No words. Okay, maybe one: why? Marcus Monroe has been slammed after a video of cooking a steak in a Delta plane lavatory went viral. Don’t worry though, this one is apparently fake. The New York prankster pretended to use canned heat (powered by smokeless ethanol gel) within the toilet bowl. This isn’t the first time Munroe came under fire for his pranks. He has been previously slammed for cutting a woman’s hair while sleeping (which was also fake).
Image via Sam Chui
Well, if we can’t travel for the holidays, we can safely browse through the Internet and live vicariously through photos of holiday destinations on the Internet. Mirror UK takes a look at the world’s six most festive hotels and suites to have on our radars. Well, it’s not like we can visit right now, but there’s no harm in looking, right? Check how these hotels transform their suites with tributes to everything from the Christmas film Elf to chocolate treats, epic events, and even an on-site train decked out in lights. The effort!
Image via Mirror UK
Are you looking at yoga as your next indoor activity? If you are, heads up! Yoga isn’t just about whether or not you can become more flexible, but it’s the process of building awareness and using that awareness to make decisions that help you find health and happiness. Sounds too optimistic, I know. Some of us look at yoga and label it as a flexibility boot camp, but there’s a certain limit to flexibility for each one of us. Check Yoga Journal’s guide on yoga and flexibility before you start on your first yoga session.
Image via Yoga Journal
Meet Shiloh. Of all the staff that work on the Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, Shiloh probably has the most tiresome job. As a “Justice Volunteer”, Shiloh’s job is to greet, as well as check up on everyone. In return for doing his wonderful job, Shiloh gets “free treats for life, room & board, meal plan, grooming, and unlimited cuddles and smiles from health workers” at the hospital.
“It’s SO good for mental health of patients & staff. It’s a wonder more hospitals don’t have them,” a user commented. “Whatever he’s being paid, it isn’t nearly enough. That is some seriously valuable work!” another user added. “12/10 would promote immediately,” another one commented.
Now that’s a really tough job.
(Image Credit: ShariDunawayMD/ Bored Panda)
A rare whale skeleton was discovered earlier this month some 12 kilometers (about 7.46 miles) from the coast just to the west of Bangkok. The skeleton, which is 12 meters (about 39.4 feet) long, is believed to be about 3,000-5,000 years old. Surprisingly, the whale skeleton is almost perfectly preserved.
Experts hope the find might provide "a window into the past," especially for research on sea levels and biodiversity.
The partially fossilised bones are "a rare find," mammal researcher Marcus Chua of the National University of Singapore told the BBC.
"There are few whale subfossils in Asia," he said, and even fewer ones are "in such good condition".
Pictures shared by Thailand's environment minister Varawut Silpa-archa show the bones apparently almost entirely intact.
[...]
Mr Chua says the discovery will allow researchers to find out more about the particular species in the past, whether there were any differences compared to today's Bryde's whales.
Cool!
(Image Credit: Top Varawut/ Facebook)
There has been much debate whether instant ramen is healthy or not. But it doesn’t matter which side you are on in that debate when it comes to this ramen; you’ll still agree that this particular one is healthy. A bowl of this Kimchi Ramen by Meisei has 40 billion lactic acid bacteria, which is the equivalent amount of bacteria to 40 cups of yogurt, or a bottle of Yakult 400. One of the staff from SoraNews 24, P.K Sanjun, decided to try this ramen.
P.K. was intrigued at what such a bacteria-ridden ramen might taste like, so he happily paid the 230 yen (US$2.20) price of admission and started boiling some water. The contents were underwhelmingly similar to a regular instant noodle kit with dried noodles, toppings, and sauces. No pulsating packages of 40 billion bacteria, or anything to even suggest such.
Even while eating, there was nothing outstandingly different about this ramen. It was tasty, but well in the neighborhood of other instant ramens. P.K. had thought that for sure the lactic acid bacteria would have given it a milkier taste or texture, but nothing out of the ordinary could be detected.
What are your thoughts about this one?
(Image Credit: SoraNews24)
It is said that if you want to get your money’s worth for the video game that you bought, you have to, at the very least, finish the game. But for Kellen Beck, it’s okay to not finish a game. Beck from Mashable writes:
Even if you like it, even if you really want to finish it, it’s OK that you haven’t. It doesn’t make you a failure.
Video games are meant to be entertainment. If a game doesn’t suit your mood, drop it and try again another time. If a game is too difficult, give it a rest for a week, a month, or even a year. If a game bores you, drop it forever.
If you finish one, great! If you get halfway through, or even 90 percent of the way there and stop, also great! Chance are you paid for it, and it’s your choice to do whatever you want with it.
And to that sentiment, I agree. But how about you?
(Image Credit: TheXomil/ Pixabay)
If you want the energy boost that coffee gives you without the bitter taste, a simple trick might just help you in that endeavor. Sprinkle in some salt. Okay, okay, before you all come at me for this trick, it has scientific backing. A 1997 study found that ‘salt was more effective in decreasing the awareness of the bitter compound than the sweet sugar solution.’ Adding a grain or two of salt in your coffee can suppress the taste receptors in our tongue that alert our brain to its bitterness:
“Our ability to taste has an association with our survival as a species: bitter signals that something is likely poisonous and we are averse to too much of it,” she says. “The thought is that salt binds to the taste receptors and blocks the bitter compounds from binding to the bitter taste receptors.” Suppressing that signal also allows you to better taste and enjoy the other flavors associated with coffee.
When you’re using salt in your coffee to block out the bitterness, the key is finding the right balance for your palate. Bryson Jackson says you can do this by starting small and working your way up. Start by adding a little salt into your cup, stirring it, then tasting. If the bitterness isn’t quite gone, continue the process until it fades. Or, take your kitchen science experiment to the next level.
Image via wikimedia commons
No, this isn’t the game show. It’s an actual family feud. A divorce battle over a whopping £453m fortune will be discussed over in a London court. Tatiana Akhmedova will accuse her ex-husband, Farkhad Akhmedov, an oligarch and ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and their son Temur Akhmedov of hiding hundreds of millions in assets just to not give her the settlement awarded by the high court in 2016. For perspective, the things that are included in the fortune are several luxury mansions, a superyacht, a helicopter, a private jet, and an art collection:
Akhmedova alleges that her Azerbaijani-born Russian husband transferred cash and assets to their son in order to avoid paying her the money. They deny the claims and say she was aware of the father-to-son gifts, which included a £30m apartment in One Hyde Park, the exclusive London development, at the time. On Monday she will take her son to the high court accusing him of acting “as his father’s lieutenant” in a scheme to hide the fortune.
In her quest to uncover the award Akhmedova has in the past two weeks won court orders to raid her son’s luxury apartment in the opulent Knightsbridge development to search for evidence, and to force Google to hand over the contents of his emails.
Speaking publicly for the first time her son, Temur, 27, said that no matter what happens in court he would “never be reconciled with her” because “her outrageous, revengeful behaviour” has destroyed their once close relationship.
Temur said of the 10-hour search of his apartment: “I sent her [his mother] a text [during the raid] I said ‘why the fuck are you doing this?’”
The search of flat and associated wine cellar led to the seizure of 58 devices, 47 of which were said to belong to Temur. He said the devices included four Xboxes and a PlayStation console.
Image via the Guardian
Alabama residents got a rare glimpse of one of the world’s largest creatures. The mysterious giant of the gulf, the sperm whale, has graced its presence upon the humans. Just kidding! A sperm whale was spotted in Mobile Bay, Alabama for the very first time. The hype that comes with the rare sight is because there is still a lot that we don’t know about these whales:
Its scientific name (Physeter macrocephalus) roughly translates to “blower with a huge head,” and it is believed to have the largest brain of any mammal, both in sheer size and in proportion to the rest of its body. Male sperm whales’ heads can make up about a third of their total body length.
Full-grown males average 49 feet in length and historically some have been reported to reach 66 feet or more in length, though scientists believe sperm whales that large are rare. Females average around 35 feet, roughly the size of the whale that stranded in Mobile Bay.
There is a population that seems to live exclusively in the Gulf of Mexico, though its size is largely unknown.
Image via Al.com
Maru and Hana (previously at Neatorama) have a new kitten! Miri the young calico was rescued from a roadside gutter (what we would call a ditch) and brought to mugumogu for adoption. Miri is settling in just fine, and will soon find out what it's like to go from the gutter to internet stardom.
In Miri's first video, she starts out shy and reticent, then eats, and finally becomes comfortable enough to chase her own tail and play with her new mama's finger. Maru, now 13 years old, is as inscrutable as ever when meeting the new family member, but he does have something to say about her. It isn't long before Maru begins to teach Miri the ins and outs of their perfect cat-centric home, as you see in the above video. -via Metafilter
A couple of months ago, the Coca-Cola company announced it was dropping quite a few of its niche products, including Tab. You may have reacted the way I did, with surprise that Tab was still being produced in 2020. Introduced in 1963, it was not the first diet soda, but became the best-known. Earlier diet sodas were developed for diabetics, but exposed a market for low-calorie soda for dieters. Coca-Cola decided to dip into that pool, albeit gingerly.
For the name, Coke executives had one directive: Even though its taste was engineered to mimic Coke’s, it couldn’t be called Diet Coke. Because most early diet sodas didn’t taste that great, strategists warned against associating their brands with drinks that might taint their tremendous value.
So an early IBM mainframe computer generated more than 600 candidates with the parameters that the name be three or four letters and not offensive in any foreign language.
Tabb, which was eventually shortened to Tab, eventually won the battle of market testing. Stylized as “TaB,” it was introduced to the world in a series of ads with the tagline “How can just one calorie taste so good?”
Tab became the best-selling diet soda of the 1970s and '80s. Read the story of the diet soda that held on for 57 years, and what killed it, at The Conversation. -via Digg
(Image credit: Jerry "Woody")
The 1988 film Die Hard was planned as a summer blockbuster, and indeed was released in July. However, because it begins with a Christmas party, it has become known as a Christmas movie, explosions and all. How much do you know about Die Hard? It's time for some movie trivia!
You'll know a lot more about Die Hard after reading a list of pictofacts at Cracked.
I don’t know about you but I usually feel happy when I buy something. It’s like a sense of accomplishment, being able to purchase something with your own money. But too much shopping can get on our bank accounts, and if we hoard too many items, it’s just not gonna be good for our home, really. Thanks to the Internet, social media, and thousands of marketing stunts, we have been sold the narrative that the more stuff we own, the happier we will be. But now, the narrative is shifting, people are looking at what they actually want and need:
So will owning less truly make you happier? In the research paper turned book, The High Price of Materialism, Tim Kasser offers a scientific exploration of our culture of consumerism, finding that people who consider material belongings and assets important are less satisfied overall than those who don't. Happily, the digitalisation of our daily lives has enabled more sustainable movements to flourish: from low waste to slow fashion to the sharing economy (renting a dreamy dress for a special event is now as normal as the way we used to view shopping new), 'less is more' has never felt truer.
That being said, it can be hard to change your actions and divorce yourself from societally conditioned ideas about consumerism, particularly when fast fashion tends to be more size-inclusive than luxury and more affordable than sustainable brands.
Image via wikimedia commons
Art lovers, rejoice! You can now attend art fairs from the comfort of your home! Well, some art fairs, at least. This year’s Miami Art Fair will almost be entirely held online. Virtual showrooms will be made available for viewing, and enthusiasts can zoom in as much as they want on the artworks (yes, no one will stop you from coming closer to an artwork anymore). There are still some exceptions, as Miami Herald details:
Design Miami/ is bringing a hybrid event to the venue where the fair launched in 2005: the Design District’s Moore building. From Nov. 27 through Dec. 6 the design fair will set up shop inside the building with more than 139 pieces — including 57 works shown as part of the exhibition Podium, which explores the theme “America(s).“ Pieces range from historic artifacts to contemporary ceramics inspired by artist Isaac Scott’s photographs of Black Lives Matter protests in Philadelphia. The Liberty City Roots Collective will screen-print T-shirts on site in partnership with Emmett Moore and 4WorthDoing, and designs from more than 50 contributors including designer Virgil Abloh.
Timed tickets are required for the exhibition and cost $22.50. All works shown within the fair will also be displayed online. But the fair will be complemented by a series of free pop-up shows and satellite exhibitions scattered throughout the 18 blocks that span the open-air neighborhood. Guests will be treated to immersive exhibits including a rooftop lounge designed by Takashi Murakami.
Image via the Miami Herald
