Everyday customs and conventions stick around because doing things the same way is much easier than changing. Sure, you can come up with a better way, that will save time, effort, or money, but the process of change itself can be more trouble than its worth. So we've ended up saying "knock wood" instead of saying, "Oh no, I hope I didn't jinx myself by saying that." Everyone knows that's what you mean. YouTuber Chill Dude Explains goes through ten very different examples of things we do even though we've long forgotten why. 

It includes the QWERTY keyboard, which we've covered recently. Some, like the scrubs that surgical teams wear make plenty of sense once you think about it, although you've never had a reason to think about it before. But the most common background story is what you would expect- customs to appease deities or keep demons away. -via Laughing Squid 

Tequila is a liquor made from distilling the fermented juice of the blue agave plant, which is native to western Mexico (mezcal is made from other types of agave). Its popularity exploded during the 17th century under Spanish colonization. But who invented tequila? Mexico already had pulque, or fermented agave, but when did distillation begin there? 

There have been three theories. Maybe people in Mexico knew about distillation before the arrival of the Spaniards, although the evidence for this is rather thin. Or the Spaniards brought the technology to Mexico, which is plausible but also suspiciously Eurocentric, as Spaniards wrote that theory. But there is credible evidence that agave distillation was brought in by Filipino sailers, who not only traded with western Mexico, but sometimes settled there. Early tequila stills resemble the devices used in the Philippines to distill coconut sap. Read the very plausible story of how Mexico-Phillipines trade brought us tequila at the Conversation.

(Image credit: Roman664) 

In pop culture, hearing crickets means that no human is speaking. But even if they were speaking, you'd be able to hear any cricket in the vicinity. Ze Frank explains that sound, but first we learn about the amazing jumping abilities of grasshoppers, katydids, and crickets. Closeup and slow-motion shots show us their wild spring-loaded joints and amuse us when it all goes wrong. Katydids and crickets have ears in their forelegs, and grasshoppers have ears on their abdomens. Then we get to how they produce those annoyingly loud sounds. Katydids and crickets rub their wings together, and grasshopper have to be different- they use their legs to talk. What do they say? Well, these are mating calls, so you can use your imagination. But those sounds don't only attract mates, they also attract predators. The acting award in this True Facts video goes to a praying mantis named Nancy. 

There's an 80-second skippable ad at 4:10. When I first watched this, the skippable ad was interrupted by an unskippable ad.  

Some people think you must go to the beach or an amusement park during summer vacation, but the really cool destinations are caves. Cool, both literally and figuratively. Temperatures deep underground stay in the 50s both winter and summer and you don't have to wear sunscreen. Besides, caves contain fantastic geologic formations that teach you about earth science while you are sightseeing. About twenty years ago, I took my kids on the longest tour at Mammoth Cave that was open to children. They never got hot, tired, or bored. Even staying in a cabin with no AC was pleasant. There are no mosquitos at Mammoth Cave National Park because the ground is porous and the water table is low. And there are bats.

While I am quite proud of Kentucky's (and America's) biggest cave, there are opportunities to tour caves all across the contiguous United States. And they don't require steel-toed boots or crawling on your belly- just a light jacket and sometimes a reservation. Read about the features of ten of America's most spectacular cave trails at Mental Floss. 

(Image credit: w_lemay) 

There are certain basics of physics that anyone can understand, and you don't even have to understand physics to deal with them. Then there is quantum mechanics, which is totally over my head. Your mileage may vary. The first half of this video from Kurzgesagt attempts to bring us up to speed on the world of quantum mechanics and the many worlds interpretation. Then we get to the experiment that could prove it- but it involves one person dying over and over, like in the movie Edge of Tomorrow. That one person is you, and even if the experiment works, you will be the only person it has been proven to. Of course, you could then write a book about it, but no one would buy it. But from the perspective of one person (me), it still doesn't prove anything. If there are five (or more) versions of me, it doesn't matter to me because my awareness is only in this one. Even if this one were the version that survives multiple killings, I still wouldn't be aware of the other versions. So this scenario remains a thought experiment, but as such, it is pretty mind-blowing. -via Geeks Are Sexy 

The Japanese delegation introduced the beautiful water hyacinth to America at the 1884 World’s Fair in New Orleans. People liked it, and the plant thrived in Louisiana's lakes and bayous. By 1910, it was choking the state's waterways, and it seemed nothing could stop it. How do you combat an invasive species? Many times in the past, we've done it by importing another invasive species to eat it. A Louisiana congressman came up with an idea to combat the water hyacinth by bringing in hippos from Africa! That plan would have also helped with the nation's meat supply. What could possibly go wrong? Congress became excited about the prospect, but for various reasons, it never happened. 

A hundred years later, we can be thankful the idea wasn't tried. We now know that hippopotami can be really dangerous animals that don't lend themselves to domestication. Besides that, they are classified as a vulnerable species even in their native countries due to human encroachment. Read about the unrealized dream of American hippos at Strange Company. 

(Image credit: Bernard DUPONT) 

Today, the beer you drink is most likely either brewed by AB InBev, who owns the name brands, or else a small and possibly local craft brewery. That's the ultimate fallout of the beer wars that shook the industry in the 1960s and '70s. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was the beer capital of the US thanks to the many German immigrants who settled there in the 19th century. The city was home to the Schlitz, Pabst, Blatz, and Miller brewing companies. Schlitz was the biggest seller in the US, but in 1957 was eclipsed by Budweiser down in St. Louis. Schlitz marketing head Bob Martin was willing to do anything to outsell Budweiser, with the exception of producing high-quality beer. 

The American alcohol industry is highly regulated at all levels, but those regulations are so numerous and intertwined that they can be creatively interpreted to one's benefit, or outrightly ignored until someone complains. Martin was a master of exploiting the many levels between brewing beer and the customers who drink it at bars, airports, sporting events, or at home. In 1978, the company was indicted for three felonies and 743 misdemeanors for their marketing practices. They involved bribes, kickbacks, money laundering, fraud, and other kinds of corporate malfeasance. Read what happened to Martin and the Schlitz company at Esquire. -via Metafilter 

Pulau Tiga is an uninhabited tropical island off the coast of Malaysia. It was formed by a volcanic eruption in the late 19th century, and most of it is a national park. But you may be familiar with this island, because it was the setting for the very first season of the reality TV game show Survivor. The show began in 2000, when the cast and crew traveled for hours to Pulau Tiga, not really knowing what they were getting into. 

Sure, a lot of the drama in Survivor was planned, like the weekly challenges and the tribal council when contestants were voted off the island. But since the show was the first of its kind, the producers were unprepared for the reality of making a TV show on an isolated island. They didn't even take tents for the crew or the equipment! They encountered tourist garbage, parasites, unexpected wildlife, and Australian special forces with guns. And not only did the cast begin to starve, the crew did, too. Emily Nussbaum, the author of the book Cue the Sun: The Invention of Reality TV, gives us the story of the first season of Survivor at Atlas Obscura. The interview is in both text and podcast form.   

(Image credit: Bfyhdch) 

When the first Avatar movie came out in 2009, we had to explain to people that the James Cameron film had nothing to do with the animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender. But 16 years later, it is clear that Jake Sully is on his way to mastering the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Avatar: Fire and Ash is the third film in the series, following Avatar: The Way of Water from 2022. As in that film, our favorite Na'vi encounters a new culture. Cameron is portraying Pandora like Earth in that while the Na'vi are one species, they come in all flavors with varying traditions and motivations. They still have to contend with the invaders from Earth.

Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, and Sigourney Weaver return in their Sully family roles, and the movie will also feature Kate Winslet and Oona Chaplin as new characters in the saga. Avatar: Fire and Ash is scheduled to land in theaters on December 19th.  -via Gizmodo 

The Instagram account Amazing Maps has a never-ending supply of maps focusing on details you probably wouldn't have thought of on your own, but are quite interesting. Most of them either show Europe or the entire world, but there are US and New World maps occasionally. Bored Panda picked a few dozen to present for your education or entertainment.



The maps cover a wide variety of subjects, from the historical (countries Britain once owned) to the mundane (how to say "frog") to the whimsical (where capybaras live) to the scary (in which countries do men live longer than women). Of the world maps shown, there is a thread that commenters had a lot of fun with- the location of New Zealand. It appears variously in the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, up near Japan, and sometimes cannot be found at all. It might be fun to check for our Kiwi friends in the Instagram account. See 49 such maps at Bored Panda. 

The Chinese auto company BYD shows off their Yangwang U9 model, an electric supercar with four motors, fast charging, a top speed of 243 mph, and individual wheel drive system. It also doesn't need a driver. Yes, it's a good-looking car, but the point of this video is to show us the Yangwang U9's ability to leap. Watch carefully, and you'll see the wheels retract into the body like a low rider, and then suddenly extend while at speed to leap over obstacles or holes in the road.

That's pretty cool, both to watch and as a technological innovation. It's like Mario Kart come to life. But the Yangwang U9 costs around $233,000, and you can't buy one if you live in the United States. Still, if you could spend that kind of money on a car, would you sit in the passenger seat and let it drive you around? Would you take it to top speed on roads that have potholes? Meanwhile, Ferrari and Lamborghini are working on electric models, if that's what you've been looking for. -via kottke 

When Adam Aaronson turned 21, he started a list of cocktails he's tried out. He called it Legal Cocktails. A few years later, he discovered that the International Bartenders Association (IBA) has an official list of cocktails that currently has 102 recipes. Aaronson edited his list to conform with the IBA list, and discovered he'd already tried 33 of the 89 cocktails listed at the time. Thereafter, his goal was to try all of them. In 2025, he has achieved that goal.  

At first it was easy, but as Aaronson eliminated the most common drinks, he ran into the more obscure recipes that didn't appear on cocktail menus or required ingredients bars don't keep in stock. Sometimes it was easier to just share his unfulfilled drink list with a bartender. Sometimes it required traveling to distant locations. And he even had a few instances of giving a recipe to a bartender for a drink he or she never mixed before. Most frustratingly, the IBA added cocktails to the list as he was closing in on completion. Read the highlights of Aaronson's adventures in IBA cocktails as he celebrates its completion. -via Nag on the Lake 

(Image credit: Sam Howzit) 

When human civilization and wildlife compete over limited territory, there will be problems. Japan has seen several bear attacks and some deaths this year. In certain mountainous areas, bear sightings have tripled over last year. 

In response, the police in Tochigi Prefecture, 100 kilometers north of Tokyo, are taking a page from the training that Japanese zoos have always conducted. They partnered with a local hunters club to stage a bear attack drill, featuring a man dressed as a bear. Or at least he had a bear head, designating his role in the drill. Without the head, he'd look like a portly movie ninja. They practiced scaring the bear away with fireworks and the proper way to approach a bear that has been shot or tranquilized. Apparently, that involves poking it in the butt with a stick. It's good that the video is clearly labeled "drill," as otherwise it would be terrifying. -via Metafilter 

On August 6, the world will mark 80 years since the first nuclear weapon was deployed, an atom bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The 509th Composite Group landed at Tinian Island air base three days before and went over the mission plans in various detail, according to the recipient's need to know. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Tibbets was the commander of Special Bombing Mission No. 13. He supervised the re-assignment of call signs and plane markings, inspected the bomb called Little Boy, reviewed the mission with his crew, and played poker late into the night of August 5th. After all, none of his crew could sleep anyway. 

Early on the 6th, everyone on Tinian knew that something historic was happening, because lights, cameras, and military journalists were there to document the moment. Tibbets secretly tucked a packet of cyanide pills into his pocket. The Enola Gay and three other planes took off at 2:45 AM, following three weather planes that left an hour earlier. They were six hours and 15 minutes from Japan. Meanwhile, people in Hiroshima were going about their morning as they had for the past few years during wartime. Read about the hours leading up to the bombing of Hiroshima in a book excerpt at LitHub. -via Damn Interesting  

(Image credit: US Air Force) 

Ringo Starr and Buddy Rich impressed people with a bass drum, two tom-toms, and a snare, plus a couple of cymbals. Rich had more cymbals than he really needed, but they weren't too many. But ever since then, drummers seem to have become drum collectors, with ever larger kits. Are they experimenting, expanding what a drummer can do for a band, just showing off, or are they hiding from the audience? Carl Palmer enhanced his drum set with tympani, triangle, tubular bells, and gongs. Terry Bozzio tuned his numerous drums so that he could play songs on them like a piano. Other drummers built kits that tilted, rotated, or flew up into the air. In this video, Loudwire presents ten of the biggest and most extreme drum kits ever assembled. Some of these kits appear massively redundant, but they can impress an audience. We always need more cowbell. -via Laughing Squid