5 Beloved Traditions Invented to Make You Buy Stuff By Rebecca Zerzan Here's how some beloved traditions came about, including diamond engagement rings and the ubiquitous green-bean casserole. 1. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer The origin of Rudolph has nothing to do with Jesus or Santa. 2. America's favorite casserole dates back to 1955, when a chef named Dorcas Reilly created it for a cookbook designed to promote Campbell's products. 3. Prior to the 20th century, engagement rings were strictly luxury items, and they rarely contained diamonds. In addition to diamond engagement rings, De Beers also promoted surprise proposals. 4. Greeting-card companies didn't invent valentines. 5. In the 1900s, it was customary for only close family members to give wedding presents. This list originally appeared in a 2008 issue of mental_floss magazine.
Raschel Mesh for Narrow Walls - Natural Building Blog Raschel Mesh for Narrow Walls Patti Stouter sent me this news about raschel mesh from a supplier in Canada that works perfectly for the narrow rubble walls in her Totally Tubular design. She builds hyper-wattle — tubes of lightweight insulation — on top of the narrow rubble walls. “The 18″ wide raschel got here last night and I tried it out today. It is strong enough to work with easily, none of my soil fell through (only a little dry sandy soil will fall through I think), and it seems to be a good size. If I remember right this is $170 ($Canadian) for a 1000 m roll plus shipping. Contact: Maurice Wilson, Bag Supplies Canada, Stratford, Ontario 1 519 271 5393 Update: Maurice just found out that the raschel mesh had been misunderstood. We need to modify the price listed on the blog post. 18 x 30 bags bought at 30 cents each including shipping will cost with barbed wire about $137 per 10′ x 10′ room.
29 Things People From Seattle Have To Explain To Out-Of-Towners 1. Seahawk Fans Are Factually The Best Source: Seattle Seahawks Facebook Other cities can claim to be the best NFL fans all they want, but Seattle has proof. 2. Source: Wikipedia Seattle Sounders fans actually sold out the football stadium (the other football) before the Seahawks fans did. 3. Source: Giphy Seattleites have a rep for being cold and standoffish. 4. Portland is like Seattle’s nagging little sister—who grew up to become super hot. 5. Source: Flickr user Jason Rledy A lot of cities have their own variations and styles of hot dogs. 6. Source: Flickr user Tom Baker. Some people will tell you it rains like crazy in Seattle. 7. Source: Flickr user Adventure of KM&G-Morris Even if it’s not quite as rainy as you expected, there is no mistaking that there are far more gray skies than not. 8. Source: Flickr user Joel Telling Unless you want to look like an outsider, ditch the umbrella. 9. Source: Visit Seattle Facebook 10. Source: Flickr user Rebecca Ropthkopf Just kidding. 11. 12. 13. 14.
Imagining the Eighth Dimension A direct link to the above video is at As we continue to add dimensions, the orthogonal hypercube projections that we're looking at here with each new dimension become increasingly ornate, and (dare I say it) more mandala-like. Another eight-dimensional shape that we've looked at with this project is Garrett Lisi's E8 Rotation. Lisi created a huge stir in the physics world with a new proposal for what he calls An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything that uses "E8" - a complex, eight-dimensional pattern with 248 points. As visually appealing as this shape (pictured below) might be, its implications are startling: Lisi has demonstrated that there is a way to place the various forces and elementary particles (including their possible quantum spin values) on E8's 248 points. Lisi also acknowledges that this is not a finished theory but a work in progress, and that there are still some deficiencies in his model that need further refinement. .
Smart people listen to Radiohead and dumb people listen to Beyoncé, according to study How does a person’s intelligence relate to the type of music they listen to? For the last several years, a software application writer by the name of Virgil Griffith has charted musical tastes based on the average SAT scores of various college institutions. For example, students attending the California Institute of Technology have an average SAT score of 1520. By looking at Facebook to determine the most popular (or — “liked”) band of students at Cal Tech, Griffith was able to conclude that Radiohead really truly is music for smart people. A highly scientific study, I know. As Digital Inspiration points out, Griffith’s chart reveals Sufjan Stevens, Bob Dylan, The Shins, and — uh — Counting Crows as other favorite bands of smart people. Among other interesting revelations from the Griffith’s chart: Smart people prefer John Mayer over Pink Floyd; rock titans like Tool, System of a Down, and Pearl Jam fall right in the middle — so, music for average people?
More on Why Weaponized Cell Phone Towers Are Popping Up Everywhere (Video) | Politics (Before It's News) Since my first post on this subject titled, Why Are Weaponized Cell Phone Towers Being Constructed Everywhere, there has been several new articles surfacing with valuable information, so it seemed like a good time to put out an all inclusive update on what is known so far. What you’re about to read is going to shock you. First, you may have already seen the video below in the last few weeks on almost any alternative news site, because it certainly has been making the rounds, however one thing I noticed after watching the video, was even after spending a great deal of time looking, not one of the big sites that had the video posted also had anything accompanying the video to either give legitimacy to it, or to debunk it, so I set out to do just that. Weaponized Cell Towers The most recent article I’ve found by Alexandra Bruce from earlier this month says: Virtually all towns, all over the world have the amount of towers necessary to fry the populations in their vicinity.
The 18 Things Women Love Most About Sex 18 is the minimum age (in most jurisdictions, at least) at which you’re legally empowered to have sex, and that makes it the perfect number for our list of things that ladies love about sex with you. What follows isn’t really a how-to. It’s more of a woman’s why-yes. 1. Kissing, frenching, snogging, sucking face—the prime mover of the sex world. 2. Want to get your woman wet and ready? 3. Brutally hot. 4. When a woman is aroused, she’s confident about the way she looks, and confidence is an attractive trait in a partner. 5. Women have tits, and we like you to play with them, suck on them and maybe even tease them with your teeth. 6. We put as much emphasis on the appetizer as we do on the entrée. 7. Yes, please. 8. We know that most men can get hard sitting on their asses doing nothing, but knowing that you caused that response in him is one of the more exhilarating and sexy feelings a woman can experience. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. This is just as good. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.
The Seven Churches in the Book of Revelation | Revelation and the Apocalypse | Hot Topics - Featured Bible Teaching for the Christian Life | Telling the Truth The letters to the Seven Churches are found in chapters two and three of the Book of Revelation. In the vision of the Apostle John, Jesus dictates letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor that are relevant to the church in any age. There are different ways to understand the letters to the seven churches. They can be interpreted as relating to the church in universal terms or for the life of the church at different points during its long history. The Apostle John is very interested in the number seven; he’s instructed by Jesus to write seven letters to seven churches. Seven Sections of the Letters to the Churches 1. 2. 3. 4. Note: there are two churches that don’t receive them. 5. 6. 7. Messages to the Seven Churches To the church at Ephesus, he speaks of seven stars and seven lampstands. To the church in Smyrna, Jesus is the first and the last, the one who died and came to life again. To the church at Philadelphia, Jesus is the one who is holy and true, who holds the key of David.
Weird History: What Is Zzyzx? | Villains & Vaudevillians What Is Zzyzx? Well, Zzyzx, pronounced “zei-zix”, isn’t just a tongue-twisting and nearly unpronounceable use of the English language, it’s also a mysterious settlement nestled in the blistering heart of Mojave Desert, near the California-Nevada border. On route to Las Vegas for a weekend of sin and debauchery, thousands of people per day speed down Interstate 15 and pass by a perplexing off-ramp sign that juts up from the shifting sands and points the way toward Zzyzx road. Zzyzx, proclaimed as the final word in the English language, was established in 1944 as the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa after discovery of one of its numerous springs. Is Zzyzx Home To A Real Fountain Of Youth? Tales have been told about the these fateful springs as far back as 1860 when the area was a utilized as a US Army outpost. Between the years 1905 and 1907 the Tonopah And Tidewater Railroad began to lay it’s rails across the Mojave Desert as a way to extract borax ore from the surrounding area.
Thomas Nagel Jewish American philosopher (born 1937) Thomas Nagel (; born July 4, 1937) is a Jewish American philosopher. He is the University Professor of Philosophy and Law Emeritus at New York University,[3] where he taught from 1980 to 2016.[4] His main areas of philosophical interest are legal philosophy, political philosophy, and ethics.[5][6] Nagel is known for his critique of material reductionist accounts of the mind, particularly in his essay "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?" Life and career[edit] Nagel was born on July 4, 1937, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), to German Jewish refugees Carolyn (Baer) and Walter Nagel.[7][8] He arrived in the US in 1939, and was raised in and around New York.[8] He had no religious upbringing, but regards himself as a Jew.[6] Nagel received a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Cornell University in 1958, where he was a member of the Telluride House and was introduced to the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Philosophical work[edit] Overview[edit]
Page 5 of The $9 Billion Witness: Meet JPMorgan Chase's Worst Nightmare She tried to stay quiet, she really did. But after eight years of keeping a heavy secret, the day came when Alayne Fleischmann couldn't take it anymore. "It was like watching an old lady get mugged on the street," she says. "I thought, 'I can't sit by any longer.'" Fleischmann is a tall, thin, quick-witted securities lawyer in her late thirties, with long blond hair, pale-blue eyes and an infectious sense of humor that has survived some very tough times. She's had to struggle to find work despite some striking skills and qualifications, a common symptom of a not-so-common condition called being a whistle-blower. Featured News From Fleischmann is the central witness in one of the biggest cases of white-collar crime in American history, possessing secrets that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon late last year paid $9 billion (not $13 billion as regularly reported – more on that later) to keep the public from hearing. Thanks to a confidentiality agreement, she's kept her mouth shut since then.
Discount Raschel Mesh Tubing - Natural Building Blog Here’s a bit of good news from Patti Stouter. I just heard from Maurice Wilson that the raschel mesh tubing for Hyperadobe earth building has come in. He has a limited supply, but the manufacturer has sent longer rolls. These rolls up to 1400 meters long will still be offered at the price for 1000 meter rolls- $237 Canadian plus shipping. This mesh tubing is easy to build with. I used a red sample length in the gable of my shed and loved it more than the white or black bags or tubes above or below. Contact Maurice at info@bagsupplies.ca at bagsupplies.ca to order. [Note: We have lots of articles with thorough coverage of hyperadobe and raschel mesh. Physical Attractiveness For the anti-vaccinationists out there: The results of a real “vaxed versus unvaxed” study In many ways, the anti-vaccine movement is highly mutable. However, this mutability is firmly based around keeping one thing utterly constant, and that one thing is vaccines. No matter what the evidence, no matter what the science, no matter how much observational, scientific, and epidemiological evidence is arrayed against them, to the relentlessly self-confident members of the anti-vaccine movement, it’s always about the vaccines. Always. Vaccines are always the root many human health problems, be they asthma, autoimmune diseases, autism, and chronic diseases of all types. Of late, the anti-vaccine movement has hit upon a new strategy. All of which is why it’s pretty amusing that just such a study was recently reported in Germany. In their study, the authors compare the occurrence of infections and allergies in vaccinated and unvaccinated children and adolescents. Surprise, surprise! The benefits, efficacy, and safety of protective vaccinations are widely scientifically proven.