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2016/12/30

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How to Saber Champagne

Posted: 30 Dec 2016 03:59 AM PST

 

Because nothing says “party” like a big knife, pressurized booze, and French military tradition.

Opening Champagne with a sword may seem like an obnoxious display of hedonism best reserved for czars, princes, and regatta winners. Except: It’s a ton of fun. And if you’re drinking Champagne to celebrate, why not amp that celebration up a few gigawatts?*

One of the best parts of sabering is explaining its history to whomever you’re with. The oft-repeated origin myth for the art of sabrage invokes Napoleonic-era French soldiers given Champagne before they set off to battle, the presumption being that victory was imminent. Comically, French soldiers found a bottle of Champagne too cumbersome to uncork— especially while on horseback— so they had a better idea: Use a sword! And sabering was (supposedly) born.

The reason sliding a blade up the neck of a Champagne bottle results in a clean opening is a matter of pressure. Champagne bottles hold around 90 PSI, almost three times what car tires have in them. The standard bottle of Champagne has a 3/4-inch opening, which adds up to 35 pounds of pressure on the cork. Add two stress concentrations —the lip at the top of the bottle, and the tiny, thin seam running up the bottle’s side— and you’ve got something that’s ready to explode. When you drive a sword up the bottle’s seam into its lip, the blunt force cracks the bottle open where the seam and lip meet. If done correctly, it cleanly lops the top right off, launching it up to 30 feet and sending that sweet bubbly pouring right out. Cheers!

(YouTube link)

(DON'T) TRY THIS AT HOME

I. Ice your bottle. Put it in the freezer or drop its neck into a bucket of ice and water for 30 minutes. This will reduce the pressure (so your cork won’t fly off) and compress your glass, making it more prone to a clean break. Rest the bottle upright for a few minutes before proceeding.

2. Choose your weapon. No saber? Of course not. You can buy one, but a heavy kitchen knife will do just fine. Whatever it is, it should have a handle that allows you a firm grip. Don’t worry about the blade, or its sharpness-you’ll be using the blunt side.

3. Ensure your safety. Wear protective eyewear. In the event the bottle shatters in your hand, a kitchen towel or a sturdy cloth wrapped around the base of the bottle (where you’ll hold it) always helps. And for the love of Napoleon, make sure everyone’s standing behind you.

4. Find the seam. There’s a barely visible line running up the bottle to the lip. That’s the path your saber will take.

5. Prep the bottle. Unwrap the foil at the top, and take the wire cage off the cork. Be delicate. That thing wants to explode. Hold the blade in your dominant hand and the bottle in the other, at an angle of about 30 degrees.

6. Off with its head! In one smooth, firm, quick motion, run the blunt side of your blade up the seam, smacking it into the lip. The vibration and impact will knock the top clear off the bottle. Make sure people have their flutes ready, because bubbly is about to come foaming out. Before you serve, inspect the neck for loose shards of glass. Now bask in the glory of your victorious sabering-the next toast is to you.

* We know you won’t really try this at home; we’re obviously just explaining how a professional would do it.

(Image credit: Flickr user Jim Budd)

________________________________

The article above by Foster Kamer appeared in the December 2015 issue of mental_floss magazine. It is reprinted here with permission.

Feed your brain by visiting mental_floss' extremely entertaining website and blog today for more!

Detectives And Police Officers Reveal The Cases They Didn't Want To Solve

Posted: 30 Dec 2016 01:59 AM PST

(Image Link)

Contrary to popular belief police officers and detectives don't want to solve every case they work on, but the reasons why they'd rather leave some cases unsolved would surprise you.

Sometimes they're trying to protect the killer:

I had been alerted to a well known local philanthropist, turned up dead. These were the days where physician assisted euthanasia was illegal in most of the developed world. This man, I had known him quite well and he had been suffering from a very serious terminal illness that was going to kill him before his 40th birthday, shattering his family... Especially his 2 young children. An autopsy had determined that he had been murdered, intentional overdose of morphine. The Health Authority and Department of Justice wanted us to investigate and bring the person who essentially murders him to justice. We chalked it up that there was no way we could ever determine who it was that killed him. Years later, his wife sent our department a letter saying she gave her husband the lethal dose to put him out of his misery. I wish I had never known.

And they'll even turn a blind eye to a killing if the victims were criminals themselves:

Ex cop, NSW - Australia. 7 years. I really never wanted to find the answer to two particular murders in my area. 2 known sexual offenders were killed in the space of 8 weeks. One was a rock spider (pedophile), the other used to drug women. The 2 issues were unrelated. Only one of the alledged offenders was caught (also a scumbag 1%). He was released after a week due to lack of evidence. I know it's bad to wish death on people but these two blokes were just rancid. As a cop it was my job to find the offenders but as a human I had no interest in solving the issue at all. Luckily I was never in charge of the investigations.

(Image Link)

This serious topic was discussed on Ask Reddit- Detectives/Police Officers of Reddit, what case did you not care to find the answer? (NSFW)

They responded by discussing the cases they hate to deal with, and they all agreed on one thing- the cases involving children and animals are the absolute worst:

Responded to a 4 year old who was unconscious and vomiting. Without getting into the details, it didn't take long after my arrival to realize it was a cover up. My partner and I already knew where this incident was headed, but you keep your head down and try and do the job without getting emotional. Mother and father were both adamantly lying that the child had just eaten some junk food and had gone to sleep before he started vomiting. Without getting into the details, investigation revealed that the father was mad at the child for eating some junk food. So he grabbed the child by the ankles and swung him around the house into furniture all over the home, nearly killing him. It's one of those cases that you don't want to investigate, because you know ahead of time what the outcome is going to be how bad it's going to get.

Read Police Reveal The Cases They Didn't Want To Find The Answer To here (NSFW material)

14 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Paramedics

Posted: 29 Dec 2016 11:59 PM PST

If you want to see a real life superhero, call a paramedic. No, don't do that, unless you are in a life-threatening medical emergency. Instead, let's hear from some paramedics about the nuts-and-bolts of their stressful but rewarding jobs. For examples, do you know the difference between a paramedic and an EMT?

1. THEY ARE NOT JUST “AMBULANCE DRIVERS.”

Paramedics are skilled medical professionals who have undergone many hours of rigorous training—far more than your average emergency medical technician (EMT). “A lot of people call us ambulance drivers,” says Nick, a critical care paramedic in New York. “It aggravates us because driving is such a small part of the job. Emergency medicine is what we’re doing.” Medical tasks paramedics regularly carry out include administering medication, starting IVs, intubating unconscious patients to help them breathe, intraosseous (bone) injections, reading electrocardiograms (EKGs), needle chest decompression (sticking a needle into

8. THE TRAINING IS VERY TOUGH.

Becoming an entry-level EMT (or EMT-B, for Basic) requires between 120 and 150 hours of schooling, but acquiring the skills to become a paramedic requires many more—typically around 1200 to 1800 additional hours. Like a lot of medical training, it is rigorous and the hours long. Nick refers to his own training as “just grueling ... It’s basically a straight year where you’re not going to see your friends, you’re not going to see your family.” Not everyone makes it through on their first try. And, unfortunately, if you drop out, you have to start all over again.

Learn 12 other things about the paramedic profession at mental_floss.

A Shipment Of "Plastic Rice" Seized In Nigeria

Posted: 29 Dec 2016 09:59 PM PST

The fake food hustle is still going strong in countries around the world, and the targets of the scam are usually poor people in third world countries who can't afford to do anything about being ripped off.

But these fake food scams are typically small operations selling products that aren't necessarily deadly when ingested, and many more fake food incidents are simply urban myths spread to keep people on their toes.

However, a two and a half ton shipment of "Best Tomato Rice" was intercepted in Nigeria and is currently being tested- because the rice may be nothing but grain shaped pieces of plastic:

Lagos customs chief Haruna Mamudu said the fake rice was intended to be sold in markets during the festive season.

He said the rice was very sticky after it was boiled and "only God knows what would have happened" if people ate it.

It is not clear where the seized sacks came from but rice made from plastic pellets was found in China last year.

"Whoever made this fake rice did an exceptionally good job" says the BBC's Martin Patience, "on first impression it would have fooled me. When I ran the grains through my fingers nothing felt out of the ordinary. But when I smelt a handful of the "rice" there was a faint chemical odour."

Customs officials say when they cooked up the rice it was too sticky - and it was then abundantly clear this was no ordinary batch.

-Via Boing Boing

Joyful Noise

Posted: 29 Dec 2016 07:59 PM PST

(YouTube link)

My children were taught from a very early age that you should never interrupt a prayer. But I don't think this guy did it on purpose. In fact, I'm sure it was an accident. But it was a lovely accident. Maybe he should pray for grace. The minister didn't seem too bothered. -via Digg

Seemingly Unrelated Pop Culture Franchises That Exist In The Same Universe

Posted: 29 Dec 2016 05:59 PM PST

Fans like to imagine what it would be like if two pop culture universes intersected, bringing their favorite franchises together in an awesome movie or TV show that makes their geeky dreams come true.

Licensing restrictions and greed tend to keep these crossovers from actually happening, but there are quite a few geeky franchises out there that already exist in the same universe, even though many are unaware of the connection.

The TMNT and Daredevil seem like they're from totally different worlds, but they share an origin story- because the canister that left Daredevil blind and gave him powers is the same one that transformed four little turtles into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Transformers and G.I. Joe are about to cross over in the movies, but they've existed in the same universe from the very beginning- they're both owned by Hasbro, they had cross over story arcs in the comics, and both animated series' were produced by Toei Animation.

Spielberg and Lucas worked together on the Indiana Jones series so they naturally had a few crossovers, namely a kid in a Yoda costume appearing in E.T. and those E.T.-style aliens seen at the senate meeting in Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace.

Read 17 Seemingly Unrelated Movies You Had No Idea Existed In The Same Universe here

Name That Actor!

Posted: 29 Dec 2016 03:59 PM PST

Do you want to try to guess who this actor is before I give the answer? Then stop reading now.

In 2004, there was a miniseries called Angels in America, based on the play by Tony Kushner. Several of the characters were supernatural in origin, and a handful of actors played multiple roles. Meryl Streep played four roles, one of which was Rabbi Chemelwitz. Yes, that's Streep under all that makeup. -via Eddie Deezen

Your Drone Needs A Cozy Sweater

Posted: 29 Dec 2016 01:59 PM PST

Winter gets so freezing and miserable. Our poor dogs need sweaters to keep warm, but drones are often left out in the cold. But that doesn't have to be the case any more now that Drone Sweaters makes custom made sweaters for your little flying friend. According to the company:

Smaller, lightweight models, toy models, and models that naturally have very thin plastic coats benefit from a warm drone sweater for when they need to go outside, or for just hanging around the house. A sweater can make a significant difference in your drone’s feeling of well-being.

Unfortunately, you have to visit their San Francisco studio to get your drone fitted for its sweater and the price is almost $200. If you are interested in getting one though, the first step is visiting their website.

Via Fashionably Geek

Star Wars The Lean Years - The Employment Strikes Back

Posted: 29 Dec 2016 11:59 AM PST


Star Wars the Lean Years by Stephen Brian Phillips

Everyone's favorite space opera has come back in a big way over the last few years, but for decades the stars of the show were living lean and barely scraping by due to a lack of studio interest caused by the prequel catastrophe. Let down and left behind by Lord Lucas, the main cast was forced to seek employment on the mean streets of Coruscant, where they learned how good they had it during those original trilogy days.

Show the world what your favorite sci-fi stars did while in-between wars with this Star Wars the Lean Years t-shirt by Stephen Brian Phillips, it's a hilarious design that's sure to make your fellow fans smile.

Visit Stephen Brian Phillips's official website, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more dork-tastic designs:

KnockWurstside Story PlowbillCosmetic Testing on AnimalsHamooton Plowbill

Cows of the World

View more designs by Stephen Brian Phillips | More Movie T-shirts | New T-Shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

There's More to Life than Washing Dishes

Posted: 29 Dec 2016 11:59 AM PST

The award-winning short film Hum is the story of a robot, busy with his assigned purpose of washing dishes, when a tiny intruder opens his eyes to the larger world outside the four walls of the kitchen. The robot's epiphany throws everything he knows into doubt.

(vimeo link)

Tom Teller and his team from Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts produced this animation for their advanced production class. The lesson to be learned from this is that our robot dishwashers should be boxy, brainless, and attached under our kitchen counters. -via Laughing Squid

Things That Were Originally Named Something Completely Different

Posted: 29 Dec 2016 09:59 AM PST

We get to know certain characters and products by name and start calling them by that name from then on, forever referring to round oat cereal as Cheerios, frozen waffles as Eggos and cotton swabs as Q-Tips.

This shows how important it is for a product to have a good brand name, but the name that sticks is often a later version of the original, such as Cheerioats losing the "at" and becoming Cheerios.

Eggos started out as Froffles, a fun combination of "frozen" and "waffles", and Q-Tips were originally called Baby Gays- which the company changed so they could market the swabs to adults as well.

A lot of people call every cola "Coke", but oddly few call colas "Pepsi" even though the two companies are the top of the soft drink industry, which may have something to do with how easy it is to say "Coke".

Still, it's probably best Pepsi chose to use a brand name rather than their original name "Brad's Drink", which just doesn't have the same ring to it.

And speaking of having a ring to it- social media apps must have a snappy name, something that's memorable and easy to slip into conversation, like Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat.

But would Instagram have become as big if it was called "Burbn"? And would Snapchat have succeeded with the original name "Pictaboo"? Burbno and Pictaboo.

See 33 Things That Were Originally Called Something Completely Different here

10 Reasons <i>Friday Night Lights</i> was the Best Sports Drama Ever

Posted: 29 Dec 2016 08:59 AM PST

The award-winning TV series Friday Night Lights ran for five seasons from 2006 to 2011. It was a drama about a high school football team, but it was also experimental TV in many ways. The series was based on a movie, which was based on a book, which you might not know, was based on a true story.

For starters, the 2004 FNL movie was loosely based on real live people from a non-fiction book by H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger entitled Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, which was published in 1990. The book explored a high school football team and their 1988 season. They were called the Permian Panthers and their school was located in Odessa, Texas. The film was released by Universal Pictures and starred Billy Bob Thornton and Connie Britton. It was directed by Peter Berg, who actually happened to be H.G. Bissinger’s second cousin.

Read the many ways that Friday Night Lights was unique among TV series at TVOM.

This Dog Ate His Family's Entire Christmas Turkey

Posted: 29 Dec 2016 07:59 AM PST

Most pet owners have had their dog (or cat) eat something they weren't supposed to, but while gluttonous nous pets are common, few are brave or foolish enough to eat a whole turkey. But this little tiny dog did just that this Christmas and you can pretty much see the bird sitting inside of her in the pictures. 

According to his owners, the little thief couldn't even move after the fact. Still, the look on her face says it was totally worth it.

Technically, she did leave her family a little something. Luckily, they were able to get relatives to bring another turkey so they didn't have to fight over this little slobber-covered scrap.

Owner David Barrett says the dog, Bubba, will be going on a much-needed diet in the New Year.

Via Bored Panda

Leia Organa: A Critical Obituary

Posted: 29 Dec 2016 06:59 AM PST

Born of a Sith and raised as a princess, she became a leader in the Galactic Revolution. General Leia Organa's story will continue in Star Wars: Episode VIII, but probably not beyond that, due to the death of actress Carrie Fisher. The character herself led an amazing life, and deserves an amazing obituary. Malcolm Sheppard provides that obituary for us. It covers Leia's entire life, particularly her Rebel Alliance activities.  

While Leia Organa’s letters, doctrines and later, command directives formed the ideological-strategic core of the Alliance, she avoided the leadership roles assumed by her father and Mon Mothma. Indeed, she used the courtesy title Princess (afforded by her adopted parents, as elected officials in Alderaan’s post-monarchic democracy) sparingly, and purely for political effect. She became a field operative instead, managing diverse intelligence assets under the cover of diplomatic and sapient-relief travel. Before the Battle of Scarif, her missions shared intelligence with numerous Alliance cells. Her uncanny ability to predict the actions of enemies and allies alike made her essential, but the Alliance treated her warily, concerned she might manipulate its forces for her own ends.

Leia overcame that wariness to rise to the rank of general in the Alliance, but not without some criticism of her handling of those she had personal ties to: Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Kylo Ren. Read the entire account of Leia Organa's life at Sheppard's site. -via Metafilter

Best Live TV Fails And News Bloopers Of 2016

Posted: 29 Dec 2016 05:59 AM PST

2016 was a terrible year for nightly news watchers because it seems like something horrible happened on a daily basis, leaving us longing for a slow news day.  

But hidden among the horror stories were those spirit lifting bloopers, which weren't well received by the networks but made for a great year-end clip compilation. (NSFW language)

(YouTube Link)

Seeing as how there were so many live TV fails and news bloopers in 2016 YouTube channel News Be Funny Videos had to make a second video to contain all the cringeworthy moments! (NSFW language)

(YouTube Link)

-Via Esquire
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