WE ON https://t.co/M2rNlpeR1U !!! Of Tenants And Tentacles: 'BTTM FDRS' Confronts Gentrification In Comic Horror Form https://t.co/rmphp1C3k1

— Ezra Claytan Daniels @ SDCC (@ezracdaniels) June 27, 2019

Many cities and neighborhoods nowadays are getting gentrified and there are some real horrors that come about with those kinds of developments especially for people who are still struggling to get by in life.

Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore wanted to talk about that in a way that wouldn't alienate people but also show them the reality of the situation. And that's why they decided to create a graphic novel about it called BTTM FDRS.

Daniels shares his inspiration to writing about gentrification:

A lot of the book is a love letter to my time in my early 20s in Chicago. It's very true to my experience of Chicago, which obviously isn't everyone's experience. I moved to Chicago from Portland, Oregon, and I'm a person of color. I was moving to neighborhoods that were cheap because that's all I could afford.

And why they chose horror as the genre to write with:

Well, first of all I just like horror and I feel really comfortable with that genre. But I think historically, horror and science fiction have both been used to approach difficult topics ... look at something like The Twilight Zone, which was historically a way Rod Sterling could approach ideas like race, racial inequality, gender inequality through the sci-fi lens so he could get it past the censors; so he could actually get these ideas aired ... That's always been a huge influence on my work.

Read more on NPR.

(Image credit: Ezra Claytan Daniels/Twitter via Fantagraphics)

NASA just recently took photos of Raikoke volcano's eruption and seen from above, the phenomenon looks stunning. The satellite photo shows a plume of grayish brown smoke rising above the sea of clouds and those taken by astronauts from space show a streak of brown amidst converging clouds and wind patterns.

On June 22nd, 2019, the Raikoke Volcano on Russia's Kuril Islands, which last exploded in 1924, suddenly let out a giant plume of ash and gas from its 700-meter crater. Astronauts were able to take pics of the narrow column of the plume as it rose and expanded over an area called the umbrella region.

Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers in Tokyo and Anchorage reported that the ash had reached as high as 13 kilometers (8 miles). Data from the CALIPSO satellite shows that some segments of the plume reached the altitude of 17 kilometers (10 miles).

(Image credit: NASA)

Crocodiles are terrifying creatures. They lurk underwater looking for their next meal and if you happen to be caught unawares, you might find yourself in a very tight spot. That's why it's surprising to hear that some ancient crocodiles not only were able to eat leafy greens but also preferred a vegetarian diet.

The research, which was published in Current Biology, is based on fossils that survived long after many of the ancient crocodile species became extinct. The study reveals that forks in the crocodile family tree resulted in species that favored plants at least three times in history.

(Image credit: pixel2013/Pixabay)

Salt pans are one of the usual means to harvest salt but there are other ways too. Seawater may also be processed so that we can separate the salt from the water and with the help of some solar ovens, Brian and Shaena McMahon have been producing salt through this method.

While much of the commonly-used table salt today is mined on land, that salt originally came from seawater—the ancient oceans that later dried up, leaving behind residue. Large-scale salt mining companies usually use trucks and other big machinery powered by gasoline. The commercial sea salt harvesting process is also energy-intensive. “It’s usually boiled or baked using fossil fuels, and moved using big trucks,” Brian says.

Before the Industrial Revolution, however, solar salt making was all the rage in the United States. At Syracuse brine springs, where water was originally evaporated using fires, salt-makers first tried solar evaporation in 1822—and then fully switched to this method. The McMahons are following the same ideology at Hatteras Saltworks.

(Image credit: Aaron Tuelle/JStor)

"You want to be wise? Don't read too much." Well, there goes all the textbooks, essays, and articles we've been reading through all these years in the pursuit of knowledge. In essence, the debate is actually between whether one should acquire knowledge or skills more. Or to be more specific, whether knowledge should be acquired simply for its own sake.

It's quite clear today which society values more in terms of economic worth. Knowledge is proliferated in spaces like the academe but if you want to make it in the world beyond structured learning, you need skills. And that's the point Montaigne wanted to drive home: that it's better to have a "well-made" head than a "well-filled" one.

“We should rather examine, who is better learned, than who is more learned. We only labor to stuff the memory, and leave the conscience and the understanding unfurnished and void. Like birds who fly abroad to forage for grain, and bring it home in the beak, without tasting it themselves, to feed their young; so our pedants go picking knowledge here and there, out of books, and hold it at the tongue’s end, only to spit it out and distribute it abroad.”

Surely, knowledge has its own virtue but it won't mean much if it's just stuck in our head. However, there's nothing wrong with scholarly pursuits. If only these lead to discussions that could change the way we understand things and use that insight for improvement or development.

Montaigne was distrustful of education that was too scholarly, as I have just discussed. In alignment with the great polarity that marks the thinking in the Essays, the opposition of nature and art, of good nature and evil artifice, erudition is more likely to distance us from our own true nature than to put us closer in touch with it. Montaigne tells us with pride that his readings have not turned him away from his own nature, but, on the contrary, have enabled him to understand it.

Read more of this discussion on Lithub.

(Image credit: Mitya Ivanov/Unsplash)

The different technological innovations we've had during the past century made great strides. Some argue that certain technologies have definitely been giant leaps for human society but the next big thing would most likely be something that can revolutionize our way of life in monumental ways.

The moon landing was a giant leap for a man—Armstrong’s life was forever changed—but, in hindsight, only a small step for mankind. It’s not that putting people on the moon wasn’t a difficult collective achievement—it was. But getting to the moon has done little in the long run to change human society.

Its most resonant impact is not a particular technology, but simply the metaphor: If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we do X? The “X’s” that usually come up in these discussions, such as figuring out how to solve climate change or poverty, “all have some potential for the application of technical solutions,” Launius notes.

“But they are largely political and social problems.” And Apollo did not solve any political or social problems. Other “X’s”—say, curing cancer—depend on developing whole new forms of scientific knowledge.

(Image credit: SpaceX/Unsplash)

Going through a traumatic event can affect anyone, some more severely than others, but why? A team from Penn State and University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine set out to find the answers to that question. They wanted to know whether this may be due to pre-existing conditions or a response to trauma exposure.

The team used the predator scent model of PTSD in rats and longitudinal design, which involves repeated observations of the same subject over a period of time. The researchers found that pre-existing neural circuit function can predispose animals to different fearful responses to threats.

“The data we gathered provides a framework of pre-existing circuit function in the brain that determines threat responses,” Zhang said. “This may directly relate to PTSD-like behaviors.” “This research can help us understand core components of the vulnerability to stress-induced neuropsychiatric disorders,” Zhang said.

(Image credit: Aaron Blanco Tejedor/Unsplash)

Several years ago, rumors circulated on Chinese social media about a rural village in Shaanxi province which purportedly vanished off the face of the earth without leaving any trace or clue as to the whereabouts of its inhabitants.

Here there once supposedly stood a rural village much like many others like it that dot the region, with nothing particularly out of the ordinary or exceptional about it other than its proximity to a rocket launch center, but it would suddenly begin making the Chinese news and generating buzz on social media in 2010 when the story came out about how this little village one day just completely vanished off the face of the earth.

Many conspiracy theories and eyewitness accounts state various events that led up to the strange disappearance of the rural village. Some say there were UFO sightings prior to the phenomenon, while others also noted that they saw military personnel and vehicles around the area before it happened. Other more bizarre explanations say that a large number of snakes suddenly appeared before the vanishing.

Whatever the reason was, it's still unknown and nobody has any knowledge of what happened to the residents of that rural village.

(Image credit: Mysterious Universe)

Planets generally start out as stars with the surrounding dust and gas clumping together to form masses that would eventually become planets. Scientists are hoping that they will get to observe this process as it happens with a star which ALMA sighted at the early stages of planetary formation.

ALMA discovered a blob of material as wide as the distance between the Sun and Earth, and as long as the distance between the Sun and Jupiter. Astronomers think clumps or blobs in the disk around young stars is one of the first stages of planet formation.

But the blob is at odds with some parts of astronomers’ theories as well. For one, it’s strange that a disk should form just a single protoplanet. Models and studies of other systems indicate multiple planets forming at the same time are more likely. Also, these protoplanet blobs are expected to be more rounded, instead of the distended shape found within TW Hydrae’s disk.

It’s possible the baby planet is merely a spinning vortex of gas, similar to a hurricane forming in the gases of Earth’s atmosphere. Or maybe astronomers are truly seeing the very first stage of planet formation for the first time.

(Image credit: ALMA/ESO/NAOJ/NRAO, Tsukagoshi et al.)

There are many mysterious creatures lurking in the depths of our oceans but you don't need to go on a journey down 20,000 leagues to find one. For only the second time in history, scientists from NOAA captured footage of a giant squid.

Now, a new video released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and already causing a sensation reveals the undulating tentacles of a rare giant squid in the deep currents of the Gulf of Mexico.

This amazing American squid was located at a depth of 2,490 feet and appeared to measure in at between 10-12 feet long. Scientists aboard the research vessel delivered the astonishing footage to NOAA Fisheries zoologist, Michael Vecchione, for immediate expert identification. He quickly confirmed the eerie animal as being a squid of the genus Architeuthis, or GIANT squid!

Here's a composite made of the squid showing how it approached the electronic jelly, attacked, and then left:

Image credit: NOAA/Dante Fenolio

Despite what it's called, forest bathing doesn't mean taking a bath in the forest. In fact, no water is involved in this latest outdoors trend. It's all about connecting with nature and taking a step back from the busyness of life.

“We don’t go far and we don’t travel fast,” said Kayla Weber, who is based in Vail and leads forest therapy outings. “We take the opportunity to slow down and connect back to our surroundings.”

While you intuitively know spending time in nature feels good, several studies underscore the health benefits of forest bathing, a practice that originated in Japan in the 1980s as a form of preventive health care.

(Image credit: Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

It could be slightly annoying when you fold your sheets by yourself and end up with sheets that aren't folded squarely. It definitely brings out a little obsessive-compulsive urge to have all the corners and sides of the sheets tucked nicely. But it's difficult doing it by yourself.

Now, you can follow this simple six-step process which an Adairs retail assistance shared in order to fold a fitted sheet perfectly every time, and in under just one minute.

Step one: Place your hands in the corner of either side and lay it down on a flat surface.

Step two: Place your fingers on the outside corners and then push those corners inside out.

Step three: Place your fingers on the inside of the sheet, corner to corner.

Step four: Gather the ends of your elastic, corner to corner, then pick it up and give it a good shake.

Step five: Place your right hand into the corner of the sheets and then tuck your left hand under the corner. Place the sheet on a flat surface to form a rectangle shape.

Step six: Take your corners, fold over into the middle on both sides and then fold it into a nice squares.

(Image credit: Pacific Fair Shopping Center/Facebook)

Vegetarians and vegans have many choices now regarding where they will get their protein without eating any meat. And that's all thanks to plant-based proteins. These proteins are usually boxed into three categories: tempeh, seitan, and tofu. So what differentiates each one from the others? Here, Thrillist gives us a rundown on these three ingredients.

(Image credit: Devanath/Pixabay)

Things don't always go the way we want or expect even if it's our birthday. Christy Steele was quite disappointed when she received a speeding ticket on her previous birthday but this year, she lucked out when she won $1 million at the lottery.

Steele won the first $1 million prize in the new $25,000,000 Casino Cash game. She beat odds of 1 in 1.2 million, according to the lottery’s website. Steele was “taking care of some family business” when she decided to buy the $10 ticket at Barker’s Log Cabin Grocery in Harmony. The community is in rural northern Iredell County.

“I was just feeling lucky that day for some reason,” Steele told officials. “I figured I’d give it a try.” She scratched one of the four games on the ticket, and it showed she’d won the game’s top prize.

Good things don't always happen to us but once in a while, something good does come around the corner.

(Image credit: jackmac34/Pixabay)

Long hair and vigorous head thrashing has been the signature trait of heavy metal bands and one of the trailblazers in this is Black Sabbath. And as a homage to their contribution to music and pop culture history, the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery will showcase an exhibit featuring Black Sabbath's mementos and other paraphernalia.

The exhibition celebrates Black Sabbath from the perspective of their fans, to show the impact and cultural legacy of the band as pioneers of Heavy Metal, and to celebrate this unique, significant part of British music heritage.

For more details, check out the Birmingham Museums site.

(Image credit: Birmingham Museums)