The season seven finale of The Walking Dead is this Sunday night. The series has fallen into a habit of killing off important characters at the end of the season, except for last year's ridiculous cliffhanger, which angered viewers. Tensions are high between the surviving communities of Virginia in the zombie apocalypse, and it's time to place your bets on who will bite the big one by season's end. Tell us your predictions in the poll (you can choose more than one character), and continue reading for a rundown on each character with spoilers galore.
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Photographer Andrew Ward became fascinated with the phenomena of abandoned couches on city streets. He is a native of Dublin, but moved to Los Angeles to work in the film industry. Abandoned furniture on the street is rare in Ireland, so he began photographing the couches. Ward's photographs of sofas grew into a series, and now fill the Tumblr blog The Sofas of L.A. Ward says,
"So you have this community of people that are somewhat what I consider temporary residents here," Ward says. "They're coming here because they thought it would bring them something greater in the short term, or perhaps migrant families that are being evicted and you have to bring all of your possessions with you, so there's that element."
And then there's the other element. The couches are an ugly symbol of how we're becoming, more and more, a disposable society.
"We buy something one day that then next thing is no longer in vogue and gets thrown out on the sidewalk as trash."
But they're more than just trash, Ward says. Each couch tells a story, and is as culturally relevant as a statue.
So far, Ward has photographed 600 or so couches, and after each shot, he reports their location for the city to pick up. Read about the artist, and see a lot of couches at The Sofas of L.A. -via Metafilter
Scientists are able to grow human tissue in a laboratory, but that's far from being able to grow viable organs. One of the biggest problems is that working organs must be fed by a vascular system that carries nutrients through blood vessels, down to tiny capillaries that are hard to design, much less make. But nature may have a workaround in the form of plant cellulose.
One of the defining traits of a leaf is the branching network of thin veins that delivers water and nutrients to its cells. Now, scientists have used plant veins to replicate the way blood moves through human tissue. The work involves modifying a spinach leaf in the lab to remove its plant cells, which leaves behind a frame made of cellulose.
“Cellulose is biocompatible [and] has been used in a wide variety of regenerative medicine applications, such as cartilage tissue engineering, bone tissue engineering, and wound healing,” the authors write in their paper.
Once they had nothing left but the spinach leaf's cellulose framework, they grew living tissue over it and sent artificial blood through the veins. Read about the groundbreaking experiment at National Geographic. The results are promising.
(Image credit: Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
Between 1816 and 1836, the border between Missouri and Iowa was surveyed several times, because the first survey was done so badly, and there were four possible borders, all slightly different. The nine-mile-wide band of disputed territory was fertile and popular with settlers. But what governing body the residents belonged to was a problem. Things came to a head in 1839 when Sheriff Uriah S. Gregory tried to collect Missouri state taxes from the farmers of the disputed territory.
But Gregory knew he was heading into an area where he was not welcome. Missouri claimed this land all the way to the Booth line, another survey line drawn in 1836 about nine miles north, but the people who lived here considered themselves part of Iowa. The last time Gregory had crossed the Sullivan line, back in October, he had met a group of locals at a house raising, and when he had explained, carefully, that he had come to collect their taxes on behalf of the state of Missouri, they told him that it would be in his best interest—best for his personal safety—if he went back over the border.
Since then, the border conflict between Missouri and Iowa had tensed into what historians would call “the Honey War,” after some unknown Missourian went over the border and cut down three bee trees filled with honey. It was about to escalate even further.
The honey theft appears to be incidental to the real dispute over taxes. Sheriff Greggory was arrested and both sides raised a militia. Read how the confusion came about and how the Honey War ended at Atlas Obscura.
(Image credit: Americasroof)
In the TV series The Walking Dead, Glenn and Maggie Rhee surprised everyone in season six by announcing they were going to have a baby. The above image shows them watching the sonogram. Yes, strange as it seems, there are sonograms in the zombie apocalypse. I'm not going to mention what happens in season seven. However…
In the real world, Steven Yeun (who plays Glenn) and his wife Joana Pak were going through the same process, no doubt with better prenatal care. Their son was born on March 17, and made his social media debut on Instagram yesterday. Just a little reminder that no matter what happens, the real world is better than the zombie apocalypse. -via Buzzfeed
If you didn't speak English as a native, you'd be tempted to figure out new words by pulling them apart into smaller words you know. Then you'd be really wrong. This method wouldn't work for "placate" if you are learning British English, as they pronounce it differently. This is the latest from John Atkinson at Wrong Hands. See more of his "phonetically defined" words here. -via Nag on the Lake
Boris is hungry, or at least he knows a good stash of food when he sees it. He's not giving up his loaf of bread easily. No siree.
And you see who wins the battle, even though Boris never stooped to attacking the woman. Boris lives in an animal shelter in St. Petersburg. He has to share food with 25 other cats who need homes, and no doubt has memories of greater hunger in his past. While this particular scene doesn't bode well for Boris' adoption, the Instagram video assures us that he is usually a nice cat, believe it or not. See more from the shelter 50 Tails. -via reddit
This painting is titled Wivenhoe Park, Essex by John Constable. It was painted in 1816 for Major General Francis Slater Rebow. Can you see anything unusual about the picture? Minnesotastan noticed it.
I first saw this painting about 30 years ago in a print that was on the wall of the office of a colleague of mine at the University of Kentucky. After looking at the painting for a while, I initially concluded that the artist (world famous for his landscape portrayals) must have made an error in depicting the scene. Nobody else seemed interested in the apparent anomaly, and I lost track of the painting (not knowing its title) until I encountered it again this past week.
I invite you to explore the image (it should enlarge to wallpaper size with a click) to see if you find anything that appears internally inconsistent in the content.
Whether you find it or not, you'll be interested in the explanation at TYWKIWDBI. Minnesotastan tells us where the anomaly is, and then looks into the background of how the painting was constructed to reconcile what we see with what Constable had to work with 200 years ago.
The following article is from the new book Uncle John’s Uncanny Bathroom Reader.
Did you know that you can keep eggs in your freezer? (There’s a trick to it.) Here are some tips on how to freeze foods you probably thought couldn’t be frozen, and how to better freeze the stuff you’re already freezing, preventing waste and saving money in the process.
(Image credit: Flickr user Beverly Vealach)
FRESH VEGETABLES
• Before freezing, chop raw vegetables to the size you are likely to use when cooking. Thawed vegetables are more difficult to chop.
• Vegetables tend to lose color, favor, texture, and even vitamins when they’re frozen, thanks to the activity of enzymes in the veggies. Blanching the vegetables (immersing them in boiling water for a short period of time) before freezing interrupts the activity of the enzymes, and will keep the frozen vegetables fresher longer.
• Blanching times vary from 11⁄2 minutes for peas and 11 minutes for large ears of corn; consult a cookbook for the correct amount of time for the vegetable you want to freeze.
• After blanching, quickly immerse the vegetables in cool water to prevent them from overcooking.
• Leafy greens, tomatoes, and watery vegetables like zucchini and squash can be frozen without blanching. If you plan on making zucchini bread, grate the zucchini before you freeze it.
GROUND MEAT
In 1956, the United States launched a series of balloons that took advantage of weather patterns to spy on the USSR. They went up in Europe, glided over the Soviet Union, and were intercepted over Japan, where planes would extend hooks to grab the cameras from them in mid-air. What could possibly go wrong?
Still, even the most optimistic assessments admitted that there was a possibility that some of the balloons would veer wildly off course. To aid in recovery, a cartoon and multilingual placard was included, encouraging them to be brought to U.S.-allied bases for a reward.
“THIS BOX CAME FROM THE SKY
IT IS HARMLESS
IT HAS WEATHER DATA IN IT
NOTIFY THE AUTHORITIES
YOU WILL RECEIVE A REWARD IF YOU
TURN IT IN AS IT IS”
And if the Air Force thought that the Soviets wouldn't notice the balloons, they were sorely mistaken. Read about Project Moby Dick at Atlas Obscura.
The online tournament March Mammal Madness is now in its fifth year, and more popular than ever. The bracket started with 64 mammals of all types, and they are matched up against each other in a simulated battle that depends on the habits and skills of real-life animals, as described by scientists who study them, with the luck of the draw thrown in by the roll of a dice. The higher-ranked animal gets the home court advantage in earlier rounds, which can get weird when, say, an armadillo battles a leopard seal. And sometimes the result comes from completely out of left field.
This year, guest narrator and biologist Dr. Danielle Lee tweeted a battle involving her own research subject: the African giant pouched-rat, native to Tanzania. Lee narrated the second round match-up between her pouched-rat and the maned wolf in the cerrado (tropical savannah) of central Brazil. With no tree or burrow to hide in, the pouched-rat was easily tracked by the wolf, which it couldn’t outrun. At least that’s what Lee tweeted, but that’s not what actually happened. Before concluding the battle, Lee revealed that the pouched-rat hadn’t actually shown up for the fight because Tanzania recently banned the export of live animals.
An article at Gizmodo explains how the tournament works. The tournament has been going on for a while; the final four will do battle Monday and the championship bout is Wednesday, with all the action on Twitter. You can check out previous matchups at March Mammal Madness' Twitter feed, like the matchup between a short-faced bear and a group of Neanderthals.
.@MarcKissel Some posit Neandertals weren't great at "kill at a distance" like humans #2017MMM https://t.co/boM7uPPBFY pic.twitter.com/CDr1ochc6P
— Katie Hinde (@Mammals_Suck) March 24, 2017
Sad to say, the bear advanced to the final four. You can follow discussion about the matchups with the hashtag 2017MMM, and learn more about the tournament at March Mammal Madness.
Blending in with one's surroundings is a common strategy for predators to use in capturing some other animal to eat. Leopards are good at it. So are spiders, anglerfish, and octopuses. Simon's Cat tries it out.
But Simon's cat is neither a spider nor an anglerfish, although he probably thinks he's a leopard. He just doesn't quite have the needed skills. It might have been his comfy suburban upbringing, or it may be just his bad luck.
Reality TV has been around long enough now that you'd think there would be rules in place to handle every contingency. The story of the British reality game show Eden hints that it's not necessarily so. Contestants were taken to an island off the coast of Scotland and expected to fend for themselves for a year, while being filmed as they bond with each other and struggle for survival.
The contestants on the show try to complete a task with zero outside assistance or contact with the outside world for one year. But here’s the kicker. There were 23 contestants that started. 13 quit and 10 finished the show, only there was one small problem. By the time the 10 surviving contestants came back, the show had already been cancelled for 7 months.
That tidbit leaves us with so many questions. Did the camera operators stay after the show was canceled? Will the cast and crew be paid? If they cheated and got outside help, as reported, why didn't they hear the news? Is this whole story a publicity stunt to get us all watching a possible revival? Read the story, and see clips from Eden at TVOM.
There's something great to be said for every age. According to research, people are most satisfied with their lives at age 23, but after a lot more experience, they are very satisfied again at age 69. The best age for learning a new language is seven, but that doesn't mean your chance is gone if you don't. You reach peak muscle strength at age 25, but your math skills will peak at 50, and 51-year-olds are better at understanding emotions. Of course, these are averages, so your mileage may vary. The section on marriage is understandable, but not definitive.
The peak age to settle down is 26.
The 37% Rule of statistics says that at age 26 you'll have met enough people to have some solid options without waiting so long that they start pairing off without you.
And according to one recent study, divorce rates are lowest for couples who married between the ages of 28 and 32.
Check out the peak age for all kinds of things at Business Insider. Each conclusion has links to the research that produced it. -via mental_floss
The following article is from the book Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges into California.
It wasn’t everybody’s idea of home sweet home, but it was the right house at the right time for thousands of West Coast families after World War II.
MASTER BUILDER IN THE MAKING
All Joe Eichler wanted to do was build some low-cost housing for World War II veterans and their families: small, ranch-style homes with basic amenities. What he ended up with were stylish, iconic homes that are still in demand today. The reason? Eichler, though he didn’t know it at first, was a modern man in every way. For one thing, he was an equal-opportunity builder who opened the doors of his houses to people of all races and colors, a pretty daring prospect in the pre–civil rights era. If someone wanted to buy one of his houses, all they had to do was come up with the down payment (anywhere from $500 to $2,650) and qualify for a mortgage.
In fact, the only colors Eichler cared about were the colors of his houses. His son Ned tells the story of how his father, while cruising through one of his developments, called a halt to a house-painting job because the color the owners had chosen didn’t look right with the colors of the houses on either side of it. The house-painter told Eichler that the owners really wanted that particular color and added, “After all, it’s their house.” Eichler said, “Like hell it is. It’s my house. Change the g**damn color.”
THE HOUSES THAT JOE BUILT
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