The Crazy Russian Hacker (previously at Neatorama) has some kitchen tips to help you out with Thanksgiving festivities. Never mind that none of it has much to do with traditional American Thanksgiving dishes. Just listening to him speak is entertaining to me!
Seriously, the best way to get the rest of the honey off the spoon is to put the entire spoon in your mouth. I’ll have to try the lemon-rosemary-vanilla potpourri. For a winter holiday smell, I usually boil oranges, lemons, cinnamon, and cloves (or whatever combination of those I have). In other words, spice tea without the tea and sugar, but if it’s just for the smell, you can use fruit that’s past its prime. Oh my- did he put mashed potatoes in a muffin tin for an appetizer tray? Is that a Russian thing? -via Viral Viral Videos
Randall Munroe’s latest comic at xkcd is a discussion about whether we’ve actually cracked the code of life. Sure, we know about DNA. On the surface, it seems so simple: only four bases in only two combinations. On the surface, it may as well be just digital code. However, it is digital code that not only makes up a living being with all its components, but also contains a lot of code that isn’t necessary (at least not that we know), but still tells the history of evolution. The most complicated digital codes we’ve written don’t hold a candle to DNA.
Did this comic cause you to view the source code for Google’s minimalist home page? I did. It was an eye-opener.
If you have any interest in science and public health, you probably appreciate the hard work and genius that went into the development of vaccines as we know them. But there’s always more to the story. Or in this case, stories. Edward Jenner is credited with developing the smallpox vaccine, but he was far from the first to use the technique of conferring immunity by deliberate infection.
History doesn’t record who first got the idea to expose healthy people to pus from infected patients’ pustules - or how they talked anyone into letting them try it. But the practice seems to have sprung up independently in several places: India, China, West Africa, and elsewhere. The idea was already an old one in 570 AD when people in Europe started calling it “variolation,” from the Latin name for smallpox, Variola. (Later generations used “variolation” and “inoculation” interchangeably; today “inoculation” also includes vaccination.)
Variolation usually meant rubbing pus from a smallpox pustule - a good ripe one, the runnier, the better - into a cut or scratch on a healthy person’s arm, but in China, people just soaked a cotton ball in infected pus and stuck it up their noses. (Ah, the good old days, right?)
The whole idea is counterintuitive and sounds terrifyingly dangerous, so it took centuries and some key travelers, from royalty to slaves, to convince the world that it worked. Read about those baby steps in the slow eradication of smallpox at Gizmodo. -via Digg
Oh, she just got caught up in the process and didn’t stop when all the babies were in. No, she does it again! Jill is adamant that it’s bedtime for her human, too. Some mothers are just bossy that way. -via Tastefully Offensive
I recently got a lesson in how one becomes a "cat lady." All my family members were out of town, and I was alone with four cats. It wasn’t my idea to have four cats, but I was the one taking care of them, which I had time for as everyone else was gone. Lucky for me, it was a temporary situation. It’s a small leap from being called a "cat lady" to "crazy cat lady," especially from people who don’t care that much for cats. But where did this stereotype come from? Cats have been domesticated since ancient Egypt, and even worshiped.
But cat ladies first got their reputation for weirdness in medieval Europe. This was a society in which a woman’s fondness for cats made her suspect. Before they acquired their demonic reputation, cats were regarded as soulless beasts. Some people claimed that they, and other animals, couldn’t feel pain. During the Middle Ages, when people wanted to make ruckus—during charivaris or other shaming rituals—they would often pick cats up and rip fur off of them in order to get them to make noise. It was considered good luck to burn cats, and plenty of people did just that in order to celebrate a major event or ring in the new year.
A lady who liked cats was going to be considered odd by the standards of the time.
Being an "odd" woman in medieval times could get one burned at the stake. Things have improved since then, but we still have the stereotype cat ladies. In fact, some cat lovers became quite well known for their obsession, which you can read about at io9. -via Nag on the Lake
Hasbro is introducing a line of realistic, fur-covered, robotic cats called Joy For All Companion Cats. They are being marketed to senior citizens who wish they could take care of a pet. These cats are uncannily real; they open and close their eyes, meow, purr, tilt their heads to be petted, and even roll over for a belly rub! If you stop playing with it, it just goes to sleep. Like a real cat. I know a few people in nursing homes who would flip over these. See a series of videos at the product site. The cats available so far come in orange, silver, and creamy white for $99.99 each. All the care they need is replacing the included 4 C batteries when they run down. -Thanks, Greg Wright!
Sit back and relax, because you’re about to learn a lot of new things about the big cities of the world. It’s the mental_floss List Show with John Green, from Helsinki to Johannesburg, from Shanghai to Hollywood. They even included Reykjavík, which only has about 122,000 people, but since it’s the capital of Iceland, it’s included as a city.
The Canadian-Trinidadian artist known as Talwst makes tiny dioramas inside vintage and antique ring boxes in a series called Infinity. The subjects range from a prehistoric mann paying cave walls to a Star Trek porn shoot.
According to the artist, the idea for this series of miniature dioramas came about when a street vendor in Paris handed him an antique ring box and told him “I want to see what you make with this.” Talwst created a scene of a figure emerging from the sea and has been creating tiny scenes ever since.
Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.
Who doesn't love Paul Newman? An incredible actor, with the most famous blue eyes since Sinatra, he appeared in over 60 films, including some of the greatest movies ever.
The Hustler is my own favorite Paul Newman film, but hey, the list of "classics" for Paul goes way beyond that. There's Cool Hand Luke, The Verdict, Exodus, Somebody Up There Likes Me, The Towering Inferno, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting... And let's not forget his Oscar-winning performance in The Color of Money.
The list goes on and on and I think most of us think of Paul Newman as "the quintessential movie star.”
But Paul Newman had other interests besides the movies and acting. Besides being a devoted husband to his beloved wife and a loving father to his children, he loved auto racing, was very active politically, and liked to relax by drinking beer and consuming vast quantities of popcorn.
The idea of "Newman's Own" salad dressing began in 1980 in the town of Westport, Connecticut. Unlike many movie stars who live in lavish Beverly Hills mansions, Paul and his beloved wife, Joanne Woodward, chose the quieter confines of Connecticut.
Paul's friend, A.E. Hotchner, always noticed Paul had a strange habit every time he went into a fancy restaurant. Upon ordering, Paul would politely ask the establishment for some olive oil, vinegar, mustard, and fresh black pepper. Upon receiving these items, he would proceed to mix up a batch of his own personal salad dressing. After indulging in this rather odd practice, Paul would not only consume his delicious concoction himself, but often distribute the unique concoction around to his fellow dinner companions.
The waiters, restaurant staff and owners probably just thought Paul was another eccentric Hollywood kook indulging himself. The usual comments and compliments from his companions of “You should market this stuff" usually passed by unnoticed.
When you get old, and can’t do the things you used to do, and your family is gone, you don’t have to look far to find (dare I say it?) a New Hope. This look into the future is brought to you by Lunarbaboon.
Mike Wagner is a private jet pilot and musician. He’s written and performed a few songs about the life of a pilot before, which are pretty popular within the industry. Now he uses the Beach Boys’ song “I Get Around” to describe what he does all day -sit around! See, while airline crews are maximized by schedule, private jet pilots and crews are supposed to be ready when they’re needed. That means a lot of sitting around in various pilot lounges at airports all over.
The ties are little distracting. They obviously shot the entire video before realizing that the ties had identifiers they didn’t want to show us. -via Viral Viral Videos
Inventor Colin Furze has shown us many crazy things he’s built, but what’s he been up to lately? He’s been busy digging up his backyard for a unique man cave. A self-sustained underground bunker. In case the zombies come.
That’s a big project! And he’s stocked his bunker with necessary things, like food, things he loves, like his cat, and all his previous inventions -plus some he’ll show us in the future. Want to see how he did it? The build process was documented, too, in parts one, two, three, and four. -via Tastefully Offensive
Hobart is the capital of Tasmania in Australia. A new city Christmas tree is up, and the citizens of Hobart are not at all pleased. In fact, they are taking to social media to air their grievances. Well, it is minimalist and untraditional, but for a large outdoor decoration, it’s not all that bad, is it? The lights even change color! What’s the problem?
A $35,000 Christmas tree erected by Hobart City Council to shake off comments that it had "possibly the worst Christmas decorations in the country" has come under fire on social media.
The "modern and trendy" tree was installed in Salamanca Place, two years after Deputy Lord Mayor Ron Christie described the city's decorations as "a little bit tired".
Oh dear, I understand now. The cost wasn’t because they hired a famous artist to design it: it was designed and erected by Hobart City Council members. No wonder townspeople are trashing the city on Twitter! But maybe it’s not as bad as it seems. Hobart’s Lord Mayor Sue Hickey has lost a lot of sleep over the internet brouhaha.
The tree is not Hobart’s main Christmas tree, but a public art installation – weatherproof and built to withstand vandalism, Ald Hickey said.
Hobart City Council spends $5000 a year on its main traditional tree in Wellington Court, maintaining the fuel retardant barriers and replacing the baubles that get faded in the sun. The Salamanca Square tree “is very low maintenance” in comparison, she said.
Geelong Mayor Darryn Lyons tweeted “hahahahah hilarious” about the Hobart tree on Tuesday but Hobart doesn’t have his extravagant budget, she said.
“The $1 million Geelong tree costs $35,000 just to pull it out of storage every year and people are jumping up and down about $35,000.”
City budgets are downright incomprehensible. Ever since my small town elected an interior decorator as mayor, we’ve had a winter wonderland of Christmas decorations. And now I know why my property taxes are so high. -via Buzzfeed
Doug Bradley and Craig Werner interviewed hundreds of Vietnam vets for their book We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War. They talked about the songs that meant something to them while in country. The music they shared was tied to the war experiences they shared, whether because the song lyrics had meaning or the music just sounded awesome. From those responses, the authors compiled a top ten list, with explanations and videos.
6. Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR)
When asked to sum up the music of the war, Peter Bukowski, who served with the Americal Division near Chu Lai in 1968-69, responded: “Two words. Creedence Clearwater.” “They were the one thing everybody agreed on,” he told us. “Didn’t matter who you were — black, white, everyone. We’d hear that music and it brought a smile to your face.” ROTC graduate and heavy mortar platoon leader Loren Webster singled out Fortunate Son because it “pretty well summarized my feelings about serving, particularly since I had to serve in the Reserves with a whole lot of rich draft dodgers after I returned.”
5. Purple Haze by Jim Hendrix
Maybe it’s because he could have been in Vietnam that Jimi Hendrix holds so much appeal for ‘Nam vets. A member of the prestigious Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., Hendrix preferred guitar playing to soldiering, hence his early discharge in 1962. But even more than that, his guitar sounded like it belonged it Vietnam, reminding GIs of helicopters and machine guns, conjuring visions of hot landing zones and purple smoke grenades. As James “Kimo” Williams, a supply clerk near Lai Khe in 1970-71, attests: “The first time I heard Purple Haze, I said, ‘What is that sound and how do you do that?’ The white guys who were into rock liked him,” Williams continues, “and the black guys who were into soul liked him. He appealed to everyone.”
Mr. Spock was always in control of himself, except when he wasn’t. His Vulcan side was often struggling with his human side. It was most illogical, but always fascinating.
