Have you ever wondered what those balls on power lines are for? Actually, have you seen those colorful spheres on electrical lines? If you have, then we’re here to tell you what they are and what they are for! 

These objects are called marker balls. They are mostly there for visibility and to indicate where power lines are so that low-flying aircraft can avoid them. These balls can be seen on cables on major highways, deep gorges, and valleys. 

Also, there’s an organization that dictates where these spheres should appear! The  Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) makes sure that these aerial marker balls will show up in the places we’ve mentioned earlier to avoid any accidents. 

These balls are made of plastic, a good electric insulator, which is perfect as it sits on power lines. They also come in orange, white, and yellow as the FAA found that they have the best visibility. What’s interesting about these markers is that they are actually bigger than they seem. These markers range from 20 to 36 inches, which is about the circumference of a basketball.

Image credit: Karolina/Pexels

Well, brains are certain computers, in the most basic sense of the word. They are responsible for making decisions and running programs and commands, so to speak, that will allow our bodies to move or react in a certain way. 

Our brains are capable of making decisions up to 10 seconds before we are consciously aware of them. So that part of our body is one busy bee. In fact, even experts are still puzzled by a lot of things about the central area of the nervous system. One of them is the issue of consciousness. Known to neuroscientists as the "hard problem of consciousness," which refers to the question of why it exists or what exactly it is. 

Some researchers try to answer this problem by comparing the brain to quantum mechanics. It is still not a popular idea in the field, as neuroscientists and physicists believe that our consciousness happens via classical physics, not at the small, quantum scale. Also, it’s because testing this quantum theory out requires measuring human brain activity at such small levels. Read more about brains and quantum entanglement here! 

Image credit: MART PRODUCTIONS 

How is this home still standing? 

Architecture firm Studio RAP has designed a sustainable floating home by using light materials. One look at the house called The Float, and we were left wondering how the architects made it stable on the water. 

The firm utilized cork to make the home blend in with its surroundings, which makes it looks like a cottage in a forest, except it's on water. Additionally, the company also picked timber to provide a more soft and zen atmosphere. The design for The Float was based on the idea of a house that can be a series of atmospheres that show functions of living without having a single, container-like appearance. 

The structure was built around the idea of having a small series of modules with extra panels in between them for connection. The architects decided to base their designs on Origami and folded structures. So if you’re wondering why The Float looks like a paper doll house that you can build via folding specific areas, well, there you have it. 

Learn more about the wonderful home here. 

Image credit: Studio RAP 

An item that was part of the life of one of the most prominent and iconic musicians in American history is being sold for around $100,000. Well, to be precise the bidding for the said property starts at that amount. 

The product in question is Elvis Presley’s jet, his 1962 Lockheed 1329 JetStar, also known by its call sign, “Hound Dog 2.” The jet has a lavish-looking interior, composed of red velvet upholstery and carpet, as well as its gold-finish hardware. The vintage aircraft was once the jet of choice for celebrities and CEOs in 1976. It can accommodate nine passengers and three crew members. 

The JetStar was only one of the planes in the singer’s collection of private aircraft. It joined a custom Convair 880 named “Lisa Marie” before Elvis sold it to a Saudi Arabian company. This vintage airplane was initially bought at around $840,000 (approximately  $4.4 million today). 

Mecum Auctions will be the one facilitating the auction for this aircraft. The company has hopes that someone can restore the old jet to its old glory so that Elvis fans can enjoy it in an exhibit. 

Image credit: Mecum Auctions

The quality of recent Pokemon games is a hot topic these days. Starting from the release of Sword and Shield, the Pokemon franchise’s first main series game for the Nintendo Switch, fans began pointing out their misgivings about it. 

From the cut number of Pokemon available in the game to the pacing of the story to the overall content the game provides, it’s clear that the reception was mixed. 

Nintendo has not acknowledged the fans during this period, however. But the issues were glaringly obvious when the latest installment of Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet was launched in November. These include glitches occurring in different NPCs, Pokemon, and even during battle.  

Because of the glitches and crashes found by a significant majority of its players, Nintendo has addressed this in a rare apology post. “We are aware that players may encounter issues that affect the games’ performance,” wrote Nintendo in the update’s patch notes. “Our goal is always to give players a positive experience with our games, and we apologize for the inconvenience.”

Image credit: Nintendo 

The Nintendo 64 (N64), released in 1996, was the company’s response to the rise of major home consoles such as the Sony PlayStation and the Sega Saturn. During the years of its release, over 393 games were created for the device. 

This number is quite low if we compare it to the PlayStation (around 1,100 games) and the Sega Saturn (600 games). Regardless, over 300 games is still a lot, especially if you’re planning to go down memory lane or would like to experience playing games on a retro console. 

Destructoid’s Zoey Handley, an N64 veteran, ranks their top 5 games from the console. While this list is entirely subjective, it could be a good start on what games you can pick up to play. After all, if it was something that somebody likes, it’s bound to be good, right? 

From Star Fox 64 to the cult classic The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, the writer provides some insight on each of their selection to provide merit to them. It also serves as additional commentary if these titles are unfamiliar to you. Check out the list here!

Image credit: Wikimedia commons

Here’s what we know about the Rosetta Stone: it’s a stone that is inscribed with a decree about all the good things Pharaoh Ptolemy V did for the priests and the people of Egypt. It’s also notable for the three different languages used to portray this message: Demotic, hieroglyphic, and Greek. 

That’s what all of us can say about it, whether it’s via a quick search on the Internet (which we are guilty of, it happens to the best of us, sometimes we don’t know the full details about this Stone except for languages) or stock knowledge. There are still things about the famous artifact that evade us, such as why was it built. Additionally, what does the stone actually say, word for word? 

Well, if you’re curious about that, Ilona Regulski has got you covered. Watch the curator of the Egyptian written culture at the British Museum in London as she walks viewers through the stone and its ‘decree’, issued during the Ptolemaic dynasty in 196 BCE here!

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Ever wondered where you can get all the sounds from the different aspects of life? Well, wonder no more with this unique collection!

Obsolete Sounds is an archive of sorts that is claimed by its creators as “the world’s biggest collection of obsolete and disappearing sounds,” contains over 150 different audio clips of rare and disappearing types. The collections houses rare clips from retro video games, recordings of old-fashioned transport, and plenty of mechanical sounds from outdated hardware.

Visitors to the online collection can find the classic Nokia ringtone from the 5120 model, the whirring of an old Seagate hard disk drive, the sound of an old 56K modem connecting to the Internet, and many, many other sounds. The high variety of odd sounds makes us question how did the creators of the library obtain all of these? 

According to the founder, Stuart Fowkes, they have collected sounds from over 1,000 artists in the world. That will certainly provide the library with such a wide range. Check out the Collection of Obsolete Sounds here.

Image screenshot via Obsolete Sounds

Space is a wide, vast nebula of different objects and phenomena that we might never uncover in our lifetime. Even if we develop our technology, again and again, there might be some things that we will never know about. 

The uncertainty of the unknown pushes experts to continue their explorations day by day. NASA, one of the most prominent astronomical organizations today, has consistently sent out different probes in various parts of space. One of them is on Mars. 

The rovers in the Red Planet have sent something interesting, though. Among the bricks of information and images, scientists have discovered a photo of an ancient “alien” statue. Scott C. Waring of UFO Sightings Daily discovered the artwork while zooming in on a large image released by NASA. He points out how one of the rocks looks like it isn’t a rock at all, but a statue with eyes, a nose, and a mouth. 

Take this with a grain of salt, of course, as there is no official statement concerning the matter. However, the CIA did once claim there were ancient civilizations on Mars. It’s best to look at the photo yourself and decide. Zoom into this large image where the sculpture is said to be, and let us know what you think!

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Well, this is certainly fascinating. On the surface, this incident just seems to be done by a woman who is crazy in love. 

A woman who lives in Brazil has defied all the odds of modern romance. Not only has she met, dated, and married a ragdoll that looks like someone’s mom DIY-ed them in just a few hours for a school project, but she also gave birth to their baby. 

You’ve read that right! A woman has delivered an equally ragdoll baby in an actual hospital, with an actual doctor overseeing the delivery. 

But the story actually starts when she brought home the doll and did a live stream on Facebook. Friends suggested naming the mysterious ragdoll boyfriend Marcelo, and that’s where it all started. 

The amount of people she pulled into this stunt is incredible. Her wedding day was grand and around 300 people showed up. Not only that, but she also got some free stuff from different corporations! 

Check out Kurtis Conner’s breakdown of the whole event in the video linked above. Personally, we believe it was a fun, harmless thing that everyone enjoyed. 

We’re definitely rooting for her, but we’re more curious as to how she was able to get the doctors on her side in pulling the birth of her ragdoll son!

Maybe it’s because we’re pressured to sleep? This might sound a bit confusing, but hear us out. We can’t sleep because we’re thinking about it. 

Many of us are obsessed with keeping track of how many hours of sleep we are getting. Some have tried to extend their hours of sleep, from meditating to valerian root supplements to moon milk, and have had no results. 

At some point, their obsession with ensuring they get a lot of sleep becomes an immense pressure on their psyche. Having a tracker can add to the pressure, especially with people emphasizing the need to sleep. 

Did they get any sleep? Sadly, no. According to a 2017 case report in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, there is a term for this phenomenon, called orthosomnia, the condition refers to people who obsess over their sleep. The researchers further explain why people get this disorder, "because the perfectionist quest to achieve perfect sleep is similar to the unhealthy preoccupation with healthy eating, termed orthorexia".

While not being recognized as a disorder, Dr. Nicola Barclay, lecturer in sleep medicine at the University of Oxford, believes otherwise. "Orthosomnia is a genuine condition and a real worry, especially as people rely increasingly on sleep trackers, most of which are wildly inaccurate, giving a very poor estimate of your real sleep. If your sleep tracker tells you you’ve had four hours of poor quality sleep — even if the truth is far from this — the chances are this will psychologically impact your mood, energy levels and productivity the following day. It’s this reliance that creates a vicious cycle and will negatively impact on your sleep," she explained.

Image credit: Ivan Oboleninov

This is just devastating.

A grieving mother has decided to bring back her daughter’s buried corpse after hiring a suspicious funeral company that refused to proceed with an open casket service. 

Teresa Moraitis, 82, spent over $10,200 on Peter Tziotzis’ Orthodox Funeral Services to lay her daughter to rest. She paid for an open casket service and embalming for her child, Helen Moraitis, 56. 

Five months later, she decided to exhume her corpse after suspecting the funeral staff stole the jewelry Helen was buried with. What the mother saw upon getting her daughter back was depressing. 

First, her suspicions were correct as the gold chain and locket she was supposed to be buried with, along with two bracelets and a diamond ring were all missing. 

Second, and sadder news than the previous discovery, is that her daughter was naked, unembalmed, and stuffed in a blue body bag. Helen was also found to have one of her arms forced behind her head. Usually, the deceased have their hands on their chest or abdomen. 

Peter Tziotzis was later arrested over the allegations but was then released without charge. As of the moment, police investigations are still ongoing. A new funeral service for Helen will be held.  

Image credit: Pavel Danilyuk/Pexels

Now that the year is coming to a close, maybe you’re looking for potential places to visit in the new year. Whether it’s for coming up with a new bucket list, or just some dream places you’d like to visit during the next set of holidays, here are some of the great places that you can try! 

A short guide was created by Condé Nast Traveler editors from the U.S. U.K., Spain, and India to help travelers create their itineraries for the next year– and honestly, we think these places are amazing! The list contains a good mixture of known areas and some unknown regions, or as the editors called it, “the lesser-trammeled, even once-forbidden, regions.”

The list contains 23 places and has a lot of variety. From ancient rainforests to historical landmarks to blossoming culinary scenes, to areas filled with rare art exhibits, and more!  

Take a pick from any of their recommendations here! 

Image credit: Liam Spicer/ Pexels

There’s an assumption that book readers are very smart. It is true that book readers tend to be very eloquent, as their vocabulary expands as they read more titles. Additionally, they could also get new information from the literature they read.

In short: yes, reading can make you a bit smarter by making you more informed. There’s absolutely no harm in using this method to be more knowledgeable about different topics out in the world. If you’re looking for the best titles that can make you smart, The Atlantic has got you covered! 

The American magazine has compiled a list of the best non-fiction books that can help guide new readers to grasp deeper and unfamiliar concepts. They also reassure their readers that their recommended books are very easy to digest! 

These books mostly focus on deep and philosophical questions, such as the meaning and relationship between life and death. Additionally, some of their recommendations are focused on taking a deep dive into the world by looking into the economic patterns that emerged, as well as the history of different events such as the American census. 

Check the full book list here if you’re interested. Although, if we may also share our opinion, you can also look at fiction titles to be a bit more knowledgeable as well. What’s important is you can easily read, understand, and enjoy the book you’re reading!  

Image credit: Element5 Digital/ Pexels

Automatic car washes are an experience and a convenience. There are certainly cases where you can hire somebody to wash your car for you, or drive them straight to a machine that will quickly and easily clean your vehicle without any hassle. 

Many people tend to lean towards these services as manually washing these big devices can be a chore, and be quite time-consuming. Additionally, not everyone has enough space where they can happily splash away their car’s grime and dirt. 

While convenience can be offered by these automatic car washes, it still begs the question: are they really good for your car in the long run? Well, Slash Gear has looked up the potential side effects of frequently running a vehicle into any of these establishments. 

One of the most notable things is that these services can break up the paint in your car. This is because the machines will slap and have contact with the car’s paint. Also, automatic car washes tend to increase friction while removing dirt, so what happens is they tend to cause scratches and swirl marks. 

Car Magazine UK also shared that the big rotating brushes you can see inside are usually poorly maintained and can cause cross-contamination of dirt from other cars, which can lead to car paint becoming dull. 

Image credit: Pixabay