This may look like an entry in a Photoshop contest, but it's not. It's an example of vivipary, in which seeds germinate before their time. Vivipary is natural, but not normal in tomatoes. There are some plants that reproduce this way, but not ones you'd normally find in the produce section.

Fruits contain a hormone that prevents seeds from germinating. Once the fruit dies or the seeds are removed, the seeds are no longer exposed to these chemicals and can germinate freely. These hormones are necessary to allow the fruit to ripen and fall to the ground where conditions are more favorable for the young plant to survive. But sometimes that hormone runs out, and the seed starts germinating. You might have seen it in your tomatoes that are sitting around on the counter for far too long. This can also happen when the environment is warm and wet tricking the seeds into believing that they are in moist soil.

It certainly looks creepy. See examples of vivipary manifesting in more tomatoes, apples, squash, mangos, and more at Amusing Planet. -via TYWKIWDBI 

(Image credit: 420BlazeItBushDid911)

If you want to dance the Monster Mash or the Time Warp, here's the music for it! All these movie monsters are played by Peter Hollens, who also did the singing. The medley shifts into high gear toward the end, when the songs all blend together.

Here's a World War II story you haven't heard, but would make a great movie in the vein of The Monuments Men or Inglourious Basterds. American engineer and surveyor Major Floyd W. Hough was the leader of a highly-classified military intelligence team with the clout to move freely in the war zone, even though no one knew what they were up to. Each member of HOUGHTEAM was selected for their particular set of skills, which might remind you of a cinematic heist team. They spread across Europe, gathering the spoils of war. They weren't after treasure, but information: maps and important geodetic surveys that took the earth's curvature into account to precisely plot locations. This data was more crucial than ever in waging a war of long-distance air missions. HOUGHTEAM carried 1,800 pounds of cameras and equipment to record captured data in microfilm. In the early years of the war, they mostly stayed behind enemy lines.  

Hough remained busy. When the Belgians requested help microfilming some survey data and secret lists of artillery coordinates, he was happy to oblige—and saw to it that an extra copy was sent to Washington without the Belgians’ knowledge. When the French city of Strasbourg was recaptured by the Allies, his men removed a cache of top-quality German survey equipment before the French had a chance to claim the gear for themselves.

If an obstacle arose, Hough was willing to get creative. After several neutral countries balked at letting Espenshade and Shallenberger search their institutes and libraries, Hough procured letters from the Library of Congress certifying the men as its representatives engaged in bibliographic research. A similar ploy got Shallenberger into the pope’s private library at the Vatican, which was strictly off-limits to members of any military, owing to the Vatican’s status of neutrality.

Finally, by early March, the Allied forces resumed their eastward progress and were poised to cross the Rhine into the German heartland. HOUGHTEAM’s window of opportunity was opening.

It was when the Allied forces began taking German towns that HOUGHTEAM really went into high gear, particularly in areas that would be ceded to the Soviets after the war. Read the exploits of the super-secret intelligence unit in the November issue of Smithsonian.  

(Image source: Library of Congress)

Seven friends from Nebraska planned their Halloween costumes around the various roles played by Ben Stiller. From left to right, you'll recognize Stiller's role in Starsky & Hutch, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Zoolander, Tropic Thunder, The Royal Tenenbaums, Heavyweights, and Happy Gilmore. Yes, these are the same seven women who dressed as various Tom Hanks roles last year. And  Bill Murray in 2016. And Robin Williams in 2015, Will Ferrell in 2014, Jim Carrey in 2013, and Johnny Depp in 2012. You can see the group year-by-year in an enlargeable gallery here, and images of each individual costume here. Redditor aubra_cadabra is second from the right, and she answers some questions about the tradition at reddit.

Why Tom BetGeorge (previously at Neatorama) selected an eight-year-old dubstep song for his 2019 Halloween light display is anyone's guess, but the resulting show is quite mesmerizing. The light show is a fundraiser for McHenry House, a local family shelter in Tracy, California. -via Geeks Are Sexy    

Art Allen joined the Coast Guard in 1984 as a junior researcher. He spent the next 35 years trying to improve the Coast Guard's ability to save people lost at sea, in large part by studying drifting objects, which had barely been done before. But it wasn't until 2001 that he watched how their rescue operations worked in real time. A storm came in that night, and the Coast Guard was dispatched to multiple rescues, including a sailboat reported missing at the end of the shift. With scant information and a dearth of tools to calculate where the craft might be, the area to search was too large to locate the sailboat quickly.

And so the Coast Guard went looking for something without any real idea of where it was. The helicopters and an 87-foot cutter searched through the night, and found nothing. Not until the following morning did the sailboat appear, upside down, a long way from where the Coast Guard had been searching. A fishing boat spotted it. Two adults were in the water beside the boat, alive. A 42-year-old woman and her 9-year-old daughter, both wearing life vests, were taken off the hull. They’d gone hypothermic. A few hours later, at a local hospital, both were pronounced dead.

Art had stayed late into the night and seen all this unfold, in real time. “I watched this happen,” he said, rising from his dining room table. We’d been sitting there talking for maybe five hours before he’d thought to mention the incident. “These two were the same age as my wife and daughter,” said Art — and suddenly he was fighting back tears.

After that incident, Art Allen threw himself into developing a computer program that many people owe their lives to, even though they don't know it. Read Allen's fascinating story at Bloomberg.  -via Metafilter

The humans erected an invisible wall, and the cats are completely bumfuzzled. If anyone tells you that cats don't have expressive faces, you just show them this video. They eventually find their way through, but they appear to remain confused even then.

Yes, this is a turtle, but it's a fluorescent turtle embryo just over an inch long. Teresa Zgoda and Teresa Kugler won first place in the 2019 Nikon Small World Microphotography competition with the image. It was a challenge to photograph such a large object under a microscope, and the final image is the result of stacking and stitching hundreds of infinitely-detailed images. Read more about the winning picture here. You can see more winning images, with the top twenty gathered in this gallery, where you'll also find links to honorable mentions and more. -via Damn Interesting

The citizens of Rwanda are dedicated to saving the endangered mountain gorilla. Although parks have now been set aside for the gorillas, the encroachment of humans did plenty of damage in the 20th century, both from poaching and from human-borne disease. At one point, there were only 242 gorillas left in the Virunga Massif volcanic region. Now there are 600, largely due to community involvement in their protection. One way Rwanda promotes gorilla conservation is the traditional baby naming ceremony Kwita Izina, now held every September to name new baby gorillas.    

The custom of hosting a naming ceremony for newborns is one of Rwanda’s oldest cultural traditions, widely believed to date back to the foundation of the monarchy, in the 11th century. A week after a child was born, its parents would invite friends and family from their clan—or ubwoko in Kinyarwanda, the country’s indigenous language—to their home to help choose a name. Women and children would prepare food—typically a one-pot dish combining local produce such as cassava, peas, and peanuts—while the men shared sorghum malt beer.

The ceremony would begin with the presentation of the newborn to the clan, followed by a collective prayer to Imana, the supreme being, to protect the family and endow the parents with many more children. Everyone from the tribe’s youngest members to its elders would suggest a name—typically something with an auspicious connotation.

Once the parents chose from the list of proposed names, the clan mothers would erupt in cheering and applause, known as impundu (“happiness sounds”), and a parting beer made from fermented bananas, called agashinguracumu, would be served to the departing guests. The family would be showered with gifts, such as a cow or new linens, and the baby would be allowed to leave the house, and enter the outside world, for the first time.

This past September, 25 new mountain gorilla babies were named in front of 30,000 people who attended the ceremony in Kinigi, near Volcanoes National Park. Read more of what Rwandans are doing to save their "most treasured animal” at Atlas Obscura.

The Slashstreet Boys presents their serial killer version of "As Long as You Love Me" by the Backstreet Boys, complete with '80s neon windbreakers and soft focus cinematography. This is from the Merkins. If you like it, you'll love their song from last Halloween, "I'll Kill You That Way." -via Geeks Are Sexy

The poke plant (Phytolacca americana) is toxic. One of the first things Appalachian children are taught is to not eat poke berries, despite their juicy purple color. But the leaves are the main ingredient in poke sallet, which despite the name, is not a "salad" at all, but greens carefully cooked to reduce their toxicity. What toxicity remains acts like a purgative, which can rid the body of worms and other parasites.

This isn't food that's cooked as a dare or to be showy, like say, Japanese fugu, one of the world's most poisonous fish, now served at Michelin-starred Suzuki in New York City. According to Nicole Taylor, chef and author of The Up South Cookbook, poke sallet is a stretch food, and it happened to be the first fresh vegetable to rise from the ground in the earliest days of spring. "When you look at foraging, that's only what they call it now. People who were poor and people who were formerly enslaved—they had to figure out what to cook, and what to eat. You can trace different wild foods back to those folks. People who are looking for food to get by are more likely to eat poke sallet than someone who had means to eat other things."

My parents and grandparents ate poke sallet, and I think about it when the tender young leaves appear in the spring. But considering the difficulty of gathering enough leaves at just the right stage and cooking it three times only to produce a dish with a "vaguely asparagus-meets-spinach flavor" which acts as a laxative, I'd just as soon open a can of something else and wait for the garden greens. Read about poke as a food, medicine, poison, and song inspiration at Saveur.  -via Metafilter

(Image credit: Stefan.lefnaer)

About a week ago, redditor wrud4d shared this picture of his grandfather. He said Grandpa wears the same old shirt every time he mows the yard, and this is the result. The post went to reddit's front page, and someone from Yamaha saw it. The company contacted wrud4d and then sent Grandpa a new shirt!

This one has UPF (ultraviolet protection factor) fabric and long sleeves. No more sunburn! However, as an older person myself, I can guess that Grandpa won't want to ruin a brand new shirt by wearing it while mowing his lawn. That's the reason he reserved that old, thinning Yamaha shirt in the first place.    

Melanin is the natural brown pigment that determines the color of our skin, hair, and eyes. Lipochrome is another natural pigment that confers a yellow color. However, there are no natural blue or green pigments in the human body. So why are some eyes blue and some green? Simon Whistler explains what's happening in those eyes. And I found out why my green eyes are sometimes gray. The eye color discussion is only five minutes long. An ad appears at five minutes, then there are bonus eye facts at about six minutes. -via Digg   

Nick and Voirrey Coole were heading out from their home on the Isle of Mann to catch a flight on a getaway to celebrate Nick's 40th birthday in New York City. They had packed their carryon bags lightly to leave room for souvenirs. When they went through airport security, they were pulled aside and asked if this was their bag. The one that x-rays showed had a cat inside. 

You know that feeling, when you get ushered into a side room at airport security because you’ve got a cat in your hand luggage. Candy decided to sneak into our hand bag, thanks Barry and Lorna for picking her up so we can head off on our holiday. Fair play to airport security for helping to get her home so we could catch our flight

The couple managed to catch their flight and are having a great time in New York. See a video report of the incident from the BBC. -via Bored Panda

(Image credit: Nick Coole)

The final film in the Skywalker saga, Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker opens nationwide on Friday, December 20th, with previews beginning at at 6PM on Thursday the 19th. There's a way you can see the new movie at 5PM if you like, but there's a catch. AMC Theaters is offering a 27-hour Star Wars marathon beginning on Wednesday the 18th, where you can see all three trilogies on the big screen, ending with The Rise of Skywalker beginning at 5PM on Thursday. The run time is listed at 27 hours and 21 minutes. However, the total run time of the eight movies already released doesn't add up to 5PM Friday, so we assume there will be breaks between films. Which makes you wonder, if you have the marathon ticket, where does it say you have to watch all those movies instead of, say, going home to sleep during the prequels? Or is the thrill of seeing The Rise of Skywalker one hour early enough to limit the audience to hardcore fans who would sit through all of them? Maybe the ticket price for the marathon will tell us, but that has not been released.

In other news, the final trailer for The Rise of Skywalker will air during this week's Monday Night Football, and then will go online soon after. -via io9