A mother parakeet was sold from a pet shop and left an egg behind. Alwyn Wils had raised many birds, most notable a quail chick called Albert you may have heard of. But he'd never hatched a newborn parakeet before, and had to do his research. Wils' hard work and dedication paid off when the egg not only hatched, but his new hatchling grew into a lovely white budgie. -via Digg
Anything that an artist touches can turn into incredible pieces of art. This is so true with Japanese food designer Kaseifu Mudazono. She creates bento sets for her family adorned with popular anime characters from Pokemon, Demon Slayer, and others.
She shares her bento designs on Instagram with much delight.
"I started creating bento boxes for my child who was in the kindergarten back then. I found myself feeling happy that my child loved the food I made, and when I posted it on my social media, I was overwhelmed by the reaction of my followers, and before I knew it, kyaraben became a hobby of mine. I've been making kyaraben for my four children and my husband, but I'm looking forward to the day when I'll start making kyaraben for my two grandchildren as well!"
See more of Mudazono’s creations over at Bored Panda.
(Image Credit: Bored Panda)
It was around the turn of the 6th century B.C. when the first Greek philosopher, Thales of Miletus, concluded that, based on his observation, “all is water.” However, his pupil, Anaximander, argued that Thales was wrong, and that everything came from the apeiron (“the indefinite”). And then there was Thales’s other pupil, Anaximenes, who argued that air is the source of all things. By today’s standards,
These ideas seem fantastic, but in them the scientific mind is taking root. They’re arguably the first competing hypotheses, marking “a shift away from mythological explanations,” says Brian Hepburn, a philosopher of science at Wichita State University. Setting aside gods and supernatural forces, these philosophers instead base their understanding of nature on observation. In other words, they employ a rudimentary form of what we now call scientific method.
Thales and his disciples influenced Aristotle, who in turn deeply influenced every prominent Western philosopher for the next two and a half millennia — that includes Francis Bacon, who repackaged scientific method for the modern age and set the agenda for the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Since then, science has earned its place among the most fruitful human enterprises. Not only is it “the most robust and rigorous tradition we have of applying scrutiny to stories about the world,” Hepburn says, but it also “allows you to do things like build an Internet or a GPS satellite, or send a rocket to the moon.” And, as the cosmologist Hermann Bondi put it, “There is no more to science than its method.”
Discover Magazine tells us a brief history of how the scientific method evolved through the centuries. Head over at the site to know more.
(Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
As a tribute to the Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh, someone recently posted an idea on the LEGO website. His idea was to recreate Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” into plastic bricks and recently the idea received over 10,000 votes on the platform, meaning it is now qualified for production.
If you have any reservations about the structural integrity if a Lego version of a painting, fret not. There’s proof of concept for the new Lego set, courtesy of user legotruman’s mockup. Consisting of 1,552 pieces—an assortment that appears to go deep in the company well of brick shapes—the set is a vivid, three-dimensional recreation of the pre-dawn view from the artist’s room at the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence asylum in the south of France, where he was a patient from May 1889 to 1890.
The brick model even manages to capture van Gogh’s iconic, swirling brush strokes, recreating them with an assortment plates and curved parts. Completing the set—and our favorite features—is a mini-figure decorated to look just like the artist in his famous final self-portrait, which comes with a paintbrush, an easel and a small reproduction of Starry Night. So not only will you be able to build your own version of the work, you’ll be building a diorama for your little Lego van Gogh to interact with.
Unfortunately, there is no specific date for the product release.
(Image Credit: legotruman/Lego Ideas/Robb Report)
Just when you thought food delivery services are now at their peak, it would seem that they still can go even further beyond.
In order to deliver food to hungry fishermen, this Thai Foodpanda rider decided to do the unthinkable: to get in a boat and row towards them. The whole event was posted on Facebook by a user named Pradit Saengdee.
The photos have since gone viral, turning foodpanda rider Tanyapisit Eiamkitjakarn into an overnight celebrity of sorts.
The post was accompanied by a caption that read, "foodpanda now has marine delivery services." And by the looks of it, they do.
"Props to the foodpanda of Chachoengsao. Riding a motorbike is outdated. Let’s paddle a boat," said Saengdee. “This is the new frontier for food delivery."
And according to Eiamkitjakarn, he knew the fishermen personally. So delivering their food wasn't such a difficult task to undertake.
Now that’s what we call extraordinary service.
(Image Credit: Pradit Saendee/ Facebook)
One of the most common dishes that is served in Japan, especially in summer, is curry. With the many curry roux available in the Japanese supermarkets, Ahiruneko, SoraNews 24’s Japanese-language reporter, had a “brilliant thought.”
“What would happen if I mixed every kind of supermarket curry roux out there into one giant pot?” And so the plan to create the King of Curries was hatched.
He journeyed to several supermarkets in the area and, while he didn’t find every single kind of curry roux out there, he did find a whopping 43 boxes and packets to try.
How did his little experiment turn out?
It was delicious! Scrumptious! Succulent! But, when Ahiruneko thought about it in a calmer state of mind, it did taste just like normal homemade curry. It’s just homemade curry on another dimension.
Read more about Ahiruneko’s story over at SoraNews 24.
Well, what do you think?
(Image Credit: SoraNews24)
The United States officially entered World War II on December 8, 1941, but troop buildups had been going on for some time. The first group of American GIs landed in Belfast on Jan. 26, 1942, to aid the British in the liberation of Europe. Military publicity units on both sides of the pond knew this was a big story, and needed a "hero" to represent those 500 men in the papers. They had disembarked in a hurry after eleven days at sea. Despite being near the end of the line, Private First Class Milburn H. Henke found himself chosen to the the "first."
Henke was with his company when a Colonel asked for a volunteer. Henke’s Lieutenant put his name forward and the Private expected he was going ashore to unload equipment.
“I was sitting on some barracks bags, and this colonel came up the gangplank, and there were about fifteen of us,” Henke would later recall. “There was a lieutenant there and he said: ‘I want a man from Company B, 133rd,’ and Lieutenant Springer, he turned around: ‘Henke, you go with him.’ When I got by the gangplank, General Hartle came to meet me. He said, ‘Do you think you can talk over a radio?’ And I said, ‘Well, if I have to, I think I can.’”
Henke met with Major General Russell P. Hartle, commanding officer of 34th Infantry Division. There was some surprise when Hartle discovered the ceremonial first soldier to go ashore was from Minnesota rather than his home state of Iowa. Yet Henke had the look of a typical United States doughboy, with an easygoing nature and good looks. The irony that the first American GI in Europe had a German surname was conveniently overlooked.
Henke posed for pictures for some time and gave interviews to the press. But his day in the sun stretched to weeks as his persona as an everyday soldier was harnessed for the war effort. Read the story of Milburn Henke at Military History Now. -via Strange Company
(Image credit: War Office official photographer, Bainbridge (Lt))
Located on the bank of the Sava River near Trbovlje, Slovenia, is the Trbovlje Power Station, where the tallest chimney in Europe stands. The said chimney soars 360 meters into the sky. Mere humans would not dare climb this thing, but for Janja Garnbret and Domen Škofic, this is a chance of a lifetime.
In October 2020, Janja Garnbret and Domen Škofic became the first people to free climb the chimney's new route which is now the tallest artificial multi-pitch route in the world.
The pair, who had just a rope to catch them if they fell, were successful on their second attempt after over seven hours of climbing.
"It's definitely the most special thing I've done in my climbing career. It is climbing, but it's a combination of just about everything I experienced before, just combined in one thing," Škofic told CNN Sport.
[...]
Despite their expertize, the challenge was still way out of their comfort zone, with both more accustomed to indoor climbing where the wall is usually no more than 30 meters high.
Now this is epic.
(Image Credit: Red Bull Media House/ CNN)
On January 29 of this year, the people of Texas received a bizarre Amber Alert. The alert named the killer doll Chucky (from the horror film Child’s Play) as the suspect for the kidnapping of his 5-year-old son, Glen Ray (who was featured in the 2004 film Seed of Chucky).
The emergency alert described Chucky as a 3-foot, 1-inch-tall (0.9-meter-tall) doll wearing “blue denim overalls with multi-colored striped long sleeve shirt wielding a huge kitchen knife.”
The alert was mistakenly sent out three times last week to Amber Alert subscribers. The agency said it was a test malfunction.
Would you rescue Glen from the hands of Chucky?
(Image Credit: Texas Department of Public Safety/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)
For most of us, it is a no-brainer to distinguish the left from the right. But for some, it's pretty difficult. A student from Australia named D’Kodia Laine found a great solution to her problem.
[She] decided to get L and R tattoos on her hands to remind herself which is which.
The communications student got the letters permanently etched on her skin after being embarrassed to make the L shape with her hands to determine which way is left.
D’Kodia knew she had to do something about her navigation skills after being elected team leader during a scavenger hunt at a party.
(Image Credit: laurenwinzer/ Metro)
Pets can sometimes get too nervous, like this dog. This golden retriever would not go for a drive without holding its mom’s hand. This would have been difficult for the driver if she was using a manual transmission car. Fortunately, it’s not the case for her.
(Image Credit: USA Today)
In 1967, Paul Grisham, a meteorologist in the US Navy, was unwillingly sent to Antarctica for a 13-month tour of duty. He found life at McMurdo Station to be tedious. Losing his wallet there was a notable event, although now, at the age of 91 and living in southern California, he can't remember doing so.
When a building at McMurdo Station was torn down, Grisham's wallet was found behind a locker. The San Diego Union-Tribune describes its contents:
Inside the recovered wallet was Grisham’s Navy ID, his driver’s license, a tax withholding statement, a recipe for homemade Kahlua and several items other so-called “ice rats” who worked at the station might recognize. There was a beer ration punch card, receipts for money orders sent to his wife for his poker winnings at the station, and a pocket reference card with instructions for what to do in the event of an atomic, biological or chemical weapons attack. There was never any cash, as there was nothing to buy at the station.
A team affiliated with Indiana Spirit of '45, an organization that honors and helps veterans, came across the wallet and tracked down Grisham. He was delighted to receive it:
“I was just blown away,” said Grisham, who lives in San Carlos with his wife of 18 years, Carole Salazar. “There was a long series of people involved who tracked me down and ran me to ground.
-via Debby Witt | Photo: Nelvin C. Cepeda/San Diego Union-Tribune
One of the challenges of being elderly is eating. Imagine not being able to eat your favorite beef steak during lunch or dinner while the rest of the family enjoys the sumptuous meal. These elderly people would probably wish for a food machine that can soften the food so it can be easily chewed. Of course, it goes without saying that the food should still look appetizing.
This is where the DeliSofter comes in.
Foodstuffs processed in it can be chewed with the tongue and gum, whereas their flavors and shapes are not altered.
The Asahi Shimbun covers the story behind the invention of this product. See the story over at the site.
(Image Credit: RitaE/ Pixabay)
I want to run down this pic.twitter.com/gwC0r4bPnE
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) February 6, 2021
This looks like an amazing experience! Run over the wavy bridge until it's time to leap into the sea.
Many replies to the tweet point out annoyances like shattered noses and ankles. Well, YOLO. You can't make an omelet without breaking a few fibulas.
-via Super Punch
Firehouse cats are nothing new, as they are worth their weight in pest extermination and companionship. But Tootsy took her obligations to extreme, from her dedication to a fire horse named Old Babe, in whose stall she was born, to sliding down the fire pole as a regular mode of transportation. She sprang into action when an alarm went off, but was forbidden to ride along to an actual fire.
Tootsy was the beloved feline firefighter of Engine Company 27 on Franklin Street in Lower Manhattan. Born on the Fourth of July in 1895, Tootsy reportedly loved the smell of smoke as much as she treasured a fresh-caught mouse.
She was a genuine fire cat who loved riding on the fire engine, conversing with the firemen, and sleeping in her favorite horse’s harness. She was also quite beautiful, and drew much praise from the public and the press when she appeared in the National Cat Show at Madison Square Garden. According to the New York Press, the firemen adored Tootsy so much, they would have rather parted with their shields than lose their “white-fleeced feline fire fighter.”
Tootsy would have loved nothing more than responding to a real fire along with the firemen and the horses. She managed to do that, twice, despite the disapproval of her human overseers, when she was still a kitten. Read about Tootsy, the famous firefighting cat of Manhattan, at the Hatching Cat. -via Strange Company
