Do you spend too much time playing video games to get your exercise in? You might need the geekiest exercise program ever to inspire you to get fit. So put those Cheetos down and follow Alicia Marie and get Gamerfit! Part two and part three are also available. -via The Daily What Geek
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A pinch of history here, a dash of fact there -the origin of seasonings always turns out perfect, any way you spice it.
1. Pepper
(Image credit: Flickr user Dennis Wilkinson)
If you eat enough pepper you’ll start to sweat, which explains why the ancients thought the stuff made an excellent medical treatment. The Chinese employed it as a treatment for malaria, cholera, and dysentery, while Indian monks used it as a sort of PowerBar: they swallowed small amounts of the stuff in hopes that it would help them survive their long treks through the rough countryside. Later, pepper became so valuable that it served as a de facto form of currency; it was used for centuries in Europe to pay rent and taxes. In one exceptional case, it was also used for ransom: Attila the Hun is said to have demanded about 3,000 pounds of the stuff in 408 C.E.; in exchange, he promised to lay off the city of Rome and stop sacking it.
2. Salt
(Image credit: Flickr user niznoz)
It’s probably been the most valuable food additive in all of history, mostly because it did such a good job of preserving foods in the centuries before the refrigerator was invented. Salt mines in Chehr Abad, Iran, also testify to the stuff’s ability to preserve people. Four “salt men” have been discovered there, eerily mummified by what they were digging for; two of them may date as far back as 650 B.C.E. But the use of salt far predates the Iranian salt men. In China, writings that are something like 4,700 years old testify to its value; the Peng-Tzao-Kan-Mu, the earliest known treatise pharmacology, mentions more than 40 kinds of salt. And a tragic piece of Chinese folklore that has probably been around since the time of the Peng-Tzao-Kan-Mu tells a story of how the phoenix, that majestic mythical bird, first brought salt to the attention of a lowly peasant – who was accidentally put to death by a temperamental emperor before anyone realized the value of what he had found.
3. Cinnamon
(Image credit: Flickr user Dennis Wilkinson)
Although it’s originally from the hard-to-reach island of Ceylon (a.k.a. Sri Lanka), cinnamon has been a global sensation for millennia. It first appears in Chinese writings that date to 2800 B.C.E. (they called it kwai). Cinnamon was also used by the Egyptians in embalming, perhaps, as with salt, for the same reason that it became a popular cooking spice – its warm aroma and antibacterial properties could hide the stench of food starting to go bad. The Romans had attachments to cinnamon, too, both medical and sentimental. Pliny the Elder records the stuff as being worth about fifteen times its weight in silver. And the Roman Emperor Nero, known for both his evil tendencies and his extravagance, sacrificed a year’s supply of the stuff as an apologia for murdering his wife – although we’re guessing Roman spice merchants failed to appreciate the gesture.
4. Nutmeg
(Image credit: Flickr user Lee Coursey)
Like cinnamon, this one’s been a popular spice since the days of, yep, Pliny the Elder, who writes about a curious plant that bears two spices: Nutmeg is the plant’s seed; mace is made from a fleshy covering around the seed. Nutmeg’s distinctive scent (think eggnog) has made it consistently popular throughout the ages; Emperor Henry VI reportedly had workers blanket the streets of Rome with the aroma in celebration of his crowning. The vast majority of the world’s nutmeg now comes from the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada – in fact, the local economy is based almost entirely on tourism and nutmeg exports, and the spice is the centerpiece of the country’s flag – but that’s not where the plant originated. In fact, nutmeg didn’t even exist in Grenada until British sailors brought it there in the early 1800s; it’s from the East Indies, not the West Indies. The British had good reason for introducing an invasive species, though: The combination of a blight, political upheaval, and Dutch merchants who burned nutmeg warehouses to keep the prices high had pretty much wiped out the world supply of nutmeg at that point.
5. Ginger
(Image credit: Flickr user heath_bar)
There’s plenty of debate over whether Marco Polo brought back pasta from his trip to China, but one thing is certain: he did bring back ginger. Hugely popular in the Roman Empire, ginger suffered roughly the same fate as said empire; by Polo’s days, it was barely known in the West. Polo and company reintroduced it as a rare luxury, and it stayed that way for centuries. In fact, Queen Elizabeth was a noted enthusiast, and some historians think she may have invented the gingerbread man.
6. Horseradish
(Image credit: Flickr user Judy Baxter)
Anything that tastes as strong as horseradish has got to have a history of use in medicine – and indeed, horseradish does; in the 3,500 years that humans have been eating it, they’ve used it to treat everything from rheumatism to tuberculosis, from lower back pain to low libido. Hippocrates wrote about it (along with the 400 other spicy medicines he recommended), and the oracle at Delphi was a big fan, too; he supposedly told Apollo that “the radish is worth its weight in lead, the beet its weight in silver, and the horseradish its weight in gold.” Horseradish had a bit of a renaissance during, well, the Renaissance; as a food fad, it spread all over Europe and Scandinavia, and by the late 1600s, it was a British staple, eaten alongside beef and oysters and made into pungent cordials. Which is all fine and good (we like the stuff too), but why is it called horseradish? The answer has very little to do with horses. The Germans call the stuff “meerrettich,” or “sea radish,” since that’s where it grows. English-speakers may have picked up the word and bastardized it to “mare-radish,” which then became not-necessarily-a-female-horse radish. We, however, prefer the more descriptive name that some American settlers used for it; they charmingly (and accurately) called it “stingnose.”
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The article above by Ransom Riggs was reprinted with permission from mental_floss' book In the Beginning.
From Big Hair to the Big Bang, here's a Mouthwatering Guide to the Origins of Everything by our friends at mental_floss.
Did you know that paper clips started out as Nazi-fighting warriors? Or that cruise control was invented by a blind genius? Read it all in the book!
This is the one from the list that made me laugh when I saw it. Sure, it's an outdated stereotype but they had to overdo it to make sure everyone gets the pun. See more that are almost as good at Buzzfeed. Link
Teacher and numbers geek Ron Gordon tells me today is Ladybug Day! Gordon finds fun patterns in dates, and today is 10-11-12 (as we write it in the U.S.). The name was inspired by the above song from Sesame Street. The dates corresponding to the first, second, and third lines of the song have already occurred this century, so this is the last one!
Gordon has a couple of contests going about Ladybug Day, which you can read about at his site. Link
Previously from Ron Gordon: Square Root Day, Odd Day, and Ones Upon a Day
C.G.P. Grey explains the system in place for breaking an electoral college tie. It's convoluted, of course, and may possibly return a result contrary to the wishes of the people. But this explanation also highlights one of the many reasons that it's as important to vote for your preferred senators and representatives as the president. -via Daily of the Day
Have you ever endured an unpaid internship? The last time I considered relocating, all the job listings in my field were unpaid internships, which was disheartening as I have kids to support. Buzzfeed posted a picture essay on what an internship is like. The commenters agree, except they say that Hamburger Helper is too expensive (or at least the hamburger is), so you should expect to live off ramen instead. Link
Redditor skeletonpirate brought back photographic evidence of the ice planet Hoth, where Luke Skywalker came close to meeting his end at the "hands" of a wampa. Link
China's panda research program includes a plan for releasing pandas into the wild. Tao Tao is the first panda born in captivity to be released. The cub has been housed at a semi-wild panda facility -and has never seen a human. Workers who cared for Tao Tao and his mother Cao Cao always dressed in Panda costumes! The two pandas were gradually moved to denser forest with less human intervention over the course of two years to prepare them for release.
The keepers approached the two-year-old carefully and placed him in a wooden box at the panda wild training base.
On release, Tao Tao seemed unafraid of the strange figures who walked behind as he took his first steps through his new home in dense bamboo undergrowth high in the mountains in Wolong, in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.
The release is not a true goodbye: Tao Tao will wear a GPS collar and has an implanted ID chip so he can be tracked. Link -via Arbroath
The trailer for the video game Hitman: Absolution is much improved by Lee Hardcastle's clay cat animation. If the whole game had cats in it, I'd learn to play! See the original ultra-violent trailer at YouTube. -via Uproxx
Disney/Pixar's new animated short features Rex, the toy dinosaur from Toy Story. Who says T. rex couldn't use his arms for anything useful? -via The Daily What Geek
Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.
Let's take a look at some of the most famous mustaches in history …and their owners.
Groucho Marx
Groucho was the greatest and funniest comedian in movie history (at least in my humble opinion). Groucho always wore a fake crepe mustache in the Marx brothers act during their early years in Vaudeville. But one day he was late for a performance and, in a hurry, he just slapped on some greasepaint instead. The laughs came in, just as usual, so Groucho decided to stick with the easier-to-apply greasepaint.
When the boys hit the movies, the studio executives wanted Groucho to get a real-looking mustache. But Groucho stuck with the obviously-fake greasepaint and audiences all over the world never seemed to care. The Marx Brother were always surreal anyway, and the fake mustache seemed to fit right in.
It was only in the very last Marx Brothers movie Love Happy (1949) that Groucho finally sported his real facial hair.
Groucho Marx and Marilyn Monroe in Love Happy. (YouTube link)
Clark Gable
Although every movie fan thinks of Clark Gable with his trademark mustache, he did several films early in his career sans the 'stache. It wasn't until 1932's Strange Interlude that Gable first made the ladies swoon with his new mustache. Gable's own personal favorite of all his films, Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) features a clean-shaven Clark Gable. He was nominated for an Oscar for the role, too.
But after the mustachioed Rhett Butler swept Scarlet O'Hara (and a few million other ladies) off their collective feet in Gone With The Wind in 1939, the idea of Gable without a mustache became utterly unthinkable.
Adolf Hitler
Pringles, though the company doesn't call them potato chips, always tasted like potato chips, even when they sprouted flavors like barbecue and pizza. But now they are releasing three limited-edition holiday flavors that seem quite contrary to the taste of potatoes: Pumpkin Pie Spice, White Chocolate Peppermint, and Cinnamon & Sugar. You should see them in stores November first. Please let us know if you have the courage to try them out. Link
John Cozzoli has collected over 500 movie artifacts, mostly relating to "lesser-known horror movies of the 20th century." Collectors Weekly talked to Cozzoli about his wonderful but obscure set of ephemera.
Primarily devoted to Mexican lobby cards, or small placards displayed in theater entrances to advertise upcoming films, and American pressbooks, which provided promotional guides for theater owners, Cozzoli has curated an extensive array of cult-classics on his blog, Zombos’ Closet. Spanish-language lobby cards specifically piqued his interest because of their exaggerated details and wild graphics, unrestricted by more prudish American guidelines.
Cozzoli’s dream is to preserve these campy bits of horror film history, particularly items made during the golden era, which lasted from the 1940s through the ’60s. In the process, he’s created a virtual haunted house of zany, lurid, and sometimes downright disgusting marketing materials.
You can see some of those wild lobby cards when you read the interview. Link
Have you been keeping up with the Neatorama Halloween blog? I've been checking it every day, and I may have to go more often, because there is a ton of Halloween stuff posted! Recipes for Halloween treats both spookily artistic and simple for family projects, plenty of Halloween costumes to admire or emulate, and then there's the fun "other" stuff. I grabbed pictures from a list of American monsters, a child dressed as a shark, and a dancing pumpkin dude. Check them all out at the Neatorama Halloween blog. Link
Yeah, the creatures are mythical and these stories are from real life -but that doesn't mean the creatures that were found were what they were reported to be. These fairly modern accounts from various sources are either hoaxes for laughs or money, or mistakes made by frightened people. Read about found fairies, dragons, leprechauns, mermaids, and more at Ranker. Shown here is a man posing with the skull of an ancient cyclops. Link
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