened, which may change the way we look at the development of Greek civilization. Read about the dig, the warrior, and the Mycenaean culture at Smithsonian magazine. -via Digg

(Image credit: Myrto Papadopoulos)

A Brazilian grandmother has an icon in her home that she prays to every day. Gabriela Brandao noticed and asked about it. The elderly woman said she was praying to St. Anthony. Brandao took a close look at the figure and thought it looked familiar. St. Anthony isn't supposed to have pointy ears, is he? She checked on the internet to confirm what she thought, and found an exact duplicate of the figure for sale -a figure of Elrond, Lord of Rivendell, a character from The Lord of the Rings. Brandao's relative had been praying to an elf! Since Brandao posted the pictures, the grandmother has received a new figurine -one depicting St. Anthony.

(Image credit: Gabriela Brandao)

Working with flowers sounds like a lovely way to make a living, but it's not all lollipops and roses. Or, at least not all lollipops. Making beautiful arrangements is the fun part, but running a business based on fragile, short-lived, emotionally-charged products can be quite stressful. But those who stick with it love the work. Here are some of the everyday facts about the floral business.

4. TIMING IS EVERYTHING.

Because flowers only last so long before they wilt and die, florists are in a perpetual race against the clock. They must properly time purchases and deliveries, making sure that buds have bloomed by the time they arrive at a client’s door. To speed up or slow down the blooming process, florists use a variety of tricks. They may condition flowers (get them ready for display) by cutting or splitting the stems (trimming them at a 45-degree angle increases the surface area for water absorption) or dunking the blooms in cold water. Storing the blooms away from direct sunlight is also key. To ensure that flowers for weddings look fresh and open, Ghani keeps them in a refrigerated environment and makes the centerpieces the day before the event.

13. THEY GET TO PARTAKE IN YOUR EMOTIONAL MILESTONES.

Whether they arrange and deliver flowers for weddings, funerals, births, anniversaries, or proms, florists often work with clients who are emotional about recent (or imminent) life changes. And florists aren't immune to the impact—conscious or subconscious—of the heightened emotions surrounding weddings and funerals. One florist writes about how creating floral arrangements for a funeral sparked a recurring dream: “In the dream, I woke up the woman that died to ask her if she liked the flowers. Her answer was no. She informed me that she had always hated flowers … I remember feeling silly and spooked at the same time.”

That's only a couple. Read more behind-the-scenes secrets of florists at mental_floss.

If you recall the Disney movie Mulan, you'll love this recreation of the "preparing for the matchmaker" scene from a Chinese TV production, shared by the Disney Power Facebook page. The young actresses are excellent, and the scene looks just like the Disney film. But the real show-stopper is when Grandma comes in.

(YouTube link)

To show how spot-on the production is, here it is side-by-side with the Disney version.

(YouTube link)

-via Boing Boing

Photographer Marcel Heijnen became charmed with the many cats who live in the retail shops of Hong Kong. He's taken portraits of many of them, collected in his new book Hong Kong Shop Cats. 

Heijnen regards the small stores where the cats lounge and doze as “beautiful photogenic subjects in their own right.” They are places where, says Heijnen, “time seems to have stood still, devoid of branding and all the other modern-day retail trickery we’ve grown accustomed to”.

See a selection of Heijnen's images from the book at Atlas Obscura and more shop cats at his Instagram gallery Chinese Whiskers.

On Wednesday, Senator Bernie Sanders addressed his colleagues using a large poster of a Tweet from the president-elect. The image captured a lot of attention, particularly because it just cried out for some Photoshop fun. Thats been made easy since Caleb Brown launched a new generator called Post the Bern, where you can put any Tweet onto the poster. Keep in mind that Tweets with pictures may not come out as well as text-only Tweets. But it's worth a try! -via Laughing Squid

How do you build a comfortable, modern, eco-friendly home within the Arctic Circle? The Hjertefølger family did it by covering their five-bedroom home with a 25-foot-tall solar dome! The huge geodesic dome has glass all around, which keeps heat in while allowing a great viewing of Sandhornøya Island, off the coast of Norway above the Arctic Circle. Read about the features of this sweet home under a dome and see plenty of pictures at Housely.

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.

(Image credit: Jimberg13)

The first Super Bowl took place on January 15, 1967. The game was not universally called "the Super Bowl." Many sources called it the much more syllabic AFL-NFL World Championship Game. It would still take a year or two before the more catchy "Super Bowl" became the game's agreed-upon moniker.

The rivals in this soon-to-be classic duel were the NFL's Green Bay Packers, led by their immortal coach Vince Lombardi and the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs, under coach Hank Stram. The Packers had finished the 1966 season with a 12-2 record, they had just beat the Dallas Cowboys for the NFL championship the previous week  by a 34-27 score. The underdog Chiefs had just whipped the Buffalo Bills for the AFL title by a 31-7 score.

The historic game was played in the Los Angeles Coliseum on a sunny, pleasant 72 degrees day. A crowd of 61, 946 attended the game, a nice crowd, but they far from filled the arena (the coliseum held over 93,000) and thus there were over 30,000 empty seats. This was to be the only non-capacity crowd in Super Bowl history (despite a TV blackout in the L.A. area).

Mental floss's intrepid reporter immerses himself in calculus to master the game.

(Image credit: Nazario Graziano)

The bus to Atlantic City is oversold, over-air-conditioned, and struggling to get out of Manhattan. Normally, I’d appreciate the irony that Greyhound dubs this shuttle the Lucky Streak, but right now I’m too busy sorting through my notes about implied odds, effective value, and something called “M-ratio.”

Two weeks ago, this pile of equations would have meant nothing to me. Today, however, it means next to nothing. A marginal improvement, sure, but isn’t massaging the margins what gambling is all about?

Poker Theory and Analytics is a graduate-level MIT course taught by Kevin Desmond, a former pro player and Morgan Stanley analyst. The school offers the course online, meaning video lectures, assignments, and class notes are available to anyone for free. Inspired by Bringing Down the House, the 2003 book about the MIT Blackjack Team who used their card-counting smarts to outwit Vegas, I formulated a simple plan: Take the class, hit the poker tables of Atlantic City, and profit.

The Jersey Turnpike, however, has a way of shaking one’s confidence.

I’m what seasoned poker players would call a “donkey.” I’ve played only small games with friends, and every hand I’ve ever won has been the result of pure luck (try as I might to convince myself otherwise). I lack every quality required of good poker players: risk assessment, pattern identification, stoicism, basic math proficiency, and attention span. If poker can be taught, as MIT’s course materials suggest, it’ll be put to the test here not by genius-level MIT students, but by a bumpkin who barely knows his multiplication tables.

This is why we can't have nice things. The Hide-Away Piano Bar in St. Louis had a great idea, but now it's only a great sign. I mean really, what could possibly go wrong with Lightsaber Night at a bar? Todd may be persona non grata in the neighborhood for quite some time, but the guy who did the sign is a hero for bringing a smile to the internet. -via reddit

Erin McCutcheon's cat Juno escaped from a pet carrier and jumped out of a moving car on the upper deck of I-93S in Boston on Christmas Day. McCutcheon couldn't find the cat, so she distributed posters and put out a call for help on Facebook. On January 3, a group of electricians spotted Juno 80 feet above the lower deck, perched on the support girders under the upper deck. Juno had been there for nine days! The crew couldn't catch Juno, who was frightened, but eventually lured her out with canned cat food. Juno, hungry and thirsty, went home with electrician Jay Frazier, and will be reunited with the McCutcheons soon. -via Metafilter

(Image credit: Jay Dondero)

White Bear Mitsubishi has a mascot. He's a white bear. Duh. The car dealership enlisted the help of the Minnesota Gophers' mascot Goldy to make an ad on the ice in Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis. Goldy, being a hockey mascot, is an accomplished skater, and is also used to walking on ice. The white bear, who sells cars, is not. Enjoy the outtakes from the day of shooting.

(YouTube link)

Even if he has a lot of padding inside the suit, I hope he was paid well for the day. In case you want to see what they were trying to do, the finished ad is here. -via Metafilter

They don't ever go away. They want everything you have.

Yes, that's exactly what parenting is. The good news is that as they get older, you just grow accustomed to giving them everything you have. Ashley Gardner has four two-year-olds to hide from!

(YouTube link)

Ashley and her husband Tyson battled infertility for years and then produced quadruplets: two sets of identical twins. While they are a blessing, it's a struggle for any mother of toddlers to get a few minutes of peace and quiet. And even harder to get a piece of candy to yourself. You can see more of the family at their website. -via Tastefully Offensive

Face it, there are plenty of things in the Star Wars prequels that make no sense at all. Some can be attributed to the temptations of modern CGI, while others are clearly due to the difficulty of retrofitting a plot to link to the story in the original trilogy. The prequels were there to set up the character of Darth Vader, his motivations, and the characters that surround him. It all leads to Anakin Skywalker turning to the dark side in Revenge of the Sith because he was afraid his pregnant wife would die. It should not have been so.  

Prenatal visits never happen in Episode III, not even offscreen. Despite Anakin’s spiraling paranoia about Padme’s health, doctors or hospitals are bizarrely never mentioned. And the evidence says that Padme never got an ultrasound.

When she confronts Anakin towards the end of the movie—shortly before giving birth—she refers to “our child,” rather than “our children.” It doesn’t make sense for her to be hiding the ball here, she’s making one last emotional appeal to the father of her children, to try to bring him back to the light side. Rather, Padme simply doesn’t know that she’s about to give birth to twins.

Later, when she actually gives birth, everyone is taken aback by the revelation that she’s having babies in the plural.

All of this points to one thing: Padme’s never had an ultrasound. In fact, Padme’s never had a prenatal check-up.

Padme is a privileged character who should have had access to the best medical care in the galaxy, but medical technology in Star Wars leans more toward bionic body parts to replace those sheared off by a light saber. Yeah, it's a feminist issue, one that the entire plot of the Star Wars saga pivots on. Read more about the nonsensical twists that led to Darth Vader at Motherboard.

Not only does this ad remind you of local cable access commercials, it's full of jokes, memes, bad puns, and the occasional breaking of the fourth wall. Oh, and it's full of cute cats, too.

(YouTube link)

Furkids Animal Rescue and Shelters in Georgia resorted to making a parody of bad local TV ads in order to draw attention to their many cats (and dogs) who needs homes. You can be assured that your local shelter is in the same fix. -via Uproxx