We're not sure if this Tesla Cybertruck made with LEGO bricks by prolific builder Peter Blackert is indestructible or not, but we're pretty sure that it'll do a lot of damage to our feet when we step on it in the middle of the night.
Toothbrushes have been around for hundreds of years. This article is about electric toothbrushes, which are less than 100 years old -but probably older than you had imagined. The history of the electric toothbrush is written here from a United Kingdom point of view, but don't be so fast to make jokes about British teeth. Research shows the state of British dental health has risen immensely since the National Health Service was instituted. Today the market for electric toothbrushes is dominated by two companies.
Now, there are 41 different electric toothbrush options on the Oral-B website alone – some of which are different colours of the same essential kit (staid “black” versus exciting “anthracite grey”, for instance), but many of which have different features. They range in value from the Vitality Plus, which you can get for less than £20, to the all-singing, all-dancing Genius X Limited Edition with Artificial Intelligence (really), which will set you back £340. At the time of writing, Oral-B’s main rival, Philips Sonicare, offers the CleanCare+ for £18, the DiamondClean Smart for a rather steeper £299.99, and a wide variety of options in between. The high-end options are, of course, Bluetooth® enabled. The industry is worth – depending on which market report you believe – between £1 billion and £2 billion a year, and is projected to keep on growing. As developing economies grow and gain disposable income, more and more people in once-poorer countries are buying them.
But in the end, they’re still toothbrushes. They still have a single goal: to make your teeth and gums healthier. The question is: do they work?
And that's the question. The real value in the article is how it explains the state of the research into electric vs. manual brushing, and what it means for consumers, at Wired. -via Damn Interesting
(Image credit: William Warby)
You are serving guests at your black tie-only cocktail party Pop-Tarts, of course, because you are cultured and refined. But which liquors should you offer? That's a complex question, as it is best for you to serve particular liquors with particular Pop-Tart flavors. You can't just mix them up, you philistine. I mean, what would people say about you if you drank Lagavulin with a box of Jolly Rancher Green Cherry Pop-Parts?
Imgur member acetech09 has you covered with his pairing guide. For example, you need a gentle brandy that goes well with the lively chocolate chip Pop-Tart:
The chocolate chip pop tart is unique, it's not overwhelmingly sweet or bursting with artificial flavor. It's toasty, bready, with a background of chocolate and caramel. It won't mask the flavor of a delicate spirit. St George apple brandy is smooth and light, and the light floral apple and cinnamon notes pair well with the chocolate and caramel of the pastry.
-via Nag on the Lake
This one is for my wife, who's a big Hallmark Christmas movie lover. Behold the Hallmark Christmas Movie Plot Generator by John Atkinson of Wrong Hands cartoons.
The only things missing are the gingerbread/pie/Christmas cookie baking competition and the handsome prince from some obscure yet very rich European kingdom.
Stop-motion animation is such a familiar idea to us that young children try it at home. But you have to wonder about the pioneers that came up with the idea more than 100 years ago. Aftre all, it was a serious investment in both time and money back then. Vox takes us back to the early 20th century, when Wladyslaw Starewicz had a hard time getting stag beetles to fight each other for an educational film. -via Kottke
Every year, these friends get together and spend the month of November growing their beards -except for the guy on the right; he is an EMT and cannot grow a beard due to his job. It's part of No Shave November, a campaign to promote cancer awareness. And every year since 2013 they get together to do a picture based on a theme. And also every year, redditor jammies shows us what they've been up to. This year that theme is the Old West. As you can see, they are the maniac, the bank robber, the sheriff, the fighter, and the bartender. Her boyfriend is the bank robber. Here is a collection of all seven years that have been photographed.
You can enlarge the image here.
This one is heartwarming. Students of the Arapahoe High School in Colorado have crowned Noah Stokes and Khrysta Gordon, who have Down Syndrome, as Homecoming King and Queen.
From KDVR:
Noah's mom said the choice for their Homecoming King and Queen speaks volumes about the character of students at the school.
“It’s just a great community. They’re warm, loving, inclusive,” she said. “It’s just an amazing community. Ever since Noah’s been in school, every year has gotten better, and this is just the cherry on top.”
Mary Farmer had always lived in poverty, but things had turned worse. Her husband James lost his job, and she'd just had a baby. They all lived in a hovel, a rental house in upstate New York. Mary wanted more. She wanted a bigger, nicer home for her family, like the one that belonged to their landlord, Sarah Brennan. Sarah's husband Patsy had been James' supervisor before he lost his job. They lived in a well-built two-and-a-half story home next door to the Farmers.
Mary Farmer wanted that house, and in October 1907, she decided to take it [PDF]. She went down to the office of the county clerk in nearby Watertown seeking to transfer possession of the Brennan home, as well as her own residence, to her name. Posing as Sarah Brennan, she told the clerk that the Farmers had purchased the properties from her for $2100. She said that all she needed was a document declaring the Farmers the rightful owners.
If the clerk had any suspicions, he didn’t act on them. He notarized the deed and Mary made it official by forging Sarah’s signature. Now, the only thing stopping her from moving into the home were its current residents.
Once Mary pulled off the deed deed, so to speak, the plan to occupy the house went into overdrive, leading to murder charges. Read the story of the tenant and the landlord at Mental Floss.
(Unrelated image credit: Flickr user saxarocks)
When North Dakota rescue dog group 4 Luv of Dog Rescue noticed that they've got a lot of harder-to-place dogs available for adoptions, they got together with Fargo Brewing Company and got a bit crafty with their craft beer: they're featuring the dogs on their beer cans!
Cute dogs on a beer can? Now that's a brilliant idea I can drink to!
A research from Bournemouth University has found that Tai Chi has positive health benefits to older people with dementia.
The TACIT Trial looked at the benefits that Tai Chi can bring for people with dementia, specifically looking at whether Tai Chi could prevent falls and improve quality of live.
The study was led by Dr. Samuel Nyman, a Principal Academic at Bournemouth University, who states that they were really interested to see if Tai Chi can improve balance and prevent falls among people with dementia, as they are twice as likely to fall, and twice as likely to have injuries from the falls.
The research took a control group, who carried out normal activities, and measured them alongside a group of a similar make up who all undertook a six month Tai Chi programme.
The research, published in Clinical Interventions in Aging found that those who had followed a programme of Tai Chi maintained a good quality of life, whereas those in the control group had a decline in life quality over the same period.
More details about this study over at Neuroscience News.
(Image Credit: pcdazero/ Pixabay)
A story from the 17th century illustrates how very easy it was to ruin someone's life with the slimmest of evidence. Was it superstition, a personal vendetta, or a tendency to go along with the crowd that brought down a man named Looten? It may've been combination of all three.
Local intelligence had it that Looten, a 60-year-old man who lived in the parish of Meteren in French Flanders, was a sorcerer. When Looten gave a boy some plums, and the boy died a month later, his neighbors put two and two together and realized that Looten must have cursed the fruit. Disturbed at the accusation, Looten trusted that the authorities of his community had enough sense to clear him of any wrongdoing. In September 1659, the concerned cattle merchant turned himself in to bailiff (and prosecutor) Jacques Vanderwalle, asking for a trial. Vanderwalle agreed and put Looten under arrest.
After two days of inquiries, Vanderwalle had made up his mind. Looten was obviously guilty of the charge,and twelve witnesses who could confirm it were willing to testify against him.
That was only the beginning of Looten's problems. Thereafter followed trial, torture, humiliation, theft, and death. Read the grisly details at Bizarre and Grotesque. -via Strange Company
(Image credit: Luisfi)
Florence Teeters of Phillips, Wisconsin had always wanted to go hunting. It's part of the culture that she has lived in her whole life. But there was never an opportunity for her to do so until recently. NBC 15 reports:
“I took mom out to the blind this year. I had a nice chair for her and it was nice and warm. A little after 4 p.m., a buck shows up about 30 yards away. I tapped her on the knee and I pointed. She nodded and smiled and was real quiet. Then she took the shot!” said Bill.
Bill says she was elated when she realized she made the kill screaming “I got a buck! I got a buck!” Bill says the buck was small and a “spike” buck which means it has unbranched antlers.
“She wanted to go hunting because she wanted to experience the part of being out in the stand with the boys,” Bill said. “She likes the idea of being out in the woods.”
You're never too old to try something new.
-via Instapundit | Photo: Ball Petroleum
Well, actually, it's not that mysterious. I can think of two big reasons why she's popular:
- Her instructions are simple and clear.
- She takes her time to show the entirety of each step, especially when vigorously shaking toppings on her dishes.
Sora News 24 brings to our attention Kuma Cooking, a YouTube channel that teaches you how to cook Japanese food on a griddle. It's a practical experience that will give you an expansive appreciation for another culture.
Kuma wears t-shirts for her sponsors, so be sure to support content creators by watching her advertisements.
Thanksgiving and Christmas often means visiting relatives, which means breaking out extra bedding. How do those fitted sheets work? Cartoonist Matthew Gallman has a step-by-step guide.
Honestly, I usually skip steps 1 and 2 and proceed directly to 3.
-via Pleated Jeans
Maintenance of nucleolar shape and motion are important when it comes to the cells in our body, as nucleolar malfunction can lead to disease, including cancer. Proper understanding of what keeps the cells in shape and motion could help in the creation of new diagnostics and therapies for certain human afflictions.
Recent discoveries have shown that some cellular compartments don't have membranes, which were previously seen as necessary to hold a cell together. Researchers have since sought to understand the forces that maintain the integrity of these building blocks of life absent these membranes.
What has been observed is the nature of this behavior. Specifically, these compartments act as liquid droplets made of a material that does not mix with the fluid around them -- similar to oil and water. This process, known as liquid-liquid phase separation, has now been established as one of the key cellular organizing principles.
In their study, the researchers focused on the best known example of such cellular liquid droplet: the nucleolus, which resides inside the cell nucleus and is vital to cell's protein synthesis.
See more about this study over at Science Daily.
(Image Credit: qimono/ Pixabay)
