Extreme nerdery incoming! EC Henry used a virtual wind tunnel to test the aerodynamics of the ships seen in the Star Wars movies. It becomes clear that they were designed to look cool, and not to work in a real atmosphere. But when you compare them to each other, the Rebels with their ugly ships were more realistic and might have even worked. -via io9
The most popular cherry in America is the dark red Bing cherry, but few know where its name came from. The variety was first developed at Seth Lewelling's orchard in Oregon. The Lewelling family had hauled 700 fruit trees out west in the mid 1800s to take advantage of the region's fertile land and mild weather. Ah Bing was a 6-foot-tall Chinese immigrant who worked for Lewelling for 30 years, earning money to send back to his wife and children in China.
As the foreman of Lewelling’s orchard crew, Ah Bing supervised more than 30 men. He worked closely with Lewelling on grafting, propagating, and caring for trees. The Bing cherry, Ledding recalled, surfaced one day when Lewelling and Ah Bing walked through the rows of cherry trees, where each man maintained separate rows. In Ah Bing’s row, there was a marvelous new type of cherry. Someone suggested that Lewelling name the cherry after himself. But Lewelling protested. He had already named a cherry for himself. “No, I’ll name this for Bing,” Ledding recalled him saying. “It’s a big cherry and Bing’s big, and anyway it’s in his row, so that shall be its name.”
But other stories portray Ah Bing as even more central to the development of the cherry. In 1922, the agricultural journal The Oregon Grower related that Lewelling had assigned a collection of “Black Republican” cherry seedlings to Ah Bing to care for in 1875. Ah Bing’s cultivation resulted in the Bing cherry, which, the author commented, would “pass his name down in horticultural history.”
The name stuck, but the connection to Ah Bing is little known. He was a victim of the Chinese Exclusion Act and suffered through riots as anti-Chinese sentiment worsened. Read about Ah Bing and his cherries at Atlas Obscura.
For ten years now, we've followed the story of Mark Hogancamp, who created the intricate miniature World War II world called Marwencol. His art went viral, and led to a book and then a documentary about how Hogancamp used Marwencol as therapy after he suffered horrific injuries from a beating. Now his story is a feature film called Welcome to Marwen, starring Steve Carell as Hogancamp. The movie has an advantage over a documentary in that the dolls and action figures of Marwencol, or Marwen, come to life to support Hogancamp. Welcome to Marwen is scheduled to open on November 21. -via Tastefully Offensive
The Gorilla Foundation has announced the passing of Koko. Koko the lowland gorilla was born at the San Francisco Zoo and was only one year old when she began to train in sign language with Dr. Francine “Penny” Patterson. Koko's amazing ability to communicate led to the establishment of the Gorilla Foundation. She had a vocabulary of around 1,000 words in sign language and understood around 2,000 spoken words. Koko loved to watch movies and was an avid fan of the TV show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. She was the first non-human to successfully participate in an internet chat. Koko was famous for her loving relationship with cats, and her intense bonding with her first kitten.
Koko’s capacity for language and empathy has opened the minds and hearts of millions. She has been featured in multiple documentaries and appeared on the cover of National Geographic twice. The first cover, in October of 1978, featured a photograph Koko had taken of herself in a mirror. The second issue, in January of 1985, included the story of Koko and her kitten, All Ball. Following the article, the book Koko’s Kitten was published and continues to be used in elementary schools worldwide. Her impact has been profound and what she has taught us about the emotional capacity of gorillas and their cognitive abilities will continue to shape the world.
Koko was 46.
(Image credit: Flickr user sid)
Brazil is a big country, with a lot of people, so why isn't it a world power? The answers lie in the very things that make Brazil unique. The land that it covers is very different from smaller nations. Wendover productions looks at Brazil and its geography. -via Digg
Archaeological excavations of ancient sites usually don't come in color, as hundreds of years and exposure to air, water, and/or soil will fade the original colors. But archaeologists in Denmark have studied the materials and pigments used in Viking paint to approximate what they might have looked like when they were new. The Vikings made paint out of various pigments bound with milk, eggs, or linseed oil, and used it to decorate their buildings. Some colors were more expensive than others, and some had cultural meaning.
It is not insignificant which colours the Vikings used on their houses. For example, some colours were rarer than others and were costly having been imported over long distances, says archaeologist Lars Holten, director of Sagnlandet Lejre and co-author on the new report.
“We know that the symbolism of colour is enormously important in all cultures. Red, white, and black are some of the most common and have similar symbolism among numerous cultures,” says Holten.
One of the more expensive colours is the red ‘cinnabar’ (number 5 on the interactive chart above), and it was likely used by chieftains or princes as a status symbol to demonstrate power over their surroundings, says Holten.
The Viking paints that have been identified so far have been posted at an interactive site, where you can learn the ingredients, cost, and symbolism of each color. Read more about the research into Viking color at Science Nordic. -via Metafilter
Bruce and Terry Jenkins have led an interesting life. Now that they are retired, they spend their time running a private shelter called Cat's Cradle. They have 30 cats, all of them rescues, elderly cats who have outlived their original owner. They get to spend their sunset years being loved and fussed over by the Jenkins. They are awesome people. Stay for the credits, where we get to see the finished butterfly garden. -via The Atlantic
(Image credit: Scott Beale)
Domino Sugar operated a sugar refinery on the East River in Brooklyn from 1858 until 2004. It lay abandoned until 2012, when Two Trees Management Company bought it, and this summer it has opened as Domino Park. The park has green space, game courts, flowers, an interactive fountain, playground equipment, a fog bridge, and a dog run. The park incorporates structures from the historic factory, such as these sugar augers.
(Image credit: Scott Beale)
See more pictures that show how an old factory can become a community park and still retain its history at Laughing Squid.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom officially opens Friday, although you can attend previews on Thursday. This will be the fifth movie in the Jurassic Park franchise, which began in 1993. However, the sequels came to a screeching halt in 2001 when Jurassic Park III came out. It was the first of the movies not to be directed by Steven Spielberg, and the first that wasn't based on a book. It made money, but was not well received. Screen Junkies explains why in an Honest Trailer for Jurassic Park III. Fourteen years went by before producers were healed from the trauma enough to bring us Jurassic World. -via Geeks Are Sexy
We all love service dogs, and we are in awe of their abilities and their loyalty. You're not supposed to pet one without permission, because they are on duty. It took time and the internet for people to learn that rule. But what if a service dog approaches you? That would be surprising, but it happens. For a reason. Lumpatronics told a story about how and why a service dog might come up to you.
So today I tripped. Fell flat on my face, it was awful but ultimately harmless. My service dog, however, is trained to go get an adult if I have a seizure, and he assumed this was a seizure (were training him to do more to care for me, but we didn’t learn I had epilepsy until a year after we got him)
I went after him after I had dusten off my jeans and my ego, and I found him trying to get the attention of a very annoyed woman. She was swatting him away and telling him to go away. So I feel like I need to make this heads up
If a service dog without a person approaches you, it means the person is down and in need of help
Now you know. They are truly being Lassie, asking you to come save Timmy from the well. -via The Daily Dot
Update: Nicolas Steenhout, an accessibility consultant, says this is not how most service dogs are trained to get help. He explains in this Twitter thread. -Thanks, Gristle McNerd!
(Image credit: Lextergrace)
Giant Mine near Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories, extracted a lot of gold in its time. Then the gold ran out, and the company went bankrupt in 2004. They left behind 237,000 metric tons of arsenic trioxide as a side effect of the mining operation, although that amount does not include the arsenic that has escaped into the environment. You can read more about Giant Mine's history here. The Canadian government was left to deal with the arsenic. Tom Scott introduces us to the technology that won't destroy the arsenic, but will keep the dust from seeping into the air and water. Read more about the Giant Mine Remediation Project at its website. -via Digg
Vacationing in the Poconos Mountains goes way back into the early part of the 20th century. But in 1945, as soldiers returned from the war and got married, Farm on the Hill became the first "honeymoon resort" in the Poconos, and others soon followed. There were plenty of honeymoon accommodations to select from, like the "honeymoon mansionette" pictured above, complete with fireplace, plastic flowers, sky-blue decor, and a TV with a matching blue screen of death. There were plenty of recreational opportunities, like archery, swimming, golf, canoeing, and table tennis, as well as lounges and restaurants.
Some hotels went all in on the honeymoon idea as the 1960s progressed, with heart-shaped bathtubs during the era of "affluent vulgarity," which extended the potential clientele to unmarried couples ready to pay for a getaway. See a roundup of postcards from the Poconos during its honeymoon heyday at Flashbak. -via Everlasting Blort
Lucas the adorable young spider (previously at Neatorama) is looking for a place to nap. It has to be perfect: private and cozy and away from distractions. When you are a tiny spider, there are a lot of spots to choose from! Spoiler- he finds a good place. -via Laughing Squid
While news spread through the rest of the country that the Civil War was over, Confederates in Texas fought on for another six weeks until June 19, 1865, when General Gordon Granger announced in Galveston that slaves were now free. That date has been commemorated in Texas and elsewhere ever since as Juneteenth. But it didn't mean that the enslaved people of Texas were actually free from that day.
5. NOT ALL SLAVES WERE FREED INSTANTLY.
Texas is a large state, and General Granger's order (and troops to enforce it) were slow to spread. According to historian James Smallwood, many enslavers deliberately suppressed the information until after the harvest, and some beyond that. In July 1867 there were two separate reports of slaves being freed, and one report of a Texas horse thief named Alex Simpson whose slaves were only freed after his hanging in 1868.
6. FREEDOM CREATED OTHER PROBLEMS.
Despite the announcement, Texas slave owners weren't too eager to part with what they felt was their property. When legally freed slaves tried to leave, many of them were beaten, lynched, or murdered. "They would catch [freed slaves] swimming across [the] Sabine River and shoot them," a former slave named Susan Merritt recalled.
Read more facts about Juneteenth, its origins and annual celebration, at Mental Floss.
T.J. was a 14-year-old who ate gummy vitamins as if they were candy. It was a language problem- he thought they were candy. While he ate too many every day, the day he consumed an entire bottle (150 gummies), he landed in the hospital with strange symptoms. YouTuber Chubbyemu (previously at Neatorama) takes us through the process of diagnosis and treatment, and explains in detail what a vitamin overdose does to one's body. It's not pretty. Chubbyemu has a series of horrific medical stories in his YouTube channel. -via reddit
