The World: a Most Exclusive Private Residential Ship

When you have more money than you could possibly spend, you might consider traveling the world, or you might want to purchase (another) luxury home among other people of the same class. Then there are the people who do both. The World is a unique cruise ship that has 165 luxury apartments on board and cruises around the world every year. People can buy these apartments for millions of dollars, and then pay recurring fees for food and services. In return, all your needs are met in the swankiest ways, and you can see the sights of the world from the comfort of your own home. Plus your neighbors are all people of means who must be accepted by current residents before they purchase a slot on the ship.

Peter Antonucci spent six years on The World, in five different apartments, upgrading each time he moved. While the ship traveled around the globe, he came and went as he pleased, flying home to New York or going on extended adventures, and then flying to The World's location to rejoin the cruise. After moving back to dry land, he used his journals to write novels set on a ship. Antonucci told CNN about the process of purchasing an apartment on The World and what it's like to live this way. It's a glimpse into a life the rest of us can only dream of. -via Fark

(Image credit: Eric V. Blanchard


Why It's Best to Fly Early in the Morning

When my kids lived at home, they flew off on adventures often, and their flights always seemed to leave at 4, 5, or 6 AM. I know this because I had to drive them to the nearest commercial airport 90 minutes away. Now I know why- early morning flights tend to be less expensive than those later in the day. But that's not the only reason you might want to book an early morning flight -and annoying the person who gets up super early to drive you to the airport is not a sufficient reason.

Another reason to fly early in the day is that the odds of flight delays or cancellations are lower for flights leaving first thing in the morning, and there are a bunch of different reasons why later flights can run into problems. There are other reasons why morning flights are a better idea all around, which you can read at Mental Floss. It helps if you are able to sleep on a plane.

(Image credit: Dmitry Avdeev)


It's Award Season for Simon's Cat!



The Academy Awards will be given out on March 10, and that's only a couple of weeks away. That's as good a reason as any for Simon Tofield to present his "Simon's Cat Awards." These are some of the same categories as the Oscars, but the competitors are all characters from the world of Simon's Cat. What we get are vignettes from the many cartoons, around one to two minutes each, that illustrate the acting chops of the cats that create non-stop chaos and the surprising peripheral characters. However, I don't believe all of them are from the past year. My favorite is the visual effects award.  


The True Origin of the Klerksdorp Spheres

What would you guess this object is? An ancient bead? A ball for some kind of game? Maybe a kitchen tool, like a rolling pin? None of the above, and it's not even manmade. This is a Klerksdorp Sphere, found inside a three billion-year-old rock formation in South Africa. It does look strangely round, and the grooves around the middle seem like deliberate decoration. But this is how they are found. Could they have been left by aliens, or maybe some long-forgotten sentient civilization that died out long before mankind arose? Some people believe that, and that they even have mystical powers. One in a museum is said to have rotated on its own, inside a glass display case.

However, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation, although the above link doesn't make it easy to visualize. Neither does Wikipedia. The best I can make of it is that they were formed by water seeping into metamorphic rock, which carved a round opening before the minerals dissolved in it crystallized into a solid sphere. The grooves around it were caused by rock layering over time. If you understand the process as described at either source, maybe you can explain it better. But it wasn't aliens. -via Strange Company

(Image credit: Robert Huggett)


An Automated Shield to Protect You from Dropping Your Phone on Yourself

I keep reading news stories and commentary about how excessive cell phone usage is harming us. I was confused until I saw this video by Japanese inventor Kazuya Shibata. Now I understand the concern: it's easy to drop a cell phone on your face if you use it while lying down. And we have a solution from Shibata: the automatic face shield.

The build video is in Japanese, but I gather that this 3D printed machine automatically deploys the shield when an object passes through motion sensors. It's the kind of genius innovation that we've come to expect from Shibata, who previously changed modern life with his automatic shirt flapper.

-via Science Girl


Playing Movies on an Atari 2600

Modern gaming consoles, such as Xboxes and Playstations, allow for playing DVDs. But the Atari 2600, which debuted in 1977, long predates the DVD and almost predates consumer use of VHS tapes. Nonetheless, it is possible to play movies on an Atari 2600.

The MovieCart adapter processes video from a micro SD card into the cartridge reader. The kit comes with Night of the Living Dead, which is in the public domain, preloaded on a micro SD card. Use a joystick to navigate the menu options and start watching.

There's no high definition video available, though. The screen resolution is a mere 80x192 pixels. That's just enough to figure out what's being displayed on the screen.

-via Hack-A-Day


Nike Swoosh Handbag

The French fashion design house Jacquemus has partnered with Nike to produce a handbag inspired by the brand's iconic swoosh logo. This leather bag goes on sale on Monday for €420, which is about $455. You can use yours to store, um, swooshes, I suppose. Or, as Instagram user @yaminansari puts it, "My lipgloss and one tampon are so excited for this."

-via Toxel


Town's Only Hooters Closes, Residents Hold Candlelight Vigil

When a Hooters restaurant is erected in your town, it is cause for celebration. Similarly, we heave our bosoms in sadness when one closes. Truly, there is a time for every purpose under heaven.

Last night, the people of Kanawha, West Virginia gathered to hold a candlelight vigil to mourn the scheduled demolition of the metropolis's solitary Hooters on Tuesday. WOWK TV reports that it is to be replaced with a gas station. Nothing beside remains round the decay of that colossal wreck.

Participants in the vigil, in addition to processing their grief, raised money for a local woman to travel to California for specialized medical treatment.

-via Dave Barry | Photo: WOWK TV


Why the Population Explosion Was a Dud



Fifty years ago, when Baby Boomers were starting families, demographers looked at the statistics and started to panic. World population was growing exponentially, meaning that eventually there would be more people than the world could sustain, and it would happen fast. But, like what happened in China, statistics and extrapolations don't tell the entire story. The exponential growth chart went awry, and population growth slowed. It hasn't gone down globally, but it isn't growing the way it used to. There are many reasons for that, as MinuteEarth explains.

However, fertility rate and population density varies widely by location, and so do demographics. Some countries are already lopsided, with more older people than young people, while other places have plenty of children. While we shouldn't worry about a population explosion, there are challenges in places that go to the extreme in any of those parameters.


The Museum Dedicated to Alligators

Atlas Obscura informs us that a museum focused on alligators exists. Where is it? You guessed correctly: New Orleans.

Continue reading

The History of Sweetened Condensed Milk

Sweetened condensed milk is a glorious can of processed milk with most of the water removed and replaced with sugar. Combine it with cream cheese (along with eggs and splash of lemon juice) and you've got the world's easiest homemade cheesecake. But don't confuse it with evaporated milk, which doesn't contain sugar. That's a recipe for a nasty cheesecake.

Gail Borden (yes, that Borden) introduced condensed milk in response to the swill milk scandal of the 1850s (covered here at Neatorama in two parts). The idea of milk that would last forever in a can didn't catch on with the public right away, but the US military was interested. American soldiers fighting in the Civil War and World War I were equipped with cans of the high-calorie milk to keep them going. As more people discovered condensed milk, we found more ways to use it. Read how condensed milk came about at Jstor Daily. -via Strange Company

(Image source: Boston Public Library)


All the Amendments to the US Constitution Explained



The US Constitution provides a framework of laws for how the country is run. Its flexibility gives us the ability to add amendments when needed, although the process is anything but easy, requiring a vote of two-thirds of congress plus ratification by three-quarters of the states. So far, we've added 27 of them. The first ten are referred to as the Bill of Rights, which address the reasons we broke away from British rule in the first place. The amendments you don't recall are the ones that only come up when there's a problem in the country that is covered by them (which is why we forget what the Third Amendment is- it never comes up). Amendments that come after the Bill of Rights read like a timeline of American history, marking the Civil War and its aftermath, women's suffrage, Prohibition, the Vietnam draft, etc. The Paint Explainer, who brought us a rundown of logical fallacies, goes over every amendment with a short explanation for each in only eight minutes. There's a one-minute skippable ad at 4:05. -via Laughing Squid


Doing the Riker Maneuver in Valdez, Alaska

Who is the most famous person born in Valdez, Alaska? Many would say it's Commander Will Riker of the USS Enterprise, who will be born there in the year 2335. A group of Star Trek fans, headed by Valdez native Cameron Harrison, want to erect a bronze memorial statue of Riker and a commemorative plaque to mark his hometown. They even formed a nonprofit organization called Riker Maneuver to enlist public support. They already have the backing of Paramount, the company that owns Star Trek. Harrison says he spoke to Jonathan Frakes, who portrayed Riker, at Comic-Con and says he is all for it.

The design of the statue will include a bench for fans to relax on, while Riker himself is in a position to perform his iconic method of sitting down, which has been dubbed the Riker Maneuver. Fans will also be able to mimic the pose beside him for photographs. Riker Maneuver has filed plans with the Valdez Parks and Recreation Department, and are optimistically awaiting approval, after which they can begin to raise the $125,000 needed for the memorial. Parks director Ken Wilson is open to the plan, despite the fact that he's never seen Star Trek: The Next Generation. He's more of a Star Wars fan.  

The commemorative statue would join other Star Trek birthplaces in honoring their future heroes, such as Riverside, Iowa, the hometown of Captain James T. Kirk, and Bloomington, Indiana, where Captain Kathryn Janeway will be born in the 24th century. Even Vulcan, Alberta, displays a bust of Mr. Spock, despite being on the wrong planet.

(Image credit:Riker Maneuver)


All About the Red Light District in Amsterdam

Amsterdam's famous Red Light District doesn't call itself that. To the Dutch, it's De Wallen, or the Wall. The term "red light district" is mainly to tell you what's going on there, and that's sex work (called "pleasure work" here), which has only been legal in the Netherlands since 2000, and only between consenting adults. The wares in the city's windows came about because of a legal loophole. But the history of the area goes back hundreds of years. Everyone knew about it, but police turned a blind eye because it was considered a necessary evil and there was a lot of money to be made, you know, like in the rest of the world. Now that pleasure work is legal, De Wallen is globally famous, and even more money is made from tourists who just want to be there and see it. The pleasure workers are regulated, pay taxes, and belong to a union, but there are still businesses that operate under the radar illegally. And the neighborhood's history has plenty of seedy episodes. Weird History tells us all about Amsterdam's Red Light District. This video is not explicit, but it's probably not safe for your workplace.


The Impending Lonely Death of Voyager 1

The space probe Voyager 1 was launched in 1977 on a three-year mission to explore the outer planets of the solar system. The spacecraft was not expected to remain functional for more than five years maximum. Yet Voyager traveled on, and has been relaying data to earth for more than 46 years. It is now in interstellar space, more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from earth.

But as amazing as Voyager's performance has been, nothing lasts forever. The space probe has been glitching for the past two years, and NASA is having a hard time pinpointing the problem. For one thing, it takes 22 hours for signals to reach the probe, and just as long for data to be sent back. For another, the probe is running on computer programming from 1977, and NASA has very few surviving engineers familiar with it.

So Voyager may be on its last legs, even as it continues its eternal trajectory away from earth. The achievements of the probe have been so numerous you could read about it for days (see Wikipedia). But to get an overall sense of what Voyager 1's 46 years of service really means, you can read an almost poetic tribute to the little probe that could at Crooked Timber. -via Metafilter

(Image credit: NASA/JPL)






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