December 2016 – Page 70

filed under: shopping

Image credit:

amazon / istock

As a recurring feature, our team combs the Web and shares some amazing Amazon deals we’ve turned up. Here’s what caught our eye today, December 3.

Mental Floss has affiliate relationships with certain retailers, including Amazon, 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. Good luck deal hunting!

December 3, 2016 – 11:00am

Amazon Product Id:

B0034YWJ3K

December 3, 2016

New York Public Library Turns Former Library Apartment Into Teen/Tech Center

Kirstin Fawcett

filed under: cities, History, libraries, tech

Image credit:

New York Public Library

In the early 20th century, steel baron Andrew Carnegie donated approximately $5 million to construct more than 60 public library branches throughout New York City. These centers of knowledge didn’t just hold books; they also housed a custodian, who lived inside a hidden apartment tucked above the building. These tenants shoveled coal throughout the night to keep the furnaces running. But as heating technology improved, many library custodians retired or left, and their residences were repurposed.

Among the library’s current branches, 32 once contained apartments, but only a handful of the living spaces remain today. Now, one of these relics of the past has been converted into a vehicle of the future: It’s a teen center and programming space, designed to nurture adolescents’ interest in technology.

The teen/tech center is housed on the third floor of the NYPL’s branch in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan. The building reopened in 2014, following an extensive renovation. But for years, one of its rooms—the home of the building’s former custodian, Raymond Clark—remained closed off. Now, thanks to a $4.4 million renovation project, its doors were opened to the public for the very first time this past week.

The newly renovated third floor will be used for after-school programs, media and computer programs, and general use. There are also facilities and equipment for adult learners. On Friday, December 2, the space celebrated its official opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Present were New York Public Library president and CEO Tony Marx, along with city politicians who supported the project. Also there was Ronald Clark, Raymond Clark’s son, who lived in the pre-converted apartment during the 1970s.

“This floor had not been used for decades,” Marx joked in a speech delivered at the ribbon cutting. “This is New York City. We can’t have unused real estate.”

As for Ronald Clark, he reflected on what it was like to spend his formative years living in a library. “It was a life-changing experience for me,” he said. “I was the first one of my family to graduate from high school. To be able to go downstairs at any time of the night and open a book and read on any subject that my mind had curiosity about was what changed my whole life. It led me to go on to college.” He said he thinks his old home will be a great new spot for teens.

As of right now, only 13 vacant NYPL apartments remain. Five are slated for renovations, including locations in the Bronx, Harlem, Upper Manhattan, and Staten Island. As for the Washington Heights branch, check out the pictures below to see what their custodial apartment once looked like, and how it looks now.

THEN…

AND NOW.

All photos courtesy of the New York Public Library.

December 3, 2016 – 10:00am

December 3, 2016

Cinnamon Roll Peeps Have Arrived

Jennifer M Wood

filed under: candy, Food, holidays, peeps

Image credit:

Peeps

Cinnamon and marshmallow are two of the holiday season’s favorite flavors—and now they’ve collided in one adorably baby chick-shaped package, thanks to the ever-inventive folks at Peeps.

The iconic candy company has just unleashed a bevy of new winter flavors, including an addictive new cinnamon roll-flavored marshmallow chick, which is dipped in a cinnamon icing-flavored fudge. The only catch? You’ll have to hit up Walgreens to get some, as they’re exclusive to the chain.

Peeps

If you’re more of a Walmart shopper, they’ve got their own special Peeps varietal: Christmas cookie-flavored marshmallow chicks dipped in white fudge. Also new to the flavor lineup is a sugar plum chick dipped in white fudge, which is available nationwide.

The new additions join a growing list of wintry Peeps that already includes gingerbread, candy cane, chocolate mousse, and hot cocoa and cream—proving that Peeps aren’t just for Easter. They’re also not just for eating straight out of the box: the Peeps website offers a range of inventive uses for the candies, including a number of unique recipes. You’ve never had a monkey bread muffin until you’ve had it topped with a cinnamon roll Peep. Whether you prefer your Peeps soft or stale is a debate for another time.

December 3, 2016 – 9:00am

December 3, 2016

15 Bizarre Holiday Albums

Garin Pirnia

filed under: christmas, fun, music, Pop Culture

Image credit:

Discogs

It seems like everybody and their mom and dads has released a Christmas album. For some artists, like Mariah Carey, it means selling millions of copies. But who wants to hear Bing Crosby sing “White Christmas” when you can hear a former reality show loser sing it? ‘Tis the season to forgo listening to your traditional holiday songs and opt for something a bit more unusual.

1. HUNG FOR THE HOLIDAYS // WILLIAM HUNG

Discogs

Hung appeared as a contestant on American Idol in 2004 and blew the world away with his rendition of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs.” Actually, he did not advance to the next round, but a cult following soon manifested. His career culminated (ended) in October of 2004, when he released his second album, Hung for the Holidays, which only sold 35,000 copies. He sings, off-key, “Winter Wonderland,” “Little Drummer Boy,” and then randomly covers Queen’s “We Are the Champions.” After the failure of this record and the release of a third and final album, Hung retired from music.

2. CHRISTMAS ON DEATH ROW // VARIOUS ARTISTS

Released 20 years ago, Christmas on Death Row is a compilation of various artists on the Death Row label. The music isn’t the worrisome thing here—it’s the album cover depicting Santa in the electric chair. (Don’t show it to grandma or the kids.) Songs include hits Snoop and Nate Dogg’s “Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto” and 6 Feet Deep’s cover of “Silent Night.” If you like your holiday tunes filled with curse words, this one’s for you.

3. CHRISTMAS WITH COLONEL SANDERS // VARIOUS ARTISTS

Honestly, this album has nothing to do with the finger-lickin’ Colonel except for the awesome album cover of him smiling while wearing a Santa hat (he could easily be mistaken for Santa, so maybe that’s the point). The album, released in 1969 (vintage!), features musical legends Chet Atkins covering “Jingle Bell Rock” and Harry Belafonte singing “Mary’s Little Boy Child.”

4. IT’S A WAFFLE HOUSE CHRISTMAS // VARIOUS ARTISTS

Discogs

Spending Christmas at the Waffle House sounds like fun. They’re open 24/7, you know. According to AllMusic.com, this is the second album the legendary chain has released, and it was compiled by Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia, the guys responsible for the 1982 novelty song “Pac-Man Fever.”

There are traditional songs on the album, but few can top “Waffle House 12 Days of Christmas,” in which a couple sings, “My true love gave to me, 10 cups of coffee, eight chicken sandwiches, seven T-bone steaks, four eggs a fryin’, three sausage patties, two waffles baking, and a bowl of delicious hot grits” without a bit of irony.

5. MR. HANKEY’S CHRISTMAS CLASSICS // VARIOUS ARTISTS

On December 1, 1999, South Park aired a holiday-themed episode that featured a literal piece of crap coming alive and singing Christmas songs. One week before the episode’s premiere, the album was released. It includes songs from the episode, and a festive cover featuring Mr. Hankey chilling by the fire. Choice cuts include Mr. Garrison’s “Merry F—king Christmas” and Mr. Hankey himself—“howdy ho!”—singing “Santa Claus Is On His Way.”

6. A ROSIE CHRISTMAS // VARIOUS ARTISTS

This album was just an excuse for then-daytime talk show host Rosie O’Donnell to brag about how she was buddies with Celine Dion, Elton John, and Elmo, then sing middling duets with them. Cher contributes (read: butchers) a dance-electro version of Darlene Love’s already-perfect “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” while Gloria Estefan and Rosie sing “Gonna Eat for Christmas.” Lauryn Hill’s funky “Little Drummer Boy” seems to be the only saving grace—until Rosie chimes in and ruins it.

7. MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS // NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Discogs

Released in 1989, at the height of NKOTB’s fame, this holiday record sold two million copies. You have to at least give the boy band props for writing a few original songs such as the sappy “This One’s for the Children”—which was a top 10 hit—and “Funky, Funky, Xmas,” which tries a bit too hard to emulate “Christmas in Hollis.” *NSYNC and Hanson also released Christmas records, so having boy bands release holiday albums is not an anomaly; the fact that NKOTB took the material so seriously is what makes it an oddity.

8. A HEAVY METAL CHRISTMAS EP // CHRISTOPHER LEE

The heavy metal lover never released a full Christmas album, but he did release the EP, A Heavy Metal Christmas, in 2012, containing metal covers of “The Little Drummer Boy” and “Silent Night.” The following year the prince of darkness released A Heavy Metal Christmas Too, including the song “Jingle Hell.” Last year he contributed “Darkest Carols, Faithful Sing,” which would sadly be his last metal Christmas song, as he passed away in June 2015 at the age of 93.

9. JINGLE BABIES // ROCKABYE CHRISTMAS

First we had Jingle Cats, which was annoying but somewhat cute. Then the same guy behind Jingle Cats and Jingle Dogs released Jingle Babies in 1997, which is baby sounds edited together into super annoying “songs.” The babies aren’t singing as much as they are cooing and whining through “Jingle Bells,” “Up on the Housetop,” and “Carol of the Bells.” The album’s tagline reads “Real babies sing holiday classics,” but it’s unknown if real babies approve.

10. AND 11. YULETIDE DISCO AND DISCO NOEL // MIRROR IMAGE

Disco was huge in the 1970s, and apparently so were disco Christmas albums. Mirror Image released at least two Christmas records: Yuletide Disco and Disco Noel. The former features saxophone-enhanced versions of “Good King Wenceslas” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and aren’t as disco-y as you’d hope. Then there’s “Dear Santa, Let’s Disco” by Snowflake, which should get the holiday festivities started. While you’re at it, you might as well listen to “Disco Duck.”

12. CHRISTMAS AT LUKE’S SEX SHOP // LUKE CAMPBELL

The Miami rap group 2 Live Crew created a lot of controversy in the 1990s, so why not add fuel to the fire with a Christmas record? Throughout the 1994 album, MC Luther Campbell raps untraditional Christmas songs, such as “Ho Ho Hoes,” “2 Live Christmas, “Christmas Spliff,” and “Christmas F—in’ Day,” which sounds a lot like “Gin and Juice.” Campbell went legit and now writes for the Miami New Times.

13. THIS CHRISTMAS // OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN AND JOHN TRAVOLTA

Discogs

The friends sang together in Grease and the guilty pleasure film Two of a Kind, and one morning in 2012 they woke up and decided that, because it had been 30 years since they had worked together, it was time to put out a Christmas album. The couple duet on the standards “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” featuring Barbra Streisand. But Travolta can’t sing, and the album cover is just plain scary.

14. A COLT 45 CHRISTMAS // AFROMAN

A parody Christmas record, from a Grammy-nominated rapper? Yup. In 2006, Afroman took a debauched look at Christmas with songs named “Deck My Balls” and other titles we shouldn’t repeat, plus the new classic “O Chronic Tree”: “O Chronic tree, oh chronic, I want you all for me.”

15. THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR // SCOTT WEILAND

In 2011, the late Stone Temple Pilots frontman released this bizarre album. The fact that he released a traditional Christmas album isn’t even the weirdest part though; it’s that he, for some reason, infused reggae and steel drum on “Oh Holy Night” and croons through the rest of the record. Listening to the songs, you wouldn’t know it was from a former grunge singer.

December 3, 2016 – 8:00am

December 3, 2016

A Watch Strap That Clicks Together Like LEGOs

Shaunacy Ferro

filed under: fashion, technology

A new kind of watch design doesn’t require any buckles. That’s because, with a little inspiration from LEGO, the design studio Layer created a band with lattices that lock together like the beloved brick toys, as Wired reports.

Available on Kickstarter from the Swiss watchmaker Noomoon, the LABB watch band has a tiny lattice pattern of holes that can click together anywhere along the strap, so you can adjust it easily to any size. It’s kind of like Velcro but made with silicone. One side of the band features diamond-shaped holes, and the other side has a raised texture that fits into those holes to lock the two sides together.

LABB, short for the Loopless And Buckleless Band, was designed specifically with an eye toward smartwatches, which users may want to take on and off more than standard watches.

Layer, based in London, previously created other user-friendly designs like a 3D-printed wheelchair that can be customized to each user’s body.

[h/t Wired]

All images courtesy Noomoon

December 3, 2016 – 6:00am

December 3, 2016

Tune In This Weekend: HISTORY Commemorates Pearl Harbor Attack

Chris Higgins

filed under: History, tv, world war two

Image credit:

HISTORY

Starting today (Saturday, December 3), HISTORY provides a full weekend of documentaries commemorating the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Set your DVRs, and check below for the rundown.

HOW TO WATCH

There are a bunch of things airing this weekend on cable! Tune in to HISTORY to find them. The big specials are Pearl Harbor: 75 Years Later airing Saturday, December 3 at 9pm ET/PT; and Pearl Harbor: The Truth airing Sunday, December 4 at 10pm ET/PT. Throughout the weekend, there will be primetime airings of Pearl Harbor: The Last Word. Read below for more on each of these. Note that much of this material will also be available on-demand, on the HISTORY Watch App, and on History.com starting December 5.

SATURDAY: PEARL HARBOR: 75 YEARS LATER

Pearl Harbor: 75 Years Later brings us back to December 7, 1941, that “day that will live in infamy.” Through interviews with military experts, survivors, and historians, the film reminds us what happened that day, and how it shaped our country. (Not least, of course, by bringing us into WWII.)

SUNDAY: PEARL HARBOR: THE TRUTH

Pearl Harbor: The Truth is based on the book A Matter of Honor—Betrayal, Blame and A Family’s Quest for Justice by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan. It’s an investigation of what U.S. officials knew about a possible Japanese attack, when they knew it, why the attack wasn’t prevented, and who took the blame.

Within Pearl Harbor: The Truth, there is no single smoking gun; it’s a series of failures big and small, including a darkly comical failure to wake up the one guy who translated Japanese intelligence when a crucial new piece of intelligence came in overnight. There are piles of lessons to be learned here.

At its core, this documentary is about failures within the military and intelligence apparatus, as well as the political response to these failures. Author Robbyn Swan appears frequently, as does the family of Admiral H.E. Kimmel, who was relieved of his command (along with General Walter C. Short) shortly after the attack. Kimmel and his family have long maintained that he was scapegoated by FDR. This documentary, along with its source book, make that case effectively.

ALL WEEKEND LONG: PEARL HARBOR: THE LAST WORD

Seventy-five years is a long time. There will not be many more chances to have living people who were on duty at Pearl Harbor in 1941 available to talk about that attack and reflect on it. This is a tremendously important moment to listen to those veterans and acknowledge their service.

Throughout the weekend, HISTORY will air a series of short films called Pearl Harbor: The Last Word, featuring interviews with 25 veterans (aged 92-104). These pieces are devastating, as these men speak about the lingering effects of the war on their lives. HISTORY will also donate the source interviews to the Library of Congress Veterans History Project, so that future generations can continue to hear these veterans’ voices and hope to understand what they endured.

One clip from the short films is embedded above. It’s incredible material, especially when you account for the age of these men. I kept doing mental math to sort out the age of the men at the time of the attack (the oldest was 29 at the time). Having watched a bit of this material, I wanted to include a clip from one more below, dealing with the internment of Americans of Japanese descent. Have a look, and tune in this weekend for the full set:

You can preview many of these stories online now.

December 3, 2016 – 5:00am

December 3, 2016

Watch How Computers Sort Lists (It’s Complicated)

Chris Higgins

filed under: computers, libraries, math, video

Image credit:

Getty Images

Here’s a thought experiment: Let’s say you’re a librarian, and a shipment of 1,280 books has just arrived. The books have been placed on a very long shelf, but they’re all out of order. You need to alphabetize them by title as soon as possible. How long will this process take, and how can you maximize efficiency?

In this TED-Ed video, we see various solutions to this problem. It’s a generalized problem within information science, having to do with how we sort items in a list. In this case, the “list” is a bunch of books, but any alphanumeric list (names, words, street addresses) would need a similar kind of approach.

When you first look at the problem, it’s hard to sort out precisely how humans actually perform the task of alphabetization. For the most part, we tend to take a naive approach to the problem, just grabbing items and putting them in some rough order, then repeat until complete. This is fine, until you have 1,280 items and a deadline.

So check out the video below (and the TED-Ed lesson page) to see how novel approaches to sorting can speed up the task dramatically.

If you’re into computer science and/or don’t like videos, check out this page on sorting algorithms, from a Carnegie Mellon University computer science class. (See also: this page on QuickSort.

December 3, 2016 – 4:00am

December 3, 2016

Grave Sightings: Joe DiMaggio

Stacy Conradt

filed under: Grave Sightings

Image credit:

Stacy Conradt

Legendary Yankee center fielder Joe DiMaggio and equally illustrious actress Marilyn Monroe had one of the most famous and tumultuous relationships in modern celebrity history. After countless ups and downs, including marriage and divorce, the two had reconciled again and were reportedly planning to remarry when she died in 1962.

Stacy Conradt

Devastated, DiMaggio stepped in and planned the whole funeral, banning almost all of Monroe’s Hollywood contacts from attending (as well as the public). He had her buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, in a crypt they had originally purchased together while they were married—his was located directly above hers. Afterward, DiMaggio had flowers delivered to her grave multiple times a week, a practice that continued for 20 years.

Despite their his-and-hers crypts, however, Joltin’ Joe’s eternal resting place isn’t near Marilyn. It’s not at the same cemetery, or even in the same city. He ended up nearly 400 miles away at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California.

Stacy Conradt

Though most of us associate the Yankee Clipper with New York, he actually grew up in San Francisco, arriving in the Italian neighborhood of North Beach when he was just a year old and spending his entire childhood there. In 1939, after baseball success had brought him fame and fortune, he bought his parents a home in the Marina district. When they died, his widowed sister Marie moved in, and eventually, so did Joe. He was involved with the community, even helping his brother when he opened a restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf.

Stacy Conradt

When he passed away from lung cancer in 1999, DiMaggio’s funeral was held at San Francisco’s St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, where he had been baptized, taken his first communion, and was confirmed and married. Given his personal ties with San Francisco, it’s not that surprising that he ended up spending eternity in the area—especially since he sold his crypt at Westwood Village Memorial Park after Marilyn filed for divorce just nine months into their marriage.

Though he wasn’t buried with her as originally planned, Marilyn was still on DiMaggio’s mind when he left this world. According to Morris Engelberg, Joe’s lawyer, his final words were, “I’ll finally get to see Marilyn.”

Peruse all the entries in our Grave Sightings series here.

December 3, 2016 – 2:00am

December 3, 2016

Lewis and Clark Weren’t the Only Explorers to Map the American Frontier

David W Brown

filed under: History

Image credit:

Amazon

Victory by the United States in the Revolutionary War didn’t mark the end of its problems with European conquest of North America. As Julie M. Fenster describes in Jefferson’s America, her remarkable history of the exploration of the American frontier, without proper mapping and settlement, the Louisiana Purchase was little more than a few words on paper, the territory ripe to be plucked away, part and parcel, by Spain, France, and England.

“The French,” writes Fenster, “sold Louisiana and intentionally left the detail of drawing boundaries to the new owners.” She later writes that the Spanish, who had a significant military and administrative presence in the western frontier, “had come to the sensible conclusion that without money or soldiers or people in abundance, a territory can’t be controlled. It can only be held, and rather gently … Exploration could assert control, because accurate information was another basis of power.”

The Louisiana Purchase was France’s idea. With the French and British on the cusp of war, Napoleon didn’t dare attempt to hold a North American front in addition to the European theatre. He knew that the British would invade from Canada at the first opportunity. Moreover, France’s grip on its North American holdings was tenuous at best, the U.S. Congress making things worse with its increasing disposition in favor of an armed seizure of New Orleans. The whole continent was just more trouble than it was worth, and so the French government offered to sell its territory for a song.

Jefferson jumped at the opportunity and, as he later wrote, “by a reasonable and peaceable process, we have obtained in 4. months what would have cost us 7. years of war, 100,000 human lives, 100 millions of additional debt.”

For Jefferson, it was about more than territory and political intrigue. While holding the offices of the vice presidency and later the presidency, he also ran the American Philosophical Society, one of the first science institutions in the United States. The frontier presented a bonanza of unknown flora, fauna, ecosystems, and geology, and it was Jefferson’s personal obsession to have the frontier thoroughly mapped and studied.

Such exploration would be no small task either physically or intellectually. In his own words, he sought in his ideal explorer “a person who to courage, prudence, habits & health adapted to the woods, & some familiarity with the Indian character, joins a perfect knowledge of botany, natural history, mineralogy & astronomy.” Though he doubted such men existed in America, a blizzard of correspondence issued by his own hand would turn up a few explorers up to the task. These explorers were sometimes called “Jefferson’s Men,” and they managed the seemingly impossible: the exploration, mapping, and surveying of the west. Here are seven explorers of the American frontier, and how they did it.

MERIWETHER LEWIS AND WILLIAM CLARK

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark were tasked by Jefferson to explore the Louisiana territory and map a route across the western half of North America. They were to satisfy Jefferson’s hopes for information on flora and fauna, and to establish trade with the American Indians they encountered along the way. Moreover, they were to assert American sovereignty over the areas explored—in other words, to let everyone they encountered know that this land was our land. There and back, the expedition lasted just under two-and-a-half years. The journey started out in Wood River, Illinois, and ended at the mouth of the Columbia River in present-day Washington State.

The return trip, which lasted six months, saw the group split so as to more efficiently explore even more territory, which included Yellowstone and the Continental Divide. The expedition ended on September 23, 1806. This expedition is notable for the inclusion of Sacajawea, whose contributions involved some work as a guide, but far more significantly, as a multilingual ambassador to tribes encountered along the way.

WILLIAM DUNBAR AND GEORGE HUNTER

William Dunbar / Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Fenster describes George Hunter as an “animated tourist,” who “delighted in everything from the howl of wolves in the distance to the sight of another vessel on the river.” He was “a good frontiersman and always a resilient one.” He was also a chemist of some repute, which fit Jefferson’s bill for someone able to truly study the land. William Dunbar, meanwhile, was a wealthy trader whose loyalties were ever in motion. Spanish, French, American—it was all the same to him. He just wanted to be out there. He had a love of, and talent for, science, and word of this reached the vice president of the United States and president of the American Philosophical Society. In Fenster’s words, Jefferson “initiated correspondence, capturing Dunbar as though he were a bird formerly believed extinct.”

While Lewis and Clark explored the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase, Dunbar and Hunter, soon brought together, were charged with the Ouachita River, an “alligator-infested, lumber-clogged river in the parched Southwest.” The expedition brought them to the hot springs of Arkansas. Ultimately, the men completed a geologic and zoological study of the land along the river, as well as a chemical analysis of the hot springs.

THOMAS FREEMAN AND PETER CUSTIS

In 1806, Thomas Freeman and Peter Custis embarked on an exploration of the Red River. Freeman was a highly accomplished surveyor who had completed the highly contentious survey of what would be the nation’s capital on the Potomac, and later helped survey the 31st Parallel separating U.S. and Spanish territory in the Southeast. (A present-day map of the United States will reveal a straight line dividing part of Louisiana from Mississippi, and Florida from Alabama. That is the 31st Parallel. His work in D.C. and in establishing the borders of southern states has stood the test of time.) Custis brought to the expedition his expertise as a naturalist and a physician-in-training.

The men traveled from Natchez, Mississippi to present-day New Boston, in northeast Texas. Along the way, they encountered “almost impenetrable Swamps & Lakes for more than 100 miles,” according to Custis. In Texas, they encountered Spanish soldiers who had been tipped off about their expedition, and were made to turn back. Still, the scientific observations gathered from the 600-mile stretch of frontier proved invaluable to Jefferson, who now knew the land to be worthy of settlement. It also established warm relations with native tribes along the way, and the fallout from the Spanish confrontation would force Spain to allow American expeditions along its Red River holdings.

ZEBULON PIKE

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Zebulon Pike first joined the Army at the age of 15, and 12 years later would be placed in charge of an expedition that would cross the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains. Pike was, according to Fenster, “born supremely, even mythologically, confident in his sense of mission.” The expedition wasn’t an easy one. After crossing present-day Kansas, they arrived at the Rockies in time for winter and with but a single layer of cotton clothing.

“They had no coats,” writes Fenster, “Or even socks.” When trying to make their way and accurately ascertain where they were, Pike led a group of men to a “blue-tinted mountain” where they might look down and survey the terrain. What seemed a one-day hike turned into four, and even then the mountain “now appeared at the distance of 15 or 16 miles from us, and as high again as what we had ascended.” Fenster describes the mountain as having been “apparently on wheels,” seeming always to be those 15 miles away. Pike eventually turned around, the mountain being “the only thing on earth that ever made him give up.”

The ensuing winter was unkind to the explorers, bringing frostbite, illness, near-starvation, and subzero temperatures. Still, his men believed in Pike and his indomitable spirit, and they survived; they eventually reached the Rio Grande in Spanish territory, where they were rescued (and captured) by the Spanish. Pike and his men were brought to Mexico, and later escorted to the Louisiana border at Natchitoches. The blue-tinted mountain was, of course, what is now called Pike’s Peak.

December 2, 2016 – 9:00pm

December 3, 2016

Scientists Figure Out How Some Probiotics Work

Kate Horowitz

filed under: bacteria, food science, health, science

Image credit:

iStock

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you’ve probably heard about the health benefits of yogurt and other fermented foods. Clinical trials have found that probiotics (helpful bacteria) can help ease a range of symptoms. But what they haven’t found is how, exactly, they work. Now scientists writing in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology have got a theory.

The bacterial strain called Lactobacillus paracasei DG grows naturally in our mouths and guts. It’s also a common ingredient in probiotic supplements and so-called functional foods like probiotic yogurt. We’re happy to buy it and consume it, but we don’t know what makes it tick.

Researchers at Italy’s Università degli Studi di Milano and the University of Huddersfield in the UK theorized that L. paracasei DG was secreting some strange chemical compound called an exopolysaccharide (EPS). They searched through the bacterium’s DNA and, sure enough, found genes that make EPS.

The next step was to figure out what kind of EPS it was and what it did. They conducted chemical tests and nuclear magnetic resonance to examine the EPS at a molecular level. They found that a large portion of the compound was made of rhamnose, a sugar commonly found in probiotic strains.

Next, the team administered the EPS to living human immune cells and watched to see how they would react. Because probiotics are often used to ease symptoms of inflammation, it might be expected that the EPS would be a calming influence, but the opposite was true: The presence of the compound triggered a release of inflammatory chemicals from the immune cells.

Coauthor Andrew P. Laws says this seemingly counterintuitive finding actually makes a lot of sense. “We have evidence that our polysaccharides bind to and mildly activate the receptors which release pro-inflammatory messengers,” he said in a statement. “We believe that this generates a lesser inflammatory response than what would occur if the same receptors were activated by pathogenic bacteria.”

It’s a strange strategy, but it’s not completely unheard of. Scientists studying the “mind-control” germ Toxoplasma gondii recently reported that the parasite uses a very similar technique to elude detection within the body of its host.

December 2, 2016 – 7:00pm

GADGETS, TOYS, AND MEDIA

KITCHEN

HOME

HEALTH AND BEAUTY

OFFICE, SCHOOL, AND CRAFTS

OUTDOORS, GARDEN, AND SPORTS

ELECTRONICS

TOOLS

THEN…

AND NOW.

1. HUNG FOR THE HOLIDAYS // WILLIAM HUNG

2. CHRISTMAS ON DEATH ROW // VARIOUS ARTISTS

3. CHRISTMAS WITH COLONEL SANDERS // VARIOUS ARTISTS

4. IT’S A WAFFLE HOUSE CHRISTMAS // VARIOUS ARTISTS

5. MR. HANKEY’S CHRISTMAS CLASSICS // VARIOUS ARTISTS

6. A ROSIE CHRISTMAS // VARIOUS ARTISTS

7. MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS // NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

8. A HEAVY METAL CHRISTMAS EP // CHRISTOPHER LEE

9. JINGLE BABIES // ROCKABYE CHRISTMAS

10. AND 11. YULETIDE DISCO AND DISCO NOEL // MIRROR IMAGE

12. CHRISTMAS AT LUKE’S SEX SHOP // LUKE CAMPBELL

13. THIS CHRISTMAS // OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN AND JOHN TRAVOLTA

14. A COLT 45 CHRISTMAS // AFROMAN

15. THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR // SCOTT WEILAND

HOW TO WATCH

SATURDAY: PEARL HARBOR: 75 YEARS LATER

SUNDAY: PEARL HARBOR: THE TRUTH

ALL WEEKEND LONG: PEARL HARBOR: THE LAST WORD

MERIWETHER LEWIS AND WILLIAM CLARK

WILLIAM DUNBAR AND GEORGE HUNTER

THOMAS FREEMAN AND PETER CUSTIS

ZEBULON PIKE