Neatorama

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• What We Can Learn from a Bollywood Blockbuster about Periods
• Six Key Steps for Getting Kids to Sleep
• The Weirdest Corporate Mascot of All Time
• Child Creates Stick Library for Local Dogs
• This Fish Has A Human Face
• Can You Visit Your Ex In Your Dreams?
• German Circus Uses Holograms instead of Animals
• The Impact Of Environmental Conditions To Whiskey Flavor
• Froot Loops Pizza
• Deepfake Tom Cruise Videos
• Why Do We Wheeze?

What We Can Learn from a Bollywood Blockbuster about Periods Posted: 01 Mar 2021 05:46 PM PST Women around the world suffer from two problems that we don't think about much in the US. In many parts of the world, menstruation is seen as gross, unclean, or at least something that no one talks about. The other problem is that sanitary pads, tampons, and other supplies are outrageously expensive for too many women. In an article about periods, Messy Nessy Chic looks at how these two things collide in India, leaving women's health and freedom at risk. It begins with a look at the 2018 Bollywood rom-com Pad Man, about an unlikely but eventually respected superhero. It's an unlikely love story about a young husband who will do anything for the comfort and happiness of his new bride, but finds himself unaware of the unhygienic and discriminatory practices she is subjected to when menstruating. In a part of the world where the topic of menstruation was discouraged in households and social circles; considered 'unclean'; he risks being ridiculed and ostracised to generate awareness for women's health in rural India. The movie was inspired by the true story of Arunachalam Muruganantham, who indeed fought cultural taboos to bring affordable menstrual products to rural areas of India. He was also the subject of two documentaries and an earlier feature film. Arunachalam tells his own story in a 2012 Ted talk. You can find Pad Man on Netflix and other movie sources.

Six Key Steps for Getting Kids to Sleep Posted: 01 Mar 2021 05:46 PM PST By the time bedtime rolls around, parents are exhausted. However, their children do everything in their power to extend the day, which leads to more stress for the entire family. A study involving 59 British experts from a range of disciplines found that there are six key parts of achieving a successful bedtime routine for children between two and eight years old. They are:   Brushing teeth before bed. Time consistency for going to bed. Book reading before bed. Avoiding food/drinks before bed. Avoiding use of electronic devices before bed. Calming activities with the child before bed, including bath, shower and talking. However, you don't have to have all six to be successful -if you're lucky. And from experience, I can tell you that even when you have all six factors consistently, you still won't have a smooth experience every night. Read more about this research at The Guardian. -via Digg (Image credit: Ldorfman)

The Weirdest Corporate Mascot of All Time Posted: 01 Mar 2021 04:17 PM PST In 2004, the sandwich chain Quiznos enlisted Joel Veitch's Spongmonkeys for their TV advertisements. What happened then illustrates the great divide at the time between those who were connected with internet culture and those who were not. Before the rise of social media, that was a large chasm. Vetch was a British animator popular among internet insiders for presenting oddball videos. He didn't even know what Quiznos was when he agreed to the ad campaign using his bizarre characters.    Months later, Veitch was back in the U.K., working as an animator on a late-night TV show, and not really thinking much about the ads when they first began airing in the U.S. His email blew up immediately. "Nobody around me had a clue what was happening, it was all in another country for a brand they'd never heard of," he says. Still, the reaction resulted in his website crashing when over a quarter of a million people went to check out his work. Unfortunately, the backlash was just as swift. Within the first week of the campaign, Quiznos corporate received more than 30,000 calls complaining about the Spongmonkeys. Per a 2004 article from the Denver Business Times, an Alabama Quiznos franchisee even put up signs in his windows saying he wasn't responsible for the ads, as they were turning away customers and making children cry. Quiznos wanted to be noticed. The ads delivered, but not in a way that led to people buying more sandwiches. Read how the Quiznos Spongmonkeys came about at Mel magazine.

Child Creates Stick Library for Local Dogs Posted: 01 Mar 2021 04:17 PM PST Yes, your dog can buy a stick. Or you can buy a stick for your dog. But the dog gets bored and wants another stick. And other dogs want your dog's stick. This is why the Stick Library exists. Jeremiah Carter, a 10-year old boy in Saskatchewan, Canada, created this lending stick library for dogs in his neighborhood. It's like a Little Free Library, but with canine patrons in mind. Jeremiah and his father built this library and hung it at a local dog park. A CNN affiliate quotes the father: "We took it and zip tied it to the fence so it wouldn't disappear, we gathered sticks that we figured dogs would enjoy, and filled it up and waited to see what happened," Carter said. He and Jeremiah were surprised when they came back to the park one day to see that the stick library was actually used. "When we would go to the dog park, there would be no sticks in there, or lots of sticks lying around," Carter said. I should open a branch library in my own neighborhood. -via Super Punch | Photo: Dave Carter

This Fish Has A Human Face Posted: 01 Mar 2021 04:17 PM PST Initially, I wasn't sure if I really believed the existence of this one. Then I saw the photo, and it's the stuff you'd see in your nightmares. A fisherman from Indonesia discovered this mutant fish or baby shark with human-like facial features. Just look at its eyes! The fisherman, Abdullah Nuren, found the creature inside a mother shark he cut open:  Nuren said that two of the baby pups looked like their mother, while the third had two large eyes under its snout that made it look like a surprised human face. But instead of throwing this mutant fish back into the ocean and apologizing to whatever god he clearly angered, Nuren took the baby shark home so that his family could preserve it. That's right, Nuren wants to keep this thing. Like, around the house. Open mouth agape, with giant eyes staring at his every movement. Good luck sleeping, Nuren! [...] Twitter user @MaouNoah has pointed out that this mutant fish has likely been affected with Cyclopia, which happens when the genes that divide the eyes and face get mutated. Instead of the face becoming symmetrical, the face shows abnormalities, like what is happening with this baby shark. @MaouNoah also shared an image of another similar mutant shark, showing there are different levels of severity. The photo features a shark with one eye, but with two pupils. The user also says that few fetuses with Cyclopia survive the pregnancy. Image via Daily Mail

Can You Visit Your Ex In Your Dreams? Posted: 01 Mar 2021 11:50 AM PST I believe the first question we should really ask here is- would you visit your ex in your dreams? If you would, then we should proceed to knowing if and how you could say hello to your ex in the dreamscape. Surprisingly, there are 'astral realm' travel tutorials on YouTube. Vice's Dominique Sisley attempted to visit her ex-boyfriend in her dreams, and here's her experience:  It sounds easy enough, so I close my eyes and think about how I'd like to appear. I have nothing to say to this ex-boyfriend, and I'm confident he won't enjoy my visit, so I try to keep my messaging upbeat and inoffensive. Just a quick cameo, maybe; a passing hello and some generic well wishes. "Universe," I say out loud, to no one, "please pass on my apologies for being a selfish brat during our relationship. Also, please throw in some warm regards for these unprecedented times." I wonder for a moment whether creeping into someone's mind while they sleep, without their consent, is an act of abuse. But I quickly swat the idea off. It's just an experiment, after all: according to an increasing number of YouTube influencers, visiting people's dreams is both easy and fine. So I go ahead with it and send him a message the next morning to check in. "Bit of a weird one, but did you have any strange dreams last night?" I ask, as casually as possible. He doesn't reply. Image via Vice

German Circus Uses Holograms instead of Animals Posted: 01 Mar 2021 09:30 AM PST The Germany-based troupe Circus Roncalli became the first circus in the world to replace animals with holograms in 2019. Using animals in circuses has been controversial for decades due to the abuse and mistreatment they often suffer. Advanced virtual-reality technology has the potential to change how circuses look in the future.

The Impact Of Environmental Conditions To Whiskey Flavor Posted: 01 Mar 2021 09:29 AM PST The quality of the food we eat is dependent upon the quality of the environment in which the food was grown. And because alcoholic beverages are made from crops and fruits, their taste and quality are also dependent upon environmental conditions. A recent study focused on barley, the grain crop used in whiskey, found out how environmental conditions affect the flavor of the said alcoholic beverage. This is [the] first scientific study that found the environmental conditions, or terroir, of where the barley is grown impacts the flavor of whiskey, said Dustin Herb, an author of the study and a courtesy faculty member in the Department of Crop and Soil Science at Oregon State University. "Terroir is increasingly being used to differentiate and market agricultural products, most commonly wine, as consumers grow more interested in the origins of their food," Herb said. "Understanding terroir is something that involves a lot of research, a lot of time and a lot of dedication. Our research shows that environmental conditions in which the barley is grown have a significant impact." [...] Herb's doctoral research at Oregon State with Pat Hayes, a barley breeder in the College of Agricultural Sciences, focused on the contributions of barley to beer flavor. Their research found notable differences in the taste of beers malted from barley varieties reputed to have flavor qualities. [...] "What this does is actually make the farmer and the producer come to the forefront of the product," Herb said. "It gets to the point where we might have more choices and it might provide an opportunity for a smaller brewer or a smaller distiller or a smaller baker to capitalize on their terroir, like we see in the wine industry with a Napa Valley wine, or Willamette Valley wine or a French Bordeaux." Learn more about this study over at EurekAlert. (Image Credit: Pixabay)

Froot Loops Pizza Posted: 01 Mar 2021 09:29 AM PST Fong's Pizza in Des Moines, Iowa, is locally famous for unusual pizza toppings, such as ramen, General Tso's chicken, roast turkey and cranberry sauce (for Thanksgiving, of course), and Mongolian beef. The pizzeria's latest ingenious creation is Froot Loops Pizza. The Des Moines Register reports: The new pizza, made with Froot Loops and cheese, is one of the new breakfast pizzas Fong's is rolling out at their Fong's location at 3018 Forest Ave., Des Moines. (As we all know, Iowans have a thing about breakfast pizza.) Alongside cereal pizza, there are steak and eggs, bacon popper and vegetarian breakfast pizzas on the menu. "Making pizzas that are outside the box has always been a staple of Fong's," owner Gwen Page said. "Now we're trying things out for breakfast pizzas." -via the appropriately named subreddit Pizza Crimes | Photo: Des Moines Register/Olivia Sun

Deepfake Tom Cruise Videos Posted: 01 Mar 2021 09:29 AM PST These deepfake videos of Tom Cruise look so realistic that people would not know they're computer-generated. Where could you find these videos, you ask? Well, you can watch them on TikTok! The videos, which can be found under the handle @deeptomcruise, were just made from sample footages of the actor and technology:   In a series of tweets, Rachel Tobac, the CEO of SocialProof Security, warns that deepfakes like @deeptomcruise threaten to further erode public trust in a world where media literacy is poor and people already can't agree on what's true or false. Like the black and gold dress, where one person might notice giveaways that the Tom Cruise videos are synthesized, another might not know the signs of a fake and swear up and down that they're real. "Just because you feel you can personally tell the difference between synthetic & authentic media, it doesn't mean we're good to go," she says. "It matters what the general public believes." Deepfakes are especially dangerous because video is widely considered indisputable evidence. A prominent individual could be deepfaked into performing a hate crime, or a person who legitimately committed an unjust act could use deepfakes to craft an alibi. image via Wikimedia Commons

Why Do We Wheeze? Posted: 01 Mar 2021 09:29 AM PST For years, scientists have been puzzled as to why we wheeze. While we know that wheezing occurs when we have a cold, an allergic reaction, or a long-term condition such as asthma, reasons as to why wheezing occurs still remain a puzzle… until now. New research has used a combination of modelling and high-resolution video to try and shed some light on the mechanisms of wheezing, finding that there's a "violent" process that can cause our lung pipes to make these raspy sounds. With this new information available, the team is hoping that wheezing might be better understood and diagnosed in the future. [...] "We found that there are two conditions for wheezing to occur: the first is that the pressure on the tubes is such that one or more of the bronchioles nearly collapses, and the second is that air is forced through the collapsed airway with enough force to drive oscillations." In either case, the oscillations are sustained through a fluttering mechanism, where the travelling waves of air have the same frequency as the opening and closing of the tube. The same sort of resonance scenario can collapse bridges and cause aircraft wings to fail, which shows how damaging it could be to the lungs. Learn more about what causes wheezing over at ScienceAlert. Yikes! (Image Credit: Myriams-Fotos/ Pixabay)

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