Cool Stuff Daily

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Fri. 10/22 - A Solar Storm Proved the Vikings Visited The Americas Exactly 1000 Years Ago Oct 22, 2021

Show notes

Thanks to a collab between trees and the sun, we can now pinpoint an exact year that the Vikings were in North America. Plus, are sirens actually effective tools for emergency vehicles? And why are apples associated with Halloween? Like what is up with apple bobbing?

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Vikings visited North America in 1021 AD, long before Columbus (Syfy)
Vikings Were in the Americas Exactly 1,000 Years Ago (NY Times)
Sirens: Loud, Ineffective and Risky, Experts Say (NY Times)
The Secret, Steamy History Of Halloween Apples (NPR)
Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night by Nicholas Rogers
How to Tell If Your Onions Are Linked to a Salmonella Outbreak (LifeHacker)
Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Onions (CDC)
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Thu. 10/21 - Using These Memes Is A Red Flag 🚩 Oct 21, 2021

Show notes

Open captions are coming to the big screen as AMC Theaters takes a big step towards accessibility, and a look at captions’ growing popularity among the hearing. Plus, how some of the most popular memes are completely inaccessible. And the group of museums who have started an OnlyFans account.

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Links:

AMC Is Expanding Its Open Film Captioning Support Across the U.S. (Gizmodo)
Do deaf people go to the movies? (Quora)
Lauren Ridloff, MCU's First Deaf Hero in 'Eternals,' on Her Superpower (NY Times)
AMC to Add Onscreen Captions at Some Locations (NY Times)
How to Watch Netflix's Squid Game (or Any Translated Show) With the Right Subtitles (LifeHacker)
The Real Reason You Use Closed Captions for Everything Now (Wired, 2018)
The red flag meme is a red flag for accessibility (Tech Crunch)
Vienna museums have started a fine arts OnlyFans account (A/V Club)
Vienna museums open adult-only OnlyFans account to display nudes (The Guardian)
Bone up on your math studies with calculus tutorials on Pornhub (A/V Club)
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Wed. 10/20 - None Pizza With Left Beef: A Slice of History Oct 20, 2021

Show notes

A brief history of one of the most famous pizzas on the internet. Surgeons have successfully transplanted a kidney from a genetically-altered pig to a human. And how to watch the Orionid Meteor Shower this week, if the big ol’ full moon doesn’t get in your way.

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"On this day in history: "None pizza with left beef" was first..." (Adam Quinn, Twitter)
The Great Pizza Orientation Test (The Sneeze)
None Pizza with Left Beef | Special Delivery Instructions (Know Your Meme)
Reflections on the 10th Anniversary of None Pizza With Left Beef (Gizmodo)
Sexy None Pizza With Left Beef Halloween Costume (Talia, Twitter)
None Pizza With Left Beef's Creator Steve Molaro Interview (Intelligencer)
The Truth about None Pizza with Left Beef (Vlogbrothers, YouTube)
Pig-to-human transplants come a step closer with new test (AP)
In a First, Surgeons Attached a Pig Kidney to a Human — and It Worked (NY Times)
October's full Hunter's Moon of 2021 rises tonight! Here's what to expect. (Space.com)
Full moon in October will obscure Orionid meteor shower (CNN)
Orionid meteor shower 2021: When, where & how to see it (Space.com)
Facebook plans to change company name to focus on the metaverse (The Verge)
Facebook Plans to Change Its Name Because the Brand is Toxic (A/V Club)
A Plague of Nosebleeds Hit Twitch Streamers, But It Was All an Apple TV+ Stunt (Ad Week)
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Tue. 10/19 - Grand Duke Travis of Westarctica Wants To Save the Planet Oct 19, 2021

Show notes

A look at the micronation of Westarctica, whose Grand Duke Travis started a nonprofit arm of the micronation to raise awareness about the consequences of the climate emergency in Western Antarctica. Plus, AstroAccess successfully completed their first zero-g flight with their disability ambassadors, taking an important step towards space accessibility and inclusivity. And, in our latest shortage report: the 12 foot Home Depot Skeletons.

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Links:

Westarctica, Antarctica: A Micronation With a Mission (Afar)
Micronations in the United States prepare for coronavirus, send messages of goodwill to the American people (Newsweek)
Fake Countries Have a Hard Time Dealing with the Pandemic, Too (Wall Street Journal)
Westarctica, Land of the Brave (Lyric Video) (Westarctica, YouTube)
Disability ambassadors successfully complete Zero-G flight (Space.com)
They ordered a 12-foot skeleton online. They got a 12-inch one instead. (Input)
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Mon. 10/18 - Thank Exoplanets For Your iPhone's Display Oct 18, 2021

Show notes

How the push to search for signs of life on exoplanets fueled the development of the technology we use in our latest generation of smartphones. Plus, what your punctuation habits can say about you as a writer––and a new website based on a 2016 art project that allows you to visually analyze those findings. And walruses from space!

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Links:

How the Search for Extraterrestrial Life Helped Make Your Smartphone’s Screen Possible (Wall Street Journal)
NASA Spinoff (NASA)
NASA Home & City (NASA)
What I Learned About My Writing By Seeing Only The Punctuation (Creators Hub)
Punctuation in novels. (Adam J. Calhoun)
just the punctuation
WWF'S Walrus From Space Project Seeks Volunteer 'Walrus Detectives' (NPR)
Where’s walrus? Scientists seek public ‘detectives’ to spot giant animals from space. (Washington Post)
Walrus From Space (WWF)
Tech Meme Ride Home
Kottke.Org
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Fri. 10/15 - Responding to Pandemic Uncertainty Like an Engineer Oct 15, 2021

Show notes

A proposal for approaching this next phase of the pandemic less like an epidemiologist and more like an engineer. Plus, new findings from the Mars Perseverance rover that has NASA breathing a sigh of relief. And product placement in novels, added without the author’s knowledge. It’s a real thing that I hope remains in the past.

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Links:

Reimagining our pandemic problems with the mindset of an engineer (MIT Technology Review)
A Prayer for Our Next COVID Era (The Atlantic)
Mars scientists now know where to look for life (BBC)
Boulders On Mars Suggest a Warm and Humid Past (Time)
The time Terry Pratchett’s German publisher inserted a soup ad into his novel. (Literary Hub)
Pratchett anecdote and responses with photos (Neil Gaiman, Twitter)
Terry Pratchett and the Maggi Soup Adverts (Stuffed Crocodile)
Heinz Halloween Tomato Blood Costume (Heinz)
Kottke.Org
Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Thu. 10/14 - Do Spoilers Actually Make Movies Better? Oct 14, 2021

Show notes

Should you read the spoilers for horror movies before you watch them? Plus, a butterfly species in Finland with parasitic wasps in its belly… and even more wasps inside of that one. And, what if instead of lamps we one day use glowing plants to light our homes?

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Read Spoilers First So You Can Watch a Horror Movie Without Feeling Terrible (Lifehacker)
Spoiler alert: spoilers make you enjoy stories more (UC San Diego)
17 Unscary 'Horror' Movies For Halloween Wimps (Lifehacker)
Butterflies released in Finland contained parasitic wasps – with more wasps inside (The Guardian)
‘Russian doll' set of stomach-bursting parasites released inside butterfly on remote Finnish island (LiveScience)
The next generation of glowing plants (MIT News)
Engineers create plants that glow (MIT News, 2017)
Does the platform matter? Social media and COVID-19 conspiracy theory beliefs in 17 countries (New Media & Society) via Today In Tabs
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Wed. 10/13 - Who's To Blame For Candy Corn? Oct 13, 2021

Show notes

How candy corn went from a year round candy marketed at farmers to the love-to-hate it Halloween treat it is today. Plus, a new interactive image gallery that starkly shows what effects three degrees of global warming will have on coastal cities around the world. And, in ten years, one of the biggest comets ever recorded will be passing by Earth.

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Links:

Why Is Candy Corn the Most Hated Halloween Candy? (Eater)
Episode Three - Satan's Earwax (Preserve Halloween Podcast)
Where Our Love/Hate Relationship With Candy Corn Comes From (The Atlantic)
The Saccharine History of Candy Corn (National Geographic)
Why Brach's Turkey Dinner Candy Corn Might Taste Different This Year (Mashed)
All About Candy Corn (National Confectioners Association)
What To Know About Confectioner's Glaze (Taste for Life)
Why is there shellac in my chocolate mints? (McGill)
How Candy Corn is Made | Unwrapped (Food Network, YouTube)
See how climate change could drown landmarks around the world (The Verge)
What sea level rise will do to famous American sites, visualized (The Guardian)
Google AR Brings Endangered Swedish Animals Into Your Living Room (Gizmodo)
One of the largest comets ever seen is headed our way (National Geographic)
Largest comet ever observed will come close to Earth in 2031 (A/V Club)
The Biggest Comet Ever Discovered, Bernardinelli-Bernstein, Is Headed Our Way (The Daily Beast)
Here's how to watch live coverage of NASA's next asteroid mission (Space.com)
More about the Lucy Mission from the 09/22 episode (Kottke Ride Home)
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Tue. 10/12 - Why Do We Casually Kill Spiders Without Remorse? Oct 12, 2021

Show notes

What is it that makes spiders so frightening to us, and why do most of us kill them without sparing a second thought? Plus, a Scottish nightclub that’s using the body heat of their dancing patrons to heat and cool the venue. And Prince Charles, trying to out British everyone else, fuels up his Aston Martin with England’s finest wine and cheese byproducts.

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Links:

Why so many of us are casual spider-murderers (BBC)
Scottish nightclub to generate power from dancers' body heat (Planet Ark)
This green nightclub traps dancers' body heat for later (Fast Company)
Introducing a radical plan to power SWG3 using body heat (SWG3 TV)
Prince Charles’ Vintage Car Runs on Wine and Cheese Because Of Course It Does (Gizmodo)
Blue Origin readies for space launch with William Shatner aboard (CBS News)
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Mon. 10/11 - The Very Intense Miss Navajo Nation Pageant Oct 11, 2021

Show notes

It’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day. More and more local governments are making it official, but why did we start celebrating Columbus Day to begin with? Plus, the impressive and gnarly competition to be crowned Miss Navajo Nation. And the history of National Coming Out Day, including the connection between Pride celebrations and Halloween.

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