Curious Read

Can Enough Exercise Make Up For Junk Food?

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 14:02:00 +0000

What if nutrition labels told people exactly what calories meant, in practical terms? A bottle of Coke could dole out specific exercise requirements. The calories herein, it might say, are the equivalent of a 50-minute jog. The decision to drink the Coke then becomes, would you rather spend the evening on a treadmill, or just not drink the soda?

Some would say that's a joyless, infantilizing idea. The implication that people can't understand calorie counts is unduly cynical. Have a Coke and a smile, not a Coke and a guilt-wail. Others would protest on grounds that it's impossible to make this kind of exercise requirement universal to people of all ages, body sizes, and levels of fitness. Everyone burns calories at different rates. But Sara Bleich, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is not among these people. She describes these labels as her dream.

For the past four years, translating nutrition information into exercise equivalents has been the focus of Bleich's increasingly popular research endeavor. Her latest findings on the effectiveness of the concept are published today in the American Journal of Public Health. In the study, researchers posted signs next to the soda and juice in Baltimore corner stores that read: “Did you know that working off a bottle of soda or fruit juice takes about 50 minutes of running?” or “Did you know that working off a bottle of soda or fruit juice takes about five miles of walking?” (And, long as those distances and times may seem, they may even underestimate the magnitude of the metabolic insult of liquid sugar.)

The signs were a proxy for an actual food label, but they made the point. They effectively led to fewer juice and soda purchases, and to purchases of smaller sizes (12-ounce cans instead of 20-ounce bottles). Bleich also saw learned behavior; even after the signs came down, the local patrons continued to buy less soda and juice.

"The problem with calories is that they're not very meaningful to people," Bleich told me. "The average American doesn't know much about calories, and they're not good at numeracy."

That concern is the impetus for a growing movement to make nutrition information as simple and practical as possible. Some have proposed a three-tiered stoplight system, where healthy foods are labeled with a green light (Go!), and junk bears a damning red. Yellow is ... everything else. Others have proposed an even simpler thumbs-up, thumbs-down dichotomy.

"Let's say you do know that you need to take in about 2,000 calories a day—which most American's don't know," Bleich said. "Let's say that a hamburger at McDonald's has 250 calories. To figure out the percent that 250 represents of 2,000 is tough, mentally. Most people can't do that, and they certainly can't do it quickly when they're trying to place an order."

The notion is only partly cynical, in that most people only glance at labels for afew seconds, so simplicity is apropos. And the people who consume the most junk calories are also those with the least education and health literacy. These are the populations with the highest rates of obesity and related chronic diseases. These labels need to reach and speak to, most importantly, those at-risk groups.

Bleich launched her initial 2011 foray into exercise-labeling investigation after driving around some of Baltimore's low-income neighborhoods. She saw boarded-up houses and drug trade on the corners. "I thought, do the people who live here care about the calories in the food they eat?" She posted the exercise-equivalent signs in one corner store, to good effect. "In fact, they did."

Today's new results explore a larger, more substantial version of that original study, including the subtleties of changes in people's decisions. The research looked exclusively at black middle-school and high-school students in urban Baltimore. On average, black adolescents drink twice as much soda and juice as the American Health Association guidelines recommend at maximum. The exercise equivalents were based on average metabolic rates for 15-year-olds weighing 110 pounds.

So the conversion from calories to exercise is far from universal. But everything in nutrition is based on averages, Bleich notes, including the generic dietary recommendation of 2,000 calories daily, which is a very rough estimate that depends on age, weight, activity levels, basal metabolic rate, and even environmental temperature. Some athletes need closer to 4,000. But, she says, providing a usable benchmark is much better than an absolute number like a calorie count, which has little relevance to many people. "That's the beauty of this system," she said. "Federal regulations already require that this nutrition information is conveyed. Why not give it in the most digestible form, in a way that's shown to have the largest impact on behavior?"

Listing physical activity-equivalents on labels and menus could, in Bleich's vision, either replace or augment calorie counts.

Counting calories is, as I've written before, a terrible approach to eating. As the nutrition mantra goes, "A calorie is not a calorie." Calories from sugars affect the body differently than do calories from fats or protein. Our bodies are great at taking in and storing calories from food, and terrible at burning them. That's because of a stubborn insistence on staying alive.

According to the work of David Ludwig, a professor of nutrition at Harvard Medical School, the vast difference in the effects of different types of calories on the body comes down to the hormone insulin. Eating too many refined carbohydrates releases insulin, which programs fat cells to suck in and store the sugar calories. Blood-sugar levels drop, which triggers a starvation response. We experience that as slowed metabolism and becoming hungry again shortly after eating.

"David is certainly not wrong," Bleich said. "If you have a snack of M&Ms at 3:00 versus an apple snack, you're going to be hungrier again much more quickly. But I think the way to think about the 'calorie is a calorie' argument is, putting aside these sugar spikes, if you're just looking to lose weight, cutting calories, no matter what kind they are, is going to lead to that outcome."

Another problem with that approach is that the food industry has lately embraced calorie counts as a way of marketing junk. In June, Coca-Cola held a marketing stunt on Santa Monica beach where passersby could hop on a giant stationary bike and pedal until they burned enough calories to earn a can of Coke. By the company's calculation, that was an optimistic 23 minutes. The event, part of the company's "taking on obesity" campaign, artfully reinforced the message that junk calories are fine, as long as you are physically active. That's untrue in that even the most active person can develop chronic disease from a high-sugar diet. And it's almost impossible for most people to out-exercise their stomachs, especially when they get into the throes of a sugar-heavy hunger cycle.

Ludwig's recommendation is to focus on limiting foods that over-stimulate fat cells (refined carbohydrates and concentrated sugars) to store energy. Eating this way, he argues, we can basically ignore calories. The body's innate system of hunger and satiety will take care of itself. He and Bleich are on the same page in trying to minimize intake of sugars, at least, as is the consensus of nutrition experts.

By leading kids away from soda, Bleich is convinced that this labeling system is a prudent approach. "It works. It's helping kids, and they're learning from it." Of the kids in today's study who said they saw the signs, 40 percent said they subsequently changed their behavior. Her next step is to expand the intervention to Hispanic populations and to put the signs on solid snacks, presumably to the same promising effect. But as for real-world implementation, while Bleich has seen support from the FDA in the quest to make nutrition labeling as relevant and digestible as possible, she has also seen pushback from industry groups like the National Restaurant Association.

The menu-labeling provisions of the Affordable Care Act require chain restaurants to provide calorie information on their menus and menu boards, along with a statement addressing recommended daily caloric intake, that gross approximation. In the New England Journal of Medicine last year, Bleich and her Johns-Hopkins colleague Lainie Rutkow argued for exercise-equivalents on those menus, but the time has passed for this to be a part of federal law. And new nutrition labels on food packages were proposed earlier this year by the FDA, but they did not include exercise equivalents. Still, for restaurant chains or food companies looking to voluntarily take on a progressive public-health image, Bleich hopes the approach could get traction. [via]

22 Curious Facts About Planet Earth That Will Surprise You

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 15:08:00 +0000

Earth isn’t round. Centrifugal force pushes outwards at Earth’s equator giving it a slight waste-line.

Standing on that equator you would be spinning around Earth’s center at 1000 miles per hour. At the poles, however, you would be standing still (and turning in a circle)

You would still be hurling through space at 67000 miles per hour though

The hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth’s surface was 136 degrees F or 57.8 degrees C in El Azizia, Libya recorded in 1922.

The coldest spot was Antarctica’s vostok station that recorded a bonechilling minus 128.6 degrees fahrenheit (minus 89.2 degrees C)

On that note, Antarctica contains about 70 percent of Earth’s fresh water and 90 percent of its ice

Gravity is not distributed equally. Yes, you read that right. Places like Hudson Bay in Canada actually have less gravity than other regions of the globe. This is due to the fact that there is less land mass in that part of the planet thanks both to retreating glaciers on the surface and swirling magma deep in the core.

Earth’s magnetic north pole is moving northward at a rate of 10 miles per year

Eventually, our magnetic poles will switch.

Scientists believe Earth may have had two moons at one point in time.

Although earthquakes are no fun, they are not the only quakes that affect the earth. Moon quakes can actually make a difference in the tides.

As cool as moon rocks are, on Earth rocks can walk. Or at least slide. In Death Valley rocks weighing hundreds of pounds slide across the desert floor leaving trails in their wake. Scientists believe wind and ice are the culprits.

The longest mountain range on Earth is actually underwater. It is called the mid ocean ridge system. It stretches for 80,000 km all around the world and is nearly 20 times longer than the longest range on the surface, the Andes Mountains. Not only that, the whole thing is completely volcanic.

On the topic of volcanoes, the most active erupter on Earth is actually the Stromboli Volcano in southern Italy. For the past 2,000 years it has been erupting almost continuously which has earned it the nickname “Lighthouse of the Mediterranean.

Volcanoes aren’t the only things that explode gas and magma. Lakes do that too. In Africa, on the borders of Cameroon, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo there are several lakes that sit above volcanic earth which results in large pockets of dangerous gas being trapped beneath them. If they were to explode they would asphyxiate any passersby.

70 percent of the planet is covered in ocean but humans have only explored 5 percent of it.

That’s strange considering the fact that the ocean holds nearly 20 million tons of gold. Granted, most of the gold is diluted. Each liter of seawater contains about 13 billionths of a gram. There is enough undissolved gold on the sea floor though to put 9 pounds in every pocket on Earth.

The deepest spot on Earth is the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. It is nearly 11 km below the surface of the ocean (~7 miles) and only 3 people have ever ventured there

Constructed from millions of tiny polyps, coral reefs are the largest living structures on Earth, some even visible from space.

They also contain the highest density of life on the planet, even more than rainforests.

Everyday nearly 100 tons of interplanetary material falls down onto Earth’s surface primarily from the ice of comets as it vaporizes near the sun.

And one more thing. The largest single living thing (apart from reefs constructed of multiople polyps) was a mushroom fungus in Oregon that grew to 2,200 acres. Good luck sleeping tonight.

Daily Mourning Curiosity

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 14:47:00 +0000

Crazy Video of Snow and Ice Moving Onshore Like Lava

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 01:26:00 +0000

Who Knew Nature Could Do This?

A spectacular video from Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota demonstrates the incredible capabilities of nature. The footage is of snow getting pushed ashore in the spring. This is called an ice shove or shoreline ice pile up. It is a surge of ice from an ocean or large lake onto the shore. They are caused by ocean currents, strong winds, or temperature changes. Ice shove’s usually are not this drastic.

Man 'Makes It Rain' By Throwing 1k Into Crowd At Mall of America

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 00:31:00 +0000

HE SAYS HE WANTED TO SPREAD HOLIDAY CHEER

I don’t see how holiday cheer is disorderly conduct," complains a Minnesota man ticketed for disorderly conduct after chucking a thousand dollar bills over a crowd at the Mall of America on Black Friday. Serge Vorobyov, 29, threw the cash from a third-floor railing as the band played "Let It Snow," reports theMinneapolis Star Tribune. He was cited and released at the scene. "I thought I would just spread some holiday cheer … pay it forward," he says.

In an explanatory video posted on YouTube, Vorobyov says he wanted to spend his last $1,000 to make people happy after going through a divorce so bitter that his ex-wife "even took the cat and won’t tell me where it is,"CBS reports. Mall security says the stunt could have caused a serious disturbance, although the crowd stayed remarkably calm as it snowed money.

The Best Turkey Frying Disasters on the Internet

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 20:32:00 +0000

It's the day after Thanksgiving — which means it's time to be thankful for morons who attempt to fry their own turkeys. Here it is: The very best of the biggest Turkey Fryer Fails we found on the internet. Be safe!

The Homemade Turkey Fryer:

"Homemade turkey fryer," or pot with oil over an open flame? Either way, if you have to drop your Turkey via 5-foot pole, you're doing something wrong.

Inside The Garage:

Step one, place fireball under roof of house.

Barefoot BBQ

When operating over gallons of boiling oil, it's best to remove your socks and shoes first.

KABOOM

Who suggested leaning the pot up against the house?

"We Should Definitely Call The Fire Department"

But first maybe don't try and fry a turkey over your wooden deck. Extra points for the "quick get a pan of water," idea.

"NO ONE ELSE IS COMING OUT FOR THIS?"

Kudos for having the fire extinguisher nearby (fingers crossed this is the appropriate "type K" extinguisher used for combustable cooking oil). Negative points for filling the pot with too much oil, using the wrong kind of stove, using a pot that's too small, and hovering your crotch over the boiling oil.

We've Made a Huge Mistake

Water + Hot Oil = THE PATIO PARTY IS OVER

Another Classic Indoor Turkey Frying

Absent Minded Fryer

They left the fryer on all night. And now, you should call the fire department now.

Babies Love Hot Oil

Actually this person has all the recommended safety precautions in place, minus his naked child a few feet away.

Thanksgiving Is Ruined

Blame it on the Thermometer

I think it's done?

Countdown to Turkey Explosion

Double points for lighting the kid's playground ablaze. Santa says "YOU'VE BEEN BAD."

The Professionals

And now a couple of "fried turkey safety" posts created by various firefighters. Yes they are doing everything wrong — but even these look safer than what's above.

But just in case you actually want to attempt frying your turkey without destroying your home, here's a very good infographic from Live Science explaining in great detail what you should be doing.

40 of the most useful websites for 2013

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 22:00:00 +0000

1. Stolen Camera Finder - Use Photo EXIF Data to Find Your Stolen Camera

Via stolencamerafinder.com

2. Type Like a TV Hacker

Via hackertyper.com

3. The World Data Counter - Ever Wonder Exactly How Big the Internet Is? Or How Much Data is being Transferred at any Time? This Website Will Help You.

Via mapr.com

The World Data Counter.

4. MSOutlookit - A Fake Web Browser for Work (In Case Your Boss Walks In)

Via msoutlookit.com

5. Sleepyti.me - The Bedtime Calculator

Via sleepyti.me

6. The Pixar Theory Explained - Had Trouble Understanding the Written Version of the Pixar Theory? Here You Go.

Via pixartheory.com

7. Ninite - A List of Essential Software and Downloads

Via ninite.com

8. Flux - Changes Your Computer Screen with the Time of Day / Night for Less Strain on Your Eyes

Via justgetflux.com

9. RunPee - Find Out the Best Time During a Movie to Run and Pee

Via m.runpee.com

10. StudyBlue - Create Flash Cards to Study

Via studyblue.com

11. The Original SpaceJam Website

Via www2.warnerbros.com

12. Now I Know by Dan Lewis

Via nowiknow.com

Subscribe to the newsletter and get a random fact along with a story every day.

13. downforeveryoneorjustme.com - Is the Website Down for Just You or Everyone?

Via downforeveryoneorjustme.com

14. EyeBleach - See Something Terrible on The Internet? Let a Sexy Man or Woman Wash Your Eyes

Via eyebleach.com

Guybleach is the site if you’re looking for some buff dudes to bleach your eyes.

15. BIGASSMESSAGE - Ensure Your Friends Get the Message

Via bigassmessage.com

16. iRuler - The Internet Ruler

Via iruler.net

17. UnplugtheTV - Educate Yourself Without the Television

Via unplugthetv.com

18. Startcooking.com - For those Beginning Their Cooking Journey

Via startcooking.com

19. ListentoYoutube - Converts Youtube Videos to MP3s for Download

Via listentoyoutube.com

20. ZocDoc - So You Can Find a Doctor and Fast

Via zocdoc.com

21. LibriVox - Free Public Domain Audio Books

Via librivox.org

22. What the Font - Discover What that Font Is

Via myfonts.com

23. MIT Open Courses Online

Via ocw.mit.edu

24. Oldversion.com - Incase You Update Your Software and It Sucks

Via oldversion.com

25. SimplyNoise - Simply White Noise to Drown Out Everything Around

Via simplynoise.com

26. Rainymood - The Sound of Rain and Thunderstorms on your Computer

Via rainymood.com

27. Spreeder - A Speed Reading “Coaching” Application

Via spreeder.com

28. Scale of the Universe - Because It’s Just Amazing

Via htwins.net

29. Let Me Google that For You - For that Annoying Friend that Asks Stupid Questions Over the Internet

Via lmgtfy.com

30. WHERETHEFUCKSHOULDIGOFORDRINKS - For Friends that Can’t Make Up Their Minds About Where to Go Out

Via wherethefuckshouldigofordrinks.com

31. DrunkRonSwanson - Because We All Need More Drunk Ron Swanson

Via drunkronswanson.com

32. Ted - A Learning Site Your Won’t Regret Wasting Your Time At

Via ted.com

33. iDaft - Pretend You’re Daft Punk

Via najle.com

34. OMFGDOGS! - The Mere Fact that this Exists is Amazing

Via omfgdogs.com

35. Lizard Point - Brush Up on Your Geography

Via lizardpoint.com

36. Do I Have A Dead Pixel - Test to See If You Suffer from a Dead Pixel

Via doihaveadeadpixel.com

37. Readability - Makes Articles Easier to Read

Via lab.arc90.com

38. CamelCamelCamel - Amazon Price Tracker

Via camelcamelcamel.com

39. SAMUEL L. IPSUM - Samuel L. Jackson Text Generator and Placeholder

Via slipsum.com

40. Death By Caffeine - How Many Energy Drinks Until You Die?

Via energyfiend.com

What you need to Know About Turkey Day

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 04:45:00 +0000

Get the lowdown on holiday history, travel, football, feasting, and more.

Thanksgiving is almost upon us—but how much do you know about America's favorite day to eat turkey?

Here's the lowdown on Thanksgiving history, holiday travel, football, feasting, and more.

Thanksgiving Dinner: Recipe for Food Coma?

Key to any Thanksgiving Day menu are a fat turkey and cranberry sauce.

An estimated 254 million turkeys were raised for slaughter in the U.S. during 2012, up 2 percent from 2011's total, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service.

About 46 million of those turkeys ended up on U.S. dinner tables last Thanksgiving—or about 736 million pounds (334 million kilograms) of turkey meat, according to estimates from the National Turkey Federation.

Minnesota is the United States' top turkey-producing state, followed by North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, Indiana, and California. These "big seven" states produce more than two of every three U.S.-raised birds, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

U.S. farmers also produced an estimated 768 million pounds (348 million kilograms) of cranberries in 2012, which, like turkeys, are native to the Americas. The top producers are Wisconsin and Massachusetts.

The U.S. grew 2.6 billion pounds (1.18 billion kilograms) of sweet potatoes—many in North Carolina, Mississippi, California, and Louisiana—and produced more than 1.2 billion pounds (544 million kilograms) of pumpkins. Illinois, California, Pennsylvania, and Ohio grow the most U.S. pumpkins.

In some homes, 2013's festivities will feature these traditional ingredients in some truly unusual recipes, thanks to the once-in-a-lifetime convergence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah popularly dubbed "Thanksgivukkah."

But if you overeat at Thanksgiving dinner, there's a price to be paid for all this plenty: the Thanksgiving "food coma." The post-meal fatigue may be real, but the condition is giving turkeys a bad rap.

Contrary to myth, the amount of the amino acid tryptophan in most turkeys isn't responsible for drowsiness.

Instead, scientists blame booze, the sheer caloric size of an average feast, or just plain-old relaxing after stressful work schedules. (Take a Thanksgiving quiz.)

First Thanksgiving Menu—Pass the Passenger Pigeon?

Little is known about the first Thanksgiving dinner in Plimoth (also spelled Plymouth) Colony in October 1621, attended by some 50 English colonists and about 90 Wampanoag Native American men in what is now Massachusetts.

"We don't have a lot of information about what was actually on that table," said Kathleen Wall, culinarian at Plimoth Plantation.

We do know that the Wampanoag killed five deer for the feast, and that the colonists shot various types of wild fowl such as turkey, geese, ducks, quail, or passenger pigeons—which darkened the skies in the millions before going extinct a century ago. Some form, or forms, of Indian corn were also served. "This maize was a new product for them, and they were just learning how to use it," Wall explained. "They cooked it into porridges much like modern grits."

Wall said the feasters ate seasonally and likely supplemented their venison and birds with fish, mussels, eels, shorebirds, and nuts, as well as vegetables such as pumpkins, squash, carrots, and peas.

Like many modern holidaymakers confronting a groaning sideboard, the pilgrims were surprised by the amount and variety of food confronting them.

"Almost everyone who came to New England and wrote back [home] talked about the abundance," Wall said. "Everyone wrote about how rich the country was with fish, fowl, and deer. And the English brought things from their own gardens as well so they could supply themselves for ten months here in New England."

But much of what we consider traditional Thanksgiving fare was unknown at the first Thanksgiving. Potatoes and sweet potatoes hadn't yet become staples of the English diet, for example. And cranberry sauce requires sugar—an expensive delicacy in the 1600s. Likewise, pumpkin pie was missing—the first English recipe for the dish doesn't appear until 1654, Wall said.

If you want to eat like a Pilgrim yourself, try some of the Plimoth Plantation's recipes, including stewed pompion (pumpkin) or traditional Wampanoag turkey stew, or check out the inside of a 17th-century kitchen on the plantation's Pilgrim foodie blog Pilgrim Seasonings. (Related: "16 Indian Innovations: From Popcorn to Parkas.")

First Thanksgiving Not a True Thanksgiving?

Long before the first Thanksgiving, American Indians, Europeans, and people from other cultures around the world had often celebrated the harvest season with feasts to offer thanks to higher powers for their sustenance and survival.

In 1541 Spaniard Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his troops celebrated a "Thanksgiving" while searching for New World gold in what's now the Texas Panhandle.

Later such feasts were held by French Huguenot colonists in present-day Jacksonville, Florida (1564); by English colonists and Abenaki Indians at Maine's Kennebec River (1607); and in Jamestown, Virginia (1610), when the arrival of a food-laden ship ended a brutal famine. (Related:"400-Year-Old Seeds, Spear Change Perceptions of Jamestown Colony.")

But it's the 1621 Plimoth Thanksgiving that's linked to the birth of our modern holiday. To tell the truth, though, the first "real" Thanksgiving happened two centuries later.

Everything we know about the three-day Plimoth gathering comes from a description in a letter written in 1621 by Edward Winslow, leader of the Plimoth Colony. The letter had been lost for 200 years and was rediscovered in the 1800s.

In 1841 Boston publisher Alexander Young printed Winslow's brief account of the feast and added his own twist, dubbing the 1621 feast the "First Thanksgiving," though the letter describes a one-time event that was more harvest celebration than thanksgiving, which in the 17th century would have actually included fasting.

But after its mid-1800s appearance, Young's designation caught on—to say the least. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day a national holiday in 1863. He was probably swayed in part by magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale—the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb"—who had suggested Thanksgiving become a holiday, historians say.

In 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt established the current date for observance, the fourth Thursday in November.

Thanksgiving Turkey-in-Waiting

Each year at least two lucky turkeys avoid the dinner table, thanks to a presidential pardon—a long-standing Washington tradition of uncertain origin.

Since 1947, during the Truman Administration, the National Turkey Federation has presented two live turkeys—and a ready-to-eat turkey—to the president, federation spokesperson Sherrie Rosenblatt said in 2009.

"There are two birds," Rosenblatt explained, "the presidential turkey and the vice presidential turkey, which is an alternate, in case the presidential turkey is unable to perform its duties."

Those duties pretty much boil down to not biting the president during the photo opportunity with the press.

The lucky birds once shared a happy fate similar to that of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks—a trip to Disneyland's Big Thunder Ranch in California, where they lived out their natural lives. Today the 40-pound (18-kilogram) toms enjoy Christmas at George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, then move to a permanent home at Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia.

Talking Turkey

Pilgrims had been familiar with turkeys before they landed in the Americas. That's because early European explorers of the New World had returned to Europe with turkeys in tow after encountering them at Native American settlements. Native Americans had domesticated the birds centuries before European contact.

A century later Ben Franklin famously made known his preference that the turkey, rather than the bald eagle, should be the official U.S. bird, explaining in a letter to his daughter that it was "a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America."

But Franklin might have been shocked when, by the 1930s, hunting had so decimated North American wild turkey populations that their numbers had dwindled to the tens of thousands, from a peak of at least tens of millions.

Today, thanks to hunting regulations and reintroduction efforts, "rafters" and "gangs" (never "flocks") of wild turkeys are back in abundance. (Watch a video of wild turkeys.)

Some seven million wild turkeys are thriving across the U.S., and many of them have adapted easily to the suburbs—their speed presumably an asset on ever encroaching roads.

Wild turkeys can run some 10 to 20 miles (16 to 32 kilometers) an hour and fly in bursts at 55 miles (89 kilometers) an hour. Domesticated turkeys can't fly at all.

When they're not being the center of a Thanksgiving feast, turkeys enjoy quite a diverse spread themselves. The omnivore birds eat everything from nuts and berries to insects and snakes.

Turkeys digest this diet with what becomes a prize portion for many a human feast—the gizzard. The gizzard is the muscle that enables turkeys to crush and chew their food, helped along by small stones the birds swallow.

On Thanksgiving, Pass the Pigskin

During the Plimoth Thanksgiving—which was not one giant meal but three full days of feasting, Wall explained—sporting events were part of the celebration. Target shooting figured prominently among the male-dominated crowd. And teams took to the field to compete in stool ball. "There are several different versions" of stool ball, Wall explained, "but it's kind of a proto-cricket where teams throw a ball around and try to keep a stool safe."

The game has changed, but sports still take center stage for at least part of the modern holiday. For many U.S. citizens, Thanksgiving without football is as unthinkable as the Fourth of July without fireworks.

NBC Radio broadcast the first national Thanksgiving Day game in 1934, when the Detroit Lions hosted the Chicago Bears. Except for a respite during World War II, the Lions have played—usually badly—every Thanksgiving Day since.

For the 2013 game, the 74th, they will take on the Green Bay Packers.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

For a festive few, even turkey takes a backseat to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, originally called the Macy's Christmas Parade because it kicked off the shopping season. (Just published: "Animal-Rights Activists Take Air Out of Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.")

The tradition began in 1924 when employees recruited animals from the Central Park Zoo to march on Thanksgiving Day. Helium-filled balloons made their debut in the parade in 1927 and, in the early years, were released above the city skyline with the promise of rewards for their finders.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, first televised nationally in 1947, now draws some 44 million viewers—not counting the three million people who actually line the 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) Manhattan route.

Thanksgiving weekend also boasts the retail version of the Super Bowl—Black Friday, when massive sales and early opening times attract frugal shoppers.

A National Retail Federation (NRF) survey projects that up to 140 million Americans will either brave the crowds to shop on 2013's Black Friday weekend or take advantage of online sales, continuing a two-year downward dip from 2011's 152 million shoppers.

This year, for the first time, the NRF asked those planning to shop if they'll do so on Thanksgiving Day itself. Much to the chagrin of many retail employees, nearly one-quarter of them said yes.

Online shoppers have their own red-letter day on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday was officially introduced in 2005 by the NRF because retailers noticed that bargain chasers were taking to online shopping venues in large numbers on that day. In 2012 approximately 129 million people opened their wallets on Cyber Monday.

Planes, Trains, and (Lots of) Automobiles

It may seem like everyone in the U.S. is on the road on Thanksgiving Day, keeping you from your turkey and stuffing.

That's not exactly true, but almost 39 million of about 317 million U.S. citizens will drive more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home for the 2013 holiday, according to the American Automobile Association. That's a 1.5 percent decline from last year.

"For those traveling, the good news is motorists will receive a holiday bonus in the form of lower gas prices, which are at their lowest levels for the holiday since 2010," AAA Chief Operating Officer Marshall L. Doney said in a statement.

Most states will have stations selling gas for under $3 a gallon, AAA added.

An additional 3.14 million travelers will fly to their holiday destinations, and 1.4 million others will use buses, trains, or other modes of travel.

Wondering what day would be best to stay at home? Wednesday figures to be the busiest day for all modes of travel. The AAA survey found that 37 percent of travelers are planning to begin their trips Wednesday and most (33 percent) will return home on Sunday.

An additional 24 percent, however, will stretch their holiday weekend into Monday, December 2, or beyond. The average Thanksgiving road trip for 2013 clocks in at just over 600 miles (966 kilometers).

Thanksgiving North of the Border

Cross-border travelers can celebrate Thanksgiving twice, because Canada celebrates its own Thanksgiving Day the second Monday in October.

As in the U.S., the event is sometimes linked to a historic giving of thanks with which it has no real ties—in this case, a ceremony held in 1578 by explorer Martin Frobisher and his crew in gratitude for their safe landing in what is now New Brunswick.

Canada's Thanksgiving, established in 1879, was inspired by the U.S. holiday.

Dates of observance have fluctuated—sometimes coinciding with the U.S. Thanksgiving or the Canadian veteran-appreciation holiday, Remembrance Day—and at least once Canada's Thanksgiving occurred as late as December.

But Canada's colder climate eventually led to the 1957 decision that formalized the October date.

Readers, tell us—what do you like best about Thanksgiving?

Why Do We Close Our Eyes When We Sneeze?

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 04:32:00 +0000

Sneezes occur when small particles literally get up your nose and cause a whole series of involuntary chain reactions. So why are your eyes involved?

If you are having a bad day, looking at these pictures of stupid people will help

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 04:27:00 +0000

Every now and then, everyone has brain farts. You forget how to make change, you misspell the word “definitely” or maybe you just wore mismatched socks. But these people all took that to a brand new level. Maybe I’m being a little bit harsh, but…probably not.

Some Daily Morning Curiosity for Monday

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 16:38:00 +0000

Everyone hates Monday's. Hopefully these will cheer you up.

17 Hilarious Thanksgiving Someecards

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Whatever it takes.

Status quo.

Now THIS is something to be thankful for.

Things are about to get interesting.

Best. Holiday. Ever.

No judgment.

Forget turkey. This is easily the best part of Thanksgiving.

Black Friday on Thursday? WHAT IS THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN?!

You've been warned.

Plan accordingly.

Burnnnnn.

Ahhh, tradition.

Now that's love.

Psh, Hallloween was a month ago.

Sorry, not sorry.

Feel free to bring your midlife crisis home with you this year.

Thank you very much.

Two Boys Playing Made a TERRIFYING Discovery

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 19:27:00 +0000

Most people believe that they are safe inside their own homes. This story just proves, though, that even that is rarely true. Two boys were playing rough in their parents room when they made a startling discovery. This could chill any homeowner down to their very core.

The house was built in the early 2000s. There was nothing to suggest there was anything weird about it.

Except when the new owners’ two songs were horsing around and dislodged a bookshelf…

That movable bookshelf revealed a secret staircase.

The tall, spiral staircase seemed to lead downward directly into a wall.

But halfway down, there was a crawlspace.

Inside, the two boys found the most terrifying thing: evidence that someone was squatting. In their own walls.

They also had a key that unlocked only God knows what.

And of course, they also found creepy dolls hidden in the room.

The police are still looking for the individual that was living in their walls. Since there was little food, it seemed that he came and went as he or she pleased. There was a small pile of clothes around the bedding. The candy seen strewn about the room was actually one of the boy’s, but whoever was living in the wall crept out at night to steal some for himself.

Good luck falling asleep tonight. [via]

Daily Mourning Curiosity

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 15:32:00 +0000

All these things are true sadly

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 22:57:00 +0000

Curious photos of the week

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 15:03:00 +0000

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30 Funny Ads that’ll Make You Laugh [pics]

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:28:00 +0000

In the world of print advertising, there’s a small window to grab the audience’s attention. Being restricted to a still image means the message must be very strong and catchy. Ad agencies often rely on humor to achieve this. A humorous print ad campaign starts with a funny idea, but must be brought to life with clever art direction and great visuals.

For this post, we’ve rounded up 30 funny print ads that’ll make you laugh.

8in1 Dental Snacks: Bad dog breath

Rowenta: 2100 Watt Vacuum Cleaner

Fast-working laxatives

Beautiful taps

Granny’s fries without the Granny

Folgers: For mornings less complicated

Duende Azul Costumes: You, but funnier than you

Hyundai Coupe. 0 to 100 km/h in 8.4 sec

No insects left

Energizer: Never let their toys die

Suplicy

Pattex Superglue: Instant hold

Bad food, bad dog

Kerozen

Purina Bark in the Park

Face Detect

Tires that grip to the road

Kagatani knife: Don’t Drop It

Juicy Fruit: There’s a much juicier chew

FinePix F70 with smile capture

Cafe Rico, an intense wake up call

Steady shot

Olympus Optical zoom

If you don’t move, you get fat

Wide-angle lenses

Dog Toast: You eat what you touch

Don’t let them get comfortable

Yoga classes now on

Cures car smells

Spring Cleaning

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16 Abbreviated Company Names Explained

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:05:00 +0000

Dozens of companies use acronyms or initials in their names, but how well do you know what the abbreviated letters mean? Let’s take a look at the etymologies behind a few abbreviated company names. [via mentalfloss]

1. CVS

Sorry, drugstore fans, there aren’t three fatcat pharmacists with these initials running around out there. When the pharmacy chain was founded in Lowell, MA in 1963, it was known as “Consumer Value Stores.” Over time the name became abbreviated to simply CVS.

2. K-Mart

Longtime five-and-dime mogul Sebastian S. Kresge opened his first larger store in Garden City, Michigan, in 1962. The store was named K-Mart after him. (Kresge had earned the right to have a store named for him; he opened up his new venture at the tender age of 94.)

3. IKEA

The Swedish furniture giant and noted charity takes its name from found Ingvar Kamprad’s initials conjoined with a the first initial of the farm where Kamprad grew up, Elmtaryd, and the parish he calls home, Agunnaryd.

4. JBL

The speaker company is named after its founder, James Bullough Lansing. But if Lansing had kept his original name, the company might have been called Martini Speakers. Lansing was born James Martini in 1902, but when he was 25, he changed his name to James Lansing at the suggestion of the woman who would become his wife. (The martini was already a popular cocktail at the time, and several of Lansing’s brothers had also changed their name by shortening it to Martin.)

5. BVD

The stalwart men’s underwear maker was originally founded by a group of New Yorkers named Bradley, Voorhees, and Day to make women’s bustles. Eventually the trio branched out into knitted union suits for men, and their wares became so popular that “BVDs” has become a generic term for any underwear.

6. DHL

In the late 1960s, Larry Hillblom was a broke student at the University of California, Berkeley’s law school, so to pick up a bit of extra cash, he would make courier runs from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Hillblom would often fly packages to LA on the night’s last flight then return to the Bay Area with more packages the following morning.
After he finished law school, he decided the courier business was the real racket for him, so he recruited his pals Adrian Dalsey and Robert Lynn to help him with the runs. Although they started out making their delivery trips in a single Plymouth Duster, the company quickly took off, and they named it after their respective last initials.

7. AT&T

No surprises here. The telecom giant sprang to life in 1885 as American Telephone and Telegraph, although it’s now legally known as just AT&T.

8. 3M

The conglomerate behind Post-It Notes gets its name from its roots as a company that mined stone to make grinding wheels. Since it was located in Two Harbors, MN, the company was known as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, which was later shortened to 3M.

9. H&M

The beloved clothing store began in Sweden in 1947. Founder Erling Persson was only selling women’s duds, so he called the store Hennes—Swedish for “hers.” Twenty-one years later, he bought up a hunting supplier called Mauritz Widforss. After the acquisition, Persson branched out into men’s clothing and began calling the store Hennes and Mauritz, which eventually became shortened to H&M.

10. A&W Root Beer

Roy Allen opened his first root beer stand in Lodi, CA, in the summer of 1919, and quickly began expanding to the surrounding areas. Within a year he had partnered with Frank Wright, and the pair christened their flagship product “A&W Root Beer.”

11. GEICO

The adorable gecko’s employer is more formally known as the Government Employees Insurance Company. Although GEICO has always been a private, standalone company, its name reflects its original purpose: Leo Goodwin founded the company in 1936 to sell insurance directly to employees of the federal government.

12. YKK

The initials you see on darn near every zipper you own stand for Yoshida Kōgyō Kabushikigaisha, which translates into “Yoshida Manufacturing Corporation.” The company is named after Tadao Yoshida, who started the zipper concern in Tokyo in 1934.

13. P.F. Chang’s

If you go looking for Mr. P.F. Chang, you’ll be in for a long search. The Asian dining chain’s name is actually a composite of the founding restaurateur Paul Fleming’s initials and a simplification of founding chef Philip Chiang’s last name.

14. BJ’s Wholesale Club

The bulk retailer is named after Beverly Jean Weich, whose father, Mervyn, helped found the chain as a spinoff from discount retailer Zayre in 1983.

15. ING Group

The banking giant’s name is an abbreviation of Internationale Nederlanden Groep, or “International Netherlands Group,” a nod to the company’s dutch origins and headquarters. The company’s heavy use of the color orange in its buildings and promotion is also a shoutout to the Netherlands; orange is the color of the Dutch royal family dating all the way back to William of Orange.

16. H&R Block

Brothers Henry and Richard Bloch founding the tax preparation firm in Kansas City in 1955. Their only problem was their last name. The brothers worried that people would mispronounce their surname as “blotch,” hardly a term you want associated with your tax return. They decided to sidestep this problem by spelling the company’s name “Block” instead, so that nobody would miss the solid hard “k” sound.
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If logos were honest (18 photos)

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 23:11:00 +0000

42 Awesome Photos of Extreme Weather

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:44:00 +0000

Mother Nature can really unleash some fury when she wants to. Its amazing how something can be so destructive and beautiful at the same time. Here are 42 examples of some of the most beautiful extreme weather photography I have ever seen. Enjoy. [via]

Jim Reed
I wanted to start off with the king of extreme weather photography, Jim Reed. Jim’s photos are considered some of the best in the world. Make sure and check out his new book Storm Chaser: A Photographer’s Journey – http://www.stormchaserbook.com

Mike Hollingshead
Mike shoots some of the most incredible storms I have ever seen. Make sure and check out his site http://www.extremeinstability.com. He has a ton of terrific shots. Check out his prints also.

Eric Nguyen

Alan Nyiri

Joe

Marty Pouwelse

Kenneth Fugate

PhotoNinja

Dennis Jones

Mike Theiss

Ultimate Chase

Ngy Thanh

iblue

Hurricane Ike

OKWeatherWatch

Jorn C Olsen

Woman in Snow

Ice Storms

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Incredible Photos Made Without Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 23:37:00 +0000

Great collection of interesting photos with NO photoshop work done to them.

10 Controversial Outdoor Advertising Billboards

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:02:00 +0000

We’re all used to unusual ads these days, no matter what the medium. But once in a while, something is so bizarre, so hilarious or just plain insulting, we can’t help but do a double take. Whether it’s PETA making obesity jokes or a mistress exposing her affair with a married man, check out the 10 most outrageous billboards we could find. [via]

Mistress Exposes Affair

Love hath no fury like a woman scorned, and YaVaughnie Wilkins proved it when she paid approximately $250,000 for billboards in New York, Atlanta and San Francisco revealing her eight-and-a-half-year affair with married Oracle CEO and Obama advisor Charles Phillips. Apparently the billboards were her revenge after he reconciled with his wife. She even created a website—which was allegedly full of photos, love notes and other evidence of the affair—that has since been taken down. Photo by Jen Gallardo.

PETA’s Diet Plan

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals attracted a lot of attention with this billboard, though most of it was negative. So much so that soon after it went up, it came down and was replaced with “GONE: Just like all the pounds lost by people who go vegetarian.” Photo courtesy of PETA.

Have an Affair

Ashley Madison, a dating site for married people who are looking to have an affair, is controversial enough. So it’s no surprise that an advertisement for the website would stir the pot even more. Photo courtesy of @topgold via Flickr.

Prepare to Die

The message is loud and clear here—it’s just totally tactless. While we all can agree that everyone is going to die and it’s best to be prepared, this was a little over the top. We hope this funeral home will go the slightly-more-subtle route for its next campaign. Photo courtesy of Terry Foote via Flickr.

Barack Obama, Jacket Salesman

The Weatherproof Garment Company attracted the attention of the White House when it created an ad that used an Associated Press photo of the President wearing a Weatherproof jacket. Though it wasn’t exactly illegal for the company to install the billboard in Times Square, they never asked the President for permission to use his likeness, and the White House generally doesn’t utilize the leader of the free world to sell products. Photo courtesy of Brechtbug via Flickr.

Heavenly Endorsement

The marketing whizzes at a local Moe’s Southwest Grill probably thought they were geniuses when they came up with the idea to use God to sell burritos. Of course, pastors living in nearby Orlando, Florida, knew better—as did Moe’s corporate headquarters, who ordered the franchise to take it down since it violated company policy. Photo courtesy of Local6.

Freedom of Speech

Ellis Miller of Gilmer, Texas, doesn’t like how things are being done in the White House, and he’s letting everyone know it. “I was frustrated by how things were going with the health care bill and other aspects of the administration,” Miller explained. So he decided to put his freedom of speech to use with billboards like this one. Photo courtesy of James Gagliardi.

Too Much Sex…

Tiger Woods’s sex scandal did his own endorsements no good, but leave it to PETA to make lemonade out of lemons. Using his, ahem, multiple indiscretions as inspiration, they urged pet owners to spay or neuter their pets with this advertisement. Photo courtesy of PETA.

Funeral Home’s Heavy-Handed Hint

Bergemann & Son Funeral Services seems to have no shame when it comes to finding new customers, as can be seen from this billboard in the Berlin subway. It’s one thing for a funeral home to help you after death, but it’s a whole different story for them to help you get there. Photo courtesy of Reza Amanatch via Flickr.

Ring Finger

At first glance this billboard was pretty shocking to drivers on Signal Mountain Boulevard in Chattanooga, Tennessee. But upon closer inspection they got the joke. While the lady in this local jeweler’s ad is indeed giving the finger, it’s the ring finger, accompanied by the tagline “She’s tired of waiting.” Photo courtesy of cwalker71 via Flickr.

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Photos taken at the right moment - new collection

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 13:46:00 +0000

Fresh new collection of photos taken at the right moment

There is tons of photo collections out there with interesting photos taken at the right moment, but this collection is new and fresh. Enjoy them and please share with your friends.

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Odd and Bizarre Street Art Installations [pics]

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 10:51:00 +0000

Mark Jenkins, the artist who created these wonderfully creative but bizarre scenes has traveled around the world to make passer-bys take a double look as they pass. You can other collections of his here.

Tudela, Spain

London
Winston-Salem, NC
Winston-Salem, NC
Winston-Salem, NC
Winston-Salem, NC
Seoul, Korea
Belgrade, Serbia
Royan, France
Bordeaux, France
Canary Islands, Fuerteventura
Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona, Spain
Malmö, Sweden
Malmö, Sweden
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
London
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
film
Washington, DC
--> Baltimore, MD
Washington, DC
Washington, DC

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Interesting Rainbow Thread Art [pics]

noreply@blogger.com (JonBoy) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:51:00 +0000

Though We can appreciate Gabriel Dawe's beautiful thread art by just looking at these pictures, we're certain that these photos will never quite do them justice. In fact, we can imagine ourselves walking around these rainbow prisms and just getting lost. I asked Dawe to tell us what he hoped others got out of his artwork including what they represent. [via]

"Conceptually, these works are about the human need for shelter," he tells us. "Fashion and Architecture have many functions, but one thing they both share is that they protect us from the elements. I'm taking the main material that clothing is made out of—thread—to make an architectural structure. By reversing scale and material in this way, I end up with a structure that I see as symbolic of the social constructions humans need to survive as a species.

"Ultimately, what I want to give the viewers is an experience with light and color. The thread is so thin, that when it is used in such a large scale it kind of disappears, which is why these installations sometimes look so ethereal. It plays with perceptions and it can even mess with your sight, because your eyes don't know where to focus; it is very much like op art in this sense. Despite being static objects, they move as soon as you start moving. This is what is most challenging to capture in the documentation of the pieces, because you cannot capture that with the camera. You can have great photos, but they will never fully give you the experience of seeing them in person.

"What is very satisfying is that I hear all the time that people go back to see them and stay for half hour, experiencing the piece. They seem to be installations that really engage the mind, and as an artist I don't think I could ask for anything more."

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