Monday links

From 1960, here's how to build your own fallout shelter.

When Americans Dined (and Dated) in Cemeteries.

A Million People Are Jailed at China's Gulags. I Managed to Escape. Here's What Really Goes on Inside

October 21 is Trafalgar Day: history, videos, art and links. Trafalgar was the greatest British naval victory of the Napoleonic wars and essentially destroyed the sea power of France in a single engagement..

Air Force finally retires 8-inch floppies from missile launch control system.

How Do Sodas in Outdoor Vending Machines Not Freeze in Winter?

ICYMI, most recent links are here, and include the 1814 London Beer Flood that killed 8 people, a detailed account of the Notre Dame restoration process, a map of the entire internet as of 1973 that fit on one sheet of paper, and, from 1865, Mark Twain's proposal for climate control.

Wednesday links

June 6 is D-Day: quotes (Shakespeare, Eisenhower, Churchill), videos (footage, FDR's and Reagan's speeches, a Lego re-enactment), lots of links.

Birds Travel Thousands of Miles to Save Energy.

What Was the Point of Elevator Music?

"Your smile is a naughty goblin": foolproof pick up lines, per Chinese scientists

Thai military called in to halt garlic smuggling.

Neuroscience: several possible reasons why we can't remember dreams. 

ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include a 1985 list of Western musical groups banned on Soviet radio, the strange history of the “King-Pine” (aka the pineapple), that time Thomas Jefferson sent a moose to Paris, and transmitting data through lamps and streetlights.

Tuesday links

"Your smile is a naughty goblin": Foolproof pick up lines, per Chinese scientists

The Ultimate Ranking of Pasta Shapes.

How do Animals Have Sex Underwater?

June 6, is D-Day: quotes (Shakespeare, Eisenhower, Churchill), videos (footage, FDR's and Reagan's speeches, a Lego re-enactment), lots of links.

Using a Charge Card to Buy $170 Million Painting.

The First Artificial Skating Rinks Looked Pretty But Smelled Terrible - before the technology to reliably freeze water existed, the rinks used a mixture of pig fat and salts.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include how America's self-esteem craze took hold, some 17th century advice on encrypting and sending secret messages, TV characters killed off out of spite, and the anniversary of the evacuation of Dunkirk by a flotilla of small boats (the inspiration for Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches...we shall never surrender" speech).

"Your smile is a naughty goblin": Foolproof pick up lines, per Chinese scientists

Likewise, the researchers said that men should approach women and say “your roof is a lover’s shoulder” or “your garden is the sea of flowers” rather than sticking to a more prosaic phrase like “your door is very strong.”

Scientists at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China have published a new study called “Women prefer men who use metaphorical language when paying compliments in a romantic context” which suggests that poetic language is the way to a ladies’ heart.

It suggested lines like “Your smile is a naughty goblin” were likely to be more enticing than straightforward compliments like “your lips are so sexy.”

Likewise, the researchers said that men should approach women and say “your roof is a lover’s shoulder” or “your garden is the sea of flowers” rather than sticking to a more prosaic phrase like “your door is very strong.” Per the study:

The findings confirm our hypotheses that in a courtship situation where compliments serve as a sexual display of mate quality, women show a preference for metaphors, particularly novel ones, in verbal structure.

The preference seemed even more pronounced when the women were fertile:

We investigated 124 female students’ preference for compliments paid by males incorporating either literal or metaphoric (conventional/novel) language and targeting their appearance or possessions (house) throughout their menstrual cycle. Male faces paired with novel metaphorical compliments were rated as more attractive by women than those paired with literal ones. Compliments targeting appearance increased male attractiveness more than possessions. Interestingly, compliments on appearance using novel metaphors were preferred by women in a relationship during the fertile phase but by single women during the luteal phase. 

The study was published in Nature, and is available online here. They seem to draw a tenuous conclusion that novel metaphorical language indicates higher intelligence, which would indicate better mating potential. What the hell, I like a good metaphor myself.

Translation errors are not uncommon.

I realize, of course, that there may be some mistranslations among these otherwise extremely spiffy pick-up lines - it happens on occasion:

These poorly translated English language T-shirts spotted In Asia are a hoot

Chinese restaurant menu fails.

And this, not a translation fail but one of my favorite Chinese things: This Chinese music video is the weirdest thing you'll watch all day

More on the pick-up line story at Daily Mail

This discussion reminded me of a contest a few years ago (WaPo-sponsored, I think) wherein respondents were asked to produce pick-up lines that only Washington, D.C.-area residents would understand. The winner was "Your beauty renders me as powerless as D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton." Don't get it? That's because you don't live in D.C., but there's a cursory explanation here.

Jew's ear juice, anyone?

Thirsty?

The Consulate General of Israel in Shanghai was surprised to discover on the shelves of a local supermarket chain a canned beverage called "The Jew's Ear Juice."

The drink is made of a black mushroom which does resemble a wrinkled ear. (I can't find liquid, but if you want to make your own, Amazon has lots of choices for the alternative name of wood ear mushrooms.)

Israel's Consul-General in Shanghai Jackie Eldan stressed that this was not a case of anti-Semitism, as Judaism is considered in China a synonym of success.

According to Eldan, the juice's manufacturer must have thought that linking it to the Jewish ear would be profitable.

ElderOfZiyon found a review:

From the Chinese name, 黑木耳露 （Hei1 Mu4 Er3 Lu4）, I know that it's wood ear juice. Wood ear (evidently a.k.a. Jew's ear) is a fungus that's pretty common in Chinese dishes, but I would never think about drinking it.

Also available powdered!

It's a nasty-looking thick semi-transparent cloudy brown liquid. It's smell is weird, like a mix between the apple vinegar drink and turkey gravy. It's a little thick and slimy, but the flavor is actually mild. The flavor isn't anything at all like the cooked wood ear that I'm used to eating.

It's so strange that it tastes like bland, bad, old apple cider, that I decided to check the ingredients. The Jew's Ear Juice is made of: pure water, black wood ear (Jew's ear), haw (Chinese hawthorn), big Chinese date, sugar, honey, sodium of citric acid, and stabilizer.

It all makes sense now, the strange appley flavor is coming from the haw. It does taste similar to hawthorne juice now that I think of it.

Jew's Ear (AKA Wood Ear) fungus

Well, the can says that if you drink the Jew's ear juice cold, it's clear and refreshing, but you can heat it up to make it more "densely" fragrant. I gotta try it.

They were right about the smell, it is definitely denser. The strange thing is that it now smells more like food, almost like spaghetti-o's. Believe it or not, Jew's ear juice actually tastes better hot. Maybe it's the thickness, but I think it's just that wood ear is usually served cold, and when the juice is hot it reminds me less that I'm drinking fungus juice.