(Image credit: Flickr user Mark Gstohl)

Mardi Gras is February 13 this year, and the Carnival season is already in full swing with parades every weekend in New Orleans leading up to Lent. These famous parades are staged by krewes, or neighborhood social clubs. Some of them trace their history back 100 years or more, and have huge memberships. These super krewes, named Comus, Orpheus, Rex, Endymion, Bacchus, and others are responsible for the largest Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. But there are dozens of others, each with their own flavor. Lets take a look at some of these quirkier krewes and their parades.    

1. Red Beans and Dead Beans

(Image credit: Flickr user Infrogmation of New Orleans)

The Krewe of Red Beans was founded in 2008 by Devin De Wulf, who is a fan of red beans, rice, and Carnival.

Devin created a dorky power-point presentation and invited a few friends to come over for dinner. . . enough people were convinced to join the parade and following halloween, people came together to "bean" each sunday night at Devin's house. He would cook up a big meal for the crowd and we would hang out and glue beans on stuff. . . after many hot-glue accidents and hours of "beaning"  we were ready for our first parade.

The Red Beans Parade will be on Monday, February 12 (Lundi Gras). For the Red Beans Parade, many members hot-glue beans to their costumes. Skeletons have always been a motif of the parade, so this year, the inaugural Dead Beans Parade will feature members as skeletons, marching from a different location to meet up with the Red Beans Parade midway.
   
2. Krewe of Tchefuncte

Anyone who's ever been to the blog Bad Menu knows that problems in menu translation are common. That's because, while foot coverings can be shoes and a warm outer garment can be a coat no matter what the local language says, there are many differences in the foods we eat in different places with different languages. Local ingredients and traditional cooking methods aren't so easy to translate. And often what a dish has always been called doesn't really describe it to someone who is unfamiliar with it.  

A related problem is that food names or terms often have positive associations in one culture, but nowhere else. Cubans love ropa vieja (a shredded beef dish whose name literally translates to “old clothes”), Mexicans enjoy tacos sudados (literally “sweaty tacos”), and Moroccans are all about roasted sheep head. In Croatia, bitter flavors are valued, while in many countries, calling a dish or drink bitter is an insult.

“Foods are frequently so culture-specific that it’s difficult to transfer the idea effectively,” says Jim Beason, a translator based in Strasbourg. “A bit like translating political satire from one country to the other—you understand the words, but your lack of cultural context means that it’s not funny at all.”

There are other problems, such as the French tendency to name a dish after its texture, while Americans want to know what's in it. Read about the many ways menu translations can go wrong, with plenty of examples, at Atlas Obscura. After you read it, you'll be craving some of that French custard with meringue and caramel sauce.

(Image credit: Blake Olmstead/Atlas Obscura)

Saffron is worth its weight in gold, and can cost up to $16 a gram. Fortunately, it doesn't take much to make food taste heavenly. The reason it's so expensive is because it's hard to grow, hard to harvest, and the yield from each plant is tiny. That plant is the flower Crocus sativus, and saffron must be harvested by hand from each bloom. It has quite a storied history.     

Saffron is as old as time. Cleopatra was said to bathe in saffron-infused mare’s milk before seeing a suitor. “Saffron was used to dye the woolen bolero jackets worn by Minoan women; also in cosmetics, where it was mixed with red ochre, tallow, and beeswax to make lipstick,” says John O’Connell in The Book of Spice: From Anise to Zedoary. Medieval monks found that mixing a primitive glue of egg whites and saffron created a yellow glaze that could stand in for gold in the production of their manuscripts.

There's a lot more to the history of saffron. Read about it at National Geographic News, and for even more, check out a new podcast from The Atlantic. -via Metafilter

(Image credit: Martin Burns)

For men who are completely confused by women who do not want to be treated as sexual objects at work, Rachel Parris explains what sexual harassment is and is not on the new satirical show The Mash Report. Although this was on British TV, it might be NSFW by American standards. While there is nothing graphic, the humor is adult-oriented.

(YouTube link)

That said, it is delightfully funny and savagely cutting at the same time. The way you treat women is not a minefield to negotiate -it's just common sense. And if there is any further confusion about a particular method of interacting with women, just ask your mother. If you don't feel comfortable asking your mother about it, then the woman you are thinking about approaching won't feel comfortable, either.  -via Buzzfeed

Here we have a look into the visual effects of the Guillermo del Toro film The Shape of Water. There's no voiceover explanation, just a peek at the layers of awesome digital art, including water, which is a real breakthrough for filmmakers. Oh yeah, and the creature that reminds one of the Black Lagoon. The downside is that after watching this, I feel as if I've seen the entire movie and there's no need to sit down for the feature length version. In other words, this is full of spoilers.

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Visual effects by Mr. X. The Shape of Water was nominated for 13 Academy Awards. -via Mental Floss

For some time now, digital artists have been altering theatrical posters to more accurately reflect what a movie is about, in the vein of the Honest Trailers. The hit films that have just been nominated for Academy Awards came out throughout the year, and can be found in many places. Uproxx has compiled quite a few from College Humor and The Shiznit that are "brutally, hilariously honest," which means the biggest movies have two honest versions, funny in different ways. Check out 21 posters here.

(Image credit: The Shiznit)

The 1984 science fiction comedy Repo Man is nothing like what you would imply from the title. Emilio Estevez is indeed a repo man, but the plot revolves around a radioactive Chevy Malibu, possibly with extraterrestrials inside. Repo Man was a critical and box office hit, despite being produced on a shoestring budget.   

10. It didn’t take any special effects to make the Chevy Malibu glow.

The car was covered with 3M reflective paint that cost about $600 per bucket. Hopefully it only took one to two buckets to cover it al.

8. The Malibu was stolen during filming.

This was a disaster because they only had the one car for the movie. They had to scramble and find another Chevy Malibu and by the time they started shooting again the first car was found.

Read more about the making of Repo Man at TVOM.

There are few places around the world without a tradition of group drinking. The English "Cheers!" is a shortcut, a one-word toast. The same thing is done in many other countries in many other languages, although there are some variations on the tradition. You might notice that Russia has several such toasts. And some places that don't traditionally use a one-word toast still practice group drinking, so they've appropriated "Cheers!"

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I learned about the Chinese "Gan Bei" many years ago. My boss told me it meant "Bottoms up!" implying that the glass should be drained. You should not assume that in the other languages. It's not a bad idea to ask about drinking etiquette in a place you aren't already familiar with. -via Laughing Squid

Molly Beans is a webcomic by Dan Sacharow that tells a continuing story, yet each comic can stand on its own. In the latest comic, we get bit of insight into Molly's idea of drive, work, and satisfaction. Can anything be rewarding if it's easy? Many of us consider the worthiness of our efforts, but rarely on this scale. I hope she enjoys whatever ice cream she decides on.  

You might remember Toby Atticus Fraley as the artist behind Fraley's Robot Repair in Pittsburgh. He's all the way across the country now, with an art installation in front of City Hall in Palo Alto, California. The Artwork Forge II is a retro vending machine that produces custom art! A local review says,

The project, a turquoise, shed-sized machine that looks like a cross between a child's playhouse and a retro-futuristic robot with springs for legs, dispenses colorful, postcard-sized images on wooden blocks in a variety of designs. It's a whimsical device that, according to the artist, "simulates the experience of commissioning an original artwork by compiling data from your personal preferences, social media, news trends and celebrated masterworks of art."

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Following the retro theme, the machine only accepts quarters. The Artwork Forge II will be on site through March. See more pictures at Fraley's website, and some of the dispensed artworks at Instagram. -Thanks, Toby!

There have been ten women who have given birth while serving in the U.S. House of Representatives; one of them was Tammy Duckworth in 2014. While she was on maternity leave with her daughter Abigail O’kalani Bowlsbey, she decided to run for Senator. Now she is on track to be the first member of the U.S. Senate to give birth while in office. Duckworth (D-Illinois), who turns 50 in March, is due in April. 

Sen. Dick Durbin D-Ill., said in a statement, “I am proud to have her as my Illinois colleague and prouder still that she will make history by being the first U.S. Senator to have a baby while in office. I couldn’t be happier for her.”

The other congressional births have all come while the female lawmakers were serving in the House.

“I feel great,” said Duckworth, a little over six months pregnant.

Senator Tammy Duckworth served 22 years in the military as a helicopter pilot, lost both legs in combat, retired as a lieutenant colonel, earned a PhD, elected to Congress, elected to the Senate, and will give birth while serving there.

Read this all out loud for full effect.

— Charlotte Clymer (@cmclymer) January 23, 2018

-via Mashable

We often read about the huge buildings constructed for Olympic games that fall into ruin afterward, abandoned, forgotten, or demolished. They were constructed with big plans for a second life after the Games that never worked out. But there are exceptions. A few cities have found creative uses for Olympic structures that worked out well, even though some have undergone massive renovation or even changed uses more than once. That beautiful Water Cube built for the Beijing Olympics? It's still in business.

Built for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the National Aquatics Center (more commonly known as the Water Cube) held synchronized swimming, diving, water polo and other swimming events. Michael Phelps fans—this is where he earned his eight gold medals, and where 24 other world records were set. The building was renovated after the Olympics, and half of it is now Asia’s largest waterpark, called Happy Magic Water Cube. There are 13 waterslides, a lazy river, a wave pool and a spa. The second floor of the building has an auditorium with 17,000 seats. There’s also a theater, several restaurants and bars and a museum of Olympic history. The Olympics will be back in Beijing in 2022, and the Cube is slated for use in the curling tournaments.

Other structures found new life as a prison, a church, and an entertainment center. One was used for a different sport in another Olympics! Read about them at Smithsonian.

(Image credit: Flickr user llee_wu)

Jordan Peele's horror film Get Out was nominated for four Academy Awards today: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor for Daniel Kaluuya. Coincidentally, Screen Junkies had the Honest Trailer ready to go.

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Or maybe it wasn't a coincidence... Maybe they knew something, like how Get Out deserves the nominations. They don't so much denigrate the film, but celebrate it for the strange story it is.

A quiz from the Department of Geography at Ghent University in Belgium is studying how various maps affect how people see the world. You'll be given two countries to compare, and your task is to adjust them by size until they are accurate relative to each other. It's not easy, even if you are familiar with the distortions of flat maps that depict a round world. It helps if you are at all familiar with the countries of the world. Try the quiz and let us know how you did! I ended up with a 61% score. I did fairly well on most of them, then screwed up badly on one country I wasn't familiar at all with. Your input will help the University's study of maps and might lead to more accurate world maps. -via Metafilter

The nominees for the Oscars were announced this morning. Up for Best Picture:

Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

The biggest surprise among the Best Picture nominees was the inclusion of the horror film Get Out. Horror films rarely make the cut, but Get Out was loved by both critics and audiences. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri did very well at the Golden Globes, but that's no guarantee of success at the Oscars, especially this year. See a list of all the nominees for the various awards at Uproxx. The Academy Awards ceremony will be March 4.