How ironic that the business that swallowed Blockbuster as well as other video rental places and ran them to the ground because of the unique business model it had, at the time, of digital distribution of movies is now opening its own physical retail stores. Netflix announced that it would be opening brick-and-mortar stores, called Netflix House, which will sell merchandise from original Netflix productions, a restaurant, and even a Squid Game-inspired obstacle course.

Netflix has been experimenting with pop-up stores recently where fans of certain shows like Bridgerton or Stranger Things can have an immersive experience inside. Apparently, all of that was in preparation for their new retail stores which are tentatively going to open in 2025 with the first two locations in the US.

(Image credit: Venti Views/Unsplash)

If you feel the hustle and bustle of city life becoming too overwhelming, one of the things you can look to do is to take a retreat somewhere in the mountains, the forests, or the near the ocean. However, you may not be as comfortable being in the outdoors as we have grown used to the comforts of modern society and indoor living. But you still want to experience nature in its fullness and keep your mind away from the stress and worries of the urban jungle. So, perhaps this elegant, minimalist treehouse called Piil is the perfect compromise.

Designed and built by the studio Arsenit, the concept is basically that of a retreat house out in the woods. They also took into consideration the surrounding flora and fauna, one of the reasons why it's such a compact structure. You wouldn't want to change or destroy of the natural environment just to find a nice resting place in the middle of forest. Instead, they adapted the measurements of the treehouse to suit the immediate surroundings.

And so, they came up with a 19-square-meter space that stands at 9 meters nestled between trees. It offers a view looking out into the forest while maintaining a comfortable living space fully furnished with a bed, a bathroom, and a calming netted hammock if you'd like to go stargazing at night.

(Image credit: Yifan Liu/Arsenit)

Normally, any cafe, restaurant, or shop would be glad to have free publicity, so it's no surprise that many new establishments these days would have elegent aesthetics, quality furniture, and a great ambiance to heighten the appeal of the place to attract new customers, repeat customers, and especially the influencers. However, this one cafe in Brooklyn not only implemented a no-laptop policy, but they have also recently banned people from taking photos and videos inside the cafe, aside from quick snaps. The cafe's name is Dae.

The reason why they basically banned influencers, generally, and other people as well from taking photos and videos is that it became too much to bear and they weren't even ordering any food. Although it is understandable that some establishments may appreciate the gesture, it might get in the way of business as there have been instances when people bringing their tripods and cameras would just waltz in, take photos of other people's food, capture employees on video, and then leave.

(Image credit: Dae New York/Instagram)

Out of all the mythical creatures in Japan, the most feared might just be the tengu. They are chimeric supernatural creatures with a human form amalgamated with beast-like features. The one most famous tengu is the Great Tengu, represented by the red long-nosed mask, which can be seen atop entrances so as to ward off evil spirits. The lore that makes the tengu quite terrifying is the fact that they are said to abduct humans. While this might be a horrific experience for some, others actually seek out the tengu as they are also said to be masters of the martial arts, and those who seek them aim to learn their secrets.

As the lore of tengu evolved throughout the centuries, many different forms of tengu took shape and people have been interested in ranking which one of these tengu is the most powerful of them all. So, here is a list from Linda Lombardi of Tofugu giving us all the details about the eight most powerful tengu and where they are said to be found in Japan. It also has a more extensive narrative of the legend and its origins as well as references about the tengu in pop culture.

(Image credit: Rui Hao Lim/Unsplash)

When you first look at the collection of sculptures, you might think that the bonsai planted inside these Chinese porcelain vases have grown too big for their vessels and are looking to spread their branches out to get some fresh air. It looks a bit shocking to imagine that a bonsai tree would have enough force to break out of a porcelain vase, but Patrick Bergsma, the Netherland-based artist responsible for these sculptures, actually collected dead or sick bonsai and molded them together with broken porcelain vessels to depict a story.

The collection is part of Bergsma's Expanding China series which was inspired by his interest of antiques and was titled as such since both the porcelain and bonsai used in his sculptures originated from China. Through this collection, he wanted to express the contrast between art and nature, with the fragments of porcelain juxtaposed with the bonsai trees. More on this from My Modern Met.

(Image credit: Patrick Bergsma/Instagram)

You may have heard that a group of billionaires have recently bought tons of land in California near Travis Air Force Base, and apparently, the reason for their doing so was because they wanted to create an ideal city called California Forever. It's no surprise since people have always been looking for ways to build and develop planned communities and cities that would fit the lifestyle, economic system, and sociocultural organization of the people living in that society.

In this JSTOR article by Ashley Gardini, we get a quick glimpse of the design paradigms that societies have implemented in their urban planning from ancient civilizations to today. You may find that certain design schemes like the city grid was taken from the ancient Greek scholar Hippodamus, and to whom the term "Hippodamian plan" is attributed. Other styles emerged throughout the centuries like the utopian ideal of the Renaissance exemplified in the nine-point star pattern of the Venetian Republic. And of course, each of these designs reflect the ideal that people of the time had, as today, the prevalent design ideal is based on the New Urbanism school of thought.

(Image credit: Denys Nevozhai/Unsplash)

I'm not a fan of horror films because they gave me nightmares when I was a kid so my parents told me to just avoid them and I absolutely stayed away from them like the plague. When I had grown older, I gained some tolerance for scary movies, and I was able to watch The Conjuring. My threshold is now at films or shows with just enough graphic gore elements like those about the zombie apocalypse. Evil spirits, ghouls, and other dastardly enigmas are still a no-no for me. However, if you are a big horror fan or are interested getting into the horror genre, then you should definitely check out some of the originals.

The Exorcist still tops the list of the scariest film ever created. And it's definitely no joke. Not even the scariest films of today can hold a candle to the film that put horror into the limelight. But apart from The Exorcist, there are many other eerie films that will give you the spooks especially as Halloween is almost upon us. Not everyone might consider some of these films super scary, and in fact, the list by Moss and Fog, actually misses one of the films that always appears on the top three scariest films in history, and that is The Shining. Despite that, it is still considerably a solid list which puts a lot of old horror into the spotlight.

(Image credit: Felix Mooneeram/Unsplash)

Before the advent of ChatGPT, there was an AI startup who had a chatbot named Annie, whose role was to help people looking for rental properties find an apartment suited to their preferences and book appointments for ocular visits. However, the chatbot wasn't sophisticated enough to handle the different situations clients were facing. So, the company hired human writers to operate the chatbot whenever Annie encountered an inquiry that was not part of her algorithm. Through machine learning, the engineers had hoped that Annie would become advanced enough to render human help unnecessary. And so writer Irina Teveleva's life as an AI chatbot operator began.

As anyone who has been into the real-estate business before or went looking for apartments themselves, each prospective client have their own situations that require a tailored approach. So, operators had to give Annie that human touch, to be able to relate with the clients, and to sound as human as possible. The idea was that clients were more at ease when they believed they were talking to humans. However, along the way, the AI startup was bought by a real-estate software firm, and directions shifted. Instead of trying to make Annie sound as human as possible, operators were instructed to be as efficient possible. In the end, Annie had succeeded in doing what humans generally fear about AI - she rendered them unnecessary.

(Image credit: Mohamed Hassan/Pixabay)

For those of you who are experts in baking, you may know that unsalted butter is a must as it allows you to have more accurate measurements of how much salt you should put into your recipe. And you may also know that there has been this discussion about which butter should be used - American-style or European-style butter. Without having to go into the details, if you are planning on baking an American recipe, then it would be best to use American-style butter as the ones who made the recipe most likely used American butter.

Now, the question is, where should you buy your butter? Food52 looked into it and compared butter sold from five different places: Breakstone's, Cabot, Land O' Lakes, Trader Joe's, and 365. And they were surprised which butter was best. Which do you think is the best butter?

(Image credit: Sorin Gheorghita/Unsplash)

Rickshaw pulling is one of the growing tourist attractions in Japan, where you can take a leisurely stroll around the streets on a two-wheeled cart pulled by a driver. Rickshaw pullers were mostly men but a surging number of Japanese women have also entered the profession, and Tokyo Rickshaw, the company operating within the Asakusa district, reports that women comprise about a third of their pullers. This sudden interest can be attributed to social media as rickshaw pullers post videos of their trips online to promote themselves, attract more customers, and gain repeat customers.

It might seem like a dangerous job for women, since it's physically demanding and there's always the risk of sexual harassment from customers or discrimination. However, the women themselves find it engaging and fulfilling, and so they continue to work. Moreover, popular drivers can earn over 1 million yen a month which is twice the average salary of a typical Japanese employee, and ten times that of the minimum wage.

(Image credit: Felix Luo/Unsplash)

Traffic laws differ from country to country, although some rules might be similar such as rules against running a red light, speed limits, and rules on where to park. In the UK, they have what is called The Highway Code which lists the rules that govern the road for motorists, cyclists, and even pedestrians. There are 307 rules categorized by the type of road user as well as additional guidelines for light signals, traffic signs, road markings, and vehicle markings.

A survey conducted by Scrap Car Comparison found that thousands of people had been breaking the rules listed in The Highway Code without even knowing it. One such rule that almost 90% of respondents said they had broken was flashing their headlights in order to give way to another driver, which The Highway Code prohibits. Nottingham Post lists the other nine UK road laws people unknowingly break.

(Image credit: Aleksandr Popov/Unsplash)

Located near Norway's border with Russia, Kirkenes has become a town where everybody knows someone who has been involved in spy activities, or has been approached by the Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) for seemingly innocuous requests, until Russian Intelligence suddenly arrests you while you're in the middle of an errand, and charges you with espionage. That was the story of Frode Berg, who was unknowingly sent by the NIS to deliver a memory card that tried to look into Russia's submarine weapons systems. He was caught, and after seven months, sent back home through a prisoner exchange. That would be the last he'll take on a request from the NIS.

Berg isn't the only one, it seems, as many locals of Kirkenes have experienced a similar encounter. Many of those being approached by the NIS were business owners and people with personal connections in Russia who risk being seen talking to the NIS as Russian spies lurked among the people of Kirkenes. When Berg had been arrested, he shared that the intelligence officers showed how much they knew of the town, its residents, and even the goings-on in the town. This has stirred unrest and paranoia among the residents and understably so, after news of Berg's arrest spread. Everybody became suspicious that the person they were talking to might be a spy.

Ian MacDougall visits the town to investigate further and recounts the spy stories he heard during his stay in Kirkenes.

(Image credit: Killian Cartignies/Unsplash)

It would probably be much easier to believe that once you throw your plastic waste into the bin, they will all go to the same place where they get recycled and put back to good use at some point of their useful lives. Waste management systems in the West have been so efficient that people don't even notice what happens to their garbage after they throw them away. Well, they get picked up by the collectors and off they go, to who knows where? Actually, those plastics go into large containers where they are shipped to countries in Central America and Southeast Asia.

Living in one of those countries, I know that those wastes don't get disposed of properly. Without the proper technology to deal with them, a less organized system of segregation, and no proper backing from the government, those wastes are just piling up somewhere.

If I could do something about it, I would suggest that we just incinerate them. I learned in university that, though the process may release fumes into the atmosphere, it would solve our waste problem. At least, it's better than burying all that non-biodegradable material under the earth where it would take centuries if not millennia before they break down. Not even the whole population of plastic-eating worms will consume all the plastic we have built up.

For more on this story, check out Holly Hogan's article on The Walrus.

(Image credit: Marc Newberry/Unsplash)

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has discovered a planet that, by all stretch of the imagination, shouldn't be there. It's called 8 Ursae Minoris b, and it's orbiting a red giant star which, scientists say, should have engulfed the planet. Marc Hon suggested two possible scenarios that might explain why the planet is still there.

The first is that when two stars, about the size of our sun, were orbiting one another, one star accelerates its expansion, becoming a white dwarf, a relatively smaller but denser star, before it collides with the other star, thus mitigating the impact and leaving the planet unscathed.

The second theory is that when the two stars had merged and exploded, a copious amount of debris scattered and those remnants coalesced to form the planet that we see today. If the second scenario were the case, then scientists say that this might give a deeper insight into planetary formation and destruction.

(Image credit: Javier Miranda/Unsplash)

Police officers from Palos Park have reported sightings of clusters of these so-called "jack-o'-lantern mushrooms" (Omphalotus olearius) growing in the forest preserves in Palos. They have bioluminescent properties which make them glow in the dark at night, so for any nature lovers walking around the area, be careful not to eat them. Despite only being of medium severity, its poison can lead to a serious case of vomiting, cramps, and diarrhea. Commonly found in midwestern and eastern United States, they usually sprout in late summer and well into fall. 

(Image credit: Jan Hearer/Unsplash)

However, do not confuse them with the chanterelle mushrooms which are completely edible. One marked difference between the two is that the jack-o'-lantern mushroom has true, sharp, non-forking gills while the chanterelle has false gills like ridges; and when the stem of the jack-o'-lantern is peeled, the inside is orange, as opposed to the paler hue of the chanterelle.

(Image credit: Timothy Dykes/Unsplash)