Apparently,

[chicagosam]

Apparently, he could not contain himself any longer and felt the need to "tweet" a full 140.

 

[rbkwp]

Apparently there was a time when the world was young, the world had just begun and I was happy.

but
you told me to be happy v haha

anyway its damn HARD

when you buggers TRY and claim our hard earned AMERICAS CUP as yours be damned
now thats the Trans Tasman/ANZAC love gone out the window right there
we will ALLOW you the PAVLOVA,but this magnanimous sporting achievement NO!!!

am sure Glen will insist hes an honorary Kiwi

Aussies taste victory and defeat in America's Cup

The America's Cup pitted New Zealand against the might of the United States but it was two Australians who went head to head as the respective skippers in sailing's most prestigious race.

BUT
i dont think our media would be that BRAZEN
pretty bloody cheeky ABC
as i am sure Glen Ashby,Aussie skipper on TNZ would happily call himsellf a NZer haha

Ashby, who is the sole remaining member of the Team New Zealand's 2013 crew, said it was unbelievable to finally win back the Auld Mug.

NZ/Au rivalry
usual claim,we would jokingly 'do the same' huh WTF
better than wars


The America's Cup may have pitted New Zealand against the might of the United States but it was two Australians who went head to head as the respective skippers in sailing's most prestigious race.

Bendigo-born Glenn Ashby skippered Team New Zealand in Bermuda's Great Sound to a crushing 7-1 victory over Team USA, who were guided by Sydney's Jimmy Spithill.

 

[185248]

Apparently Don was once a paddle controller directing aircraft because of the animated hand movements....

 

[rbkwp]

Apparently,

Five things you think you know about July 4 that are (mostly) wrong
You may have learned this in school, but, be honest, how much do you remember?
By Valerie Strauss • Read more »

 

[rbkwp]

The Three Hats
Today's Now I Know is a little different. As I said at the top of Friday's Weekender, I'm taking today and tomorrow off -- because the 4th of July falls on a Tuesday, it's a four-day weekend here. (Which is great, by the way.)

Instead, here's a logic puzzle/brain teaser. It's not the first time I've done this -- I used my absolute favorite puzzle on Columbus Day weekend last year -- and it probably won't be the last.

Onto the puzzle. I'll publish the answer tomorrow -- please don't reply with your answers, thanks! (But if I screwed up something, yeah, hit reply to let me know.)

* * *

There are three logicians -- that is, people who are really, really, good at logic and reasoning, so much so that it's their job. They're standing in such a way that they can see the other two. Like, in a triangle formation.

The game master enters the room and informs them that he has with him five hats. Three are white and two are black. He's going to put one hat on each of logicians' heads. At no point will any of the logicians be able to see what they have on their own heads, but they will be able to see what the others are wearing. Oh, and the game master is going to hide the other two hats; at no point will the logicians see which hats are hidden.

So, that happens, and now we have three logicians wearing hats.

The game master then says: "Raise your hand if you know what color hat you have on your head."

A moment or two passes. No one responds. He repeats the command. "Raise your hand if you know what color hat you have on your head."

Another moment or two passes. No one responds. He repeats the command again. "Raise your hand if you know what color hat you have on your head."

What happens, and why?

* * *

I'll be back with the answer tomorrow.

Dan

 

[jujube]

The third guy answers that he has a white hat on his head because the first two guys were unable to answer the question.

There are only two black hats possible. If any two of the players were wearing black hats, then the third player must be wearing a white hat. Therefore, the fact that no one answered immediately at the first chance reveals that no more than one player is wearing a black hat (because the player who could see the other two players wearing black hats would immediately know that the hat on his own head was white).

Case 1
Player 1: black hat Player 2: black hat Player 3: white hat (In this case, Player 3 can see that Player 1 and Player 2 are both wearing black hats; therefore, Player 3 knows that the hat on his own head must be white.)

Case 2
Player 1: black hat Player 2: white hat Player 3: black hat (In this case, Player 2 can see that Player 1 and Player 3 are both wearing black hats; therefore, Player 2 knows that the hat on his own head must be white.)

Case 3
Player 1: white hat Player 2: black hat Player 3: black hat (In this case, Player 1 can see that Player 2 and Player 3 are both wearing black hats; therefore, Player 1 knows that the hat on his own head must be white.)

Case 4
Player 1: black hat Player 2: white hat Player 3: white hat (In this case, Player 1 sees two white hats. Player 2 sees a white hat on Player 3 and a black hat on Player 1. Player 3 sees a white hat on Player 2 and a black hat on Player 1. If Player 2 does not answer that the hat on his own head is white, then Player 3 knows that the hat on his own head cannot be black, and therefore must be white. Conversely, if Player 3 does not answer that the hat on his own head is white, then Player 2 knows that the hat on his own head cannot be black, and therefore must be white.)

Case 5
Player 1: white hat Player 2: black hat Player 3: white hat (In this case, Player 1 sees a black hat on Player 2 and a white hat on Player 3. Player 2 sees two white hats. Player 3 sees a white hat on Player 1 and a black hat on Player 2. If Player 1 does not answer that the hat on his own head is white, then Player 3 knows that the hat on his own head cannot be black, and therefore must be white. Conversely, if Player 3 does not answer that the hat on his own head is white, then Player 1 knows that the hat on his own head cannot be black, and therefore must be white.)

Case 6
Player 1: white hat Player 2: white hat Player 3: black hat
(In this case, Player 1 sees a white hat on Player 2 and a black hat on Player 3. Player 2 sees a white hat on Player 1 and a black hat on Player 3. Player 3 sees two white hats. If Player 1 does not answer that the hat on his own head is white, then Player 2 knows that the hat on his own head cannot be black, and therefore must be white. If Player 2 does not answer that the hat on his own head is white, then Player 1 knows that the hat on his own head cannot be black, and therefore must be white.)

Case 7
Player 1: white hat Player 2: white hat Player 3: white hat
(Every player sees two white hats.)

These seven cases can be simplified into three types, Type A (Case 1, Case 2, and Case 3: two of the three players are wearing black hats, and one of the three players is wearing a white hat), Type B (Case 4, Case 5, and Case 6: one of the three players is wearing a black hat, and two of the three players are wearing white hats), and Type C (Case 7: all three players are wearing white hats). Type A can be answered by the player wearing a white hat on the first invitation to answer. Type B can be answered by either of the players wearing a white hat after the other player wearing a white hat has failed to answer. Type C cannot be answered by any player until both of the other two players have failed to answer.

In other words, if any player sees two other players wearing black hats, then he can answer immediately that his own hat is white.

If any player sees one other player wearing a white hat and one other player wearing a black hat, and the other player wearing a white hat does not answer immediately that his hat is white, then he can answer quickly that his own hat is white instead.

If any player sees two other players wearing white hats, and both of the other players are hesitant to answer, then he can answer that his own hat is white, too.

The fact that everyone is so slow to answer reveals that every one of the three players is wearing a white hat. All three of them should raise a hand nearly simultaneously after the delay to answer, "I am wearing a white hat."

 

[rbkwp]

apparently
the answer The answer is below, after the Patreon message.
pretty bloody lengthy,dont think it justifys posting
if ONE person reads this and requests the answer i will post it


The Three Hats, Solved
Yesterday, I shared the following puzzle. Scroll past the Patreon block for the answer!

The puzzle, in case you missed it:

There are three logicians -- that is, people who are really, really, good at logic and reasoning, so much so that it's their job. They're standing in such a way that they can see the other two. Like, in a triangle formation.

The game master enters the room and informs them that he has with him five hats. Three are white and two are black. He's going to put one hat on each of logicians' heads. At no point will any of the logicians be able to see what they have on their own heads, but they will be able to see what the others are wearing. Oh, and the game master is going to hide the other two hats; at no point will the logicians see which hats are hidden.

So, that happens, and now we have three logicians wearing hats.

The game master then says: "Raise your hand if you know what color hat you have on your head."

A moment or two passes. No one responds. He repeats the command. "Raise your hand if you know what color hat you have on your head."

Another moment or two passes. No one responds. He repeats the command again. "Raise your hand if you know what color hat you have on your head."

What happens, and why?

The answer is below, after the Patreon message.

 

[rbkwp]

Let’s put ourselves in the shoes -- or, I guess, the hat -- of one of the logicians. But first, let’s set up some combinations. What are the possible hat combinations?

There are only two black hats, so here are only three possible combos:

• Three white hats (WWW)
• Two white hats and a black (WWB)
• One white hat and two black (WBB)

Similarly, our logician and see three possible combinations on the heads of others:

• Both are wearing white hats (WW)
• One is wearing a white hat and the other is wearing a black hat (WB)
• Both are wearing black hats (BB)

Now, to the game. Seeing WW or WB doesn’t give our logician enough information. Seeing WW could mean there are three white hats or that there are two whites and a black out there. Similarly, seeing WB would have meant that our possible combos are WWB or WBB. On the other hand, had our logician seen BB, she would have immediately known that she had a W on her head, as the only combination that allows for that is WBB, and she can see the black hats.

But note that when the game master first asks our logician to raise her hand, she doesn’t -- that means she lacks the information to make a pronouncement as to what is on her head. So she couldn’t have seen BB. She had to see either WW or WB.

And -- here’s the tricky part -- that’s true for all three logicians. None of them could have seen BB for the same reason. So, everyone saw either WW or WB. And, as no one saw two black hats, we can eliminate WBB as one of the potential combinations. We’re left with

• Three white hats (WWW)
• Two white hats and a black (WWB)

The game master then repeats his command -- raise your hand if you know what you have on your head. And again, no hands go up.

Seeing WW doesn’t give our logician enough information -- both WWW and WWB are still viable outcomes. But, had our logician seen WB, she would have immediately known that she had a W on her head. And again, she didn’t know what she had on her head, so again, we can eliminate that option. She sees WW.

And again, that’s true for all three of our players. At the second request to raise hands, no one did; therefore, no one could definitively say what they had on their heads. Therefore, everyone saw WW. And therefore, everyone is wearing a white hat.

So: the third time the game master asks our logicians to raise their hands, all of them do, as they all know they have white hats.
* * *

Want a slightly harder version of this puzzle? Here you go, via FiveThirtyEight's Riddler (I added the emphasis so you can see the difference):Three smart logicians are standing in a line, so that they can only see the logicians in front of them. A hat salesman comes along and shows the three logicians that he has three white hats and two black hats. He places one hat on each logician’s head and hides the remaining hats.

He then says to the logicians, “Can anyone tell me what color hat is on her own head?” No one responds.

He repeats, “Can anyone tell me what color hat is on her own head?” Still no answer.

A third time: “Can anyone tell me what color hat is on her own head?” One of the logicians speaks up and gives the correct answer.

Who spoke, and what color hat is on her head?The solution is available at their subsequent Riddler column, here -- you'll need to scroll a bit...

 

[rbkwp]

apparently

How a Creative Codebreaker Changed the Course of WWII

On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, bringing the U.S. into World War II. Six months later, the Japanese launched an assault at another U.S. Navy base at Midway Atoll, the flagged spot seen in the map above. The Japanese strategy was to, again, hand the Americans a crushing defeat -- the Japanese had the Americans outgunned and with better-trained sailors -- in hopes of establishing Japanese dominance in the Pacific.

The result was the opposite. The Japanese thought that their attack would come as a surprise, much like the one at Pearl Harbor was. But the Americans were ready. American forces were able to ambush the Japanese fleet, causing devastating damage. The Japanese lost all four of the aircraft carriers they brought to Midway; the American lost only one. The Americans lost about 300 men while the Japanese lost more than 3,000. The Americans won, decisively. Many historians see the Battle of Midway as the turning point of the Pacific theater in World War II -- the losses suffered by the Japanese Navy were beyond what they'd be able to replace over the course of the war.

The American ambush was made possible by codebreakers -- and required some ingenuity beyond the already-impressive brainpower needed to break codes in the first place. The messages of the Japanese Navy at the time -- and therefore its plans -- could be relatively easily intercepted. A U.S. Navy intel team, called OP-20-G, had been intercepting messages for months if not years, but those messages were encoded. Before Pearl Harbor, chatter was light, giving OP-20-G a limited amount of raw data to work with. But as the war ramped out, the Japanese communications did as well, giving American intelligence more to go on. They identified a number of different Japanese codes including one they dubbed JN-25, perhaps the most complicated and certainly one of the most important. And in early 1942, the Japanese were using JN-25 to discuss an attack plan, as OP-20-G was able to deduce.

Unfortunately, OP-20-G wasn't able to fully decode JN-25. While they knew when the attack would take place and with what force, they were unable to decode the location of the assault. All they knew was that the codename of the location was "AF." While context clues suggested that AF may be Midway, that wasn't enough -- the findings of naval intelligence were going to determine where the already-beleaguered American fleet would be deployed. An intelligence failure could prove catastrophic for the American war effort.

Another naval intelligence office -- Station HYPO, located in Hawaii -- came up with a plan to verify that AF was indeed Midway: they broadcasted a ruse about the water situation there. The NSA explains:

In an effort to alleviate any doubt, in mid-May the commanding officer of the Midway installation was instructed to send a message in the clear [that is, via an unencoded radio message which was easily intercepted] indicating that the installation's water distillation plant had suffered serious damage and that fresh water was needed immediately. Shortly after the transmission, an intercepted Japanese intelligence report indicated that "AF is short of water."And, with that, naval command knew where to send the fleet, allowing for the surprising and critical victory in the Pacific.

Today's Now I Know is sponsored by Bombas -- makers of great socks. And they're also makers of great outcomes for today's homeless population. For every pair of socks you purchase from Bombas, they'll donate a pair to a homeless shelter in the United States.
They've donated more than three million socks to date and the sky's the limit. You can learn more about Bombas and their first million socks donated here and buy some/give some yourself here.


Bonus fact: The American victory in Midway was an intelligence success, but the government and military didn't want the American public finding out -- if that happened, the Japanese would find out as well. And yet, that's exactly what happened. On the last day of the battle, the Chicago Sunday Tribune published a story of the triumph which included the following line: "The strength of the Japanese forces with which the American Navy is battling . . . was well known in American naval circles several days before the battle began. The advance information enabled the American Navy to make full use of air attacks on the approaching Japanese ships." The Roosevelt administration, seeing this as an obvious reference to the success of American codebreakers, believed that the Tribune put American efforts at risk. The administration, therefore, asked a grand jury to indict the Tribune's publishers with a violation of the Espionage Act of 1917. The case never went any further, per Wikipedia, "because of government reluctance to present a jury with highly secret information necessary to prosecute the publishers as well as concern that a trial would attract more attention to the case."

 

[rbkwp]

Can You Really Go Blind from Staring at the Sun?

apparently, not only when you mastubate

Looking directly at the Sun focuses sunlight through the eye’s lens,
potentially causing severe retina damage.
The Sun is located about 93 million miles (150 million km) away from Earth,
but looking directly at our solar system’s heat and light source can
still cause serious eye damage. The damage occurs when photons, or light
particles, create free radicals, which are highly reactive molecules that
can poison and kill cells. This is specifically detrimental to the fovea,
an area of the retina responsible for sharp, central vision. People with
solar retinopathy may suffer from blurry vision or a centralized blind
spot.

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
Historic Locomotives

This 19th-century train workshop is a treasure trove for anyone interested in railroads, heavy engineering, or industrial architecture.

 

[rbkwp]

The Lucky License Plate That Wasn't
On August 8, 2008, the world's focus was on Beijing, China, for Opening Ceremonies of the XXIX Olympiad. Numerically, that would be 08/08/08 -- and that isn't a coincidence. The Chinese word for "eight" sounds similar to the word for "prosper" and, as a result, the number 8 has become lucky in Chinese culture -- and the organizers of the 2008 Games were looking for some luck. That's hardly the only example of the number 8 being used in connection with something Chinese, either -- many flights going to China have flight numbers ending in 8, if you want another example.

Or you can go with the one pictured below.

That's a pickup truck made by Wuling Motors, a brand you've probably never heard of unless you're in China. The vehicle itself cost the equivalent of about $3,000 to $5,000. But for our purposes, the important part is the license plate -- 88888. That's a pretty lucky plate to get!

Except: luck had nothing to do with it. In China, it's common for sought-after license plates to be put up for auction -- and they fetch great prices. The New York Times investigated the subject in 2006:At a government auction inside a dingy gymnasium, a young businessman named Ding walked away a happy winner the other day. Like everyone else, he was bidding on license plates and did not seem to mind that his cost $6,750.

For the same money, Mr. Ding could almost have afforded two of the Chinese-made roadsters popular in the domestic car market. His bid was almost 20 times what a Chinese farmer earns in a year, and almost 7 times the country's per capita annual income.

And yet, in the auction in this manufacturing capital in southern China, Mr. Ding, who gave only his last name, could not even claim top price. The most expensive plate — AC6688 — fetched $10,000 on a day when officials sold hundreds of plates for a total of $366,500.

"I thought it was rather cheap," said Mr. Ding, 30, a gold chain glinting under his open black sport shirt, as he walked off with the paperwork for APY888. "Since I have a nice car, I thought I should get a nice plate."That sounds absurd but it turns out, it isn't. Many Chinese cities limit the number of local license plates in an effort to curb gridlock and reduce smog. In June of 2016, for example, Beijing ran a lottery for new plates; according to the Times, "only about one in 725 out of the 2.7 million applicants" were granted one. Cars depreciate, but the resale value of license plates may hold strong.

But that's not the story of License Plate 88888 -- or, at least, not the whole story. In the summer of 2016, a Chinese motorist acquired the plate for approximately $125,000 -- many times more than the value of this car. And while that may turn out to be a good long-term investment -- all you need to do is find someone richer and more superstitious -- in the short term, as the Telegraph reported, he didn't find the license plate to be lucky at all. Rather, it was notably unlucky: "his plan backfired when police stopped him eight times on the first day he took his pickup truck out on the road, as they believed the plate was not authentic."

 

[rbkwp]

The Airline that Doesn't Fly Anywhere

The business of commercial airlines is to fly people around the world. That should go without saying. But just in case, some stats: JetBlue runs nearly 1,000 flights per day. Delta and its affiliates operate more than 5,000. American Airlines? More than 6,500.

Yet there's one airline -- one you probably have never heard of -- that breaks this mold. It's called US Global Airways. It's been in operation for nearly 30 years, but it doesn't operate any flights -- ever. And it never has.

In the spring of 1989, revolutions against communism broke out in central and eastern Europe as the Soviet Union seemed open toward reform. The warming of the Soviets toward capitalism meant opportunity -- and some American businessmen and women found ways to enter what would likely be an emerging market. One of those men was an immigrant from Latvia named Igor Dmitrowsky. That summer, Dmitrowsky founded Baltia Airlines, a start-up carrier offering flights from New York City to both Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and the Latvian capital of RIga.

But again, this was 1989, and one couldn't simply open up an airline serving the U.S. to U.S.S.R market. That would require a lot of government approvals and that took some time -- two years, in fact. In 1991, Baltia had permission to operated. And that made them a valuable company. As the New York Times reported at the time, most American commercial providers of the day didn't have that those rights.

And yet, Baltia wasn't able to do anything, at least not right away; as the Times explained at the time, Baltia had "no planes, no flight crews and no financing." You can't operate an airline without that kind of stuff, obviously. That was the bad news. The good news: given its license to fly to the Soviet Union, finding money shouldn't have been a problem.

But then, something went wrong: the Soviet Union collapsed. Baltia had to reset, taking a different approach to the changing world -- a reset which cost them another five years. In 1996, Baltia was finally able to get the right to fly to Saint Petersburg -- but again, the airline didn't have any airplanes. Finally, in 1998, they had the funding to acquire an old 747; a year later, they had enough cash on hand to hire flight crews, secure gate access at New York's JFK airport and all the other stuff you need to make a plane safely go up and come back down. It looked like they may finally make it to the friendly skies.

They didn't.

As the Financial Times explains, "the US Department of Transportation, wary of underfunded airlines selling tickets, requires carriers to have at least a quarter of their first year’s operating expenses on hand before taking to the air." Baltia was, well, way short on that. A failed attempt to raise funding landed its already old plane permanently -- it idled in a hangar in Michigan for the rest of the decade and into the next until it was eventually retired. Along the way, the U.S. Department of Transportation revoked Baltia's route licenses.

And yet, Baltia continued on. By 2007, they were back in business, but only so to speak; more accurately, they were back in this odd, elongated holding pattern. The company spent the previous six years as an over-the-counter stock -- it's still listed today, if you're interested -- and regained the right to fly to Saint Petersburg. Two years later, it managed to raise enough money for a new plane -- just one without an engine (yes, really) -- and things were looking up, pardon the pun. (They even had comically optimistic frequent flier program for a while.) But shortly thereafter, the Securities and Exchange Commission began looking into the company. Raising money for an airline without the authorization to fly and without a plane (and then with one without an engine) is going to provoke questions, after all -- and the SEC had a lot of them. This set the company back even further, especially when one exec earned himself a $1 million fine for brokering Baltia shares without authorization.

It was a comedy of errors, with potentially more to come -- because despite never taking flight, the airline also won't give up.

Last year, Baltia rebranded as US Global Airways and shifted operations from JFK to Stewart International Airport -- a much smaller airport near Albany, New York. The new goal of the renamed company is, per Forbes, to provide service from the region to Tel Aviv and Paris by March of 2018. That requires new planes, which they plan to lease instead of purchase; raising $50 million in funding; and getting the Federal Aviation Administration to grant it carrier certification (which it ever has).

Either way, the airline is destined for history. If it succeeds, it will be the airline which took nearly 30 years to take to the skies; if it fails, it'll be the 30-year-old airline that never took off. (They're aiming for #1, but #2 feels a lot more likely.)

 

[rbkwp]

Why Barns are Red

Close your eyes and picture a farm, and you'll probably imagine cows, pigs, fields of various things, and hopefully, a barn. And that barn is probably red. Toss the word "barn" into Google Image Search and you'll see that, quite often -- not always, but easily a majority of the time -- these farm structures are painted that color.

Why?

To start, let's talk about why we paint barns, houses, and other wooden structures in the first place. Sure, doing so is aesthetically pleasing, but so are a lot of things which we decline to do because it's expensive. Sure, raw wood may not look as nice, but why not forgo a paint job and save the money?

The answer: because it will cost you in the long run. As Home Advisor notes, painting your house is a great way to protect it from the elements -- paint "serves as one of your home’s primary lines of defense against weather, insects and other damage." And, specifically, there's the problem with moisture. When it rains or when it's humid outside, untreated wood -- or in this case, unpainted wood -- is going to warp, get moldy, and otherwise become damaged and potentially harmful to the people and animals inside. Paint helps stop that from happening. So, that's why farmers paint their barns.

But why red? It's because barn painting predates regularly commercially available paint.

The history of paint is long and complicated, but the stuff we buy in cans today has only been around since the late 1800s when Sherwin-Williams began selling ready-to-use paint. Before that, you basically had to make your own. The Farmer's Almanac explains:Many years ago, choices for paints, sealers and other building materials did not exist. Farmers had to be resourceful in finding or making a paint that would protect and seal the wood on their barns. Hundreds of years ago, many farmers would seal their barns with linseed oil, which is an orange-colored oil derived from the seeds of the flax plant. But the linseed oil wasn't enough to protect the barn long-term. That required something else: rust, or chemically speaking, ferric oxide. Somewhere along the way, a farmer realized that rust kills off mold and fungi, so he added some rust to the linseed oil concoction. Now, his sealant was more than just a shield against the elements -- it was also one which acted as a sword against some of the more pernicious issues a barn wall could face. It was cheap, it was easy, and it worked.

Oh, and the ferric oxide -- which looks like this -- turned the linseed oil mix red.

The value of rust-infused oil spread from one farmer to the next, and soon there after, red barns were everywhere. By the time that commercially-available paints were common, the "fact" that barns should be red was seared into our collective consciousness. Farmers continued to paint their barns red, even if they weren't using ferric oxide any longer, guided by tradition as well as science. And that's why barns are still often painted red today.

 

[rbkwp]

apparently many people will be interested int his shitty post going by the numbert who will immeadiately cliock on it to see how td was developed??? duh

The Surprisingly Recent Innovation of the Toilet Duck

Toilet Duck History

Invented in the early 1980s, the unusually shaped product was perfect for its task of cleaning toilets.

 

[rbkwp]

apparently

sounds might similarto crusty the clown hiding under an uncircumcised cock??? duh
i really really wouldent KNOW???

Why We Wake Up With Crusty Eyes
They go by many names -- crusties, eye boogers, sleep dust, goop, or sometimes simply "sleep." But whatever you call it, you've experienced this: you wake up in the morning and, in the corner of your eyes, there are shards of a hard, yellowish-white crust hanging out. Why does this happen?

The short version: When we sleep, we don't blink.

Eye crusties (or whatever you call this stuff) are made up of something called rheum, pronounced like the word "room," which Wikipedia describes as a "thin mucus naturally discharged from the eyes." Rheum protects our eyes from dust and whatever other bad stuff would otherwise irritate our eyes -- it's a barrier watch catches the bad stuff before it causes us any problems. Of course, we don't want specks of dust or whatever floating around our eyes, so we have to get rid of the rheum pretty often. Blinking takes care of this. Blinking moves tears from the outside of the eyes inward, toward our tear ducts. And when that happens, the tears wash the rheum away ever so subtly; unless you're thinking about it, you probably don't even notice it happening.

We make rheum awake or asleep -- if there's something bothering our eyes, the mucus layer is there to help, whether it's 3 AM or 3 PM. As Dr. Sherleen Chen, a professor of ophthalmology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, explainedto NBC News, when we're asleep, the "dirt and debris within the eye isn't continually washed over by tears, which would help to dilute them. So at night, dryness causes the stuff in tears to precipitate out," and it has to go somewhere -- "the crud collects toward the inside corner of the eye, where tears usually end up." And as a result, as Mental Floss explains, the rheum "dries out and hardens, leaving you looking like your face planted in a sandcastle sometime during the night."

By and large, eye crusties are basically harmless -- it's safe to gently wipe away when you wake up. Unless there's an excessive amount of crust, all it means is that your eyes were fighting off dust or something similar while you were dreaming.

 

[rbkwp]

Apparently,

A most appropriate Christmas gift. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

The original “unbreakable” comb was made of rubber

 

[rbkwp]

apparetly/goodnight??? ha

A Penny (or 2,500) For Your Misdeeds
A penny is worth one cent, which is to say it's basically worthless, but not entirely so. Gather enough of them together and you may have enough money to buy yourself a pack of gum or something -- it'd be a cumbersome transaction, sure, but you're going to get your gum at the end of it. Or... will you? If you dump 129 pennies on the counter of your local drug store or candy shop, are they going to sell you the gum, or demand that you leave?

There's a myth out there that -- in the U.S. at least -- a store has to accept your pennies. They don't have to be happy about it, but, as the theory goes, pennies are "legal tender," and therefore have to be accepted by retailers. That's not true, though, as the Treasury Department's website notes, below:There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.That said, government agencies may not have that same flexibility. If you get, say, a parking ticket, and you want to pay it in pennies, your local DMV probably has to accept the piles of coins. In 2015, this specific situation made headlines when a Pennsylvania man tried to pay his $25 parking ticket with 2,500 pennies -- it was his little way of protesting against what he saw was an unfair fine -- but was rebuffed by the town's finance department. Town officials, per that Reuters article, cited a federal law which allowed them to refuse that method of payment, but the law had been repealed; the town, moving forward, agreed to accept pennies. (The town also decided to invest in a coin-collecting machine.)

But if you insist on paying in pennies as a way to make a statement, it's important that you're polite about it -- at least to the clerk accepting your payment. In May of 2011, a man from Utah named Jason West learned that the hard way. West was paying a disputed $25 medical bill, and, per the Deseret News, did so with 2,500 pennies. But unlike the Pennsylvania man above, according to the local police chief, Mr. West's attempt was punctuated with some flair: "After asking if they accepted cash, West dumped 2,500 pennies onto the counter and demanded that they count. it. The pennies were strewn about the counter and the floor.”

The clinic didn't help West clean up is mess, but they did call the police. West's rude behavior got him cited for disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor with a fine of $140. In a follow-up conversation with the Deseret News, he told them that this time, he'd not pay with pennies, stating: "I recognize it's a court of law and I have respect for the legal process."

smile' wise man but F em' ha

 

[rbkwp]

apparently??

When Should We Eat?

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/when-should-we-eat/?src=obbottom=mb_5

 

[rbkwp]

Apparently,

When Christopher Columbus Made the Moon Disappear

The image above is what the Moon looked like, from Earth (of course), on April 15, 2014. You’ll note that it’s reddish and not nearly as bright as the moon typically is. The cause: a lunar eclipse. Lunar eclipses occur when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned, as depicted in the (not-to-scale) graphic below, via Space.com. The Earth blocks most (but not all) of the sunlight which would have otherwise reflected off the Moon’s surface, leading to a dull, red sphere in the sky.

If you know what’s happening, a lunar eclipse is a really neat phenomenon — a nice example of the majesty of space visible from Earth. But if you don’t know what’s happening, a red, disappearing Moon can be terrifying.

Just ask Christopher Columbus.

As almost any U.S. school kid can tell you, Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, ultimately landing in the Western Hemisphere. It wasn’t his only voyage to the other side of the world, though; he’d make three more voyages. The final one, which departed Cadiz, Spain, in 1502, ran into trouble. By June of 1503, worms had feasted on his ships, rendering the boats incapable of further seafaring. Columbus and crew were stranded on the island now known as Jamaica.

At first, the indigenous people were accommodating, offering them food and shelter. But Columbus’s crew took advantage of this hospitality, to the point of stealing (and perhaps worse). Over the ensuing months, the relationship between the Europeans and the indigenous Americans fractured, and ultimately, the Jamaican natives refused to further assist their “visitors.” Columbus wanted to regain the assistance of his formerly gracious hosts, and had an idea — he’d scare them into submission.

Columbus had been traveling with an almanac written by a German mathematician named Johannes Müller (under the Latin pseudonym Regiomontanus). The book outlined not only star charts and sunrise times, but also outlier events, such as lunar eclipses. Columbus had to adjust for the time difference between Jamaica and Germany — easier said than done, back in the day — but he figured he’d take that risk anyway. He told the indigenous people that their behavior toward his men had angered his god, and proof was coming the next night. The Moon, Columbus promised, would disappear from the sky.

Columbus correctly worked out the timetables and, as predicted, the Moon almost entirely vanished into the night’s sky, behind the shadow of the Earth. This wasn’t caused by Columbus’ deity of choice, of course, but by the predictable alignment of the Sun, Earth, and Moon. Of course, the native Jamaicans had no idea what was going on, and, just like Columbus had hoped, they were scared, as Science News retold:

The natives were sufficiently frightened by this unexpected occurrence and by Columbus’s uncanny prediction to beg forgiveness and appeal to him to restore their moon to the sky. Columbus responded that he wished to consult with his deity. He retired to his quarters, using a half-hour sandglass to time how long the eclipse would last. Some time later, when the eclipse had reached totality, he emerged to announce that the moon, in answer to his prayers, would gradually return to its normal brightness.

In thanks and out of fear of further mysticism, the natives again began showering the Europeans with food and supplies. A few months later, in June of 1504, a Spanish ship came in search of Columbus and his men, and — finding most of them well-fed and generally in good health — brought them home.

 

[rbkwp]

Is It a Good Idea to Add Water to a Fine Scotch?


apparently/shit NO

Chemists have found that adding a splash of water to whiskey causes flavor
molecules to rise to the drink's surface.

Does a little water in your whiskey really make it taste better? That’s
the conclusion of Swedish chemists whose research appeared in the August
issue of the journal Scientific Reports. Bjorn Karlsson and Ran Friedman of
the Linnaeus University Center for Biomaterials Chemistry used computer
simulations to study three important molecules in the drink -- water,
ethanol, and guaiacol. The latter is a molecule commonly found in
single-malt Scotch whiskies. The researchers found that when whiskey is
diluted, the ethanol and guaiacol molecules cluster at the surface of the
glass, bring