Although not native to the new World, sugarcane had a big hand in its history, from the slave trade to the rise in diabetes. It is grown mostly in Brazil and the Caribbean, but also in parts of America's Deep South, where sugar is a deeply-rooted part of the culture, despite the misery of the crop's development.

Sugarcane and its derivatives would become foundational for Southern culture. It’s in the pecan pie and the gâteau de sirop and the corn pone. Poured on biscuits. Some fools — what the hell are they thinking — even put sugar in their grits. Women are expected to be sweet. So is the tea. William Faulkner praised drinking whiskey “cold as molasses” in Light in August and dissolved a teaspoon of sugar in rainwater from a cistern for his own toddy. Otherwise, he wrote, it “lies in a little intact swirl like sand at the bottom of the glass.” A Southern-born conspiracy theorist named Robert Henry Winborne Welch, Jr. invented Sugar Daddies and Sugar Babies. (He also founded the John Birch Society.) Fullback Bobby Grier first broke the collegiate football color barrier during the Southeastern Conference’s Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2, 1956, when he took to the field for the University of Pittsburgh Panthers against Georgia Tech’s Yellow Jackets. Ella Fitzgerald sang “Sugar Blues” in 1939; Bob Wills of The Texas Playboys wrote “Sugar Moon” in 1947. Over three long days in 1969, the same year my great-aunt demanded filial kisses from me, The Rolling Stones holed up at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, in Sheffield, Alabama, where they recorded “Brown Sugar.” Those stark lyrics by Mick Jagger played on tight rotation last month as I snaked beside the Mississippi on River Road, heading west from New Orleans as the annual sugarcane harvest got underway.

In lovely prose, Shane Mitchell tells us about sugarcane: its history, how it's harvested and processed, the state of the industry, and its legacy at The Bitter Southerner. -via Metafilter

(Image credit: Sheila1988)

Partners rarely address each other by their first names. Usually, when one of them does that, it means he/she is angry with the other. When this woman decided to call her husband by his first name and asked him to give her a drink, his reaction was that of fear.

“What did you call me?” the surprised husband asked.

“David?” the wife answered.

“Am I in trouble? Was it today?” he asked again, then immediately looked at the calendar.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: PoloBoiBoi/ YouTube)

Meet Georgia Tann. She was a social worker who arranged adoptions in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. She was very successful in placing Memphis orphans with wealthy couples in California and elsewhere, where she could charge 100 times the previous going rate for her services. Tann grew rather rich and made friends among the powerful movers and shakers of Memphis, and so was a respected member of the city's elite. Meanwhile,

From 1924 all the way until 1950, terror stalked the streets of Memphis. Children vanished from porches and playgrounds. Babies were taken right from their cribs. Kids went to the hospital for a routine checkup and all that came back was a death certificate. The city had the highest infant mortality rate in the country, for no reason anyone seemed able to explain. In a horror movie, this would end with a band of plucky kids defeating a guy with a crow mask and a chainsaw for a hand. In reality, the mayhem was all the work of an eminently respectable society lady named Georgia Tann, who ran the Tennessee Children's Home Society.

Tann made a profit from most of the children in her care, but those who were judged less adoptable were neglected, mistreated, and abused. Many of them died. Read the story of Georgia Tann and her long reign of terror at Cracked.

(Image credit: The Commercial Appeal)

A man with a rooster head piggybacks his son whose head is that of a chick’s. A woman with a parakeet’s head does yoga. These are just some of the creations of Alessandro Gallo, which are included in Intersect Chicago 2020, an art fair which will run through December 5.

Based in Helena, Montana, the Italian artist likens the animalistic features to a mask or caricature. “I combine it with the silent language of our body and the cultural codes of what we wear in order to portray not only a specific individual, but also the larger groups and subcultures they belong to and, ultimately, the common habitat we all share,” he says.

Check out the anthropomorphic sculptures over at Colossal.

(Image Credit: Alessandro Gallo/ Colossal)

Do you know Mr. Snuffleupagus? If you grew up watching Sesame Street, you'd know the answer right away -- He's Big Bird's "mysterious friend" who shows up at the wrong time!

Here's now he was introduced to the show:

Lacking a watering pot, Big Bird was delighted to see the massive, lumbering creature use his trunk to tend to his garden. The two became fast friends.

Despite the unbelief of the whole cast, Big Bird kept on talking about him. Eventually, people got curious Big Bird's friend is imaginary or not.

Martin P. Robinson (via Still Gaming: Lee & Zee Show Podcast, 2009): He was never imaginary. I say that a lot. And I say it with great strength of conviction. He was my character, he was never imaginary; he just had bad timing. He was shy, he had bad timing, and the joke was, he’s big, you can’t miss him, but adults being the way they are—preoccupied, going to work, you know—they miss those little details. And Snuffleupagus just happened to be one of those little details that they kept missing year after year after year. So he was a good, real friend to Bird; it’s just that no one else ever took the time to actually meet him.

This was like a joke that went on for a time, up until the issue of child abuse at home and in daycare center rose up and the actors desired to play off a new dynamic:

If Big Bird—ostensibly the show’s stand-in for the 6-year-old viewing audience—was being brushed aside when trying to convince people Snuffleupagus was real, there was the chance children might not be convinced adults would believe them if they came forward with more troubling claims.

Stiles: We started getting some letters from people who worked with children who had experienced some kind of abuse, and what we were told was that they often don’t think they’ll be believed because the stories are so fantastic in their minds.

That pushed the crew to look to experts in childhood development, asking, "What’s the best way to address what we want to address?"

That’s the model Sesame was founded on, with writers, producers, educators, and researchers all working together.

Read more how the story went on at Mental Floss.

Image Credit: Sesame Workshop

Image Credit: Sesame Workshop

If it's your first time to make turkey this Thanksgiving, you might be wondering how many hours must you wait for your turkey to thaw. Good for you, you don't have to wonder anymore! Just visit this brilliant website by Omni Calculator where you can also find more calculators for various things including Chemistry Calculators, Everyday Life Calculators, Finance Calculators, Food Calculators, and many more.

The Omni Calculator website is home to calculators that can determine many things, including how long you can be in the sun safely, to the odds of your town having a white Christmas. It now has a dedicated tool for finding how long it will take you to prep your turkey in time for a socially distanced holiday. The Turkey Thawing Calculator was created by Jagiellonian University cognitive science graduate Maria Kluziak with the help of Wojciech Sas, a Ph.D. candidate in molecular magnetism and nanostructures at the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Poland.

The fundamental problem is that you need to add heat to the frozen bird to unfreeze it without also encouraging the growth of bacteria. To do this, you have to put the turkey somewhere where it will heat up slowly and evenly. There is a trick, though; this can take a long time because of the amount of energy involved. Exactly how long you need to spend on it can be hard to determine if you've never done it before.

This is where practical, day-to-day science comes in. The processes of heating something are well-studied areas of thermodynamics which we use every day.

This is where practical, day-to-day science comes in. The processes of heating something are well-studied areas of thermodynamics which we use every day.

Read more at Big Think to know how they compute everything!

Image Credit: RODNAE Productions from Pexels

"Video Games" is a nostalgic and bittersweet song from the album Mixtape for the Milky Way by jeremy messersmith. The papercraft video was animated by fellow video game fan Eric Power.

Working on this video was a true joy. I've been playing video games since the mid 80's when I first got a hold of an Atari. Since then, they have been a part of many cherished memories with friends as well as solo adventures. When we were talking about the making of this video, I asked jeremy if we should make up our own games or straight up feature the ones we grew up with. We decided to just go for it and each made lists of some of our favorites. This proved to be a very difficult curation, as my intention was not just to show a random selection of games, but to also choose moments within those games that had a particular significance to us while also going hand in hand with the song. I hope you all enjoy!

-via Metafilter

We've seen Dior's A/W 2020-2021 Haute Couture Collection through an exclusive film directed by Matteo Garrone. Now, Moschino has gone creative by sending puppets down the runway for Milan Fashion Week.

Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott has enlisted the help of Jim Henson's Creature Shop to create his Spring-Summer 2021 show on a miniature set populated entirely by marionettes.

Watching the video revealed the effort that went into in creating the garments, in shooting the video, and in creating the puppets -not just of the models but also of the guests. The details are so intricate that there are parts where the guests are whispering to one another, taking down notes, and even moving their heads. The "guests" were based on actual people who would've gone to a face-to-face show.

Some viewers on Youtube left comments saying that "selling the puppets with the designs would be pretty awesome too" and some are asking for a behind-the-scene video. One also said that it's like, "getting a glimpse of a child's imagination" because that's what her 6-year-old-self had in mind when she used to play with her dolls, pretending that they're in a fashion show.

Being in the garment industry, I'd say that sewing smaller garments are even harder than the regular-sized ones! How about you? What are your thoughts on Moschino's show?

Video from Moschino's Youtube Channel

Fifty-four years before Marilyn Monroe starred in The Seven Year Itch, the same scene of a white dress being blown by an updraft from a sidewalk vent was shown to theater patrons. The 1901 movie was called What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City, and it was all of 77 seconds long. The film was presented as a slice of life, but it was scripted, and starred Florence Georgie and A.C. Abadie. The surviving film was in pretty bad condition. This copy has been restored and modernized by artificial intelligence.

1. Removed noise artifacts and stabilized original print.
2. Increased frame interpolation from 15 fps to 60 fps, using AI neural networks.
3. Increased to 4K resolution using AI upscaling.
4. Added color using Deoldify, a deep learning AI process.

Oh yeah, they added a bit of sound, too. The result is altogether charming. -via Nag on the Lake

You might have heard of man-made lakes such as the Lake Zakher in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, as well as the Dhebar Lake in India. But have you ever heard of a man-made waterfall? If you haven’t, then this will be the first time you hear of one. These are the Falls of Shin, a waterfall located on the River Shin, near the villages of Bonar Bridge and Lairg, Scotland.

They were designed when the area was dynamited to improve access during the summer months for spawning salmon returning from the ocean. There is a viewing platform at the side of the river, which is a great place to watch salmon leap past the rapids. 

The nearby visitor center has a wealth of information about the life cycle of salmon and what makes these fish so special. It provides an interesting read for visitors before venturing to the falls. 

Cool!

(Image Credit: KATIELOU106/ Atlas Obscura)

By now, you probably have started thinking about the best thing that you can give to your dog. You probably already have one thing in mind. But it’s fine if you haven’t decided yet. You still have time to think about what to give your dog on Christmas Eve. And if you’re having a hard time deciding your gift for your doggo, you might want to consider checking the recommended gifts that The Dodo has listed  at their site.

(Image Credit: jwvein/ Pixabay)

Let’s get real, minimalistic furniture and housewares never get old. Well, unless you’re not a fan of minimalism, then maybe those kinds of housewares will be tiring to look at. However, if you’re like me, a big fan of simple and minimalistic items, this new tableware line will pique your interest: 

The Monoware launch collection features dining staples such as plates, bowls and mugs, as well as serving platters and pitchers, with reduced silhouettes and a palette of earthy tones, from chalk to slate. The debut pieces were created in collaboration with ceramicist Ian McIntyre. ‘What appealed to me in Ian’s work is the way he mixes industrial design and traditional craft skills,’ explains Baer, who was particularly attracted by the ceramicist’s extensive experience with stoneware. The plates’ design was carefully considered, and each piece was crafted in high-quality materials (’We’ve perfected the plates, so you can bring the party’, reads Baer’s mission statement.)

Image via Wallpaper 

Sometimes you want to spice up your Instagram account with an artsy-looking photo. There are applications that let you edit your photos, and the results can be quite overwhelming. Not to mention it’s gonna take a long time to pick the editor that you can trust. Lightstalking recommends some highly-rated photo editors (with some of them able to turn photos into beautiful digital paintings). 

Image via Light Stalking 

Some of us have used VPNs (Virtual Private Networks)  when travelling abroad to access Netflix shows that aren’t available in the place they were visiting, and some are using them to access shows that are not available in their home. However, VPNs are also used to stay safe when using  public Wi-Fi networks. If you don’t want to pay for a proper VPN, then you can always set up your own. Corbin Davenport shares how to make your personal VPN. Check the full piece here! 

Image via Android Police

When pandemic restrictions limited visitors to the nursing home, the staff at Wikwemikong Nursing Home in Ontario went into high gear to relieve the boredom. Recreation manager Emily Barnes tells us about their recent deer hunt, in which workers became deer roaming through the trees.

Each week, Barnes and her team strives to have a full calendar of activities for residents, who are primarily First Nations from Manitoulin Island. This past week included a deer hunting activity after one of the residents said he was experiencing hunting fever. That meant setting up a mini-forest of Christmas trees, staff dressing up in deer costumes, and residents wielding nerf guns.

"He was saying how much he missed being an avid hunter every year, and this year was kind of hard because he felt like he was truly missing out on something important," said Barnes.

"It was so much fun. I'm sure a few might have enjoyed shooting me a little more than they should have. But, it was a really great time."

While it was all tongue-in-cheek, the hunt brought laughter and a bit of competitiveness to the residents. You can see more pictures here.  -via reddit

(Image credit: Wikwemikong Nursing Home at Facebook)