Vultures have never been considered cute birds, and no one keeps them as pets. But Bernard and Twinkle, endangered Eurasian black vultures who live at Horstmann Vulture Trust, will win your heart because they are so devoted to each other. The pair previously produced the first Eurasian black vulture chick hatched in the UK. Bernard is 28 years old now, and has arthritis, which limited his activities. Then he became a groundbreaker as the first vulture to undergo experimental stem cell therapy. A veterinary team extracted some of Bernard's stem cells and cultured them until they grew to more than seven million cells! These were re-introduced into the bird, and they replaced the tissue in Bernard's worn-out knees. The Trust hopes that a rejuvenated Bernard will be able to produce more chicks with Twinkle. We wish them luck. Vulture populations are declining around the world, and while their feeding habits may seem disgusting, they are a vital part of our ecosystem.
We haven't heard much about Kylo Ren since The Rise of Skywalker, but you have to admit that the saga did him dirty. Adam Driver was awesome as the Big Bad in the Star Wars sequel trilogy until they unnecessarily flipped him into a "good guy" just like they did with Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi -and then killed him off to escape consequences. But the character is coming back in comic book form as his former evil self. A new series called The Legacy of Vader places Ren at the point where he was most dangerous: after killing Snoke and becoming the Supreme Leader of the First Order, but before the events of the disappointing last movie.
The comic series will focus on Ren's obsession with Darth Vader as he explores the places Vader obtained and used his powers, looking for guidance, and the series will also reveal some insights into Vader's psyche. Avid Star Wars fans are looking forward to the series, as they know that the franchise is rich in satisfying stories outside of the films, which tended to try to please everyone. The first comic will be released in February, and you can read more at Gizmodo.
(Image credit: Lucasfilm/Marvel Comics)
You will always run into people who remember that McDonald's hamburgers were once 15 cents. They were also ready when you got there, because that's all they served, unless you wanted a cheeseburger, which were ready as well. The slowness of fast food is due to the variety of options available, but what happened to the price? You can go to a sit-down restaurant and get a plate of hamburger and fries and a drink brought to your table for $10, and it may cost you the same to get one at a window to eat in your car, and you won't know what a mess it is until you unwrap it a half-mile away. I wrote that before I watched the video, but the sentiment is widely observed. McDonald's isn't the only outlet where prices have risen dramatically. Weird History explains what happened, beginning with the history of fast food.
Some companies struggle to accommodate employees who really want to work from home. I'll bet that The Great Exhibition, a creative studio in Stockholm with the most painfully designed website that I've seen in years, doesn't have to convince workers to work at the office. The new facility has a fully functional 200-foot long roller coaster inside.
Fast Company tells us about this new working environment that I hope will attract the attention of Neatorama CEO Alex Santoso, who will no doubt leap at the opportunity to put our firm at the forefront of entrepreneurial innovation. An in-office roller coaster enhances drone productivity by providing a form of rapid transit through an office complex.
Petter Kakracka, the founder of The Great Exhibition, says that he overcame naysayers who told him that "it’s not only impossible, it’s impractical, dangerous, and too expensive" to construct a creativity-generating tool appropriately named "The Frontal Lobe."
If you were to ask a longtime Neatorama reader which city has the most haunted hotels, they might guess Savannah, Georgia. And they would be right. Vio crunched the numbers, and Savannah came up with a "horror score" of 75.41. I'm not sure what that means, but it landed Savannah at the top of the list of cities with haunted hotels. I'm surprised that New Orleans came in as low as fifth -behind Orlando, for goodness sake! Baltimore, San Antonio, and Charleston also ranked high in hotel spookiness.
The factors they considered include the number and percentage of hotel guests who report paranormal activities during their stay, and the number and percentage of hotels in each city that guests reported to be haunted. However, one would think that a hotel's reputation might color a guest's expectations. You can't visit Savannah without hearing about the many ghosts who call that town home. The good news is that haunted hotels are slightly cheaper than non-haunted hotels. The bad news is that all these cities have very expensive hotel rates. See the complete list at Vio, plus the breakdowns of cities by either haunted mentions or paranormal mentions. I'm not sure how the difference between the two terms was determined. -via Digg
(Image credit: Steve Langguth)
Drones can be a lot of fun and give us great visuals from an aerial point of view, but their most impactive use is for jobs that are difficult and dangerous. What we hear about most is their use in war, but while that's safer for the aggressor, it's still killing people. Check out what drones are doing for power grids, such as clearing ice from power lines. Temperatures in these conditions can make human work even more dangerous when fingers get stiff and helicopter motors fail. Drones are also used for inspection, line photography, and troubleshooting, and some can even recharge themselves on the electrical towers without returning to home base. The drones used for this kind of work are above your budget or your needs, but for infrastructure maintenance, they are not only cost-effective (compared to a pilot plus workers in a helicopter), and much safer than sending people to do certain jobs. -via Nag on the Lake
In 1948, E. B. White wrote an essay about his experience in raising a pig. The plan was to buy a spring piglet, feed it all summer, and then have it slaughtered for ham and bacon in the fall. It was a common custom, but this pig changed White's perception completely when it became sick. He confronted feeling like a failure in the simple task of feeding a pig for a few months, but more importantly, explored the connection he felt for an animal who was completely dependent on him. The ailing pig became less a unit of livestock and more like a pet.
A few years later, White published the children's novel Charlotte's Web, which became one of the most beloved stories of all time. In that book we see White's motivation to save the pig from slaughter, except this time he succeeds. As The Atlantic is celebrating its 160th anniversary, it has reprinted that original 1948 essay called Death of a Pig. This time, it won't be a spider you'll cry over, but the pig that became neither pet nor bacon. -via Kottke
There are plenty of ways to gauge how well you are aging. One test is how much difficulty you have getting to a standing position after sitting on the floor. Or whether you can put your pants on without sitting down. I was pretty proud to think that not many people my age can still wash their feet in the sink (one at a time, of course), but why would I brag about that? However, a new study from researchers at the Mayo Clinic suggests an even simpler test.
How long can you stand on one leg and keep your balance? People under 50 can usually hold the “unipedal stance” for 30 seconds or more with no trouble. Just bend one leg up like a flamingo and hold your arms by your sides. The amount of time you can retain your balance indicates the health of your neuromuscular connections, and that time naturally decreases as we age. If you cannot hold your balance on one leg for ten seconds, it may be time to do something about it. There are ways to improve our strength and balance, which you can read about at ZME Science.
Of course, you can test your continuing sense of balance by riding a bike or using roller skates, but with age comes wisdom, and we who are wise don't want to take the risk. -via Real Clear Science
(Image credit: Deepak Sundar)
Nathan Wyburn is a British artist noted for his portraits of celebrities using food products. To celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the debut of the Pop-Tart, he composed this image of Marilyn Monroe that is clearly inspired by those of Andy Warhol.
Normally I look at holiday decorations made with projections as the lazy way out, since most of them consist of projecting colored lights on the side of a house. But this one is different. It's custom-designed for this house with projection mapping, and results in a movie for anyone outside. The movie in this case is Ghostbusters, the short version set to the film's theme song. ...and some other tunes. You know there's just a normal house underneath, but for a few minutes, it's an al fresco movie theater. This kind of thing sets the bar really high for the neighbors, with their strings of lights and inflatable pumpkins. You guessed it, this is from a professional called Seasoned Projections. See what the house looks like during the day. -via Born in Space
We are getting closer to the end of the year, when everyone and their brother tries to predict what will happen in the next year. If you were to bet on baby names for 2025, you couldn't go too wrong predicting that Olivia, Emma, and Sophia as well as Noah, Oliver, and Liam will be popular. They've been at the top of those lists for many years now. But watch out, there's some really different name trends that could take over and more and more Gen Z parents look for unique names.
These trends include Fast Fashion, Safe Haven, Femininomenal, and Croc Names. What? Who would name their kid Fast Fashion? But those aren't the names, they are what the trends are named after, and the names themselves are just as strange. What kinds of names go under each of the ten trend categories at Mental Floss may astound you. Learn why we might have a class of students named Novalie, Xochitl, Suede, Abner, Bliss, Guinevere, Valkyrie, and Prairie in a few years.
Once upon a time, apples were best when they were in season, but you couldn't do anything about that. You ate the variety your tree grew or your store carried, and that was that. Years later, the supermarkets were full of different varieties of apples, all bred for long-distance shipping and year-long storage. There was plenty of variety, but not much joy in their flavor. But now, thanks to consumer backlash, apple aficionados, and scientists, we are in a "Golden Age of Apples."
Apple growers are no longer looking a one variety of apple to please all consumers. Some like their apples really sweet, other prefer tart flavors, and some concentrate on apples for baking. There are people who crave a certain mouth feel when eating an apple, or enjoy the crunch under their teeth. So why not perfect apples for all these folks? But you might wonder what happened to get the apple industry to finally pay attention to the consumer.
It was the Honeycrisp. Honeycrisp apples defined what an apple could be, and its popularity spread like wildfire. If they can breed an apple like this, why couldn't they breed apples for all the qualities consumers like? Read the tale of how the apple industry went from blah to amazing at Scientific American. -via Metafilter
(Image credit: Danielle Scott)
Warning: the Honest Trailer contains spoilers for Alien: Romulus in case you haven't seen it yet and still want to. The Alien franchise goes back to 1979, and of the first eight films, only the first two seem to have clicked with anyone outside of hardcore Alien fans. So Alien: Romulus went back to the original premise of a cast that encounters an alien life form no one understands. But their employers know about it, and so does the audience, and that may be a problem. The film tries to introduce some innovations, but they are all borrowed from other science fiction stories. Alien: Romulus came out in August and has grossed $350 million worldwide. Audiences liked it well enough, and critics called it better than all the Alien movies past the first two, which honestly isn't saying much. From what I can tell, it's a good time if you're into this sort of thing, but it doesn't really make a splash in the cinematic science fiction pantheon. The first two Alien movies set the bar that high. -via Geeks Are Sexy
view masters 👓 pic.twitter.com/MxlG20prdy
— Nicole McLaughlin (@nicolemclovin) October 25, 2024
Nicole McLaughlin, a designer in New York City, has an extraordinary gift for mixing unusual materials into wearable clothing and accessories. In the past, we've seen her bikini made of camera cases and her bra made of electric fans. Her latest project just posted on X and Instagram consists of a pair of tiny View-Masters serving as glasses.
Do you remember the View-Master? This is a fun toy that is like a little film strip projector that you could use at home.
By the way: Mattel still sells a modern version that uses virtual reality. Variety reports that a View-Master based movie is in pre-production, so maybe we'll see a revival of the toy that is iconic of 70s childhood.
Find a Grave is a singularly valuable resource for finding dead people. It began in 1995 as a way to share the locations of the gravesites of famous people, but since 2010 has expanded to include anyone's grave. I've used it to corroborate stories before I post them, and for checking family details, like when an in-law was born or who a cousin is related to. But Find a Grave is not a complete archive of graves- it is being expanded every day, by family and friends of the deceased, and by an army of volunteers who contribute to the site.
These volunteers, called "Gravers," fall into three categories. There are those who try to fulfill requests that certain graves be photographed for the site. This is not an easy job, as few cemeteries keep accurate maps of their plots, or any maps at all. In the second category are those who pick a cemetery, and make it their job to photograph every gravestone and memorial for posterity. The third category contains the archivists, who research the records for each grave and the person buried there. Tony Ho Tran is a Graver in the first category, running down particular graves that have been requested to be photographed. How did he get into the hobby of taking pictures of tombstones? It's a very personal story of how he found the site, and is an illustration of what Find a Grave means for the people who use it. -via Damn Interesting
(Image credit: Tim Evanson)
