Month: October 2016

There’s no shortage of sunlight pouring into Egypt each year. Now, inhabitat reports that a village in Bahariya Oasis is putting that excess energy to good use.

The Tayebat Workers Village serves as the west Egypt campus for the solar technology company KarmSolar. The structures that house the base’s 350 occupants are meant to look discreet. Rather than bringing in foreign materials to construct the site, the company decided to use locally sourced sandstone. The choice made for a sustainable building process while creating a look that blends seamlessly with the surrounding desert environment.

The feature that makes the village distinct from any other in Egypt is the integration of solar technology. Photovoltaic solar panels crown the traditional-looking buildings, generating power for residents as well as providing thermal roof protection. The project is just one attempt to utilize the power of the Egyptian desert sun: a $3.5 billion plan to build solar plants in the region was announced earlier this year.

Egypt’s first solar-powered village rises from the desert in Bahariya Oasis https://t.co/BUPxnfZluz pic.twitter.com/YnHPAsdqks

— Sustainable Building (@EcobuildRR) October 11, 2016

Egypt’s first solar-powered village has risen from the desert and provides shelter for 350 people.https://t.co/W6sosjYeKZ pic.twitter.com/BfC5iAj3NG

— Solutions by Saly (@solutionsbysaly) October 11, 2016

[h/t inhabitat]

All images: KarmSolar/Instagram

Know of something you think we should cover? Email us at tips@mentalfloss.com.

From Italy’s cannolis to Mexico’s guacamole, each country’s most renowned cuisine is delightfully unique. Now, you can celebrate international flavors with special map designs that come printed on shirts, totes, and posters. Former lawyer and current writer and designer Jodi Ettenberg created a number of different food maps that pay tribute to the foods found around the world.

“I designed these maps as a loving ode to cuisine, travel and art,” Ettenberg told mental_floss in an email.

Each design is hand-drawn by Ella F. Sanders. So far, the duo has designed maps for Mexico, Italy, Vietnam, Thailand, and Portugal—each in black or white. Ettenberg says she plans to expand to other countries soon. You can check out the whole collection here.

Chasing Mew: How the World Became Obsessed with Pokemon. The secret was rumors and myths and marketing.
*
16 Terrifying Horror Movies You Can Watch In 20 Minutes Or Less. It’s a mini-marathon of fright.
*
Cybathlon 2016: Amazing Images from the World’s First Bionic Olympics. Paraplegic compete using state-of-the-art technology to move and communicate.
*
The Emily Dickinson Movie Is As Brilliant -And Claustrophobic- As Its Subject. A Quiet Passion will hit theaters just in time for Oscar season.
*
Extreme Weather Costs Taxpayers Billions Every Year. We rescue and recover, but should we rebuild?
*
My Slave-Owning Ancestors Are Turning in Their Graves. A Confederate war hero has a “proudly multiracial bilingual Chicano” for a descendant.
*
I used to have 10 fingers. Then a lovable golden retriever ripped one off.
*
9 Gross and Gruesome Goodies for Your Halloween Party. Guests with strong stomachs will be rewarded.

A new study will help justify your seltzer addiction, according to Co.Exist. The sensations of cold bubbles are just more refreshing than warmer, still beverages. Cold, carbonated water is the most effective way to quench thirst, researchers from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia found in a new study published in PLOS One.

To see what mouth sensations might contribute to people’s perceptions of thirst, the researchers had almost 100 people abstain from both food and drink for 12 hours (most of which was overnight), then drink 13.5 ounces of an “experimental beverage” that was designed to elicit specific sensations. There was still water, carbonated water, water sweetened with sugar, water made astringent (like a cup of tea would be) with grape extract, and water acidified with citric acid; some were cold, and some were room temperature.

The experimenters also had some people drink a menthol solution, creating an artificial sense of coolness. After the test subjects drank all of their assigned beverage, they were given still, room-temperature water to drink freely. The researchers measured how well an experimental beverage quenched thirst by measuring how much water the person wanted to drink afterward.

Acidity, sweetness, and astringency didn’t seem to have an effect on thirst, but temperature and carbonation did. People wanted to drink more after chugging 13.5 ounces of warm water compared to cold water, indicating that the cold sensation quenched thirst better. They also felt less thirsty after drinking room-temperature carbonated water than drinking still water at the same temperature. But cold, carbonated water seemed to be perceived as the best thirst-quencher. People drank less after having cold carbonated water than cold still water.

In a second study, 10 people were asked to estimate the amount of cold, room-temperature, or carbonated water they drank while they couldn’t see or feel the amount of liquid in the cup (or see through the straw). The subjects overestimated the amount of water they drank if the beverage was cold or carbonated. Compared to their estimates for room-temperature water, they estimated that they drank 22 percent more of the cold, carbonated water.

These findings echo a “surprising” takeaway from another recent study, which found that colder beverages quench thirst faster.

This may make you feel justified in reaching for a beer or seltzer when you’re thirsty, but on the flip side, it may mean that you think you’re more hydrated than you are. If you are in real danger of dehydration, it may be better to drink something warm and flat, because while you may feel thirsty for longer, at least your body won’t be misguided into ceasing to drink before it’s ready.

[h/t Co.Exist]

Know of something you think we should cover? Email us at tips@mentalfloss.com.

Scientists say that the Yeti is just a legend—but that hasn’t stopped adventurous cryptozoologists from jetting off to the Himalayan Mountain region in search of the beast, which has been described as a gigantic humanoid covered in shaggy fur. If you’re looking to join them, here’s some equipment you will need to stash in your rucksack before booking a plane ticket to Asia.

1. A TORCH

The Yeti is reportedly unafraid of weapons, but a torch will keep him at bay. (Plus, many people believe the creature to be peaceful, so you want to avoid hurting him unless proven otherwise.) It’s also handy to have an additional light source on hand during an outdoor expedition—especially one that keeps you warm while hiking the snowy peaks bordering Nepal, India, and Tibet.

2. A CAMERA TRAP

The Sherpa people say that the Yeti will only show itself to those who believe in its existence. If you’re still on the fence (or simply want to capture it lumbering unaware through its natural habitat), bring along a camera trap—a remotely activated camera that’s activated by infrared sensor when it detects body heat or movement. Scientists hide them in remote areas to obtain videos and pictures of rare species. Simply leave the camera trap outside, wait a few days (or even weeks), and review the footage. If you spot a muscular, 6-foot-tall creature covered in dark grey or reddish-brown hair, congratulations! You’ve spotted the Yeti—or discovered a new bear species.

3. FOOD (FOR BOTH YOU AND THE YETI)

The Nepalese believe that Yetis eat yaks or sheep, so the creature might be lured to your campsite if you leave out some meat. And since you’ll be burning plenty of calories while trekking through the snow, make sure to pack hearty nonperishables like energy bars, trail mix, dried fruit, nuts, and cheese. And don’t forget sports drinks, which will replenish your energy levels with minerals and electrolytes.

4. MEASURING TAPE

Throughout the decades, several explorers claim to have spotted mysterious sets of footprints that appeared to have been made by an ape-like creature. If you encounter any tracks in the snow, whip out a measuring tape and record their size. If they’re anywhere between 12 and 14 inches long, they could be the Yeti’s.

5. SPELUNKING GEAR

Many people believe that the Yeti spends time in mountain caves. If you’re going to engage in an impromptu spelunking adventure, be sure to stay safe by packing a helmet with a headlamp, along with other forms of protection.

6. A TENT

According to Nepalese folklore, the Yeti is nocturnal, which means you’re not going to spot him sitting top of a mountain, basking in a sunbeam mid-day. Your best bet is to camp out and search for him at night. Pack a mountaineering tent (also known as a”4-season tent”) to shield you from altitude chill, as well as a zero-degree down sleeping bag, as temperatures can dip well below zero after dark.

7. AN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT PERMIT

The rules may be slightly different today, but during the late 1950s, American diplomats in Kathmandu took rumors about the Yeti seriously enough to issue official regulations for its capture. (They were likely also looking to make easy money off hunters.) If you wanted to pursue the mythical beast, you had to pay the Nepalese government $77 for a permit. You were also prohibited from killing any Yetis (although exceptions were made for instances of self defense). Photographs were fine, but all images—and captured ape-men—had to be handed over to Nepali officials. Finally, you were not allowed to alert the media about your discovery. So before you go off searching for the Yeti, make sure to check in with national government figures to see if you need to buy a license or fill out any permission-granting paperwork.

Join the search for the Yeti with host Josh Gates on Expedition Unknown: Hunt for the Yeti, tonight at 9/8c only on Travel Channel.

English has a number of prefixes that come from the concept of “half.” Why do we have so many? And what’s the difference between them?

1. SEMI

Semi-, from the Latin for “half,” is the most common and the earliest to show up in English. It was first used, with the straight sense of “half,” in the word semicircular, but soon attached to concepts that were harder to quantify. It’s easy to see what a half circle looks like, but what amount of “abstract” is “semi-abstract”? How permanent is “semi-permanent”? Through these less concrete uses, which proliferated wildly in the 1800s, semi- came to mean “virtually” or “somewhat.”

2. HEMI

Hemi- is from the Greek for “half.” It is less common than semi-, and it is associated more strongly with technical language in fields like chemistry, biology, and anatomy. Its sense of “half,” more than semi-, implies a lengthwise axis of symmetry. This is not obvious for the most common hemi- word, hemisphere (since a sphere is symmetrical all the way around), but a hemicylinder, is not just half a cylinder, it’s the half cut lengthwise, and hemiplegic doesn’t just mean half the body is paralyzed, but the right or left half (paraplegic is the term for when only the lower half is paralyzed).

3. DEMI

Demi is from the French for “half.” It was first used in English in heraldry, where things like demi-angels, demi-lions, demi-horses show up. It also held sway in other specific domains, such as military (demi-brigade) and fashion (demi-cap, demi-lustre, demi-worsted). It also picked up the sense of “virtual” or even “lesser.” A demigod, after all, is not quite the real thing.

It might seem ridiculous that English had to borrow a “half” prefix from three different places, but if it didn’t we wouldn’t get to have a word like hemidemisemiquaver—that’s a 64th note, in other words, a half of a half of a half of an eighth note, which is so much less fun to say than hemidemisemiquaver.

Ghosts, ghouls and monsters turn up everywhere at Halloween—including in our language. From treacherous underground goblins to ghostly roaming primates, here are the spooky origins of ten familiar words.

1. AGHAST

Although it’s used much more loosely in English today, the word aghast literally means “frightened by a ghost.” That’s because the “ghast” of aghast is a derivative of the Old English word gæsten, meaning “to terrify,” which is in turn a derivative of gæst, the Old English word for “ghost.” The “gast” of flabbergast, incidentally, probably comes from the same root.

2. BUGABOO

Bugaboo has been used since the early 1700s to refer to an imagined problem or bugbear (although oddly, in 19th century English, it was also used as a nickname for a bailiff). The word itself has two possible origins, both of which are equally ghoulish: It might come from an old Celtic word (most likely bucca-boo, an old Cornish word for a devil or spectre), or it might come from “Bugibu,” the name of a monstrous demon that appeared in a Medieval French poem, Aliscans, written in the mid-1100s.

3. COBALT

The chemical element cobalt takes its name from the “kobold,” a type of devious subterranean hobgoblin in German folklore. Described in Sir Walter Scott’s Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft (1830) as “a species of gnomes who haunted the dark and solitary places,” the kobolds were once believed to inhabit the rocks and tunnels of mineshafts, where they would reward those miners who respected them with rich discoveries, and would punish any others with rockfalls, poisonous fumes and underground fires. The kobold’s connection to cobalt stems from the fact that two of the element’s most important ores—namely cobaltite and smaltite—both contain an equivalent amount of arsenic, which makes mining for them a particularly hazardous business. Long before the harmful nature of these metals was known to science, however, any miners who fell ill collecting cobalt would be left with little option but to blame their misfortune on the treacherous kobolds.

4. LARVA

In Latin, larva originally meant “ghost” or “ghoul,” and when the word first began to be used in English in the mid-1600s, it meant precisely that. But because the ghosts and ghouls of antiquity were often portrayed as wearing a disguise to hide amongst the world of the living, in Latin larva also came to mean “mask,” and it was this figurative sense that the 18th century naturalist Carl Linnaeus meant when he began to call the juvenile forms of insects larvae in the 1740s.

5. LEMUR

Carl Linnaeus was also responsible for the word lemur, which he stole from the ghoulish Lemures of Ancient Rome. To the Romans, the Lemures were the skeletal, zombie-like ghosts of murder victims, executed criminals, sailors lost at sea, and anyone else who had died leaving unfinished business behind them on Earth. According to Roman tradition, ultimately the Lemures would return to haunt the world of the living each night—and hence when Linnaeus discovered a group of remarkably human-like primates wandering silently around the tropical rainforests in the dead of night, he had the perfect name for them.

6. MASCOT

We might use it more generally to mean an emblem or symbol, but a mascot was originally a talisman or charm, namely something intended to be used to protect someone from harm. In this sense the word is derived from masca, an old Provençal French word for a witch or sorceress.

7. MINDBOGGLING

The “boggle” of mindboggling is derived from an old Middle English word, bugge, for an invisible ghost or monster. These bugges (or “bogles” as they became known) could not be seen by human eyes, but could supposedly be seen by animals: a spooked horse that reared up for no apparent reason would once have been said to have seen a bogle.

8. NICKEL

Like cobalt, nickel takes its name from another ghoul from German folklore, known as the Kupfernickel, or “copper-demon.” Unlike the kobolds, however, nickels were more mischievous than dangerous and would simply trick unsuspecting miners into thinking they had discovered copper, when in fact they had discovered nickel, which was comparatively less valuable. Like the kobolds, however, the nickels had to be placated and respected, else they could cause cave-ins or other underground disasters.  

9. TERABYTE

The “tera” of words like terabyte, terawatt and terahertz is derived from the Greek word for “monster,” teras. The words teratism, meaning “a monstrosity,” and teratology, “the study of biological abnormalities,” are derived from the same root.

10. ZEITGEIST

If a poltergeist is literally a “noisy ghost” in German, then a zeitgeist is simply a “spirit of the age”—that is to say, something that seems to sum up the era in which it exists.

Starting in 1938, Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday, Pugsley, and Thing appeared in The New Yorker in a series of cartoons by Charles Addams. After two seasons in the mid-’60s as a sitcom, then two more as a Saturday morning cartoon in the ’70s, the adventures of the strange, morbid Addams family seemed destined to solely exist in illustration form. Then, after Charles Addams’ passing in 1988, even the cartoons stopped—but in 1991, The Addams Family movie brought the pale gang to the cinema. Here are a few things you might not have known about the film.

1. THE IDEA TO BRING BACK THE ADDAMS FAMILY CAME FROM A CAR RIDE.

Scott Rudin, head of production at 20th Century Fox, was riding in a van with other company executives one day after a movie screening. “Everyone was there—(studio chiefs) Barry Diller and Leonard Goldberg and (marketing chief) Tom Sherak—when Tom’s kid started singing ‘The Addams Family’ theme,” Rudin told the LA Times. “And suddenly everyone in the van was singing the theme, letter perfect, note for note.” The next day, Rudin proposed to Diller and Goldberg that they make an Addams Family movie—and they went for it.

2. MC HAMMER WROTE AN AWARD-WINNING SONG FOR THE MOVIE.

The “Addams Groove” music video played before the film during its first few weeks in theaters. The final track on Too Legit to Quit would end up being MC Hammer’s last visit to the top 10 of the Billboard singles charts in the U.S. It also won the 1991 Golden Raspberry for Worst Original Song, beating out fellow nominees “Why Was I Born (Freddy’s Dead)” by Iggy Pop, and Vanilla Ice’s “Cool as Ice.”

3. ANTHONY HOPKINS TURNED DOWN THE ROLE OF FESTER.

Hopkins instead opted to play Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs (he got the role after Sean Connery was initially approached). Hopkins would win the Best Actor Oscar for his performance.

4. TIM BURTON WAS INITIALLY SET TO DIRECT.

Burton had worked with Addams Family screenwriters Caroline Thompson and Larry Wilson on previous projects, but ended up not taking the job. Almost 20 years later, Burton was rumored to be developing a 3D stop-motion animated Addams Family movie, but it was announced last year that he was off the project.

5. IT WAS BARRY SONNENFELD’S DIRECTORIAL DEBUT.

The Addams Family was Barry Sonnenfeld’s directorial debut, but he had experience as a cinematographer on films like Blood Simple, Big, Raising Arizona, Misery, When Harry Met Sally…, and Miller’s Crossing. After his agent told him that he would lick a carpet if he couldn’t find him a directing job within one year, he found Sonnenfeld a seemingly plum first time assignment helming a high profile movie (in less than a year). As a joke, Scott Rudin let it be known to Sonnenfeld that he wasn’t his first choice by putting a different director’s name on the back of the director’s chair every morning on set. Some of the names that replaced Sonnenfeld’s were Joe Dante, Terry Gilliam, David Lynch, and Rudin’s first choice, Tim Burton.

6. SONNENFELD FAINTED DURING SHOOTING.

Three weeks into directing, Sonnenfeld was talking to a studio executive who was concerned about the budget for the film when he felt a “tremendous pressure” in his chest, “as if someone was blowing up a balloon inside me,” then passed out. He also dealt with sciatica during filming, and had to shut down the Los Angeles production for several days when his wife needed major surgery in New York.

7. THERE WAS A “BLACK CLOUD” HANGING OVER THE MOVIE.

Owen Roizman, the film’s cinematographer, quit to work on another movie shortly after Sonnenfeld’s fainting incident. His replacement, Gayl Tattersoll, stopped production for a couple of days when he needed to be hospitalized for a sinus infection, and never returned. Sonnenfeld ended up doing the job himself. In front of the camera, a blood vessel burst in the eye of Raul Julia, the actor who played Gomez. These incidents led the future Get Shorty and Men In Black director to say that he felt like there was a “pervasive black cloud” hanging over the movie.

8. THERE WAS AN ACTOR REBELLION, LED BY 10-YEAR-OLD CHRISTINA RICCI.

The actors were concerned about the ambiguity of the big Fester storyline in the script. Initially, it was going to be unknown if Gordon, the man suffering from memory loss that looked just like Uncle Fester, was actually Fester. The actors nominated Wednesday Addams herself, Christina Ricci, to give an impassioned plea to Rudin and Sonnenfeld two weeks before shooting that Fester should not be an imposter. Sonnenfeld remembered that the only actor to not care was Christopher Lloyd, the man playing Fester.

9. ANJELICA HUSTON WATCHED “GREY GARDENS” TO PLAY MORTICIA.

Cher was interested in playing Morticia, but Huston was producer Rudin’s first choice. Huston, who grew up in Ireland, was more familiar with the Charles Addams drawings than the old TV show, and decided it would be pointless to try and replicate actress Carolyn Jones’ “ideal” portrayal of Morticia anyway. The future Academy Award winner turned to the 1975 documentary Grey Gardens—a movie about the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy who lived in a deteriorating mansion filled with garbage and animal waste—for inspiration instead.

10. HUSTON HAD TO GO THROUGH A LOT TO GET INTO CHARACTER.

”Morticia has a shape only a cartoonist can draw,” Sonnenfeld told Entertainment Weekly, ”so we lashed Anjelica into a metal corset that created this hips-and-waist thing I’ve never seen any woman have in reality.” The role also required Huston to get gauze eye lifts, neck tucks, and fake nails daily. ”Come afternoon, I could be prone to a really good headache from my various bondages,” she told EW. ”And because I couldn’t lie down (in the corset) or rest, it was fairly exhausting.”

11. THE COMPANY FINANCING THE MOVIE SOLD IT WHILE IT WAS BEING FILMED.

Because Orion Pictures had the rights to The Addams Family, they were the ones responsible for financing and potentially releasing the movie. Even though there were some budget concerns, selling the movie to another company was something Rudin and Sonnenfeld had not even considered. But three-quarters of the way through filming, Rudin was informed that Orion had sold the movie to Paramount by Hollywood Reporter writer Andrea King. Even though Rudin was also working on a movie at the time with Paramount, in addition with having phone conversations daily with Orion over The Addams Family, he had absolutely no idea.

12. “VALLEY BOYS” CUT THE BIG MUSICAL NUMBER.

Initially “The Mamushka” scene was much longer, and it featured Gomez and Fester singing about brotherly love. Even though Broadway veterans were hired to write the traditional Addams clan number, most of the scene was cut because a California test audience mostly composed of 16- to 32-year-old white males didn’t care for it.

13. THE STUDIOS WERE SUED AS SOON AS THE MOVIE CAME OUT.

David Levy, the executive producer of the old Addams Family TV series, sued Paramount and Orion after the movie was released to surprising commercial success. Levy claimed that too many of his ideas, which were originally from his show and not from the Charles Addams cartoons, were used in the movie. Levy, who still owned the rights to the TV show, created specific character quirks and concepts that were used in the movie, such as Gomez’ love of blowing up toy trains, and Thing being a disembodied hand, as opposed to being a normal background character in the cartoons. Paramount and Levy ultimately settled out of court.