The SARS-CoV-2 virus is an ugly bug that is rendered as strikingly artistic in an animation from Maastricht University in the Netherlands. They explain what happens from the time a single virus particle invades your lungs until it spews out the many copies of itself it has reproduced. The chemical reactions went over my head at times, but never lost my interest. Keep in mind this is the "general version." They go into much more detail in the "scientific version," which you can see here.
What really amazes me about this video is how anyone ever learned so much about a virus. They are tiny compared to the individual cells of our body, which are already, well, microscopic. Here we see individual proteins working in tiny parts of a single virus, and in technicolor no less. The teams of virologists and molecular biologists working on COVID-19 research deserve every bit of respect for figuring all this out. -via Kottke

In the 1860s, separate railroad companies worked to connect the eastern US railroad system with the west coast. The Union Pacific Railroad began work at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and built westward. They employed Irish laborers along with Civil War veterans and formerly enslaved workers. The Central Pacific Railroad Company, building from California to the east, employed Chinese laborers. These immigrants blasted tunnels through the mountains and hauled tons of rock, in freezing conditions they weren't accustomed to. They were generally treated abysmally.
Union Pacific provided their laborers in the east with free meals. The Chinese workers, by contrast, were forced to procure, prepare, and pay for their own meals. While this cut into the workers' meager pay, it paradoxically worked out better in the long run, because left to their own devices, the Chinese teams ate much better food. Archaeological evidence left behind during the construction tell the story of the Transcontinental Railroad workers' diet and how it fueled the massive project. Read that story at Atlas Obscura.
Walt Disney and animator Ub Iwerks created the character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1927 for Universal Pictures. They produced quite a few Oswald cartoons, which proved to be highly popular. Oswald introduced the idea of a cartoon character with his own personality, which was neither all good nor all bad, but made audiences relate to him as well as laugh at him. Disney made enough money from the Oswald cartoons to buy land for his new animation studio. But Disney and Universal parted ways in 1928, and Universal owned the character. So Walt and Ub came up with a different character of their own they eventually named Mickey Mouse. Universal cranked out Oswald cartoons until 1938, then relegated him to comic books.
In 2006, Disney regained rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and 95 years after his debut they have a brand new Disney animated short featuring Oswald's classic physics-defying rubber hose humor, with the dialogue-free black-and-white style of the 1920s. Read more about Oswald and what he means to Disney at Gizmodo.
An unconventional shade for an unconventional time:
— PANTONE (@pantone) December 2, 2022
a new vision. Color of the Year 2023: PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta
Vibrating with vim and vigor, a shade rooted in nature descending from the red family demonstrating a new signal of strength.https://t.co/vxEQlBykRT#Pantone pic.twitter.com/pRIP6bI2NH
The Pantone Color Institute may or may not have any influence on an everyday person's style (honestly, did you ever recall seeing a lot of their previous colors of the year?), but they still pick one color they predict will be big for the coming year. They've made that announcement for the year 2023, and it's #18-1750 Viva Magenta. Pantone's Executive Director Leatrice Eiseman said,
In this age of technology, we look to draw inspiration from nature and what is real. PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta descends from the red family, and is inspired by the red of cochineal, one of the most precious dyes belonging to the natural dye family as well as one of the strongest and brightest the world has known.
Cochineal dye, also known as carmine, is made from the cochineal insect, a tropical cactus parasite. Pantone lauds the color as promoting joy and self-expression. NPR says,
Some skeptics would point out that magenta doesn't technically exist, since there's no wavelength of light that corresponds to that color.
Of course it exists. There's already a range of products Pantone is promoting with the color.

As always with these kinds of lists, your mileage may vary. I am known for loving cherry cordials, but the brand makes a big difference. I love the ones with liquid centers, and cannot abide the ones with white cream in them. They aren't that difficult to eat, but it's a hoot (and a mess) to watch a kid try one for the first time. Mefites have a bone to pick with the chocolate orange, as the critics at Candystore.com got one with a cream center, and the classic Terry's chocolate orange is delicious orange-infused chocolate. I agree that Peeps and reindeer corn are just out of their league and should stay in their own holiday. It's been many years since I've even seen Christmas nougat. How about you? Do you love some of these candies that others hate? Read the justifications for the worst Christmas candies at Candystore.com. -via Metafilter

The No Shave November guys (previously at Neatorama) are back, with their annual cosplay photo to show off the beards they grew during the month. Every year since 2013, five friends (originally six) from Ventura, California, get together to grow beards during November to support cancer awareness among men, and every year they end the month with a different themed photoshoot, where they have portrayed lumberjacks, firemen, Vikings, and everything in between. This year they went with fantasy, dressing as a jester, wizard, king, warrior, and executioner. And they made a video of their photoshoot!
A good time was had by all. Yes, this completes ten years of No Shave November pictures. As one redditor noted, two more and they'll be able to put out a calendar. Too bad every month will be November.

Too small? You can see an enlargeable gallery of all ten years of pictures here. -via reddit

Oh yes, it's a jolly Christmas indeed when you walk through the neighborhood and spot a gremlin lying in wait with a baseball bat, ready to brain you. Is this image supposed to engender good cheer and happy holidays? It wasn't exactly an outlier among Christmas cards from 100 years ago or more, which could be fairly disturbing. It could have been an attempt to elicit a laugh at other people's expense. As Mel Brooks once said, “Tragedy is when I stub my toe. Comedy is when you fall into an open manhole and die.” Maybe that's what the designer of this card had in mind.

"Thoughts of you." That almost seems like a threat! But since there were a lot of these weird Christmas cards around in those days, maybe they were taken as the comedy they were intended to be. You can see a roundup of 20 disturbing vintage Christmas cards at Mental Floss.
Now that the movie Cocaine Bear is being promoted as "based on a true story," people are clamoring for the real account. You can read the story of the drug dealer, Andrew C. Thorton II, at Wikipedia or in the book The Bluegrass Conspiracy. Thorton's last adventure was also the basis for a storyline in the TV series Justified.
But what about the bear? I realized that our previous post from years ago is suffering from link rot, so you might wonder how the bear came to be stuffed and displayed at Ky for Ky's Fun Mall. The bear, affectionately named Pablo EscoBear after the notorious drug lord, didn't leave any documentation of its life outside of eating 75 pounds of cocaine. However, his death was just the beginning of a wild story that involves a necropsy, taxidermy, Las Vegas, Waylon Jennings, a traditional Chinese medicine shop, theft, and wildfire. Read the whole crazy story at Ky for Ky. -via Metafilter
The film previously known only as Indiana Jones 5 now has a title: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. We don't yet know what the title means, but we do know a few things about the movie. The opening set piece is set in the 1940s, which required computer "de-aging" to make Harrison Ford look like he did in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The rest of the movie is set in 1969 against the backdrop of the space race. Indy is supposed to be 70 years old in the film, well in line with the 80-year-old Ford's abilities. Mads Mikkelsen plays the villain, which is loosely based on Werner Von Braun. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny will open in theaters on June 30, 2023. -via reddit

The magazine Inverse reports that David Ancalle, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech, is leading a team of researchers that is studying the sounds of excretion in precise, scientifically measured detail.
The Synthetic Human Acoustic Reproduction Testing (S.H.A.R.T.) machine, which is pictured above, simulates sounds of human excretion. Ancalle hopes that his team will be able to create an artificial intelligence that will use the S.H.A.R.T. to detect health problems by the sounds that people make while excreting urine and feces. The program that they have so far can correctly identify a particular excretory event 98% of the time.

Ancalle is especially interested in diarrhea. He envisions a future in which the sound of this experience would be recorded by a smart toilet and provide an early alert about a potential disease outbreak. The device pictured above a prototype for a sound detector that could be installed in bathrooms.
This is our future.
-via Dave Barry | Photos: Georgia Tech Research Institute

This is just devastating.
A grieving mother has decided to bring back her daughter’s buried corpse after hiring a suspicious funeral company that refused to proceed with an open casket service.
Teresa Moraitis, 82, spent over $10,200 on Peter Tziotzis’ Orthodox Funeral Services to lay her daughter to rest. She paid for an open casket service and embalming for her child, Helen Moraitis, 56.
Five months later, she decided to exhume her corpse after suspecting the funeral staff stole the jewelry Helen was buried with. What the mother saw upon getting her daughter back was depressing.
First, her suspicions were correct as the gold chain and locket she was supposed to be buried with, along with two bracelets and a diamond ring were all missing.
Second, and sadder news than the previous discovery, is that her daughter was naked, unembalmed, and stuffed in a blue body bag. Helen was also found to have one of her arms forced behind her head. Usually, the deceased have their hands on their chest or abdomen.
Peter Tziotzis was later arrested over the allegations but was then released without charge. As of the moment, police investigations are still ongoing. A new funeral service for Helen will be held.
Image credit: Pavel Danilyuk/Pexels

Now that the year is coming to a close, maybe you’re looking for potential places to visit in the new year. Whether it’s for coming up with a new bucket list, or just some dream places you’d like to visit during the next set of holidays, here are some of the great places that you can try!
A short guide was created by Condé Nast Traveler editors from the U.S. U.K., Spain, and India to help travelers create their itineraries for the next year– and honestly, we think these places are amazing! The list contains a good mixture of known areas and some unknown regions, or as the editors called it, “the lesser-trammeled, even once-forbidden, regions.”
The list contains 23 places and has a lot of variety. From ancient rainforests to historical landmarks to blossoming culinary scenes, to areas filled with rare art exhibits, and more!
Take a pick from any of their recommendations here!
Image credit: Liam Spicer/ Pexels

There’s an assumption that book readers are very smart. It is true that book readers tend to be very eloquent, as their vocabulary expands as they read more titles. Additionally, they could also get new information from the literature they read.
In short: yes, reading can make you a bit smarter by making you more informed. There’s absolutely no harm in using this method to be more knowledgeable about different topics out in the world. If you’re looking for the best titles that can make you smart, The Atlantic has got you covered!
The American magazine has compiled a list of the best non-fiction books that can help guide new readers to grasp deeper and unfamiliar concepts. They also reassure their readers that their recommended books are very easy to digest!
These books mostly focus on deep and philosophical questions, such as the meaning and relationship between life and death. Additionally, some of their recommendations are focused on taking a deep dive into the world by looking into the economic patterns that emerged, as well as the history of different events such as the American census.
Check the full book list here if you’re interested. Although, if we may also share our opinion, you can also look at fiction titles to be a bit more knowledgeable as well. What’s important is you can easily read, understand, and enjoy the book you’re reading!
Image credit: Element5 Digital/ Pexels

Automatic car washes are an experience and a convenience. There are certainly cases where you can hire somebody to wash your car for you, or drive them straight to a machine that will quickly and easily clean your vehicle without any hassle.
Many people tend to lean towards these services as manually washing these big devices can be a chore, and be quite time-consuming. Additionally, not everyone has enough space where they can happily splash away their car’s grime and dirt.
While convenience can be offered by these automatic car washes, it still begs the question: are they really good for your car in the long run? Well, Slash Gear has looked up the potential side effects of frequently running a vehicle into any of these establishments.
One of the most notable things is that these services can break up the paint in your car. This is because the machines will slap and have contact with the car’s paint. Also, automatic car washes tend to increase friction while removing dirt, so what happens is they tend to cause scratches and swirl marks.
Car Magazine UK also shared that the big rotating brushes you can see inside are usually poorly maintained and can cause cross-contamination of dirt from other cars, which can lead to car paint becoming dull.
Image credit: Pixabay

Scientists have discovered a new set of minerals in a meteorite that landed in Somalia in 2020. These new resources were found in a 70-gram slice from the said celestial object, which was called the El Ali meteorite.
Taking a slice from the El Ali, experts have classified it as an Iron IAB complex meteorite, thanks to the meteoric iron and tiny chunks of silicates that compose it.
Aside from discerning its type, they have also discovered the new minerals by comparing them with versions of them that had been previously synthesized in a lab, discerning that they were quite new from what the records the researchers had.
These minerals were named elaliite after the meteor and elkinstantonite after Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the managing director of the Arizona State University Interplanetary Initiative.
She is also the principal investigator of NASA’s upcoming mission Psyche, which aims to investigate the mineral-rich Psyche asteroid for evidence of how our solar system's planets formed.
These resources will be further investigated by experts to understand how El Ali was formed. Aside from that, they are also looking at how minerals can be applied to material science.
If you’d like to learn more about the meteorite or the new minerals, check out Live Science’s full report here!
Image credit: University of Alberta Meteorite Collection

