Ante Brännbacka, who holds a 6th-degree black belt in an Okinawan style of karate, offers tips on how to defeat the coronavirus. Spear hand attacks, axe kicks, and even simple knee strikes ably deflect our infectious enemy.
Still a white belt? Don't worry--just bowing instead of shaking hands will help you.
While many music lovers have an affinity for one well-known instrument or another, few know about this remarkable construction of glass rods, metal and wood. You have probably heard its otherworldly sound in movies like Interstellar. Groups such as Gorillaz and Radiohead have used it in their compositions. Invented by two French brothers in 1952, it can have a range of as much as six octaves.
It's time for some trivia about the songs you know and love! Well, you may know some of these facts, others have to do with songs you don't know, and some will surprise you. Here's one that I knew at the time, but kind of forgot, uh, 45 years later.
Yeah, that line in Young Frankenstein stayed with me, too. See all 27 pictofacts at Cracked.
The Whoopee Cushion was invented around 1930 by employees of JEM Rubber Company in Toronto. They found it quite funny, but also had troubled getting a novelty company interested in it. After all, as funny as fart sounds are, they are somewhat uncivilized. Johnson Smith & Co. finally took it on, and the Whoopee Cushion became an instant hit. Novelty collectors Stan and Mardi Timm know everything there is to know about Whoopee Cushions and other classic pranks you could once find at the dime store. And they are willing to tell us all about them.
Somewhere in between the water-squirting bow tie and the prank soap that makes your skin grimier as you wash is the Dribble Glass, a tumbler or cup with a hole in it, designed so the would-be drinker ends up with their beverage all over their chin and shirt.
“Collecting dribble glasses was Stan’s big thing,” Mardi tells me, indicating how even though they’ve shared this passion for novelties as a couple, they’ve each gotten excited about different aspects of the field. “In the last 15 years or so, Stan went nuts with dribble glasses. Every one of them is different. Several of those are made by S.S. Adams. I have pictures that give close-ups of the hole in the glass. You can see some are pretty crude, and then some are almost invisible. With the best ones, you can’t even tell the holes are there. But yeah, Stan has, like, 45 dribble glasses. He loves dribble glasses. I don’t know why.”
The Timms are facing retirement and are looking for a museum to take their dribble glasses, fake poop, magic tricks, and fart bags off their hands. Read what they have to tell us about the golden age of prank toys at Collectors Weekly.
Vitamin D is essential to the health of our bones. We get this vitamin from certain food, vitamin pills, as well as exposure to sunlight. A study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition even suggests that this vitamin could increase an elderly person’s chance of being able to walk again after recovering from hip surgery.
A broken hip - among the most serious fall injuries - is hard to recover from, with many people unable to live on their own afterward. In the United States, more than 300,000 people 65 or older are hospitalized for hip fractures annually and falling causes more than 95 percent of these type of fractures. Women fall more frequently than men, experiencing three-quarters of hip fractures, and the number of fractures is likely to rise as the population ages, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Regaining mobility after a hip fracture is important for full recovery and to reduce the risk of death. But vitamin D deficiency is associated with reduced mobility after surgery to repair a hip fracture.
Check out EurekAlert for more details about this study.
(Image Credit: Pixabay)
While most fish cast their eggs and sperm in clouds and leave their young to develop by themselves, there are some fish (about 2 percent) who keep their fertilized eggs in their mouths. These fish are called “mouthbreeders”.
This is a parazen (Parazen pacificus), the first deep-sea fish known to mouthbrood.
Deep-sea fishes normally spawn externally, and their young migrate to more productive shallow waters before returning as adults to the food-scarce deep. But mouthbrooding is a comparatively costly investment. Some shallow water mouthbreeders eat with a mouth full of eggs, which is more difficult and costs more energy, and others abstain from eating entirely as the young develop, draining energy reserves.
In other words, this parazen has sacrificed a lot to protect its young, and according to Randy Singer, an ichthyologist who discovered the fish’s characteristics way back in 2015, this calls for “further investigation.”
More details about this story over at ScienceNews.
(Image Credit: R. Singer, J. Moore, E. Stanley, NOAA Okeanos Explorer)
Their facial expressions already tell what happened.
We live in a time where we are encouraged to stay at home, avoid touching our faces, and practice social distancing from other people. To compensate for the lack of personal interaction from each other, most of us have now gone to the virtual world to contact our friends and families. Still, there will always be jerks in our midst. These trolls take advantage of our current situation as we turn to video conferencing apps such as Zoom.
Jerks are using Zoom’s screensharing feature to blast other viewers with the most awful videos from across the internet, from violence to shocking pornography.
That’s just what happened today on the WFH Happy Hour, a popular daily public Zoom call hosted by The Verge reporter Casey Newton and investor Hunter Walk. Suddenly, dozens of attendees were bombarded with disturbing imagery. A troll entered the call and screenshared… horrifying sexual videos. Attempts to block the attack were thwarted as the perpetrator simply re-entered the call under a new name and screenshared more gross-out clips. The hosts ended the call rather than subject viewers to the assault until they could stop it.
The problem stems from Zoom’s policy that “The host does not need to grant screen share access for another participant to share their screen.” However, hosts can disable this option in their settings or the Admin controls of a call.
Thankfully, there are ways to protect our Zoom calls. Check out the tips on how to secure your calls over at TechCrunch.
(Image Credit: TechCrunch)
We are curious beings. We always try to search for answers with regards to the origins of pretty much everything in the universe (including the universe itself, too). And so it is not surprising when we try to know the origins of the virus that is currently spreading around the world — the coronavirus. In the middle of all the theories about the origins of the coronavirus, one wild theory stands out: the theory that it came from outer space. Unfortunately…
Spoiler alert: The virus did not come from space.
Apparently, the one who spread this theory also previously asserted in the past that SARS also came from space.
Who is the one responsible for this theory? Find out who he is over at Space.com.
(Image Credit: qimono/ Pixabay)
Soap is the ultimate virus annihilator. We've heard about washing your hands for 20 seconds, and we've heard about how important it is to stop the spread of coronavirus. We've even learned tricks to calculate those 20 seconds. However, that lesson makes a lot more sense when you know exactly how it works. That 20 second rule isn't just the optimum time to wash your hands, it's the minimum time for soap to be effective. So soaping up for ten seconds and rinsing, then soaping up for another ten seconds just doesn't do the trick. If we do it right the first time, the coronavirus on our hands will die.
As a precaution to prevent ourselves from acquiring the dreaded coronavirus, we use gloves and masks. But is it effective? Unfortunately, experts say that this method is “ineffective [and] unnecessary” for the vast majority of people. What’s more, these could even help the virus spread faster.
"There are limits to how a mask can protect you from being infected and we've said the most important thing everyone can do is wash your hands, keep your hands away from your face, observe very precise hygiene," said WHO's emergencies director Mike Ryan.
[...]
As well as hoovering up stocks sorely needed by medical professionals, experts say masks can give people who wear them a false sense of security.
For example, many people who wear them don't follow the official advice of washing their hands thoroughly first, ensuring it's airtight and not to touch it once it's on.
More details about this news over at MedicalXpress.
(Image Credit: Tumisu/ Pixabay)
With the spread of COVID-19, many governments have implemented quarantine, or have insisted on social distancing. Now that’s a pretty term, and can be very misleading when not properly explained. Social distancing aims to separate everyone enough that infections wouldn’t spread rapidly. The Huffington Post answers some questions that can further explain the concept:
1. Is it OK to take domestic flights?
International travel is pretty much off the table right now, but what if you need to fly domestically for work or personal reasons? Deciding whether or not to go is best approached by asking yourself a few questions, according to Pamela Aaltonen, professor emerita of nursing at Purdue University and past president of the American Public Health Association.
If it’s reasonable to use an alternative means of traveling, such as by car, that would be the preferred option. And if you’re part of a high-risk group ― you’re older in age and/or have a compromised immune system ― or the party you’re traveling to includes a high-risk individual that you don’t want to potentially expose, it’s probably best to call off the trip.
If you must travel, Aaltonen says you should wipe down arm rests, seat back tables, light switches and vent knobs before touching them.
2. Should I stop using public transportation?
If your employer hasn’t instituted a work-from-home policy or you need to get around town to run errands, transportation can be another tricky situation. Public transportation exposes you to many people and germs. But for many people, there is no other option.
“Try to keep as much distance from one another as you can,” Aaltonen said, noting 6 to 10 feet is ideal. It also helps to travel at non-peak hours, if possible. “Minimize touching surfaces on public transportation,” she added. “Carry wipes or hand sanitizer if available (these are in short supply in many areas of the country) and use on frequently touched surfaces if you, too, are going to touch these surfaces.”
And though it might be a tough habit to break, Aaltonen said you shouldn’t shake hands or hug anyone you know along the way.
3. Is it safe to go to the grocery store or pharmacy?
Benjamin said this is a risk-based decision. If you need food or medication, there’s really no getting around it.
However, if you’re over the age of 60 or are immunocompromised, consider having someone run these types of errands for you.
If that’s not a possibility (and you are not under isolation or quarantine, of course), try to go during off-peak hours when fewer people are around.
image via wikimedia commons
Capitalism still won’t let you go, even in times of crisis and tragedy. Some metal sellers use the people’s fear of market turmoil to convince them to buy gold or silver coins. It looks promising, but some would double the price of the precious metals they sell, which will make the buyer poorer. Quartz has more details:
“I think the precious metals and so-called rare coin telemarketers will be feasting on the personal and economic misfortune caused by coronavirus pandemic,” said a former industry insider with many years of experience, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they want to avoid any risk of legal retaliation.
Quartz has seen precious-metals sellers already using the virus as a sales pitch in marketing emails and Facebook ads whose audience, according to data from Facebook’s ad library, was older than 55. We’re not linking to them here because it’s not yet clear which ads may be connected to overpriced coins and which are not. The message is similar: the stock market will crash imminently, other investors are rushing to “safe-haven assets”—so you should, too.
Nevertheless, “If people want to buy bullion, they may want to consider coins or bars that follow the spot prices dollar for dollar,” the industry insider said. Gold spot prices are listed here. “Buy from reputable companies and do your research.”
“Don’t be deceived into buying coins that are overpriced or modern common coins represented to be ‘collectible’ or ‘rare,’ ” the former insider said. “If a salesperson urges you to act quickly, run the other way.”
image via Quartz
The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago is closed temporarily due to coronavirus. But caring for the creatures who live there goes on, and the fun has gone online so people around the world can see. With the tourists gone, the staff decided to take the penguins on a field trip to visit the other exhibits. The penguin watching fish is named Wellington, and at 30 years, he is the aquarium's oldest penguin.
But wait, there's more! Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa, has also closed during the pandemic, but they have a substantial colony of rockhopper penguins that roam free every day! They have taken the internet by storm in the last week.
They are beautiful, they are charming and they are GIF-able. These favourite rockhopper penguin GIFs show just why they are one of the Aquarium's most-loved animals. 🐧 https://t.co/QxtD00emC9 #penguin #rockhopper #cute pic.twitter.com/h3Px6bbAM8
— Two Oceans Aquarium (@2OceansAquarium) February 21, 2020
Watch them hopping down the stairs!
my favourite consequence of the covid-19 societal lockdown is aquarium penguins roaming around freely and when this is all over I for one welcome them as our new overlords pic.twitter.com/jRAQsF9nqm
— sloane (sipihkopiyesis) (@cottoncandaddy) March 17, 2020
You can see more of the Cape Town penguins at Facebook or Twitter.
Look, 2020 hasn’t really started on the good side. Now with the spread of COVID-19, a lot of people have no hopes of having a great year. Some are thinking the end of the world might be near, while some just really want to get over this year and move to the next. We haven’t even reached half of the year! Some however, really took the time and effort to brainstorm about creative ways we can save the planet. Head over to Cracked to see them!
image via wikimedia commons
