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2021/10/02

Neatorama

Neatorama

The World's Best Airlines

Posted: 01 Oct 2021 09:35 PM PDT



The transportation research firm Skytrax crunched the numbers from 13 million customer surveys over the last two years to come up with ranking for the top airlines. There were 356 airlines represented in those surveys. The surveys asked about things like friendliness, ease of booking, seat comfort, meals, and in-flight entertainment. You can imagine that international flights were overly represented, since domestic flights don't have meals and entertainment these days, at least not in the US. It's not clear whether price was a factor in the rankings, but considering who came in at #1, the cost of tickets probably wasn't part of the equation.

1. Qatar Airways
2. Singapore Airlines
3. ANA All Nippon Airways
4. Emirates
5. Japan Airlines
6. Cathay Pacific Airways
7. EVA Air
8. Qantas Airways
9. Hainan Airlines
10. Air France

Note to self: when naming an airline, use a "Q" without a "u." You may have noticed that no US-based airline made the list. There is a separate ranking of North American airlines, which you can see at CNBC. -via Digg

The Surprising Origin of the Chinese Takeout Box

Posted: 01 Oct 2021 09:35 PM PDT



We know that quite a bit of what Americans see as Chinese food is not really Chinese. In China, you won't get fortune cookies at the end of a meal, and you won't find General Tso's Chicken on the menu, either. And now we learn that the ubiquitous folding takeout box we are so familiar with isn't Chinese, either!

The design was patented by an American named Frederick Weeks Wilcox in 1894. But the box wasn't for Chinese takeout at all. Its purpose was to carry oysters. The oyster pail was designed to be waterproof, easy to assemble, and able to allow steam to escape from the top. When it was invented, oysters were sold all over New York City, because they were plentiful and therefore affordable. The transition to carrying Chinese food in them happened due to changes in the oyster market and in the rise of Chinese restaurants occurring at the same time. Today, it's hard to think of anything else when we see that small folded paper box with its distinct bucket shape. Read how the Chinese takeout box came about at The Dieline. -via Kottke

This Amazing Jigsaw Puzzle Table Is a Masterpiece of Woodworking

Posted: 01 Oct 2021 09:15 PM PDT

 

Roboticist Simone Giertz loves to assemble jigsaw puzzles. And if you've spent lockdown time on one, then you know that they take up a lot of room. Giertz applied her genius to this problem and designed an elegant table that is perfect for jigsaw assembly. Yes, there might have been simpler solutions, but Giertz says, "...I was, like, no, let's make it more complicated and overengineered than that."

It was two gearing systems taken from bicycles. The first rolls the top on and off. The second lifts and lowers the surface. So in addition to protecting the puzzle from damage during the long assembly process, the table space remains useful for other purposes.

Here is a long, often funny video illustrating the demanding build process.
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