This is a watermelon. It's been skinned, brined, smoked, basted, and grilled like a ham, so it resembles a ham. Duck's Eatery in New York City offers it as an entree, but you could make it at home, with some skill, particular ingredients and tools, and lots of time. What does it taste like? My guess is that it tastes like a watermelon, no matter what it looks like. My guess is also that it looks better than it tastes. -via Laughing Squid
Americans are known around the world for our size. The country is big, our people stand tall, and in the last 50 years, we've become increasing fat. There are quite a few reasons why, and some of them multiply each other. You can probably guess some of those reasons, but you may not know them all, and you might be shocked at the extent of the changes over time. As you can see here, portion sizes have increased greatly. We're also eating out more. We consume more sugar. But there's more, including ideas for what we can do about it at Vox. -via Digg
Lindsey Ellis looks at the marketing of the dark side. We all know that Lucas and company designed the evil Empire to resemble the forces of Nazi Germany, but the costumes and sets are just so cool-looking that every new young Star Wars fan wants to be Darth Vader for Halloween. In much the same way, the original Nazis looked cool to the generation that became the Hitler Youth. It helps that we don't get much of a look into the Empire's fascist ideology, and even less into that of the First Order. Not understanding the underpinnings of evil makes it easier to sell, as in pajamas and lunchboxes. This video is long, but if you are interested enough to begin, it will hold your interest. -via Metafilter
My parents’ cat inexplicably LOVES peaches, and it’s the most delightful thing. They send regular picture updates to the family group chat of this cat just chilling with the peaches. It’s the most important notification I get to my phone. pic.twitter.com/mPEQaRF8Mv
— Lydia Coutré (@LydiaCoutre) August 1, 2018
This is Ozzy. He belongs to journalist Lydia Coutré's parents. Ozzy loves peaches, and can't wait until they are in season. I can understand- in August and September, I can't get enough fresh peaches. But Ozzy does not eat the peaches, he just loves to sit among them and maybe nuzzle a few. You can't get any cuter than that! Ozzy has gone viral on Twitter, and people have responded with pictures of their own peach cats, cats who love other fruits, and other animals who like peaches, too. And then there's the fan art.
I had to draw @LydiaCoutre 's awesome story about peach cat Ozzy! What a good boy protecting those furry eggs <3 pic.twitter.com/cF0Ydv3o0k
— Erin McLaughlin (@Eboods) August 7, 2018
See more pictures of Ozzy and Ozzy fan art at Bored Panda.
Even when "we" are doing nothing at all, our bodies are busy. Sustaining life is an miraculous feat, and every organ of your body must work together around the clock to keep it going. For your entire lifetime. When you know all the stuff going on, you'll have a real sense of accomplishment -or else you'll be exhausted. -via Nag on the Lake
How would you like to own Anakin's lightsaber from Revenge of the Sith? Or Indiana Jones' fedora from Raiders of the Lost Ark? Or Marty McFly's hoverboard from Back to the Future II? Or the jacket shown above, which Harrison Ford wore in the movie The Empire Strikes Back? The Prop Store is going to auction off more than 600 pieces of rare movie memorabilia on September 20 in London, during their fifth annual Entertainment Memorabilia Auction. You can see a preview of some of the most iconic items at How Stuff Works. Most of it is expected to go for more than you can pay, but you can register online and take your chances when the auction goes live.
Too hot, too crowded, needs more vending machines... You can find customer reviews for anything now, including national parks. What does it take for someone to leave a one-star review for the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone? No much- lackluster food at the restaurant or uncomfortable weather can be more important to some folks than the magnificence of the area's natural beauty. Tom Chitty found one-star reviews for America's best-known national parks on TripAdvisor and illustrated them. See seven of the illustrations plus the reviews that inspired them at Topic. -via Everlasting Blort
(Image credit: Tom Chitty)
After this year's Oscars broadcast garnered the lowest ratings ever, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will make some changes to the Academy Awards. The broadcast will be earlier in the year, and some awards will be announced during commercial breaks, so that the broadcast can stay within three hours. But the big news is the new award.
At least as important, in terms of improving the ratings of the Oscars telecast for ABC, the Academy also said in its letter that it "will create a new category for outstanding achievement in popular film" in time for the 91st Oscars, adding that "[e]ligibility requirements and other key details will be forthcoming." Some will complain that adding such a category cheapens the prestige of the Oscars, making it more like the People's Choice Awards or MTV Movie & TV Awards, but that is old-world thinking. More than the length of the telecast or the name of the host, Oscar ratings have been shown to correlate with the popularity of the nominated films among the general public. And the gulf between what the public buys tickets to see and what the Academy nominates and awards has never been greater.
The backlash against such an idea was immediate. Some critics see the popular award as an excuse to exclude blockbusters from the Best Picture category, even though the Academy says a movie can be nominated for both. The Academy sees it as a way to counteract the exclusion of blockbusters, as was the intent in expanding the Best Picture category to ten films a few years ago. Some think the idea is specifically targeted at the critically-acclaimed Black Panther, while others see it as a continuation of the Oscars' traditional exclusion of science fiction, fantasy, and superhero films, no matter the quality, much like animated films, which have always had difficulty in being considered for Best Picture. Either way, it's an admission that the usual contenders for Best Picture aren't popular movies- and that fewer people want to see them celebrated on TV. -via Digg
(Image credit: Greg Hernandez)
When Cristóbal Colón/Christopher Columbus happened upon the New World, ripe for exploitation, he became a very wealthy man, although most of the riches went to the king of Spain for sponsoring the trip. But what happened afterward? Colón had two sons, Fernando and Diego, who inherited his wealth, but were they to inherit a portion of the lands their father "discovered," or a portion of what it produced, or just what Cristóbal left them when he died? The Spanish crown had passed to another generation as well, and Charles V did not see eye to eye with Colón's heirs.
While Fernando was spending money, Diego was trying to consolidate his family’s status as one of the most powerful families in the “New World,” with control over Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba. Before his father’s first voyage, in 1492, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand had agreed that, if his quest succeeded, Cristóbal Colón would be entitled to 10 percent of the takings of his voyage, plus a bevy of titles. Every time Diego tried to claim what he thought he was owed, the crown fought back. When he died, his father’s legacy was still contested.
The monarchy’s legal case rested on the idea that it wasn’t Colón, but one of his ship’s captains, who had first discovered the Americas. Ultimately, Diego’s widow went into arbitration with the crown, and his son, Luis Colón de Toledo, came out with a title—Admiral of the Indies—control of Jamaica, an estate in Panama, and a 10,000-ducat annuity that was meant to last in perpetuity.
It was, perhaps, less than the Colón family thought they were owed and less than Cristóbal’s contract specified. But the Colón family came out ahead of other scions of conquistadors.
The Age of Exploration enriched quite a few European families, who had varying degrees of success dealing with the riches and legacy of their explorer fathers. Read the adventures of the descendants of Hernán Cortés (who had a son in the New World and a son in the Old World, and named them both Martin), Francisco Pizarro, and Cristóbal Colón at Atlas Obscura.
The character of Han Solo can be described in many ways: confident, cocky, cool, cynical, skilled, and of course, attractive. But is he smart? Some of the decisions he made throughout the original Star Wars trilogy were smart, while others were questionable or downright dumb. Many of Solo's victories come down to dumb luck, but he very humanly thinks he's responsible for them. From the first movie:
Yavin
Han wants no part of an attack on the Death Star and he’s taking his money and leaving before the Rebel base is destroyed.
Verdict: Smart
Assault on the Death Star
Han comes back in the nick of time to save his buddy Luke, giving Luke a clear shot on the Death Star. This is one of Han’s most heroic moments but it was also a little stupid. But here Han isn’t any more stupid than the entire Rebel Alliance.
Verdict: A little stupid but it worked out
So what's the overall verdict? It appears to me that falling in love affected Han's decision-making skills. Read the data that goes into the judgement of Han Solo's judgement at Uproxx. Strangely, nothing from The Force Awakens or Solo is included.
In 1976, Rita Moreno had already won an Oscar, a Grammy, and a Tony. She won her first Emmy for a performance that year on The Muppet Show in which she sang "Fever" with Animal accompanying on the drums. She remembers the recording session in detail.
And when I watch myself—’cause I’m usually so critical—but when I watch myself, I just laugh at me. What I love about it is that my character’s trying so hard to be sexy and sultry. And this horrible creature in back of me is acting up. [Laughter] See? I can’t stop laughing. It tickles me to death.
Read Moreno's recollection of the sequence at The New Yorker. -via Metafilter
Facebook launched its feature called People You May Know (PYMK) in May of 2008. The purpose was to help users build their network of friends by letting them know who else was on Facebook. The results can be spooky, when you see someone there that you know, but haven't thought about in years. That comes about from Facebook's amazing data-mining power. After all, they take control of your address book, containing emails of not only friends and family, but anyone you've emailed -ever. And you can't opt out of PYMK. People who show up in your suggestions can include your spouse's secret lover, your favorite hooker's other clients, or the person who raped you years ago.
In the summer of 2015, a psychiatrist was meeting with one of her patients, a 30-something snowboarder. He told her that he’d started getting some odd People You May Know suggestions on Facebook, people who were much older than him, many of them looking sick or infirm. He held up his phone and showed her his friend recommendations which included an older man using a walker. “Are these your patients?” he asked.
The psychiatrist was aghast because she recognized some of the people. She wasn’t friends with her patients on Facebook, and in fact barely used it, but Facebook had figured out that she was a link between this group of individuals, probably because they all had her contact information; based apparently on that alone, Facebook seemed to have decided they might want to be friends.
“It’s a massive privacy fail,” the psychiatrist told me at the time.
And now Facebook has access to much more data than email contacts and friends of friends. The company owns Instagram and WhatsApp, along with other smaller networks. And there's more.
In 2014, Facebook filed a patent application for making friend recommendations based on detecting that two smartphones were in the same place at the same time; it said you could compare the accelerometer and gyroscope readings of each phone, to tell whether the people were facing each other or walking together.
Read an unnerving article about Facebook's PYMK feature at Gizmodo.
(Image credit: Jim Cooke/Gizmodo)
It's human nature to want to help the people you love by fixing their problems, or at least helping alleviate the situation in some way. When someone is going through the grieving process, you can't fix the problem. You can't take away the pain, and most of the time, you can't even share it. Cheering someone up only puts a band-aid on the underlying hurt. But you can be there for them, and that's important. There's more from Megan Devine about grief and how to handle it here. -Thanks, Maika!
Jashim Salam of Bangladesh is the Grand Prize winner of the IPPA (iPhone Photography Awards) after submitting this picture showing Rohingya children at a refugee camp in Ukhiya, Bangladesh. The photo was shot on an iPhone 7, and other award winners were shot on iPhone 5, 6, and 7 plus, which just goes to show that the subject matters more than the camera. See three other top prize-winning photographs at the contest website, with links at the bottom to the winners in various subject categories such as architecture, flowers, animals, news events, and more. -via kottke
Demi Bagby jumped onto the sand at Pacific Beach in San Diego and impressed everyone around her. Doing a handspring is pretty impressive, but she just goes on and on and on... Bagby is quite an athlete, as you can see at her Instagram feed. -via Digg
