Josh McConnell finds an interesting object in the pizza joint he went to. In the men’s washroom, a hole in the wall was framed. The framed fracture is titled as “fragile masculinity”. The pizza joint sure has a sense of humour, framing something that was broken instead of fixing it. They sure won’t let the person responsible for it ever forget! As to who did the hole in the wall, no one knows.  

The pizza joint I went to framed a hole in the wall in the men’s washroom and called it “Fragile Masculinity” pic.twitter.com/ZTxO2BsWMH

— Josh McConnell (@joshmcconnell) January 10, 2020

image via Josh McConnell on Twitter

Whether it’s simply doodling on your notepads, or creating elaborate drawings or paintings, creative work helps us to be healthy and connected to the world. There’s the feeling of elation and a burst of creativity every time we try to create anything, regardless of form. NPR has more details:  

"Anything that engages your creative mind — the ability to make connections between unrelated things and imagine new ways to communicate — is good for you," says Girija Kaimal. She is a professor at Drexel University and a researcher in art therapy, leading art sessions with members of the military suffering from traumatic brain injury and caregivers of cancer patients.

image via wikimedia commons

What matter where, if I be still the same,

And what I should be, all but less then he

Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least

We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built

Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:

Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce

To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:

Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n.

Therefore as we have fallen from a great height into the bowels of the earth, let us dine appropriately with this meal of kiwi fruit-covered pizza, a monstrosity befitting our condition. Redditor nre found it for us and dubs it "an unholy abomination."

-via Kurt Schlichter

Australian Aboriginal lore is filled with references to birds carrying fire. Some traditional ceremonies even illustrate the behavior. Across the savannas of the northernmost part of Australia, which is known as the Top End, ornithologists have compiled accounts about these birds from witnesses. These accounts suggest three Australian birds of prey species use smouldering branches to spread fires to flush out their prey.

Black kites (Milvus migrans), whistling kites (Haliastur sphenurus) and brown falcons (Falco berigora) all regularly congregate near the edges of bushfires, taking advantage of an exodus of small lizards, mammals, birds and insects – but it appears that some may have learnt not only to use fire to their advantage, but also to control it.

Full story over at Cosmos.

(Image Credit: Bob Gosford/ Cosmos)

Malaka Gharib loves to spend her free time doodling. She always draws in between tasks. She sketches at the coffee shop before work, and she likes to challenge herself to complete a little magazine (called a zine) on her 20-minute bus commute.

I do these things partly because it's fun and entertaining. But I suspect there's something deeper going on. Because when I create, I feel like it clears my head. It helps me make sense of my emotions. And it somehow, it makes me feel calmer and more relaxed.

What is going on inside our brains when we draw? Why does it feel so nice?

It turns out there's a lot happening in our minds and bodies when we make art.

More about this on NPR.

(Image Credit: pencilparker/ Pixabay)

Oh, don't we internet denizens just love to categorize things. You've seen plenty of alignment charts fashioned from the moral structure taken from Dungeons & Dragons. Illustrator Robert James Russell (robhollywood) took a stab at categorizing French fries in this manner, and all I can say is "Your mileage may vary." It's difficult to see any pattern in the chaos and morality here. Yes, the relatively nutritious sweet potato fries are a lawful good, while artery-clogging poutine is in the opposite chaotic evil corner, but if healthy eating has anything to do with it, how did cheese fries end up as neutral good? If the shape is important, why are waffle fries lawful? This may be one of those things that is completely dependent on Russell's taste or past experience. -via Geeks Are Sexy 

One thing that can really boost the enjoyment of a new toy is having a cat -or better yet, a kitten- who assumes it's really a cat toy. Athena, a kitten who lives in Brazil, was fascinated by her owner's new slot car and track, much too fascinated to be scared. And that's a joy. -via Mashable

The heart-wrenching, nightmare-inducing game that took the gaming world one sneak attack at a time will now be available to play on Playstation 4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch. Five Nights At Freddy‘s 1-4 will soon be available for the consoles, according to Clickteam,the developer of the franchise. That’s more consoles to play the game with, besides the PC. 

(via IGN)

image via IGN

New York City has established a program that allows people arrested for minor offenses such as fare beating, painting graffiti, shoplifting, and trespassing to avoid jail by taking a two-hour course at the Brooklyn Museum. After the course, the cases would be dismissed, and no criminal court record is registered. The program, called Project Reset, has shown an improved view of criminal justice agencies, as Hyperallergic detailed: 

“It’s about holding people accountable, but doing it in ways that promote human dignity,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez at a press conference at the Brooklyn Museum on October 21. “It requires individuals to view and discuss a piece of art with people they don’t know,” he added. “They’re asked to create their own art, to think and find meaning in that art.”

image via wikimedia commons

No one would have expected a remake announcement for the recent Pokemon direct, where the expansion pass for Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield was announced. However, fans and gamers were surprised to see a reveal trailer of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, a remake of  the Rescue Team games released on the Gameboy Advanced years ago, Now this game is definitely going to be in my wishlist! 

We've known for some time that human being originated in Africa, but it's a big continent. Scientists have been trying to pinpoint exactly where Homo sapiens first appeared, and the more we learn, the muddier the search becomes. The theory of "mitochondrial Eve," in which one woman is the ancestor to all humans, indicates it was in East Africa, while the corresponding "genetic Adam" points to West Africa. The earliest evidence of art and symbolic thought come from South Africa. These discoveries have led some scientists to a fairly new pan-African theory: that modern humans evolved over a very large area.

Chris Stringer, of the Natural History Museum, London, explains. “The immediate predecessors of modern humans probably arose in Africa about 500,000 years ago and evolved into separate populations,” he says.

“When times were bad – for example, when the Sahara was arid, as it is now – you would get little isolated pockets of humans clinging on to existence. Some of these people would have gone extinct. Others managed to hang on.”

Later, when conditions improved – for instance, when the Sahara became green again and lakes and rivers formed – surviving populations expanded and came into contact with each other. When they did, they would have exchanged ideas – and genes. Then the climate would have turned grim again and they would have separated.

“This happened over and over again in different places for different reasons for the next 400,000 years,” adds Stringer. “The end product was Homo sapiens, the species that is more or less the version of modern humanity that now inhabits every continent on Earth.”

This idea hints that our very existence comes from our distant ancestors' willingness to travel and to connect with others. Read about the discoveries that led to this concept at the Guardian.  -via Strange Company

(Image credit: Wapondaponda)

Spanish startup Novameat has revealed a plant-based steak, claiming it to be the most realistic yet. Novameat’s Steak 2.0 looks like the steak you can find in stores, but it is made of peas, seaweed, and beetroot juice. Not exactly the tastiest combination out there, but it is an option for vegetarians. The company used a 3D printer to produce the fibers out of the ingredients, giving the fake steak its “meaty” appearance. 

(via Futurism)

image via Futurism

2038. A group of pilgrims are guided by a botanist named Jake through the Greenwood Arboreal Cathedral on an island off the British Columbia coast. In this exclusive ecological resort, tech giants, celebrities, and investment bankers gather to see one of the last remaining old-growth forests on the planet and interact with the otherwise-nearly-extinct nature.

This is how the story of Greenwood, Michael Christie’s novel, opens.

After the environmental crisis known as “the Great Withering,” much of the world is a dust bowl; climate refugees trek across the continent as children die of a horrifying new strain of tuberculosis called “rib retch.” With aquifers drying up in the United States, Russia under totalitarian rule, and even New Zealand experiencing a coup, “water- and tree-rich Canada has become the global elite’s panic room.” The Canadian prime minister is the most powerful politician in the world.

For those who love to read science fiction stories about climate change, which has become increasingly known as “cli-fi” this will be a familiar scene. But while other cli-fi stories ironically plunge its readers into despair instead of empowering them into action, Michael Christie’s novel gives us another perspective to this kind of scenario, and his novel gives us what others seem to forget: hope.

Know more about cli-fi and why we should stop obsessing over the end of the world, over at The Walrus.

(Image Credit: Gellinger/ Pixabay)

Imagine this for a moment: You are very skillful with the needle and thread. Your friend, who is aware of your skill, texts you, “Hey — I’ve got holes in some of my jeans. Can you patch them for me?”

You reply, “Sure, that’s easy,” and then you ask how big the holes are.

“They’re all weird shapes, but never wider than an inch. I’ll be by later, so get things ready!”

You then reach for your sewing kit and pull out some circular patches, each 1 inch in diameter. “This should do the trick,” you say to yourself. 

But will it? Can a circular patch of diameter 1 really cover any hole that is at most 1 inch wide in any direction?

You might think to yourself that this is just a simple elementary geometry problem, but this problem —called the “universal cover” problem — hasn’t been solved in 100 years.

Find out more about this over at Quanta Magazine.

(Image Credit: _Alicja_/ Pixabay)

Animals are capable creatures. While their intelligence is different from humans, that doesn’t stop them from doing things that a human can do. Watch as this octopus unscrews a lid from the inside of a jar. Twitter user wonderofscience clears up that the lid was not water-tight, so the octopus would not be suffocated.  

Octopuses can solve complex puzzles requiring pushing or pulling actions, like this octopus unscrewing the lid of a jar… from the inside.

Credit: Enoshima Aquarium. https://t.co/Lm5r7R4U3g pic.twitter.com/Wude2guIJo

— Wonder of Science (@wonderofscience) January 9, 2020

image credit: screenshot via Twitter