Oregon Trail (wiki) was designed as an educational kids’ game, and a generation of students learned about the settling of the U.S. by playing it. There were many ways to die, but it was still rated for general audiences, meaning kids. There was a lot of not-so-pleasant parts of life on the trail that were completely left out,
The unique chocolate treat is the brainchild of Jen Lindsey-Clark and her team at New York-based Chocolatician who like to "experiment with chocolate and push the limits of how chocolate can be used as a medium to make art and bespoke gifts".
The Cumberbunnies come in three different flavours, milk, white, and dark chocolate, and are described as "a delicious Belgian chocolate rabbit with a handsome face and a tasty bottom".
This isn't the first time the Brits have made a chocolate version of Benedict Cumberbatch (wiki) - last year it was Chocobatch, a life-sized version of the actor made out of 500 chocolate bars. They called it the “Chocolate Cumberbatch Temptation Experiment” and it involved putting the statue in a mall and telling people they were welcome to give it a taste. A whole bunch of people took them up on their offer, breaking off fingers and taking a few licks. Check the video:
This is actually from last year, but I'd never seen it. A Japanese vegetable juice company has designed a new a wearable robot that dispenses tomatoes for people to eat while on the go.
Tomatan is a robot that can be worn as a backpack. Weighing 8kg (18 pounds), it features a tomato shaped head with a mouth that opens to dispense the tomato into circular metal arms that then come down over the person's mouth to feed them a tomato.
Why would anyone need this, you might ask? Well, according to Kagome, which claims to be Japan's largest supplier of tomato juice and tomato ketchup, people running the Tokyo marathon really need this.
When you want to keep it PG, you need a bit of creativity - modern movies risk an adult rating if there is too much profanity. A complete list of the included films is below the video.
Film List (in order of appearance):
Fantastic Mr. Fox Napoleon Dynamite Johnny Dangerously A Midsummer Night’s Dream Almost Famous A Christmas Story The Surfs Spy Kids Serenity Star Trek The Empire Strikes Back The Breakfast Club Hook Three Amigos You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man Dumb And Dumber Elf The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy Who Framed Roger Rabbit A Bug’s Life Misery Never Give A Sucker An Even Break Splash Anchorman Cats And Dogs Short Circuit Monty Python And The Holy Grail The Wizard Of Oz True Romance A Clockwork Orange The Princess Bride The Sandlot The Empire Strikes Back The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include Dr. Seuss' book of nudes The Seven Lady Godivas, why we say 'eleven, twelve' instead of 'oneteen, twoteen', bicycles as a moral threat (in the 1890s), and a 1970s-era Air Force rescue beacon disguised as dog poop (plus lipstick guns and shoe transmitters).
The Wintergatan Marble Machine was built by Swedish musician Martin Molin of the band Wintergaten. It's a hand-made machine that powers a kick drum, bass, vibraphone and other instruments using a hand crank and 2,000 marbles. Per Wired:
The machine itself is -- as intended -- programmable. Its central wheel is a 32 bar loop, and the key of the song can be adjusted while playing -- in the published video, it starts in E minor and runs into C major for its second wheel. "In theory you could go on forever," Molin said.
"It's all about the grid," he said. "I grew up making music on Midi, and everyone makes music on a grid nowadays, on computers. Even before digital they made fantastic, programmable music instruments. In bell towers and church towers that play a melody they always have a programming wheel exactly like the one that is on the marble machine."
As the machine cycles it activates a vibraphone, bass, kick drum, cymbal and other instruments that play a score programmed into a 32 bar loop comprised of LEGO technic parts.
Watch full screen!
Here's a general "making of" video: there is also a series of prologue videos about the building of the machine that shows its individual components as they come together.
This is, of course, reminiscent of the Animusic videos, although were computer generated:
For Dr. Seuss's birthday, his little-known book of nudes: The Seven Lady Godivas (SFW), plus Private Snafu: The World War II Propaganda Cartoons Created by Dr. Seuss, Frank Capra, and Mel Blanc, and This is Ann... she drinks blood! Dr Seuss Does Malaria.
ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include that time Columbus tricked Jamaicans using fore-knowledge of a lunar eclipse, Leap Day/Year links, bullet-proof sofas, vintage sexist ads, and historic mad scientists.
ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include fashion advice from a 1980s Stasi (East German secret police) disguise seminar, the accidental invention of the microwave, the next generation of Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot, and a super slow motion video on the chemistry of matches.
I have to admit that I've been paying little attention to the details of this election season - I've had the disgusted sense that Hillary is inevitable, and that probably either Trump, Rubio, or Kasich would end up on the Republican ticket, I can't muster any enthusiasm since I'd probably end up holding my nose and voting for the lesser of two weasels. It's the same way I've felt for several election cycles - a plague on both their houses.
But Robert Reich, Bernie supporter and former Labor Secretary under Clinton (at Forbes, read Robert Reich's F Minus In Economics: False Facts, False Theories) may just have convinced me otherwise. Reich's attempt to persuade fellow socialists that Cruz in dangerous to their worldview may have resulted in the best pro-Ted Cruz campaign commercial ever made.
Reich's main point is that, from his socialist perspective, Cruz is much more dangerous that Trump, who he sees as an opportunist with no fixed principles. Cruz, however, to Reich's horror:
Believes the Second Amendment gives individual Americans the right to possess guns!
Is a strict constitutionalist!
Rejects immigration reform!
Wants to repeal Obamacare!
Is more disciplined and strategic than Trump!
Is willing to destroy institutions (a euphemism for gigantic, bloated bureaucracies)
These vintage ads are mostly selling products to/for women who are emitting foul odors from various body parts, but there are some for women who aren't up to snuff in the kitchen, and a few more generally sexist ads thrown in:
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