At 432 yards long, the newly-launched MSC Zoe is the Death Star of the transoceanic shipping business. It's no moon, but a fully operational station capable of moving the equivalent of 19,224 20-foot cargo containers. Appropriately, while in Hamburg, Germany, the ship's horn system played the title theme from Star Wars.
-via Jalopnik
Isaiah Chute is 2 and 1/2. Kamoli the gorilla is about 1 and a 1/2. They're perfect playmates, as you can see in this video shot at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio. For about 6 minutes, they played peek-a-boo, hide-and-seek, and pounded their chests.
-via Huffington Post
(Photo: Michael Appleton/New York Times)
In the decades following the American Civil War, the South found demand for a new cash crop: virgin longleaf pine. In the era before steel girders became useful for construction, virgin longleaf pine was regarded as the finest lumber available. So the ancient forests of the South were cut down to build late Nineteenth Century New York City.
In 1938, the Great Southern Lumber Company sold its last log of longleaf pine. The US Forest Service estimates that only 3% of the original remains. That makes the wood left inside old buildings very valuable. So recovering it has become a thriving industry in New York City. Vivan Yee writes for the New York Times:
Some of the trees were three centuries old. Dense, durable and saturated with resin that made it unusually resistant to rot and insects, the timber proved rough work for builders to mill. But in the decades before steel began to dominate, longleaf pine was the strongest material around.
“Everybody in the wood business says the longleaf pine tree was the best wood the Lord ever made,” said Pat Fontenot, the owner of Olde Wood Accents in Washington, La., an antique pine dealer. “If it wouldn’t have been for the longleaf pine tree, we wouldn’t have been able to do the Industrial Revolution.” […]
The only way to find original-strength longleaf pine these days: Mine it from buildings like the Domino Sugar Factory or 443 Greenwich Street in TriBeCa, the brick and mortar vertebrae of northern cities’ industrial might.
“It’s a Southern tree that has been a part of New York City for 150 years,” Alan Solomon, the owner of Sawkill Lumber, who hunts down old lumber, from the Coney Island boardwalk to a Western Beef supermarket in the Bronx, said during a recent expedition to the TriBeCa building. “The city’s always reinventing itself. Stuff’s always getting knocked down.”
-via American Digest
The Dumbo Octopus (Grimpoteuthis) is unavoidably cute! He can dance and stick out his tongue, so he's a natural performer. But that's only once he's ready. When caught unawares, the Dumbo gets shy. The oceanographers on board the exploratory vessel Nautilis discovered that while exploring the coast of central California. At the 1:34 mark in the video below, he covers his face when the camera zooms in on him.
-via Gifsboom
Caroline from Japan makes little sweets that look like cats. Sometimes they nap in pancakes. Other times, they curl up around eclairs. But they're always cute and delicious. For this project, they're struggling to get at the fish trapped inside the gelatin (translation) --all the while ignoring a more convenient mouse.
When you first joined MySpace, you were anxious and awkward. You didn't know anyone. You didn't know if it would be safe space.
Immediately, Tom Anderson appeared. He was not only the co-founder of MySpace, but your very first friend on the network.
As other people appeared in your life, Tom fell into the background. You forgot about him, but he never forgot about you.
Don't wait until it's too late to rekindle that relationship.
Elijah Wood was in Back to the Future II. Denzel Washington was an uncredited criminal in Death Wish. Samuel L. Jackson was in Goodfellas. You may not have noticed them because they weren't famous yet. Screen Junkies brings us up to speed with this compilation of actors just getting started in film, often taking very minor roles.
One role that didn't make the cut is Liam Neeson in the underappreciated 1983 fantasy movie Krull. Neeson plays Kegan, a criminal who joins King Colwyn's quest to defeat the Slayers and liberate his planet.
On the mean streets of the City of Brotherly Love, you'd better come prepared to handle yourself in any rough situation. That means hugging.
Rocco Avallone's security cameras captured this footage late on Thursday night in Philadelphia. Two men who are just possibly intoxicated get into a fist-fight.
This is a lesson for us all. Tonight, go outside and hug someone.
-via Daily of the Day
The trailers for the upcoming Star Wars movie The Force Awakens have a unique style noted for varied pacing and dramatic narration. They inspired Dan Flesher to edit scenes from The Empire Strikes Back into a new trailer. They make that movie look fresh, even at 35 years old. Compare it to this original trailer for Episode V.
-via Daily of the Day
Is your personal Nutella supply slowly decreasing without an explanation? You might have a thief in your midst. Take precautions with this lock designed specifically for sealing away jars of Nutella. Daniel Schlobloch, a German furniture designer, says that he developed it as a joke. But I don't see anything funny in taking my Nutella, Jill. Neither do other people, who have so far ordered 279 of them.
-via That's Nerdalicious!
Although it looks cute, I've long suspected that kitten wrestling is fake. The way that they paw at each other with no one getting seriously injured or gaining lasting advantage of the other . . . that's got to be scripted.
-via Laughing Squid
Sha Yao is an industrial designer in San Francisco. When her grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, she noticed that the illness made it very difficult to feed herself. In response, Yao developed Eatwell, a tableware set designed with the limitations of Alzheimer's Disease in mind.
Some of the best inventions aren't high tech, but technology adapted to the needs and resources of poor people in developing nations. When on Earth has a list of 10 of them, including these self-adjusting glasses.
The system is called Child ViSion. A pair will fit a child between the ages of 12 and 18 and withstand a lot of punishment. More importantly, they don't require an optometrist. The user can adjust them by twisting the rods on the side, which move the lenses. Once the user can see well, s/he removes the adjusters until it's time to tweak them again.
Read about 9 other great inventions to help the world's poorest at When on Earth.
NASA recently released this composite image of 9 round objects. 8 of them are the bottoms of frying pans. 1 of them is Europa, a moon of Jupiter. It was taken by NASA's New Horizons space probe in 2007.
Can you guess which is Europa? Attempt no landing there, but make a guess. Then check it against the answer in the Daily Telegraph.
Did you guess correctly?
-via David Thompson
'Scorpion Queen' of Thailand who covers her body every day with the deadly ... - Daily Mail http://t.co/OKNT4jkWBW
— Thailand Meta Guide (@th_meta_guide) August 28, 2015
But that's just for now. If you have the title "Scorpion Queen," then you're morally obligated to become a vicious tyrant.
At the moment, our queen parades in front of visitors to the Tiger Zoo in Pattaya, Thailand. She amazes them by wearing live scorpions on her dress and playing with them as though they were loyal henchmen who will obey her psychic commands. This is a demonstration of her power. She has no fear of something that terrifies everyone else. It is Step 1 to building a base of supporters.
-via The Soul Is Bone