Steam-powered boats revolutionized trade and travel on American rivers in the 1800s, but they were dangerous. The wooden boats were powered by huge boilers that tended to explode. But new technology is something to get excited about, and any human endeavor will eventually turn into a competition, so steamboat races became a thing. These races were an ego trip for the boat captains, a way to advertise for boat owners, a new sport for gamblers, and something to do for spectators.

During competitions, the boilers on these steamboats would be pushed to their breaking point, which could spell disaster for all involved, especially passengers aboard at the time. The first steamboat race in 1811 didn't see any explosions or deaths, but the boats crashed into each other. Then in 1852, a steamboat boiler exploded during a race and 80 people died. Still, the story seemed to only add excitement to the races, which continued to be held on rivers far and wide, drawing millions in wagers. Read about the era of steamboat races at Smithsonian.  -via Damn Interesting

(Image credit: Library of Congress)

The stereotype of Southern cooking is that it covers a lot of sins by adding butter, because everything's better with butter. Well, it's true, but you can also say that about French cooking. Deep-frying stuff in batter is typical of the South, yet it's also popular in plenty of other parts of the US. Casseroles are not limited to the South, either, as they are very common in the Midwest and in the Mormon corridor. So what really epitomizes Southern cooking?

To me, raised in a border state, it's the casual attitude towards measurements. I learned a few family recipes growing up, but I gradually altered them past the point of recognition. Then I doubled them to feed a big family. Then I got into the habit of using what I have rather than what I'd have to run out to get. By the time my kids were old enough to ask me for those familiar recipes, it was hard to go through my usual sequence and describe what ingredients and how much of them I use. That's the heart of Southern cooking. You ask for the recipes you love from Mama or Grandma or the nice lady at the church, and they will write them down for you... at least the parts they recall. Grandma doesn't cook anymore and is a bit forgetful, Mama never measured anything, and that church lady doesn't want you to outshine her in cooking. So even if you follow the recipe, you'll have to suffer a crushing blow to your ego in your first failures, then experiment with that recipe by adding a good amount of butter.    

The horror film The Pope's Exorcist, starring Russell Crowe, is currently in theaters, and has drawn mixed reviews for different reasons. The International Association of Exorcists is upset that the film "distorts and falsifies" the reality of exorcism. The movie is a fictionalized account based on the association's founder, Father Gabriele Amorth, who became the assistant to the the chief exorcist of the diocese of Rome in 1986, and then succeeded him as chief. Amorth wrote a couple of books about his experiences as an exorcist, which inspired the movie. The priest claimed to have performed 70,000 exorcisms, although that includes multiple rituals performed on the same person. Amorth also claimed that the vast majority of cases in which he was approached for help involved mental illness instead of possession. Amorth's life (he died in 2016) was not a horror story, at least entirely. Read about the real man behind the movie at Smithsonian. 

For those who have seen The Pope's Exorcist, History vs. Hollywood breaks down the incidents portrayed in the film and compares them to incidents from history and from Amorth's books.

You will be forgiven for thinking this is a stage effect from a Rammstein concert. It's not, but they might be inspired by this incident.

Disneyland has a show called Fantasmic! in which Mickey Mouse must save the day when Maleficent (the villain from Sleeping Beauty) turns into a 45-foot tall fire-breathing dragon. But during the last show on Saturday night, something went awry and the entire animatronic dragon caught fire! 



All cast members and guests were evacuated from the area, and fire and rescue extinguished the fire. No one was injured. Disneyland has temporarily suspended all fire effects in their shows pending an investigation. The same show at Walt Disney World in Florida will continue with fire effects.  -via reddit

Commemorative plaques are useful cultural artifacts because they give us, the visitors, a sense of the importance of a place, tying us to that location in both the present and the past. This is why people create them, often at great expense, and erect them in public view.

Heritage Toronto values the proud history of Canada's largest city. Its commemorative plaques can be found throughout the city. The creation and establishment of a commemorative plaque is itself a notable event, so this particular plaque commemorates itself, which was unveiled to the public on October 10, 2018--a date of great historical importance. It is, to the best of my knowledge, the only recursive commemorative plaque in Toronto.

-via Annie Rauwerda | Photo: Read the Plaque

If you come at the king, you should do it while he's on the toilet. It happened in Game of Thrones, and there are historical precedents. It makes sense, since one is most vulnerable when relieving oneself, and that's the time a powerful man is most likely to be completely alone.

Take the story of poor Jaromír, who was briefly the duke of Bohemia twice in the 11th century. Jaromír's older brother Boleslaus III was duke before him, and was quite paranoid about his younger brothers' ambitions. He had Jaromír castrated and exiled. That really set off the family squabbles, and Jaromír and his younger brother Oldřich spent the rest of their lives trying to take the dukedom from Boleslaus, each other, and the forces of the king of Poland. Jaromír was ultimately blinded on orders from Oldřich and imprisoned, where he was speared through one night while on the toilet.

Read that story and those of four other rulers who were offed while doing their business at Amusing Planet. It's not always good to be the king.

If only we had our own car, and enough funds to get customized plates, we’ll probably also do this. Shoutout to the owner of the vehicle though, because we understood this reference. 

We are also thinking about whether or not it refers to being a rogue or something else. We’ll blame the vague rules launched by Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition for that, we think. 

Speaking of the tabletop role-playing game, let’s talk about the car. The image above was shared on Facebook by Christopher Lien. It shows the back of the Nissan with a very unique license plate: “SNEKATK.”

Seeing the sticker of 20-sided dice, as well as the familiar logo of D&D, we can only assume that this reference refers to a rogue’s sneak attack from the game. It’s also a funny coincidence as the model of the car is called Rogue. 

While we accept the sneak attack reference, one user on Facebook also raised a valid point. “Plot twist: it's a druid multiclass so it stands for snek attack,” one wrote in the comments section. That’s fair, right? We’re still sticking to the rogue reference though!

Image credit: Christopher Lien 

Sumo is a form of heavyweight wrestling in Japan. The sport is considered as Japan’s national sport and recognized by the International Olympic Committee, but we really don’t know how the wrestlers live and train. 

The life of the rikishi, also known as professional sumo wrestlers, can now be seen by others through a series of photographs by Lord K2, a London-born photographer. The artist was granted access to take images of these wrestlers as they go from match to match and also live their daily lives. “As Japan has surged forward into modernity, this corner of culture has remained anchored to ancient tradition. Sumo is an entity in which history, culture, pride, and athleticism combine,” the photographer explained in his book, titled Sumo, where all of his images of the rikishi can be seen. 

As to why the lives of these athletes are not privy to the public, Lord K2 explained that their stables are not available for tourists. “[...] only a few stables can be visited, and only as long as the list of behavioral restrictions is strictly adhered to,” he shared. 

Sumo wrestlers are highly revered by fans and enthusiasts of the sport. The photographer also explained that Japanese youngsters are difficult to convince to enter the sport, thanks to the gruesome routines, as well as the reduced life expectancy. It is a lifelong commitment. “Those who dedicate themselves to the sport give not only their body but their lives. They give themselves as a relic, an offering to past masters and gods. Rikishi are not just wrestlers, they are the antiquated, traditional Japanese gentlemen. A century after the last samurai, their cousins live on,” Lord K2 declared.

Image credit: Lord K2 

Oh, this artist has managed to prove a point. German artist Boris Eldagsen won first place at the 2023 Sony World Photography Awards (SWPA). His entry won first place in the creative competition of the open segment. 

Eldagsen’s winning piece, titled Pseudomnesia: The Electrician was actually made through an AI image generator. No, this is not a situation of using artificial intelligence to pass off works as their own. The photographer intentionally submitted this generated art piece to prove a point. Eldagsen refused the award. “The work SWPA has chosen is the result of a complex interplay of prompt engineering, inpainting, and outpainting that draws on my wealth of photographic knowledge,” he wrote. 

He wanted to make the award organizers aware of the differences between actual photographs and generated images. Eldagsen shared that he wanted the award-giving body to make a separate competition for AI-generated images. Additionally, he also expressed his concern that the SWPA did not communicate in their press release that his work was co-created using AI. 

“Since I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings here, it is important for me to explain in this email the background of the image you have chosen in as much detail as possible…In Germany, I am active as [an] AI expert in the “Deutscher Fotorat” (German Photo Council) to discuss the chances and risks of AI image generators. Perhaps Sony would be interested in taking up the topic for a panel discussion in this context,” he wrote to the organization.

Image credit: Alex Schwander

The idea of robots is not new, but making one work is fairly recent. In 1938, we had no transistors and certainly no microchips, and digital communication was a far away dream. Cutting edge technology was when Westinghouse figured out how to send commands to electronic machines over telephone lines by coded pulses. Strangely, Westinghouse built that feature into demonstration robot bodies in the 1920s. But they were nothing compared to the humanoid robot that the company debuted in 1938 at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City.

Elektro the robot was a wonder to all who saw him. He was able to perform 26 human actions ("tricks") including walking, talking, counting, blowing up balloons, and smoking a cigarette. Elektro made quite a splash and was was taken out on the road after World War II to promote Westinghouse products. He was even in a movie in the '50s. You might wonder how a robot did all that without transistors or microchips. He wasn't a person inside a costume, but there was a lot of what we today might call mechanical shenanigans going on inside. However, even if all Elektro's abilities were explained to the audience at the World's Fair, they would still be impressed. Read how Elektro really worked at Today I Found Out.

Glioblastoma is the most common type of brain cancer, and the odds of surviving it are abysmal. Only 6.8% of patients make it to five years after treatment. Surgery is difficult because the fast-growing tumors are hard to extricate completely from the brain without damaging the brain itself. Delivering medicines to the brain is a problem due to the blood-brain barrier. But a new innovation in treatment is showing promise. In a recent trial, it proved to be 100% effective in lab mice.

What researchers have done is mix two anti-cancer drugs in a solution that turns to gel. When surgery is performed to remove a brain tumor, the gel is placed into the tumor cavity. It then infuses into the crevasses of the brain and doesn't flush away as quickly as a liquid would.

The mice not only survived, but when tumors were later introduced into treated mice, they were able to fend off the brain cancer on their own. It will take a lot more research to determine whether this treatment is safe for humans, and the next step is testing it in higher-order animals. Read about the experimental gel and its astonishing performance at Gizmodo.

(Image credit: Rama)

Switzerland is a small country draped over some tall mountains, yet it has developed ways to pack all kinds of modern infrastructure in with Swiss engineering and multiple uses of the land.

Now, airports and military air bases need quite a bit of room and flat ground for runways, which is at a premium in Switzerland. So they built Meiringen Air Base in 1941 in an Alpine valley that had civilian roads running through it. The highways run right across the runways! Yeah, there's a system in place to keep everyone safe. The planes have the right of way on takeoff, because they can close the highway crossing, but automobile traffic has the right of way for landings, since a plane can circle until they can close and clear the highway crossings.

Most air bases are closed to the general public, but it can't be done here, so people come from all over the world to watch the military aircraft take off and land at Meiringen. Tom Scott added some more information at the YouTube page, explaining that the planes aren't stored in hangars here. They are parked in caverns in the hillsides! The Swiss know a thing or two about saving space.

Video calls helped friends and families fight loneliness during the pandemic. Parrots normally live in flocks, so would video calls help them feel less lonely? That was the subject of an experiment by Dr. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas of the University of Glasgow and her team. The researchers studied 18 pet parrots who were taught to use a tablet. They learned really quickly. The parrots would ring a bell when they wanted to make a call, and then select a bird to call from a menu of images. The birds made 147 calls during the study, and engaged in social behaviors while on calls. The researchers studied more than 1,000 hours of video of the interactions, and the bird's owners filled out forms on each call. It turns out that the birds that made the most calls ended up being the most popular, and were chosen by other birds more often! Read about the study at The Guardian. You can also watch a video presentation of the research at YouTube (skip to 3:20 to watch the birds do it). -via Metafilter

The European Space Agency (ESA) held a contest to come up with drink recipes in honor of their launch of a space probe called "Juice" that will explore Jupiter's moons looking for signs of life. The wonderfully imaginative entries ranged from iced coffee with swirls like Jupiter's surface to color-changing drinks to a drink topped with cotton candy.

The winning drink, called Europa Geology, came from grad student Margherita Gagnoni. The drink's appearance resembles a cross section of the moon Europa, from its rocky core to its ice crust. It even contains a bit of life, in the form of blue Spirulina algae! However, you can substitute blue food coloring if you don't have Spirulina.

All 70 non-alcoholic drinks can be seen in an online recipe book. They are rich in imagination, and juice, of course. I can't say how they taste, but they are all pretty. Read about the contest, the "mocktails," and the Juice space probe at Atlas Obscura. 

In this sweet little story, a guy (Mr. Butter, we find out) wants ice cream but he can't catch the ice cream truck. It also appears that he will never encounter that ice cream truck again. So he decides to make some at home. The wordless story is already pretty surreal by then, but when the ice cream starts to make noise, his life changes completely and forever. You could compare this to the story of Frankenstein, but this is ice cream. If you want to look deeper into the moral implications, it's that we have to live with our choices, and learn to resist temptation, no matter what form it comes in. But it's much easier to just ponder how bizarre the imagination can be. This video is from YouTuber Buttered Side Down, who has plenty of other weird animations.  -via Laughing Squid