Paul Koudounaris’ beloved feline companion Baba is the narrator and model for his new book, A Cat’s Tale: A Journey Through Feline History. The book tackles the different events in our history, from ancient Egypt to the Enlightenment and the New World. While some history books focus only on the people that contributed to history, Koudounaris also shines the spotlight on the heroic, tragic, and heartwarming stories of cats! The Smithsonian has more details: 

A Cat’s Tale is one of dozens of books about the history of cats. But the richly illustrated volume stands out because it’s actually told through the voice of a cat. Baba acts not only as narrator but also Cindy Sherman-like impersonator, appearing throughout the book dressed as historic individuals and caricatures. Her voice and visage make Koudounaris’ take on the subject truly singular, mimicking oral storytelling more than an academic treatise. As Baba declares in the first chapter, “We cats have been allies to humankind for a very long time, and while you have reserved the sobriquet ‘man’s best friend’ for the dog, I may now provide you reasons to judge differently.” Letting Baba carry the book also allows Koudounaris to make a larger point about the subjectivity of history, including which stories get told and whose point of view and agenda they convey.

“Ostensibly, it’s a feline history book, but it’s also at its heart something more: a challenge to history as being a homo-centric monologue,” Koudounaris says. Underneath Baba’s narratorial sass and charm is “a plea to include other species that have been left out of history,” he adds. “We’re all in this together, and we’re all connected.”

Image via the Smithsonian

McDonald's is not exactly known for gourmet food, but most people will agree that their french fries are pretty good- for the five minutes it takes to eat them before they get cold. But they were once better. The McDonald brothers sold a thousand pounds of fries every day even before Ray Kroc turned their operation into a franchise. So what happened to the those extra-tasty McDonald's fries?

McDonald’s original french fries were cooked in beef tallow. For that fact, they were bullied out of production by a well-funded, well-intentioned businessman and self-proclaimed health advocate named Phil Sokolof, who unknowingly dethroned what many fans claim was the greatest french fry to ever meet mass production. “The french fries were very good,” [Julia] Child said in a 1995 interview, “and then the nutritionists got at them … and they’ve been limp ever since … I’m always very strong about criticizing them, hoping maybe they’ll change.”

Child never lived to see McDonald’s fries return to their former glory, and sadly, and there’s no indication they ever will. That’s why I set out on a quest to find the original recipe.

Luke Fater not only found what he believes to be the original recipe, he also cooked them to see if they were as good as he'd heard. See that and read the history of McDonald's french fries at Atlas Obscura.

The most common story of the history of Thanksgiving is the one we learn as children, either at school or from our parents. It's the short, simplified version: the Pilgrims sailed to Massachusetts for religious freedom, learned to grow crops from their native friend Squanto, and in November had a feast of turkey to thank God for a bountiful harvest. None of that is exactly accurate, but the nuances of history take some time and study to understand. UCLA historian Carla Pestana goes over some of the myths surrounding Thanksgiving, like the complicated idea of religious freedom.

There's also a narrative about religious freedom and persecution that we owe to Bradford, who says that the English king James I had harassed this little church out of England and they had to flee to the Netherlands, and that that church then came to settle Plymouth. It’s very compelling, but when they got to the Netherlands, they actually had perfect religious freedom. They don’t need to leave the Netherlands for religious freedom, and Bradford says as much; the idea that they go to America for religious freedom is just off.

I do think that in Plymouth they tended to be somewhat more tolerant of alternate religious views. Decades later when the Harvard president openly explains that he's a Baptist and has to leave Massachusetts, he goes to Plymouth. The first Quaker in Massachusetts who gets converted goes to Plymouth. I actually think that's one reason why Plymouth wins in the sweepstakes for becoming the most important founding moment in the region. They don't kill witches like Salem. They don't kill Quakers like Boston. Some of the worst things that people in the late 18th century were starting to be embarrassed about, about their ancestors, didn't happen in Plymouth.

Read more of what really happened to bring about our Thanksgiving holiday at Smithsonian.

This is Barnard 68, a dark absorption nebula found near the constellation Ophiucus. This molecular cloud absorbs practically all the visible light emitted by the stars near it, thus, the darkness.

It is not known exactly how molecular clouds like Barnard 68 form, but it is known that these clouds are themselves likely places for new stars to form. In fact, Barnard 68 itself has been found likely to collapse and form a new star system. It is possible to look right through the cloud in infrared light.

Cool!

(Image Credit: FORS Team, 8.2-meter VLT Antu, ESO)

Are cats really gods in our midst? I wouldn’t be surprised if the answer to my question is yes. And if that is the case, then it would only be fitting to serve these creatures and devote ourselves to them.

So why not take the next step with this cardboard Shinto shrine for cats, created by a Japanese cardboard company. From scratching pad and hiding spot to litter box cover, there are multiple ways to use the shrine to further your devotion.

The cardboard shrine was developed by Howay Industry, an Osaka-based manufacturer of cardboard and cardboard products. Unsure of how much demand there would be for a cardboard shinto shrine for cats, the company turned to crowdfunding site kibidango, where they quickly surpassed their goal of 500,000 yen (about $4800 usd) and have already raised three times the amount. The basic shrine is going for 4840 yen (about $46 usd).

It is only available in Japan, unfortunately, but talks are being made with the manufacturer.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Spoon & Tamago)

Name a more iconic duo. I’ll wait. pic.twitter.com/pxjLTKSxM9

— The Star Wars Underworld (@TheSWU) November 23, 2020

This week's new episode of The Mandalorian has the internet all abuzz, not because of anything in the plot as much as for the picture above, cropped from a promotional image released by Disney. To the left you see a person wearing jeans and a t-shirt! Who knew jeans were canon in the Star Wars universe? From the A.V. Club's review (which contains spoilers):

The Mandalorian had its Starbucks cup moment this week, as a crew member in a T-shirt and jeans appears on the left-hand side of a shot during the battle aboard the Imperial base. The gaffe even made it to the official still above, which I downloaded before this becomes a thing and Disney pulls it. (You can also see it at around 18:53 in the episode.)

And to show you how on top of things Ochre Jelly is, he's already recreated Jeans Guy in LEGO. He sent this image of a new LEGO set, and I had no idea what he was referring to ...so I looked it up. See more artwork in tribute to Jeans Guy at the A.V. Club.

Oddity Central introduces us to chả rươi, a popular street food in Vietnam. This omelet dish is high in protein because the principle ingredient is palolo sand worms (a species distinct from the sandworms of Arrakis). These marine segmented worms can be caught at sea or raised on farms. Then they are prepared into spicy dishes:

Before being added to the chả rươi omelet, the sand worms have to be boiled to remove their tentacles and fishy smell. The latter is also combatted by the zesty tangerine peel and all the herbs. Still, the taste of sand worm can be too much for some people, so over time a less hardcore version of chả rươi emerged, one which contains more pork than worms. But for true chả rươi fans, the original, more expensive version is the only real option.

In this video, the food vlogger Sonny Side travels to Hanoi and helps prepare a worm pancake. It looks good, but I prefer my gagh to still be wiggling.

Photo: Viethavvh

The early days of space flight were quite different. Rocket scientists would sometimes even pull practical jokes on their team, such as the time Gene Kranz convinced flight director Chris Kraft that an Atlas rocket had actually taken off during a flight simulation. But a 1991 incident put a stop to all that. One Thanksgiving morning, Lead Flight Director Milt Heflin was informed that a dormant Turkish satellite could possibly collide with the space shuttle in flight in 15 minutes.

There was no way for Heflin's engineers to calculate an avoidance maneuver, wake the crew, and communicate with them before the blackout period began. Heflin was livid—why had the Air Force not given more warning about a potential collision? Typically, they provided about 24 hours' notice. By God, if that satellite hit Atlantis, they could very well lose the astronauts as they slept. The crew of STS-44 might never awaken.

An experienced flight director who had started work at the space agency more than two decades earlier during the Apollo program, conducting oceanic recovery operations after the Moon landings, Heflin was largely unflappable. But now, he grew tense. "When I think about all of my time, I don't remember ever being so nervous or upset about something as I was then," he told Ars recently.

You can see the "Turkish satellite" in the picture above. But Heflin was too busy look at it, and the joke went so far as to stop all practical jokes at Mission Control forever. Read what happened at Ars Technica. -via Digg

(Image credit: Milt Heflin)

Every year, redditor lockstocks85 makes a custom menorah in preparation for Hanukkah. This year, a Batman action figure serves as the base. He jokes that he should make a dreidel out of Clayface.

Making a new and pun-inspired menorah is a tradition for lockstocks85. Last year, his project was the Menorcah in which, presumably, the whale oil lasts eight days.

I honestly didn't know this was a thing. That is, until I stumbled on this video discussing the lost McDonald’s DS Game. At first I thought that the video title was just clickbait. I was proven wrong! In 2010, McDonald’s Japan collaborated with Nintendo to create a brand new software program to train part-time McDonald’s employees. Watch to learn more about this odd collaboration that turns out to be one of the rarest Nintendo DS games of all time. 

Such a caring companion! A soldier at the Indianapolis airport decided to get some quick shut-eye, and one of the dogs in the group of soldiers he was with quickly protected him as he slept. As you can see in the photo, it’s both admirable and just downright adorable at the same time: 

However, it’s not always easy to nap in the airport. It’s bright, loud, and there’s always the fear that someone will steal our luggage. However, this soldier definitely did have to worry about that last point! One of the dogs in their group was quick to protect him while he slept.

The little battle buddy took their duties very seriously and went above and beyond to make sure that their friend was safe. That’s all that anyone can ask from a bodyguard. These dogs are trained to protect their humans at all times, at all costs, and this is very evident when you see the photo.

Image via The Animal Rescue Site

Don’t worry, it’s not a literal galaxy made up of fossils. Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University have discovered a fossil galaxy within the Milky Way. The galaxy, called Heracles, collided and merged with the Milky Way 10 billion years ago. If you’re not familiar with fossil galaxies, they are the remnants of a galaxy merging with another. New Atlas has the details: 

Heracles was discovered using near-infrared data gathered by APOGEE, which has recorded readings from over 500,000 stars in our galaxy. According to the LJMU team, the infrared band of the spectrum was necessary because the center of the Milky Way is loaded with dust, which obscures visible light. By looking at the chemical composition and velocities of the stars, the scientists were able to separate the native stars from the ones that made up Heracles when the two galaxies collided.

"To find a fossil galaxy like this one, we had to look at the detailed chemical makeup and motions of tens of thousands of stars," says Ricardo Schiavon. "That is especially hard to do for stars in the center of the Milky Way, because they are hidden from view by clouds of interstellar dust. APOGEE lets us pierce through that dust and see deeper into the heart of the Milky Way than ever before."

Image via New Atlas 

Ordinary heated gloves on the market can warm you up in certain conditions, but can they regulate the heat depending on the outside temperature? Can they distribute the heat equally to the fingers and joints? No? These smart-heated gloves by Quanta Vici prove what ordinary heated gloves on the market cannot. Vici’s smart app-controlled gloves and socks have a real-time thermostat: 

The smart app-controlled gloves and socks have a real-time heat regulation algorithm; generating a maximum heat of 131 Degrees Fahrenheit (depending on your preferred settings) for over 6.5 hours of operation on a single charge. The compression socks are designed to keep the feet from swelling and they also have an anti-blister cushion which is a good addition for long-duration use. Both these accessories are designed to be breathable, especially the gloves boasting thin and light material (anti-slippery grip texture) for dexterous tasks like operating your touchscreen phone or maybe playing the guitar. Yes, you can do that with the voice-controlled smart Quanta Vici gloves on!

Image via Yanko Design 

You don’t need to hire a babysitter at this rate if all cats are like this one! Joey Mansalugan’s cat Keanu took care of her 3-month-old baby Nyx! When she and her partner were out to buy supplies, her mother and 12-year-old daughter were tasked with looking after baby Nyx. Her eldest daughter shared photos of Keanu taking care of their baby when they arrived home. Honestly, the photos are just adorable! 

Image via Rappler 

CORRECTION 11/25/20: Arthur C. Clarke wrote the screenplay and the novel more or less simultaneously.

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The Stanley Kubrick film 2001 (and the Arthur C. Clark novels on which it was based) has a scene in which early hominids encounter an alien artifact dubbed a monolith. This encounter induces a leap forward in human evolution.

We are now at the cusp of a similar revolution. The crew of a helicopter for the Utah Department of Public Safety spotted a metallic monolith in a rural area. They landed to investigate. KSL TV News reports:

“One of the biologists is the one who spotted it and we just happened to fly directly over the top of it,” said pilot Bret Hutchings. “He was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, turn around, turn around!’ And I was like, ‘what.’ And he’s like, ‘There’s this thing back there – we’ve got to go look at it!’” [...]

“I’d say it’s probably between 10 and 12 feet-high,” Hutchings said. “We were kind of joking around that if one of us suddenly disappears, then the rest of us make a run for it.”

Hutchings said it didn’t look like it was dropped into the ground from above. It was firmly planted there.

The DPS employees took several photos and videos of this haunting encounter.

-via Gizmodo