Julian Hwang of West Virginia University and Dongso Lee of the Korea Rural Economic Institute publish in the Journal of Cultural Economics the results of their study of the economic valuation of being a superhero. Unfortunately, I do not have access to the full article--just to the abstract.

Personally, when I encounter stories of people gaining superpowers, such as the 2006-2010 television series Heroes,  I am struck by the responses of characters to their new abilities. If I had a superpower--any superpower--my first question would be "How can I use this power to get wealthy?" I would also keep that ability a secret in order to maximize my wealth-acquisition usage and reduce the potential of my enslavement by powerful organizations.

-via Marginal Revolution

The University of Nebraska is a school located at a football stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. That stadium, Memorial Stadium, is the holiest of shrines for Cornhusker fans.

The Associated Press reports that at a recent meeting of the board of regents, the governors of the program considered building a columbarium under the football field so that deceased fans will never miss any future home games. The proposal would have set different prices for the location of one's ashes, with higher prices charged for the 50-yard line and the end zones.

Sadly, the Board of Regents rejected the proposal, apparently with dismissive laughter.

Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri

Eating right is only part of proper nutrition. You need to also consciously consider how you are digesting your food. Influencer Mairlyn Smith proposes going on a "fart walk" about an hour after you eat. This is a walk in which you let rip with any flatulence you feel forming in your body or, as I call it, a walk.

The New York Post explains the science behind the trend. The motion of the abdominal muscles during a walk encourages intestinal activity. To optimize your flatulence, walk with your hands behind your back and your neck flexing in front of you.

Smith and her husband engage in fart walking as a couples activity. Think of it as a bonding opportunity.

-via Dave Barry

In my undergraduate days, I had delusion fantasies of becoming a medieval European historian and wasted a lot of time and money moving in that direction. One of the reasons why this was and remains a very difficult career path is that there are few college teaching positions available in the humanities.

But it would appear that if you can land one, you're set for life with a salary in excess of a billion dollars.

I think that the original (and since corrected) job posting is for this one at Sarah Lawrence College, which has a salary of $10,500 to $14,000, not $1,050,014,000. We humanities people struggle with math sometimes.

-via Matthew Thiessen, who quips "Announcing my immediate shift toward research and teaching on Medieval Literature.

This tourism promotional video for Norway's capital city speaks to people like me who find very urban areas generally undesirable. They're often crowded, dirty, expensive, and involve far too much waiting.

"I mean, is it even a city?...I think that a city should be a little hard to get." The narrator, a native of Oslo who "temporarily live[s] here...unfortunately" puts down his native Oslo as a large village where you can walk everywhere, get into restaurants and museums, and casually meet the King. Who would want that? Given the online responses to this ad, it appears a lot of potential tourists.

-via Laughing Squid

Dutch pilot Narine Melkumjan shared on X this video from a terrifying experience two years ago. She flew an Extra 330LX, which is a 2-seat acrobatic single engine plane. Shortly after takeoff, the cockpit canopy flew open. She was able to safely land even though she could barely see and breathe. It did, though, take over a day for her vision to fully recover.

Melkumjan blames herself. She says that she didn't visually confirm that the canopy was locked, did not wear eye protection, and flew despite recovering from a bout of COVID. She urges other pilots to "learn from my mistakes".

-via Massimo

Kintsugi is the traditional Japanese craft of mending broken pottery with gold. It inspired the Brazilian advertising firm Leo Burnett Tailor Made to promote the sale of Oreo cookies by proposing that your broken Oreos chould result in a broken heart. But you can rejoin the shattered cookies with a tube of Oreo filling, which has a consistency something like molten gold.

In its promotional video, the agency expresses that it hopes to convey that customers saddened by their broken Oreos can create a new narrative for their traumatized cookies that their wounding can be a source for beauty within healing.

-via Unseen Japan

Mason Smith (@TheDadSocial) is an influencer who loves his daughters dearly and is building some extravagant core memories with them. Recently, he built them a tiny travel trailer that they can tow with their Power Wheels electric car.

It's an extraordinary build, as it has bedding, windows, ventilation, interior lights, reflectors, and a spare wheel. The family took it to a campground where the girls set up their trailer on jacks and then organized their pretend outdoor kitchen for a perfect glamping experience.

Smith notes that although the girls wanted to go camping alone, they actually slept in the family trailer and just used their own camper for naps and play.

-via Born in Space

I would guess that my only scholarly journal article has been read by a total of perhaps 10 people, including myself, the reviewers, and members of my family. It's hard to get people to read scholarly articles, even in the natural sciences in which scholarship, unlike literary criticism, may actually result in something useful to people.

Success may come from a spicy title and Joseph Cesario, David J. Johnson, and Heather L. Eisthen chose wisely. A screenshot of their 2020 article in Current Directions in Psychological Science has gone viral and resulted in people at least locating if not reading the article.

If I understand their article correctly after barely glancing at it, the authors address the concept of the lizard brain--that older brain structures can be found in the interior of the human brain and that more advanced mammalian structures can be found inside. They assert that this popular belief is a myth.

-via @Cookedspaghett

Minnesota is known as the "Land of Lakes", but that sobriquet would better fit Canada. Canada has so many lakes that just naming them takes a lot of work. Manitoba's innovative and morally commendable response was to name 4,200 bodies of water after individual Manitoban soldiers who gave their lives during World War II.

Did geographers just get lazy by the time that they reached these two lakes in British Columbia? No. The British Columbia Geographic Names Office gave this body of water the official name of Another Lake because that's literally what local residents have called it since at least 1946. The Office rejected the name when it was originally submitted in 1968, but eventually accepted the common usage. And Another Lake has a similar origin story.

-via Terrible Maps

Journalist James Ball shares this photo from Victoria Station in central London. Among the shops that tantalize busy commuters is Duck Depot.

It's not just a single store but an entire chain of stores called Duck World that sells collectible rubber ducks in a vast variety of forms, often inspired by pop culture. Duck World also offers custom ducks for your particular anatine needs, as well as sponsorship for rubber duck racing events.

There's a similar store in Spring, Texas that focuses on rubber ducks and bath gear. It's across the street from a store that specializes in Dutch products. Train arrivals will not block your travels although parking is a chore.

My fellow Americans, I see a great deal of popular concern about the state of innovation in the American economy. We feel that we have lost the plot of our national story and are no longer driving technological progress in the world.

Cast those fears aside. This is America: the nation that introduced to the world the Dune popcorn bucket.

The pace of technological development is only increasing with news of the popcorn bucket produced for the fourth Despicable Me film. It's inspired by the Baby Björn baby carrier and provides a conveniently hands-free popcorn option for fans on the move.

-via Brenden Gallagher

Jordan Flom is a content creator and, more importantly, father of triplet babies. He has been working on a logistical challenge: moving all three babies at the same time. He's worked with various workarounds, such as Home Depot lumber carts.

But his ultimate solution is a wooden frame that locks into the handles of the three strollers. The front one articulates, thus providing tight steering for this Voltron-like rig. Not shown in this video is Flom's toddler daughter, who is presumably necessary before the team can form Blazing Sword.

Note: the video appears to be staged, as the context of Flom's other videos indicates.

-via Laughing Squid

Found a very cool bookstore in Tokyo! Each square on the bookshelves is rented to a different person. The renters are free to curate and sell whatever books they want in their shelf space. My favorite was the shelf filled with handmade photo books of the renter’s cat pic.twitter.com/ySLQG6HMOR

— grace ౨ৎ (@suzuranfairy) May 18, 2024

X user Grace (@suzuranfairy) shares photos of a unique bookstore in the Kichijōji neighborhood of western Tokyo. The area is home to unique shops and restaurants and is thus very popular with tourists. Close to the famous Ghibli Museum is a bookstore where people can sell their own books in sections of shelf space.

-via Super Punch

The Inspiration4 space launch in 2021 conducted by the private space travel firm SpaceX carried four humans into Earth orbit. The astronauts stayed for two days before they safely splashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

The New York Times reports that the crew performed medical and cognitive tests. One of them was a test of attention span. The astronauts stared at a box displayed on an iPad. When a stopwatch icon appeared on the screen, they pressed the icon. The program assessed how long it took for them to press the button and therefore how long they were paying attention to the game.

The results of the study revealed significantly decreased attention span while in space.

-via Dave Barry, who blasphemes "Exhibit A: Star Trek" | Image: Paramount