The cookies we all know and love started out as a mistake!

In 1930, a dietitian who owned a tourist lodge was cooking and baking for her guests. Unfortunately, she ran out of the baker’s chocolate she needed for the chocolate cookies that were on the menu. She hurriedly substituted a chocolate bar — cut up into tiny pieces — assuming they would melt. They didn’t — they just softened, instead.

The mistake turned out all right for her in the end, and even brought her a lifetime supply of chocolate! http://www.baconbabble.com/index.php/2009/12/15/the-history-of-the-chocolate-chip-cookie/ -via the Presurfer

Aerospace engineer Kirk Sorensen became interested in nuclear energy by reading records of experiments done by Alvin Weinberg and his team after World War II at the Oak Ridge Nuclear Plant. What really captured Sorenson's attention was the promise of thorium, which has advantages over uranium as a nuclear fuel. Uranium worked best for nuclear weapons, but it is rare, dangerous, and produces lots of nuclear waste.

When he took over as head of Oak Ridge in 1955, Alvin Weinberg realized that thorium by itself could start to solve these problems. It’s abundant — the US has at least 175,000 tons of the stuff — and doesn’t require costly processing. It is also extraordinarily efficient as a nuclear fuel. As it decays in a reactor core, its byproducts produce more neutrons per collision than conventional fuel. The more neutrons per collision, the more energy generated, the less total fuel consumed, and the less radioactive nastiness left behind.

Even better, Weinberg realized that you could use thorium in an entirely new kind of reactor, one that would have zero risk of meltdown. The design is based on the lab’s finding that thorium dissolves in hot liquid fluoride salts. This fission soup is poured into tubes in the core of the reactor, where the nuclear chain reaction — the billiard balls colliding — happens. The system makes the reactor self-regulating: When the soup gets too hot it expands and flows out of the tubes — slowing fission and eliminating the possibility of another Chernobyl. Any actinide can work in this method, but thorium is particularly well suited because it is so efficient at the high temperatures at which fission occurs in the soup.

Sorenson is leading a campaign to revive thorium as a nuclear fuel by bringing scientists and engineers together on his blog called Energy From Thorium. A bill is now before congress to provide funds for thorium research. At least one commercial company is already using thorium. Could this be the element that saves nuclear power? Link -via reddit

(image credit: Thomas Hannich)

Infographics are not new, they are just easier to make and pass around on the internet. BibliOdyssey has a collection of posters, pages, and pamphlets from the Victorian era that make information into an art form. Pictured is the Tableau De L'Histoire Universelle (History of the Universe Chart).

This is a fold-out print depicting all of human history from the time of creation (4693 BC = Adam & Eve; the great flood = 3300 BC) up to the date of publication (1858 by Eug. Pick, Paris). Vignettes of historically significant people, places and buildings etc are arranged along the borders.

The designer has employed something of a metaphorical display choice: civilisations are presented as a series of rivers -- the widths likely imply the comparative population level of each group versus the world's population -- which 'flow' down through history.

See also graphics on geography, biology, astronomy, and more. The pictures are all linked to larger Flickr versions. Link

Lapland, a region of Fenno-Scandinavia that lies mostly within the Arctic Circle, is where tourists go to find Santa Claus, reindeer, dog sledding, skiing, the Northern Lights, and unbelievable scenery. In this post, it's easy to see why Santa Claus wants to live in Lapland -I fell in love with the place just from the author's charming use of English!

A more traditional mode of travel – dog sledding. Here management is not so elementary, because dogs often have their own ideas about the itinerary and you do not have a lot of ways to persuade them to move in the right direction. So it will take all possible strength and agility, but it only makes the trip more interesting.

Link -via Digg

NORAD has been tracking Santa every year since 1958. In 2007, Google Maps and Google Earth got involved with following Santa's progress on Christmas Eve. As often happens with new projects, something went awry in 2008. Jeff Martin, a senior marketing manager at Google Geo, found himself in hot water quickly.

Inexplicably, as Santa made his way through Toronto that night last year, the mapping software began identifying the city as being in the United States. Instantly, NORAD Santa's dedicated Gmail account "just lit up" with messages from irate Canadians, Martin said, and quickly, the Google team fixed the problem.

But not before Martin's run-in with Canadian Lt. Gen. Marcel Duval. "He said, 'I understand that you have a new American city,'" Martin recalled. "It was a slightly tense moment for me, standing in front of a three-star general explaining to him why one of his cities had been designated as a United States city."

Read more about how the NORAD Santa Tracker came about and the technology used in the program today. Link -Thanks, Vince d'Eon!

If you watched the original British version of The Office, you know how everything ties up at the conclusion of the “documentary.” What do you remember about the Christmas special that wrapped up the series? Yes, it's a chance for BBC viewers to show off in today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss! I had no chance of scoring well, so I will let you take bragging rights. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/43511

Father Tim Jones of the St. Lawrence Church in York, England is getting some flack for advice he preached after his Nativity sermon on Sunday, in which he advocated shoplifting for those in desperate straits.

Delivering his festive lesson, Father Jones told the congregation: 'My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither.

'I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices.

'I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need.

'I offer the advice with a heavy heart and wish society would recognise that bureaucratic ineptitude and systematic delay has created an invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope.'

He added that he felt society had failed the needy, and said it was far better they shoplift than turn to more degrading or violent options such as prostitution, mugging or burglary.

Both the North Yorkshire police department and local MP Anne McIntosh hav publicly denounced Father Jones' sermon. Link -via Fark

(YouTube link)

The Kenosha, Wisconsin Police Department recorded their own version of The Twelve Days of Christmas using gifts they are accustomed to.

About 20 members of the Police Department were involved in the making of the video, which was directed by Crime Prevention Officer Jeff Wamboldt and edited by Safety Officer Dennis Walsh. Work on the video began in September with filming throughout the month of October; the video was finished before Thanksgiving.

Members of the department hope it helps people laugh amid the stressful holiday season.

http://www.kenoshanews.com/home/kenosha_police_share_their_comical_version_of_twelve_days_of_christmas_6977689.html -via Arbroath

What happens on Facebook doesn't always stay on Facebook, and sometimes those misadventures make the national news. Remember the groom who posted to Facebook during his wedding? Have you heard about the woman who lost her disability benefits over her Facebook pictures? And then there's Rodney Bradford, who was posting to his page at the exact time of a robbery he was accused of.

His defense lawyer, Robert Reuland, told a Brooklyn assistant district attorney, Lindsay Gerdes, about the Facebook entry, which was made at the time of the robbery. The district attorney subpoenaed Facebook to verify that the status update had actually been typed from acomputer located at 71 West 118th Street in Harlem, as Mr. Bradford said. When that was confirmed, the charges were dropped.

Read more stories of how Facebook is affecting the lives of people outside the internet. Link -via Unique Daily

The Toy Zone has a list of historical desks on which the owner helped shape the world. Pictured is the desk Charles Dickens used to write such classics as Great Expectations. Also see the work spaces of Shakespeare, Gandhi, Winston Churchill, and others. Link -via the Presurfer

High school seniors Kenny, Martina, Ray, and Carol Crouch, quadruplets from Danbury, Connecticut were all ecstatic when they found that all four were accepted into Yale University.

The Crouches’ perfect batting average represents a first for Yale — the first time in anyone’s memory that it has offered admission to quadruplets. It is also, of course, no small milestone for the siblings, who were born more than two months premature. (Ray was the last to be released from the neonatal unit, more than four months later.)

They made up for that rough start. Their class rankings range from 13 out of a class of 632 (Kenny) to 46 (Martina) — and they have sky-high SAT scores (including Carol’s perfect 800 on the verbal part of that exam).

The siblings have until May first to decide whether to accept Yale's invitation. They say their decision will depend on financial aid. Link

(image credit: Christopher Capozziello/The New York Times)

Those of us of a certain age may do better than others on the Rocky Horror Picture Show quiz at mental_floss. How well do you remember not only the movie, but trivia about the stars and the making of the film? You are also invited to leave your RHPS memories in the comments. I scored 100%, although I'm not sure whether that's something to be proud of! http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/43177

Weather is explained in Star Wars terms on this site. Enter a city and get the current conditions, whether it's like Hoth, Endor, Tatooine, Naboo, or some other planet in the Star Wars universe. Enter a city it doesn't have listed, and the result will be Alderaan, meaning not there. Link -via b3ta

(YouTube link)

Shorewood High School made a lip dub video to Hall and Oates' song "You Make My Dreams Come True". That's quite an accomplishment in itself, and might remind you of the "I Gotta Feeling" video (seen here) ...but wait, there's something not quite right about this video. It won't take you long to figure it out! -via reddit

It's beginning to look a lot like winter in some areas, and run-of-the-mill snowmen are popping up here and there. Bad Astronomer Phil Plait got geekily creative and made a Dalek out of snow! Link -via Geeks Are Sexy