WHAT A MESS! Homes in Montana were buried under tumbleweed as some piles rose so high that they flowed over the roofs of homes. #mtwx pic.twitter.com/VhQ9U1hGOW

— FOX Weather (@foxweather) October 18, 2023

I've never seen one in real life, but I gather that tumbleweeds are predators that swarm their prey, overwhelming larger opponents through sheer numbers. I learned this from the 2008 documentary Killer Tumbleweeds.

This video shows one such swarm of tumbleweeds consuming houses in Great Falls, Montana on Tuesday. Or, to be more precise, attempting to hunt the humans inside those houses. Winds reaching speeds of up to 50 MPH aided the tumbleweeds as on their journey according to KRTV 3 News. Firefighters are looking into response options, but it really sounds like a job for the National Guard.

-via Super Punch

Zoos often purchase or exchange animals with each other in order to keep their populations stable, provide proper space for the creatures, and to promote genetic diversity in their progeny. In this case, the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro had to relocate their flock of 15 Chilean flamingos to make way for a demolition and construction project. They were shipped to the Greenville Zoo in South Carolina. In cardboard boxes. So you can consider the above an "unboxing video."

This is no aberration, but the optimum method for shipping flamingos, or "best practices." They are big birds that only weigh about four pounds each. Cardboard is safer for them and their delicate wings than a crate or a metal cage would be, and they had plenty of airflow. The birds were given a health check as they were unpacked, and appear to be settling in just fine in their new home. -via Fark

The Martin Scorsese film Killers of the Flower Moon opens nationwide today. The film has received glowing reviews and is a shoe-in for Oscar nominations. It's a Scorsese crime movie, but also a love story, based on real events. But it could have been very different.

Native American representation in film has been abysmal since the beginning of film. Knowing that Killers of the Flower Moon would be widely seen, a group of Osage leaders invited Scorsese to meet with them and hear their views on how the movie should address their concerns regarding historical accuracy and perspective. They included James Roan Gray, great-grandson of Henry Roan, a victim of the Osage murders and the ex-husband of main character Mollie Burkhart. After the meeting, Scorsese rewrote the entire script to change the focus of the story. When he returned to Oklahoma after the pandemic lockdown, the Osage were ready to provide actors, language instructors, craftspeople, and consultants for the movie. Jim Gray talked to Smithsonian's Chris Klimek about his family history, the Osage influence on Killers of the Flower Moon, and other topics like the Trail of Tears and the Tulsa Race Massacre. You can read it or listen in podcast form at Smithsonian.  

Wanna play a game? CGP Grey (previously at Neatorama) presents an online version of Rock, Paper, Scissors in which you play against him. The premise is that statistically speaking, if a million people play, then someone somewhere is going to win all the rounds. It will happen, because the video is only a day old and is already three-quarters of the way to a million views. Grey has six million subscribers. Be aware that a draw means you lose. Of course, has has no way to know if you're being honest about your score, but that's honestly beside the point.

When you get into the game and see how it's constructed, you will be more impressed with the work he put into it than with your own success. It's an idea Grey has contemplated for years and just got around to doing. From the comments, a lot of people had fun playing this straight, but once they are eliminated, they go back and cheat just to see where the game goes, and had even more fun doing that. It's a real internet rabbit hole no matter how far you take it. And you'll learn a few things about statistics and probability along the way.

In the 18th century, a criminal could be hanged for any number of crimes, and from that fact sprung a gruesome type of good luck charm- the hand of an executed criminal. It was important that the hand taken was the one that actually committed the crime, and detailed instructions for preparing the hand were published in 1722. The hand had to be carefully dried with salt and nitre, and then exposed to the sun until fully dessicated. The resulting "hand of glory" could be used to cure illness when placed on the affected body part, such as a goiter.

If the hand had previously belonged to a murderer, it had special powers, but only in conjunction with fat taken from the same murderer. Since we can assume that this would be difficult to procure, an authentic hand of glory was a rarity. When a murderer's hand of glory was used as a candleholder, burning a candle made from the human fat, the holder had the power to put people to sleep, making a household burglary or other crime a simple affair.  

Hands used in such a manner have been documented in drawings in historical writing, but only one hand has been found and identified. It has been in the possession of the Whitby Museum since 1935. Read about the hand of glory and see a picture of the only one to still exist at Angel Buckley's blog. -via Strange Company

In the Douglas Adams story The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a supercomputer named Deep Thought is programmed to determine the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. The computer works on this problem for 7.5 million years and finally spits out the answer: 42. But after all that time, no one could remember the question.

However, in the 45 years since Adams told us about the amazing computer feat, we may have figured out the question. The problem is that there are several, five in fact, fundamental questions about the universe in which the answer is indeed 42. Two are mathematical, two are astronomical, and one has to do with physics. Which one was Deep Thought deep in thought about? We may never know, but we have some good contenders. Each of the five questions are explained in detail at Big Think. -via Real Clear Science

(Image credit: Ben Gibson/Big Think)

It wasn't easy being a beekeeper in the medieval Europe, but the honey that bees produced was exceptionally expensive and worth the effort. Instead of beehives with removable frames, bees were kept in woven baskets called skeps. Harvesting the honey meant scooping everything out of the skep, which destroyed the colony. So skeps were small, which encouraged the bees to swarm, looking for a new home when their numbers outgrew the skep. When that happened, beekeepers had to be ready to gather them up and lodge them in a new skep. That process involved throwing dust on the bees, banging metal objects together (called tanging), and reciting magical incantations. These were called swarm charms.

That's a lot of work to reproduce a hive, but it worked more often than not. Beekeepers were loathe to experiment to determine what part of that process actually did the job, as they didn't want to risk failure. Modern beekeepers say it was probably the dust, although things are much easier now that we've learned to identify and relocate queen bees. Read about swarm charms and the difficult medieval practice of beekeeping at Atlas Obscura.

It's a common home remedy that our mothers would have us eat when we have a cold or the flu: chicken soup. It seems almost every culture in the world has some variation of the chicken soup remedy, but does it really work? Can chicken with some noodles, vegetables, and broth really cure our upper respiratory illnesses and bring down that fever? Or is it just some placebo?

Colby Teeman, an assistant professor of dietetics and nutrition at the University of Dayton, answers that question. And the answer is not as complicated as we might think. Remember that our bodies have a defense mechanism that can stave off and eradicate any kind of infection, the immune system. The only way to help the immune system fight off illnesses is to give it the proper fuel, and we do that by eating food. However, while we're sick, what generally happens is a loss of appetite, and so we're not able to provide ample energy and nutrients for our immune system to kill the pathogens. That's where chicken soup comes in. And not just any old chicken soup. Prof. Teeman suggests homemade chicken soup is the best way to go.

For a more detailed explanation as to how homemade chicken soup helps us feel better when we're sick, check out his article on The Conversation.

(Image credit: Stacey Doyle/Unsplash)

Growing children need their calcium, and we all know that the best source for calcium is milk. I remember when I was younger, my parents used to buy me milk which contained gingko biloba and it tasted like soy milk. I actually liked it and I could drink several cartons in one sitting though I tried not to. However, it was quite delicious so there were times when I would have more than I should.

Unlike me, a research had found that majority of Japanese school kids, being provided milk by Gifu-based dairy manufacturer Seki Milk, were not finishing their milk, thus they were not getting their daily dose of calcium. In order to address the issue, the company had turned to manga. Particularly, they had drawn manga on the bottles with white ink, so that the only way for one to read the whole scene was to drink the whole bottle. Now, that's one way to get children to finish their milk.

(Image credit: Seki Milk)

We know Mars as the red planet. We know that the reddish coloration of Mars is due to the presence of iron oxide on its surface. The planet was first discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610, and the first successful Mars landing was done by the Soviet Union's Mars 3 in 1971. These are only a few of the facts we have learned about Mars since we began to explore it. But these barely scratch the surface of the discoveries we have made about Mars.

Shi En Kim, a writer with Smithsonian Magazine, shares with us the seven most amazing discoveries uncovered throughout the past 50 or so years of exploring Mars. Some of these might seem pretty obvious while others can be quite thought-provoking. To me, I think the fact that Mars was once a lot like Earth seems to be the most fascinating. This is probably the reason why many astronomers and astrophysicists consider Mars as a potential habitat for humans. You may read about the other six discoveries here.

(Image credit: Planet Volumes/Unsplash)

For someone who is not an expert in the kitchen, I cannot tell you the difference between stock and broth, because to me, they refer to the same thing. However, there is a difference between stock and broth, and you may want to throw in bone broth and bouillon into that mix as well. From Zoe Denenberg and the editors of Epicurious, they give us a short rundown of the nuances between the two.

The main difference is simply the amount of time it takes for the liquid to simmer. Broth usually takes a relatively shorter time to simmer, from around 45 minutes to 2 hours, meanwhile stock takes 4 to 6 hours to simmer. What this does for the stock is that it allows the flavors to be fully brought out, and the longer simmer time also adds to the consistency of the mix. Apart from these two, they also elucidate the peculiarities of bone broth, bouillon, and even vegetable broth. To learn more, check out their article here.

(Image credit: Jonathan Pielmayer/Unsplash)

Weddings are usually very simple ceremonies. There's the bridal procession, then the minister begins. The bride and the groom say their vows, and then they end the ceremony with a kiss to seal the deal. They run out together, the family takes photos, and everybody heads for the evening reception. Traditionally, that would be how weddings are conducted these days. Many couples who prefer to have a little bit of spice in their weddings add gimmicks to make it exciting, entertaining, and just a day to remember for everybody present, as much as it is a memorable for them.

Some go for themed weddings, others have their weddings in places other than a chapel or a church, and there are some with unusual wedding traditions like the log cutting ceremony in Germany or plate smashing in Greece. For this one couple, they wanted to go way outside of the box, and into the mountains. Alicia and Crystal Blakely wanted to go on an adventure to start their life together, and so they hiked 273 miles through the state of Vermont, and climbed Camel's Hump, Vermont's third highest mountain, before getting married at the summit.

Both are hikers and have hiked many trails together before, and so they wanted to commemorate their special day by going on the Long Trail, which was Crystal's grandfather's last hike at the age of 88. To top off their unique wedding, they hiked the whole trail for 23 days in their wedding dresses, which were tailor-made to make it easier to hike in. Afterward, they celebrated at Crystal's parents' house with close friends and family.

(Image credit: Amelia Marie Photography)

In many parts of Africa, finding a clean and safe toilet to use, especially at night can be a dangerous prospect if you're a little girl. Apart from the possibility of falling into a pit, as latrines are the most common toilets found in remote parts of Africa, there is also the chance of being assaulted. However, the risk can be somehow reduced if the areas were lit, so that girls can become more aware of the surroundings to better respond to what might happen as they try to pee. In this regard, scientists from the Bristol Bioenergy Center have tested the method they have developed to convert urine into energy in Seseme Girls School in Kisoro, Uganda.

With the ingredients found in urine, scientists put microorganisms that breakdown urine into components which can be used to power a fuel cell which then generates electricity. Dubbed "pee power" by the Seseme girls, a survey showed that there was a high level of acceptance for the technology as it made them feel safer at night. Several also expressed the hope that the technology can be introduced to their village. Launching the field trials at the school also helped in lowering the cost of electricity at the school. The next step for the project is simply to mass-produce the fuel cells, so that they can be rolled out. It would require more investment and funding, but the benefits are well worth the costs.

(Image credit: Rohan Makhecha/Unsplash)

Many groups and individuals have been trying their best to find solutions for climate change, by reducing their carbon footprint. One company's attempt is by creating concrete that, not only supposedly minimizes carbon emissions but also captures carbon from the atmosphere and absorbs it. That company's name is Partanna, and their latest project is building a house made from carbon negative concrete in the Bahamas for former Lakers player and co-founder of the company Rick Fox.

After retiring from professional basketball, Rick Fox turned to Hollywood and pursued an acting career. But now, he has a new passion project in Partanna, specifically developing a new method of creating concrete that will combat climate change. With the help of architect Sam Marshall, they founded Partanna and worked with material scientists to create the process of manufacturing concrete without using cement. Without revealing much about the process, Partanna says that they use brine and slag as ingredients for their concrete, and with this mixture it allows them to reduce the amount of carbon by-product.

(Image credit: Partanna)

There are a few exams in the world notorious for their difficulty. You might have heard of the California Bar Exam, considered the most difficult bar exam in the United States. Mensa, the organization of individuals whose IQ must be within the upper two percent of the general population, also gives out a brain-racking exam. And if you are a fan of Korean drama, you might have heard of the suneung (an equivalent of the CSAT in Korea), which has taken on an identity in and of itself, with the whole country pausing for a single day as thousands of high school students sitting for the exam in the hopes that they could get scores good enough to enter their dream universities.

But nothing can quite compare with China's Gao Kao and civil service exam, both of which go all the way back to an ancient Chinese institution called Keju, or the imperial civil service exam. Though it sounds similar to the Japanese monstrosities of mythical proportions, the Keju was a different beast in its own right. It was a sign of prestige in ancient China, as only 400 in roughly a million examinees get through to the final round of tests, and even then, only very few eventually receive their degrees. Nobility coveted the Keju as most, if not all, the prime ministers finished at the top of the Keju.

Despite the prestige and benefits conferred on someone who passed the Keju, the journey toward completion was a grueling one. The test was based solely on memorization of the Confucian classics, which meant thousands upon thousands of characters and phrases. No wonder only those with the highest mental fortitude and capacity were able to pass it, and eventually become the leaders of the nation. They had definitely succeeded in building a strong nation, however, at what cost? Yasheng Huang explores the impacts of the Keju in Chinese society today in his article at Aeon.

(Image credit: Qiu Ying/Wikimedia Commons)