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

After a decade of support for the Windows 7, Microsoft has finally ended security updates for the operating system yesterday. This could mean that those who are still using the aforementioned operating system would be vulnerable to bugs, and further problems that will arise will no longer be fixed. Those who are part of companies which have paid for extended support, however, are good until 2023.

That doesn’t mean it’s the end for Windows 7 users, however. They can still get better protection through an upgrade loophole which Microsoft seems to not be particularly troubled about. The said loophole lets the person upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge, provided that he has a legitimate copy of Windows 7 or 8.1.

More details about this over at EnGadget.

(Image Credit: Jon Fingas/Engadget)

Gamers will surely be filled with excitement this 2020, as this year is jam-packed with amazing games such as the remake of Final Fantasy VII and Resident Evil 3 (a new trailer just dropped yesterday for the latter), both of which will be released in April. The much awaited sequel for The Last of Us — The Last of Us Part II — will also be released in May of this year. And don’t forget Cyberpunk 2077, the breathtaking game which will also be released in April.

Aside from these much awaited titles, there are also other video games to look out for this year. The Sydney Morning Herald gives us 20 of these games. Check them out over at their site.

(Video Credit: PlayStation/ YouTube)

Emirates Airlines has been named as the best airline in the world by Condé Nast. While some of us can’t really afford to board the airline’s first-class section, Buzzfeed’s Farrah Penn does the research for us. How are the services and accommodations inside the famed airline? For an example, the airlines’ first-class comes with a shower, as Buzzfeed details: 

First, I learned that this is what first class looks like. If you're ballin', you get a nice little pod, complete with cozy lamp lighting and a drawer for storage. It also comes with everything you need to get ready for bed, including moisturizer and eye cream.

Anyway, the bathrooms in first class come with a shower, but you have to reserve a time slot in order to take advantage of it. It's not a bad size for a plane shower, though!

Both first class and business class receive access to the Emirates bar and lounge. This area contains snacks, seating, and, of course, drinks.

image via wikimedia commons

One Million Moms, a “pro-family” organization has launched a campaign against Burger King’s Impossible Whopper commercial. The ad includes a man saying “damn, that’s good,” as a reaction to the plant-based patty. According to One Million Moms, that part of the ad will ruin the children of today. This is not the first time the organization has campaigned against various media, as Vice detailed: 

One Million Moms is the same organization that protested the Zola commercial that featured a lesbian couple trying to plan their wedding, and yes, it threw such a fit that the Hallmark Channel temporarily pulled the spot from its broadcasts. (The network then reversed that decision, following significant backlash.) It has also gone after Kit-Kat for using the Missy Elliott song "Work It" during one of its own commercials. "The focus of the commercial is the sexual message and not the product itself," the Moms harrumphed.

One Million Moms is a division of the Mississippi based American Family Association (AFA), which has been designated as an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. One of the AFA's recent initiatives was to contact Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy to express its concern over the restaurant's decision to stop donating to organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights, and to question its financial support of Covenant House, an organization that refuses to discriminate against LGBTQ youth.

a big deal just became a bigger deal. the Impossible Whopper is available nationwide starting 8/8. pic.twitter.com/TpFQenSLFQ

— Burger King (@BurgerKing) August 1, 2019

image via wikimedia commons

Drinking tea at least three times a week could increase your chances of living longer, according to a new Chinese study by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. The study found that people who habitually drink tea were more likely to have a longer life expectancy. Researchers estimated that 50-year-old habitual tea drinkers would develop coronary heart disease and stroke 1.41 years later than other people, as Yahoo News details: 

they found that those who maintained their regular tea consumption at both surveys had a 39 percent lower risk of incident heart disease and stroke, 56 percent lower risk of fatal heart disease and stroke, and 29 percent decreased risk of all-cause death, compared to consistent never or non-habitual tea drinkers.

"The protective effects of tea were most pronounced among the consistent habitual tea drinking group," said senior author Dr. Dongfeng Gu. "Mechanism studies have suggested that the main bioactive compounds in tea, namely polyphenols, are not stored in the body long-term. Thus, frequent tea intake over an extended period may be necessary for the cardioprotective effect."

The findings also suggest that drinking green tea was linked with around a 25 percent lower risk of incident heart disease and stroke, fatal heart disease and stroke, and all-cause death, however, no significant associations were found for black tea.

Dr. Gu points out that a preference for green tea is unique to East Asia. "In our study population, 49 percent of habitual tea drinkers consumed green tea most frequently, while only 8 percent preferred black tea. The small proportion of habitual black tea drinkers might make it more difficult to observe robust associations, but our findings hint at a differential effect between tea types."

image via wikimedia commons

Ever since the announcement of a Nintendo theme park at Universal Studios, a lot of people have been waiting for more details and announcements for the park. A new press release from Universal Studios has revealed that the official opening date for Super Nintendo World will be announced after its Global Promotion event. This means that the news for the highly-anticipated theme park opening will be after February 2020. This opening date, as Nintendo Soup clarified, might just be for the Universal Studios Japan. 

(via NintendoSoup)

image via NintendoSoup

If you are an ExtraCare member of the CVS drugstore, you’ll know what happens next when you use your ExtraCare card to buy medicine from the drugstore. That’s right; you get an extremely long receipt.

It looks like someone just got inspired from that, and decided to make a scarf to look like a gigantic CVS receipt. The scarf, which is 8 inches wide and 59 inches long, is available on the ReceiptScarves Etsy shop, for only $19.

Would you buy one for the lolz?

(Image Credit: Geekologie/ Laughing Squid)

There's nothing sadder than a depressed cow. Bunter, a cow owned by the Maungaturoto Historic Inn in Maungaturoto, New Zealand, became blue after the death of her cow companion Rosie last year. A therapy goat named Peaches was donated to lift Bunter's spirits. It worked, as Bunter began eating and cavorting again. But then Peaches disappeared from the hotel in December, and the staff worrried that Peaches had become curry. Local police were notified, and investigated the burglary. Northland Police posted a pun-filled report at Facebook.

Bunter is happy again. Read the rest of the story at Newshub. -via reddit 

(Image credit: Maungaturoto - Heart of the Kaipara)

David Ostrom of Paola, Kansas is gripped in legal combat with his ex-wife, Bridgette Ostrom, of Harlan, Iowa. Having witnessed the destruction of his fortunes at her hands, Ostrom requests to meet her or her champion on the field of honor to resolve their disputes in civilized fashion.

Ostrom filed the request with the presiding judge and requested twelve weeks of time to prepare himself, as he must train with the katana and the wakizashi, the blades of true samurai warriors. The Des Moines Register quotes him:

"To this day, trial by combat has never been explicitly banned or restricted as a right in these United States," Ostrom argues in court records, adding that it was used "as recently as 1818 in British Court."

Matthew Hudson, attorney for Bridgette Ostrom, responded:

Hudson argued that because a duel could end in death, such ramifications likely outweigh those of property tax and custody issues.

"It should be noted that just because the U.S. and Iowa constitutions do not specifically prohibit battling another person with a deadly katana sword, it does prohibit a court sitting in equity from ordering same," Hudson wrote. 

-via Geekologie | Image: HBO

A new study from Brigham Young University(BYU) shows a connection between drinking higher fat milk and shorter DNA telomeres. In the study, Larry Tucker, Ph.D., found that individuals who drank 2% had shorter telomers than those who drank 1% or lower milk.

"Tucker investigated the relationship between telomere length and both milk intake frequency (daily drinkers vs. weekly drinkers or less) and milk fat content consumed (whole vs. 2% vs. 1% vs. skim). Telomeres are the nucleotide endcaps of human chromosomes. They act like a biological clock and they're extremely correlated with age; each time a cell replicates, humans lose a tiny bit of the endcaps. Therefore, the older people get, the shorter their telomeres."

Based on estimates drinking 1% milk vs. 2% will net you about 4.5 Years.

Ironically, BYU, known as the #1 Stone-Cold Sober School in America, recently opened a Milk and Cookie Bar allowing students to create their own mixed milk drinks. The bar mostly used 2% milk from the schools own dairy.

So are you willing to give up your creamy milk to live a few extra years?

Kate Wagner of McMansion Hell staged the site's second annual gingerbread McMansion competition, and the winners have now been announced. The top honor went to Erin E. for her creation titled Simply Having a Wonderful Building Crime.

The judges all agreed: this house was outrageous - its execution was fantastic, and its design was full of so many delightful, humorous details. Sarah remarked: “This one is perfectly McMasion-scaled, with weirdly placed windows and gratuitous features to boot.” Anjulie couldn’t sing the praises enough: “I was particularly taken with the garage that is so far detached it makes the front door totally irrelevant…it’s a castle of grand sadness. The Pete Buttigieg sign is the literal icing on top.” Kate loved the details: the Pete sign, the ridiculously diverse selection of windows, the piped on invasive plants and basketball hoop, and the glass and siding effects. Part of the competition lies in its absurdity and humor, and in that particular category, this house took the cake.

See pictures of this winning McMansion from all angles, plus the second- and third-place winners and three honorable mentions that are a sight to see at McMansion Hell.

This is the bed where the athletes competing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be getting their sleep. What’s so special about it, you may ask? This is made up from cardboard. Yes, you read it right. Cardboard.

The 18,000 single bed frames, which will populate the residences of the Athletes Village being built beside Tokyo Bay, were displayed on Thursday by organisers — the beds won't make it to the village until the complex is finished in June.

The beds, according to Associated Press, are made by Japanese mattress company Airweave. The recyclable cardboard is reportedly stronger than a wooden frame. The general manager of the Athletes Village, Takashi Kitajima, stated that the beds can withstand up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds).

Few athletes would surpass that threshold (unless you're cheekily combining a few in one bed), so collapsed beds in the middle of the night shouldn't be a problem, however Kitajima did tell the news outlet, "Of course, wood and cardboard would each break if you jumped on them."

It is said that the beds, along with the mattresses (which are not made of cardboard), will be recycled after the games, which I think is very considerate of the organizers.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Mashable)