Month: November 2016

The London Library is getting some long-overdue books back. Several of the library’s historic books dating back to the 18th century or older were recently discovered in a locked wardrobe, The Guardian reports. The 200-year-old London Library doesn’t sell books, so they must have been stolen by whoever squirreled them away.

Taken from the library sometime in the late 1950s, the books were discovered by a dealer who was asked to evaluate the collection of a family’s deceased relative. The stolen books returned last week include texts like A Discourse on Witchcraft (1736); a 1680 book with the long-winded title The most Sacred and Divine Science of Astrology by JBBD, a Protestant Minister of the True, Antient, Catholick and Apostolick Faith of the Church of England; the 1722 text The First Part of the Treatise of the Late Dreadful Plague in France Compared With That Terrible Plague in London, in the Year 1665; The Age of the World Collected in All Its Periods by JS (1707); A Collection of Letters by His Excellency General George Monk Relating to the Restoration of the Monarchy (1714); The True-Born English-man. A Satyr (1708); and The Famous History of the Seven Champions of Christendom (1696).

The library does not impose late fines, and the family of the book thief won’t be charged. Some of the pages were mutilated due to attempts to remove the London Library stamps on them, but at least one text still had a complete stamp, allowing it to be identified as the library’s property.

The London Library is thrilled to have its books back, and really, 50-some-odd years isn’t that long to wait for an overdue book. Some libraries have waited more than a century to get their missing books back.

[h/t The Guardian]

Few things are more American than processed meat in a can. But the appeal of Spam—the porky, salty luncheon loaf produced by Hormel—transcends national borders. If you’re still waiting to be turned on to the wonders of Spam, perhaps the addition of Velveeta, nori, or mushy peas will help it go down easier.

1. SPAM FRITTER // UK

Spam migrated to England during World War II. The product’s long shelf life made it a convenient source of protein for U.S. troops and rationing turned it into a delicacy for the citizens of the places they occupied. Today fresh meat is much easier to come by in the UK, but Brits still have a soft spot in their hearts for the canned stuff. One popular British preparation of the ingredient puts a twist on the classic fish and chips. Spam fritters are made by dredging slices of the meat in batter and frying them up in a pan. The proper British serving suggestion calls for thick-cut chips and mushy peas on the side.

2. SPAMSILOG // PHILIPPINES

Spam rivals scrapple as one of the most unusual meat products to appear on a breakfast plate. In the Philippines, it’s fried up like bacon and served alongside rice and a sunny side up egg. When you put all the components together—Spam, sinangag (fried rice), and pritong itlog (fried egg)—you get Spamsilog. Tomatoes and cucumbers on the side are optional.

3. SPAM MUSABI // HAWAII

If one dish perfectly sums up the mish-mash of cultures that make up Hawaii, it’s Spam musabi. At first glance it resembles traditional sushi with a strip of nori (seaweed) binding together rice and protein. But upon closer inspection you’ll see the protein is actually a slice of crispy, caramelized Spam. On the islands this treat can be found everywhere from school cafeterias to 7-Elevens.

4. SANDWICH DE MEZCLA // PUERTO RICO

Puerto Rico’s Sandwich de Mezcla (or “the mix”) is an unapologetic celebration of processed goodness. The contents consist of canned pimentos, Velveeta or Cheez Whiz, and Spam all blended together in a food processor. It’s smeared between two slices of white bread and commonly served at parties.

5. GOYA CHANPURU // JAPAN

Okinawa is home to a vibrant food scene—one that includes soba noodles, taco rice, and yes, Spam. Goya Chanpuru, made from tofu, egg, bitter gourd, and cubes of Spam, is one of the island’s signature dishes. The American product weaseled its way into the local cuisine through the U.S. military’s occupation of Okinawa during World War II. The history of the stir-fry actually dates back 1000 years, but when SBS asked a 90-year-old Okinawa native what was used in the dish before Spam she replied, “I don’t even remember.”

6. BUDAE JJIGAE // SOUTH KOREA

In South Korea, Spam is marketed as a luxury product and given as a gift at holidays. Koreans consume so much of it that their population of 50 million people make up the world’s second largest Spam market (right behind the U.S., which has a population of over 300 million). The nation’s most iconic Spam dish is Budae Jjigae, or army stew. There’s a lot going on with this recipe: In addition to Spam, it contains kimchi, chili paste, hot dogs, beans, pre-packaged cheese, and instant ramen noodles. The dish originated during the Korean War when locals were desperate for food. Army rations smuggled out of U.S. bases were tossed together in a pot and spiced with traditional Korean flavors to create the gut-busting meal. The dish, which comes served in a gigantic bowl, is meant to be shared.

7. SPAM AND EGG MACARONI SOUP // HONG KONG

Macaroni soup is so ubiquitous in Hong Kong that it’s included on McDonald’s breakfast menus. Traditionally served with a slice of ham, Spam became the starring ingredient when it was introduced by British colonizers in the 1940s. The recipe isn’t overly complicated: canned corn adds some crunch while the egg on top passes it off as a breakfast dish no matter where in the world you’re dining.

When an old piano is out of tune and completely out of commission, some say there’s only one thing left to do: Burn it. Burning an old piano has become something of a tradition for musicians and Air Force members alike—although no one’s exactly sure how it got started.

Most stories attribute the birth of the custom to the British Royal Air Force (RAF), with the ritual eventually spreading to the U.S. Air Force. One popular origin tale goes like this: Some time during World War II, the Royal Air Force decided that their pilots needed to be more civilized and gentlemanly. As part of this etiquette training, pilots were required to take piano lessons. And they all hated it—so no one was surprised when the building the piano was in mysteriously caught fire, reducing the instrument to a pile of ashes, strings, and keys. The act of rebellion quickly became a tradition among pilots.

The other story often cited is a bit more touching. By this account, a fallen RAF fighter pilot was also the resident piano player in his squadron, and after he was killed on a mission, his fellow squadron members burned the piano in his honor—if he couldn’t play it, no one should.

In the video below, RAF Lt. Col. James Radley gives both potential origin stories before a piano burn at the Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. The piano was set alight to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain:

But it’s not just members of the military who tickle the incendiary ivories—playing a piano as it burns has also become a kind of performance art.

Pianist Yosuke Yamashita played his first burning piano in 1973, when a graphic designer asked him to do the honors for a short film. Yamashita happened to view the film again 35 years later and was inspired to do an encore performance. This time, he assembled 500 spectators on a beach in Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture to watch the piano turn to embers. It took 10 minutes for the flames to completely silence the instrument, but Yamashita played until he could literally play no more.

“I did not think I was risking my life but I was almost suffocating from the smoke that was continuously getting into my eyes and nose,” Yamashita later said.

Of course, others have a little more fun with it, like this pianist who appropriately chose “Great Balls of Fire” to play:

Should you want to attempt the feat yourself, take the advice of Annea Lockwood, a composer who has written unorthodox pieces for decomposing pianos, such as Piano Garden and Drowning Piano. Here are the directions for Piano Burning, written in 1968:

– Set upright piano (not a grand) in an open space with the lid closed.
– Spill a little lighter fluid on a twist of paper and place inside, near the pedals.
– Light it.
– Balloons may be stapled to the piano.
– Play whatever pleases you for as long as you can.

If you do follow her instructions, however, make sure you adhere to Lockwood’s number one rule: “All pianos used should already be beyond repair.”

Apparently we’re not the only animals who could benefit from reading glasses; primatologists now report that older bonobos groom their kin from a distance, like a person holding a restaurant menu at arm’s length. Their study, published in the journal Current Biology, confirms that bonobos become farsighted as they age.

Along with the chimpanzee, the bonobo (Pan paniscus) is the closest living relative of humans; our three species share nearly 99 percent of our DNA. But unlike humans or chimpanzees, bonobos have a reputation as the hippies of the animal kingdom, resolving conflicts with sex rather than violence. They put a high value on group harmony, which they maintain through the aforementioned love-ins and by a near-constant social grooming regimen. 

It was during one of these grooming sessions that experts observed a very familiar behavior: An older male named Ten (abbreviated TN) was grooming a younger male, Jeudi (JD), from a somewhat ungainly distance. “TN had to stretch his arm to groom JD,” study co-author Heungjin Ryu of Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute said in a statement, “and only when he found something on JD’s body would he come close to remove it using his mouth.”

Here’s TN grooming JD:

Compare that with this photo of 17-year-old Fuku grooming her friend Hoshi: 

Ryu and his colleagues suspected that TN was grooming at arm’s length to accommodate for presbyopia, or farsightedness. To find out if that was true, and if the strategy was widespread, they spent four months in 2015 monitoring wild bonobos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Each time they spotted the animals grooming, they snapped a photo, eventually capturing pictures of 14 different bonobos between the ages of 11 and 45. 

The researchers then measured the distance in each photograph between groomer and groom-ee. They compared each animal’s grooming proximity with his or her age and, sure enough, a trend emerged. Whether male or female, each bonobo’s preferred grooming distance increased exponentially as he or she got older, especially after age 40. 

The straightforwardness of the results was “very surprising even for us,” Ryu said. Bonobos have no corrective lenses, no reading glasses. When their vision fails, it fails—a dangerous proposition for animals who spend their lives in the forest canopy. 

Ryu says his team’s findings also have some interesting implications for humans. If our bonobo cousins also lose their visual edge as they age, maybe our tech-centric lifestyle is less to blame for our midlife squinting than we previously believed. 

After a year and a half of televised shouting matches and incessant attack ads, it’s easy to forget that a civilized political discourse is possible. Doing your best to rise above the fray? Nineteenth century etiquette experts were full of (surprisingly) timeless pieces of advice for discussing issues with friends, colleagues, and family members. Keep this list handy while you wait for the returns, and remember: Politics can get ugly, but the drawing room conversation doesn’t have to.

1. EDUCATE YOURSELF BEFORE YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH.

“It is very needful for one who desires to talk well, not only to be well acquainted with the current news, and modern and ancient literature of his language, but also with the historical events of the past and present of all countries. He must not have a confused idea of dates and history, but be able to give a clear account, not only of the chief events of the recent Rebellion, but also of those of the Revolutions of the past century, and of the period of the Roman Empire, its rise and fall, and of the various important events which have occurred in England, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, and Russia.”

— From Daisy Eyebright’s A Manual of Etiquette With Hints on Politeness and Good Breeding, 1873

2. KNOW WHERE YOU STAND …

“Retain, if you will, a fixed political opinion, yet do not parade it upon all occasions, and, above all, do not endeavor to force others to agree with you. Listen calmly to their ideas upon the same subjects, and if you cannot agree, differ politely, and while your opponent may set you down as a bad politician, let him be obliged to admit that you are a gentleman.”

— From Cecil B. Hartley’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Etiquette, 1875

3. … BUT DON’T BE A KNOW-IT-ALL.

“Never, when advancing an opinion, assert positively that a thing ‘is so,’ but give your opinion as an opinion. Say, ‘I think this is so,’ or, ‘these are my views,’ but remember that your companion may be better informed upon the subject under discussion, or, where it is a mere matter of taste or feeling, do not expect that all the world will feel exactly as you do.”

— From Florence Hartley’s The Ladies’ Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness, 1860

4. ESPECIALLY NOT AT PARTIES.

“A man is sure to show his good or bad breeding the instant he opens his mouth to talk in company … The ground is common to all, and no one has a right to monopolize any part of it for his own particular opinions, in politics or religion. No one is there to make proselytes, but every one has been invited, to be agreeable and to please.”

— From Arthur Martine’s Martine’s Hand-Book of Etiquette and Guide to True Politeness, 1866

5. KNOW WHEN TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT.

“Whenever the lady or gentleman with whom you are discussing a point, whether of love, war, science or politics, begins to sophisticate, drop the subject instantly. Your adversary either wants the ability to maintain his opinion … or he wants the still more useful ability to yield the point with unaffected grace and good humor; or what is also possible, his vanity is in some way engaged in defending views on which he may probably have acted, so that to demolish his opinions is perhaps to reprove his conduct, and no well-bred man goes into society for the purpose of sermonizing.”

— From Martine’s Hand-Book of Etiquette and Guide to True Politeness

6. KEEP YOUR COOL, TOO.

“Even if convinced that your opponent is utterly wrong, yield gracefully, decline further discussion, or dexterously turn the conversation, but do not obstinately defend your own opinion until you become angry … Many there are who, giving their opinion, not as an opinion but as a law, will defend their position by such phrases, as: ‘Well, if I were president or governor, I would,’ — and while by the warmth of their argument they prove that they are utterly unable to govern their own temper, they will endeavor to persuade you that they are perfectly competent to take charge of the government of the nation.”

— From A Gentleman’s Guide to Etiquette

7. AND DEFINITELY DON’T TAKE SIDES.

“In a dispute, if you cannot reconcile the parties, withdraw from them. You will surely make one enemy, perhaps two, by taking either side, in an argument when the speakers have lost their temper.”

— From A Gentleman’s Guide to Etiquette

8. TRY NOT TO CRITICIZE POLITICIANS … IF THERE ARE POLITICIANS PRESENT.

“It is bad manners to satirize lawyers in the presence of lawyers, or doctors in the presence of one of that calling, and so of all the professions. Nor should you rail against bribery and corruption in the presence of politicians … or members of Congress, as they will have good reason to suppose that you are hinting at them.”

— From Martine’s Hand-Book of Etiquette and Guide to True Politeness

While sorting through junk mail and coupons destined for the shredder, a cashier at an Asda supermarket in England made an extraordinary discovery. Shuffled in with the papers in the store’s lost and found bin was an envelope date-stamped 1945. Stacie Adamson saved the parcel when she realized it had been written during World War II, and now she’s on a mission to return it to the original owner, Manchester Evening News reports.

The love letter was sent by a British woman named Dorothy to her sweetheart, Harry Hughes, while he was stationed in what is now Sri Lanka as a pilot for the Royal Air Force. In the message, Dorothy writes of voting in the General Election earlier that day and about her dreams of marrying Harry when he returns home.

Jump forward 71 years later, and the romantic memento somehow ended up in the lost property bin of the Greater Manchester Asda. The store workers aren’t sure how it got there, but they’ve since turned to Facebook to spread the story.

Thanks to some online sleuthing, Adamson was able to track down old footage of the same Harry Hughes mentioned in the letter. The video belongs to a series titled Calling Blighty, which was filmed in India and Southeast Asia during the war. You can visit this link to watch Harry give a shout-out to his mom, dad, and his girl Dorothy back home.

Adamson reached out to the website that posted the video and they’ve agreed to join her search for Harry or someone close to him. She said in a news statement from Asda, “My ultimate goal is to hand the letter back in person to Harry—that would be absolutely amazing. If that isn’t possible, giving it to a member of his family would be the next best thing.”

[h/t Manchester Evening News]

Lots of surprising things wash up on the world’s beaches—including snowballs. As NPR reports, a beach in northwest Siberia, on the Gulf of Ob, is covered in frozen spheres that have drifted ashore. According to experts, the rare phenomenon occurs when pieces of ice form, and are rolled into balls by wind and water.

The frosty orbs began accumulating along the Siberian coast around two weeks ago, according to the BBC. Currently, they cover around 11 miles of beach. Some are the size of a tennis ball; others are nearly 3 feet across.

Sergei Lisenkov, press secretary of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, provided Russian media outlets with an explanation. “As a rule, first there is a primary natural phenomenon—sludge ice, slob ice,” he said. (NPR defines “slob ice” as a Canadian term used to describe “sludgy masses of floating ice.”)

“Then comes a combination of the effects of the wind, the lay of the coastline, and the temperature and wind conditions,” Lisenkov continued. “It can be such an original combination that it results in the formation of balls like these.”

Residents of the nearby village of Nyda are amazed. “Even old-timers say they see this phenomenon for the first time,” village administrator Valery Akulov told The Siberian Times.

But as other media outlets point out, this isn’t the first time that waves have washed spherical ice formations onto land: Similar events have been reported in the U.S. around Lake Michigan, and in the Gulf of Finland in Europe.

In short, the unusual weather surprise is rare, but perfectly natural. Hopefully, the people of Nyda love a good snowball fight—especially one that comes complete with ready-made ammo. Watch a video of the wintry occurrence below.

[h/t NPR]

If the Twitter photos of lines snaking around city blocks are any indication, people are showing up to vote in droves. And while the high voter turnout is a great example of democracy in action, it spells bad news for voter wait times. So, what do you do if you’re stuck at the back of the line when your polling place closes? You stay right where you are.

If you didn’t take advantage of your state’s voting time-off laws to cast your ballot during the workday, there’s a good chance you’ll be caught in an after-work crush. But don’t despair! As long as you are in line at closing time, you have a legal right to vote—so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. In fact, if someone does attempt to force you to leave, you are encouraged to call a voter protection hotline (such as 1-866-OUR-VOTE) or submit a complaint to the Department of Justice (1-800-253-3931).

These hotlines are also available to help you if you witness acts of voter intimidation or discrimination. As they say, if you see something, say something!

In Milan, the public is getting a chance to weigh in on the authenticity of a disputed painting by a Renaissance master. The Caravaggio painting, called Judith Beheading Holofernes, will be on display at Milan’s public art gallery, the Pinacoteca di Brera, according to The Art Newspaper.

As part of an exhibit called “Caravaggio: A Question of Attribution,” the painting will be placed next to the Caravaggio painting Supper at Emmaus, and a copy of his Magdalen in Ecstasy. Three paintings by Caravaggio’s follower Louis Finson, who some experts hold is the true author of the disputed painting, will also be shown. The exhibit has caused controversy among art experts, some of whom contend that it’s irresponsible for a gallery to display a work of disputed origins, thereby conferring a certain degree of authenticity simply by hanging in an authoritative art institution. However, the painting will have a disclaimer that the owner of the work has declared it a Caravaggio, not the gallery itself.

The painting in question was discovered in a French attic in 2014, and was presented to the public in April after cleaning and analysis. It had been hidden for at least 150 years. Regardless of its origins, France has declared it a national treasure.

The exhibit will run from November 10 to February 5, 2017.

[h/t The Art Newspaper]