Black Friday is coming. Although the crowding and violence has been assuaged somewhat in recent years by expanded schedules and Cyber Monday, it's still an opportunity for over-the-top sales promotions. One such promotion is for a gift that you never thought about giving for Christmas (unless it was a gift to a food bank). Introducing the 65-Inch Mac Friday Box from Kraft. It's a huge box that contains 65 regular boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese. 

The kicker is that the box itself is the size and shape of one that would contain a flatscreen TV. Wrap this up, put it under the Christmas tree, and everyone is going to assume that's what it is. Imagine their surprise when they open it! Yeah, it sounds like a cruel prank, but underneath, it's a really good deal. The price is only $19.37, which means each regular-sized box is under 30 cents. For someone who loves macaroni and cheese, that's between a two-month and a year's supply. 

Don't count on getting your hands on one of these. They will only be available through Walmart, starting at midnight on Friday. You can imagine that stores will have a very limited supply, and cameras will be trained on them for promotional purposes. -via reddit 

A scheme to control the invasive European Green Crab in British Columbia was knocked for a loop when many of the traps were found to have been dragged back to shore. Cameras set up to catch the culprit found it was a wolf. The wolf knew what was in the trap situated out in the water, and took deliberate and obviously practiced steps to retrieve the buoy, then use it to drag the trap to shore. Then the wolf disabled the trap and helped herself to the bait inside.  

Is this an example of tool use? It is the first such intricately planned behavior observed in a wild wolf, but psychologists are arguing over whether the wolf was using a tool to achieve a goal. That comes down to the definition of "tool use." The wolf deliberately used the buoy and rope to bring the trap in, but the animal did not change the orientation of the rope to get it done. However you look at it, this is a clever wolf. Did she figure this out on her own, or are there many wolves that pass this technique to each other? While complicated, it's easier than catching a free-swimming fish. 

When you think of a box office bomb, two big films from the '80s come to mind. In 1980, the Western Heaven's Gate cost around $40 million to make, an enormous budget at the time, and only sold $3.5 million in tickets. The loss was so bad that the studio was sold. The 1987 movie Ishtar starred Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, so you'd think it was destined to be a hit. It was not. The budget of $55 million only returned a box office of $14.4 million. 

Movie budgets have only risen since then. It may cost hundreds of millions to make a movie, and quite a few more million to market it. Sometimes this pays off, such as when John Cameron directs, but it's not uncommon for a movie flop to lose $200 million dollars these days. Cracked has a list of 15 of the biggest movie bombs of the past 30 years, and the preposterous amounts of money they lost. You'll look at these and say, "I've heard of that one, but I never bothered to go see it." 

In the cold and mountainous regions of Europe, winter is dark and full of monsters, and the festivals are extremely metal. This video from last year has been making the rounds, although it is often mislabeled- this version identifies it as a Nordic Krampus parade. What we are seeing is a Perchten parade in Austria, usually held on January 5th or 6th. The role of the Perchten is to drive away the old year and the evil spirits that inhabit it. The huge jingle bells on their butts help. You also see the witch Frau Perchta at the beginning. Perchten are not to be confused with Krampus, another Austrian winter demon, who parades on December 5th. But they have a lot of company. 

A similar festival in Croatia features the Zvončari. In Hungary, they have Busójárás. In Slovenia, the monsters are Kurenti. In Bulgaria, it's the Kukeri that chase away evil spirits. These monsters were once part of the winter solstice celebrations, but now are more often associated with Christmas, Carnival, Lent, or Easter. -via Everlasting Blort 

Although I prefer to attribute the origin of the Reuben sandwich to divine intervention into the fallen human world, a more historical acknowledgment belongs to a man named Reuben who invented the sandwich for his weekly poker games at the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Crescent Moon Alehouse across the street from that hotel produces its Reubens in the classical style. It also holds an annual ReubenFest that celebrate's America's greatest sandwich. Featured variants of the Reuben include the Reuben Chimichanga and Reuben Pierogi.

This is one of sixteen restaurants that Takeout insists are the best in the country for Reubens.

My fondest memory of the Reuben is a now long-defunct Greek restaurant named The Oven on Dolly Ridge Road in Birmingham, Alabama that served Reubens on pumpernickel buns the size of footballs. They were, alas, too good for this world.

Photo: Crescent Moon

How much do you really know about Antarctica? It's cold, icy, has penguins, and it's dark for half a year at a time. Oh yeah, and it's where the South Pole is. Neatorama readers know that the American science station is McMurdo, Scott Base is for New Zealand, and the Russians have Vostok Station near the pole. That's more than most people know, but certain "factoids" have snuck into what people say about the continent. Frankly, I have never heard any of these misconceptions, but that may be because of the company I keep. No, polar bears do not live in Antarctica. The name comes from the North Pole. 

But even if you never believed any of these misconceptions, you'll learn some interesting things about Antarctica, like how it was discovered, how it came to be shared between nations, and why penguins can't fly. You'll even learn about polar bears, even though they have nothing to do with Antarctica. Read the truth about those five misconceptions at Mental Floss. 

(Image credit: ravas51)

Nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and clove are spices we mainly associate with autumn and Christmas because they are used in various combinations in gingerbread, egg nog, fruit cake, and pumpkin pie. Well, okay, cinnamon is used year round, but you get my drift. Before the 21st century, you rarely saw these spices outside of the kitchen. There were some soaps and candles with those spices, but they weren't labeled as pumpkin. There was McCormick's pumpkin pie spice, but no one used it for anything besides pie. 

Then in 2003, Starbucks introduced their Pumpkin Spice Latte, and suddenly the term "pumpkin spice" was everywhere, despite the fact that the Starbucks drink contained no pumpkin at the time, and neither did the other products. The scent became so popular that we had jokes like the pumpkin spice oil change and pumpkin spice condoms. 

Still, the scent of those spices and the memories they evoke are pretty powerful. Pumpkin may be American, but the spices that go into it have a bloody colonial history. Read about how those components came together in a history of pumpkin spice at BBC Travel. -via Nag on the Lake 

The latest collaboration from Playing for Change (previously at Neatorama) is the 1975 song by War "Why Can't We Be Friends?" The theme is bringing disparate people together fits right in with the organization's ethos of connecting people from around the world through music through their Song Around the World series. The song consists of couplets, some of which illustrate why people are not friends, followed by the chorus which repeats the title, offering to bridge the gap. It's the chorus that sticks with you, and may be your earworm for the day.   

Also, this is a 50th anniversary celebration of the song and the album of the same name. That's what makes it astonishing that they were able to include seven surviving members of the band War among the featured musicians. The players in this collaboration are listed at the YouTube page. You can learn more about this song and see other videos from the Song Around the World series at their website. 

A scientific study out of Italy shows that research can be a lot of fun. The researchers took 138 rides on the Milan metro to observe the behavior of strangers. Their conclusion was that when someone dressed as Batman got onto a train car, riders were significantly more likely to give up their seat to a pregnant woman. Dress for the job you want, indeed. This study is easily replicable; all you need are an obviously pregnant woman, someone with a Batman suit, and someone to observe and crunch the numbers. The effect is not exactly unknown, as a story from a bus driver illustrates the way the Caped Crusader affects passengers. 

Not that anyone was afraid of Batman. The character of Batman isn't thought to spur prosocial behavior, meaning the tendency to help others. The study frames the presence of Batman as an "unexpected event," which drew attention. When that happens, people become less locked into their phones and more aware of the environment around them. That's when they noticed a pregnant woman standing. The same people would have given up their seat anyway, if they'd been paying more attention. To be sure, someone should replicate the experiment using someone dressed as a the Joker. -via Metafilter 

My proposed monopoly house rules:

Pot of Greed - If you have the most money at the start of your turn, you may draw 2 cards from a standard deck of playing cards. They are worth money equal to their value x 10 or may be used in combat (see combat rules below)

En passant capture… https://t.co/89wD5gu2sD

— Harmony Ginger (@Gingerblast) November 21, 2025

Tabletop gamer Harmony Ginger suggests some custom rules for Monopoly to spice up gameplay.

I especially like the idea of Free Parking Random Encounter, although it would necessitate each player have a complete character sheet.

Perhaps players could also, instead of taking turns, roll for imitative each round to determine who goes first.

What house rules do you use for Monopoly?

Back in 1981, when you first saw Raiders of the Lost Ark, you loved the movie because it was an adventure for the viewer. It had alluring characters, great action scenes, and just the right amount of humor. And the bad guys got their comeuppance. But the fact that you left Raiders feeling good about it involves much more than those things.  

Every scene was both beautiful and believable, and they hold up 44 years later. That's largely due to the work of cinematographer Douglas Slocombe. Director Steven Spielberg had his own vision for what Raiders could be, but he was open to Slocombe's vision, and found it to be better overall. His attention to detail required some workarounds to stay on budget, in the quest to "make a 20 million dollar movie look like a 40 million dollar movie." This video looks deep into how they did that. The other secrets were the editing by Michael Kahn that kept the story moving as a breakneck pace, the amazing special effects, and of course, the actors. But you already knew about those.   

Who doesn't love Thanksgiving leftovers? You have the taste of the formal feast, on your own schedule, in the amount you want, eaten in front of the TV without all those annoying relatives around. Usually, the gravy is the first thing you run out of. Now you can buy leftover gravy to stretch out those leftover sandwiches! Heinz is offering a limited run of their Heinz Homestyle Turkey Gravy in a squeeze bottle for appropriate portion control and placement, appropriately called Leftover Gravy. It was inspired by a sandwich called the Moist Maker from the TV show Friends.   

Don't look for this product on grocery store shelves. Leftover Gravy is only available through Walmart online, and it comes with a recipe that mimics the Moist Maker, although with a different name. The first run sold out within hours, but they made more, and you have to keep trying to see if supplies have been replenished. Otherwise, you'll just have to use a jar, or learn to make gravy.  

We're familiar with what they say about orange cats: they're large, very food-motivated, and all of them share one brain cell between them. Trekkie lives up to the reputation in the food department. In fact, he's an outlier there, because he will eat almost anything, and he wants it now. If it can be identified as food, he's going for it, and you just try to stop him. Trekkie will even steal food from a hot stove! 

His family has had to take extraordinary measures to protect the family's food supplies. When Trekkie gets too rowdy in the kitchen, they put him in the bathroom with the door shut. So he learned how to open the door. Besides doors, he's learned to open packages, jars, devices, and it's all for the goal of getting to the food. That takes more than the allotted number of brain cells. Trekkie is a smart orange cat- he just goes overboard in the other stereotype. 

In 1961, Yogi Bear was spun off from Huckleberry Hound and got his own cartoon show. Yogi lived in the fictional Jellystone Park and craved pic-a-nic baskets. He seemed pretty harmless.

Also in 1961, at the very real Yellowstone National Park, people flocked to see grizzly bears in their natural habitat. Some would approach grizzlies, or even try to touch one out of a car window. Grizzlies were getting used to humans, and flocked to campgrounds to steal food. Even worse, the park had pits to dump garbage into, which drew grizzlies, and in turn drew tourists who wanted to take pictures. The most popular bear that year was Sylvia, a 225-pound mother with three cubs. She would allow visitors to get within 25 feet to take pictures. In addition to Yogi, Sylvia was a reason people thought they could get close to a grizzly. 

Meanwhile, brothers John and Frank Craighead were at Yellowstone studying whether humans and grizzlies could co-exist in the park. From their 12 years of research, we get the story of Sylvia, the tamest grizzly at Yellowstone, and what happened to her. -via Strange Company 

(Image credit: National Park Service) 

You pour a cup of coffee at the coffeemaker, then you carry it to wherever you are going to drink it. You are liable to get some drops on your clothing or on the floor. I don't have that problem because my coffeemaker's carafe is also a vacuum bottle and I take the whole pot to my desk. Scientists, on the other hand, often must share a coffeemaker, so they have spent a lot of time studying the physics of coffee, coffee cups in particular, to figure out why they are so prone to spillage. It's physics. 

Madelyn Leembruggen of SciShow explains the research done on this problem, which has to do with resonant frequency. If this video has your eyes glazing over at the science, get another cup of coffee and stay with it, because she also tells how to keep your coffee in its cup. There's a 32-second skippable ad at 3:45. -via Metafilter