Like all morally decent and physically attractive people, I enjoy pineapple on pizza. Ideally, genetic engineering will make this Maximumble cartoon a reality. Better yet, it may permit me to make a pizza with a single pineapple slice a the crust. After adding tomato sauce and cheese, let this optimal pizza be topped with an additional slice of pineapple.

Any parent who has stopped to peek into their children's notebooks before discarding them knows they can be a treasure trove of writing that reveals what's inside the child's mind. Simple composition books (or exercise books, as they are called elsewhere) can contain surprising insight into a child's life. A teenager named Anne Frank wrote her private thoughts down in notebooks that were eventually read all over the world. Thomas Pololi and Anna Teresa Ronchi collect children's notebooks from all over the world, going back as far as 1773, and started the Exercise Book Archive, an ongoing project to bring those notebooks to the public. Collectors Weekly interviewed Thomas Pololi about the project, the trends in education they reveal, the everyday things that were important to the students, and the eras they documented.     

What are some of the memorable historic moments recorded in these books?

Pololi: There are many historical periods narrated in the books from the point of view of children. It’s poignant because you have this contrast between the innocence of children and the drama happening around them. This is especially true of compositions about war, propaganda, or political events that we now recognize as terrible. But in the narration of children, there is often enthusiasm about the swastika in Germany, or the Duce in Italy (dictator Benito Mussolini), or for Mao in China. It is quite impressive because we know what happened, but reading the personal words of children is an immersion in the period and the daily life of children in these contexts. In most cases, the children tended to see the positive side of traumatic things, perhaps because their main goal is to grow up, and they needed to do it the world they lived in.

Read the rest of the interview and see a gallery of the notebooks at Collectors Weekly.

Alpacas are great animals to keep. Aside from the cuteness they bring every time you see them, their fleece can be one asset we can hugely benefit from. Their fleece is naturally plentiful, and easy to maintain.

The thermal, breathable, flame-resistant, hypoallergenic, and super-soft qualities of alpaca wool put traditional wools to shame. Without the natural lanolin, sometimes called “wool grease,” of other fleece, alpaca doesn’t require harsh washing during processing.

There is a problem, however. Most of the alpacas that we see today can be considered “mutts” due to their mixed-up family trees which were a result of the Spanish colonization of Peru. Fortunately, there are ongoing efforts to resurrect a better class of alpaca.

More about this over at The Walrus.

(Image Credit: kasjanf/ Pixabay)

NBC baseball writer Craig Calcaterra has a 16-year-old daughter named Anna. He found a map of the Western Hemisphere that Anna had been working on, and we all have so many questions. My question is, what are Florida and Chile thinking, as they've taken so much land that will be underwater in a few years? Calterra posted the map at Twitter, but couldn't provide any explanation because Anna was at school. But she eventually was able to text.

Update: I asked her if Ohio2 was a replica of the actual Ohio or if it’s just a cutout shape. pic.twitter.com/SE6yrfd2Q9

— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) February 12, 2020

People have a lot of opinions about how their home states are affected in this map, and plenty of horror at the very idea of Ohio2, which is now trending at Twitter. Anna explained more about the map at CNN.  -via Mashable

(Image credit: Anna Calcaterra via Craig Calcaterra)

Physical systems that move in different directions at once are called turbulent. Due to their motions which unfold in many different ways, it is very difficult to study these systems mathematically. But it seems that no matter how unpredictable they may become, they still conform to a simple universal law, which was recently proved by mathematicians.

“It may well be the most promising approach to turbulence,” said Vladimir Sverak, a mathematician at the University of Minnesota and an expert in the study of turbulence.

The new work provides a way of describing patterns in moving liquids. These patterns are evident in the rapid temperature variations between nearby points in the ocean and the frenetic, stylized way that white and black paint mix together. In 1959, an Australian mathematician named George Batchelor predicted that these patterns follow an exact, regimented order. The new proof validates the truth of “Batchelor’s law,” as the prediction came to be known.

Check out the full story over at Quanta Magazine.

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Blind people and people with poor vision have been kept in the dark (literally!) from Facebook ads. For nearly two years, they were not able to tell the difference between their friends’ post and paid ads, as Facebook did not include a legible “Sponsored” tag on these ads.

A legal expert says that the mislabeled ads could cause Facebook some legal issues.

Sen. Ron Wyden pointed out the problem to Facebook in December. After that, and after Quartz asked Facebook about it last week, the problem was fixed.

The ads used to be labeled in a way screen readers could understand. Before, the code for the label was simple. It was just a link that read “Sponsored.” But then Facebook made a big change to the the underlying HTML computer code for ads, adding additional intrusive letters in the label. So instead of “Sponsored,” the label essentially read, “Spspsononssososredredsss.”

Those who can read the website visually, however, would read the gibberish as just “sponsored”, as Facebook hid those letters using technological tricks such as setting the extra text to font size 0.

Clever, but not good.

(Image Credit: ElisaRiva/ Pixabay)

Beautiful fox popped into Parliament today. pic.twitter.com/C5QsOp5z8c

— Karl Turner MP (@KarlTurnerMP) February 6, 2020

You’ve heard about elf on the shelf, but have you heard of the fox in the parliament? (I know, I know, it doesn’t rhyme).

A fox was found inside the British Parliament, to the surprise of many of the workers and lawmakers in the building. It would seem that the fox had a good time touring the building, and it also left a “parting gift” on the office door of a Parliament member.

Members of Parliament and workers in the London building said the fox was spotted on four different floors of the building Thursday night, with several witnesses sharing photos and videos of the invading animal.

Kerry McCarthy, a Member of Parliament from the Labor party, said she missed the fox's visit Thursday, but she later found the animal had left droppings outside her office door.

"I can't believe I missed all the drama and just found the poo," she tweeted.

It was said that the fox was captured by the police on the fourth floor of the British Parliament. It was then carried outside in a box.

(Image Credit: Karl Turner MP/ Twitter)

Mosquitoes, at least the wild ones, have an insatiable thirst for blood. Their lab-grown counterparts, however, struggle to rustle up an appetite. It is a chore to keep them physically fit, as Willem Laursen manipulates the conditions inside the lab to replicate what the mosquitoes come across outdoors.

When his mosquitoes refuse to feed, Willem Laursen dons a pair of pantyhose.

… warmth from a heated metal disc; puffs of carbon dioxide from exhaled breath; the alluring funk of human sweat emanating from unwashed nylon stockings.

The lab’s latest crop of mosquito mutants, however, have proved even tougher to coax than usual. Laursen and his colleagues have genetically modified the bloodsuckers to stop expressing a molecular thermostat called IR21a in their antennae, stunting their ability to home in on heat—and leaving them less prone to sup on servings of warm human blood.

Apparently, there are some genes and cells that are responsible for making mosquitoes attracted to heat. And since we have warm blood, our bodies spell “full course meal” for mosquitoes.

Check out Smithsonian Magazine for more details about the study.

(Image Credit: skeeze/ Pixabay)

Every year, some dogs are winners at the Westminster Dog Show, while others just go viral when they become audience favorites. Lobo the Siberian husky won the crowd.  

"Can he be fast, can he be clean, can he be a champion?" Uh, no. Lobo knows what to do, and he's fairly obedient, but no one can make him be enthusiastic about the agility course. They have minds of their own, as any husky owner will tell you.  -via Digg

The Invisible Man starring Elizabeth Moss is set to hit theaters on February 28th. It is the latest in a long line of films premised on H.G. Wells' 1897 novel The Invisible Man. That only makes sense, as the idea is intriguing, especially to filmmakers who love to show off ever-more impressive special effects. Cheryl Eddy at io9 selected the eight best of these movies to recommend, so you'll have something to compare the newest film to. They range from horror to crime drama to science fiction to comedy, from 1933 to 2000, all with video evidence in trailers or clips.

Both historians and contemporaries note a couple of striking things about President Abraham Lincoln in addition to his crucial place in history. First, he was funny-looking, which commanded enough attention to keep an audience until they became fascinated with what he had to say. Second, he was genuinely funny, and even won competitions for the humorous stories and jokes he told.   

Humor was an essential part of Lincoln, and a critical element in his success.  As a Congressional candidate, he used it to fire up crowds and put down hecklers. Running for the senate, his humor enabled him to score points off the well known and skilled politician, Stephen Douglas. When, for example, Douglas told a debate crowd that Lincoln was unqualified and unskilled, he added that Lincoln had once run a general store, selling cigars and whiskey. He added, “Mr. Lincoln was a very good bartender.” Lincoln retorted, “Many a time have I stood on one side of the counter… and sold Mr. Douglas whiskey on the other side.”

When Douglas accused Lincoln of being “two faced,” Lincoln shot back, “If I really had two faces, do you think I’d hide behind this one?”

Later, in the depths of the Civil War, Lincoln's humor offended some of his advisors, but the president often resorted to humor to keep his own depression in check. Read some of Lincoln's best quips and stories at the Saturday Evening Post. -via Damn Interesting

(Image credit: Library of Congress)

Synesthesia is a condition in which people experience one sense as a different sense, as in perceiving music as colors or scents, or being able to taste art. Bernadette Sheridan has grapheme-color synesthesia, meaning she translates text as colors, especially the letters that make up names.

When I meet new people, I forget their name immediately. Don’t get me wrong, I hear the name, but my mind is distracted. In my head, I am counting the number of letters in the name, and visualizing the colors of each letter.

Your name may be Emily, but to me, you’re a bright, sunny swath of five letters with an “E” and an “I.” When I meet you again later, I may think your name is Emily or Jille or Ellie. Those three names “look” remarkably similar to someone who operates as I do — they all have five letters, they all include the letters “i,” “l,” and “e.”

Sheridan created a generator to show people what their name looks like to her. Enter your (or any) name into the generator here to see it rendered in colors. Sheridan cautions that the colors she sees are her individual translation, and would not be the same for another synesthete. Read more about her colors and the visualization project at Medium. -via Mental Floss

The father of our country excelled in leading an army and in presidenting, but he felt most at home at his farm, Mount Vernon. There he distilled whiskey, managed slaves, and built odd privies. He also experimented with ways to help his new country get started on the right foot, such as breeding mules.   

General George Washington, hero of the American Revolution, was world famous in the 1780s, which was exactly the clout he needed to get what he was really after: Spanish ass.

The best donkeys in the world came from Spain, but because of their equine superiority, the Spanish monarchy made them illegal to export without royal exemption, a source of great frustration to Washington. Mules—a cross between a male donkey and a female horse—could do an equivalent amount of work as horses with less food and water, and Washington was convinced they were the future of American farming.

Washington name-dropped, pulled strings, and used other diplomatic methods to procure sires for his American mules. And then there was the problem with getting them to America, and then getting them to mate. Read about Washington and his "Jacks" at Smithsonian.

(Image credit: PYellott)

Every day millions of husbands are left unattended in Target parking lots. We are now starting a Husbands of Target movement to band together. Join us, we have beef jerky.

Fire up the old excavator because it's time for the bowling league to meet. Bolt a couple car seats onto a piece of sheet metal, such as an old car hood, then swing for the pins. That's how the good people of Chase, Michigan get in their winter fun.

What I can't figure out from the video is how the release mechanism works. How is the strap released under control?

-via Geekologie