Crystal the kitten just popped up out of nowhere. Sad to say, but kittens get abandoned in strange places when someone wants to get rid of a litter. Crystal couldn't keep her because she was about to get married and had other plans, but she took the kitten in, and then used her wedding to find her a permanent home!
Wednesday, August 05, 2026
Crystal
Humans Will Never Leave the Solar System
The dream of traveling to other planets has always been brewing in the human mind, especially since we actually sent men to the moon 57 years ago. Now we are going back to the moon, and since we've managed to sent robots to Mars, we've been thinking about following them. It won't be easy, but the moon wasn't easy, either, until we did it. Why not dream even bigger, like visiting the exoplanets we've learned about? Kurzgesagt explains why that won't ever happen.
First, there's the distance that's hard to wrap our heads around. The Voyager probes are only now reaching the edge of the solar system, and they've been flying for 49 years! Well, what is we learned to go faster? We could, but even so, there are so many other physics problems to solve that it probably won't happen. Galactic travel is not what you see in a Star Wars movie. On top of all the challenges, would such long distance travel ever be worth the money, sweat, and lives it would require? This video has an ad from 4:06 to 5:18.
The Real Red Baron
Most of us know the Red Baron from the Peanuts comic, or maybe the song that was inspired by Snoopy's imaginary adventures as a World War I flying ace. But Manfred von Richthofen was a real German flying ace during World War I. Simon Whistler of Today I Found Out tells us his story.
Tuesday, August 04, 2026
Why is Saffron So Expensive?
Saffron, made from the crocus flower, is the most expensive spice in the world. Bu you can't get it from any old crocus, like the ones in your front yard. The delicate scent, flavor, and color is a unique trait that must be cloned. Learn the history and current condition of the saffron industry in this TED-Ed lesson.
Chocolate Syrup Was Once Medicine
It was thousands of years ago when people of the Americas learned to isolate cocoa from the cacao plant. They drank it as a liquid for energy and nutrition, and even though it wasn't sweetened, we can imagine that some of them just liked it. Cocoa came to Europe, where it competed with coffee and tea as an energizing drink. Then someone got the bright idea to add sugar. Score!
While chocolate has been used as a medicine off and on, it was mainly useful for masking the awful taste of opium, cocaine, and other everyday medicines. The easiest way to blend it with these drugs was to make chocolate into a syrup. When medicine stopped being elixirs and became pills, all the pharmacists needed to find new ways to use the chocolate syrup they were already making, and that's how we got all kinds of soda fountain treats. Weird History Food weaves together the history of chocolate and chocolate syrup with the history of medicines, which intersect at several points. Even today, chocolate is an easy way to make yourself feel better.
Guy Who Just Got Back from Toon Town
When your friend travels abroad on vacation, or even worse, lives in some other country for a semester as an exchange student or something, they come back a little different. They never pass up a chance to show you how it's done in ...wherever they went to. Yeah, we get it, you've broadened your horizons and learned a few things, but that doesn't make you an expert. Your friends will love to hear those stories for about a week and that's it. Besides, we've seen movies and we've read books, so your enlightenment isn't all that enlightening to the rest of us.
Alasdair Beckett-King wanted to illustrate this behavior without pointing to any particular exotic destination, so he selected Toon Town. We've all seen the movies and we've all laughed our way through them, so there's an extra layer of ridiculousness in this demonstration. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
The 2000s Internet
Doesn't it just grind your gears when you see people getting nostalgic, or even historical, about the 2000s? Well, the 21st century started 26 years ago, even if it seems like just yesterday. This blog has been around for 21 years now (or will be later this month). And even if you've been networking with other computer users "online"since the '80s, the real boom in internet usage came about in the 2000s. That's why the Mental Floss gang is taking a trip down memory lane with a look at the internet in the first decade of this century in the latest episode of Scatterbrained.
Panic Time
Far Side
— IsThatDonHeath? (@donjheath.bsky.social) July 30, 2026 at 8:29 AM
[image or embed]
Monday, August 03, 2026
8 American Things That Are Catching on in Britain
Laurence Brown went back to Britain for a holiday, and observed some American things that are seeping into the culture recently. Or are they just catering to Yankee tourists?
Beans
This woman was ambushed by a new cat when her ex adopted Beans against her wishes. It was a rough start, but the ex is gone and Beans is still there. Beans finally got used to the woman, and her new husband even more so, plus the cat they adopted to play with her named Frank. See more of Frank and Beans at TikTok.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)