Addiction can come in many different forms. Some are addicted to video games, while others are addicted to alcohol.
One type of addiction is being addicted to shopping. While there are a lot of books written about shopaholics (there is also a movie), very little is written with regards to the serious side of the subject. It is, after all, not a laughing matter, especially for those who suffer with that kind of addiction.
What do we have to do when we realize that we are addicted to something? We get help. The same goes for being a shopping addict — it is not an exception.
Be part of the SPEW! Spread your support for your favorite House-elf with The Society for The Promotion of Elfish Welfare Pin Set from the NeatoShop. Now is the time to eject the old ways and heave forth a new era of equality.
This magical set features 3 metal pins with raised lettering. They make a bewitching addition to any cloak, robe, bag, or backpack. They are truly a wonderous way to honor Dobby and all those most loyal and devoted magical beings.
Don't forget to stop by the NeatoShop to see our large selection of customizable apparel and bags. We feature the artwork of over a 1000 amazing indie artists. We speciliaze in curvy and Big and Tall sizes. We carry baby 6 months to adult 10 XL shirts. We know that fun, fabulous, and Harry Potter loving people come in every size.
Josh Sundquist has unveiled his Halloween costume for 2019! The video above gives us the payoff in the first ten seconds, then you get a retrospective of his amazing viral Halloween costumes over the years, and then the story of how the Pixar Lamp stunt came together. -via reddit
In 1811, the Gulf Coast of the newly-annexed territory of Louisiana had 70 sugar plantations. The enslaved people working those plantations, who outnumbered whites five to one, had shorter life spans than any other slave community in North America. Inspired by the revolutions in France and Haiti, a group of plantation workers led the largest slave uprising in American history on January 8-10. The group marched more than 20 miles toward New Orleans, and grew to between 200 and 500 people along the way. Some 40-45 slaves were killed in the final battle, and dozens of others were executed in the aftermath. Their heads were displayed on pikes as a warning against rebellion.
In 2019, hundreds of re-enactors will commemorate the uprising on November 8th and 9th by marching 26 miles along the original route. The Slave Rebellion Reenactment is an art project by Dread Scott and will be recorded by filmmaker John Akomfrah.
The artwork will involve hundreds of reenactors in period specific clothing marching for two days covering 26 miles. The reenactment, the culmination of a period of organizing and preparation, will take place upriver from New Orleans in the locations where the 1811 revolt occurred—the exurban communities and industry that have replaced the sugar plantations will be its backdrop. The reenactment will be an impressive and startling sight—hundreads of Black re-enactors, many on horses, flags flying, in 19th-century French colonial garments, singing in Creole and English to African drumming.
A key element of slave revolts was the organizing of the uprising by small groups of trusted individuals, clandestinely plotting with others in small cells. Mirroring this structure, SRR will initiate several recruitment and organizing meetings of multiple small groupings of people to prepare the reenacted uprising. Extending the artwork’s performative reenactment of history, the meetings will take the form of conversations about why people choose to participate, about others they might involve, and why this history is important in contemporary society. The self-organization of the slave rebel reenactors is an essential part of the artwork.
There was limited fighting during the 1811 rebellion, so, in contrast to many war reenactments, much of SRR will be a procession, with only occasional skirmishes. The procession will be jarringly out of place as they advance past neighborhoods, strip malls, and oil refineries. This historic anomaly will form a cognitive dissonance for viewers, opening space for people to rethink long held assumptions.
Scott says they will not re-enact the massacre at the end of the uprising, but will offer other ways to learn about the rebellion in New Orleans. Read about the Slave Rebellion Reenactment project at its website. -via Metafilter
Wearing a kimono looks nicer compared to wearing a shirt and pants. On the downside, it is less practical and more time-consuming.
You might see people wearing kimonos in fancy restaurants that serve Japanese cuisine, as the waitresses there are required to wear kimonos while on the job, as part of their appeal that comes from the culinary and gastronomic traditions of old.
What’s the annoying part about wearing a kimono as a waitress? Find out over at SoraNews24.
If you think you’re supposed to wash your hands every hour, think again. A new research has just arrived stating the opposite. According to this research from Ohio State University (OSU), living up close with farm animals could help boost a baby’s immune system.
In the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology, OSU researchers analyzed the bacteria found in the fecal matter from 10 babies in Ohio between the ages of 6-12 months old. Five of the babies were Amish and lived on farms with cattle, pigs, horses, and sheep; while the other five babies were from an urban mid-sized city of Wooster with no exposure to livestock.
The fecal samples revealed that Amish babies possessed more rich and diverse microbial communities with far more variation than those from urban babies. This makes sense because previous research found farm-raised children to have an improved immune system and a reduction in rates of asthma and allergies. At the time, the researchers came up with a theory that it had to do with a less sanitized lifestyle because by being exposed to bacteria, their immune systems grew stronger. They even gave the theory a name – “hygiene hypothesis.” The hygiene hypothesis is an idea that ultra-clean modern life has led to an increase in autoimmune and allergic diseases.
It appears Spotify’s strategy of owning a chunk of the podcast game is paying off, at least according to its latest financial report. In the third quarter of 2019, Spotify states that in just three months, they saw a 39 percent increase in just three months — an "exponential growth".
The US is the biggest consumer of the format, but Spotify is also seeing bumps in a number of European countries. And those people who come to Spotify for podcasts are, according to the company, more likely to sign up for premium than others.
The company is looking to further analyze the data about podcasts and premium sign-ups, but believes that it's "onto something special." If proven true, we can expect to see Spotify lean even harder in to owning the space, with more paid-for exclusive titles to lock people into subscriptions. It looks as if the music platform will look to become a Netflix for Podcasts, with a number of new and original shows being commissioned.
What are your thoughts about this one? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Polycystic kidney disease or PKD is a hereditary and relatively common disease. It has been long thought that this disease is irreversible. Those who have this disease develop fluid-filled cysts inside their kidneys, which grow and eventually take away the function of these organs.
Once their kidneys fail, PKD patients often require dialysis several times a week or must undergo a kidney transplant. To make matters worse, a host of other PKD-related conditions and complications add to the patients’ health burden, including high blood pressure, vascular problems and cysts in the liver. And that doesn’t take into account the medical costs and the reduced quality of life.
Progress toward finding a cure has been sluggish, with only one drug proven to slow — but not stop — the progression of PKD.
But there is hope. A team of researchers from UC Santa Barbara has discovered a diet that could be a key in treating this disease.
OuijaZilla was unveiled in Salem, MA last October 12, 2019, and officially holds the crown of the largest Ouija board in the world.
Weighting in at an estimated 9,000 pounds, OuijaZilla is made of 99 sheets of plywood and measures 3,168 square feet. The planchette is 400 pounds on its own and measures 15.5 feet long and 10 feet at its widest point, but can be effortlessly moved across the board by just one person.
It was handcrafted by Rick “Ormortis” Schreck, a lifelong collector of spirit boards and Vice President of the Talking Board Historical Society. He posted a top down drone shot of the Ouija board set up in his Instagram account.
For those not familiar with the Ouija board, the rules are narrated in this video.
Over the years, blue light has had a bad rap. It has been blamed for sleep loss and for eye damage. Since blue light has a short wavelength, that means that it is a high-energy, which are harmful to the delicate tissues of the eyes. Moreover, blue light can also pass through the retina, the collection of neurons which convert light into signals, the foundation of sight.
While laboratory studies in mice have shown that prolonged exposure to high-intensity blue light can damage retinal cells, epidemiological studies on real people suggest a different story.
If it is not blue light that causes eye fatigue and sleep loss, then what is? Find out over at Ohio State News.
Rats can’t drive. I mean, let’s get this straight. Driving is mostly a human thing. We only see driving rats in cartoons or animations with anthropomorphic characters. But this study proves otherwise. Turns out, rats CAN drive.
But why would scientists teach rats something as crazy as this?
Find out more about this study, and watch the video, over at Mashable.
We know you love a good truck spill story, and even better is a truck spill story involving cats. No, the truck didn't spill cats, but a Brooklyn spill in 1907 drew every cat in the borough to the scene. The turn of the century brought trolley cars to the streets of New York, which were already crowded with motor cars and horse-drawn wagons. On June 29, 1907, a trolley struck Charles Wolfert's milk delivery wagon in the Bedford Corners neighborhood, overturning it and breaking almost all the milk bottles. What happened next was thoroughly and delightfully described in the Brooklyn Citizen newspaper.
Working their way inward from all the sides were cats of every description. Spotted cats, cats with Tammany stripes, cats of maltese color, cats of jetty black, and others of spotless white, cats whose outer skin hung close to their ribs and others who showed more plumpness; cats who eked out their daily sustenance by thievery and those which were cast on their own resources by the family leaving for the summer, all were busily engaged in stemming the flood of the white fluid.
The pungent sweetness of the milk permeated the air, and the house cats in the neighborhood sat up and sniffed. Sniffing brought temptation, and cats who had never before strayed from the paths of rectitude stole out to “The Great White Way.” Kitchen corners were deserted, the pussies came forth from under the bed and off the chair. The solaces of old maids forgot everything to wander out whence to the place where the smell arose. In all the finery of belled collars and pink and blue throat ribbons, they left their homes and joined other wayward Toms and Tabbies.
The story describes how the cats gorged themselves on the milk, even swimming in it, and the chaos that followed as vehicles drove through and sent waves of milk over the throng of cats. The newspaper account took up two columns, and the complete story of the feline milk orgy takes two posts at The Hatching Cat, interspersed with the history of the Bedford Corners community.
This Halloween season, do you plan to watch a good spooky flick with your dog? If so, these are 6 suggestions by the webcomic They Can Talk. I'll avoid the first one for my own pup, who finds balloons unearthly terrors. He'll retaliate by pooping on the floor.
They even searched the Valley to find the biggest pumpkins they could for their family photo shoot. After uploading, their photos went viral on Facebook
Their “Family Pumpkin Dunk” photo album posted on Facebook had over 140,000 shares on Facebook as of 4 p.m. Friday.
You know how Boston Dynamics stress-tests their robots by hitting them with hockey sticks and generally abusing them? It's only a matter of time before the robots decide they have gone far enough. But this is Bosstown Dynamics (no matter what autocorrect says), a parody from Corridor. It's funny up to the point where you realize this could be going on in real life as we speak. -via Boing Boing
