Just ready $16,000 for donations, of course. The actor is auctioning off a phone call via fundraising portal Greater Giving. Reeves is doing a phone call for a cancer charity, and the bidding for a special phone call from the star is up to $16,800 and climbing. Interested? MentalFloss has more details: 

The call is intended to benefit Camp Rainbow Gold, a nonprofit that provides support for patients and families in Idaho dealing with cancer. Reeves has reportedly long been active in various charitable efforts for the disease following his sister’s leukemia diagnosis in 1991.

Organizers have a few caveats. The call has to take place the week of July 6, pending the availability of both Reeves and the winning bidder. If the caller exhibits any “threatening or inappropriate behavior,” the conference will be terminated. Otherwise, the winner should feel free to discuss Reeves’s career, including the forthcoming Bill and Ted Face the Music, due out August 14.

image via MentalFloss

Vitamins and other forms of supplements have been marketed to “boost one’s immune system.” During the pandemic, people have been inclined to purchase more of these to strengthen themselves against COVID-19. But do vitamins really do what they’re marketed to do so? James Hamblin and Katherine Wells discuss the effectiveness of these supplements in their podcast Social Distance. You can listen to the episode here. 

image via wikimedia commons

Twitter is now testing out a new feature for a limited number of users. Unfortunately, it still isn’t the edit button we all need. You can now tweet your voice with audio tweets, a feature that will be available to all users in the coming months. If you have early access to the new feature, here’s how to use it, as FastCompany details: 

• Compose a new tweet
• tap the audio button (beside the option to add a photo)
• tap the record button
• and then tap done

Twitter is limiting audio tweets to 140-second clips (like the original 140-character limit), but the company says it will automatically create a thread of tweets when users’ recordings stretch past that time limit. Twitter won’t allow users to reply to tweets with their voice, a decision presumably shaped by the social network’s failures to address harassment and abuse on the service.

image screenshot via FastCompany

A fossil soft-shell egg has been discovered in Antarctica. The egg is a large, football-sized egg believed to have been left by an ancient marine reptile known as a mosasaur. The fossil was estimated to be 66 million years old, as iflscience details:

"It is from an animal the size of a large dinosaur, but it is completely unlike a dinosaur egg," said lead author Lucas Legendre, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences,” in a statement. "It is most similar to the eggs of lizards and snakes, but it is from a truly giant relative of these animals."

It was previously believed that giant marine reptiles from the Cretaceous did not lay eggs, yet “nothing like this has ever been discovered.” Chilean scientists first came across the fossil nearly a decade ago, after which it sat unlabeled in the country’s collections at the National Museum of Natural History. Scientists referred to the more than 28-by-18-centimeter (11-by-7 inches) stone-like fossil simply as “The Thing”.

image via iflscience

An archaeological site in Russia, near the Mongolian border, has baffled scientists. Set on an island in Lake Tere-Khol, it is unlike other ancient structures in that it contains no supporting artifacts, like bones, pottery, or tools that would give clues as to its age or purpose. Even the discovery of the site reads like an adventure game.

Since its presence was learned from a stone near the Selenga river (a runic tablet with an inscription detailing the site), the settlement—known as Por-Bajin—has eluded understanding. A complex roughly the size of Buckingham Palace, with 30-foot-tall clay walls and numerous courtyards set alongside its numerous buildings, the eighth-century Uighur construction yielded surprisingly few of the archaeological artifacts you’d expect from a building of its magnitude—items that are usually telltale markers of a place’s purpose.

“There was a lot of mystery around the site,” says Margot Kuitems, an isotope researcher at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and lead author of a new study that dates the site, published last week in the journal Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences. “Who built it? When was it built? But also for what purpose? Was it a monastery? Did it have defensive purposes? Or was it a palace?”

That sets up the mystery, which has been solved in an amazing way. Analysis of tree rings in the timbers used pinpoints the construction date at 777 CE. That reveals its place in history, from which the details could be filled in. Read how they did it at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: Por-Bajin Fortress Foundation)

Haribo gummy bears are one of the top-selling candies in the world. With the various flavors in its roster, it actually takes a lot of time and effort to add a new flavor that the masses will love. Popular Science details on the process behind the famed gummies flavors: 

Anointing a new flavor to the Haribo lineup, however, takes some confection-making perfection. The company’s food scientists test each recipe exhaustively for aroma, texture, and regional preferences. The last step is key to ensuring a gummy will succeed across multiple markets. For example, Triffler says, Americans and Germans don’t always agree on what a “lemon” candy should taste like, making it tricky to develop a single yellow piece for a mix that suits everyone’s tongues. The company even had to change up Riegel’s famous recipe when introducing Goldbears stateside in the 1980s.

Haribo is quite tight-lipped about what makes their gummies such a culinary delight. But outside of the candy industry, food scientists are upfront about the challenges of crafting gummies. “Most gummy confections contain 5 to 10 percent fruit juice and the rest is sugar water,” Vodovotz says. “There are non-synthetic flavors and dyes, but they’re really still mostly chemicals.”

image via Popular Science

If you’re a big fan of cold brew, here’s a new iced coffee recipe that you might enjoy! Japanese iced coffee is a faster-to-brew version of the regular cold brew, with enthusiasts claiming that the iced coffee is better than cold brew. Japanese iced coffee can be made in under ten minutes, as The Huffington Post details: 

“I think it is a superior method to cold brew, since you get a chance to unlock more flavor from coffee compounds with the hot water extraction, while still getting an equivalent body as if it were a cold brew,” said Julie Nguyen, co-owner of Contra Coffee and Tea in Orange, California.

The name derives from a method that’s been used in Japan since the 1920s, but it also refers to the use of Japanese coffee equipment, like Hario products, to brew it. Some coffee shops refer to this method of making coffee as flash-brewed, flash-chilled or just iced coffee.

image via The Huffington Post

That beekeeper heart honeycomb image. A thread. pic.twitter.com/55lqUZ4uiI

— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 16, 2020

Have you seen this picture before? It recently went viral with a caption about a French beekeeper who neglected to insert frames into a beehive, so the bees went freestyle with their comb and managed to come up with a heart shape. Many people thought that was adorable, while some beekeepers were suspicious. Steve Byrne, an internet folklorist, recalled that he had seen the image before. So he decided to investigate and find the story behind the story -the true origin of the honeycomb image. The journey led him back to 2015, then 2013, and to a South African beekeeper who, seven years later, had physical evidence of the honeycomb he grew that year. And we learn how he did it.

The thing to take away? On the internet, search behind what you see. Don't take things at face value. Don't let your "aww" gene get in the way of thinking, hmm, is this for real? Because there are people out there who seek to use such kindly human instincts in unkind ways. /34

— Steve Byrne #stayathome #wearfacecoverings (@byrnesong) June 17, 2020

You can read the entire story in detail at Twitter, or the simpler Threadreader version if you prefer. -via Nag on the Lake

Not gonna lie, totally into Lady Spock pic.twitter.com/2L2OEdq9WD

— Art Of Coop (@ARTofCOOP) June 16, 2020

People have been having fun with FaceApp and other image manipulation tools to see what they would look like as the opposite gender. I tried one of those many years ago and discovered what my father would look like with long hair. Lately, a new trend has emerged: seeing what fictional characters would look like gender-swapped. The cast of Star Trek: The Original Series looks pretty good! Impressed with that, Geeks Are Sexy went and found plenty of other Star Trek characters, from The Next Generation and later series, in gender-swapped versions. You can see them in this gallery.

Next, they decided to use FaceApp to see what the characters from Firefly would look like. Shown above is Captain Malcolm Reynolds. You can see their gender-swapped versions of the entire Firefly cast at Geeks Are Sexy.

If you’re looking forward to stepping up your presence and influence in your workplace, then try making small talk with your coworkers. It’s a necessary social practice that can build rapport, which then turns to trust. Licensed career coach Jamie Terran details on building rapport through office small talk: 

“Rapport is the feeling that allows you to extend a deadline, or overlook smaller mistakes, because it makes it easy for you to remember we’re only human. Right or wrong, building rapport through interaction with colleagues could be the thing that gets you the promotion or keeps you in the role you’re in.”

Building rapport applies when you’re interviewing, too. People hire people they want to work with, not necessarily who’s perfect for the job. Engaging in small talk with your interviewer helps make a positive impression.

image via wikimedia commons

The cat that inspired A Street Cat Named Bob has died. James Bowen took care of the injured cat in 2007, and decided to look after him. Bowen wrote a book about his and Bob’s relationship that became a hit and was made into a movie. Did you know that Bob actually played himself in the movie (along with six lookalikes)? The Guardian has more details: 

In a statement on the official Facebook page for Bowen’s books, the author said Bob had saved his life.

He added: “It’s as simple as that. He gave me so much more than companionship. With him at my side, I found a direction and purpose that I’d been missing.”

He said the success they found together was “miraculous”, adding: “He’s met thousands of people, touched millions of lives.

“There’s never been a cat like him. And never will again. I feel like the light has gone out in my life. I will never forget him.”

Paul McNamee, editor of The Big Issue, said: “First Bob changed James Bowen’s life, then he changed the world. He meant a great deal to The Big Issue and was a huge part of our story, as The Big Issue was to his story.

“Over the years we’ve reported on his successes and each time we put him on the cover our vendors were delighted. They knew it meant fans would flock to purchase. He represented a second chance and hope and never giving up on somebody, things that are hardwired into The Big Issue DNA.

“Our condolences go to James, Bob’s loyal companion. Bob saved his life and he’s spoken of the success the pair enjoyed through their books and films as being miraculous. He said there’s never been a cat like him. We couldn’t agree more.”

image via The Guardian

Philosophy is a hard topic to decipher and teach, especially to younger students. RoadWorks, an organization that teaches social sciences use Drill Music as an opportunity to meet young people on their own intellectual turf. BBC has the details: 

It's been a couple of years since large sections of the media first started panicking about drill music, questioning if the genre's often violent lyrics were contributing to knife crime in London - sometimes claiming outright that they were.

For the youth workers helping young people navigate daily life, it was never that black and white.

Instead Ciaran Thapar saw drill as an opportunity to meet young people on their own terms.

"How can we use this undeniably organically popular type of music, and our understanding of that music, as a way of connecting with young people who otherwise are being lost to the system right now at unprecedented rates?"

Combining drill and education felt natural for Ciaran, a writer who studied political theory.

"You literally have kids that are coming into the classroom bouncing off the walls and by the end of it they're calm, they're having conversations. And that's because we've met them on their intellectual turf."

image via BBC

Alexi McCarthy, an art director, designed and built Face Shelving with his son. It's a cute look and easy to build with the step-by-step instructions that McCarthy provides. Screws hold the pieces together. McCarthy mounted the eyes with double-sided poster tape.

-via Toxel

This is cute and clever. Kevin Parry made a stop-motion video with just a water hose sprayed at a wall -with him between them. Here's a look at the process.  



Andrea Nesbitt mentioned she had lots of fun spraying him in the face with water. -via Boing Boing

Parents know that once children begin to read for pleasure, their reading skills improve, and so does their entire educational experience. One way to kick-start this process is to let students select their own books, and that's why the Scholastic Book Fair is always a time of celebration at elementary schools. Scholastic, which had sponsored book clubs for decades already, became the go-to publisher for book fairs in the early 1980s.  

Then as now, the events would normally be sponsored by parent-teacher associations or school librarians, and a division of labor was involved. Scholastic and the other companies would drive the books to the school, where volunteers would set up the provided displays, handle payment, and box up the unsold books. Then Scholastic would haul away the unused inventory. Books cost between 75 cents and $3.95, with the schools getting between 20 percent and 33 percent of the gross revenue. In the 1980s, a typical fair might collect $1500.

While the school faculty appreciated the revenue and the promotion of literacy, students were less interested in the economics than the shelves of books that flaunted their unbent spines and promised a break from required reading. In both the book fairs and catalogs, volumes about boy detective Encyclopedia Brown mingled with Garfield collections and Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling. Poster books of BMX bikes and joke books were in plentiful supply.

Read about Scholastic Book Fairs at Mental Floss.