Earth is the most habitable planet in our (known) universe and is made of many rivers all around the world. The longest rivers, basically created by thousands of streams and tributaries, sometimes run between different countries. Here are the 5 longest rivers in the world in terms of its length, along with few interesting facts about them. 1. Nile River Length: 4,135 miles Where? Northern East Africa The Nile is 4,135 miles in length and has two sources, one in Uganda called the White Nile and the other in Ethiopia called the Blue Nile. The river is so vast that
People of a certain age remember it fondly, but Steven Spielberg’s Hook was not well-received when it was released in December of 1991. Critics found it overlong and curiously lacking in imagination, and though it was profitable, it wasn’t the mega-hit everyone expected from a Spielberg movie about a grown-up Peter Pan played by Robin Williams. (It was the sixth highest-grossing movie of 1991. Among Spielberg movies, it ranks 15th out of 30.) Home video earned Hook some more young fans, and it eventually became something of a cult favorite for ’90s kids.
1. THE FILM WAS DELAYED, APPROPRIATELY, BY STEVEN SPIELBERG’S DESIRE NOT TO BE AN ABSENTEE FATHER.
Steven Spielberg had been thinking about a live-action version of Peter Pan through the first half of the 1980s, but put it on hold in 1985, when his first child, Max, was born. “I guess it was just bad timing,” the director later said, according to Joseph McBride’s Steven Spielberg: A Biography. “I didn’t want to go to London and have seven kids on wires in front of blue screens swinging around. I wanted to be home as a dad, not a surrogate dad.”
2. IT WAS INSPIRED BY A 3-YEAR-OLD’S DRAWING.
Screenwriter Jim V. Hart had been trying to find a new angle to the Peter Pan story for years when, in 1982, his 3-year-old son produced a drawing. “He said it was a crocodile eating Captain Hook,” Hart recalled in Steven Spielberg: A Biography, “but that the crocodile really didn’t eat him, he got away … So I went, ‘Wow, Hook is not dead. The crocodile is. We’ve all been fooled.'” A few years later, Hart’s son brought up the subject of Peter Pan again, asking whether he’d ever grown up. “I realized that Peter did grow up, just like all of us Baby Boomers who are now in our forties,” Hart said. “I patterned him after several of my friends on Wall Street, where the pirates wear three-piece suits and ride in limos.”
3. MICHAEL JACKSON WAS SPIELBERG’S FIRST CHOICE FOR THE LEAD.
Vinnie Zuffante/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
“Michael had always wanted to play Peter Pan,” Spielberg toldEntertainment Weekly in 2011. “But I called Michael and said, ‘This is about a lawyer [who used to be Peter Pan],’ so he understood at that point it wasn’t the same Peter Pan he wanted to make.” However, Vanity Fairreported in 2003 that Jackson had paid a witch doctor to put a curse on Spielberg (among others), so perhaps there was lingering resentment.
4. NICK CASTLE WAS PAID $500,000 NOT TO DIRECT IT.
The director of The Last Starfighter and The Boy Who Could Fly (not to mention an episode of Spielberg’s Amazing Stories) was working with screenwriter Hart to get the movie made at Columbia-TriStar when Sony bought the company and put someone new in charge—Mike Medavoy, who’d been Spielberg’s first agent. Medavoy sent Spielberg the Hook script for perusal, and Spielberg jumped at the chance to direct it. Castle was taken off the project with a $500,000 settlement and a “story by” credit along with Hart. (As the story goes, Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams weren’t willing to make the film with Castle anyway, so it wasn’t a matter of Spielberg “stealing” a movie from another director.)
5. IT WAS ALMOST A MUSICAL.
The most famous previous adaptations of Peter Pan (the Disney cartoon and the Broadway show) had been musicals, so Spielberg had that in mind for his version. John Williams wrote several songs for it before the idea was discarded, later incorporating their tunes into the musical score. Two songs (with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) did make it into the final film: “We Don’t Wanna Grow Up” and “When You’re Alone.”
6. PRINCESS LEIA WROTE SOME OF IT.
Vince Bucci/Getty Images
Though Spielberg liked Hart’s screenplay overall, he thought the characters of Captain Hook and Tinkerbell were underwritten. To work on Hook’s dialogue, he brought in a writer named Malia Scotch Marmo (who later helped on Jurassic Park, too). For Tinkerbell, Spielberg called on Carrie Fisher—actress, novelist, and screenwriter. Marmo got a writing credit, but Fisher remained uncredited.
7. IT WENT WAY OVER SCHEDULE AND WAY OVER BUDGET.
Spielberg had been a careful and conscientious director ever since the disastrous excesses of 1941, but he let the size of the Hook production get the better of him. Shooting was supposed to last 76 days; it lasted 116. It was supposed to cost $48 million; it cost somewhere between $60 and $80 million. Hoffman and Julia Roberts’s perfectionism were contributing factors, along with the general difficulties of working with children, employing huge live-action special effects, and coordinating scenes with hundreds of extras. Still, Spielberg accepted all the blame himself. “It was all my fault,” he said. “Nobody else made it go over budget.”
8. GWYNETH PALTROW GOT HER PART THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY: CONNECTIONS.
Gwyneth Paltrow, who was 18 years old at the time, was cast as the teenage version of Wendy when Spielberg—her godfather and a close family friend—noticed she looked like Maggie Smith, who plays the elderly Wendy. Spielberg said he realized it when the Paltrow and Spielberg families were driving home from seeing The Silence of the Lambs.
9. GLENN CLOSE HAS A CAMEO.
Glenn Close plays the (male) pirate who displeases Captain Hook and gets locked in a chest with a scorpion.
10. THE KIDS ARE NAMED AFTER HANSEL AND GRETEL.
Peter Banning’s kidnapped children are called Jack and Maggie, which are nicknames for John and Margaret. The German equivalents of those names, Johannes and Margarete, have the familiar diminutives of Hansel and Gretel.
11. IT HAS MORE HOFFMAN THAN YOU REALIZED.
In addition to playing Captain Hook, Dustin Hoffman provides the voice of the airline pilot when the Bannings fly to England—appropriate, of course, because he says, “This is your captain speaking.” Young Peter Pan is played by Hoffman’s son, Max, then not quite 7 years old, and Max’s older brother, Jake, appears as a Little League player.
12. JULIA ROBERTS WAS HAVING A TERRIBLE TIME.
Her million-watt smile notwithstanding, America’s sweetheart was miserable for much of the shoot because of problems in her personal life. She’d recently had a nasty breakup with Kiefer Sutherland, was beginning a new romance with Jason Patric, and was generally frail and exhausted. Defending her, Spielberg said, “Her biggest problem was timing. Her personal life fell apart, and she reported to work on the same weekend.” She freaked out one day on the set when someone called for “Kieffo” (the name of Hoffman’s stunt double) and Roberts misheard it as “Kiefer,” i.e., Sutherland. “Call security. How did he get on the lot?” she asked the set coordinator, who cleared up the confusion.
13. THE SET WAS CRAWLING WITH STARS, EVEN ONES WHO WEREN’T IN THE MOVIE.
One of Hollywood’s top directors working with some of its biggest stars on one of the most expensive sets ever built—naturally, everyone wanted to stop by Sony Pictures Studios and see what all the fuss was about. Among the celebrities sighted on set were Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Michelle Pfeiffer, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Mel Gibson, Prince, and actual royalty: Queen Noor of Jordan.
Additional sources: Steven Spielberg: A Biography, by Joseph McBride
If it seems like there’s nothing to watch on Netflix right now, maybe you just don’t know where to look. The streaming giant has been making waves in the original programming department, having just released the third seasons of British hits Black Mirror and The Fall. That trend will continue this month, as both The Crown and the long-awaited Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life make their debuts. Here’s a list of every new movie, television series, special, and documentary coming to Netflix this month.
November 1
The African Queen
Alfie
Bob the Builder: White Christmas
Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh
The Confessions of Thomas Quick
Cujo
The Doors
The Heartbreak Kid (2007)
Jetsons: The Movie
King’s Faith
Love, Now
Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You
Pervert Park
Ravenous
Stephen King’s Thinner
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
Thomas & Friends: A Very Thomas Christmas
Thomas & Friends: Holiday Express
Thomas & Friends: Merry Winter Wish
Thomas & Friends: The Christmas Engines
Thomas & Friends: Ultimate Christmas
November 2
Dough
Food Choices
Meet the Blacks
November 4
The Crown (Season 1)
Dana Carvey: Straight White Male, 60
The Ivory Game
Just Friends
World of Winx (Season 1)
November 9
Danger Mouse (Season 2)
November 11
All Hail King Julien (Season 4)
Case (Season 1)
Estocolmo (Season 1)
Roman Empire: Reign of Blood (Season 1)
Tales By Light (Season 1)
True Memoirs of An International Assassin
Under the Sun
November 12
Take Me to the River
November 13
Chalk It Up
November 14
Carter High
November 15
Dieter Nuhr: Nuhr in Berlin
K-POP Extreme Survival (Season 1)
Men Go to Battle
The Missing Ingredient: What is the Recipe for Success?
Technology is useful when you’re trying to figure out the distance between Hong Kong and Seattle, but when measuring surfaces at home, the old-fashioned way is generally still the best. As The Verge reports, a tech company called InstruMMents is offering an alternative to rulers and tape measures with a new product called the 01. The multipurpose pen, currently raising funds through Indiegogo, uses a laser beam to take precise measurements of irregular surfaces.
The 01 comes in three aluminum versions: a pen, pencil, and stylus-tipped instrument. Each tool includes a laser pointer at the opposite end for the recording the dimensions of flat planes, complex terrain, and everything in between. To use it, owners simply point the pen at one end of the object they wish to measure and roll it along the length of the edge. The dimensions are then displayed through a companion smartphone app, where users can share them on social media (InstruMMents gives the example of using it as a virtual door-frame measurement for sharing your kids’ height).
This type of technology isn’t new: Engineers, architects, and surveyors already use laser measuring tools for a variety of projects. But professional equipment can get pricey, with some products costing up to tens of thousands of dollars. The 01 isn’t cheap, but at $149, it’s a more affordable option for home use. The project, which is nearly halfway funded, is accepting pledges now through the rest of November.
Most of our feathered friends can sing, but only a few can talk. And if those talkers witness something naughty, they might just tell on you.
1. SUSPICIOUS SWEET TALKING
A woman in Kuwait, where adultery is illegal, had been suspicious for some time that her husband was carrying on an affair with their housekeeper. There were little signs, like when she returned home from work early and noticed that he seemed nervous. But it was when the family parrot squawked unfamiliar sweet nothings that she decided to take her suspicions to the police. If her husband wasn’t saying those things to her, how was the parrot learning them? However, because it could not be proven that the parrot hadn’t heard the phrases from a steamy TV show, the bird’s evidence was deemed inadmissible.
2. THAT’S NOT MY NAME
In another case of infidelity revealed with a squawk, a man was surprised to hear his beloved African Grey parrot Ziggy say, “Hiya Gary!” when his live-in girlfriend’s phone rang, because his name was not Gary. After he heard the parrot say, “I love you, Gary,” and make kissing sounds when the name Gary was said on TV, he confronted his girlfriend, who admitted she was having an affair with Gary. Not only did he lose his girlfriend, but when the parrot continued to chatter on about Gary in her voice, the man was forced to give his pet up too.
3. THE AWFUL LAST LAUGH
Even when other evidence is already damning, a parrot can add an extra sinister twist to a crime investigation. When an elderly woman was found in a filthy South Carolina home, covered in bedsores and near death, her daughter was charged with elder abuse and neglect (her mother died the next day). The police noted that a parrot in the house repeatedly cried for help and then laughed. They believe it was mimicking the interaction between the mother and daughter: The mother pleading for help and the daughter laughing.
4. REPLAYING THE LAST WORDS
After a Michigan man was found shot to death in his home, his parrot kept repeating a dialogue, alternating between a man and woman’s voice, that went: “Get out.” “Where will I go?” “Don’t f***ing shoot!” His wife—who police believe tried to kill herself but did not succeed—was charged with his murder, but it remains to be seen whether the parrot’s account of events will be admissible in court.
5. GIVING THE CRIMINAL AWAY
Tales of parrots giving the criminal away go back to the 19th century, when the leader of a Paris crime syndicate who went by Victor Chevalier escaped with his beloved parrot from the residence he shared with his wife Marie before the cops descended on him. When an officer was called to another residence for a seemingly unrelated search, he heard as he walked in, a parrot cry out “Totor! Riri!” which happened to be the pet names of Victor and Marie. The discovery of the parrot eventually led to the capture of Victor.
One of the most entertaining parts of playing any Sims game is listening to the characters converse in their own language of Simlish—and actually sort of understanding them.
Technically, Simlish has been around since 1996, when it was used in the Maxis game SimCopter. But it wasn’t until the release of The Sims in 2000 that the language really took on a life of its own—so much so that some players even developed Simlish-to-English translations.
Though the language was originally based in reality—creator Will Wright had planned to form it around the Navajo language due to his interest in the Navajo code talkers—the team later decided to go with something completely invented so it couldn’t be translated. (Joke’s on them.) And though the words are totally made up, the language almost passes for real.
Here’s what a recording session looks like:
But it’s not just professional voiceover artists who get the chance to speak Simlish. The music featured in Sims games is also performed in the made-up language, and The Sims apparently has a lot of famous fans. Over the years, several popular musicians have recorded some of their biggest hits in Simlish—including Tegan & Sara, who recently recorded a Simlish translation of “Stop Desire” for The Sims 4‘s newest expansion pack. Here are 10 other artists who have done it.
Instagram is already a haven for lifestyle gurus and fashion mavens, and a change to the platform could make it even easier for users to obtain the items they covet. The service, which allows smart phones to share and edit pictures for both personal and commercial purposes, is set to begin testing shoppable tags for images, TechCrunch reports.
Here’s how it works: When a user is combing through images from an apparel brand like Kate Spade or eyeglass storefront Warby Parker, they’ll be able to hit a “Tap to View” icon that will bring up more detailed information about the products displayed. Another tap on a specific product will lead the user to a description and checkout options—all while remaining in the Instagram app.
Services like LiketoKnow.it have already made it possible to source the items worn by your favorite style bloggers, but you have to wait for an email and then click through to the retailer in order to do so. Shoppable tags will cut out the middle man completely.
The service is set to roll out on iOS platforms with 20 retailers including Macy’s, Levi’s, Hollister, and Target. If it works, you can expect millions of Instagram images to become more interactive—and profitable—in the coming months.
The world is full of grape-flavored beverages, popsicles, jellies, and even medicines, but for some mysterious reason, grape-flavored ice cream is harder to find. In a recent interview with Thrillist, Ben Cohen, co-founder of ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s, helped to shed some light on the reason behind the dearth.
Contrary to all the popular (and slightly absurd) conspiracy theories floating around, Cohen’s rationale is purely logistical. Grapes have a high water content, so when you try to use the fruit as a base for ice cream, chunks of that water therein tend to freeze. Chefs whipping up small batches of homemade grape ice cream can avoid this problem by pureeing the fruit, but it’s much harder to manufacture large volumes of ice cream when it’s flecked with bits of ice.
Of course, other fruits, like cherries, are also mostly water—and Cherry Garcia is one of Ben & Jerry’s most popular flavors. In short, it’s possible to make fruit ice cream on a larger scale, but the demand has to be there to make the hassle worthwhile (and for that matter, profitable). And as Cohen explained, most people don’t even think to associate grapes with ice cream—so if Ben & Jerry’s made a grape-flavored dessert, it’s likely that nobody would buy it. Since cherry and vanilla are such popular flavors, it pays for the company to make Cherry Garcia.
These complications haven’t stopped others from attempting to make and sell their own grape-flavored ice cream. Candy manufacturer Airheads reportedly gave it a whirl, and long ago Ben & Jerry’s attempted a grape ice cream, as well as a “Sugar Plum” ice cream that tasted kind of like grapes. (Neither flavor took off.) In the end, it simply takes a lot of work to make a good grape ice cream—and as long as the public isn’t clamoring to eat it, food giants aren’t clamoring to provide it.
An expanded waterfront park in West Palm Beach will soon be getting a plaza that floats atop a lagoon like a submarine. The peninsula extension of Currie Park is part of a master plan designed by Italian architect Carlo Ratti, the director of MIT’s Senseable City Lab.
Located in the Lake Worth Lagoon between West Palm Beach and Palm Beach, the floating plaza stays above the water using air chambers that open and close to take in or release water based on the weight of the crowds above it. Much of the floating park will be below sea level, and if looking at the surrounding water isn’t enough, there will be water plazas and pools within it. It will also feature an auditorium and a restaurant that will grow its own hydroponic food onsite.
A previous estimate put the cost of Ratti’s work at $520,000, to be paid for by the city of West Palm Beach and the billionaire developer who owns land near the park. The project is scheduled to be completed by late 2018, the architecture firm told mental_floss in an email.
Your uniform for outdoor workouts in the summer was pretty simple: shorts, a light, breathable tank top, and maybe a hat or visor to keep the sweat out of your face. Come fall, however, it’s a totally different story; what you choose to wear for exercising al fresco is anything but a given. The weather can change drastically from day to day—60 degrees and sunny today, 45 and windy tomorrow—and so will the clothes and accessories you suit up in. Plus, shorter days can mean your after-work exercise is suddenly way darker than usual, which can affect your clothing choices, too.
Read on for six recommendations to add to your rotation, which include lots of layers that will keep you warm without being too hot, and tons of reflective detailing to keep you visible and safe when you’re up before the sun or getting your sweat on at dusk.
1. BROOKS LSD RUNNING JACKET; $95
Brooks
A windbreaker is key for outdoor workouts, both to keep you dry when it’s raining and to deflect the breeze so your upper body will stay warmer. This one is ultra lightweight and water-resistant. But the best part is, it folds up into a small pocket and has an elastic band attached, so you can wrap it around your wrist or upper arm to carry it with you easily once you warm up.
If there’s just a slight chill in the air, you might want to forego covering up your arms and opt to just keep your torso covered with a vest. This one from Sugoi is great for in-between weather—it’s lightweight, breathable, and water-resistant and boasts two pockets for stashing your keys or gloves once your hands warm up. Plus, it’s covered with a super-reflective pattern that glows when a car’s headlights or a street light hit it.
Slip these sleeves onto your arms with a tank (if it’s just a tad chilly outside) or under a long-sleeved shirt or jacket for extra warmth (once the temp really drops). They’ll keep your arms cozy without adding unnecessary heat to your torso, and they’re easy to pull off once you get going and are warm enough without them. Once again, the reflective details make you extra visible when it’s getting dark out.
With their big reflective logo running down the sides, these leggings are all about keeping you safe and visible in the dim light of fall evenings. The lightweight compression fabric (which will help your leg muscles recover post-workout) is just right for making you warm but not overheated while you exercise, and it wicks away moisture so you stay comfortably dry.
Pull on a pair of these snug knee-high socks before you head outside. They won’t just keep your feet and calves toasty; the compression material ups circulation, helps reduce lactic acid buildup, and can help you bounce back from a workout faster.
This fleecy headband is an ideal option for keeping your ears warm on a chilly day without adding the heat of a full beanie; just pull it down to your neck or put it away in a pocket if your head gets too hot. Like other items on this list, it’s covered in a print that looks silver in the light but turns super-bright and reflective when you’re working out in the dark.
