The Bundys weren't exactly the Cleavers, but that's probably why we loved them so much. Though the show's 11 seasons ended in 1997 — before this year's high-school freshmen were even born — there are still plenty of interesting behind-the-scenes facts to divulge. From Ed O'Neill's secret talent to the show's original working title, Death+Taxes has the facts. Link

Barbara Millicent Roberts has weathered her share of bad press — impossible proportions, that nasty split from Ken, and of course, her sometimes questionable choice of clothing. But those little scandals hardly scrape the surface when you consider allegations of racism, abrief foray into cross-dressing (shown above, 'Drag Queen' Barbie), and her unwed, pregnant cousin. Check out some of Barbie's most controversial incarnations. Link

This daguerreotype is believed to be a photograph of Emily Dickinson in her mid-20s, seated with her friend Kate Scott Turner in 1859. If the suspicions of Amherst College historians proves true, it will become only the second authenticated image of the reclusive poet known to exist.

The college's archives and special collections department has subjected the 1859 daguerreotype, owned by a New England collector, to multiple tests, including an ophthalmological report, and says that all of the current evidence is in favour of the woman on the left of the image being Dickinson.

Measurements of the woman in the newly discovered photo were compared to the features in Dickinson's one other photograph, and both were found to be identical in many  respects, including an astigmatism in the same eye in both images. Especially interesting is the time at which it was taken, because Dickinson was already quite withdrawn by 1859. Link

What makes a rainforest? Millions of things, living and dead and inanimate, but perhaps most importantly of all, rain. Rain, obviously, comes from clouds, and clouds come from.... fungi? Maybe so, according to an essay in TIME based on research published recently in the journal Science, which explores the intricate relationship between a rainforests's unique weather and the flora and fauna that rely on it.

When you mess with the Amazon rainforest you mess with a lot of things — 2.5 million species of insects, 40,000 species of plants, 1,300 species of birds, and those are only the known ones. The 1.4 billion of acres of thriving, sprawling biology that cover the Amazon help drive the very metabolism of a continent. And now it appears that the rainforest is at least partly responsible for something else: the Amazonian clouds themselves. Clear-cut the land and you could, in effect, clear-cut the sky.

More about the tenuous link between land and sky, on TIME. Link

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It's common among book fiends to remember the opening lines of favorite novels, and likewise it's a trend among TV fanatics to reminisce on final scenes from well-loved shows. From Six Feet Under (shown above) to Life on Mars, with stops along the way for The Sopranos and MST3K, Flavorwire rounded up their favorite closing scenes from 20 pop culture favorites. Link

Archaelogists announced today that they believe they have uncovered the site of King Richard III's grave, inside a long-lost friary buried beneath the Leicester City Council offices. 

The hunt for King Richard III's grave is heating up, with archaeologists announcing today (Sept. 5) that they have located the church where the king was buried in 1485.

"The discoveries so far leave us in no doubt that we are on the site of Leicester's Franciscan Friary, meaning we have crossed the first significant hurdle of the investigation," Richard Buckley, the lead archaeologist on the dig, said in a statement.

The dig is located in a parking lot in Leicester, England, which covered the church believed to house the body of King Richard III since 1485. The church was lost to history and only recently tracked down by Buckley's team. Link

You know what's expensive? Insurance. It's pricey enough to get life insurance if you have any kind of health issues or you're a frequent flyer, and nigh impossible if you're fond of basejumping. But imagine if you were preparing to leave the planet and step outside to walk around on the Moon, and no one had ever done that before, and no one knew if you would make it there or back, or if you'd survive the moonwalk at all. The Apollo 11 crew was in exactly that position, and they took a few creative steps to make sure their families would be taken care of in the event they didn't return:

In looking for affordable life insurance, the Apollo 11 crew had one thing going for them most people didn’t: they were famous and about to become figures in history. People really wanted their autographs. 

Discovery News has the whole amazing story, which ended happily, as we all know. Link

Is there anything cooler than super-secret spy tech? Maybe, but you can bet that it's even more super-secret than your clearance allows. These, however, are gadgets we know exist, and they're used by people who would tell you all about it, but then they'd have to kill you.

Spies gather information by watching, listening, and waiting. Eavesdropping is what spies do best. Is it any wonder, then, that three of these clever devices are for espionage? And in case things get messy, sometimes an agent needs a way to take out a target that's less direct than an abduction or assassination.

From The Great Seal Bug to anti-tank canine soldiers, check out Tecca's collection of amazing spy tricks, tactics, and trappings: Link

In what has to be one of the worst proposal gimmicks ever, 30-year-old Alexey Bykov of Russia hired a movie director, stuntmen, make-up artists, and a script writer to stage a scene in which he dies in a car crash.... so he could propose.

"I wanted her to realise how empty her life would be without me and how life would have no meaning without me.

 His girlfriend, Irena Kolokov, arrived at the scene of the "accident" and was, of course, devastated.

"We'd arranged to meet at a certain place but when I arrived there were mangled cars everywhere, ambulances, smoke, and carnage," said Miss Kolokov.

"Then when I saw Alexy covered in blood lying in the road a paramedic told me he was dead and I just broke down in tears."

It was then that Bykov leapt to his feet and proposed. Remarkably, Kolokov accepted. Link -via The Daily What

Finally, a catchy, simple tune to help the non-physicists among us understand string theory. Michael Wilson, aka Coma Niddy, breaks down what has to be the most complicated, labyrinthine theory in the history of science with easy-to-remeber verses like:

Everything is made of atoms
Atoms are made of a bunch of things
Like Protons, neutrons, Electrons, and quarks
And those may be made of tiny strings
Depending on the how the strings vibrate
Will determine how the particles behave
Just like how you pluck the strings of the Bass
It affects the note it plays

via Motherboard

A new study of vision differences between genders suggests that, whether mena and women have a different worldview or not, they definitely see the world differently.

Guys' eyes are more sensitive to small details and moving objects, while women are more perceptive to color changes, according to a new vision study that suggests men and women actually do see things differently. [...] They found that the guys required a slightly longer wavelength of a color to experience the same shade as women and the men were less able to tell the difference between hues. [And], compared with the women, the male volunteers were better able to identify the more rapidly changing images made up of thinner bars, the researchers said.

How the tests were conducted and more interesting results on LiveScience. 

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Ambergris used to be used in all sorts of things: perfume, magic potions, cigarettes. It's even rumored to be an aphrodisiac, albeit an expensive one. That's because ambergris is only produced in the intestinal tracts of whales, and getting your hands on it can be difficult. But one lucky(?) kid stumbled across a small fortune's worth of the stuff recently:

Charlie Naysmith, 8, was strolling with his dad along the beach in New Zealand when he stumbled on what he thought was a funny-looking rock. The rock was quite compelling, thanks to its surprisingly light weight and faint waxy texture, so young Charlie decided to take it home. As it turns out, the weird rock was actually not a rock at all, but an incredibly rare substance called ambergris, which is, essentially, a very valuable piece of whale poop. Charlie's 1.3-pound piece of ambergris is estimated to be worth somewhere around $65,000. 

All about Charlie's find and the history of ambergris at The Week.

There are people who claim to be very intuitive about the emotions of former occupants of a place based on the "vibes" they get from hanging out in a house or building. While most people would say aloud that they thought this was a bunch of nonsense, a study done recently to gauge the average person's response to implied emotional residue shows that most people believe in some sort of emotional vibe... even after the person who left it there is gone.

[Y]ou’re choosing between two apartments. They are identical with one exception: you happen to know that the former tenant in one of the apartments was an extremely happy, joyful person. Would you be more inclined to choose that apartment, based on an expectation that you might experience some lingering good feelings?

Your answers reflect how much you believe in “emotional residue,” which is the idea that emotions can hang around a physical environment, long after their owners have left. New research suggests that at a gut level, most of us believe that emotional residue exists. However, the culture we’ve grown up in determines the extent to which we consciously and openly endorse those beliefs.

He had participants from both countries read scenarios about David, a college freshman who moves into a new dorm room. The previous student who lived in the room was described as having spent a lot of time there feeling either very happy or depressed. Savani asked his participants to predict how David would feel a couple of weeks after living in his new room. Both Indians and Americans predicted that David would feel similarly to the student who had lived there before. In other words, he’d feel happy if the previous student had been happy and sad if the previous student had been sad.

There were two other trials, detailed in the Scientific American post and the original study report, which gave similar results: People believe, even subconsciously, that how a person feels will leave lingering emotional markers in a room or building. So is that the case or is this, in fact, a bunch of nonsense?

The question of whether emotional residue actually exists remains to be answered, but intriguing new research suggests that it may have biological underpinnings. A well-publicized study from earlier this year demonstrated that human tears emit a chemical that other people detect and respond to. Specifically, women’s tears were shown to reduce testosterone and sexual arousal in men. Research by Wen Zhou and Denise Chen of Rice University have demonstrated that human sweat glands emit distinct chemicals when people experience different emotions. In addition, they showed evidence that other people can sense those chemicals at a later point in time. Taken together, these new findings suggest that our intuitive beliefs in emotional residue may be more than just superstition.

What's your opinion here, Neatorama? Are bad vibes just superstition or do you think we'll find a scientific basis for our wariness of "sad" or "happy" places?

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The skinny:

Everyone knows junk food--especially fast food--is bad for you. In recent years, restaurants and food manufacturers have been required to list nutritional information in more obvious and realistic ways (including labels for trans fat content and more conspicuous serving size info), but some say that public health regulations should go further, by imposing a "fat tax" on junk food.

The idea was first presented in 1942, by a physiologist who suggested individuals be tax per pound they were overweight. The idea has moved from individuals to groups of food, particularly those which have been shown to increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease (such as non-diet soda and foods containing high levels of saturated or trans fat). Fat taxing has moved in and out of the news over the last half century, but recently Denmark recently instituted such a program to promote public health.

Tax all the fat

Supporters argue that "revenue from a ‘fat tax’ could be used in various ways, such as financing subsidies for healthy foods or exercise equipment, funding advertising campaigns for healthy eating or in schools. Alternatively, it could form part of general government receipts. Backers also say the move would create "a potential $50 billion windfall," and that the revenue "could help offset the estimated $147 billion cost of treating obesity-related diseases and fund programs to battle the expanding girths of Americans."

Keep the government out of it

But opponents say it's at the expense of low-income families. With the cost of food essentially "upside-down" in the US, with healthy foods costing more than fast or junk foods, and since "the poor spend a greater proportion of their income on food," taxing what are now cheap and readily available foods could be a regressive move that limits the funds and available food for those already struggling to keep something on the table. Michelle Obama, who heads up an anti-obesity campaign, has argued against the fat tax. "People eat what they eat because they think it's OK. They don't need government telling them what to do. They just need good information and access."

What do you think, Neatoramanauts? Is a fat tax a good idea for the US?

Sources:

• The 'Fat Tax': Economic Incentives to Reduce Obesity


• Battle lines drawn over soda, junk food taxes


• Michelle Obama: No fat tax in U.S.


• Wikipedia: Fat tax

It seems an odd problem to have, this "too much cash" thing. I don't know that most of us can relate. But it seems that in times of economic insecurity, those who used to invest in stocks are simply holding their money in banks, and now bankers are inundated with money. So what's the solution? Charge people to deposit. Or, at least some of the people, at some banks anyway:

Though financial institutions are not yet turning away customers at the door, they are trying to discourage some depositors from parking that cash with them. With fewer attractive lending and investment options for that money, it is harder for the banks to turn it around for a healthy profit.

In August, Bank of New York Mellon warned that it would impose a 0.13 percentage point fee on the deposits of certain clients who were moving huge piles of cash in and out of their accounts.

Others are finding more subtle ways to stem the flow. Besides paying next to nothing on consumer checking accounts and certificates of deposit, some giants — like JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo — are passing along part of the cost of federal deposit insurance to some of their small-business customers.

Even some community banks, vaunted for their little-guy orientation, no longer seem to mind if you take your money somewhere else.

“We just don’t need it anymore,” said Don Sturm, the owner of American National Bank and Premier Bank, community lenders with 43 branches in Colorado and three other states. “If you had more money than you knew what to do with, would you want more?”

Well, Neatoramanauts? What say you? Does charging money to hold your money seem counter-intuitive, or is this a good tactic for discouraging large-sum depositors from parking away their millions in a vault?

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