This cartoon by Joel Haver never says the word Charmin, but you know who these bears are, even if they don't look like bears at all. They look like rotoscoped people. But that's all beside the point. The family has their purpose, and that's toilet paper. And don't even think about doing something else! This scene is a family sitcom moment featuring a ridiculous but strangely successful advertising premise, and it gradually turns into a pun fest. Warning: bathroom humor. -via reddit
Just in time for World Chimpanzee Day, Mattel has unveiled the latest Barbie doll in the Barbie Inspiring Women Collection, modeled after primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall. Goodall is world-renowned for her work in studying and advocating for chimpanzees since 1960. The Mattel company worked with the Jane Goodall Institute to make the doll come alive. It is the first in the series to be made with 90% recycled plastic, and is shipped in a sustainably manufactured box.
The Jane Goodall doll is quite recognizable, as she wears khaki shorts, carries a notebook, and sports her iconic ponytail. It also comes with a figure of David Greybeard, the first chimpanzee that trusted Goodall in her early work in Gombe National Park in Tanzania. Goodall is pleased with the doll, saying she has always wanted a Barbie in her likeness because the doll was so girly-girly in her youth and she thought girls needed choices. The Jane Goodall Barbie doll is now available for $35. -via Mental Floss
History and science combine to tell the story of how trade exploded when Europeans began crossing the Atlantic to the Americas. We know diseases were traded, with pathogens such as smallpox and measles killing millions of Native Americans who had no immunity to them. It's been conventional wisdom that syphilis traveled the other direction, and the sexually transmitted disease began to infect Europe. But a closer look at the historical record points to the existence of syphilis in Europe hundreds of years before Columbus sailed to the New World.
Paleopathologists have studied remains of European people who displayed the effects of syphilis going back to the 6th century. However, the presence of the bacterium Treponema pallidum cannot be pinpointed. But a new theory that venereal syphilis ran rampant among royalty and the wealthy while non-venereal syphilis plagued the poor finds evidence in, of all things, medieval art. One particular symptom of the disease was depicted in religious artworks, and was apparently well-known enough to be ascribed to sinners and evildoers. Read how this theory comes together at the Conversation.
You know how some of your favorite songs are so familiar that you appreciate them even when played in a completely different way, like a bluegrass version of a Queen song or Guns 'n' Roses played on an accordion? Or anything by Postmodern Jukebox? Then you're going to love this!
Moyun is a Chinese guzheng player who is noted for never showing her face (yes, that's a mask). Here she treats us to a full version of AC/DC's song "Thunderstruck" on a 21-string guzheng. She covers the guitar, bass, drums, and vocal parts with just two hands and one musical instrument. Moyun has videos of other rock covers, Chinese songs, anime themes, and video game music at her YouTube channel. -via Geeks Are Sexy
The global economy is projected to hit $100 trillion by the end of this year. The United States is the world's fourth largest country by area, and the third largest by population (we surpassed Indonesia), but when it comes to money, the US is where it's at. However, China is expected to move to #1 by 2030. This chart shows us the relative share among nations, grouped by continent. They could have made a pie chart, but some of the slices would be too small to identify. The US has the biggest chunk, followed by China, Japan, and Germany. The "nations" for this visualization are divided up into 191 entities (the UN lists 195), which can be argued over. For example, Puerto Rico is listed, even though it is part of the United States. The data comes from the International Monetary Fund's April 2022 report.
You can see a larger (and enlargeable) chart at Visual Capitalist, where you'll also find charts listing the top 50 and bottom 50 economies in the world. -via Digg
A whistling vessel (huaco silbador) is an ancient type of ceramic art in which water moves between two chambers and produces a bird whistle. There are many that survive from pre-Columbian Central and South America, but they are also being made again today. Even the reproductions are hand made and quite expensive. Steve Mould wanted to look inside to see how they worked, but considering the cost, he used x-ray technology to see inside. To really grasp the way they work, he ended up destroying at least one anyway, but the mechanism, and how it varies from piece to piece, is quite fascinating. The last minute of this video is an ad.
If your town's most famous citizen happened to be a murderous drug dealer, would you put up a statue of him? Maybe not, but what if the tourist draw of that statue could mean important dollars flowing into the local economy? That's a maybe. But then what if it were two statues, and they were a free gift? That might make a difference. And so Albuquerque, New Mexico, is welcoming statues depicting the fictional meth cook Walter White and his partner Jesse Pinkman. Albuquerque received renewed attention when the AMC TV series Breaking Bad became a hit, and has become a mecca for fans of the show, as well as those of the spinoff movie El Camino and the prequel series Better Call Saul. That the city has become associated with methamphetamine seems to be a horse that has already escaped, and there's no shutting the barn door now.
The statues were commissioned by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan in 2019, and will be presented to the city at their official unveiling on July 29th at the Albuquerque Convention Center. Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, who portrayed White and Pinkman, will be there along with Vince Gilligan and the city's mayor. And, we assume, a hoard of Breaking Bad fans.
When this old world starts getting you down, as it has for many people since the beginning of the pandemic, maybe you should listen to some wonderful music sung by great kids. Katherine Morris was feeling pretty low when the pandemic isolated everyone, on top of political grievance, economic woes, mass shootings, and climate change. She was already concerned with the rising suicide rate among young people. All that collided with personal setbacks when Morris' barn burned down. So she thought of her favorite "feelgood" song, and a campaign took off that culminated in the above video. It involved Morris, producer Richard Kaufman, Carole King, May Pang, and a bunch of talented young people across the country. Proceeds from the sale of the song will go to the organization Find Your Anchor for suicide prevention, awareness, and education. If you like this video, sent it to someone who could use a lift. -via Metafilter
During the days of the Byzantine Empire, monks who gave up a normal life for their Christian faith sometimes appeared to compete over who could sacrifice the most or even punish themselves the most. Simeon Stylites the Elder was a pioneer in self-deprivation. Born around 390 AD in Syria, he entered monastic life as a teenager. He became an ascetic, going weeks without eating to purify himself. He was so extreme that he was asked to leave the monastery, and went to live a hermit's life alone atop a series of pillars. The first one was three meters tall, but he found taller places to sit and stay. Simeon settled on a pillar that was 15 meters tall and stayed there 37 years! His living space was a platform of about a square meter with a railing of sorts. Simeon was only brought down after his death.
Some of Simeon's followers also tried living up on a pillar, and they became known as stylites, or pillar hermits. The practice lasted until the Middle Ages, at least in its extreme form. Read about Simeon Stylites the Elder and his pillar home at Amusing Planet.
The new space telescope is expected to outshine Hubble by orders of magnitude. The James Webb Space Telescope has been sending back images for some time now, and NASA is ready to start releasing them to the public. The above image is the first to be released, and it shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. It was revealed today at a White House event.
This first image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail. Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time. This slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground.
You can see it larger here. NASA, ESA, and CSA will release more images from the first collection on Tuesday during a televised broadcast at 10:30 AM EDT. They will then be available to the public. -via Fark
(Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)
The Charlotte Observer reports that a small plane with a stalled engine made an emergency landing along a highway in the mountains of Swain County, North Caronlina. Sheriff Curtis Cochran reports that there were no injuries, despite substantial traffic along the road.
The pilot, Vincent Fraser, was flying his Aero Commander 100 from Florida with this father-in-law to examine some property he had purchased. When his engine began to stall, Fraser steered toward a river until he noticed that a highway ran next to it. He decided to try to land on the road instead of the water.
At the 0:20 mark in the video, which was captured by a GoPro on mounted on a wing, you can see how the Fraser deftly slipped under a set of power lines. That he was able to land so smoothly while turning the plane on a curved road after touchdown was impressive!
Fraser describes his experiences here:
-via Laughing Squid
The Ulster County (New York) Board of Elections is conducting a design contest for "I Voted" stickers to be given out at this November's election. Of the designs submitted, six finalists between the ages of 13 and 18 are up for a public vote, meaning anyone with an internet connection can vote. So far, the breakaway leader in the voting is a design submitted by 14-year-old Hudson Rowan of Marbletown. And you can see why.
Since the contest page has been passed around on the 'net, the design has gained the nickname Votey McVoteface. As of today, Rowan's design has garnered 93% of the 168,100 votes cast. That's more than the voting age population of Ulster County. This is the second year for the sticker contest, which drew around 500 votes last year. Rowan said he just wanted to be different, and didn't think his design would draw this much attention.
"Well I definitely thought it was unique," John Quigley, the Republican commissioner for the Ulster County Board of Elections, which is running the contest, said about Hudson's entry. "Somebody tweeted, this is how voters feel about politics right now, and I thought it was almost like the best way to summarize it. It sort of is exactly how we all feel about politics right now."
It would be a severe hassle to move to Ulster County in order to vote this fall and receive one of these stickers, but with a little encouragement, the election commission might be persuaded to license the design to other parts of the country. While Rowan's design is outstanding, the other five finalists are all well done. Voting in the contest will continue through the end of July.
Our cats opened the bathroom cabinet drawer, thereby blocking the bathroom door from opening. I took this picture by sticking my phone under the door. Trying with a hanger to close the drawer so I can open the door. A dog would never do this. pic.twitter.com/BmQ2T6PVdO
— misplaced comma or Julee Balko when I’m an author (@misplacedcomma2) July 9, 2022
Julee Balko has a bathroom with drawers close to the door. Opening a drawer will block the door, which is a great way to keep someone from coming into the bathroom while you are busy in there. But then the cats found out about it. Cats love opening drawers, but I've never known a cat to close one when they are done. This time they did it when no one else was in the bathroom, so the humans have no access to the room. The picture is a little confusing because it points upward from the floor. And there's more.
🤣🤣🤣
— Dianne (she/her) 🌊 (@kdrobbinscat) July 10, 2022
"Cat is now in the drawer which does not help" is a perfect description of 2022.
— Alexandra Samios (@Xanboni) July 10, 2022
It was hours between updates, and Julee's followers were getting restless. But Julee was busy trying to gain access to her bathroom, which you can imagine is a priority. Finally, the news came through.
After an hour of bending hangers, tools, sticks, weird shaped pliers, and basically anything we could shove through the crack of the door we successfully got the drawer closed and door open. Cats were disappointed the game was over. Humans were happy and taped the drawers shut.
— misplaced comma or Julee Balko when I’m an author (@misplacedcomma2) July 10, 2022
And they all lived happily ever after. The lesson is: cats provide us opportunities for sharing tense moments and laughs, so let's always document their shenanigans and celebrate them for it. -via Fark
The words Mountain Dew immediately conjure up the image of the highly-caffeinated fluorescent yellow soft drink consumed by video gamers and Kentuckians. But the term "mountain dew" was around a long, long time before the soda was launched in the late 1940s. It meant illegal corn liquor, or moonshine. Except in the British Isles, where it was the name of two brands of Scotch whisky. The makers of the carbonated soft drink Mountain Dew dealt with some confusion between their drink and moonshine to the point where a raid was conducted on a Mom-and-Pop business that was distributing legitimate Mountain Dew syrup in 1951. There was even talk of changing Mountain Dew's name to avoid the mistake.
However, when Pepsi bought Mountain Dew in 1964, the company went whole hog in embracing the soft drink's hillbilly roots and the name that evoked high-octane homemade liquor. That advertising built a juggernaut out of the soda pop. Read how that happened at Mel magazine.
There are so many different kinds of cheese that anyone looking at the selection in a grocery store might think that it takes skill and generations of experience, not to mention specialized equipment, to make it. That may be true with ripened and aged cheeses, but people have been making soft cheeses at home for thousands of years, particularly cottage cheese. I thought about making cottage cheese some years back, but the very old recipe I had included the phrase "hang the cheese somewhere that the cat can't reach it," and knew the project was beyond me. But I might try this mozzarella recipe.
Yes, making actual cheese at home can be simple! Justine Doiron walks us through the process of producing homemade mozzarella cheese. The video is an overview to give you an idea of how much easier it is than you ever imagined cheese-making to be. When you decide you want to do it yourself, the recipe is in text at Doiron's blog, Justine Snacks. -via Nag on the Lake
