1766 was a bad year for farmers in Europe. As crops failed across the continent, prices of foodstuffs such as wheat, flour, corn skyrocketed. This sparked protests everywhere, and there were food riots in England, where people seized goods by force.

But despite this turmoil happening in the country, the annual Nottingham Goose Fair, which was famous for its excellent cheese, still was held on October 2 that year. The annual livestock and trade event on Old Market Square always attracted thousands of merchants, traders, peasants, and geese farmers from all over the country. This year wasn’t so different, it seemed, until the cheese was brought out to the market at nearly twice its usual price.

The locals became angry at the excessive price because it put the cheese beyond their reach. The day progressed without disturbance, but in the evening events apparently became tense when ‘some rude lads’ intercepted several Lincolnshire traders who had purchased several hundred pounds of cheese. The lads threatened the traders that they could not take the cheese away until the town was served first. An altercation followed. Eventually violence broke out, and the mob started looting hundreds of wheels of cheese and rolled them away.

Learn more about the Nottingham Cheese Riot over at Amusing Planet.

(Image Credit: Jon Sullivan/ Wikimedia Commons)

Compared to other windows, double-glazed windows have many advantages. For one, because these windows store heat, rooms with these windows are warmer in the winter. Installing these windows also means less energy consumed in heating up or cooling down a room, thus saving money in the long run. But can we take this to the next level? Turns out, we can.

… Singaporean scientists have tweaked the concept to make it even more effective. Instead of leaving an air gap between the two panes of glass, the researchers have inserted a heat-absorbing, light-blocking liquid.

[...]

During the day, as sunlight passes through the window, the liquid absorbs and stores that light's thermal energy. This keeps the room from heating up, reducing the need to run the air conditioning.

Additionally, as the liquid warms up, the hydrogel within it changes from a transparent to an opaque state. Although this ruins the view out of the window, it also reduces the amount of visible light that passes through from outside, further helping to keep the room cool.

More details about this over at New Atlas.

Now that’s epic.

(Image Credit: Nanyang Technological University/ New Atlas)

Because if there’s one thing that we all love, it’s buying high-quality stuff at a low price. The Verge provides us a list of high-quality products that are less than $50, such as earbuds which cost $15, a $43 wireless router, a $22 rice cooker, and a 10-foot-long USB-C cable, which costs only $13.

Check out the list over at the site.

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As an infant grows into a toddler, he not only learns to walk, but also learns the elements of communication, such as listening, speaking, and observing. As a child grows, he gets more and more exposed to words and sentences, and then he becomes able to say some words and construct some sentences.

It is an exciting and wonderful time for children to learn about their world and share their discoveries. It can also be a time of anxiety, if a child is not showing the communication signs the parent expects them to at a particular age.

The question is, how can parents help their children communicate? The answer, according to Olivia Karaolis, may be found in puppets.

In 2019 as part of my yet unpublished research (that draws on previous work in the United States), I went to three different preschools to work with three to four year olds using puppets. I observed all the children — including kids with a disability, those learning English as an additional language or those who are very shy — communicated more often and more effectively when talking to a puppet.

Research with school-aged children shows puppets, like a favourite doll or teddy bear, can encourage learning and improve communication and behaviour. Talking to a puppet, as opposed to a person, makes the conversation feel less personal and more pretend. It is a play-based technique sometimes used in therapy to help the child feel less self-conscious, and open up.

Learn more on how puppets can help improve communication in children over at The Conversation.

What are your thoughts about this one?

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It’s not just us who want to feel warm this winter. Our pets want the same, too. And because we love our pets, it is only fitting that we buy them something that will make them feel warm this season, like this crochet chicken sweater.

This crochet chicken sweater is available at the Etsy shop AnimalFunandFashion. It comes in a variety of colors and buttons up to fit comfortably around your feathered fashionista. You can even get yours with a white feather trim.

[...]

AnimalFunandFashion warns that while their sweaters do make for cute holiday outfits, they shouldn't be worn constantly, as they can interfere with the molting process. You can order yours from their Etsy shop today. Prices range from $15.90 to $19.60.

Cute!

(Image Credit: AnimalFunandFashion/ Etsy/ Mental Floss)

Most babies love to receive affection, such as hugs and kisses, from their parents. And then there are babies, such as this one, who seem to not like the idea. As to what the baby was thinking when this happened, we have no idea. We can only infer.

What are your thoughts about this one? Was the baby just surprised, or did he just not like the kiss?

Image via Awkward Family Photos

Allergies begin when a person’s immune system mistakes a harmless substance for a harmful one, and then begins to produce antibodies. Common examples of allergy triggers (allergens) are pollen and dust, certain foods like peanuts and eggs, and medications such as penicillin-based antibiotics. And then there are allergies that are next level. There are people who are allergic to water, sunlight, and even to vibrations! Now that’s just sad.

Learn more about the worst allergies that a person can have over at Gizmodo.

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We have different coping mechanisms. Some go to parties, some play video games, and others just go to sleep. And then there are those who go to a quiet place to de-stress. But of all the quiet places that one can think of, only a few people would consider going to the cemetery, and at late night, too. One such man is Jo Rachatitipong.

30-year-old Jo Rachatitipong has a passion for graveyards. Upon exploring them, he learned about the exhumation process and was inspired to help people learn more about it by conducting night tours of cemeteries…

[...]

For him, visiting cemeteries is a way to relieve his stress.

“People handle their emotions differently. Some go out to party and drink. But for me, I want total silence where it’s just between me and nature,” he said. “But it’s not just when I’m stressed. Sometimes I have this unexplainable urge to go [to the cemetery] so I just go.”

Learn more about his story over at Vice.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Frankie Lantican/ Vice.com)

I don’t really understand why people love getting tattoos in a language foreign to them. Maybe they just find the letters or characters in the language aesthetically satisfying, or maybe they were pranked. Or maybe both.

Bored Panda has compiled the funniest tattoo fails that they can find over the Internet. See them over at the site.

How about you? Do you have an embarrassing tattoo?

(Image Credit: Bored Panda)

This umbrella might just be one of those things that you didn’t know you needed until you saw it. Instead of the regular tip, this umbrella has a paw-shaped tip that makes it look like you have a cat at home.

Well, what do you think?

Image via 9GAG on Facebook

The term comfort food was used for foods that we eat in times when we want to feel better. We usually eat these when we are stressed, and when the going gets tough. Indeed, comfort food will be there for us in times of trouble. Why? Because they were themselves created during historic times of discomfort.

The periods of adversity that bred these scrappy dishes came and went, but the foods are here to stay. They’re ingrained in family recipes, local food lore, and regional menus, but not as relics of anguish or curios of hardship. They live on as beloved weapons, instrumental in the fight against despair, distress, and hunger. Born of discomfort they become, against all odds, our comfort foods—so ubiquitous and widely loved today that we lose sight of the fact that they emerged from utter destitution.

Atlas Obscura tells us the origin stories of the Goetta, the Ranfañote, the Tomato Soup Cake, as well as the Doodle Soup, the Hoover Stew, and the Crumble-In. Read their stories over at the site.

(Image Credit: David Berkowitz/ Wikimedia Commons)

Peter Goicouria loves cats, and he would always talk about adopting a black cat. So when his roommate found a litter of black kittens, the roommate picked out one of them for himself, and another one to give to Peter as an early birthday gift. When Peter saw the black kitten, he couldn’t help but burst into tears.

And, as you’ll see, she was the greatest gift of all:

Meeting the kitten for the first time felt "overwhelming and genuine," Goicouria told The Dodo.

He named her Monday.

Wholesome.

(Image Credit: u/peglegpete/ Reddit)

(Image Credit: Peter Goicouria/ The Dodo)

I really am amazed with artists. Their imagination knows no bounds, and they can make their visions come true thanks to their incredible skills, which they honed for hundreds, or even thousands of hours.

This person has made a tiny car out of mostly popsicle sticks, and did so without using power tools! Look at all those grooves and curves, as well as the tiny details, like the cargo carrier on the roof.

You can also watch how the car was made here.

(Image Credit: u/ReighDoren/ Reddit)

Halloween may be a day where many of us wear costumes that make us look like monsters, zombies, witches, and ghosts, but for this group of people in Japan, they wear scarier costumes. What do they wear? Mundane costumes that reflect daily life and reality. And if reality doesn’t scare you, then I don’t know what will.

Learn more details about Jimi Halloween, and check out the costumes, too, over at Spoon & Tamago.

(Image Credit: memedsn/ chica_1107/ purin_hayasaka/ Spoon & Tamago)

Scientists have recently identified a bacterium which could pave the way towards new treatments to Alzheimer’s disease. The bacterium, called rhizolutin, is produced by a Streptomyces strain, and grows in the root zone of ginseng plants, a plant used as traditional medicine in Asia.

Through cultivation in a medium fortified with ginseng powder, the researchers were able to increase the rhizolutin production of the bacterium by a factor of ten. This allowed them to determine the structure of this novel compound, which turns out to be a unique framework made of three rings bound together (a 7/10/6-tricyclic dilactone flanked by a seven-membered and a six-membered lactone ring).

A screening of natural product libraries indicated that rhizolutin is a drug lead that can dissociate amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques and tau tangles (fiber-like aggregates of tau proteins), both of which are typical hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.

Exciting!

Learn more details about this study over at Neuroscience News.

(Image Credit: Neuroscience News)