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Archive for February, 2007
I carry with me a notebook in which I scrawl ideas for future mental_floss entries, always in the form of a question (”What’s the true ethnicity of Swedish Fish?” or “Whose mouth is cleaner: mine or my dog’s?“) I also use said notebook to practice signing my name. And for grocery lists.
There are some topics that seem destined to stay confined to my notes. In certain cases, an idea just isn’t very good. Other potential posts, however, hit roadblocks in research.
I have a lot of faith in and respect for the mental_floss community. So rather than keep prospective entries trapped in purgatory, I’ll toss them out here and beg for help. Let’s try this.
“Did that Soul Asylum video actually help find any runaways?”
I was in 8th grade when “Runaway Train” was everywhere. At one point, MTV was playing it an average of 30 times a day. Here’s what I’ve learned, courtesy of Carl Kozlowski:
“[The ‘Runaway Train’] video had the biggest impact. Rather than focusing on the band performing the song, it was filled with stark, milk carton-style images of actual runaways above their names and the dates in which they were reported missing. The results seemed positive, as the band received an invitation to meet President Clinton at the White House after several of the video’s youths were reunited with their families. But Murphy recalls even the best of intentions can go awry.
“Some weren’t the best scenarios. I met a fireman on the East Coast whose daughter was in the end of the video, and he’d been in a bitter custody battle with his wife over her,” Murphy said. “It turned out the girl hadn’t run away, but was killed and buried in her backyard by her mother. Then on tour, another girl told us laughingly, ‘You ruined my life,’ because she saw herself on the video at her boyfriend’s house and it led to her being forced back into a bad home situation.”
According to Wikipedia – but without citation – “Several of the people shown in the Australian version of ‘Runaway Train’ were murdered by serial killer Ivan Milat. Maybe one of your friends was featured in the video. Or you were. What do you know?
African Bullfrogs are second in size only to the Rana goliath. Please don’t mess with these daddies; fatherhood is kind of their dharma. The males are larger than their female partners (rare in the frog world) and will charge you–especially if you’re a lion. They have fierce fangs on their lower jaw, excellent for rerouting predators away from their den of eggs (they’re responsible for about 3-4k). There’s a big of dachshund in them, too, because they freaking love to dig; their tunnels run up to 50 ft, and when complete they’ll utilize the waterway to help tadpoles mired in remote eddies back to pond headquarters. Tunnels also double as Hamptons digs when it’s time to estivate.
If you’re a father trying to live up to this amphimbian exemplary, you might want to consider inviting a bull or two to your children’s birthday party. You can do so via the East Bay Vivarium, where they can also parade bugs that “smell like Caesar Salad” and snakes that “make friends with gophers.”
In 1959, construction began on a top secret bunker, hidden underneath an expansion wing of the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia. The bunker was designed to hold up to 1,000 people, including the entire U.S. Congress, in the event of a nuclear war. The bunker’s concrete walls were three feet thick and the complex included dormitories, a medical clinic, power and water plants, a television studio, and even a crematorium.
In 1992, a Washington Post story blew the figurative doors off the bunker. The article contained extensive details about the bunker — surprising since it was still top secret at the time. After the article’s publication, the Pentagon decommissioned the bunker, presumably since their cover was blown. Today, the Greenbrier offers guided tours of the bunker — see links below for more information and a photo tour. (Pictured at left: one of the blast doors to the bunker.)
Method #1: By Remote Control
It’s every despot’s dream: Tiny electrodes, implanted into the brains of your subjects, compelling them to follow your command. Priceless. Of course, the technology has more “ethical” applications as well. Currently, scientists are experimenting with electrodes that can make several different species of animals perform useful work, including protecting humans. At the State University of New York Health Science Center, microchip-enhanced rats have been trained to identify plastic explosives. Researchers get the rats to turn left or right through a rubble maze by stimulating a part of the brain that makes the rats think their whiskers have been tickled on one side. When the rats smell the chemicals used in plastic explosives, they pause for 10 seconds. Their reward for a successful ID: Remote stimulation of their pleasure centers. The Pentagon is also researching remote-controlled animals, in this case sharks, with the hopes that the military may someday be able to use the creatures as covert spies—taking advantage of the shark’s natural ability to swim silently, sense electrical gradients, and follow chemical trails.
Pros: Tracking down bombs and enemy ships is useful to any budding totalitarian.
Cons: Unless you have a lot of dissident dogfish on your hands, it won’t help quell rebellion.
Method #2: By Parasite
Toxoplasma gondii is a small creature, but it wields enormous power. (more…)
It’s time for another whimsical Tuesday Turnip search wherein I type a random phrase and we see what kind of interesting factoids “turn-up.
“Today I typed in “the best way to lose weight” unearthing the following:
The best way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories and increase your physical activity.
The best way to lose weight: don’t eat so much!
Walking: Reasons why it’s the best way to lose weight.
Yes, hypnosis is the best way to lose weight and keep it off.
Amongst other notable differences between rural/urban perceptions and eating habits are that 22% of rural people believe the best way to lose weight is to “eat less”. This is 50% more than the figure for urban dwellers, the majority (54%) of whom opt for a combination of diet and exercise as their preferred way to lose weight. Further, while 37% of Irish adults claim that they would like to lose weight, 71% of the rural community state they have never tried to do so (Dubliners having the lowest comparable figure at 59%).
The best way to lose weight is slowly, with a healthy diet and exercise.
Research has proven that the best way to lose weight is to watch the glycemic load, which is measured by the glycemic index rating of each food.
Calorie counting is the best way to lose weight.
Many people, including numerous famous chefs, have found that the best way to lose weight is to eat at home more often, using new, leaner methods of cooking
Let me tell you about a few good podcasts. Then, if you’re so inclined, suggest one of your favorites in the comments section below.
• This Week in The Economist. Go back and listen to last week’s episode, if only to hear a distinguished British gentleman discussing Anna Nicole’s “celebrated, American breasts, engineered by silicon to be as broad and bountiful as the prairie.”
• Grammar Girl. Because we as a society don’t talk enough about punctuation. A recent episode was all about semicolons; I’m almost afraid to use one here.
• 60-Second Science. Scientific American serves bite-sized helpings of science and technology news. I now know that you can tell a good surgeon by his Madden ‘07 prowess. Also, napping at work may not be good for your career, but it’s great for your health.
• Only in New York. Sam Roberts, metro reporter for The New York Times, tells stories you’ve probably never heard about the city. I recommend several NYT podcasts – Front Page, Most Emailed, Book Review, The Ethicist, and all the op-ed columns (those are subscription only). I almost cut The Times out of this list after they failed to deliver my Saturday paper for the fourth time in seven weeks. But Sam Roberts is not to blame.
Fire off your suggestions.
What we call Southern Ingenuity is a tradition of using what you already have to get the job done. My father would warm his coffee with a propane torch in his workshop to save a trip into the house for a warmup. He wasn’t above stirring it with a screwdriver. I also remember him holding a can of beans over a campfire with a pair of pliers. You can do amazing things with tools, including cooking your food.
Drilled Chilli Beef.
When you want to infuse the inside of your roast with flavor, the basic rotary drill makes it so much easier.
Cooking an egg with cellphones.
I was surprised and a bit skeptical when I heard you could cook an egg with two cellphones. It takes quite a bit longer than the conventional methods, but it illustrates the power of things we cannot see.
Update: Don’t try this because it won’t work. (Thanks, Liz!)
Poached Salmon in a dishwasher.
An urban legend? No, maybe at one time, but there are reports all over the web of people who have poached their salmon in a dishwasher and photographed the results.
Cooking chicken with a volcano.
You have to love a recipe that begins “With a shovel you don’t plan on using again…” Cooking chicken or pork with molten lava is an activity restricted to certain locales. This demonstration was done in Hawaii outside the limits of Hawaii Volcanos National Park.
More cooking weirdness, after the jump.
There’s only one way to cut yourself loose from the noose: solve these six hangman puzzles about notable hangings and receive a stay of execution from the gallows!
Thanks to Alex Scordelis for writing these puzzles. By the way, in case you missed the last two worksheets, here’s one and here’s the other. If you’ve got a fun idea for a mental_floss worksheet, e-mail it to tips(at)mentalfloss(dot)com. Write “Worksheet Idea” in the subject line. If we use your idea, we’ll send you a free mental_floss t-shirt of your choice.
