Mt. Ijen is a dormant volcano near Java, Indonesia. The volcano is famous for its electric-blue fire and toxic yellow smoke. It is also one of the most dangerous mining locations to work in, and workers mine the yellow stalactites found in the caldera floor. The miners chip off chunks from the stalactites to obtain sulfur. Wired’s Michael Hardy shared photographer Larry Louie’s experience in the mine: 

They started climbing Mt. Ijen in the middle of the night and reached the summit just before dawn in order to see the blue flames. As the sun rose, they descended into the vast volcanic caldera, which emits billowing clouds of sulfur from hundreds of cracks in the earth. Ceramic pipes placed by miners in the caldera floor direct some of the smoke toward collection points, where the superheated gas instantly turns into a solid, forming dripping yellow stalactites.

These stalactites are what the workers mine. Using picks, they chip off chunks of sulfur, place them in reed baskets, and carry them up to the top of the crater, where they are loaded into wheelbarrows for the trip down the mountain. (Sulfur is used in cosmetics, explosives, and agricultural products.) Louie learned from his guide that workers spend 12-hour shifts dodging plumes of poisonous smoke (with many protected only by rags tied around their mouths) while carrying up to 180 pounds of sulfur on their backs. With temperatures reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit and a pervasive smell of rotten eggs, it’s one of the most dangerous and unpleasant jobs on earth—but pays $12 a day, a relatively high salary for that part of Indonesia.

Louie’s guide provided him and his wife with gas masks, but they were too clogged to be useful. This became a problem when Louie insisted on getting as close as possible to his subjects. After three hours of shooting, he nearly passed out from all the toxic smoke. “I got a little dizzy and was losing my eyesight a little bit,” he says. “Fortunately my wife saw me and she yelled to the guide to get me out of there.” They eventually made the decision to end the expedition early and descend the mountain. Louie had hoped to return the next day to shoot more photographs, but felt too sick to make another climb.

Louie has photographed people working in some of the world’s most extreme environments, including a Bangledeshi garbage dump, an Indian jute mill, and a Moroccan tannery. But few workers labor under conditions as difficult as the sulfur miners on Mt. Ijen. “I’ve always been interested in highlighting the strength of people and the struggles of workers around the world,” he says.

image via Wired

One of the joys of visiting a Gothic cathedral is the beauty of the stained glass. You might think what a shame it is that such artistry has succumbed to cheaper and more modern decoration, but it hasn't completely died out. For 50 years now, Canadian stained glass artist Josef Aigner has been installing church windows that blend traditional Gothic and modern styles to bathe the interiors in colorful light that is its own form of worship. 

Churches and stained glass have been outsize presences in Josef Aigner’s life since his birth in Gerzen, Germany, in 1945, a few weeks before VE Day. By the time he was 6 years old, Aigner’s family had moved to nearby Isen, and at the age of 8, Aigner was an altar boy at Isen’s ornate Catholic church, which was conveniently located across the street from his house.

“We got paid 10 cents per mass,” Aigner tells me over the phone. “I saved enough money to buy myself a pair of skates. Our church had beautiful Baroque windows,” he adds. “They’re still there.” Isen, it seems, was just far enough outside Munich to escape the carpet bombing that flattened half of that city, so other than a lack of heat in winter, Aigner’s memories of his postwar childhood are largely positive. “The American soldiers parked their big tanks right in front of our house,” he says, still sounding excited by the memory. “I loaded up on all the chewing gum they gave me. It was a good time.”

Collectors Weekly spoke to Josef Aigner and his daughter Cloe Aigner, author of a new book about her father's work. Read about his life and the art of stained glass church installations, and see more marvelous pictures at Collectors Weekly.

Although she is far from the first to do it, Gwyneth Paltrow has made bank on the idea that women can achieve beauty like hers by simply buying her Goop brand wellness products to transform one's body inside and out. More than 100 years ago, another attractive blonde became fabulously wealthy in much the same way. Madame Yale developed and sold products backed by questionable scientific claims and savvy marketing.     

Madame Yale rose to fame during a boom era for female beauty entrepreneurs, shortly before Elizabeth Arden and Estée Lauder, whose makeup empires endure today. But Madame Yale stood apart from these makeup moguls by promising to transform women from the inside out, rather than helping them hide their imperfections. That was itself an ingenious ploy: Because wearing visible makeup remained a questionable moral choice in the period, many women flocked to Yale’s product offerings, hoping to become so naturally flawless they wouldn’t need to paint their faces. In the 1890s, her business had an estimated value of $500,000—around $15 million in today’s money.

In the archives of the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, among yellowed advertisements for cocaine-infused toothache drops and opium-soaked tampons, I found a tattered promotional pamphlet for the centerpiece of Yale’s business—Fruitcura, the product she advertised most widely. Madame Yale said she had come upon the elixir during a dark period, recalling “my cheeks were sunken, eyes hollow and vacant in expression, and my complexion was to all appearances hopelessly ruined. My suffering was almost unbearable.” She also noted that “physicians had long before pronounced me beyond their aid.” But when she imbibed Fruitcura regularly after “discovering” it at age 38, she “emerged from a life of despair into an existence of sunshine and renewed sensations of youth.” In Yale’s account, sharing Fruitcura with her “sisters in misery” (that is, selling it to them) was now her almost sacred purpose.

Read about the rise and fall of Madame Yale and what her story says about the pressures women operate under at Smithsonian.

Peary, left, and Cook

If you had to name the first person to reach the North Pole, you would probably say Robert Peary. But we may never know for sure, as Peary was in a race against Frederick A. Cook. Both men set out on their respective expeditions in 1908, long before modern communications could track them. And there may have been some sabotage involved.

On his return trip, Cook had stopped in Annoatok, Greenland, and ran into an American hunter named Harry Whitney. Looking to offload some weight for the next leg of his journey, Cook entrusted Whitney with his supplies—including his navigational records and sextant—under the impression that Whitney would safely take them to New York City. They would meet later.

Months later, Robert Peary—fresh from his own expedition north—would appear in Annoatok with a boat. Whitney was thirsty to leave Greenland, and Peary agreed to help take Whitney home under one condition: That he leave all of Cook’s supplies behind. Whitney accepted. Cook, with his equipment lost somewhere in Greenland, would never be able to defend his claim. The New York Times, which had helped sponsor Peary’s trip, would say that Cook's claim was “The most astonishing imposture since the human race came on earth.”

Savage. Whether or not that story is "hilarious," it is one of eight rather interesting rivalries that took a strange turn in a list at Mental Floss. Others include Mark Twain's vendetta against the postal service, the fight over how vultures smell, and a dinosaur built all wrong.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, people are staying indoors in China. Some cities in the country placed a ban on dining out in groups to prevent the spread of the virus. Bars in Beijing and Guangzhou are delivering happy hour alcohol deals to the customers’ own home, so that they can have an income. Happy hour deals are where discounted drinks are served in the establishment, as CNBC detailed: 

In Beijing, a brewpub called Jing-A Brewing Co. said it is remaining open but only for takeaway orders, deliveries to peoples’ residences and refills when people bring their own beer containers, known as growlers.

“This change is due to local authorities prohibiting groups of more than 3 from dining or congregating in our brewpub,” the company said in a WeChat post.

The bar, which has a couple of locations in the Chinese capital, said it has extended its delivery hours from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Beijing time. Users can order through delivery platform Meituan. Jing-A is offering deals on its beer delivery.

The coronavirus has spread across the world, claiming the lives of over 1,700 people, mainly in China. Businesses stayed shut longer than usual after the Lunar New Year holiday while many people are still working from home. This has forced them to rely more on deliveries of products from platforms like Meituan or JD.com.

Despite drinking establishments trying to make the best out of a bad situation, it doesn’t appear to be hugely helping their businesses.

“At least (delivery) is better than nothing,” Philip, the owner of Evening Standard in Guangzhou, told CNBC.

image via CNBC

Firat Amara turned a London double-decker bus into a kebab shop. Last Stop Kebab, located in Edmonton, serves Turkish food inside a renovated double decker bus. The shop can seat 40 customers at a time. Amara conceptualized the shop in December, bought a real double-decker bus 20 days later, and spent two months renovating the place. Metro has more details: 

Firat and two colleagues had to remove some seats, remove the engine and the back tyres to allow space for tables, chairs, a kitchen and the all-important doner kebab machine. The gas, electricity and water needed to run the business comes from the supermarket next door that Firat part-owns.

There were a lot of people in the Edmonton area asking for hot food, both residents and visitors and employees of North Middlesex hospital because the nearest restaurant is a 20-minute walk away. Firat was determined to think outside of the box and use his 25 years’ kebab experience to start something revolutionary. He said: ‘I was always going to do it because at the end of the day what you put in is what you get back.’

‘So far, it’s working very well, I’m so happy and they make me so excited each time.’ The kebab bus serves a combination of kebabs, fresh salads and delicious wraps to customers every day from 11 am to 3 am. The original bus has been so successful, Firat is already thinking about buying more buses for restaurants in central London and Stratford.

image via Metro

Researchers from a university in Belgium have suggested that black soldier fly larvae (an insect larvae) is a good butter substitute in baked goods. In their study, Ghent University scientists found that most participants who tasted the baked goods with the insect larvae weren’t put off by the taste. Insect fat is more digestible that butter, and has positive nutritional attributes, as Vice detailed: 

"Insect fat is a different type of fat than butter” researcher Daylan Tzompa-Sosa said in a statement. “Insect fat contains lauric acid, which provides positive nutritional attributes since it is more digestible than butter. Moreover, lauric acid has an antibacterial, antimicrobial and antimycotic effect. This means that it is able, for example, to eliminate harmless various viruses, bacteria or even fungi in the body, allowing it to have a positive effect on health.”

Tzompa-Sosa has been researching the viability of using insects to replace butter, margarine, and other edible fats for several years. In 2016, she was part of a team at Wageningen University and Research Center in the Netherlands that turned mealworm fat into an oil that was similar to a combination of canola and soybean oils. "We're not allowed to eat it because it's made in a lab,” she told the Washington Post at the time. “It smells very mild ... grassy. It's not bad."

Although the results of the baked good taste tests seem promising, it's still way too soon to add black soldier larvae fat to your Instacart order.

image via Vice

Out of all the compilations and lists of resources the Internet has given us, this has got to be one of the most unnecessary yet funniest things to exist: The Mark Zuckerberg hair archive. Yes, you heard that right. Sam Lavigne shared on Twitter how he was able to process over a hundred images of Mark Zuckerberg to create the most comprehensive archive of Zuckerberg haircuts. Maybe you can find  your next hairstyle from the archive! 

Just discovered an open source hair detector and have used it on hundreds of images of Mark Zuckerberg to build what I believe is the most comprehensive archive of Zuckerberg haircuts in existence. Thank you AI researchers! pic.twitter.com/QJqXLAbqyw

— Sam Lavigne (@sam_lavigne) February 16, 2020

image via Twitter

Determining Disney World’s most popular ride is difficult, as there are a lot of different factors you can put into consideration. In addition, “popularity” is also difficult to quantify. It can be the amount of ticket sales per ride, the hype a ride is getting, or the years a ride has endured in the park. Meghan Jones shares her own way of determining Disney World’s most popular ride. They decided to determine it by counting the number of different versions a Disney ride has had, because this criteria was easy to quantify. The park ride that has the most different iterations is Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, as Reader’s Digest detailed: 

There’s one Disney ride that has (or has had) a version at every major Disney resort, plus an online version, as well as a version (more or less) in the defunct DisneyQuest arcade. Surprisingly, it’s not one of the rides that’s been around since the beginning. It’s a ride that debuted in 1998. The Disney park ride that’s seen the most different iterations is Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.

You’ll find the original version of this ride in the Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland. It’s an interactive dark ride; riders help Buzz Lightyear defend the galaxy from Emperor Zurg and his evil toy-sabotaging army. Each ride vehicle is equipped with a laser blaster for each rider, and guests actually get points based on how many targets they hit. Get the maximum score, 999,999 points—yes, it is possible—and you’ll become the stuff of Disney legend. 

image via wikimedia commons

When a country wins a bid to host a big sports event, that country must make sure to show the best version of itself to the world. They should be willing to spend huge amounts of money to host a big sports event. Qatar, who will host the 2022 World Cup, is no exception. Qatar has built 16 new hotels for the upcoming World Cup. These hotels are designed to float on water, will boast 101 rooms each, and remain docked on Qetaifan Island North near Lusail International Stadium. The 236-feet-long by 52-feet wide hotels cost $45 billion to build, as FastCompany detailed: 

“These floating hotels are kind of hybrid buildings as the design solutions are a mix of marine and landside building technologies,” says Mikael Hedberg, CEO of Admares Group. “The structure is made out of steel and is built according to marine regulations.” With the Persian Gulf as the location, these alternative dwellings look like minimalist yachts, equal parts function and luxury. In this sense, the four-story floating developments, which each have a restaurant and lounge bar, are a natural addition to the broader architectural language of Qatar—known for both its historical Islamic limestone structures and futuristic skyscrapers.

image credit: Admares via FastCompany

Dimitris Tsalkanis has recreated ancient Athens in 3D. This project took twelve years, which started when Tsalkanis was still a university student. The Athens-based photographer and animator realised that no one had attempted a complete 3D reconstruction of ancient Athens, so he did one himself. The culmination of the reconstruction of ancient Athens is at Ancient Athens 3D. The website features monuments from seven historical periods, as Hyperallergic detailed: 

 “This whole project continues to be and functions as a personal creation, without any official backing whatsoever,” said Tsalkanis. “Those who have at times contributed with their knowledge or advice, have done it for free and I am really grateful to them.”

Visitors to the site can browse reconstructions that date back as early as 1200 BCE, the Mycenaean period — or Bronze Age — through Classical Athens, featuring the rebuilds made necessary by the Greco-Persian War, and ages of occupation by Romans and Ottomans. Tsalkanis traces the evolution of sites like the Acropolis throughout the ages, the rise and fall of the city walls, the Agora, which served as center of city life, and various temples, libraries, and other fortifications.

image via Hyperallergic

Pulling in $57 million dollars compared to Detective Pikachu’s $54.3 million, Paramount’s film adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog broke the record for a video game movie’s three-day opening.

Worldwide, the flick has earned about $100 million, with countries like Mexico and the UK showing stronger demand than most.

As you may remember, the initial trailer was so bad it can make a Sonic fan throw up in disgust. Thankfully, the film’s producers really took the fan backlash seriously, and revamped Sonic’s design. And now, their efforts paid off.

Can’t wait to watch the film one of these days.

(Image Credit: Paramount Pictures/ YouTube)

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have invented a disposable diaper that automatically detects wetness caused by urine and alerts caregivers that it's time for changing. A press release describes how it works:

The sensor consists of a passive radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, that is placed below a layer of super absorbent polymer, a type of hydrogel that is typically used in diapers to soak up moisture. When the hydrogel is wet, the material expands and becomes slightly conductive — enough to trigger the RFID tag to send a radio signal to an RFID reader up to 1 meter away.

The researchers say the design is the first demonstration of hydrogel as a functional antenna element for moisture sensing in diapers using RFID. They estimate that the sensor costs less than 2 cents to manufacture, making it a low-cost, disposable alternative to other smart diaper technology.

-via Walyou | Image: MIT

As master of the mascara brush, Aaron Storms creates unique and original eye makeup designs. What is so interesting about his work is geometric forms executed with precise, sharp lines. Vivid colors pop out to add flair to any face.

Ben Zaehringer of Berkeley Mews would like to consider you for a relationship, but neglected to fill out the necessary form first. You can still write in his name when it's time for the prom if you have not moved on to another candidate relationship by that point.