We take lace for granted in the age of mass produced textiles. Lace in the modern era is priced in the range of other fabrics, although that range can be quite wide. But before machine looms, lace was a precious commodity because it was hand made, and the finest of lace was made in Alençon, France. Point d’Alençon needle lace was very expensive because it was so labor intensive. Every square centimeter (less than half an inch) required around seven hours of painstaking labor. It took entire teams to produce the lace, from the designer who drew it to the finisher who polished it with a lobster claw. Lace was so expensive that wearing it was naturally restricted to the very wealthy or royalty. The lace industry involved so much money that there were importers, smugglers, tariffs, trade wars, and a campaign to produce domestic lace that gave rise to Alençon lace. Read what made Point d’Alençon needle lace so special, which entails a description of how it was made, at Jstor Daily. -via Strange Company

Mass production can be a beautiful thing. This video is a compilation of machines that we rarely get to see, and the amazing way they get things done. You probably won't learn a whole lot from watching this (or you just might), but how they do what they do is almost like art. We get to see materials we don't recognize perfectly formed into things we suddenly recognize. But it's not just manufacturing. Get a close up view of large equipment farming, cooking, street cleaning, earth digging, and more. None of the clips are long enough to get boring. They just move on to the next machine. -via Nag on the Lake

Sin taxes are taxes on behaviors that the taxing authority (a government) wishes to discourage. They are punishments for socially disreputable actions such as, for example, remaining unmarried. This specific type of tax is called a bachelor tax, as it is designed to encourage men to settle down, get married, and have children in wedlock.

In Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue: Tax Follies and Wisdom through the Ages, economists Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod describe how some of these taxes have resulted in unintended consquences.

In 1900, Argentina had a bachelor tax in place. To avoid paying the tax while remaining single, the bachelor had to swear that he had proposed marriage to a woman, but was rejected.

This situation created a perverse incentive: some women, dubbed "professional lady rejectors", would reject marriage proposals for a fee.

-via Super Punch | Photo: Pixabay

(Hell Yeah t-shirt on sale at the NeatoShop)

Today, on Twitter, I ran across the calculated weight of Koolaid-Man, the mascot of the Kool-Aid drink brand. Canonically, he's 6 feet tall. So, assuming that he's made of glass 3.6 inches thick that contains 607.6 gallons of water (plus the Kool-Aid mix and sugar), then he would weigh 11,000 pounds.

Kool-Aid man already exists as a monster in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. He has many powers, including magic resistance, the ability to charge an enemy, and what amounts to bardic inspiration.

These statistics made me wonder how much damage Kool-Aid Man could do if he was dropped on top of someone, which would be a useful action during combat. Although official sources address falling damage (how much damage a character takes by falling), it is silent on damage inflicted by falling objects. There is, though, some online debate upon it.

​One set of house rules assumes that an object in excess of 200 pounds falling 10 feet would do 20d6 (twenty six-sided dice) points of damage. For Kool-Aid Man, that would scale up to 1,100d6, which would be, on average, 3,850 hit points. Since almost all player characters would have hit points in the low double digits, a drop attack by Kool-Aid Man would leave a mark.

I am, of course, assuming a straight drop. If Kool-Aid Man is moving along a parabolic trajectory, the damage could be different. We might need to consult a physicist. Alex hired me for Neatorama based on my good looks, not my brains.

So, in short: Kool-Aid Man can do lot of damage. Maybe your party could avoid combat by having the bard attempt to seduce Kool-Aid Man.

My favourite thing is when people stick trackers on animals and one does literally nothing interesting and sits in 1 place 99% of the time and the researchers are like oh yeah that weird datapoint is Lazy Geoff, he doesn't ever do anything for reasons we don't entirely understand

— Dr Dani Rabaiotti (@DaniRabaiotti) March 23, 2022

Dr. Dani Rabaiotti, author of the book Does It Fart?: The Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence, posted a Tweet that went on to tell the story of tracking an urban fox when she was an undergrad. The fox just sat under a shed for three months, which isn't all that interesting and probably sounded sketchy to her supervising professor. But it is a tale that all animals scientists know, because they have all encountered a "Lazy Geoff."

Have you heard about the latest custom controller for the Xbox? Announced just on March 22, 2002, Microsoft unveiled a new Xbox Series S custom console and controllers featuring characters from Sonic. The most eye-catching in this reveal are the furry controllers, which come in red and blue, to represent Sonic and Knuckles. Reactions to this recent reveal are mixed to meme-worthy at best, with some laughing at the thought of grabbing the controllers with sweaty hands. Do the controllers look a little cursed? Yeah, a little bit. 

Image credit: Microsoft

Collectors will pay a huge amount of money to get the last items they need to complete their collection. It’s also interesting to find out what are the hardest objects to procure, say for example, for 3DS collectors. It turns out that it’s a Barbie game. Yep, you’ve read that right– one of the Holy Grails for game cartridge collectors of the Nintendo console is a game called Barbie Groom and Glam Pups.  

One of the factors that made the game such a rare find was because it was released in Canada, Europe, and Australia only. One collector spent $1,600 for a copy that was sold in Canada to complete their North American collection.  "A few years ago it was around $700," they said. "Should have bought it back then."

Image: u/Galdius

Russian artist Kristina Loginova developed her passion for art after working in a bank for a long time. Calling herself a real miniature art maniac, Loginova creates small living spaces for fictional creatures such as fairies inside walnut shells. These small works of art look like a Polly Pocket toy, where a capsule has two slots inside, one for the doll, and the other showcasing the design and some props for the room accompanying said toy. Check out more of Loginova’s work here. 

Image credit: Kristina Loginova 

Chang’e-4, a Chinese-made spacecraft, successfully landed on the far side of the moon in January. Aside from bringing samples back to our planet, it was also the first to experiment with growing plants on the moon. The spacecraft brought a small, cylindrical biosphere called the Lunar Micro Ecosystem (LME). The LME contained different seeds, such as potato, cotton, rapeseeds, and Arabidopsis thaliana, a common weed. 

Unfortunately, only the cotton plant grew two leaves before dying due to the cold temperatures after about two weeks. The rest died quickly. Learn more about the lunar experiment here. 

Image credit: KWON JUNHO

Lomography’s newly released film scanning kits will allow you to scan via a smartphone! The DigitaLIZA+ and DigitaLIZA were released to get around the fiddly, complicated, and expensive film scanners on the market. These devices will allow for versatile and accessible film scanning anytime, anywhere. Well, you need at least a flat surface to set the kit up, of course. Learn more about the scanning kits here. 

Image credit: Lomography 

YouTuber WUZU clay uses polymer clay to construct a Minecraft temple, set in an ocean, encased in acrylic for preservation. The process is painstaking, but in this video it is sped up by edits for our enjoyment, without narration. The precision in planning, measuring, and construction is engrossing. There are just enough bubbles in the acrylic to make it really seem to be underwater! -via Boing Boing

Sportswriter Stefan Fatsis is also a competitive Scrabble player. Earlier this month, he was competing in his 116th Scrabble tournament while contemplating retiring from the game. But one night during the tournament, he and some other Scrabble experts discussed a game that day in which top player Will Anderson could have scored a bingo (using all of one's tiles, for a 50-point bonus) by using the word "highveld" but didn't see it. Highveld is a South African term that is in the Collins list of words used in Anderson's tournament, but not in the North American list used in Fatsis' tournament.

Finally, Sokol, who had told us about Anderson’s miss, pointed out that the North American lexicon includes only one of those -VELD words: bushveld, a veld with “abundant shrubby and often thorny vegetation,” according to Merriam-Webster. Interesting! So what was your record today? Make any fun plays? How’s the salad?

Fatsis has never heard of "bushveld" until that discussion. The very next day, Fatsis played against Anna Miransky. At one point in the game, against all odds, his tiles were DEHLSUV. And there was an open B on the board. You might guess what happened, but you'll enjoy reading the whole story. You don't even have to be a Scrabble player to appreciate it. -via Metafilter

(Image credit: Fancy Font Generator)

Get a complete greenhouse without the need for a big investment. Usually, prices run between $1000 to $5000, or $20,000 if the structure is customized. Well, you can now get one for just $90. Amazon has released the Home-Complete Walk-in Greenhouse, which can fit eight durable shelves for storage and display. Its price point may make you suspicious of its quality, but according to the 3,500 five-star reviews, the purchase is worth it. "I found it to be easy to assemble and quite roomy inside," wrote one customer. 

Image credit: Amazon 

This museum asked their security guards to curate their newest exhibition. Baltimore Museum of Art’s latest show, titled “Guarding the Art,” showcases 25 artworks from their collection, selected by 17 members of their security team. Suggested by board member Amy Elias, the aim of the exhibition is to bring new life to the museum’s way of presentation and obtain new perspectives along the way.  “It [the exhibition] gives visitors a unique opportunity to see, listen and learn the personal histories and motivations of guest curators. In this way, the exhibition opens a door for how a visitor might feel about the art, rather than just providing a framework for how to think about the art,” she explained in a statement. 

Learn more about how the curatorial process happened here.

Image credit: Christopher Myers

What? 

A dog was abandoned at the Stanly County Animal Shelter in North Carolina because they saw him hump another male dog. In a Facebook post by the shelter, Fezco, the pupper, was introduced. According to the post, the four-year-old animal gets along with people and other animals. 

Fezco’s behavior, while unacceptable and odd to his previous owners, is absolutely normal, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “Mounting, thrusting (humping) and masturbation are normal behaviors exhibited by most dogs … They mount and thrust against other animals, people, and objects, such as wadded-up blankets, dog beds, and toys. Sometimes, dogs just rub against people or objects (without mounting them), or they lick themselves,” the organization wrote on their website. 

Image credit: WCCB News via The Advocate