Finally, a catchy, simple tune to help the non-physicists among us understand string theory. Michael Wilson, aka Coma Niddy, breaks down what has to be the most complicated, labyrinthine theory in the history of science with easy-to-remeber verses like:

Everything is made of atoms
Atoms are made of a bunch of things
Like Protons, neutrons, Electrons, and quarks
And those may be made of tiny strings
Depending on the how the strings vibrate
Will determine how the particles behave
Just like how you pluck the strings of the Bass
It affects the note it plays

via Motherboard

Did you know Pac Man was originally called Puck Man because "puck" sounds sort of like the Japanese equivalent of "nom?" So how did it end up as "Pac?"

The name of the game, Pakkuman, was inspired by the Japanese onomatopoeia, “paku-paku,” which describes the sound of eating, similar to the English word “chomp.” As the game was brought to market, the title morphed into Puck Man.

But when Puck Man made his way to North America there was concern that the arcade cabinets would be vandalized by making the P into an F to spell something entirely different. A compromise was reached and the game became known as Pac-Man instead. Thanks to the American marketing machine, the name Pac-Man was eventually adopted for the game all over the world.

Link

Oh, good! The UK bakery Love Is Cake made these delicious cupcakes and cake just in time for elevensies!

The cupcakes feature the Eye of Sauron, the One Ring, the White Tree of Gondor, Legolas’ Bow and Arrow, Lorien Leaves, and the Sword of Aragorn.

Link -via That's Nerdalicious!

A thoughtful young lady acquired these tattoos to remember her late parents:

I got these a couple months ago for my parents who passed away when I was in high school. Its exact copies of their handwriting from birthday cards. I absolutely love them

Link -Thanks, wifey!

The United States have the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. China has the Strategic Pork Reserve. And Canada? Apparently it has its own strategic maple syrup reserve and it's been hit by sticky-fingered thieves in what is probably the sweetest heist of all time:

The warehouse in rural Quebec held more than C$30 million ($30.4 million) worth of maple syrup, a whopping 10 million pounds of the amber pancake topping.

It was not clear exactly how much of the sweet stuff was taken in the heist, which occurred at some point over the last few days and was uncovered during a routine inventory check.

"We don't know yet how much is missing - we do know it is significant," said Anne-Marie Granger Godbout, executive director of the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers.

Numerous barrels in the warehouse were emptied of their sticky contents. The remaining barrels need to be weighed and tested to ensure the syrup inside had not been tampered with.

The robbers "were wise enough, they tried to hide their crime," said Granger Godbout. "We just want to make sure we know how much is missing and how much is still there."

Aunt Jemima is wanted for questioning.

The Vancouver Sun reports: Link (Photo: Shutterstock)

Humans are not the only animal that mourn their dead, but this is quite surprising: when a Western Scrub Jay bird encounters a dead bird, it will call out to others to stop foraging and, well, for lack of better words, attend a bird funeral.

The revelation comes from a study by Teresa Iglesias and colleagues at the University of California, Davis, US. They conducted experiments, placing a series of objects into residential back yards and observing how western scrub jays in the area reacted.

The objects included different coloured pieces of wood, dead jays, as well as mounted, stuffed jays and great horned owls, simulating the presence of live jays and predators. [...] The jays reacted indifferently to the wooden objects.

But when they spied a dead bird, they started making alarm calls, warning others long distances away.

The jays then gathered around the dead body, forming large cacophonous aggregations. The calls they made, known as "zeeps", "scolds" and "zeep-scolds", encouraged new jays to attend to the dead.

Link

Given the right noodles and enough time, Sergey Pakhomov can build anything out of pasta:

Sergey made his first pasta car five years ago. "It all started with my work on an advertising campaign for a macaroni making factory. The campaign developed into a hobby," he said. It took the man three years to build his pasta town.

Link -via Oddity Central | Photo: Pravda

Colin Steer has been wondering for almost 30 years why his sofa dipped at one corner of his living room. After he retired, he decided to tackle the problem as a home improvement project. That is when he discovered something very unusual:

Intrigued by the sunken floor, the retired civil servant has uncovered a 33ft medieval well in the house where he and wife Vanessa have lived for almost 25 years.

After three days of work Mr Steer, from Plymouth, Devon, stopped digging at 17ft and is now trying to date the unexpected find. Plans show the well dates back to the 16th century.

So far, he's discovered a medieval sword. Donna Bowater of The Telegraph has the story: Link

Oh, Chipotle. The restaurant has been caught with its hands in the salsa container when an amateur sleuth noticed that it's been rounding its bills to eliminate pennies:

On several recent shopping trips, Jayson Greenberg wondered what the deal was with pennies — or the lack thereof — at Chipotle Mexican Grill in West Caldwell.

"The receipts at the Chipotle in West Caldwell don’t add up when there are odd amounts involved," he said. [...]

On the first, dated July 13, the nine items added up to $32.93. There was $2.31 in tax. The total should have been $35.24, but next to the "total" line on the receipt, it said $35.25.
The next receipt, with the same sale date, showed a subtotal of $8.64. The tax was $0.60, so the grand total should have been $9.24. But no. With Chipotle-style math, the total was $9.25.

The third receipt, dated July 17, had a subtotal of $17.75 and tax of $1.24. The total? $19.00, but elementary school students would have come up with $18.99.

Karin Price Mueller of The Star-Ledger has more: Link

The American Civil War ended in 1865, but as of last September, the Department of Veterans Affairs still pays out two pensions from that conflict. Privacy rules prevent the release of the names or reasons for the pensions, but it's likely that the recipients are the disabled elderly children of veterans:

Department of Veteran Affairs spokesman Phil Budahn says the VA last checked in on the benefits recipients in the fall. Both were alive, but in poor health.

Budahn says it's likely that the children of the Civil War veterans, who have wished to remain anonymous, both had illnesses that prevented them from ever becoming self-sufficient..

Trevor Plante, a reference chief at the National Archives says it's also possible that the beneficiaries were young when their fathers died and had no living mothers to care for them, which would also qualify them for their fathers' pensions.

Link -via Hell in a Handbasket | Photo (unrelated) via the Ohio Historical Society

Photo: Sky Island/Flickr

The reports of arcade's death are greatly exaggerated. Sure, the arcade industry is far from its heyday of the 80's, but it is actually experiencing a bit of a revival. And it's all thanks to geeks!

Kyle Orland of Ars Technica clues us in on the stealth rebirth of the American arcade:

"I guarantee you're going to see at least two or three [arcades] in every city in this country within the next 10 to 15 years," said Chris Laporte, founder of Las Vegas arcade Insert Coin(s), which recently announced an expansion to a second location in downtown Minneapolis. "That's because the geeks have inherited the earth. People who grew up on this stuff have now grown up, but they're not really grown-ups, you know what I mean?"

Link