The University of St. Andrews’ Dr. Sandra Toffolo has uncovered the oldest known depiction of Venice. The drawing is in the collection of the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence, Italy. Dr. Toffolo discovered the drawing in May 2019 as part of a travel manuscript by Italian pilgrim Niccolò da Poggibonsi. Poggibonsi traveled to Jerusalem from Italy in 1346-1350. Hyperallergic has more details: 

Dr. Toffolo made the discovery while completing researching for her monograph Describing the City, Describing the State. Representations of Venice and the Venetian Terraferma in the Renaissance, which will be published with Brill in early 2020.

“… Venice is one the most-depicted cities in history,” said Dr. Toffolo, in an email interview with Hyperallergic. “From the 14th century onwards people have continuously depicted the city in manuscripts, printed books, paintings, and countless other media. My own research focuses on representations of Venice in the Renaissance.”

Dr. Toffolo’s book provides a detailed analysis of descriptions and visual representations of both the city of Venice and the Venetian mainland state during the Renaissance, when Venice came to stand at the head of a large state on the Italian peninsula.

image via Hyperallergic

Simon Beck is a 61-year-old British artist who trudged across a frozen reservoir the west of Denver to create a massive geometric artwork on fresh snow. After a dozen hours of labour in extreme temperatures, a spectacular spiral pattern was created. The artwork spanned the length of about two soccer fields. Beck’s background as a cartographer and an orienteer, along with a handful of volunteers have made the process bear fruit, as AP News detailed: 

“I hope it makes people more aware of the snow and the environment and the beauty of it and how we need snow,” Beck said after completing the drawing. “And I think it’s a really beautiful and unique art form.”

Beck finished his day with high fives from his volunteers and congratulations from people who gathered on a nearby hillside to watch his progress.

But it hasn’t always gone this smoothly. It’s never clear how many workers will show up. And if bad weather rolls in, an intricate piece of art can quickly disappear.

“It’s very frustrating when you plod around for hours and hours and hours and then the wind blows it away before you’ve finished it,” he said.

image via AP News

The Wall Street Journal crunched the numbers on airline delays, cancellations, complaints, and more and arrived at a ranking of the nine biggest US airlines. People who fly a lot will not be surprised to see Delta at the top, American and United at the bottom, and the smaller discount airlines filling in between.  

1. Delta: ranked the best in on-time arrivals, canceled flights, and involuntary bumping.
2. Alaska: ranked the best in extreme delays.
3. Southwest: ranked the best in two-hour tarmac delays.
4. Allegiant: ranked the best in mishandled baggage.
5. Spirit: ranked the worst in customer complaints.
6. JetBlue: ranked the worst in extreme delays.
7. Frontier: ranked the worst in on-time arrivals.
8. United: ranked second-to-last in two-hour tarmac delays and mishandled baggage.
9. American: ranked the worst in canceled flights, two-hour tarmac delays, mishandled baggage, and involuntary bumping.

Since I fly by price, I am partial to Southwest. My only complaint is that they don't fly to that many destinations. You can get more details on the rankings at the Wall Street Journal, or if you are paywalled, at Lifehacker.

(Image credit: JacobAviation)

This graphic shows the wealth of the entire world, proportionally broken down into the countries that hold it. While the US makes up less than 5% of the world's population, Americans control almost 30% of the world's wealth. In second place is China, which makes up 18.59% of the world's population and controls 17.7% of its wealth. That sounds more equitable on the surface, but neither nation is known for sharing the wealth with its citizens. Meanwhile, India looks fairly wealthy on this graphic, until you remember it contains 17.7% of the world's population. See a larger version of this chart and get the details at How Much. -via Digg

Feeding astronauts has always been an ongoing experiment, as space food presents unique problems. Food supplies need to take up little space and last a long time. Preparing and eating meals without gravity is a challenge. And altitude makes food taste more bland than it does on earth. Those problems were all solved at once when Mexican food was introduced to space flight.  

In fact, NASA had used tortillas for astronaut sustenance as early as 1985, when Mexican scientist Rodolfo Neri Vela requested a pack as part of his food provisions, to make tacos. The media treated Neri’s food choices at the time with bemusement, but astronauts quickly took to flour tortillas—and not just because of the flavor, redolent of flour and slightly sweet, better than most of the sterilized slop astronauts ate. Tortillas didn’t spoil easily. Astronauts could wrap one around anything and make a quick meal. They also weren’t dangerous, like bread, whose crumbs crippled air vents and sensitive equipment.

NASA took tortillas so seriously that they tinkered with the recipe—which hadn’t substantially changed in millennia save for the introduction of flour—to keep stacks fresh for up to six months. Scientists created a nitrogen-filled packet that removed almost all the oxygen present in the pouch, to prevent mold from growing. One major problem arose: astronauts discovered that six-month-old space tortillas became bitter—and no one deserves a bitter tortilla. Finally, NASA found a manufacturer who made an extended-shelf-life tortilla that lasted up to a year and retained its allure, a maker that also sold their product to fast-food titan Taco Bell. Hundreds of thousands of dollars well spent.

“I cannot think of anything that cannot be put on a tortilla, or has not been put on a tortilla,” wrote Sandra Magnus, a veteran astronaut, in a blog post while up in the International Space Station in 2008. “When a Shuttle shows up you are in tortilla heaven because they show up with tons of them and graciously donate all of the extras to the ISS crews. You really want to be swimming in tortillas your whole increment.”1

In an excerpt from his book Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America, author Gustavo Arellano tells us how Mexican food took over America, the world, and even outer space. -via Metafilter

(Image credit: NASA)

The Dionne Quintuplets were the first set of quints to all survive infancy, and the only set of identical quintuplets ever recorded. Born in 1934, before sonograms and neonatal care units, the five babies were a surprise to their mother, Elzire Dionne, who suspected she was carrying twins. They arrived two months premature at the farmhouse in rural Ontario where their parents and five older siblings lived.  

Local doctor Allan Roy Dafoe, who was present for the births, did an amazing job keeping the five premature babies alive under difficult circumstances and with no access to medical equipment. He sterilized the farmhouse, kept the babies warm in a wicker basket using hot water bottles or the open oven, and recruited nurses to massage them with olive oil. Before supplies of breast milk could be organized, Dafoe ordered the babies to be fed cow’s milk, sterilized water and corn syrup, mixed with one or two drops of rum for a stimulant.

As news about the miraculous birth spread across North America, reporters and photographers poured into the small town, followed by spectators in thousands. They gathered outside the farmhouse and peeped through the windows for a glimpse of what was already becoming a freakshow. Some ridiculed the parents for creating a litter of humans. Others provided monetary assistance. One couple offered to buy the bed where the girls were born for a thousand dollars. A hospital sent two incubators.

Oliva and Elzire Dionne were desperately poor and now had ten children. They felt they had no choice but to relinquish the girls to the Red Cross for their own welfare and to keep them from being exploited. The Canadian government soon stepped in and took legal custody. They lived in a custom-built nursery that also worked as a display case, where tourists could observe the girls in their private playground. The quintuplets were not only unique but adorable as well, and were used to promote tourism and sell products. Read the story of the Dionne Quintuplets at Amusing Planet.  -via Strange Company

People have been collecting fossils since prehistoric times, but for most of history, they didn't know what they were. In the Middle Ages, the idea arose that they were the remains of once-living creatures. In the 17th century, fossils found high on mountains were assumed to be left there by the Biblical flood of Genesis. Swiss physician and naturalist Johann Jakob Scheuchzer was convinced of this theory, and set out to find evidence of Noah's flood in the fossil record.

In his quest, Scheuchzer would get quite ahead of himself when he came across a fossil that, in his eyes, offered incontrovertible evidence that humans had perished in the biblical flood.

The fossil in question is an incompletely preserved strange skeleton that had been discovered in a limestone quarry near the small town of Öhningen in southern Germany. Scheuchzer identified his prize fossil as Homo diluvii testis, meaning “man, witness of the Flood.” In 1726 he published a broadside to announce his discovery. In his great work on the natural history of the Bible, Physica sacra of 1731, Scheuchzer cited the Reverend Johann Martin Miller as expressing the hope that the “sad bony frame of an old sinner” would soften the “heart of new children of evil!”

Scheuchzer went to his grave believing that the fossil he found was human, but other scientists were skeptical. Only in 1811 was the fossil properly identified. Read that story at Smithsonian.

(Image credit: Ghedoghedo)

Those who have seen the movie 1917 were impressed by its realism. That may be because it was filmed to appear as one long continuous shot. Director Sam Mendes recalls the reaction editor Lee Smith had to the outlandish idea.

“I laughed hysterically,” Smith said. “Sam actually had it on the cover page of the script that it should look like a single shot. And as I was reading it, I kept thinking to myself, ‘I have no idea how this is going to work.’ Whenever I read a script, the film plays out in my head in conventional coverage–and I had to keep reminding myself that even though there will of course be edits, you’re not supposed to see them.”

It works, as 1917 won a Golden Globe for Best Drama, and is a favorite for Best Picture at the Oscars. Jason Kottke said the technique was a bit distracting, because he tended to look for the edits. So just watch this video about how they did it, then go see the movie and let yourself get lost in the action.  

Have you taken down your Christmas Tree yet? It can be quite a chore. At a certain point, usually in June, it's more efficient to just keep it up.

So why not use it throughout the year to celebrate other holidays, such as Valentine's Day, Captain Picard Day, and Thanksgiving?

Instagram member Turtle Creek Lane is in the mood to do precisely that. She's removed the Christmas ornaments on her tree and added decorations for Valentine's Day, which have been in stores for at least a month.

And she's not the only one. Metro has a roundup of other Valentine's Day Trees on Instagram. Get in on the action while there's still time to be a trendsetter.

-via Dave Barry

You probably thought the chainsaw was developed to cut down trees, which makes total sense. But that's not how it came about. Before the cesarian section was refined enough for both a mother and baby to survive the procedure, drastic action was sometimes required to deliver a child stuck in the birth canal.

In the 18th century, two Scottish surgeons named John Aitken and James Jeffray devised a solution they could employ when faced with difficult childbirths. Rather than use a knife to widen the pelvic area by slicing through cartilage and bone to extricate a stuck baby, the two developed a chainsaw to make cutting easier.

While this sounds ghastly, the doctors were actually trying to lessen the agony endured by women who needed their pelvic bone separated. The knife took a long time, while their device—a modified knife with serrated “teeth” on a chain—could cut through bone and tissue more quickly.

This disturbing practice died out when medical advances allowed doctors to remove a child while avoiding bones altogether. But the chainsaw was still a useful gadget. In the 20th century, chainsaws were adapted for work that seems more familiar to us, like cutting trees. Read the rest of the story at Mental Floss.

(Image credit: Sabine Salfer)

The nominees for the Academy Awards were announced earlier this week, and Scarlett Johansson has been nominated for two acting awards: Best Actress for Marriage Story, and Best Supporting Actress for Jojo Rabbit. That doesn't happen often, but it has happened before, twelve times in the awards' 92-year history. Never has an actor been nominated in the same category twice, but that's apparently on purpose, because sometimes one nomination will be in the Best Supporting category even when the role was clearly the lead. In most instances, the actor received one Oscar, but sometimes they walked away with nothing. Will there come a time when one performer wins two acting Oscars in the same year? Perhaps, but not likely. Meanwhile, each of the previous double nominee occurrences has a story behind it, and you can read those at Vulture.

Milton Bradley first sold The Checkered Game of Life in 1860, and almost single-handedly launched the board game craze. While the game tiles seem discouraging and downright depressing, it was a change from previous versions of the game that were designed to promote only morality. Bradley's version focused more on long life, happiness, and achievements -although there were some pretty scary pitfalls. The more modern version, of course, equates a winning life more on wealth and possessions. This video is only 4.5 minutes long, the rest is an ad.

This video of an edible checkerboard might be the next source of your inspiration for a new baked creation. Alternatively, this could just be another video that you can watch and admire because of the sheer effort and creativity that goes into it. Watch Tasty create this checkerboard with cookie dough and some macarons. Maybe if you can obliterate your opponent at chess next time by using this checkerboard (by eating all of his macaron chess pieces)! 

The 21-day rule is used as a basis for forming habits. According to the rule, it takes 21 days to form a habit. Refinery29’s Molly Longman debunks the 21-day rule, claiming it as a myth. According to them, the rule is a misinterpretation of Maxwell Maltz’ work in Psycho-Cybernatics. Matlz noticed that a patient would take 21 days to adjust to a change in their body (whether it was a nose job or amputation). It wasn’t 21 days exactly, but a minimum of 21 days. In addition to the misinterpretation, research also discredits this known rule, as Refinery29 details: 

Research summarily discredits the “21-day rule.” Phillippa Lally, PhD, a senior researcher at University College London, published a study that found it actually takes an average of 66 days — more than two months – to form a habit. Lally also reported that the amount of time before a new behavior feels automatic can range between 18 and 254 days.

“We don't really know what predicts the variation in times,” Lally says. But she does have a hunch: “It’s likely easier to consider that [a habit] feels automatic when it's a simpler behavior," Lally says. Drinking a glass of water in the morning requires less work than starting to exercise regularly, for example; so you may feel as though you're able to incorporate the former into your routine more quickly than the latter.

image via wikimedia commons

Do you love testicles? Of course you do!

So let's take a road trip this Saturday to Fredricksburg, Texas, which is holding the first Texas Testicle Festival. Testicles of all sorts will be available for you to enjoy. The San Antonio Express-News reports:

Testicles from calves, lambs, roosters, turkeys and other animals are considered delicacies in other parts of the world. And that's what the festival is celebrating — people who enjoy eating animal testicles.

Joe Bachmeier, an organizer with the event, said the festival will include turkey, lamb and veal testicles. The organs were imported from professionals that performed the removal of the testicles. They will be battered, fried and grilled at the festival.

-via David Burge | Photo: Texas Testicle Festival