There has been a mill on the site of the Sturminster Newton Mill in Dorset, UK since 1016. The current structure dates back to the 18th Century. It continued to operate until 1970, when it was turned into a museum.
Since then, the old equipment operated sporadically for the amusement of tourists. During the current pandemic, that has turned into a very good thing indeed. The mill has now re-opened to mill flour for local stores. The BBC talked to its operator, Pete Loosmore:
Mr Loosmore said the mill usually gets through a tonne of grain during the tourist season but this increased when local shops started reporting shortages of flour.
"This year we have got through the whole of that tonne in two to three weeks and we're still chasing more and more grain," he said.
"It's been nice to bring the place truly back to life and back into something like it used to be when it was working six days a week."
Time travel is tricky, and it's a rare movie that even comes close to getting it right. Back to the Future is considered to be one of the best time travel movies, except for one thing. For 35 years now, people have been speculating about the one big possible plot hole. Why didn't George and Lorraine recognize that their son Marty grew up to look just like their friend Calvin Klein from high school? The debate has recently resurfaced for the film's anniversary.
Marvel filmmaker James Gunn argued via Twitter "a perfect film can be different from a favorite film, or a great film. A perfect film is something that sings from start to finish with no obvious mistakes, whether they be aesthetic or structural. There are no logical lapses."
He pointed to 1985's Back to the Future, writing, "Back to the Future SEEMINGLY could be imperfect (why don't Mom and Dad remember Marty?), but I would still argue it's a perfect film because there are reasons why this could conceivably be the case (time protects itself from unraveling, etc). Or maybe I'm in denial. Who knows."
Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt replied, explaining the situation as best he saw it: "Maybe they do remember him tho, not as Marty, as Calvin. When Marty returns to present day 1985, it could have been years since his parents would have perhaps originally noted the uncanny resemblance between their son and that kid from high school 20 years previous."
Self-isolation affects everyone, but while we may envy the homes that wealthy people can retreat to, some celebrities may suffer an added effect that the rest of us would never think about. That is, until we may someday see the evidence. Plastic surgeons in California have had to shut their doors to all but medically necessary procedures. A couple of months on, some of their clients are late for their regular maintenance.
...Jezebel spoke with four surgeons, most of whom agreed that in lieu of injectables, at-home skincare is becoming the new focus of face maintenance. Because botox requires upkeep every three to four months, it’s possible that some celebrities will emerge with looser faces than previously seen. Fillers require updates every six to 12 months, so it’s unlikely that all of white Hollywood will return to its thin-lipped glory—unless, of course, they were due for an update before self-isolation became a requirement. Some may be receiving treatment at home, which may very well be unethical. And, like all non-essential industries, plastic surgeons have had to get creative to continue to provide their services.
When it comes to video conferencing, apps such as Zoom and Houseparty dominate the field. The former, having only 10 million users last December, now has 300 million users after just a few months. The latter, meanwhile, has added an additional 50 million users in just a month. Truly, there has been a massive increase in demand in video calls. Even Facebook had seen their video-call usage double in the recent weeks.
Seeing this trend, Facebook decided to make a service that is very similar to Zoom and Houseparty.
Its name, Messenger Rooms—no relation to an earlier feature with the same moniker—suggests that it’s part of Messenger. But it’s really more of a full-fledged entity unto itself and will be reachable not only via Messenger but also through Facebook’s feed and groups and (though not quite at launch) Instagram and WhatsApp. Accessible via the web, it won’t require that users have Messenger installed—or even that they have an account with any of the company’s services.
One thing about quarantine is that it gives you the time to create. Redditor ktk4lyfe showed us the RV cake his girlfriend made. When they cut it open, she regretted not having any blue food coloring for the cake inside. If you don't get the joke, it's a reference to the TV show Breaking Bad. CakeyHo also posted a tutorial so you can see how she made it.
Be aware that having the time to bake does not imply that you can make something this awesome, but you can try.
Have you ever wondered what life is like through the eyes of a toddler? Stan, a 19-month-old kid, will let you have a glimpse of his perspective!
It is said that he had a lot of point-and-shoot film cameras in his toy box. This time, though, Stan's dad gave his old Canon G12 to the enthusiastic kid.
So, Stan snapped away with his camera, capturing scenes of interest with his camera. Stan also prefers using the viewfinder rather than the digital LCD screen. Was he being pretentious with it or simply loved it like that we’d never know, but Stan did switch to sepia mode at one point.
The skies above earth are filled with satellites, many of them transmitting GPS signals that help us find our way around, track both animals and people, and spy on friends and enemies alike. How did all that get started? The first animal with a satellite tracker was an elk named Monique, and the news media followed her exploits closely. You can see in the image that the tracker was quite cumbersome, and so was the experiment.
Really, Monique was two elk, both of whom were outfitted with satellite collars in early 1970 — almost fifty years ago on the dot, in fact. The Moniques belonged to a migratory herd of 7,000 animals that wintered on the National Elk Refuge just south of Yellowstone National Park, and then went… well, no one quite knew where. Although John and Frank Craighead, twin brothers and legendary wildlife researchers, had long studied the region’s elk movements, their tracking methods were rudimentary. In the 1960s they’d fitted thousands of animals with color-coded necklaces, then hiked around Yellowstone searching for their bands. The herculean project revealed patches of habitat, but offered scant insight into how the animals moved between them — a Connect-the-Dots illustration with no dots connected.
Those gaps, the Craigheads vowed, would be filled in 1970. The previous year, they’d struck up a partnership with NASA to develop a newfangled elk tracking collar that would communicate with a weather satellite called the Nimbus 3. The collar cost $25,000, weighed 23 pounds — most of it a sheath of protective fiberglass — and would beam its wearer’s location and skin temperature, along with the ambient air temperature and light conditions, to the Nimbus every day.
The project was not without problems. In fact, everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong. Meanwhile, pundits mused on where this technology would go and worried about the ability to track people with satellites as well as animals. Read the story of Monique the Space Elk at The Last Word On Nothing. -via Metafilter
When high school teacher Spencer Andrich was planning lessons on his computer, he noticed an unlikely animal coming towards his home — it was an elephant seal.
Since Washington State Governor Jay Inslee issued a Stay at Home Order on March 23rd, Andrich has been living at his family’s beachfront property about 60 miles north of Seattle. The home has been in his family for three generations, but according to Andrich, an elephant seal visit is a first. “I don’t think we ever had anything close to this happen here.”
Apparently, the aforementioned seal has been in the area several times. An enforcement officer from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife named Ralph Downes knew who the animal was.
“I got on the horn with Ralph, and he immediately knew who she was. She has three tags on her flippers, [but] he didn’t have to ID them. He goes, ‘I’ll bet you anything that’s Elsie May,’” Andrich said.
While the tagged flippers confirmed Downes’ guess, it was her unusual behavior that had given her away in the first place. Andrich summarized Elsie May’s reputation among biologists, enforcement officers, and others familiar with the seal: “Apparently, she’s very social. She gives zero effs. And she knows she’s on the top.”
Learn more about this peculiar elephant seal over at Vice.com.
You are walking across the sidewalk and then stumble upon a strange sign, which tells you that “you have now entered the jurisdiction of the ministry of silly walks,” and that you have to “commence silly walking immediately.” What do you do? These people did not hesitate to do what the sign demanded them to do — they immediately began to walk in a silly manner.
… Liz Koto's family from Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, … decided to entertain both themselves and neighbors by asking them to recreate a sketch called "The Ministry of Silly Walks" from the Monty Python comedy troupe's television show.
In case you haven't seen it yet, the sketch centers around a minister with a very peculiar way of walking. The minister meets a man named Mr. Pudey at his work, The Ministry of Silly Walks, where the man asks him for a government grant to develop his own silly walk. Liz, who works for local jurisdiction, told Bored Panda that the way Monty Python pokes fun at the inefficiency of government is exactly why she loves this sketch.
Check out the various silly walks of their neighbors over at Bored Panda.
This video was shot in August 2019, when a couple went to Arkansas to visit their family. The couple went to a buffalo safari in the Arkansas hills, where the biggest buffalo in the herd approached them and tried to fit its big head in the car. Unfortunately, its head was too big for the car window, and it didn’t fit inside. The couple took their opportunity to hand-feed the said buffalo.
“He was loving the sweet range cubes we were feeding them and drooled everywhere! Such a scary, but an amazing experience!” said the wife.
Eighteen-year-old Amari Dancy of Woodbridge, Virginia, was only trying to keeper younger relatives busy with a game of hide-and-seek inside the house. She took note of all the places she had hidden before, and decided to jump into the washing machine. And then couldn't get out. The Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue was summoned to the home to extract Dancy from the top-loader.
“I was really worried to see if they were going to get me out or not,” the teen said. “Once they figured out what to do ... I just felt relieved. I just wanted to be out of there.”
Suni Dancy said her relatives found the situation funny. “She doesn’t even normally play with the younger kids,” Suni Dancy said.
Once she made it out of the laundry machine, Amari Dancy was able to see the humor in her predicament as well.
Japan’s Studio Ghibli has released a series of stills from their films that you can use as your background for your video conferences. Make your video conferences more colorful by using these stills from Spirited Away, Laputa: Castle In The Sky, Princess Momonoke, and many more.
In case you have some extra time, and might be looking to treat yourself with something delicious, you might want to make some maple butter, which has no butter in it, so it may be more accurate to call it maple cream, although it has no cream in it, either. The terms are interchangeable, and have more to do with its consistency than its ingredients.
What is maple cream? It’s maple syrup that’s been transformed (miraculously) into a creamy, spreadable, butter-like consistency through a process of crystallization.
It’s meant to be spread on English muffins, or toast or even … on a grilled cheese with bacon and green apples.
I prefer to eat the maple butter by just taping the jar to my head and licking my way to the bottom like an anteater.
Maple cream has only one ingredient -maple syrup. However, it's not that simple, as making it requires a candy thermometer, some elbow grease, and time. If you have those things, check out the instructions at The Art of Doing Stuff. -via Nag on the Lake
Almost everyone has memories of a distinct incident that happened at their high school that was scandalous, criminal, or just really weird. That happens when you put hundreds of teenagers together, who try to impress each other without thinking through the consequences. The one about the bats stands out, as related by maceylou:
"My high school in Florida had a bat problem. The school was tired of cleaning up bat poop, so one winter evening after the bats left for the night, they covered the openings where the bats would go (this is illegal in Florida). The next day, students arrived to find frozen bats all over the ground, unable to move. Here’s where the real stupid happens..."
"Some students thought this was so cool, so they put bats in their pockets and went in to class. After about fifteen minutes in the nice, heated classrooms, the bats started defrosting and WAKING UP. So bats broke loose of pockets, biting the students and flying around. Later, any student who came in contact with the bats was required to get a round of shots."
Yeah, this may have happened last year or decades ago, but it's the kind of thing you will never forget. Read 16 outrageous high school incidents at Buzzfeed, with more in the comments.
People will argue all day about the best way to hang toilet paper on the dispenser. Are you an Over or an Under? Or maybe you prefer a vertical orientation to stop the arguing. According to a survey taken by Today I Found Out, the majority prefers the Over orientation to the Under. And everyone has their reasons, which vary widely.
Others argue that because Seth Wheeler’s 19th century patent for rolled toilet paper explicitly shows toilet paper hung in the Over orientation that this proves this is the “correct” way. But we’re guessing those same people aren’t caring that they pronounce UFO as U-F-O instead of “yoofo” as the coiner of said term intended, among countless other examples like this where the creator of something’s thoughts were ignored. So we’re guessing the only reason individuals putting forth this argument care what the fittingly named Mr. Wheeler drew on his patent application is that it vaguely supports their position. In the end, what the original creator of something thought was best doesn’t inherently matter to what’s actually superior. If it did, we’d all be advocating for Greedo shooting first and using bubble wrap as wallpaper which is what it was originally invented for.
On the flipside, advocates for the Under orientation note that it tends to provide a slightly more tidy appearance rather than just dangling out there in its best imitation of a kilted Scotsman. And, most importantly there, if one has beings of the feline or human parasite persuasion, the more concealed Under orientation tends to prove less tempting for these two groups to play with.
However, it turns out there is a difference in the best way to hang toilet paper in public restrooms, which has to do with bacterial contamination. And there's some extra information about bacterial contamination in public vs. private privies at Today I Found Out.
