When humans learned to twist natural fibers together to make string or rope, it opened up a new world of useful inventions, from animal traps to clothing to sailboats. But natural fibers tend to decompose, and the oldest rope found, in a French Neanderthal cave, dates back only to around 50,000 years ago. But while we cannot yet pinpoint who invented rope, archaeologists in Israel have found evidence that manmade string existed more than 120,000 years ago. It comes from seashells found in Qafzeh Cave near Nazareth that had been populated by humans that long ago.

The shells, some of which had been painted with red ochre, belonged to the species Glycymeris nummaria, a bivalve mollusk common throughout the Mediterranean and the northeastern Atlantic. What was particularly interesting was that the people of Qafzeh, which is 40 kilometers from the sea, had purposely brought back to the cave only naturally perforated clams – that is, shells that had developed a hole due to erosion from the sand and sea.

The researchers also compared the finds to shells unearthed at Misliya Cave, a site on Israel’s northern coast that was inhabited much earlier than Qafzeh, between 240,000 and 160,000 years ago. There archaeologists had also found a small cache of Glycymeris – but in this case the shells were whole.

The study notes that if you take a walk on a beach, about 40 percent of the Glycymeris you come across will be naturally perforated, meaning that both the Misliya and Qafzeh shells were selected deliberately, not randomly. But why? The difference only made sense if the shells at Qafzeh were intended to be strung up, Bar-Yosef Mayer suspected, but the evidence just wasn’t there.

Without the string, it was difficult to say that the shells were tied, but a team led by archaeologist Daniella Bar-Yosef Mayer of Tel Aviv University conducted an experiment to find more clues. Read what they did to determine whether the shells were actually jewelry at Haaretz. -via Strange Company

(Image credit: Iris Groman-Yaroslavski)

If you want to always get a cat’s attention, whenever and wherever you are, then consider learning the German language, and the cat is sure to stop in its tracks and have its attention on you, just like what this guy did.

Just kidding! What he just said wasn’t really German. It was just gibberish. But hey, it still works, so why not try it?

(Image Credit: Nennieinszweidrei/ Pixabay)

(Video Credit: g.catt.eng via Surya Pratama/ YouTube)

Starcraft II. Chess. Go. These are just some of the games that got taken over by AI. Professional gamers and players have been mercilessly beaten by a machine in these games. But there’s still a game that the AI hasn’t mastered yet, and that game could be considered as the most human game of all games in the face of the earth: poker.

While it is true that AI has advanced over the years and is capable of beating professional players in poker, the AI still has lots of room for improvement.

…there’s still much it can’t do: play more opponents, play live, or win every time.

Aside from these things, the AI should also factor in the facial expressions of a player, and then try to identify if he is bluffing or not… and, unfortunately, the AI is not great at doing these things. At least, not yet.

To summarize, “there’s more humanity in poker than [AI] has yet conquered”.

Know more about the story over at Undark.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: flipchip/ LasVegasVegas.com/ Wikimedia Commons)

Here's a really cool but very short video of a gold man dancing. It's actually Fernando Livschitz of Black Sheep Films, and it's not computer generated. After the stop-motion dance sequence, he quickly shows us how he did it, which is just as interesting. -via Colossal

You know maraschino cherries as a bright red garnish for cocktails, ice cream sundaes, and pineapple upside-down cake. There's probably a jar that's been in your refrigerator for years. Maraschinos don't resemble fresh cherries much, in either appearance or taste. So where did they come from, and how did they become a thing? In the early 1800s, the cherry-producing Luxardo family in Italy began to preserve cherries in alcohol. They were the original maraschino cherries, and they became quite popular with the rise of cocktail culture in the latter years of the 19th century. And with popularity, they spread to other manufacturers and evolved with the times.  

Yet it’s also notable that the maraschino cherry’s turn-of-the-century ascendancy also coincided with the wider vogue for lab-made dyes, flavorings and additives that flourished in the pre-FDA era. (Relevant: This was also a time when, at the behest of nervous dairy farmers, margarine had to literally be dyed pink in some states to broadcast the fact it wasn’t butter.) “For many years, I’ve asked audiences at tasting events what maraschino cherries, grenadine and sloe gin have in common,” says Brown. “And the answer, of course, is nothing. Nothing! And yet, go back to my childhood and they were all the same color and flavor because they came from the same lab.”

With Prohibition, the recipe had to change again, which meant maraschino cherries veered even further from nature. Read a history of maraschino cherries, and learn what's in them, at Mel magazine.

(Image credit: Véronique PAGNIER) 

Plaza Minorista is a market that sits in the heart of Medellín, Colombia. Fifteen thousand people flock to the market where three thousand vendors sell their goods. Since a crowded area like Minorista is a possible hotspot where the virus can spread, director Edison Palacio decided to use artificial intelligence to aid in their fight against the pandemic: 

Mr Palacio explains how they use facial recognition software connected to cameras at the entrances and to security cameras around the building to collect data on the vendors and market-dwellers. Among the data they collect is their age range, gender, and if the person is wearing their mask correctly in order to assess risks and more vulnerable demographics.

Thermal cameras can take the temperature of 200 people per minute, he says. If someone has a high temperature or wears their mask incorrectly, an alarm will go off and alert market security.

image via BBC

The question is: how do people in jail get to post videos of themselves dancing to the latest TikTok craze when no cellphones are allowed? It’s all thanks to contraband phones. Prison TikTok is an actual hashtag that lets TikTok users view videos shared on the app by people who are incarcerated, as Vox detailed: 

The content depicted on prison TikTok varies; some videos show terrible living conditions inside US prisons, like overcrowding and flooding, whereas others depict people in prison uniforms doing renditions of trending TikTok dances.

But what’s surprising about prison TikTok isn’t that people who are incarcerated appreciate great choreography, just like anyone else. Rather, it’s that folks in prison have access to smartphones at all.

Cellphones are not allowed in American prisons. And people who are found with contraband in their possession can get hit with serious penalties.

“You can get charged with a misdemeanor or a felony depending on what jurisdiction you’re in,” said Nazgol Ghandnoosh, a senior research analyst at the Sentencing Project. “And at the very least, you’re going to lose good time credits or harm your chances of parole.”

So why would anyone run the risk of posting on TikTok or calling a family member using a contraband cellphone?

For Khan, having a cellphone while in prison, even for a short time, was a way to mend his relationship with his mother. It allowed him to have real emotional conversations with his family without being monitored by corrections officers and without having to deal with a 15-minute time limit or the large fees that typically come with using a prison landline.

image via Vox

You’ve seen those hilarious and attention-grabbing mascots that dance and wiggle around every basketball game. Teams invest time, money, energy, and effort to establish these mascots that make viewers wonder why they represent their favorite basketball team. The NBA also puts a lot into entertainment, and hiring mascots is one of the things they pay attention to as well: 

“The NBA does a lot of great things,” said Trey Mock, who performs as Blue, the mascot of the Indianapolis Colts. “That league puts a lot into entertainment. I’m not trying to compare one league to another, but they have been plugging millions and millions of dollars into the entertainment side of the operation for a long time.”

Case in point: The Colts hired Mock in 2006 to be the team’s primary performer and to build a mascot from scratch. He drew Blue on his parents’ dining room table.

“They understand the mascot’s value and they care,” Raymond said of the NBA. “They support it both from a financial and a marketing perspective. They recognize its power and how to leverage it.”

Not only do mascots cultivate the next generation of fans, they also generate millions of dollars in revenue for their teams. When Gritty, the mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers, exploded onto the scene in 2018, online publicity of the googly-eyed orange creature was valued at $151.3 million in just its first 30 days. And then there’s Benny, the mascot of the Chicago Bulls. “Benny’s popularity at games is proven in his merchandise sales, which are among the top 10 items sold in the team store,” said Michelle Harris, Chicago Bulls senior director of entertainment and events, in 2016.

“Mascots were somewhat of a precursor to selling your branded logos in all kinds of different colors, all kinds of hues that you never would’ve seen otherwise,” Raymond said, pointing to the rise of St. Patrick’s Day-themed retail specific to mascots. “It’s been a revolution in sports marketing.”

Mascot salaries are beginning to reflect that return on investment.

One current NBA mascot performer — who, like other working mascots, talked to us on the condition of anonymity — said he first learned of the pay disparity among leagues at a summer camp. “Hockey, baseball and football do a decent job of compensating mascots in the $30,000-to-$50,000 range,” the mascot said. “But the NBA is this whole other world.”

image via FiveThirtyEight

Spotted something odd on my run through the park tonight and ... I guess I have good news and bad news pic.twitter.com/kPQ8goygfW

— Jeremy Yoder 🌱📈🏳️‍🌈🖖🏻 (@JBYoder) July 18, 2020

Every now and then, I'll randomly say out loud "Computer, deactivate holodeck program."

You know--just in case.

While out for a jog in a park in Los Angeles, Jeremy Yoder discovered these holodeck command interfaces. They were running a program called "Los Angeles City Park."

So Yoder has become a self-aware holodeck program character, thanks to a piece of street art by Arthur Edward Chadwick.

It's not so bad. Vic Fontaine has a pretty good life. If we're well-written and play our parts well, we can visit some pretty swell joints.

-via Super Punch

While kayaking on the Waccamaw River in North Carolina, Peter Joyce was suddenly charged by a submerged alligator. At the 0:50 mark in the above video, the gator rammed the kayak and flipped Joyce over for a few seconds before he was able to right himself.

Even after that terrifying experience, Joyce isn't done kayaking in the river. He tells WXII 12 News:

Joyce thinks the alligator could have been more aggressive because it was protecting its young and it is currently mating season.

He said he plans to paddle down this part of the river again, just at a different time of year.

-via Jesse Kelly

Seven-year-old Maria Ridulph of Sycamore, Illinois, was offered a piggyback ride by a man she didn't know, and wasn't seen again until her body was found the next year, 100 miles away. The only witness was another child named Kathy. That was in 1957. John Tessier, a neighbor, was an early suspect, but passed a lie detector test. The case went unsolved for more than a half-century, but was reopened in 2008.

State Police reviewed the evidence and found testimony from neighbours of John’s seemingly erratic and strange behaviour around young girls (which included giving another young girl a piggyback and refusing to put the girl back down); which probably did not sit well next to the previous conviction and rape charges. John is just one of the many “outsiders” targeted by law enforcement as a perfect suspect. That being said; there were definite factors that could have had John fingered.

Everything seemed to go against John upon the re-opening of the case when Kathy personally picked out John from a picture line up and stated: “that’s the man”.

Read how the Maria Ridulph case went from unsolved to solved and then back to unsolved again at Mystery Confidential. -via Strange Company

John Capes was a passenger on the HMS Perseus, a British submarine that sunk in the Mediteranean Sea in 1941. He was either the luckiest man alive, or the unluckiest, depending on your point of view. Capes managed to escape the submarine, survived a dangerous rise from the depths, and swam five miles, only to find dry land which was occupied by the enemy. He suffered even more after the war, as many people doubted his story. Despite the video length, the story is only eight minutes long. -via Digg

A good pirate character has some recognizable pop culture pirate features, plus fighting skills, menace, charisma, and at least a slight sense of humor. Within these parameters, they vary greatly. A list of the most memorable movie pirates at io9 include the classics, but also animated pirates, women pirates, and one character played by several actors. Who's your favorite movie pirate? No matter, you'll want to watch all of the ten pirates in this unranked list, especially the movies you haven't already seen.

Marichka Padalko was providing updates on Ukrainian TB when her front tooth fell out. She was able to keep her cool and carry on as if nothing happened! Marichka simply placed her hand in front of her mouth to catch the tooth and move on. After all, the show must go on!

image via Mirror UK

Amanda Liberty was featured in an article about her relationship with a 91-year-old chandelier that she named Lumiere. She even planned to formalize their union by exchanging rings in a commitment ceremony! Her attraction towards objects doesn’t just extend to chandeliers: 

"People often can't understand that this is just a natural orientation for me, that I can find the beauty in objects and can sense their energy," she said. "I want others to see how happy the chandeliers make me, and how much they've enriched my life. I'm doing this in the hope that people will understand our love, and if not understand it, maybe they could at least accept it."

Before she found Lumiere, Liberty said that she was in an 'open relationship' with the 24 other chandeliers that fill her home. She was previously involved with a drum kit that she had as a teenager, and a decade ago, she fell in love with the Statue of Liberty. She has since legally changed her surname to 'Liberty' to reflect her feelings for the New York City landmark.

Amanda filed an official complaint to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) when the article she was featured on inaccurately described her relationship, and they were “pejorative to her sexual orientation.” However, IPSO did not rule in favor to her, as Vice detailed: 

Last summer, Liberty told The Mirror that she is in a relationship with a 91-year-old chandelier that she bought on eBay and named Lumiere. 

Amanda Liberty who, thanks to being an 'objectum sexual' married a chandelier-style light fitting," Moore wrote. "Dim & Dimmer?"

In its response to Liberty's complaint, The Sun said that it "did not doubt that [her] attraction to chandeliers was genuine," but Moore's comments weren't discriminatory because being sexually attracted to objects isn't an officially recognized sexual orientation under the Equality Act 2010, nor is it addressed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The Sun also said that, because Liberty had willingly discussed her relationships with inanimate objects in previous interviews, their columnist "was entitled to comment on it."

IPSO ruled in favor of The Sun. It acknowledged that Liberty might have been offended and upset by Moore's column, but said that its Editor's Code doesn't address what is or isn't offensive. The organization also explained that, although the Code prohibits "pejorative reference" to a person's sexual orientation, it is limited to providing "protection to individuals in relation to their sexual orientation towards other persons, and not to objects."

image via Vice