Most people become disgusted when they find a foreign object in their food, and even more so when that object is alive. Musician Simon Curtis, on the other hand, didn't lose it when he found a frog in his lettuce. Making a simple salad in the middle of the night turned out to be an adventure he never expected. He kept the frog in the lettuce container because it was too cold to put it outside. Well, Tony, as he named the frog, didn't want to stay in the plastic box. He didn't just get out of the box, he wandered from room to room exploring his new home, and getting pretty dirty in the process. You have to admire Tony's adventurous spirit, but you also don't want to step on a frog just walking through the house. Simon went from simply not wanting the frog to die to showering his new pet with everything a little frog could want in life. Tony lucked out!
How often do you fart? Is that more or less than the average healthy human? Who knows? Scientists aren't quite sure, yet, but that could change with new technology. Brantley Hall of the University of Maryland led a team in developing a special device to answer the question. It attaches to your underwear and then detects certain gases that indicate flatulence. They named the device "Smart Underwear," even though you have to provide your own underwear. One could imagine they had plenty of other possible names that were rejected. "Fart Finder" comes to mind.
They've tested the device on volunteers, first to see if it worked at all, then to see if the device will detect changes in the amount of farting when the person's diet is changed. Smart Underwear seems to work just fine, and Hall has applied for a patent. So far, they've found a wide variation in the number of farts per day and the amount of gas expelled, and hope to expand their experiments among the population, They are particularly looking for outliers, meaning people who fart very little or an awful lot. Read more about fart research and what they've found so far at Scientific American. -via Damn Interesting
Design Boom introduces to us this delicious handbag made by Esenes Worldwide, a fashion house in New York City. Control your hunger because it's not edible unless you're really committed. The company is selling 150 of these unusual purses priced at $150 each.
The leather has been carefully shaped while hot to give it the same wringled and irregular texture of a dumpling. Each bag is thus unique in its precise shape. A fabric lining creates the impression of a vegetable filling. It can conceal, as Esenes's video proves, actual dumplings. So the bag can serve as a novel lunch box.
The original Toy Story hits theaters in 1995, so an entire generation has grown up and produced their own children since then. But there have been three main story sequels and few spin-off films too, so everyone knows the toys in Toy Story. They've learned to deal with children growing up and leaving them behind, only to find new children to play with. But what happens when a child decides regular toys aren't fun anymore because they now have an iPad? Excuse me, this device is a "Lilypad" in the new movie Toy Story 5. Can the toys tear Bonnie away from her screen long enough to play with them anymore? You know Woody, Buzz, and the gang will come up with a scheme or two to make that happen. This trailer offers several contenders for the most memorable quote from a movie that isn't even here yet. Toy Story 5 will open nationwide on June 19.
This unassuming building in Millmont, Pennsylvania, looks like nothing more than a garage specializing in oil changes. But it's listed as a single family residence with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, and 5,800 square feet of living space -and nine acres of land. You can't see it because most of it is underground. This home has regular utilities, but also a backup generator, fuel storage, well water with a water filtration system, air filtration, and multiple heat pumps. Continue reading to see more.
The eyes of the world were drawn to an Olympic preliminary qualifying round in the women's cross-country skiing event in Tésero, Italy, on Wednesday. A large dog joined in the race and was even caught on Omega's official timekeeping camera as he crossed the finish line. Local news outlets and social media lit up at the appearance of what looked like a wolf running the race. But this wolf was wearing a collar.
The dog was identified as a Czechoslovakian wolfdog named Nazgul, who belongs to a family who runs a local bed and breakfast. His owners speculated that Nazgul wanted to follow his family as they left for a different Olympic event, and he broke out of the house. While the wolfdog surprised and unnerved some of the competitors, his presence did not affect the results of the heat, since the qualifying skiers had already crossed the finish line. That's a good dog.
The city of Hampi is in the Indian state of Karnataka, and its ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Five hundred years ago, Hampi was the biggest city in India, and the second largest city in the world, but today relatively few people outside of India are familiar with it. One of its stone ruins is pictured above- what kind of building was this? It's magnificently ornate, and huge. Check the size of the people standing in front. Why were these entrances so big, and why were there so many of them? Make your guess before you read the next paragraph.
This structure was built by a ruler of the powerful Karnata Kingdom as a literal barn. It's the stable where the kingdom's war elephants were kept. That explains why the openings are so large and numerous, but the stone architecture and the ornate decorations speak to a deliberate declaration of power and wealth. When the kingdom was defeated and Hampi burned to the ground in 1565, only the sturdiest stone structures survived. Read up on the Hampi elephant stable and see plenty of pictures at Kuriositas.
(Image credit: Arun Shetty)
The annual Spring Festival Gala is a "must see" TV experience in China, broadcast on the eve of the Lunar New year. This year's show featured dancing by humanoid robots developed by several Chinese robotics firms. The robots danced, flipped, jumped, and performed martial arts moves. Only one fell, and that turned out to be a programmed stunt. The robots, which are about four feet tall, were joined by a group of children dancing onstage, which was impressive due to the danger it implied. The robots relied on their programming and would not have been able to make any adjustments for the human dancers. But the choreography went off flawlessly.
This performance was designed to impress the world, while Western roboticists emphasize that dancing robots don't need to have situational awareness in order to adapt to changing conditions like industrial robots would. But they can sure put on a show! -via Laughing Squid
If you picture two teenagers passing time in a dark basement, leisurely experimenting with chemicals, you might think of the 1970s. I can pull up many memories of just that scenario. You wouldn't be surprised that they had fluorescent paint down there. The very first fluorescent paint, in fact.
But all this happened in the 1930s, and they weren't hanging out in the basement because they were hiding anything. Bob and Joe Switzer knew a few things about color, chemicals, and light, but even they were surprised at what they developed in their home darkroom. They ended up starting their own company to market DayGlo paint, and eventually struck a partnership with the Sherwin-Williams paint company. DayGlo paint found its way into home products, art, and construction. It was only later that other teenagers used it to illuminate dark basements. Read the story of how that all started at Smithsonian. -via Damn Interesting
In the olden days, library checkouts were completed without computer intervention with the use of cards that were signed by patrons and stamped with due dates by library staff. For over a decade, artist Heidi Pitre, who is based in Kansas City, has taken these old cards and used them for art projects. For her series titled "Permanent Record", Pitre has painted and inked scenes and images on the cards.
Many of the books are classics now painted with scenes from the stories (including a somewhat unsettling depiction of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita) or illustrations befitting how-to books. To a large extent, Pitre explains to KCUR News, what she draws is determined by what book titles fortune delivers into her hands.
-via reddit
Seven years after the last feature film, Star Wars is coming back to theaters, with The Mandalorian and Grogu. The film takes the place of season four of the TV show The Mandalorian that had already been planned out, but was delayed by the pandemic and the writer's strike. Grogu (who we all came to know as "baby Yoda") is still cute, still young, but appears slightly older and more in touch with the Force. We get to see Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver. And a line from Din Djarin sets up his fierce devotion to Grogu and his fears for the future. There's very little plot revealed in the trailer, which is probably a good thing. There's fighting, and spaceships, so what else do you need to know? You'll find a very detailed breakdown of what we learn from this trailer at Gizmodo. The Mandalorian and Grogu will open in theaters, including IMAX theaters, on May 22.
Can you recreate a color from memory? If you were shown a color, could you go back to it without a paint name or hexidecimal number? In the Color Memory Game you will be shown a color for five seconds. Then you get a screen with a color that may or may not be anywhere near the original color, and three slider bars to change the hue, saturation, and brightness to get back to the original color. You have five colors per game, but you may have to play through once or twice to get your brain in gear. When you get your result for each color, you'll also get a snarky comment on your abilities.
At the beginning, you have a choice to play as a single or multiplayer, and a choice between easy or hard mode. I didn't even attempt the hard mode, because my scores weren't all that great on easy mode. But you'll have fun trying! -via Metafilter
We all know that being overweight is bad for our health, but Kurzgesagt tells us why in detail down to the molecular level. And it's not just one thing, but an entire constellation of effects that excess fat can have on us. Carrying more weight than is healthy will screw up every organ in your body sooner or later. If you think of a hundred ways to die, 95 of them are liable to be due to excess fat. It's pretty scary, especially right after you've splurged on a fast food meal. However, it's better to understand what's going on than to just suffer and die in ignorance, even while eating cheesecake.
The horror is somewhat assuaged by the googly eyes on our cells and organs when they are under stress, and by the forces of evolution that are illustrated by opossums. This video is only 9:12; the rest is an ad.
Libraries are, traditionally, zones throbbing with romance and sensual passions. If the fires of eros burn within you, head to your local public library.*
Fittingly, seven couples at branches of the Anne Arundel County Public Library system in Maryland married each other on Valentine's Day. WBALTV 11 News says that the library system began hosting weddings last year.
There was a mass event at three different branches of that library system on Saturday. You can see photos of the happy couples and library staff on Instagram.
-via reddit
*My wife and I met at my library and I proposed to her at her library.
The Petosky District Library, a public library system in Petosky, Michigan, is taking advantage of winter weather to make a temporary Little Free Library.
The books are, appropriately, in zip-lock bags to protect them from moisture and, presumably, freezer burn.
