Vintage postcards are available for locations all over the world, but somehow, they all have the same sky. Or one of three skies, it seems, with recognizable cloud formations if you keep an eye out for them. Vox takes a deep dive into them with James Brouwer, a postcard collector who found this phenomenon in his massive collection. Yes, there is an explanation. We'll learn a lot of about tourism postcards in the process. As soon as I finished watching the video, I went to my envelope of postcards. They aren't vintage, just family souvenirs. Most don't even have clouds, and I saw no duplicates. Then again, they are all from the last 20 years or so. -via Nag on the Lake
Dr. Katalin Karikó was a biochemist in Hungary who didn't get the respect or funding her research deserved. So she, her husband, and infant daughter made their way out of communist Hungary in 1985 by selling their car, converting the money on the black market, and hiding it inside the baby's toys. She made it to the US and got a research job at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine. While that's quite a story, it was only beginning. Karikó ran into the same problems in the US- supervisors who did not believe in her research and would not go to bat to get the funding she needed.
You see, Karikó was a pioneer working with messenger RNA, or mRNA. She believed it could be made to work against a host of human illnesses, but the substance was a problem to work with in the lab. Her colleagues considered her experiments failures, but Karikó considered them learning experiences. Still, it was hard to get funding without someone higher up to believe in what you're doing. She began to collaborate with immunologist Drew Weissman, who was looking for a vaccine for HIV. They had a breakthrough in 1997, but it still took several years to get a peer-reviewed paper published. By 2013, Karikó was making progress, but she had worked for Penn for almost 30 years, and she'd had enough. She left for a position at a fairly new biomedical startup called BioNTech.
You can see where this story is going. You can read the full version at Glamour magazine. -via Metafilter
ABC Store Clerk: I'll need to see some age verification.
— Kwisatz Haterade (@jason0x21) November 6, 2021
Me: AT&T was the only telephone company. They owned the phone in my house and rented it to us. You dialed a number with an actual dial that turned and made a series of clicks by...
Clerk: Here's your package. Please go. https://t.co/DG5RRhUsYU
Celebrity librarian Jessamyn West introduced me to a new meme on Twitter. Imagine that you're trying to buy alcohol and the liquor store clerk wants to verify that you are at least 21 years old. Aside from showing your state ID card, what could you say that would definitely date you?
Maurice Evans has been collecting fireworks for most of his life, and he's in his 80s now. The gentle author at Spitalfields Life takes us to his home in Shoreham to see the collection and hear his story, with just a bit of trepidation.
My concern about potential explosion was relieved when Maurice confirmed that he has removed the gunpowder from his fireworks, only to be reawakened when his wife Kit helpfully revealed that Catherine Wheels and Bangers were excepted because you cannot extract the gunpowder without ruining them.
This statement prompted Maurice to remember with visible pleasure that he still had a collection of World War II shells in the cellar and, of course, the reinforced steel shed in the garden full of live fireworks. “Let’s just say, if there’s a big bang in the neighbourhood, the police always come here first to see if it’s me,” admitted Maurice with a playful smirk.
But it seemed safe enough, as Maurice still has nine of his ten fingers. The story of his pyromaniacal past and how he developed a fondness for fireworks is more interesting than the collection itself. Read about Maurice Evans and his fantastic fireworks collection at Spitalfields Life. -via Nag on the Lake
🐍 When this landlord in Kitui, Kenya, wanted to lock out his deadbeat tenant, he didn't bother with locks that could easily be cut off. No sir, he used a venomous snake to lock the gate.
⚡ This decorative outdoor wall panel not only looks good and give you some backyard privacy, it also harnesses wind power to generate electricity. Behold, the Wind Turbine Wall by Joe Doucet.
✋ Stunning: "Hand ballet" as choreographed by Sadeck Waff, who orchestrated 128 performers for the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. Featured on Pictojam a while ago, but worth seeing again.
💎 Two words: bejeweled carpet. Okay, make that three words: bejeweled royal carpet. Take a look at this art installation by Dutch artist Suzan Drummen at the Royal Palace Amsterdam.
💨 Who farted? Blame the farting waffle iron.
😸 One day, Gustave Fersenheim, a deaf postal clerk in New York City at the turn of the 20th century, found a kindred spirit: a deaf cat that he adopted. Soon, the cat became part of the post office's feline postal police. Read this wonderful story of The Deaf Cat of New York's Post Office.
🎲 In 1981, Dungeons & Dragons published stats for eight cartoon characters. For example, Donald Duck is a berserker who cannot be killed once he goes into a rage and Bugs Bunny is a 15th-level illusionist.
👨🍳 Lastly, this is what 3D printing is invented for: to make a 3D-Printed SpongeBob SquarePants Sponge Holder. Just what every chef and fry cook need in the kitchen!
More neat stories over at our new network of sites: Pictojam, Homes & Hues, Laughosaurus, Supa Fluffy and Pop Culturista. Please check 'em out! Thank you!
Vehicles that run on electricity were around when the first powered vehicles were developed. However, when a new technology comes out in many forms, we usually managed to whittle them down to one type in order to embed the necessary infrastructure, like trained mechanics, factories, and most importantly, fueling stations in all locations. In the case of cars, the gasoline engine won out due to Henry Ford and the abundance of crude oil. But electric power has always been there, mostly in the background, waiting for the right conditions to make a comeback. This TED-Ed animated video explains the history of electric cars. -via Laughing Squid
As they say, a lie can travel around the world before the truth gets out of bed. I recall telling my Mom that you can't go swimming for an hour after eating. She said, "You're not doing laps for the Olympics. You're just playing in the water. Go on." And she was right, even if that didn't quite debunk the myth. We call them old wives' tales or urban legends, but there are people who will argue with you about these myths today. Some may have once had a reason behind them, or at least faulty reasoning that seemed to make sense at the time, while others are just made up of whole cloth, like eating spiders in your sleep.
You know what can make you feel old? I can remember when some of these untrue "facts" were considered "news" or at least new research findings. See all 14 myths that aren't true at Cracked.
Go, dog, go! On October 23, Frisbee Rob McLeod and a very talented dog named Sailor performed during halftime at the Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders game in Calgary. Rob threw a Frisbee from one end zone to the other- and sailor not only caught up with it, he caught it!
This sets a new world record for the longest catch at a live sporting event. Earlier this year, Rob Gronkowski caught a ball from 200 yards, albeit that was a ball dropped from a helicopter into an empty stadium. The longest catch possible in an official football game is the 99-yard pass, which has been done quite few times. But Sailor did it the hard way, by starting in the same spot as the thrower. If you want to see more of Sailor, a longer (five minute) video shows us the entire sequence.
That's a good dog. -via reddit
How does one survive the Antarctic cold? Seals develop a thick layer of fat. Penguins combine fat, feathers, and the habit of clinging together in large numbers. People build science stations with heaters. But the Antarctic icefish (Channichthyidae) is cold-blooded and uses some really weird alternative anatomy. It is the only known vertebrate that doesn't have hemoglobin in its blood! The blood of the icefish is almost clear.
What the fish's blood does contain is organic antifreeze. It has unique and specific proteins that lower the freezing point of water, so neither the blood nor the fish's tissues will develop ice crystals. Inspired by the icefish, a food company developed a yeast that produces these same antifreeze proteins and uses it in ice cream!
But back to the icefish. Without hemoglobin, how does the fish get oxygen to its tissues? Luckily, Antarctic Ocean water holds more oxygen than warmer water. The fish has no scales, so it absorbs some through it skin. It also has a heart that's four times the size of those of similar-sized fish. Read more about the strange Antarctic icefish at Atlas Obscura.
(Image credit: Marrabbio2)
The best part of the traditional Thanksgiving feast is the dressing, unless you call it stuffing. The basic recipe for both is the same: bread, turkey broth, onions and celery, and spices. My recipe calls for cornbread and lots of sage, others use white bread, sometime sausage or oysters, and an article at Lifehacker mentions eggs, although I never found eggs necessary.
In the South, it's called dressing. If you call it stuffing in the South, people will think you are making Stovetop Stuffing, the instant stuff that comes in a box. In the West, it's more likely to be called stuffing. Other areas vary between the two terms. Semantically, it is stuffing if you put it inside the turkey to be cooked, and dressing when it is cooked separately and served on the side. Still, people tend to use the word common in their region instead of by how it is used.
No matter what you call it, you shouldn't cook the stuffing inside the bird, though, regardless of what your ancestors did. The reasons why are spelled out at Lifehacker.
Elastigirl, one of the main characters from Pixar's The Incredibles movie franchise has notably wide hips and a muscular behind. Or, at least, certain especially attentive people noticed this while watching the movie.
Personally, I watch The Incredibles for the plot.
Elastigirl is not alone. Like the mother from Dexter's Laboratory, she has "Hartman Hips." YouTuber fullcomma explains that this is artistically necessary and, in fact, tasteful.
Animators must reasonably convey the differences between sexually mature and immature bodies. Elastigirl, a middle aged mom, is precisely the former. Violet Parr, a teenage girl, is definitely the latter. The two must be differentiated.
Animators could give Elastigirl large breasts, but a very busty character would likely be seen as sexualized in our culture and thus inappropriate for a children's cartoon. Giving her wide hips, on the other hand, expresses that she is a full grown woman without arousing purient interests by viewers. Thus the audience can enjoy the film for the storytelling alone.
-via Twisted Sifter
🍦 They look like chicken nuggets, but they're actually ice cream covered in cereal crumbs by Milk & Cream Bar in New York. The snack comes in cardboard containers you'd usually get with actual chicky nuggies, and even comes with a container of honey dipping sauce. Yum!
🚁 It's 2021, where's my flying car? Well, that may still be ways off, but how about a flying electric multicopter? Swedish startup Jetson unveiled its eVTOL (electric vertical take off and landing vehicle) called Jetson One that looks like a podracer straight out of Star Wars.
😻 When Liam Thompson noticed that his 20-year-old cat named Frodo had trouble walking up and down a set of stairs, he decided to to help by building a cat elevator.
🕹️ Thumby: a teeny tiny game system the size of your thumb.
🏰 A man's home is his castle, but this house in Michigan is actually shaped just like one. And now it's for sale for $2.3 million. Look inside.
🧶 If you ended up buying that castle above, then this would be the perfect bed for your pet cat: crocheted cat castle pet bed.
🌳 Mill Ends Park, the world's smallest park, is moving ... 6 inches to the left.
🖖 Star Trek replicators, how do they work?
🎲 Lastly, a cafe like no other: a retired elementary school teacher in Virginia opens Unplugged Cafe and stocks it with 700 board games to encourage family to play together.
Today's link round up brought to you by our new network of sites: Pictojam, Infinite 1UP, Supa Fluffy, Homes & Hues, Pop Culturista and Laughosaurus. Go check 'em out!
Image: Milk & Cream Cereal Bar
In the 1980s and the decades afterward, a cult flourished that revolved around Ior Bock, a Finn who claimed to be descended from mystical ancient pagans. Bock was once a well-known actor in Finland, and he spent years as a tour guide for a historical site until he was let go for embellishing his historical tales. Honestly, Ior Bock's biography is bonkers, involving incest, adoption, fratricide, showbiz, cult leadership, mental illness, paraplegia, and murder -and some of it is true.
In the 1970s and '80s, Bock spent his summers in Goa, India, which was at the time a refuge for hippies looking for enlightenment. He told the story of his family's saga as the keepers of history. It explained the origins of all the people of the world and how they are related, as well as the pagan paradise that was once the North Pole, but is now in Finland. Bock gathered followers and told them of a temple called Lemminkäinen that was a chamber full of treasures from the early civilizations he spoke of.
So, since 1987, a small but dedicated team of amateur archaeologists have been excavating the Temple of Lemminkäinen on the Bock family estate.
According to Ior Bock, the temple was sealed in 987AD to protect the pagan artefacts from Catholic crusaders who invaded Finland, so the first job was to open it back up.
They've been digging for more than 30 years now. Dutch author Carl Borgen traveled from Canada to Goa as a teenager and heard Bock's saga, but didn't follow him back to Finland. He kept in touch with friends who did, and now had published a book called Temporarily Insane, which is an account of Bock and his followers. Read an overview of Bock, Borgen, and the book at The Scotsman. -via Strange Company
(Image credit: Paasikivi)
Just like clockwork, the end of the Halloween season means Christmas shopping is upon us. And every year, the John Lewis Christmas ad campaign sets the standard for holiday advertising that makes you go all verklempt inside. This year's ad offers us a close encounter, a new friend, and an out-of-this-world experience. Science fiction meets Hallmark, as it were. A YouTube commenter said, "Explain the plot of E.T in 2 mins. Oh, but make it set at Christmas.” His classmates are not going to believe this story when school starts again after the holidays. As many years as I have been posting John Lewis Christmas ads, I still don't know what they sell.
To someone who's not into chemistry, the Periodic Table of Elements may seem incomprehensible. Looking at it without understanding is downright boring. For that matter, looking at it can be boring even if you do understand it. So how about a bit of poetry to make the elements relatable? That's what we get with Elemental haiku. Here are some samples.
Neon
There's no shame in it.
Advertising pays the bills.
Stop looking so red.
Arsenic
Called in for questions,
blacklisted, cannot quite shake
your poisonous past.
Radium
Licked by the women
painting luminous watches.
How much time stolen?
See, every element has a story, one that can be told in seventeen syllables. Elements matter, so to speak. Check out all the elements at Elemental haiku. -via Nag on the Lake
