Atlas Obscura presents their "Wonders of Salt", nine interesting places around the world based on salt: lakes, buildings, mines, plains, manmade sculptures, or natural caves like Kitum Cave in Kenya.

For a very long time, the source of the abrasions on this cave's walls remained a mystery.  Some speculated ancient peoples, possilby Eygptians, were responsible. But no, the carvings in the cave weren't man made at all... elephants had been the culprits all along! The cave is the elephant equivalent of drunk college students raiding their fridge at midnight. Late at night, the Pachiderms go into the cave, get their salt lick on under the cover of darkness, and emerge unseen. Take that, Egyptians!  (Unfortunatly the cave is also the site of the deadly Malburg virus, so, visiting the cave is ill advised.)

Link -via Dark Roasted Blend

(YouTube link)

On the one hand, this plan involves a lot of time and expense just to scare birds, especially as they will get used to it eventually. On the other hand, if the purpose is to give us a laugh, it works nicely! -via the Presurfer

Jen made little pizzas that resemble the flags of some of the countries she's visited. Not only do they look like flags, they are topped with foods representative of that nation's cuisine. She shows us how she created a few of them at Tiny Urban Kitchen. Link -via Everlasting Blort

Geeks may be shy and incomprehensible at times, but they have a few things going for them that make holiday decorating much more interesting -and fun! Geeks Are Sexy has some suggestions for adding some pizzazz to your Christmas decorations.

Sure, you can buy ornaments right outside of a box. And that’s easy enough. But if you’re like me, you’d rather your tree represents what you value. You know, ornaments painted like the Death Star or a Cylon. If you go over to Michael’s or any other big name craft store, you’ll find a plethora of round, unpainted, ornaments. Use some acrylic paint (the stuff you use to paint your Warhammer 40K army should work fine, if you’ve got some of that about). This year, since we’ve got a major tree upgrade, I’m planning on making Death Stars, Cylons, Sauron Eyes, and Eyes of Kilrogg.

They've also got advice on lights, and don't miss the Menger sponge gingerbread house. Link

Slate has compiled their annual list of the 80 most influential people in America over 80 years old.

For the second year in a row, Mormon President Thomas S. Monson stands atop the list. As the divine prophet, seer, and revelator for 5.5 million Americans and more than 12 million people around the world, he's the most powerful 83-year-old we could find. Look for Monson to stay on top for years to come—at least until Boyd K. Packer, octogenarian president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, succeeds him as the alpha Mormon.

First runner-up is the senior senator from Hawaii, Daniel Inouye. When West Virginia's Robert Byrd moved into our "Just Missed" section in June, the 86-year-old Inouye was sworn in as president pro tempore of the Senate—which puts him just three heartbeats away from the Oval Office. He's also the chairman of the appropriations committee—and responsible for about $400 million in earmark spending in 2010.

See the other 78 powerful octogenarians at the post. Link

John Hinton of Horsham in West Sussex, England, combined a boat and a lawnmower to make a vehicle he can drive around traffic jams by slipping into a canal.

John’s ‘Shortcutter’, made from a sit-on lawnmower and an old boat, can chug along the roads at a ‘relaxing’ 9kph (6mph), then take to the water at the first sign of a snarl-up.

Of course, with a top speed that could cause more traffic jams than it solves and a propeller that spins wildly behind it on dry land, the four-wheeler is still very much a work in progress.

The downside is that now no one can use the term "shortcutter" for the Name That Weird Invention contest this week. Hinton says his vehicle is a prototype and he will continue to improve it. Link -via Arbroath

An estimated 500 to 600 drug traffickers were hiding in the Complexo do Alemão area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Over several days last week, shootouts between police and gang members left at least 42 people dead and residents terrified. The Big Picture Blog has 40 photographs from the raids. Some may be disturbing. Link -via Metafilter

(Image credit: REUTERS/Sergio Moraes)

When Angeles Duran filed a claim of ownership for our sun, Dr. Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, went into full research mode. After all, celestial bodies are his territory. Plait contacted Joanne Gabrynowicz, the director of the National Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi. She cited The Outer Space Treaty, which says no sovereign nation can own celestial bodies. Duran went for the loophole in that the treaty does not specifically bar individuals from owning such bodies.

In the case of Ms. Duran, she says that simply making the claim is therefore sufficient to ensure her ownership of the Sun. In the past, a guy named Dennis Hope made the same claim — he sent letters to the government basically saying that if they don’t reply, they are giving tacit permission for him to claim the Moon. Not surprisingly, the government ignored him, so Hope now says he owns the Moon. He even took it farther, having sold deeds to property on the Moon… and he’s not going broke, having made millions doing this. At least.

However, there is more to international law than the words in the treaty. Plait explains why Duran's claim to the sun will not hold up. Link

The Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons will hold their 4th annual Gingerbread Trailer Park competition this Saturday night in Atlanta. The entries are judged on their creativity and "Christmas-iness". Gingerbread is not required, but entries must be made of at least 90% edible materials. Looking through the photos of last year's competition, I see that includes broccoli, snack cakes, pretzels, Jell-o, and donuts. Link -via a comment at mental_floss

Even Santa Claus gets the TSA treatment before flying! Today's shirt at shirt.woot! is a creation of Neatoramabot designer Adam Koford.

When Adam “Ape Lad” Koford heard about the authorization of new, more invasive air security procedures, he was outraged… that the TSA never responded to his job application.

Link -via Laughing Squid

Stacy Conradt found a houseful of jaw-dropping furniture designs for children, from cute and fun to outlandishly opulent. This whimsical wardrobe is from Japanese designer Hiromatsu. See the entire collection at NeatoBambino. http://www.neatorama.com/neatobambino/2010/11/30/amazing-furniture-for-kids/

(vimeo link)

The world's largest aquarium is the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, which holds eight million gallons of water, with 6.3 million gallons in one exhibit alone! If this video is any indication, it may also be the prettiest. The song is "The Ballad of Winslow Homer" by The Dimes. Videography by Stillmotion. http://stillmotionblog.com/2010/11/27/the-worlds-largest-aquarium-atl-ga/ -via The Daily What

Putting your meal between slices of bread is a trick people do all over the world -with slight differences from country to country. In Australia you may have a chance to try the yeast paste Vegemite. In Japan you can have your noodles in your sandwich. In Vietnam you might encounter the spicy Vietnamese bahn mi.

A baguette stuffed to the brim with meat and pickled veggies, the banh mi is fusion food at its best. But be warned: it's usually sprinkled with cilantro, so don't be surprised by an herby kick when you take a bite.

Find more sandwich styles from around the world at National Geographic Traveler. Link -Thanks, Marilyn!

by Frederick B. Reitz, Ph.C.
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington Illustrations by Marian Parry

I report here the first evidence that domestic cats exhibit quantum tunneling.

Subatomic particles can make seemingly impossible, instantaneous "jumps" from one place to another. This has been known in theory for well over half a century. Numerous examples of it have been observed and meticulously documented. Known as "quantum tunneling," this strange phenomenon had previously been thought to occur only on very small scales.

In this paper I report instances of the spontaneous relocation of entire cats. Though cats are arguably quantal to the extent that they tend to exist as discrete entities, the appreciable magnitude of some of the cats in question constitutes a novel aspect of the tunneling phenomenon.

Quantum Tunneling

The physical literature contains many reports of electrons and similar particles spontaneously jumping or "tunneling" from one place to another via so-called "forbidden" routes. This phenomenon has enjoyed much attention since the advent of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). In all reports to date, the particles in question have ranged in size from extremely small to very, very small, with rare cases involving particles that are merely quite small.

Some horror films are pretty silly even while they scare us to death, and that is often reflected in the titles. In fact, author R.L. Stine was probably influenced by real movies in naming the Goosebumps series of children's books. If you are familiar with either, you'll probably do well on today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. I scored 70% because I know a lot of the movies, although I've never read a Goosebumps book. Link