Let’s not pretend that sweater parties are anything but a platform for you and your friends to one-up each other in gaudy absurdity. This season, give yourself an edge with one of these awe-inspiringly silly sweaters.

1. FOR THE LOVABLE CURMUDGEON; $55

Find It: Tipsy Elves

2. FOR YOUR NEXT ANGELS WITH FILTHY SOULS VIEWING; $37-$55

Find It: Amazon

3. A SWEATERUS FOR THE REST OF US; $50

Find It: Ugly Christmas Sweater

4. THE MEOWICAL OF LIGHTS; $18

Find It: Etsy

5. CATS CAN’T HAVE ALL THE FUN; $55

Find It: Tipsy Elves

6. KEEP IT FRESH; $20-$30

Find It: Amazon

7. TURTLE POWER; $20-$43

Find It: Amazon

8. THE EMPEROR’S NEW SWEATER; $25-$30

Find It: Amazon

9. LORNE MICHAELS APPROVED; $34-$55

Find It: Amazon

10. LEAN INTO THE GEEKINESS; $30

Find It: Amazon

11. ARE THERE DINOSAUR TAILORS?; $24

Find It: Amazon

12. THE SWEATER ABIDES; $50

Find It: Ugly Christmas Sweater

13. THIS IS, EXCUSE ME, A DAMN FINE SWEATER; $83

Find It: This is Feliz Navidad

14. IT MUST BE ITALIAN; $53-$58

Find It: Amazon

15. THE SWEATER CHRISTMAS DESERVES; $35

Find It: Amazon

16. A TROPICAL CHRISTMAS; $55

Find It: Tipsy Elves

17. THE SWEATER THAT LIVED (IN THE CLOSET 11 MONTHS OF THE YEAR); $83

Find It: Feliz Navidad

18. GET SHREKED; $55

Find It: Tipsy Elves

19. IT’S MILLER (SWEATER) TIME; $60

Find It: MIller Lite

20. WE’LL ALL DANCE THE HORAH; $55

Find It: Tipsy Elves

21. THE MOST POPULAR SWEATER AT THE PARTY; $55

Find It: Tipsy Elves

22. A SWEATER THAT TALKS TO THE CAMERA; $30

Find It: ThinkGeek

23. YOU LOOK LIKE AN ANGRY ELF; $50-$56

Find it: Amazon

24. EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY; $40

Find It: ThinkGeek

25. GOTTA CATCH THE HOLIDAY FEVER; $25

Find It: ThinkGeek

26. YOU DON’T HAVE TO BUY THIS SWEATER WITH BOTTLE CAPS; $50

Find It: ThinkGeek

27. SWEATER TIME!; $83

Find It: Feliz Navidad

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was one of our country’s most stylish and elegant icons for decades, but she was no empty, aloof beauty. As Natalie Portman takes on the role of the legendary former First Lady in Jackie, let’s take a look at five things you might not have known about Jackie O.

1. SHE ALMOST DIDN’T BECOME JACKIE KENNEDY.

Jacqueline Bouvier came to international prominence when JFK became president, but she very nearly had a different husband. In December 1951, she became engaged to another man, John G. W. Husted. Husted was a Yale grad, a stockbroker, and a member of the same upper class of New York society as the Bouvier family.

The engagement didn’t last long, though. By March of 1952, Jackie had called it off. It’s not exactly clear why she gave Husted the ax, but there’s been lots of speculation. Some biographers think that Jackie’s mother, Janet, felt that Husted didn’t make enough money to support her in style. (His salary of $17,000 a year was roughly equivalent to $100,000 today.) Other biographers have recounted stories of Jackie confiding to friends that Husted was immature and a little on the dull side.

Whatever the reason, the relationship ended, and Jackie Bouvier was soon dating John Kennedy; the couple would marry on September 12, 1953.

2. SHE ACCIDENTALLY APPEARED IN HUSTLER.

Continue reading “5 Fabulous Facts About Jackie Kennedy”

Who says hardware has to take on a standard, fixed shape? Last year, a team of engineers at MIT’s Tangible Media Group developed a flexible, snake-like robot they dubbed the LineFORM. LineFORM has since evolved into the expandable ChainFORM, which users can now build on using modular links. The innovation is part of an effort to re-imagine computer hardware as something that can change its shape and function according to your needs, according to a report by FastCo.Design.

Created by Ken Nakagaki and Artem Dementyev, ChainFORM is computer and robotics hardware that can theoretically transform into a number of system’s peripherals. Each “block” uses a series of integrated sensors, touch detection, motor actuators, and a low-res display, which are then linked together to be customizable and adaptable on a whim.

Nakagaki and Dementyev believe their system can serve as an ever-changing and expandable computer and mobile device accessory, as well as a tool that can be used in simple robotics. ChainFORM’s small “blocks” are linked and connected to bend and twist into computer inputs, such as a mouse, keyboard, or phone headset; a mobile accessory like a tablet pen; or a tech wearable like a fitness tracker, wristwatch, or even an exoskeleton. The device also uses robotic technology to capture and recreate motion.

ChainFORM’s creators certainly aren’t the first to have engineered a snake-like robot. Others, including teams from Carnegie Mellon and Virginia Tech, have modeled their bots’ movements after the reptiles, hoping they’ll someday be able to scale surfaces no human could, during construction inspections or search and rescue missions.  

The MIT creation is currently in the prototype stage, and can only support 33 building blocks. However, it’s likely subsequent upgrades will let users expand it as they see fit. The only limit? Their imaginations.

[h/t Fast Co. Design]

Every year since the winter of 1989-1990, sculptors have erected a seasonal hotel made entirely of ice from the Torne River in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. And each year, when spring came, the ice installation would melt. This year, however, brings a new era for the famous hotel, as contemporist reports. In addition to the seasonal hotel, there will be year-round lodgings made of ice.

During warmer weather, the ICEHOTEL 365 will be cooled using solar panel technology. The 22,600-square-foot hotel—with each room sculpted by a different international artist—will be kept at around 23°F year-round. Since the city is so far north, about 125 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the summer brings near-constant daylight. According to the hotel, by the end of the summer, the solar panels will harvest the equivalent of 100 consecutive days of sunshine.

The hotel will have concrete outer walls, but the inner walls will all be made of ice. The power created by all the approximately 6500 square feet of solar panels will be able to power restaurants, offices, and the warm rooms that allow guests to defrost from the icy rooms, in addition to keeping the structure from melting. The hotel notes that as climate change makes winters shorter, this system will keep the ICEHOTEL from being forced to close earlier and earlier.

And now if you can’t get a reservation in the winter, you can schedule a visit for any other time of the year.

[h/t contemporist]

All images courtesy ICEHOTEL

Research has already shown us that making art is a good stress reliever, even if your skill level is more kindergartener than Picasso. Now a new study from the University of Otago in New Zealand suggests that these mood-boosting effects can be gained from even the most straightforward crafts. As the Independent reports, knitting, baking, crocheting, and jam-making were all found to produce an “upward spiral” effect that carried over to the following day.

For the study, published last month in The Journal of Positive Psychology, researchers from the university’s department of psychology asked 658 students to record their daily experiences and emotional states in a diary for 13 days. Following the days when subjects took part in something creative, they reported feelings of positive personal growth that psychology defines as “flourishing.” In addition to crafts and cooking, researchers also cited painting, sketching, writing, musical performance, and digital design as some common creative activities students completed.

These results shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s experienced the zen-like effects of knitting a scarf or crocheting a blanket. According to the Craft Yarn Council, stress relief and creative fulfillment are the top two reasons knitters and crocheters give for partaking in the hobbies. Baking has also been touted as a form of therapy, with some mental health clinics using time in the kitchen as a treatment for depression. Another benefit of improving your mood through creativity is that the results of your labors can be shared with others—so if you’re still in need of gifts for the holidays, we suggest heading to the craft store and reaping some of the benefits yourself.

[h/t Independent]

When did human being start using containers?

Dave Consiglio:

Great question! We started making containers around 12,000 to 20,000 years ago. It may have been longer ago than that, but this is the earliest evidence.

However, it is likely that we used gourds or other natural containers even earlier than that.

But my guess is that the first “container” was a baby sling.

We’ve been making clothing since before we were even fully modern humans. The earliest clothing was almost certainly pelts (evidence for sewing is only about 40,000 years old). We probably cut holes in the pelts to make them more like clothing and less like blankets. Folding your shirt in such a way as to make carrying a baby easier seems like an indispensable improvement that almost certainly came early on in the history of clothing.

Another possibility is the use of stomachs and bladders as water containers. This innovation is also extremely old.

Fossil evidence of this is unlikely ever to be found, but our ancient ancestors had a regular supply of stomachs and bladders; it’s pretty likely that at some point one of them had the bright idea of storing water in one for use later.

OK, one final option: the fire pot. Carrying some hot coals from location to location to make fire-starting much easier is also an ancient container. Using a rock with a natural depression (or one that you carved out) would work for this, and might have been done tens of thousands of years ago.

This post originally appeared on Quora. Click here to view.