Paul Phillips of Skiatook, Oklahoma has built hundreds of houses over his long career. He's long dreamed of a special home of his own: one can fish from whenever he wants.
So Phillips dug a pond, filled it with water, and stocked it with hundreds of fish, mostly catfish and crappie.
Now he can fish at any time. He doesn't even have to go outside. He can just open the hole that he built into the floor of the living room and drop down a line. You can watch a video of him demonstrating it here.
Would you like to own this house? Phillips is now selling it because he wants a bigger pond.
A few months ago, Instagram member lollypoplocks held a contest inviting people to style their hair with Star Wars images. This helmet hair by Anya Goy was the winner. Goy, an expert on hair coloring, presents the bounty hunter Boba Fett as a fashion icon.
He'll not only exterminate you, but exterminate you 20% extra.
Jeremy Marbler made this amazing costume for his 6-year old daughter. The idea was all hers: a My Little Pony Dalek. It has movable wings and weapons. There's even a light and a fan inside so that the Dalek inside the Dalek shell feels comfortable.
Marbler plans to hook up lights, but I'd advise againt overpowering it. With wings, it can already defeat stairs. We don't need more dangerous Daleks.
In the early days of spaceflight, doctors suspected that in microgravity, menstrual blood wouldn't flow out of the vagina, but remain inside and lead to infections.
But the experiences of more than 50 women who have been to space prove that assumption completely untrue. The New York Times quotes astronaut Dr. Rhea Seddon:
In a NASA oral history, Dr. Rhea Seddon, an astronaut who flew on three space shuttle missions in the 1980s and 1990s, said, “I’m not totally sure who had the first period in space, but they came back and said, ‘Period in space, just like period on the ground. Don’t worry about it.’”
There are, however, logistical difficulties with cleanliness, the management of menstrual blood, and the physical task of changing tampons in microgravity:
“The waste disposal systems onboard the U.S. side of the International Space Station that reclaim water from urine were not designed to handle menstrual blood, thus idealizing the minimization of breakthrough bleeding during menstrual suppression,” write the authors, whose review included discussions with the astronauts Dr. Ellen Baker and Serena Aunon, among others. Also, “the practicalities of personal hygiene while menstruating during spaceflight could be challenging, e.g., limited wash water supply or the task of changing hygiene products in microgravity.”
Cardellino says that the egg was both "edible and delicious." More importantly, we've all learned an essential survival skill that could mean the difference between life and death if we're ever besieged by zombies in a hair salon.
Imagine your address as not, say, 750 Bel Air Road, Bel Air, California, but instead block.horse.happy.
It could be if the founders of the app what3words are successful. Their system divides the entire world into 57 trillion 9-square meter areas. It assigns 3 random words to each section. The sequences are unique for all 57 trillion sections. April Joyner describes it at The Week:
An algorithm generates each three-word phrase. It filters out profanity, avoids homophones to reduce the chances for mistakes when an address is spoken (hear vs. here), and safeguards for slip-ups with singular and plural words. If you accidentally type engine.door.cubs instead of engine.doors.cubs, you'll get a location halfway around the world — your mistake should be obvious.
what3words co-founder Chris Sheldrick says that the system is already in use:
It's key that the three-word phrases are easy to memorize, because many of the people who are served by what3words' system don't have a smartphone to look them up. Instead, Sheldrick says, once they've been given their address by an aid worker, or a neighbor who has a smartphone on hand, they can simply make note of the phrase for future reference. He gives the example of Rocinha, a slum in Rio de Janeiro, where residents are beginning to use what3words as an alternate address system to receive mail.
A group of industrial design students at California State University in Long Beach wanted to develop a people-powered means to transport gear over short distances. Bicycles are too big and cumbersome, so they invented the Nimble: a kick scooter with a cargo platform.
The Nimble comes with a removable basket for loose items and a sturdy rack for larger objects. There's a kickstand to help it stay upright. You can see more photos at Core 77.
What's really important for women to look for when searching for a man to marry? The most popular and growing characteristics are mutual attraction, dependable character, and maturity.
Chastity used to be important, but that's taken a nosedive since 1939, as did housekeeping skills and neatness.
Max Roser, an economist, recently created a series of charts to illustrate a study published in 2008 about what men and women look for in a spouses, and how these values have changed over time. It's explored in depth at the Washington Post.
We've looked at what women want. Let's check in with the men. The above chart shows that men increasingly search for mutual attraction. There were also sharp increases in the importance of good looks and sociability.
The importance of chastity plummeted over the intervening 69 years. Emotional stability, though, is still very important.
Paglia was recently interviewed by Tyler Cowen, an economist and polymath. In that conversation, Cowen asked Paglia about a line she had written about her intellectual development during the 1970s. While other people had psychedelic experiences from LSD and other drugs, she was eating Indian food. Specifically, she ate lamb vindaloo to open her mind. She explains to Cowen:
COWEN: You once wrote, I quote, “My substitute for LSD was Indian food,” and by that, you meant lamb vindaloo.
PAGLIA: Yes.
COWEN: You stand by this.
PAGLIA: Yes, I’ve been in a rut on lamb vindaloo.
COWEN: A rut, tell us.
PAGLIA: It’s a horrible rut.
COWEN: It’s not a horrible rut, it may be a rut.
PAGLIA: No, it’s a horrible rut. It’s a 40-year rut. Every time I go to an Indian restaurant, I say “Now, I’m going to try something new.” But, no, I must go back to the lamb vindaloo.
All I know is it’s like an ecstasy for me, the lamb vindaloo.
COWEN: Like De Quincey, tell us, what are the effects of lamb vindaloo?
PAGLIA: What can I say? I attain nirvana.
Good Indian food will do that.
You can read or watch the rest of their conversation here, which includes Paglia's thoughts on the movies Ben-Hur and Star Wars Episode III.
What lies in your baby's future? He can't think beyond the present, so do your parental duty and read out his horoscope. Cartoonist Jim Benton has helpful scanned the stars and made mystical calculations for the next week.
When you want the finest toilets in the world, you go to Japan. And now Japan is stepping up its game even further with Taikou Juden's line of artistic toilets available in a vast variety of colors, patterns, and images. For example, pictured above is a toilet made to resemble the famous wood block print The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai.
I'm not sure about getting a camouflage toilet, though. When I need to go, I don't want to struggle to just find the toilet.
This week, The Vulgar Chef made lovely and classy egg rolls using just the ingredients of McDonald's Big Mac hamburgers, cheese, and egg roll pastry dough.
First, he placed shredded cheese between two layers of pastry dough. Then he added French fries, pickles, and sliced beef patty.
It looks delicious! McDonald's should actually offer this dish.
Whenever Greg Baskwell needs a helping paw, he can count on Finley. Finley will do anything to contribute. Need to wash the car? Finley is there. Need a helicopter landing pad? Count on Finley. Need bail money? You're on your own. Sorry, but there are limits.
Fifteen years ago, when Mike and Angela Hovak Johnson of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada got married, they ate food from Kentucky Fried Chicken. Since that time, they've always celebrated their anniversary by eating at KFC.
Then the local Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant shut down.
Mike Johnson didn't see that a a problem. He and his son drove to the nearest KFC in High Level, Alberta, ordered 15 buckets of chicken, then drove back. The trip was 870 miles long. That's a long way, but it's how the couple keeps their relationship fresh and crispy. CBC News reports:
"This year was the most difficult one to plan," said Angela. "But my husband didn't hesitate. He wanted to drive all the way to…
"High Level," said Mike, finishing her sentence. "So during March break, me and my son got up early one morning, drove 700 kilometres, picked up 15 buckets of KFC and drove 700 kilometres back — in one day."
According to Mike, his unusual to-go order got him a bit of a weird look in High Level, Alta.
"When I ordered 15 buckets, they said: 'uh, it might take a little while,'" he said. "I said: 'no problem,' so they cooked it up right away."
Robert E. Lee Elementary School in Austin, Texas is named after the famous Confederate general with that name. As the Confederate States of America was founded for the explicit purpose of preserving slavery, many people think that it is inappropriate to keep Lee Elementary's name. The school board has voted to rename the school and has asked the public for suggestions.
Among the potential new names are Donald J. Trump Elementary, Harper Lee Elementary, and Schoolie McSchoolface--a reference to the British ship that was to be named Boaty McBoatface.
