This 1983 bus is up for auction. It sleeps six and has all the amenities you'll need for a vacation or a concert tour, like Prince's 1984 Purple Rain tour, for which it was custom-built. That should raise the price of a 37-year-old bus. 

Offered by Mecum out of Houston, the motorhome is in excellent condition, mostly due to the fact that it was only used privately once Prince was done with it and has been stored indoors. It features a master bedroom with a king-size bed, two bunk beds and one couch that converts into a double bed. There’s plenty of storage space, a bathroom with shower and toilet, kitchen with oven, sink and separate fridge and freezer, and office space with seating decked in quality leather.

Note that the auction site is hedging its bets on the provenance.

Purportedly designed and custom built for rock star Prince for his 1984 Purple Rain Tour
Please note that this vehicle's history was conveyed verbally and will not be offered with any supporting paperwork

But the evidence is there. The outside is purple. The inside, not so much, but not does have purple steps, a purple sink, and purple mood lighting. The motor coach will be auctioned off December 3-5. -via Nag on the Lake

SoyaCincau reports that Kentucky Fried Chicken has deployed driverless food trucks in Shanghai. These autonomous vehicles let people purchase KFC food without having contact with other people, thus reducing the spread of COVID-19:

The unmanned vehicles were spotted in front of a metro station outside the city of Shanghai. From the looks of it, you can place an order on the screen and it accepts payment via QR-code. After payment is made, the door will open for you to collect your order.

Neolix, a Chinese firm that manufactures the trucks, is one of several companies in that nation that are finding commercially viable uses for autonomous vehicles. Forbes reports:

Roads connecting two of western China's biggest cities — -Chengdu and Chongqing — offer good prospects for autonomous vehicle-related companies and technology. The 200-plus kilometer distance between the two is appealing for self-driving trucks given currently available technology, said Lou Yuqiang, a vice president at Suzhou Plusgo Auto Technology. The company supplies integration technology for self-driving trucks. 

Neolix, a supplier of mini delivery vehicles for food sales, patrols and delivery, sees promise in urban areas, particularly Chengdu and Chongqing, says vice president Xu Qiyuan. The company is currently working with global food giants such as KFC and Pizza Hut to provide a “restaurant’ on wheels” service.

-via Super Punch | Photo: @shanghaineko

The International Landscape Photographer of the Year competition awards prizes based not only one one photograph, but a portfolio of work submitted by photographers. The top winner this year is Kelvin Yuen of Hong Kong, who took the above photo titled Magical Night in Tromsø, Norway. You can see more of his work at Instagram. Check out the list of winning photographers here, and see a gallery of their images at the Atlantic.  -via Kottke

The Amori prefecture of northern Japan would like to draw attention to its vibrant fishing industry, so it published collectible trading cards starring muscle-bound fishermen holding up their catches. The government's goal is to attract more workers to fishing. Spoon & Tamago reports:

The cards have become a huge hit among the local community and beyond with kids trying to collect different cards while also vying for rare cards.

According to one article, the cards are entirely handmade by Noriaki Kimura, a 32-year old government employee who single-handedly goes around asking local fisherman for permission to take their photographs. He then brings the photos back to his office, designs the card, makes prints and then cuts them into trading card sizes.

Perhaps Neatorama should likewise publish and sell trading cards showing shirtless bloggers flexing their muscles.

Photos: Sankei

Quick- how many science dogs can you name? There's Laika, and, uh, maybe Balto, and...  Dogs have been involved in science for a long time, not only as experimental subjects, but also in the work that they do. In the case of a dog named Robot, he was just acting as dogs do, but made quite an important discovery.

The caves at Lascaux in southwestern France are famous for containing some of the most detailed and well-preserved examples of prehistoric art in the world. More than 600 paintings created by generations of early humans line the cave walls. But if it wasn’t for a white mutt named “Robot” who, by some accounts discovered the caves in 1940, we may not have known about the art until many years later. Marcel Ravidat, at the time an 18-year-old mechanic’s apprentice, was out walking with Robot when the dog apparently slipped down a foxhole. When Ravidat followed Robot’s muffled barks, he recovered more than just the dog—Robot had led him to one of the biggest archaeological finds of the 20th century.

That's a good dog. Read about other dogs who have been important to science at Smithsonian.

(Image credit: Pilleybianchi)

Surfing online always has its risks, so it’s comforting to know that there are apps that will try to keep you safe as you navigate through the Web. Mozilla has integrated a new security feature in its latest version of Firefox. Called HTTPS-Only Mode, the said feature will “make sure you’re always establishing secure connections to every website that you visit.”

When the new HTTPS-Only Mode is switched on, the browser will automatically connect to the HTTPS version of a page, even if you manually type HTTP in the address bar or click on a legacy HTTP link from search results. Further, Firefox will ask for your permission to load websites that aren’t encrypted via HTTPS in any way.

The browser will Firefox will display an error message that explains the security risks of connecting to a non-HTTPS website before you can click through to load it. In case a page has certain HTTP elements such as images that refuse to load in HTTPS-Only Mode, though, you can temporarily disable the feature by clicking on the lock icon next to the URL in the address bar. To switch the feature on for the first time, you’ll have to go to “Privacy & Security” in Preferences and choose “Enable HTTPS-Only Mode in all windows.”

Good to know!

(Image Credit: Mozilla/ Engadget)

It is normal for sour cream to smell sour because it is, well, sour. But while we humans can handle the smell, it seems that cats, or at least this one, cannot.

(Image Credit: ViralHog/ YouTube)

Tracey Collin did not expect to bring her 7-year-old dog Rosie back so soon to the salon. Just the day before, Rosie got treated to a £40 cut and blow dry.

But the following day while Tracey was sat relaxing in the living room, Rosie seized her opportunity to explore the kitchen bin for any leftovers.

It was only when...Tracey spotted her dog "looking like a Smurf" later on and found the discarded ink cartridge on the kitchen floor that she was able to piece together what her bichon frise had been up to.

Upon realizing what had happened, Tracey immediately called her husband Robert to ask him to bring Rosie back to the salon.

The salon welcomed back their regular client and were forced to shave off some of Rosie's fur to remove the blue dye, but her nails retained their new colour for weeks afterwards.

Rosie usually goes to the salon every six weeks.

Tracey, who also has a three-year-old poochon named Honey, says she's now purchased a new bin to stop it ever happening again.

(Image Credit: Kennedy News and Media)

Any item crafted from Lotus silk can cost ten times the price of products made from regular silk. That’s because Lotus silk is one of the rarest fabrics in the world. The natural fiber is only extracted by a few people, and extracting enough for one scarf can take up to two months! Watch as Business Insider explains about the rare and expensive fabric and how it is made. 

Emergency room doctors have noticed a trend in the last ten years or so of people coming in with grisly injuries to their non-dominant hand, often requiring delicate surgery to repair tendons, nerves, and pulleys. These injuries were incurred in the process of cutting an avocado, leading to the term "Avocado Hand."

The overwhelming majority of injuries occurred when attempting to remove the avocado's large, hard seed, called a "stone".

"All patients reported that they had pressed the knife tip down perpendicularly onto the avocado seed and that it slipped off it and plunged into their hand," the doctors wrote.

And the injuries were not at all minor.

Prevention is a matter of learning how to cut an avocado without cutting yourself. Along with a description of the injuries, there's a step-by-step tutorial on avocado preparation at Real Clear Science.

Maybe traveling down this road will be good just to be alone and indulge in your feelings. Alternatively, this road could be the next setting for sad music videos! Route 50 is called the ‘Loneliest Road in America’, although ‘loneliness’ is subjective, the way the route crosses mountain ranges, a national park, and some ghost towns, some say that traveling down Route 50 makes them feel sentimental, lonely, or contemplative. 

Image via National Geographic

The Celtic knot is an intricate motif that can be seen in tattoos, decorations, and jewelry. Actually, some of you might have seen a design based on the motif without knowing that it is a Celtic knot. Did you know there are different kinds of Celtic knots? My Modern Met writes about the history and meaning behind the different variations of the detailed motif. Check the full piece here. 

Image via My Modern Met 

The Craigslist ad explains that the owner of this couch in New York City bought it with her then-boyfriend, who is now an ex-boyfriend. The new boyfriend hates it, so the couch has to go.

That story is fake. What is real is the couch. Pavia Burroughs, the artist who made the couch in 2011 for a senior thesis, sold the couch years ago. Still, every now and then, she sees a fake ad offering it for sale. This latest ad is apparently one of those fake ads. Burroughs tells Curbed:

“Mind you, I hand-sewed this couch, it was my first foray in upholstering, and I hand-carved his hoof out of walnut — walnut is very hard to carve — and so it went off into the world. Now, every few years, someone posts a fake ad for the couch online,” a state of affairs that Burroughs finds both odd and funny. “I can’t imagine it’s actually been traveling around the country as much as it says it has. I’ve seen it in Tennessee. I think I saw it in California. I see now it’s in New York.” 

-via Dave Barry

If you and your friends want some elbow room for the holidays, then nothing suits your group better than renting a whole ski resort. Not only do you get a big lodge where you can spend some winter nights in, you also get an unlimited amount of snow for snowball fights.

Plus, in some cases, splitting the fee among a group may not cost you much more than a day ticket at a larger mountain. Not every resort offers this option, of course, but select ski areas—usually smaller hills that may close for a day or two during the week anyway—do allow full-resort buyouts for private groups midweek.

Outside Online shares with us their favorite hills for rent. They also inform us of the price range. Check them out over at the site.

(Image Credit: Beaver Mountain/ Outside Online)

The Toy Story franchise began in 1995 and became a spectacular hit with children and adults alike. Each time a new movie comes out, you feel like you've seen at all, only until the next movie comes out. Toy Story 4 premiered in 2019 and made more money than any of the three previous films, so you can bet there will be another eventually. Since Toy Story 4 is now streaming on Disney+, Screen Junkies figured it was time for an Honest Trailer.