Month: November 2016

Have a few friends who are always looking up at the sky? Here are some gift ideas that celebrate the celestial bodies they know and love.

1. MOON LIGHT BALL; $10

The whole moon can be lassoed out of space and brought near you. Give this 4-inch lunar light to anyone who needs a little illumination on their desk or in their closet.

Find It: Amazon

2. SATURN CRYSTAL PUZZLE; $8

Take puzzles to another dimension with a 3D crystal model of Saturn. The jigsaw is made of 39 interlocking pieces that come together to form the shape of the ringed planet. 

Find It: Amazon

3. PLANETARY GLASSES; $20

Now, your loved one can take drinks from all the planets in the solar system. This set comes with eight glasses (which can hold up to 10 ounces) that look like the planets, along with the sun (which holds up to 16 ounces) and Pluto (which holds up to 4 ounces). The designs are applied to the glass with a high temperature heat wrap, so they can’t be put in the dishwasher—but would you really want to get the sun wet?

Find It: Amazon

4. SOLAR SYSTEM NECKLACE; $40

Have a friend who believes they’re the center of the universe? Now, they can really assume that role with a miniature version of the solar system wrapped around their neck. This necklace from ThinkGeek comes on an 18-inch chain and features an array of colorful semi-precious gems. It has all the planets, plus the sun, Pluto, and an asteroid belt.

Find It: ThinkGeek

5. GLOW IN THE DARK CONSTELLATION MAP; $25

Skip the travel poster and go for something really out of this world. With the lights on, this nearly 29-inch poster shows the stars and constellations of the Northern Hemisphere. When you flip off the lights, the lines fade and the stars and Milky Way shine vibrantly.

Find It: Amazon

6. CHART OF SPACE EXPLORATION; $38

This all-inclusive map from Pop Chart Lab details the history of cosmic exploration by highlighting every orbiter, lander, rover, flyby, and impactor to ever enter space. In total, the chart features 100 exploratory instruments.

Find It: Pop Chart Lab

7. ASTRONAUT ICE CREAM; $6

We can’t all be astronauts, but we can at least eat like them. Though the Neapolitan square was originally created for early Apollo Space Missions, it isn’t eaten by modern astronauts today because of its crumbly nature. Still, it’s a novelty snack worth trying. The ice cream is frozen at -40 degrees and vacuum dried, so it doesn’t need to be kept in the freezer.

Find It: Amazon

8. SPACE PLATES; $39

A great addition to any space-themed kitchen, the melamine plates feature watercolor designs of the eight planets (Sorry, Pluto!) that will make any entrée seem otherworldly.

Find It: Amazon

9. EARTH FLEECE; $30

Global warming suddenly has a new—and less dire—meaning. These 60-inch fleece blankets feature actual NASA photographs of Earth, Jupiter, or Mars.

Find It: ThinkGeek

10. LITTLE DIPPER EARRINGS; $18

Astrology fans can wear the iconic constellation right in their ears. The set comes with a small star earring and a constellation-shaped ear wrap, made with sterling silver and AAA zircon.

Find It: Amazon

11. PLANET BALL SOCKS; $9

At first glance, this looks like a plush toy of Earth, but once you unroll it, a pair of colorful socks emerges.

Find It: Amazon

12. HEAT CHANGING MUG; $15 

Nerdy coffee drinkers will love this mug featuring the red supergiant V838 Monocerotis. When the cup—which can hold up to 20 ounces—is filled with hot water, the design changes to show the light echo of its stellar outburst.

Find It: ThinkGeek

13. ASTRONAUT JUMPSUIT; $84

This cotton jumpsuit mimics the look of a spacesuit and even has a removable cooler for storing space beer. If your giftee needs room for storing more items (moon rocks, for instance), there are also two zippered pockets on the side.

Find It: Tipsy Elves

14. FINDERS KEEPERS SHIRT; $24

Here is a humorous shirt for patriotic friends and family. It features an astronaut on the moon with the triumphant words, “FINDERS KEEPERS.” The shirts come in men’s and women’s, in sizes ranging from small to triple XL.

Find It: Busted Tees

15. SPACE POPS; $30

If Earth had a flavor, what would it be? Cotton candy, according to this collection of 10 handmade lollipops featuring pictures of all the planets of the solar system, plus the sun and Pluto. Each celestial body has its own unique flavor. (Spoiler alert: Pluto is strawberry kiwi.)

Find It: ThinkGeek

16. VIRTUAL REALITY PLANETARIUM; $99

Give your loved one the gift of a planetarium that they can hold in their hands. The device has eight different modes and three hours of educational audio and is compatible with images of 150 different celestial objects, all taken by the Hubble Telescope.

Find It: Amazon

17. MOON PHASE EARRINGS; $45

Perfect for both the science-inclined and the mystics in your life, these brass earrings show the phases of the moon covered by little dollops of glass.

Find It: Uncommon Goods

18. SOLAR SYSTEM WATCH; $13

As it’s telling time, this watch certainly makes a statement. Lacking any numbers, the accessory has three working hands that dutifully move around the face of the watch.

Find It: Amazon

19. USB ASTRONAUT LIGHT; $5

Working late into the night doesn’t have to be lonely with this astronaut companion. Simply plug it into a USB port and its helmet will give off a warm glow of LED light.

Find It: Amazon

20. SUPERNOVA SKIRT; $35

Help your loved one show off their supernova “flare” with this skirt that features a faux-leather waistband and a vibrant design of a galaxy.

Find It: ModCloth

Mental Floss has affiliate relationships with certain retailers and may receive a small percentage of any sale. But we only get commission on items you buy and don’t return, so we’re only happy if you’re happy. Thanks for helping us pay the bills!

The average Thanksgiving dinner is around 2,500 calories. They used large servings to calculate that, so go ahead and have a second helping.
*
The science of survival in Antarctica. A series of four videos tells us how people live and work down there non the cold.
*
What’s Up With The British Tea Obsession? It started out to cure whatever ails ya.
*
The Invention of News. Journalism is easier when someone goes ahead and writes a press release.
*
Visit the Kansas farm that accidentally became the digital center of the U.S. When you live at the default location, all kinds of horrible things happen.  
*
The Catholic Church has a new phone app for making a confession. It’s named The Catholic App, but many are already calling is Sinder.
*
President Obama had a ‘corny-copia’ of bad dad jokes at this year’s turkey pardon. With two months to retirement, you can blame him for having a little fun.
*
Why We Eat What We Eat On Thanksgiving. Mainly because our traditional dishes are just so darn delicious.

After nearly 150 years of staying put at England’s Bowes Museum, the Silver Swan—a one-of-a-kind, life-sized swan automaton and music box—is about to take flight. Created in 1773 by Belgian inventor John Joseph Merlin along with British jeweler James Cox, the mechanism will be on display as part of “Robots,” a new exhibition that’s opening at London’s Science Museum in February, according to Cult of Weird.

The Silver Swan is widely known for its precision craftsmanship, detailed silverwork, and advancements in clockwork gears. When it’s wound up, the music box plays and the river the swan floats on—composed of rotating glass cylinders—begins to stream. The automaton then begins to preen itself, as it moves its head from side to side. The swan later dips its head down to catch and eat one of the small silver fish swimming below. It finally lifts its head again, a fish wriggling in its mouth, as the performance ends after 32 seconds of elegant “dancing.” A waterfall was believed to be positioned behind the Silver Swan at one time, but it was stolen during years of touring.

The automaton gained mass popularity when it was put on display at the International Exposition of 1867 in Paris, France. Mark Twain actually saw the swan in person at that event, the second world’s fair, and wrote about the oddity in The Innocents Abroad. According to Twain, the swan “had a living grace about his movement and a living intelligence in his eyes.”

“We are thrilled that the Silver Swan—one of the greatest 18th-century automatons—will be part of our ‘Robots’ exhibition,” Ben Russell, the Science Museum’s lead curator, said. “The Swan is an amazing evocation of life, and makes us reflect on our endless fascination with replicating living things in mechanical form.”

The Silver Swan will make its way to the Science Museum from February 8 to March 23, 2017.

[h/t Cult of Weird]

For the past 20 years, the Resident Evil franchise has been the leader of horror video games with its creepy design, monstrous creatures, and more than two dozen titles in its library. However, the upcoming Resident Evil 7: Biohazard has outdone itself with a special collector’s edition release, which comes with a detailed 8-inch model of the Baker plantation mansion from the video game, Engadget reports.

The limited edition haunted house replica comes with flashing LED lights and speakers, as it doubles as a spooky music box. It plays a sample of “Go Tell Aunt Rhody,” the main theme from Resident Evil 7. The collector’s edition—which is exclusive to GameStop—also comes with an old VHS tape box, a metal case, a severed bloody finger that doubles as a 4GB USB stick, a lithograph of the Baker family, and a mysterious creepy note that reads, “I shall dash you against the stones,” which is a verse from the Bible.

The Resident Evil 7: Biohazard collector’s edition, which will be released on January 24, 2017, will retail for $179.99 and will be available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The video game is also available on PC, but not the special collector’s edition with all the extra goodies.

[h/t Engadget]

There’s a lot more to Thanksgiving than just the turkey and the Pilgrims. And though most celebrations will break out the cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, there are a number of other customs that you might be less aware of (and some that are becoming too ubiquitous to miss).

1. THE TURKEY TROT FOOTRACE

Many towns host brisk morning runs to lessen the guilt about the impending feast (distances and times vary from race to race, but the feel-good endorphins are universal). The oldest known Turkey Trot footrace took place in Buffalo, New York, and has been happening every year since 1896. Nearly 13,000 runners participated in the 4.97 mile race last year.

2. THE GREAT GOBBLER GALLOP IN CUERO, TEXAS

During their annual TurkeyFest in November, they gather a bunch of turkeys and have the “Great Gobbler Gallop,” a turkey race. It started in 1908 when a turkey dressing house opened in town. Early in November, farmers would herd their turkeys down the road toward the dressing house so the birds could be prepared for Thanksgiving. As you can imagine, this was quite a spectacle—as many as 20,000 turkeys have been part of this “march”. People gathered to watch, and eventually the first official festival was formed around the event in 1912. The final event of the celebration is the Great Gobbler Gallop, a race between the Cuero turkey champ and the champ from Worthington, Minnesota (they have a TurkeyFest as well). Each town holds a heat and the best time between the towns wins. The prize is a four-foot trophy called “The Traveling Turkey Trophy of Tumultuous Triumph.”

3. FRANKSGIVING

From 1939 to 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up by a week. In ’39, Thanksgiving, traditionally held on the last Thursday of November, fell on the 30th. Since enough people would wait until after Thanksgiving to start their Christmas shopping, Roosevelt was concerned that having the holiday so late in the month would mess up retail sales at a time when he was trying hard to pull Americans out of the Great Depression. It didn’t entirely go over well though—some states observed FDR’s change, and others celebrated what was being called the “Republican” Thanksgiving on the traditional, last-Thursday date. Colorado, Mississippi, and Texas all considered both Thanksgivings to be holidays. Today, we’ve basically split the difference—Thanksgiving is held on the fourth Thursday of November, regardless of whether that’s the last Thursday of the month or not.

4. THE PRESIDENTIAL TURKEY PARDON

The story goes that since at least Harry Truman, it has been tradition for the President of the U.S. to save a couple of birds from becoming someone’s feast. Records only go back to George H.W. Bush doing it, though some say the tradition goes all the way back to Abraham Lincoln pardoning his son’s pet turkey. (Lincoln is also the President who originally declared that the holiday be held on the last Thursday of November.) In recent years, the public has gotten to name the turkeys in online polls; the paired turkeys (the one you see in pictures and a backup) have gotten creative names such as Stars and Stripes, Biscuit and Gravy, Marshmallow and Yam, Flyer and Fryer, Apple and Cider, and Honest and Abe last year.

5. THANKSGIVING PARADES

Everyone knows about the Macy’s Parade, but for a more historically accurate parade, check out America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Parade in Plymouth. The parade starts with a military flyover and continues with floats and costumed people taking the parade-goers from the 17th century to the present time. There are nationally recognized Drum and Bugle Corps, re-enactment units from every period of American history, and military marching units. And military bands play music honoring the men and women who serve in each branch: the Army, the Navy, the Marines, the Air Force, and the Coast Guard.

6. BLACK FRIDAY

Black Friday, of course, is the day-after sales extravaganza that major (and minor) retailers participate in. Most people think that the term comes from the day of the year when retail stores make their profits go from red to black, but other sources have it originating from police officers in Philadelphia. They referred to the day as Black Friday because of the heavy traffic and higher propensity for accidents. Also, just because you hear that it’s “the busiest shopping day of the season” on the news, don’t believe it. It’s one of the busiest days, but typically, it’s hardly ever the busiest, though it typically ranks somewhere in the top 10. The busiest shopping day of the year is usually the Saturday before Christmas.

7. CYBER MONDAY

Black Friday is quickly being rivaled in popularity by Cyber Monday. It’s a fairly recent phenomenon—it didn’t even have a name until 2005. But there’s truth to it—77 percent of online retailers at the time reported an increase in sales on that particular day, and as online shopping has continued to grow and become more convenient, retailers have scheduled their promotions to follow suit.

8. BUY NOTHING DAY

And in retaliation for Black Friday, there’s Buy Nothing Day. To protest consumerism, many people informally celebrate BND. It was first “celebrated” in 1992, but didn’t settle on its day-after-Thanksgiving date until 1997, where it has been ever since. It’s also observed internationally, but outside of North America the day of observance is the Saturday after our Thanksgiving.

9. FOOTBALL

It’s a common sight across the U.S.: parents, cousins, aunts, and uncles passed out on the couch watching football after dinner. Well, we have the first Detroit Lions owner, G.A. Richards, to thank for the tradition of Thanksgiving football. He saw it as a way to get people to his games. CBS was the first on the bandwagon when they televised their first Thanksgiving game in 1956. The first color broadcast was in 1965—the Lions vs. the Baltimore Colts. Since the 1960s, the Dallas Cowboys have joined the Lions in hosting Thanksgiving Day games, and the NFL Network now airs a third game on that night.

10. NATIONAL DOG SHOW

Of course, if football isn’t your thing, there’s always the National Dog Show. It’s aired after the Macy’s Parade on NBC every year. Good luck telling your dad that he’ll be enjoying Springer Spaniels instead of the Lions or Cowboys, though.

A version of this story originally published in 2008.

On Thanksgiving and Black Friday, bargain hunters will camp outside stores, eagerly waiting for the doors to open—and camera phones and surveillance videos will capture any stampedes that might ensue. Surprisingly, this bad behavior isn’t a modern phenomenon; parents who pushed for Tickle-Me Elmo Dolls in 1996 or Cabbage Patch Dolls in 1983 weren’t even the first generation to attack in the aisles. For more than a century, shoppers have stampeded towards goods they really wanted, but didn’t quite need—sometimes with fatal results.

1. VICTORIA HALL TOY TRAMPLING

In 1883, the organizers of a variety show in Northern England promised the children attending the event that they would receive a toy upon exit (the organizers denied reports that the prizes were to go to the first children downstairs). The organizers had intended an orderly exit in which toys were handed out individually, but a surge of 1200 kids rushed to the stairwell, where, at the bottom of the stairs, a door had been propped open inwards about 20 inches and bolted in place. The bolted door stopped the stampeding children from exiting, and the crowd in the stairwell swelled. In the frenzy, children who fell were crushed or suffocated to death, while others were crushed by the mass of children still entering the stairwell. Almost 200 children were killed in the stampede; Queen Victoria’s private secretary wrote that the queen’s “heart bleeds for the suffering of the many bereaved parents.” The New York Times reported days later that the coveted box of toys was still positioned by the door.

2. CORONATION MUG CROWD CRUSH

In 1896, more than 500,000 people crowded onto a Moscow field early in the morning for the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II. The crowd anticipated gifts, including a pretzel and a commemorative cup—but when rumors swirled that not enough gifts were available, panic spread.

Witnesses reported a rage in which the stampeding crowd swore, shouted, and pushed toward the sheds where the gifts were held. Attendees who fell were trampled as the angry crowd pressed forward. Almost 1400 people were killed and 1300 were injured, but the celebration didn’t stop after the stampede. Casualties were moved from the site, and the festivities shifted elsewhere on the field. Many attendees were unaware that a tragedy had occurred just hours earlier.

3. CLEARANCE SALE STAMPEDE

In the 1930s, Eaton’s Department Store in Winnipeg, Canada held clearance sales every day in January and February. Depression era shoppers lined up to buy items on steep discount, and smaller store owners also lined up, hoping to resell goods at a markup. The competing consumers were highly aggressive; on one occasion, a man was knocked unconscious during the frenzy. One witness described how a floorwalker, “unperturbed by the sudden appearance of an injured man out cold … casually commandeered the nearest elevator [and] dragged the injured man by his feet into it.” The sales stampede persisted at the store for decades. In the 1950s, sales staff were known to throw products at crowds to allow shoppers to fight it out among themselves.

4. NYLON NASTINESS

By August 1945, World War II was almost over, and because nylon was no longer needed for the war effort, production of stockings was able to resume. The government was clear—they weren’t going to involve themselves with the distribution of stockings—and newspapers eagerly anticipated the mad rush women would make to the department stores that received early shipments.

As expected, over the next few months, eager shoppers gathered to snag one of the few available pairs. In New York, 30,000 women flooded a department store. In Pittsburgh, 40,000 women lined up for only 13,000 available pairs. Shoppers tore through the stores looking for the nylon display. Those who scored a pair had to fend off shoppers willing to rip the product from their hands. Some cities saw crowds, others saw chaos. In Augusta, Georgia, women fought physically over the nylons and knocked over display merchandise in their struggles.

The shortage was short-lived. The following March, production increased to 30 million pairs a month, and soon there was plenty for all.

5. TV TRAMPLE

In February 1954, the promise of discounted goods lured thousands of shoppers to the Hearn’s Department Store on 14th Street in New York City. More than 10,000 shoppers crammed the street, demanding the store be opened.

The Washington’s Birthday sale boasted $6.95 television sets and 29 cent umbrellas. Watches that were typically $19.95 were $5.22, and pearl necklaces that sold for $39 were $3.

The police intended to only allow 10 shoppers in at a time, but the mob grew impatient, and a flood of people stampeded into the store. In the chaos, dozens of people were injured. A policeman was shoved through a plate-glass door, windows were broken, and customers physically fought each other for goods.

The Washington’s Birthday stampede wasn’t unique to New York in the 1950s. Three years earlier, a price war between competing department stores sent consumers stampeding into stores.

6. COFFEE CROWD CRUSH

An aptly-named “Crazy Day” sale attracted more than 2000 shoppers to a Florida grocery store—which had advertised $75 power lawn mowers for only 99 cents, as well as one-pound packages of coffee for 29 cents—in 1954. The stampeding crowd sent several shoppers to the hospital and frightened store clerks. As the swarm grew, clerks began throwing packages of coffee at the crowd to prevent being attacked, and the police had to be called to restore order.

Wills can be the perfect format for revealing unusual last wishes, because by the time the document is read it’s too late for anyone to interfere. Some people have used their will to send a message from beyond the grave—whether one of thanks, bitterness, or regret—while others have included some unexpected instructions for the fate of certain body parts.

1. THE LEGACY OF BITTERNESS

Michigan millionaire Wellington Burt’s 1919 will became known as “The Legacy of Bitterness,” because he stipulated that his massive fortune couldn’t be paid out until 21 years after the death of his last grandchild. No one knows why the eccentric (and clearly cantankerous) lumber merchant made such a strange bequest, ignoring his close family and the many causes he had supported in life in favor of a fund for future relatives. In 1989 his final surviving grandchild died, and the 21-year countdown began. Lawyers were responsible for sifting through the many applications from relatives to identify those eligible to inherit. Eventually in 2011, the will finally paid out and 12 far-removed relatives benefited from the roughly $110 million fortune.

2. DINNER ON ME

Oscar-winning choreographer and director Bob Fosse left a final request that benefited 66 of his friends and colleagues who had “at one time or another during my life been very kind to me.” Fosse, who died in 1987, left a sum of $25,000 to be split between the 66 beneficiaries (which worked out as $378.79 each), who were instructed “to go out and have dinner on me.” Those urged to go out and eat in his honor included Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, and Liza Minnelli. Fosse’s surviving wife, Gwen Verdon, followed her husband’s wishes and booked the Crystal Room at Tavern on the Green in Central Park, New York, to which she invited all those named in the will as a final celebration.

3. THE OLDEST KNOWN WILL

In 1890 renowned archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie was excavating a pyramid in Kahun, Egypt, when he uncovered the world’s oldest wills. The fascinating documents were written on papyrus and prove that even ancient Egyptians liked to include some unusual requests in their last wishes. The will of Ankh-ren (also known as Sekhenren, depending on translation) is dated to 1797 BCE and leaves all his goods to his brother, Uah. Uah’s will was also found and it details that all the goods he received from his brother should be left to his wife, Teta—but it then goes on to add the intriguing caveat that Teta must refrain from knocking down any of the inherited houses. These ancient wills re-wrote the history books, indicating that laws of inheritance had developed many hundreds of years earlier than previously thought.

4. A WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING

The 1553 will of Renaissance satirist Rabelais was famously succinct, supposedly consisting of just one memorable line: “I have no available property, I owe a great deal; the rest I give to the poor.”

5. MYSTERY BOX

Antiquarian Francis Douce left a box to the British Museum in his 1834 will, specifying that it couldn’t be opened until January 1, 1900. The bequest was deemed especially unusual because Douce had worked at the museum for a short period of time before resigning, listing multiple reasons why he had to leave, including the “vastness of the business remaining to be done” and “the fiddle faddle requisition of incessant reports.” Douce had amassed an exceptional collection of old books, manuscripts, coins, and artifacts over his lifetime, and the majority of his collection he had bequeathed to the Bodleian Library in Oxford, where it became one of the library’s treasures. Thus the mystery box garnered quite some attention as curators at the British Museum speculated over what might be inside. Despite their impatience, Douce’s wishes were respected and the box remained unopened until 1900, when the trustees gathered round in excitement to finally glimpse the contents. However, the crowd was disappointed—it contained nothing more than some old notebooks and pieces of scrap paper.

A few newspaper reports from the time suggested that Douce had included a note in the box saying he thought the trustees at the museum were philistines and unworthy of receiving anything of any value. If this is true, no sign of the note has survived. Note or no note, the trustees could not help but see the mystery box and its disappointing contents as Douce’s revenge on the museum from beyond the grave. Their hopes of a valuable addition to their collections dashed, the British Museum handed over the contents of the box to the Bodleian in 1930, so that it might join the rest of his (rather more spectacular) collection.

6. A STARRING ROLE

John “Pop” Reed worked for many decades as a stagehand at Philadelphia’s famous Walnut Street Theater. His unusual will revealed that he yearned for the stage. Reed stipulated that after his death his head should be removed from his body and his skull preserved and given to the theater, where it should be used for the skull of Yorick in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Reed’s wishes were duly carried out, and his skull became something of a memento at the theater, where it was autographed by many visiting actors.

This odd bequest is not as unique as it may seem, and many others have left similar instructions, including Polish composer Andre Tchaíkowsky (not to be confused with the rather more famous Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky). Tchaíkowsky died in 1982 and willed his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company, where it was finally used on stage by David Tennant during his acclaimed 2008 portrayal of Hamlet.

7. CLEARING THE NATIONAL DEBT

In 1928 a kindly British citizen made an anonymous bequest to the nation of £500,000 (roughly $621,407) with the purpose of paying off the national debt. Since then the money has been held in trust as the National Fund and has grown substantially to £350 million (approximately $440 million), making it one of the 30 wealthiest charities in the UK by net assets. Unfortunately, stipulations in the will mean that it cannot be cashed in until it can fully cover the national debt, and as that currently stands at an eye-watering £1.6 trillion, this seems unlikely to ever happen. Barclays bank, which works as a trustee of the fund, has been investigating legal options to see if charitable grants could be made from it, or if the money could be handed directly to the Treasury, but so far no legal settlement has been found and the money remains untouched.

8. CREATING REGRETS

German essayist and poet Heinrich Heine left a very strange clause in his will. Heine had married his mistress in 1841, an uneducated shop worker named Crescence Eugénie Mirat, whom for unknown reasons he called Mathilde. The pair were married for 15 years, and historians have revealed they had a volatile relationship. By the late 1840s Heine had become increasingly ill (possibly with syphilis) and was confined to bed for the last eight years of his life, his wife Mathilde at his side until the end. Heine, aware that he was dying, inserted a curious clause into his will in which he stipulated that Mathilde could only inherit his money if she remarried. This may seem a very strange desire for a loving husband to make, but when questioned by friends as to his reasoning, he quipped, “Because then, at least one man will regret my death.”

9. VALLEY OF A MILLION BULBS

In 2007 a former RAF pilot and Canadian investment banker, Keith Owen, bequeathed his £2.3 million (approximately $2.85 million) fortune to his favorite holiday destination—Sidmouth in Devon, England. Owen stipulated that the capital must remain untouched, but that the sizeable yearly interest (about $150,000) should be used to make Sidmouth and nearby villages of Sidford and Sidbury “beautiful.” As a result, a local civic society, the Sid Valley Association, has been attempting to fulfill Owen’s wishes to create a “valley of a million bulbs” by planting thousands of flower bulbs—in 2014 alone they planted an astonishing 220,000 bulbs, which create a fantastic display of color when they flower each spring.

Smartwatches have their pros and cons. You can browse the Internet with the flick of a wrist, but at the end of the day, their battery life simply isn’t that great. Since most people aren’t crazy about the idea of charging their watch every night, MIT Technology Review reports that a Bay Area tech startup called Matrix Industries has designed the PowerWatch, a smart timepiece that’s powered by body heat.

The fitness-tracking watch runs on “thermoelectric generator technology.” According to CNET, this is a fancy way of saying that the temperature difference between your body and the watch is used to generate an electric current. Then, a transformer boosts the charge to run the smartwatch’s processor. The watch also contains a small backup battery, which helps it run when you’re not wearing it.

The PowerWatch is akin to a Fitbit, in that it counts your calorie intake and steps, and monitors your sleep. But unlike most fitness trackers, the watch actually gets a boost when you exercise. “When you exercise, your skin gets warmer, so you’ll generate more power,” Akram Boukai, the co-founder and CEO of Matrix Industries, told CNNMoney. “It’s kind of motivational.”

The watch is currently available for pre-order on Indiegogo. It costs $129, and is expected to ship in July 2017. Its full retail price after release is expected to be around $170.

[h/t MIT Technology Review]

Tenants of one Miami apartment building have gotten used to finding water in their parking garage, but even they were surprised to see what this month’s super beaver moon dragged in: a small octopus, the Miami Herald reports.

Resident Richard Conlin snapped photos of the small white octopus lying on the wet parking deck and shared them on Facebook.

After the photos were taken, Conlin wrote, building security scooped the octopus into a bucket, walked out to the ocean, and tossed the critter back.

Improbable? Absolutely—but not as improbable as it once was. The apartment building is located right on the beach. Its drains and pipes are connected to the ocean, and unusually high tides can and do wash onto the parking deck’s concrete floors. Sometimes those tides bear passengers.

Biologist Kathleen Sullivan Sealey of the University of Miami says the octopus was likely either a Caribbean reef octopus or an Atlantic pygmy octopus, and that it may have been following a school of fish through the drainage system when it came out the other side. With their soft bodies, octopuses are very skilled at squeezing through small spaces. This talent can make them very hard to contain, but, as we see here, it can also land them in some pretty strange places.

Sealey told the Miami Herald that we can expect more and more marine visitors as sea levels continue to rise. In the last 10 years alone, flooding in Miami Beach has increased by 400 percent. “The sea is moving in,” she said, “so we have to share the space.”

Next week, art lovers with cash to spare will travel to Florida for Art Basel Miami Beach, the international art fair, which runs from December 1 to December 4. Attendees typically splurge on modern and contemporary art, but this year, The New York Times reports, they have the option to purchase a relic of communist East Germany: an enormous stained glass mural created for the Stasi, the infamous secret police of the German Democratic Republic.

Thilo Holzmann, a German art historian, found the free-standing mural among his uncle’s belongings. It had sat forgotten in a shipping crate for years. Hoping that the work’s history will lend it unique value, Holzmann is hosting a pop-up exhibition during Art Basel at an undisclosed location. There, he hopes to sell the mammoth stained glass creation for more than $21 million.

A Stasi stained glass mural that doesn’t even contain a single Stasi reference priced at $21.4 mln. https://t.co/mYz3GJpKhp

— Yuliya Komska (@ykomska) November 22, 2016

Erich Mielke, the longest-serving head of the Stasi, commissioned artist Richard Otfried Wilhelm to create the three-ton, 65-foot-wide mural in 1979. (Wilhelm was the German Democratic Republic’s chief master of glass for public works.) The mural depicts Lenin, two doves, a hammer and sickle symbol, a Communist slogan, and other iconography. The work also contains precious metals, including 55 pounds of gold pigment. Wilhelm titled the work Revolution: Frieden unserem Erdenrund (“Revolution: Peace to the Whole World”).

The mural was completed in 1983, and it furnished a general purpose room in the Ministry of State Security’s compound (today the Stasi Museum). In 1990—one year after the Berlin Wall fell—Holzmann’s uncle bought the work from the Deutsche Reichsbahn, the state railroad company, which was charged with selling the Stasi’s belongings.

There’s no record of how much Holzmann’s uncle paid for the work, but the art historian is hoping that a museum (or a private citizen who wants to donate it to a public institution) is willing to pony up millions. Some experts question whether the work is truly worth $21 million, pointing out that stained glass works were once common in East Germany, and that Holzmann hasn’t fleshed out the specifics of its history. Also, from an artistic standpoint, the quality simply isn’t that great.

If Holzmann does end up landing a multi-million dollar buyer, “you will see a storm of the same kind of art coming on the market, because many of these kinds of stained glass windows are very often in buildings from the ’70s and ’80s that aren’t used anymore,” Sjeng Scheijen, a Soviet art expert and associate researcher at Leiden University, told the Times.

[h/t The New York Times]