According to different studies, aside from providing you the necessary boost to power through your day, coffee also provides anti-inflammatory benefits. However, because of caffeine, our favorite drink might also cancel out the anti-inflammatory benefits it provides. So if caffeine intervenes with the body’s optimal response to inflammation, how can we reap the benefits the drink provides? Well, remove the stimulant. This is where decaf coffee comes in. 

It might not be everyone’s favorite, but decaf offers all the same anti-inflammatory benefits as regular coffee without any of the unwelcome side effects thanks to caffeine. According to Lauren Manaker MS, RDN, LDN, CLEC, CPT, “regular coffee has anti-inflammatory compounds, so I look at decaf as a way for people to get the antioxidants and anti-inflammatory benefits of coffee without the caffeine.”

Image credit: Emre

A 65-year-old retired scientist joined a group of amateur treasure hunters looking over a farmer’s field in Norfolk, England. Andy Carter, with his metal detector, dug about ten inches into the mud when his device pinged. It turns out that he picked up a small gold coin. “When I brushed off the soil, I saw the hind leg of a big cat,” Carter told the Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood. “I thought, ‘It can’t be a leopard.’”

The coin with the feline engraving was actually a leopard florin, a currency that was minted as part of a failed currency experiment by Edward III, who ruled England from 1327 to 1377 C.E. It was sold at an auction for a whopping £140,000 (around $185,000).

Image credit: Dix Noonan Webb

Move over, Moleskin journals, there’s a new hit item in town! 

Blackwing pencils are writing implements that have a unique style and trademark replaceable eraser. The aesthetic value won over the hearts of many enthusiasts and writers alike, just like how Moleskin journals became a staple item for them, or as SPY.com puts it, the pencils are “a new status symbol for the stylish creative.” 

Also called “the $40 pencil,” the Blackwing pencils are made from high quality, premium materials– or at least that’s what its makers claim. Whether or not you think that spending a huge amount of money on a pencil is worth it, there’s no denying the hype surrounding these stationery items. 

Image credit: Blackwing via SPY.com

In every film production, a lot more was filmed than ever makes it into the final production. A lot of that editing is for time, some for pacing, and some to make a simpler narrative. Often, all three are involved in what gets dropped. Picking and choosing what is discarded and what is kept shapes the film in ways the writers and actors, and even the directors don't see coming. It is only long afterward that we might see how the inclusion of some deleted scenes might have changed the plot. Some deleted scenes could have changed the entire universe of that story, including sequels. If we had known Pepper Potts was pregnant during Captain America: Civil War, would it have changed everything? Well, no, actually, as she eventually married Tony Stark and they had a child anyway. But it would have shifted the story chronologically. Another deleted scene could have changed quite a few movies.

If Palpatine were considered to be Anakin's father, then Kylo Ren would have been his direct descendant, a great grandson. That would have made the entire "Rey is my granddaughter" plot line unnecessary (which it was anyway) in The Rise of Skywalker. After all, "manipulating the Force" was how Palpatine got a clone son anyway. Plus, that would have made Rey and Ren cousins. Ew. Read of 13 more deleted scenes and how they would have changed movies (or TV series) at Cracked.   

Here is a list without context. Can you figure out what these things have in common? In other words, what is this a list of?

    the formula for the making of Wrigley's chewing gum
    the recipe for Purina Dog Chow
    the city records of Chicago and Los Angeles
    most of the Walt Disney films, including all of the original prints from the Mickey Mouse Club
    109,000 old MGM movies
    the wedding dress of a lady from Wichita
    fur pelts
    a collection of antique newspapers dating back to 1659
    copies of Bibles in 1700 languages and dialects
    a couple of jars of pickled frogs

After the first two items, you think "corporate secrets!" But no, Bibles and fur pelts wouldn't work. Things that have been lost? If the city records of Chicago and L.A. has been lost, we would have heard about it. No matter what I came up with, the fur pelts and the frogs kept stumping me. The answer is revealed at Weird Universe, along with some extra information on the subject. -via Nag on the Lake

The annual Crufts dog show was held last weekend in Birmingham, UK. While the show was full of very good dogs, the most viral of all the performances was that of a tiny chihuahua named Joya who performed the Swan Lake ballet with handler Karin Baumann in the Heelwork To Music competition. Who knew chihuahuas could be ballerinas? This little dog memorized thousands of moves for a three-minute performance.

Baumann and Joya's actual performance at Crufts is in this video, which was taken from quite some distance. The video above is of the same routine at a show from last fall, because it is much easier to see. Joya didn't win the ribbon at Crufts, but she won our hearts -and the internet- with her perfect yet hilarious dance. That's a good dog. -via reddit

See the winner of that competition and more Crufts results at Supa Fluffy.

History repeats itself, almost exactly a year later. You might recall that in March of 2021, the Evergreen container ship Ever Given became stuck in the Suez Canal for a week and backed up shipping traffic from everywhere on earth.

Now another container ship owned by Evergreen Marine has run aground in Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore. The ship named Ever Forward was departing when it became stuck on Sunday night.

2/ Looking at charts, #EVERFORWARD may have slightly deviated from dredged navigation channel into shallower waters after departing Baltimore.

And got stuck.

She's apparently not blocking the navigation channel, but is quite close to it. pic.twitter.com/K6obJIzXr0

— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) March 15, 2022

High tide was earlier this evening, but it doesn't rise enough in that area to float a stuck ship. If this kind of thing keeps up, someone will eventually need to look into Evergreen's pilot training program. You can keep up with the Ever Forward's predicament and current location at Marine Traffic. -via Fark  

(Image credit: US Coast Guard)

In the early 19th century, hieroglyphics inscribed on the walls of the Temple of Karnak near Luxor, Egypt, were translated and found to be a peace treaty between Pharaoh Ramesses II and the "Great King of Khatti," later identified as Hattušiliš III. Another copy of the same treaty is inscribed on the temple of Ramesses II in Thebes. The treaty was ratified in 1258 BC, making it the world's oldest treaty discovered so far. It's become known as the Treaty of Kadesh.

Archaeologists determined that Khatti meant the Hittites, from modern-day Turkey. The treaty was quite an accomplishment, as the Egyptians had been battling the Hittites over the lands of the eastern Mediterranean for two centuries. In 1906, excavations in the Hittite capital of Hattusa revealed 10,000 clay tablets with cuneiform writing. Three of those tablets contained the exact wording of the treaty with Egypt, in the Akkadian language. This was a profound discovery of an ancient document between two nations in two written languages that agreed with each other in the most  important details.     

The treaties laid out the points of agreement from each kingdom to stop fighting, return political refugees and criminals to their home country, and assist each other in suppressing rebellions. Furthermore they pledged to support each other militarily in case of attack from other nations going forward. The treaty ends with a curse upon anyone breaking the treaty. Read about the war between Egypt and the Hittites and the amazing treaty that ended it at Amusing Planet. -via Strange Company 

(Image credit: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg))

March 13 was the beginning of Daylight Saving Time (as you well know by now), and March 15 is the Ides of March. In between, we celebrate Pi Day! March the 14th is celebrated as such because the American way of writing the date is 3/14, which is as close as we'll get to 3.14159265359...∞ as a date notation. The British method doesn't work because there aren't enough months. Pi Day is a day to appreciate the mathematical constant that defines a circle. Coincidentally, it's also Albert Einstein's birthday. But most people will only celebrate by enjoying some pie.

The key lime pie above was posted at reddit specifically for Pi Day, as you can see from the price and the sell-by date. I am sure someone bought it by Sunday. Who am I kidding- the person who took the picture bought the pie!

Don't forget to wear your Pi Day shirt from the NeatoShop today. If you don't already have one, what better time to order one for next year, because they are 20% off for a limited time!

For your traditional Pi Day feast, get a pizza pie and rearrange the toppings into the π symbol. Follow that with a sweet dessert pie, as long as it's round. If you make your own, you can use the π symbol on the crust, but if you buy one, you may find them on sale today. Here's a list of Pi Day pizza and pie bargains and discounts. Most are only good today, so hurry and get yours! But be assured that Pi Day will come "round" again next year.

At the turn of the 20th century, most Americans didn't eat fish if it could be avoided. Eating meat was a symbol of prosperity, and fish (seafood, too) was food for poor people. In 1909, the average American ate 150 pounds of meat per year, and only 10 pounds of seafood. Then World War I began, and the government encouraged people to cut back on meat consumption in order to feed the troops. It wasn't enough to ask for sacrifice, they needed to make fish popular.

In 1915, the United States Bureau of Fisheries (which later became the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) hired a restaurant owner named Evelene Spencer and gave her the title of Fish Cookery Expert. Spencer took the job to heart, and participated in the government's push to promote fish in every way possible. She appeared on posters, in cooking demonstrations, in film, in newspapers, and became the celebrity chef of her time. Spencer wrote a book with the ungainly title Fish Cookery: six hundred recipes for the preparation of fish, shellfish and other aquatic animals, including fish soups, salads and entrees, with accompanying sauces, seasonings, dressings and forcemeats.

Housewives were eager to receive Spencer's advice, because eating fish was not only deemed patriotic at the time, but it was a lot cheaper than serving meat. Her book helped those who had never prepared fish to clean, cook, and preserve fish and seafood and make it more palatable than ever before. Spencer was America's Fish Cookery Expert until 1922, but her influence lasted much longer. Read about the Fish Evangelist and how she changed the American diet at Atlas Obscura.

(Image source: National Archives)

A video that starts out talking about set dressing on TV sitcoms turns out to be a deep dive into the work of French painter Jean-François Millet. Millet didn't have much success in his career, and quite a few setbacks and tragedies. His works were never appreciated in his lifetime, but bring millions today. That was because Millet painted everyday people, mostly farmers, who were considered a lower class. But even as Millet's story is quite interesting, that's not really what this video is about, either. The painting that adorned the wall of Sheriff Andy Taylor's home is not what we see on the canvas, but has a secret detail that gives the painting a whole new meaning. -via Kottke

Futility Closet introduces us to the story of a wild hoax which I have verified through authoritative information sources. It begins with Jean Shepherd, a radio host for WOR-AM in New York City. Shepherd was a published author who was frustrated with the misleading way that bestseller lists were created. So, in 1956, he repeatedly told his listeners about the classic erotic novel I, Libertine by Frederick R. Ewing. Shepherd extolled the virtues merits of this saucy tale and urged his listeners to visit bookstores to request it.

I, Libertine did not exist. But there was, suddenly, massive demand for it to exist.

Shepherd sketched a plot outline for the novel. Publisher Ian Ballantine sent it to science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon, asking him to ghostwrite the novel very quickly. Sturgeon fell asleep before finishing the text, which was completed by the publisher's wife, Betty Ballantine.

The book included a biography of the fictional Frederick R. Ewing, who was an Oxford graduate, a scholar of the history of erotica, and a retired Royal Navy officer. Ewing's book sold very well for several weeks and was on bestseller lists before journalists exposed the hoax.

Sources:

Bisbort, Alan. Media Scandals, ABC-CLIO, 2008.

Delany, Samuel R. Starboard Wine : More Notes on the Language of Science Fiction, Wesleyan University Press, 2012.

Italie, Hillel. “Betty Ballantine, Who Helped Invent the Modern Paperback, Dies at 99.” Los Angeles Times, Feb 14, 2019.

Photo: University of Tulsa

Now, this is a good find!

A medieval gold brooch was found by a metal detectorist in Wiltshire, United Kingdom. The item has a series of Latin and Hebrew inscriptions, believed to be protection against illness or supernatural events. The accessory is estimated to have been created between A.D. 1150 and 1400.

The Latin inscriptions translate to "hail Mary full of grace the Lord/ is with thee/ blessed art thou amongst women/ and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Amen," while the Hebrew initials on the jewelry represent words that meant "thou art mighty forever, O Lord."

Image credit: Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum

If you think that the beautiful photos from space only need one click of the cameras in space instruments, think again. Obtaining images of different celestial objects requires time, effort, and a lot of technological power. Take the James Webb Space Telescope’s project of capturing a star that it looked at as an example.

 This single star was rendered 18 times into a hexagonal shape, which will be aligned into a single, sharp focus image of the heavenly object. The current result from the interim stage looks like a space snowflake. The star’s images are placed in this pattern so that they have the same relative locations as the telescope’s mirrors. Read more about it here!

Image credit: NASA/STScI/J. DePasquale

The “Finders Keepers” project was started in 1999 by a local artist who wanted to use glass floats to celebrate the new millennium. The Lincoln City, Oregon, government agreed to this project and has been running it for more than 20 years now. The project encourages artists and enthusiasts to visit the beaches in the area to search for artisan glass floats. An estimated number of over 3,000 floats are hidden in the city’s beaches year-round. Learn more about the project here.

Image credit: Peggy Cleaveland