It’s the holiday season and with that often comes festivities. And what better way to complete the merry-making tradition than with sharing drinks. Smithsonian shares with us nine tasty drinks served during the holidays all around the world. From South America to the Slavic countries, many different cultural groups carry their own special traditions with drink recipes that have their own story to tell. What’s yours?
Here's the original article from Smithsonian Magazine.
(Image credit: Pixabay)
Shayna Leib is an artist masterfully skilled in the intricacies of glasswork. For this project involving cane pulling, she uses her technical expertise in the craft to illustrate sea life influenced by the flowing forces of waves and the wind. A classical pianist by training, she credits music and philosophy as two major influences in her life and work. Leib explains how she creates these artworks step-by-step on her website.
Check out more of her jaw-dropping creations here.
-via This Is Colossal
Photo: Daniel Frank / Pexels
San Francisco photographer Eric Brummel posted this stabilized timelapse video of the night sky highlighted by the beautiful Milky Way to give us a better picture of how the Earth rotates.
Brummel recorded the video at Font’s Point in the Anza-Borrego Desert in California back in August 2016, although it’s just recently gone viral on twitter via the Wonder of Science.
The incredible illustration is real according to Brummel but many are skeptical whether it’s actual and authentic footage. Find out how Brummel created this video using a motorized tripod and more at Nerdist.
-via Flipboard
(Video: YouTube)
In an ironically waggish plot twist, firefighters in Lathrop, California, came to the rescue of a German shepherd that was stuck in a tree after chasing a black cat. Amusingly, upon the arrival of first responders who brought a ladder with them, the dog still would not relent in his pursuit.
The Lathrop Manteca Fire District Facebook page shared photos of the cat-dog conundrum with the caption:
You may have heard that our firefighters get cats out of trees, but what about dogs?!?! Right after Truck 30 and Engine 35 dropped off Santa that was exactly their next call. Glad to hear that all turned out well for this pooch, and we are all pretty sure he’ll think twice about chasing cats up the next tree...nice work Engine 35!
In the post, you can see just how hair-raising of a height it was and the moments of relief after the successful rescue.
Head over to CNN for the full story.
The year is not over yet and there is more to come before we bid 2019 a final farewell. An annual solar eclipse is expected to occur “at 3.43am Universal Time on December 26, 2019. If you're in Southeast Asia, that'll be between 11am to 1pm local time Christmas Day.”
There's a reason why this particular phenomenon is also called the "ring of fire" and sometimes, "ring of light". That's because watching the 3 minute 40 second eclipse without any protection for the eyes can lead to total blindness.
While it's not expected to be impressive since the New Moon is further away from the sun and will only be blocking the center of the sun's disk - about 97 percent of the sun, experts say the spectacle would still be beautiful to look at.
Don’t worry if you miss out on this one, there’s another eclipse expected to take place on June 21, 2020, and it may even be a rarer spectacle than this one.
Head over to Mashable for the full article.
Photo: Jongsun Lee / Unsplash
Temperatures across affected areas in Australia are soaring as fires have destroyed nearly 4 million hectares of bush land. For local residents and wildlife, seeking protection from the intense heat, which can be fatal, is a must. On Monday, Reuters shared this news update:
A family in the upper Hunter region of New South Wales filmed a 70 kg (154 lb) kangaroo taking a dip in their swimming pool at the weekend as temperatures topped 42 Celsius.
Various wildlife sanctuaries and rescue groups have evacuated hundreds of animals in time before the flames hit. But the task remains a difficult one, especially when deciding whether to evacuate or stay with the wildlife animals who may face worsening heat and fire conditions.
Reuters covers the full story here.
Photo: Ethan Brooke / Unsplash
A woman from the U.S. shared this heartwarming Facebook post of how she repaired a butterfly’s broken wing with a few tools and a guide she found online. Romy McCloskey helps dozens of butterflies go through metamorphosis by taking caterpillars indoors and releasing them into the wild once the transformation process is done. For one particular insect, its right wing came out deformed and Romy decided to take action by creating an artificial wing for him.
The procedure looks something like surgery for butterflies and thankfully,
Romy is a costume designer and does embroidery by trade, so it made the delicate procedure of creating an artificial butterfly wing much easier for her.
Romy then posted updates of the butterfly flying in nature with his new prosthetic wing.
Check out the full article from Megaphone.
(Image credit: Romy McCloskey / Facebook)
Glenn Druery entered his Tonkinese cat, Gus, as a wild-card contender in the Scotland Island dog swimming race, which has been held every Christmas Eve for the past 44 years. Although Gus is unlikely to win the race because of the physical advantages dogs have over cats, it does make for a good story.
Other dog owners who joined the race weren’t too hot about the cat joining the race in the interest of the safety of Gus and the other dogs too. In general, “[b]ig water dogs, such as labradors and other retrievers, predictably fare best overall.” The winners are categorized based on 3 dog sizes and receive their respective share of the prizes, which doubles as the entry fee of a beer bottle and a tin of dog food.
The Guardian gives more details about the origin of this holiday tradition here.
Photo: Sharon McCutcheon / Pexels
The Guardian gives us a list of the 13 worst trends from the past 10 years, which “were full of questionable ideas and purchases.” They cover everything from the rising influence of social media and celebrities to marketing trends in smart technology and fast fashion.
As you take a short trip down memory lane, you might find yourself asking, “What were we thinking?” Although there were a lot of awesome viral moments in the past decade, it comes with its fair share of cringing and let’s-not-do-that-again. Oh well, that’s popular culture for you.
What do you think about this?
Check out the full list from The Guardian.
Photo: Oleg Laptev / Unsplash
When libraries troll their patrons. pic.twitter.com/Hn8a96f8je
— Bartre (@Metafrantic) February 4, 2018
“Do you have this book that has a red cover?” is apparently a question commonly asked by customers to librarians. Queries like this lack useful specific details, making the librarian’s job particularly challenging, especially when there are so many other books with the same description. This tweet by @metafrantic shows the frustrating reality behind it and how librarians have cleverly poked fun at people who have this annoying habit.
And here was the reply of another Twitter user who had a similar experience:
Lolz my library did this too. I took a photo because we used to get this question all the time when I worked at a bookstore. pic.twitter.com/QDeZ8hvG0W
— Karah Sutton 🇳🇿 (@Karahdactyl) February 5, 2018
For those who have worked at libraries, has this ever happened to you?
Read the full post from Megaphone.
(Image credit: Twitter)
Dental implants are one solution to tooth loss among adults, though not always the most comfortable nor fastest way to recovering our pearly whites. But Dr. Jeremy Mao and his team at Columbia University have come up with an interesting technique for dental implants that could significantly alleviate this common problem.
The group believe that they've found a way to have the body’s stem cells migrate to a three-dimensional scaffold made of natural material and placed in a patient's mouth. Once the stem cells have colonized the scaffold, a tooth can grow in the socket and then merge with the surrounding tissue.
Although the results of their study were published in the Journal of the American Dental Association almost 10 years ago, Columbia University have already applied for patents for this technology, possibly making it a commercially viable reality in the near future.
-via Megaphone
Each year millions of people apply to some of the biggest and most in-demand employers out there. With so many resumes to sift through, how do these companies simplify their task of identifying promising candidates efficiently and without comprising quality? Well, some companies like Amazon and Google would look for these 3 telling words. Google calls it the XYZ formula: “Accomplished [X], as measured by [Y], by doing [Z].”
Or in simpler terms, include the words “from,” “to,” and “by” generously and properly in your resume.
Applicants whose resumes are filled to the brim with those three words will look more promising, compared to the resume of a hypothetical competing applicant who has the exact same background.
The reason is that it's almost impossible to write a fluffy, blustery resume that looks good superficially but doesn't provide much useful information, if an applicant uses those words over and over.
Check out Inc. for more useful techniques on how to best improve your resume.
Among women, there is a commonly misunderstood and misdiagnosed condition known as premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).
PMDD is much more intense than its better-known relative, PMS, with physical symptoms including fatigue and migraines, while the psychological symptoms can include the severe mood swings and anxiety [...] . The disorder can be so debilitating that 15% of those with PMDD have attempted suicide, and some young women affected are opting for hysterectomies.
While PMDD is a very serious condition that can cause aggression and impulsivity linked to violent activities, more research needs to be done in order to better identify and understand the symptoms, especially in criminal cases where an accused woman pleads “diminished responsibility due to a premenstrual condition.”
Head over to the full article from BBC.
Fluoride is believed to have protective effects for people’s teeth. However, there are those who are skeptical about the benefits of community water fluoridation, and in 2007, the people of Juneau, Alaska, voted to stop putting fluoride in their drinking water.
Ultimately, it was an expensive move to take out fluoride from the population's drinking water, more costly, in fact than keeping it. For kids below 6 years old, the average number of annual procedures for treating cavities increased by a small number, according to a study published in the journal BMC Oral Health.
Find out more about this from Science Alert.
Photo: Lisa Fotios / Pexels
What a time to be alive, especially for avid comic book fans, sci-fi geeks and tech enthusiasts. A human flying in a 3D-printed jet suit at speeds of up to 80 kph is not just some character idea for an action blockbuster, but now a reality thanks to British inventor Richard Browning.
Browning recently broke his own Guinness World Record by earning the title for “the fastest speed in a body-controlled jet engine powered suit (wind-guided) at 85.06 mph (136.891 km/h)” just 2 years after setting the previous record.
Browning is the founder of Gravity Industries, which makes the suits. He set the previous world record at 32.02 mph (51.53 kph). He said the suit has changed completely since he set the last record, and that it now is "entirely 3D-printed, lighter, stronger and much smarter," and that it gives the flyer the ability to fine-tune the power level mid-flight.
The suit looks like something closer to a crash test prototype than a highly advanced Iron Man suit, but it’s exciting to think how that could change in the next fifty years.
-via CNet.
Photo: Jaime Reimer / Pixabay
