(Source: redkora, via shrinkinglibrarian)
Unlike the sheets, hotels and motels do not change or launder the bedspreads on a daily basis. And if you don’t think there are various bodily fluids lingering in those coverings, let us remind you that when the bedspread from an internationally rated five-star hotel was introduced as evidence in…
#2 Purse Bottoms!
Nothing will convince me that public toilet seats are OK. Though now I have a bunch of new things to be grossed out by:
Unlike the sheets, hotels and motels do not change or launder the bedspreads on a daily basis. It’s actually more of an annual thing. And if you don’t think there are various bodily fluids lingering in those coverings, let us remind you that when the bedspread from an internationally ranked five-star hotel was introduced as evidence in boxer Mike Tyson’s rape trial, investigators found it coated with the DNA of so many different men that it took some significant time to finally isolate traces of Tyson’s contribution.
I like:
1. Kummerspeck (German): Excess weight gained from emotional overeating. Literally, grief bacon.
3. Petrichor: The clean, pleasant smell that accompanies rain falling on dry ground. It’s from the Greek petra (stone) and ichor (the blood of Greek gods and goddesses). The term was coined by two Australian researchers in 1964.
7. Lawn Mullet: A neatly manicured front yard and an unmowed mess in the back.
12. Zeg (Georgian): The day after tomorrow. Why don’t we have a word for the day after tomorrow?
15. Badinage: Playful, joking banter. [Downlo: “Banter” is a great word, too.]
Much of this advice is not only quaint, but oddly specific:
- Don’t faint on the road.
- Don’t coast. It is dangerous.
- Don’t criticize people’s “legs.”
- Don’t wear loud hued leggings.
- Don’t cultivate a “bicycle face.”
- Don’t imagine everybody is looking at you.
- Don’t go to church in your bicycle costume.
- Don’t chew gum. Exercise your jaws in private.
- Don’t wear white kid gloves. Silk is the thing.
- Don’t ask, “What do you think of my bloomers?”
- Don’t allow dear little Fido to accompany you
- Don’t scratch a match on the seat of your bloomers.
- Don’t discuss bloomers with every man you know.
- Don’t scream if you meet a cow. If she sees you first, she will run.
Read the whole list here.
I’m glad Ugly Renaissance Babies made the list.
I’m pretty sure there are quite a few things on this list that were known before last year or just wrong. But it’s still an interesting read. My favorite items:
26. The word “loo” dates from medieval times, thought to have derived from the warning shout of “gardez l’eau!” given by those tipping chamber pots out the window.
More details
29. Dogs watch how nice people are to others to work out whom to approach to beg for food.
33. Transparent typewriters are sold to prisons, to avoid the risk of hidden contraband.
More details (The Daily Feed)
47. Sonic the Hedgehog’s shoes are based on Michael Jackson’s footwear in the Bad video.
More details
I’ve only seen one of the films he mentions (Bill Cunningham: New York) and wholeheartedly recommend it. The rest look fascinating.
Mental Floss Editors: Our Top Longreads of 2011
The editors of mental_floss magazine: Mangesh Hattikudur, Ethan Trex, Stephanie Meyers, and Jessanne Collins. They’re also on Twitter and Tumblr.
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“Deep Intellect,” Sy Montgomery (Orion Magazine)
Is it weird to say we enjoyed this trek “inside the mind of an octopus” because it was so sensual? Who knew the octopus can taste with all of its skin, run amok out of water like a spooked cat, and solve puzzles? Montgomery’s exploration into the psyche of the spooky-smart mollusk and the researchers who study them is surprisingly … touching.
“Doubling in the Middle,” Gregory Kornbluh (The Believer)
The reversible prose talents of “master palindromist” Barry Duncan are something of a very, very local legend in Cambridge, Mass. This long overdue profile introduces his technique to the rest of us, on the occasion of the completion of an epic 400-word palindrome earlier this year.
“How to Mend a Broken Heart,” Shannon Service (Brink Magazine)
A broken heart can literally kill you (the diagnosis is “myocardial stunning due to exaggerated sympathetic stimulation”), and heartbreak can be harder to get over than a heroin habit. This candid essay weaves together a look at the latest in the science of lost love with a trip inside the Croatia’s brand-new Museum of Broken Hearts.
“Cracking the Scratch Lottery Code,” Jonah Lehrer (Wired)
We’ve been downright willy-nilly in our scratch-off lottery ticket technique all these years, which is the only possible explanation for why we’re still not millionaires. Jonah Lehrer introduces us to the Canadian geological statistician who unearthed the mathematical algorithm buried under that gummy silver stuff.
“Teacher, Leave Those Kids Alone,” Amanda Ripley (Time)
Private after-hours tutoring is so rampant in South Korea the government has had to enact a curfew to curtail it. It’s like an action movie where police are trying to break up kids’ late night study groups!
“Inside the Russian Short Wave Radio Enigma,” Peter Savodnik (Wired)
Since sometime in the early ’80s, a mysterious shortwave radio station, UVB-76, based north of Moscow, transmitted beeps and buzzes around the clock. In 2010, it began to act strangely—first stopping entirely, then broadcasting random series of numbers and other, stranger noises…
“Broken Kingdom,” Adam Gopnik (The New Yorker)
On the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Phantom Tollbooth, Adam Gopnik talks to the two creators about synesthesia, the GI Bill, radio, and why everyone thought the book would end up on the remainder table.
“The Greatest Paper that Ever Died,” Alex French and Howie Kahn (Grantland)
French and Kahn’s riveting oral history of short-lived sports daily The National’s epic collapse has a little bit of everything for sports-media junkies, including quotes from greats like Frank Deford and Charles P. Pierce and, of course, a $52,000 brass eagle.
“The Joy Lock Club,” Pagan Kennedy (Boston Magazine)
Getting to know Schuyler Towne, renowned recreational lock-picker (recreational lock-picking is a thing!) and publisher of the magazine NDE (Non-Destructive Entry) aka “the Us Weekly of hardware security.”
“Death in the Pot,” Deborah Blum (Lapham’s Quarterly)
Any article tagged “cooking, food, government, medicine, poison, war” is auto-must-read in our book. An overview of food adulteration through history, from the Greek army’s “mad-honey poisoning” of 401 BC to today.
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