There are elephant enclosures in various zoos throughout Europe. But the non-profit organization Pangea plans to open an expansive sanctuary for captive elephants that will stretch over 850 acres. That's 200 times larger than the elephant enclosure at the Tierpark zoo in Berlin.

The Resident, an English-language newspaper in Portugal, reports that the site is located in the Alentejo region of southern Portugal. This area is among the most suitable in Europe for elephant habitation.

Construction should finish in December and thirty elephants will arrive in the spring of next year. They will be able to roam freely over the site while still having access to veterinary care.

-via Marginal Revolution | Photo: E-roxo

Tomorrow is the first day of Advent--the countdown to the birth of Jesus in the Western Christian tradition. Advent calendars marking out these individual days are popular. In the past, we've seen Advent calendars inspired by Die Hard, filled with whisky, and one using a Dalek as its shape.

The Czech firm of Podnikovka offers this Advent sausage. Slice off a piece each day in preparation for Christmas.

-via Messy Nessy Chic

The iconic "Hotel California" by the Eagles has been covered in many different genres, including bluegrass, and instruments, such as bagpipes. It remixes well and calls to people from different cultures and generations.

So it is proper that Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox ("Today's hits yesterday") would put the 1977 classic into a prior era. In this case, that's midcentury Cuban jazz. Actor and musician Rogelio Douglas, Jr. performs it. It's beautiful and, as one commenter puts it, authentic:

In a world where everyone and their mother are using AI to do genre-bending covers, PMJ still stands head and shoulders above the rest with real talent and incredible singers and performers.

-via The Awesomer

in my friend’s apartment, there is a subway LED banner with live updates of when the trains by him depart

I NEED ONE IMMEDIATELY pic.twitter.com/Z16zElnx5E

— whizwang (@whizwang) November 14, 2025

When does the next train on the red line depart from the station nearest your home? It might be helpful to have an up to date banner sign within sight so that you always know by just turning your head.

Nook Woodworking in Brooklyn makes this LED sign for, specifically, New York City. It stays synced in real time with your preferred MTA lines. Hopefully, they'll offer it for other cities in the future.

-via Super Punch

Neuropathy in the extremities--a loss of sensation--is an effect of diabetes. When a person with this condition loses sensation in the soles of their feet, they experience increased falling risks. Design Boom reports that the startup company MYNERVA in Zurich, Switzerland is developing socks with electrodes that help people with diabetes experience sensation while walking.

The company has named the device Leia because the visual appearance of the sensors are reminiscent of Princess Leia's hairbuns. The socks, which are controlled with a smartphone app, indicate to the user when they are in contact with the ground.

MYNERVA plans to release the product in the USA in 2027.

Olly Hawes is a British actor with experience on the stage and screen. Years ago, during a student production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Hawes had the titular role. As he writes in The Guardian, he was unprepared for the necessary realism that one of his fellow performers brought to the assassination scene. Due to a mishap, the performer of Brutus stabbed him with a real knife:

There was a sharp piercing feeling. The knife was supposed to have been quietly slipped to me – instead, it had gone into my back. I realised what had happened while acting out my character’s death, and thinking: I have to lie here until the lights go down.

But the show must go on, so Hawes lay still with a blade a mere centimeter from his aorta. When the lights went down, Hawes asked for an ambulance. He left while the play continued with the audience unaware of the accident.

It's unclear who took up the role of Caesar's ghost after Hawes left.

Instagram user June Cleaver's Vintage Closet shared this image of a Thanksgiving dinner-themed Enterprise model. Its five hour mission is to explore strange new dishes, seek out new tastes and new recipies, and to boldly expand the waistline where no stomach has gone before.

I think the design originates with MakerWorld member Fixumdude. Various alterations are available to reflect different preferences in pies, as well as light meat vs. dark meat. He also provides downloadable files and specific 3D printing filament suggestions. Now load up your plate, pour some Aldebaran whiskey,  and get ready to watch the parrises squares game on the viewscreen.

UPDATE 12/3/2025: Geeks Are Sexy was delighted by this design and 3D printed their own. Then they made this song about the toy:

Have you ever seen a snail that looked old, ugly, saggy, or tepid? Of course not. Snails always look youthful, vibrant, and moisturized. So it makes sense to pay spas a lot of money to put snails on your face.

Ideally, you want to biggest snails available, specifically giant African land snails (Lissachatina fulica) because they have the most mucus. According to one cosmetics company, the mucus not only rejuvenates your skin, but also gently massages your flesh as the snails roam across your body (you can opt for locations other than your face).

Who would like to go first?

-via David Thompson

Dr. Claire Lamman is an astronomer at the Ohio State University. She is also--in her own words--a "procrastibaker." She bakes elaborate sweets inspired by astronomical phenomenon and equipment, including a Voyager I gingerbread space probe and Very Large Array radio telescope, both made of gingerbread.

This Thanksgiving, Lamman made this precisely shaped and colored pie that looks like the Kitt Peak National Observatory, which is in southern Arizona.

It looks a lot like the real facility.

Photo of Kitt Peak by NOIR Lab

Jones Green Bean Casserole Soda (2004-2004): Part of a novelty #Thanksgiving variety pack, this soda was meant to evoke the polarizing side dish (green beans, fried onions, and cream of mushroom soup) in carbonated liquid form pic.twitter.com/qUmTyoARLV

— Discontinued Foods! (@Snack_Memories) November 24, 2022

Green bean casserole is The Goonies of the food world. You either love it or hate it.

In 2004, Jones Soda, a gourmet soda producer in the Seattle area known for its unusual flavors, created a Thanksgiving variety pack of sodas. According to a Spokesman-Review article from that time, the pack included fruitcake, turkey & gravy, and cranberry. The green bean casserole soda was the most controversial inclusion.

Thanksgiving originates as a Christian holiday, but that doesn't stop the Jewish Meme Queen from getting into the spirit of the occasion. She made this challah loaf shaped like a turkey. It's called the Turchallah.

Les Fo'Plafonds is a French musical ensemble that makes instruments with found objects and plays them masterfully with covers of popular songs. In this video, they recreate Henry Mancini's iconic jazz theme for The Pink Panther film series. They use plastic pipes, rubber chickens, steel drums, and an impressively large number of plastic pink pigs.

The other covers by Les Fo'Plafonds include the theme to The Smurfs, AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" featuring a refrigerator door and a toaster, the Simpsons theme with bottles, PVC pipe, and a steam iron.

-via The Awesomer

Although I prefer to attribute the origin of the Reuben sandwich to divine intervention into the fallen human world, a more historical acknowledgment belongs to a man named Reuben who invented the sandwich for his weekly poker games at the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Crescent Moon Alehouse across the street from that hotel produces its Reubens in the classical style. It also holds an annual ReubenFest that celebrate's America's greatest sandwich. Featured variants of the Reuben include the Reuben Chimichanga and Reuben Pierogi.

This is one of sixteen restaurants that Takeout insists are the best in the country for Reubens.

My fondest memory of the Reuben is a now long-defunct Greek restaurant named The Oven on Dolly Ridge Road in Birmingham, Alabama that served Reubens on pumpernickel buns the size of footballs. They were, alas, too good for this world.

Photo: Crescent Moon

My proposed monopoly house rules:

Pot of Greed - If you have the most money at the start of your turn, you may draw 2 cards from a standard deck of playing cards. They are worth money equal to their value x 10 or may be used in combat (see combat rules below)

En passant capture… https://t.co/89wD5gu2sD

— Harmony Ginger (@Gingerblast) November 21, 2025

Tabletop gamer Harmony Ginger suggests some custom rules for Monopoly to spice up gameplay.

I especially like the idea of Free Parking Random Encounter, although it would necessitate each player have a complete character sheet.

Perhaps players could also, instead of taking turns, roll for imitative each round to determine who goes first.

What house rules do you use for Monopoly?

Design Boom reports that engineers at Northwestern University have developed a haptic feedback device that allows users to interact with digital environments with high resolution. The VoxeLite functions like a bandage that wraps around a finger. The very thin sheet is covered with tiny nodes where the fingertip is. Each node has its own electrode that adheres it to a surface when voltage is applied.

The VoxeLite replicates human touch for digital screens without blocking the natural sensation of physical contact. The researchers hope that future versions will allow for use with tactile maps or provide for haptic feedback in games.

Photo: Northwestern University