The short answer is to turn them into foundations for new coral reefs! Take for example, the Platform Holly, a decommissioned oil rig. Standing 235ft (72m) above the waters of the Pacific Ocean, the abandoned oil rig is now home to colourful fish, crabs, starfish and mussels that congregate on the oil rig’s huge steel pylons. BBC has more details on how we can turn other oil rigs into new homes for creatures and coral reefs: 

But there is one way in which these old rigs can be remarkably useful: the subsurface rig provides the ideal skeleton for coral reefs. Teeming with fish and other wildlife, scientists say that offshore rigs like Platform Holly are in fact the most bountiful human-made marine habitats in the world.

The practice of transforming rigs into reefs in the United States dates back almost 40 years. In 1984, the US Congress signed the National Fishing Enhancement Act which recognised the benefits artificial reefs provided and encouraged states to draw up plans to turn defunct rigs into reefs. The five coastal states on the Gulf of Mexico – Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas – all have rigs-to-reefs programmes and have converted more than 500 oil and gas platforms into artificial reefs.

When oil companies cease drilling in these states, they decommission their platform by sealing the oil well. Then they can either choose to remove the entire platform or convert it into a reef by removing just the upper section of the structure.

Image via BBC 

The owner of most Ikea stores recently purchased a property in the state of Georgia to protect it from development. Ingka Group worked with nonprofit organization The Conservation Fund to save the 10, 840-acre land from destruction. This is not the first property that the company has bought, as it has over 613,000 acres of forest land across Europe and the U.S.: 

Ikea’s mission has long included looking out for the well-being of the environment, but buying land is still relatively new for the company. That investment will pay off in spades toward Ikea’s goal of becoming entirely carbon-neutral by 2030.

It’s easy to buy up carbon offsets on the internet — it’s another level of commitment entirely to buy full-on forests. And Ikea’s only getting started.

Ikea said this week that its 2020 operations used fewer fossil fuels than ever before and that it expects that trend to continue moving forward. Last year, the company sourced more than 98 percent of wood for its products from responsibly managed forests — and announced that, by 2030, at least a third of its wood will be recycled.

Ikea also made other big sustainability moves last year, like discontinuing the sale of non-rechargeable batteries, ending the print version of its catalog, and launching its own secondhand store.

What do you think about the company’s movements against deforestation? 

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Thanks to global warming, archaeologists were able to obtain hundreds of Viking artifacts from the ice. Well, at least the phenomenon brought something good for us, right? Archaeologists from the Secret of the Ice project discovered 68 arrows from an ancient Viking hunting ground. The Langfonne ice patch, where the arrows were found, was once part of a Viking trade route. Artnet lists the top six discoveries from ice patches in the recent years, and how the Vikings used them. Check the full list here. 

Image via Artnet 

The immortal and ever-relevant Shakespeare is annoyed by the people who compare his King Lear to mere cupcakes that were made in lockdown. Of course he has a valid reason to be annoyed. Why? Because he’s Shakespeare!

See his rant over at BBC on Facebook.

(Image Credit: BBC Two/ Facebook)

For years, desktop and laptop users have been stuck with displays that only run at 60 Hz, while smartphone users enjoy having displays which run at 120 Hz. But it seems that laptop and desktop displays will be catching up to the refresh rates of smartphone displays soon.

Samsung Display, a subsidiary of The Samsung Group, has announced that it will begin production of its new 14-inch OLED screen that runs at 90 Hz for laptops this spring. In their announcement on their blog, CEO Choi Choo-sun claimed that the screens will be in full production starting March 21 of this year.

[...]

In introducing the new screens, representatives for the company claimed that their goal was to introduce a major shift in the video screen market—toward higher refresh rates and a better viewing experience for consumers. They believe that consumers will warm to the new screens very quickly, making them willing to pay extra for the faster screens and souped-up graphics cards.

It is indeed something to look forward to this year.

(Image Credit: Samsung)

Surprisingly enough, these sculptures are very well-preserved. Intact prehistoric sculptures are a rare find, and these found in southwest France provide an insight into the lives and cultures of prehistoric humans. The clay bison sculptures date to about 13,000 BCE, and were among other artworks found by archaeologists, as My Modern Met details: 

Careful exploration of the caves turned up hundreds of examples of artwork by the Stone Age Magdalenian peoples. These ancient humans were known to hunt reindeer, horses, and other big game during the waning of the Ice Age. Their ancient living and ritual sites have been found in France and Spain and include cave art, engraved bones, and other artifacts. The findings at the three caves added to the repertoire of ancient art attributed to the culture. In the Enlène cave, bone and ivory fragments carved with animal depictions were discovered. The craftsman chose to depict a horse's head on a hyoid bone of a horse; a chamois (a goat-antelope creature native to the region) is also carved on the mandible bone of a bison.

The Enlène cave contained relatively few examples of wall art; however, the other two caves provide rich engraved and painted examples. At Tuc d'Audoubert cave, abstract club symbols (claviforms) shaped like the letter “P” were repeated frequently, particularly in a room which came to be known as the Gallery of the Claviforms. Throughout the cave, 103 animals are depicted on the walls and floors. These include horses, reindeer, and big cats. However, the bison seems to have been the most revered of these animals—composing a total of 40 percent of the animal depictions. In addition, 250 abstract signs and other mysterious figures have been documented by researchers returning to the cave over the decades since its discovery.

Image via My Modern Met 

People who have been fans of the Doraemon series for a long time have shed tears when they watched the 2014 film Stand By Me Doraemon, where Doraemon was supposed to leave Nobita (Noby in the English dub) after the robocat was able to correct his future. It seems that the sequel, Stand By Me Doraemon 2, will pick up where the previous film left off, which was on the night before Shizuka’s (Sue in the English dub) wedding to Nobita.

While in the manga we do see a glimpse of Nobita from the future wedded to Sizuka, it's not really a cause to celebrate because it's not the Nobita from our timeline.

So it was pretty natural for many to cry tears of joy when CBI Pictures released a poster of its upcoming world premiere of Stand by Me Doraemon 2.

The film was initially released in Japan in November 2020. It's now set to be released across the world by June 2021.

Fans are naturally thrilled.

Now that’s a film that I can’t wait to watch.

(Image Credit: Anamika/ Twitter)

Passports are travel documents that vary across the world and over time. Some are proof of citizenship, some aren't, but all are identification for travelers. While they were used here and there thousands of years ago, they were fairly rare before World War I. Only after World War II did they become universal, and even then enforcement varied.

As witnessed throughout history, the rules don’t always apply to everyone. Take Paul McCartney, who in 1967 was travelling to France and forgot his passport. As the story goes, he allegedly pulled the “you know who I am” card and was allowed to board his flight. Meanwhile in 1976, due to a law that anybody (dead or alive) travelling into France officially requires a passport, Rameses II (who died sometime in 1213 BC) required one so that his remains could travel to Paris for study. The Egyptian government did indeed issue the ancient pharaoh a passport.

An article on passports at Messy Nessy Chic doesn't pretend to be a comprehensive history of the passport, but contains plenty of fascinating tidbits about passports in history.  

(Image credit: Flickr user Ken Mayer)

If you've ever seen a movie built around your own area of expertise, you most likely cringed at the portrayal of your work. Movies and TV shows are made by writers and actors with an eye toward drama and not so much accuracy. The guy running the YouTube channel Fire Department Chronicles used green screen tech to put himself into the action and give the actors a little lesson in what really happens in a fire.



Once again, I am glad that we'll never see a drama about the life of a blogger, because it would be too boring for broadcast. Or even streaming. Fire Department Chronicles has more of these videos about the real work of firefighters and EMTs vs. the pop culture versions. -via reddit

Hold your stomach, Kraft macaroni and cheese has a Valentines Day promotion that will turn your dinner into something completely different. Forget steak or homemade spaghetti, or even takeout food, because what your sweetheart really wants is a serving of hot pink macaroni and cheese with sweetener. The limited edition Candy Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is a regular box of mac and cheese that comes with a flavor packet you can add to turn it pink and impart candy flavoring.

So, what makes the powder pink? Is it crushed-up conversation hearts? Is it a special dust from Cupid's arrow? Actually, according to a Kraft-Heinz spokesperson, the vibrant pink hue comes from beetroot and carrot concentrates. As for what makes it tastes like candy, the extra packet of powder contains fructose, natural flavors and vanilla extract, they said.

The company is only making 1,000 boxes, and you'll have to enter a sweepstakes to possibly get one. I'm wondering how many people will enter the contest to really try eating this, and how many just want the box for a future social media post.

Yeah. Just. Yeah, furry art. There’s nothing wrong with commissioning or being a furry, sure, but furry art has become  one of the biggest industries online. A lot of rich furries pay well for an art commission, but this one just takes the cake. Izzzyzzz relays the story of the chaos and controversy behind the legendary $20,000-furry art commission on DeviantArt. 

Researchers will have a field day with this discovery. A huge burial site in Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, was discovered, and along with it came over 3,000 pieces of jewelry, weapons, and more. The huge number of objects date back to around 1,500 years ago, and was scattered across 154 graves  in the site, as IGN detailed: 

"The Overstone Leys site contains by far the biggest Anglo-Saxon cemetery ever found in Northamptonshire," Project Manager at Museum of London Archaeology, Simon Markus, said in a MOLA release about the discovery. "It is rare to find both an Anglo-Saxon settlement and a cemetery in a single excavation. The excavations will help us understand the way people lived in both the Anglo-Saxon period, around 1,500 years ago as well as the Bronze Age, nearly 4,000 years ago."

Markus said the human remains, objects, and buildings found at the site will help them learn more about the Anglo-Saxon and Bronze Age diets, health, origins, and day-to-day life of the people that lived during that period of history.

Fifteen rings, 150 brooches, 2,000 beads, 75 wrist clasps, 15 chatelaines, 40 knives, 25 spears, 15 shield bosses, and an assortment of other things like cosmetic kits and bone combs were unearthed at the site, according to the MOLA. The archaeologists also uncovered Anglo-Saxon textiles preserved after becoming mineralized by being buried next to a metal brooch.

Image via LiveScience

First things first: hopefully there’s no eruption that will sweep our recreated menu under all the lava, right? All jokes aside, recreating something would be difficult if we don’t even know what we’re actually going to recreate, right? Thankfully, archaeologists at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii have found some information from excavating an ancient food shop, called a thermopolium, located at the western edge of the unexcavated northeastern section of Pompeii. Atlas Obscura has more details: 

To recreate a meal that comes close to what may have been served here, one can begin by looking at the archaeological remains found inside. This includes the imagery in the frescoes painted on the service counter and the contents of the amphorae and the dolia. One dolium contained the bones of duck, swine, goat, and fish, as well as shells from land snails. The duck bones in particular correspond to the fresco of two mallards painted on the front of the counter, perhaps as a pictorial menu for the illiterate majority at the time. While some scholars have proposed that these faunal remains may imply that first-century Pompeiians consumed stews or soups composed of a motley of creatures, aside from a few Apician patinae, this would be an anomaly in ancient Roman cooking. As dolia were primarily used for dry and liquid food storage, and not for cooking, it is possible that the bones and shells found in the dolium represented food waste from an in-house butchery, food preparation that took place behind the counter, or post-consumption food waste left behind by the customers.

It is also possible that these remains were evidence of something else entirely: What if these shells and bones were destined for a master stock that was used in the dishes being served in the establishment? After all, this thermopolium was situated near a fountain and water tower, providing access that would facilitate making a bulk broth on a daily basis. References to such dishes appear across historic texts: In the first century BC, Republican statesman Cicero complains of the “reek and fume” of stew-houses in his biting invective Against Piso, while Athenaeus of Naucratis, a third-century Greco-Egyptian writer, refers to food in the “common messes” as “nothing but broth and chunks of meat.” Second-century historian Dio Cassius even recounts an occasion when Emperor Claudius “abolished the taverns where [the populace] were wont to gather and drink, and commanded that no boiled meat or hot water should be sold.”

Image via Atlas Obscura 

How did people ever wear this giant Mayan mask? Maybe the mask was just for display purposes. Imagine the heavy weight of actually trying it on! The 2,000-year-old mask, revealed at an archaeological site in Yucatan, Mexico, depicts the face of an unknown deity. The artifact was sculpted from stucco, a building material, as Live Science details: 

The discovery was made in 2017 at the archaeological site of Ucanha, near the modern-day city of Motul, and since then researchers with Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have worked painstakingly to restore it.

Stucco masks like this one "represent the faces of individuals with particular features that can be associated with deities or with characters of prominent social status," INAH said in a statement.  

Image via Live Science

Well, here’s our chance to prove that swearing isn’t that bad, apparently. Studies have shown that swearing may be a sign of verbal superiority, and can indicate honesty, intelligence, and creativity! CNN lists the benefits of saying vulgar words as proven by science:

Well-educated people with plenty of words at their disposal, a 2015 study found, were better at coming up with curse words than those who were less verbally fluent.

Participants were asked to list as many words that start with F, A or S in one minute. Another minute was devoted to coming up with curse words that start with those three letters. The study found those who came up with the most F, A and S words also produced the most swear words.

That's a sign of intelligence "to the degree that language is correlated with intelligence," said Jay, who authored the study. "People that are good at language are good at generating a swearing vocabulary."

Swearing can also be associated with social intelligence, Jay added.

"Having the strategies to know where and when it's appropriate to swear, and when it's not," Jay said, "is a social cognitive skill like picking the right clothes for the right occasion. That's a pretty sophisticated social tool."

If you want to read more about it, check the full article here. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to show the benefits of swearing to the old people in my life! 

Image via CNN