Vibrant colors and shapes are brought to a formerly untended area in Fort Smith, Arkansas, through Spanish street artist Okuda San Miguel. San Miguel revitalized dilapidated areas with his recent project, The Rainbow Embassy. Through a series of immersive arts initiatives, the project aimed to bring life back to the unattended areas in Arkansas. Colossal has the details: 

For the installation, Okuda painted a neglected house that occupied a lot adjacent to Darby Junior High School with a series of multi-colored geometric shapes and lines. The structure even has two faces resembling animals painted on its sides.

“This project gave me the possibility to expand on my previous work, adding in more architectonic dimension and completing my vision of mythical animals,” Okuda says. He wants his work to bring “a touch of imagination and play into the daily lives of the neighboring community and students and Darby Junior High, as they will get to enjoy the installation and watch as it evolves through the seasons.”

image credit: via Colossal

Physicists from the Perimeter Institute in Canada have come up with a solution to our ever constant question: ‘can we time travel and avoid causing paradoxes?’ The solution involves a very large and finite number of parallel universes. According to Barak Shoshany and Jacob Hauser, a person can theoretically travel from one timeline to another by stepping through a hole in space-time. The physicists claimed that this method is “mathematically possible,” as Futurism detailed: 

“The parallel universes approach that we suggest says there are different parallel universes where things are roughly the same, and each one is mathematically on a separate space-time manifold,” Shoshany told New Scientist. “You can go between those manifolds when you travel back in time.”

Multiple timelines would allow you to travel to a different timeline and kill your grandparents without causing a paradox. But the number of timelines doesn’t have to be infinite for this to work, the researchers calculated.

image credit: wikimedia commons

An eco-friendly urn that uses ice to slowly dissolve and release cremated remains has been created by American designer Diane Leclair Bisson. This eco-friendly urn is a sealed ice container shaped with a cavity that can hold a huge volume of ashes. The patented design minimizes the carbon footprint through its re-usable shaping moulds, as Designbloom detailed: 

the ice urn minimizes the carbon footprint considerably by producing re-usable shaping moulds, and employing low-energy freezing methods. it is designed for the dispersion of cremated remains in a stream, lake, in the ocean – or even in soil.

‘the ice urn is a deeply sustainable object in its essence,’ says bisson. ‘the concept of making a dissolvable memorial object through the transformation of water into a solid form of ice – while encapsulating cremation ashes within it – is truly innovative.’

image credit: via Designbloom

There are situations where simple self-promotion can put us into opportunities that can better our lives. There are also times that we can talk about our accomplishments, but there’s this hesitance to do so out of the fear of coming off as bragging. But how can we overcome that fear, and also not sound like you’re bragging or selling yourself? Marie Claire’s resident psychologist Dr. Samantha Boardman lists some strategies that can help us promote ourselves: 

• Stick to the facts: Use verifiable data like numbers, grades, and awards to demonstrate your accomplishments.
• Own your success: As psychologist Corinne Moss-Racusin of Skidmore College in New York observed, “Women tend to give their success away. They’ll say, ‘I was so lucky to work on a good team’ or ‘My adviser really helped me do this project.’ ” While it is important to give others credit, be sure to take credit for your contributions.
• Channel your inner PR agent: Think about someone who admires your work and imagine what she might say about you. I did this when I was applying for a promotion at the hospital and found it to be extremely helpful.
• Check yourself: Bear in mind that there is a difference between being an advocate for yourself and an insufferable braggart. Making others aware of your hard work will help them get to know you better and also help you get ahead. If you don’t tell them how awesome you are, who will?

image credit: via wikimedia commons

Looking for an alternative to the regular paper? Stone paper might be the alternative you’re looking for! The paper is made up of smushed-up rocks, and is waterproof, durable, and more environmentally friendly. The creation of stone papers involves little to no bleach and water, as cnet.com details: 

Rock dust may not sound like an ideal ingredient for paper, but it works. Karst's paper is made of about 80% calcium carbonate, the main ingredient in limestone and marble. A Taiwanese supplier, Taiwan Lung Meng Advanced Composite Materials, pulverizes the rock left from construction and quarries, fuses it with plastic that holds it together, then compresses it with massive rollers until it's paper-thin.

The paper itself feels a bit smoother than conventional paper since it's made of tiny particles and not a rougher matting of plant fibers. But it's also tackier, like latex, and I experienced more drag as pen tips slid over the surface.

The presence of the plastic is also noticeable when you tear the paper: It stretches first.

But because the paper is waterproof, the wet ink of fountain pens and felt-tip pens is a problem. 

image credit: via Karst Stone Paper

Here’s a faster alternative to the tedious process of putting on makeup every day to cover our imperfections: a custom synthetic spray-on skin. Japanese cosmetics company Kao Corporation has developed this spray on, that can cover unwanted blemishes, moles or other marks on the natural epidermis. The New York Post has the details: 

The artificial product, called “est,” is composed of tiny, liquid fibers. When sprayed, the substance adheres to human skin, transforming into an extremely thin, derma-like material, the Daily Mail reports.

It has a similar elasticity to skin, and it’s porous, too. Water vapor and air can pass through this second skin to moisten the living dermis beneath. At its edges, est forms an even thinner bond, helping it blend in with natural flesh.

Est is set to hit the market exclusively in Japan beginning Dec 4. and will sell for roughly $532 as a diffuser and “potion” combination, with diffuser refills priced at $73. A lotion version will sell for $110, and everything will become available online in January, according to Japanese publication the Asahi Shimbun.

image credit: screenshot via The New York Post

The first thing that pops in our minds when we hear ‘Black Friday’ is the multitude of shoppers flocking to malls and shops, the sales, and people fighting over products on sale. Black Friday is the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season, where the surge in sales is enough to put retailers “in the black” for the year. However, ‘Black Friday’ did not start with sales and shopping. It had a darker meaning, as Huffpost details on the origin of the phrase ‘Black Friday’: 

The very earliest use of the phrase Black Friday dates to 1869 and had nothing to do with Christmas shopping. It was the day plummeting gold prices caused a market crash, the effects of which were felt by the U.S. economy for years.

The first mentions of Black Friday as we know it are said to have occurred around the 1950s or ’60s in Philadelphia, coined by traffic police who dreaded the day.

“The Philadelphia Police Department used the term to describe the traffic jams and intense crowding of the downtown retail stores,” said David Zyla, an Emmy-winning stylist and author of “How to Win at Shopping.” He noted that one of the first uses of the term in print appeared in an ad in a 1966 issue of The American Philatelist, a magazine for stamp collectors.

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People who have peanut allergies can eat without worries of their food having peanut in it! A Stanford-led study has found a solution that can reverse a person’s peanut allergy for up to six weeks. The study found that one injection of an antibody that can halt the effects of allergies, as Mindbodygreen detailed: 

The antibody interferes with a molecule that triggers common allergic reactions, like swelling, hives and anaphylactic shock. Because of its inhibiting properties, researchers expected the antibody to halt the effects of allergies.

image credit: via wikimedia commons

People usually sit on any flat surface when they really need to, and sometimes, we might have sat on cold floors or boxes, provided that they won’t fold the moment you sit on them. Now, sitting on a box isn’t just a last resort, but an actual choice. Savannah studio Don’t Take This The Wrong Way has revealed its design for a chair that consists of a single cardboard box. Even if it does look like a regular cardboard box, this chair has been “over-engineered” to resist wear and water as Dezeen detailed: 

The final design takes the form of a simple cube in classic cardboard brown, adorned only with a few flourishes like the words "this closed box acts as a chair" emblazoned on the side, alongside signposting to help users discern the bottom from the top.

On the outside, the box reveals little of the days-long production process that goes into every piece.

An internal cardboard grid structure is added for stability and to help the box keep its shape throughout use. Then, the other flaps are glued shut before a cushion is glued to the top, which is especially engineered to be both comfortable and resistant to denting.

"The cushion consists of three sheets of corrugated cardboard which are laser cut, flattened with a foot roller and glued separately with wood glue," he explained.

"At each stage of the gluing process, boxes are clamped for 12 hours and after that they are sanded and the feet screen printed along with the other graphics."

image credit: via Dezeen

Insects are part of the future, where they will be the alternative to meat, according Jisun Kim’s vision. Kim is a South Korean multidisciplinary designer who created Future Chocolate, a conceptual product and packaging and design project that showcases Kim’s vision of chocolate of the future. Composed of five pieces that have different insect designs, each piece in the collection has 10% insect powder to introduce insect-flavoured food to our palettes, as Plain magazine detailed:

Kim designed five chocolate pieces that take the shapes of different insects’ appearances. Each piece comes in a futuristic-looking shell packaging inspired by a cocoon, cradled on translucent pedestals. “Since it is the chocolate of the future, I wanted to convey the feeling that the photography of the product is also in a virtual setting,” says Kim. The chocolate contains 10% insect powder to gently introduce the taste to our palates. “I wanted to break down the boundaries of how chocolates are eaten and give people new experiences about what they eat,” the designer says. We can’t deny that Future Chocolate has piqued our curiosity: is it savoury? Sweet? How well do insects and chocolate go together? Only the future can tell.

image credit: via Plain magazine

Starbucks has just opened its sixth Reserve Roastery in Chicago. The Roastery covers about 35,000 square feet, making it the largest Starbucks in the world. Visitors can go around the building’s five stories for coffee, pastries, pizza, cocktails, and more. Harpers Bazaar got a sneak peak inside this Roastery, and let me tell you, it can be one of your dream places to visit!

image credit: Connor Surdi via Harpers Bazaar

Have you ever had trouble remembering all the characters you’ve used in all your playthroughs or multiple Fire Emblem games? Or are you one of those Smash Bros players that just found it hard to differentiate all the Fire Emblem characters in the Smash roster? If you’re one of these people I’ve mentioned, or you would just like to see someone formulate a method of knowing 596 characters, you’re in for a treat. Watch as Polygon’s Brian David Gilbert give his method of knowing all the characters in the whole Fire Emblem franchise. 

Here’s a method that you can use if you’re looking to sell something for extra cash: try looking for all the ‘90s items either you or your parents had. All the random stuff your family might have allowed to collect dust in your home can make you rich. From Beanie Babies to Pokemon cards to old game cartridges, these items can sell for hundreds to thousands of dollars. Here’s an excerpt from Cosmopolitan, where they listed some of the items that are to guarantee you a big sum: 

Old ‘Harry Potter‘ Books

If you own an original Harry Potter book, you could be looking at major $. Hardcover first editions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (aka the English Version) with the print line “10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" are worth up to $55,000, while Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (aka the American version) is worth up to $6,500 if it has the print line “1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 8 9/9 0/0 01 02” on the copyright page. I’ll give you a moment to look at your copy.

image credit: Bloomsbury via Cosmopolitan

Three sets of 18th century jewelry of “immeasurable worth” have been stolen in dramatic heist, described as the biggest theft since the second world war. Thieves in Dresden, Germany, have stolen the pieces from Grünes Gewölbe (Green Vault) at Dresden’s Royal Palace, one of Europe’s largest collection of art treasures. The Guardian has the details: 

German media reported the losses from the burglary could run into the high hundreds of millions of euros, but the director of Dresden’s state art collections, Marion Ackermann, said it was impossible to estimate the value of the items.

“We cannot give a value because it is impossible to sell,” she said, appealing to the thieves not to break the collections into pieces. “The material value doesn’t reflect the historic meaning.”

Ackermann said the stolen items included three “priceless” sets of diamonds, including brilliant-cut diamonds which belonged to an 18th-century collection of jewellery assembled by the museum’s founder.

Created by Augustus the Strong, the Elector of Saxony, in 1723, the Grünes Gewölbe is one of 12 museums which make up the famous Dresden state art collections. It got its name because some rooms were decorated with malachite-green paint.

image credit: via The Guardian

Water gets in our ears, whether from the pool or from the shower. If you’re one of those people who shake their head just to release the water trapped in your ears, it might be time to look for another solution. A new study suggests that there can be potential health risks that result from violently shaking your head. Researchers from Cornell University say that the forces involved in ejecting water from the ears can expose people, especially children, to brain damage. ScienceAlert has more details: 

"Our research mainly focuses on the acceleration required to get the water out of the ear canal," says engineering student Anuj Baskota, the first author of a paper being presented this week at the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics annual meeting in Seattle.

"The critical acceleration that we obtained experimentally on glass tubes and 3D-printed ear canals was around the range of 10 times the force of gravity for infant ear sizes, which could cause damage to the brain."

It's worth noting these are preliminary findings for now, based on experiments simulating the amount of force involved, and not involving real people (thankfully). So they can't be taken as clinical proof of brain damage incurred from this activity.

image credit: via wikimedia commons