Month: February 2017

Have you ever had a “Love Jones,” or even a “Basketball Jones”? Do you occasionally jones for a “hot now” Krispy Kreme donut (only to find that store closed)? Did you know that when you use that terminology you are actually indulging in some (gasp) drug slang?

In the early 1960s, a “jones” was a craving—but strictly a craving for heroin. Clever junkies had been using “Mr. Jones” as a code name for the drug since it became popular with Beatniks in the late 1950s. “I’m looking for Mr. Jones” was a subtle way to score when you were new in town and didn’t yet have a regular dealer. The term evolved over the next several years so that eventually when an addict was alternately sweating and shivering while in need of a fix, he or she was described as “jonesing.” In the early 1970s, “jones” had expanded to describe any sort of severe longing or craving, whether for food or a relationship or a shiny new sports car.

This isn’t the first time drug-related terminology has entered our everyday jargon; the word “yen” (as in “She has a real yen for men”) started out as a corruption of the 1920s-era Cantonese phrase “yin-yan,” or “opium craving.”

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Beating one of those old, deceptively hard NES games is an impressive enough accomplishment for most people, but one fan had bigger aspirations than that. Much bigger. Over the past three years, Piotr Delgado Kusielczuk—who goes by the Twitch handle “The Mexican Runner“—set out to complete all 714 games ever released on the NES. The journey started on Kusielczuk’s Twitch channel on May 28, 2014 and came to an end nearly three years later on February 26, 2017.

The whole thing kicked off with the 1990 game Whomp ‘Em, which Kusielczuko finished in two hours and 11 minutes, and it ended with a Super Mario Bros. 3 run that he completed in an hour and 43 minutes (Kusielczuk chose it because he says it’s the best game on the system).

Watch live video from TheMexicanRunner on www.twitch.tvIn between, Kusielczuk finished each and every game to ever be released on the system, including the 679 titles released in the United States and the other 35 PAL exclusives, according to Engadget. The whole endeavor clocked in at 3435 hours, but it was helped along by the fact that Kusielczuk is a known speed-runner.

Speed-running is a video game trend where players attempt to complete a game in record time, with no attention paid to gameplay goals or other accomplishments. Times are often aided through glitches found in the game, which can significantly cut down on the length. The problem with NES games is that many of them—like Tetris—don’t have traditional endings; they just keep going and going. For those titles, Kusielczuk played until there was simply nothing left to do and the game started going in a loop. That means he could beat a game like Battletoads in less than a half hour, but something more nebulous like Miracle Piano Teaching System took an astounding 91 hours.

Watch live video from TheMexicanRunner on www.twitch.tvIt’s assumed that Kusielczuk is the first person to play and beat all 714 NES games, and he is definitely the first person to document it in such a public way. Don’t look for Kusielczuk to follow suit with an SNES run, though. On his site, he said, “NES has probably the hardest game library of any other console, so it wouldn’t be that challenging to me.” That’s the type of boasting you earn after 3400 hours with a controller in your hand. 

[h/t: Engadget]

Go ahead and plan your next vacation around your favorite book. The site Visit Britain has named 2017 the Year of Literary Heroes, celebrating the anniversaries of literary events like the death of Lord Tennyson, the publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and the debut of the first collection of Sherlock Holmes stories. Rail Europe, in turn, has come up with some UK itineraries to help you celebrate, according to Condé Nast Traveler.

With the help of the rail company, you can see Jane Austen’s home, visit the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street, or hang out at the Edinburgh cafes where J.K. Rowling wrote her first books.

From March to December, the town of Chawton will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the death of its most famous resident, Jane Austen. About an hour and a half outside of London by train, Chawton is home to Jane Austen’s House Museum, where she spent the last years of her life. The annual Jane Austen Regency Week in Chawton and nearby Alton takes place from June 17 to June 25, featuring events and exhibitions dedicated to the author.

In May, you can head to Royal Albert Hall in Kensington, London to see a screening of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone accompanied by a live orchestra. The show runs from May 11 to May 14. You can also take the long journey to Scotland, journeying to Edinburgh to have a cup of tea at the Spoon and the Elephant House, the cafes where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. We won’t judge if you pretend you’re on the Hogwarts Express.

In October 2017, Rail Europe suggests you take a trip to London for the 125th anniversary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. You can head to Baker Street, go to the Sherlock Holmes Pub, or take a tour of the BBC show’s filming locations.

Previously, the railway came up with a literary itinerary for Paris and a Game of Thrones-themed trip guide, so you can go ahead and add those to your biblio-themed travel list, too.

[h/t Condé Nast Traveler]

What is friction?

Dave Consiglio:

Very short answer: It is the force that resists motion.

Medium length answer: All things have “roughness.” Friction is the force exerted by that roughness as an object passes by another, acting in the direction opposite to the motion.

Long answer: Atoms have electron clouds. The way I like to think about this is that atoms are like a black garbage bag full of very angry bees. You can’t know exactly where the bees are, but you know how many there are, and you know they’re more or less within the volume defined by the bag. Oh, and you know they’re angrily buzzing around.

So as two atoms pass one another, the farthest reaches of their electron clouds interact. Since electrons are negative, the bags repel one another, deforming and pressing back against the motion.

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

Curious to see who your neighbors would have been 100 million years ago? The answer can be found in this interactive map spotted by Popular Mechanics. Compiled using information from the Paleobiology Database, the graphic plots fossils uncovered by paleontologists around the world.

The scientists maintaining the database have cataloged a massive amount of fossil discoveries, and they eventually hope to include every fossil ever found. On the website, 350,442 taxa from seven continents spanning more than 500 million years are already represented.

“[A] major challenge has been in just gathering all the published data in the first place,” Matthew Carrano, a long-time Paleobiology Database contributor and curator of Dinosauria at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History told mental_floss. “There’s no central place to get it, so I’ve spent a lot of time in the library, looking for papers, reading them, and extracting relevant information and putting it into this online database. We won’t know when we’re done until we stop finding new papers and new reports of dinosaur fossils—and 17 years in, that hasn’t happened yet.”

Fortunately, the map makes it simple to sift through all that data. Users can search for a fossil by era, the layer of earth or stratum it was found in, or by specific taxonomy. Zooming in on a certain region displays the location of every fossil discovered in that area. Fossils range from mollusks and arthropods to mammals and tyrannosaurs.

The tool also gives users the option to switch from a modern view of the world to how it looked at any point in the past half-billion years. “It’s extremely comprehensive, but we’re not quite done yet,” Carrano said. “New dinosaurs are being discovered every year, to the tune of a new species every month or two.”

Whether you want to stick to your backyard or explore fossil discoveries around the globe, you can do it all from the Paleobiology Database’s navigator map.

[h/t Popular Mechanics]

If the pricey, complicated smartphones of today have you yearning for simpler times, Nokia may have the solution. Their popular 3310 was discontinued in 2005, but earlier this month, news broke that a new-and-improved version of the old-school device would debut at the Mobile World Congress tech show in Barcelona. 

As CNET reports, the rumors are true: The 3310 is back, with a sleek redesign and a few technical upgrades.The phone’s relaunch comes courtesy of HMD Global, a start-up formed by former Nokia executives. They acquired the necessary intellectual property (including branding and technology) to make the Finnish company’s iconic phones, according to CNBC.

“We were interacting with consumers and asked what was the best ever Nokia device that you have ever had and out of that questionnaire it was the 3310,” HMD Global CEO Arto Nummela told CNBC. “And then we thought, ‘OK, what the heck, let’s have some fun and create this.’”

The original Nokia 3310 was beloved for many reasons: It entertained us with games like Snake II, came equipped with a stopwatch and calculator, and was impressively durable and long-lasting. For the most part, the new 3310—an Android device—is similar to its predecessor (there’s even a new version of Snake), but with several key improvements. For example, the phone now has 22 hours of talk time—10 times more than the original—and its battery lasts a whole month on standby mode. The device also has a tiny, 2-megapixel camera, and a thinner, rounder design. You can purchase it in the original midnight blue and grey color schemes, or opt for a bright red, yellow, or grey phone. (Sorry, you can’t swap the case with one you purchased from a mall kiosk.)

What the Nokia 3310 isn’t is a smartphone. It’s 2.5G, so you can technically get online, but if you’re obsessed with apps and social media, it likely isn’t the phone for you. On the other hand, it may be your best friend if you’re looking to disconnect from the digital landscape but don’t want to forsake the convenience of owning a mobile device.

The new Nokia 3310 is priced at around $50, and is slated for release later this year. Get an up-close look at the revamped device below.

[h/t CNET]

In its 70-year history, Sony has made some big splashes. Take the 1979 launch of the Walkman, which created millions of headphone-sporting pedestrians living in their own private music video. Or the 1994 debut of the PlayStation, which shook up the Nintendo-dominated gaming scene.

Now, the company may have found its next major chapter with Xperia Touch, a mobile projector that takes the bold step of allowing users to interact with the image being projected on a screen, wall, or other flat surface. Think of it as the world’s biggest smart-touch interface.

Here’s how Xperia works: Housed in a small, subwoofer-sized console (5.6 inches high) is a projection lens, speaker, and Android software. Adjust the lens and you can project up to an 80-inch, 1366 by 768 resolution image on the surface of your choice. You now have a portable home theater, but the Android capability is where the Xperia gets really interesting.

When displaying your Android menu on a surface—including tables or even the floor—cameras in the Xperia are able to pick up gestures and respond to commands given by your hand, similar to the typical smartphone. It also supports gaming activities and other virtual exchanges. One Engadget journalist was able to play virtual piano keys onscreen.

The catch? Like many of Sony’s first-generation products, the Xperia doesn’t come cheap; while its price and release date are still TBD in the U.S., it’s set to go on sale shortly in Europe for €1599, or roughly $1645.

[h/t Engadget]

A food tour is all well and good, but sometimes you just want to see something really off the beaten path. These six guided tours deliver.

1. DEARLY DEPARTED TOUR // LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

The Dearly Departed Tour is a guided bus tour of Los Angeles that caters to the morbidly curious. It features crime scene photographs, eerie 911 calls, death memorabilia, and visits to the actual locations of celebrity deaths. There’s even a three-and-a-half hour Helter Skelter Tour, which retraces the steps of the Manson Family.

2. THE VEGAS MOB TOUR // LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

Before Las Vegas was known as a family-friendly vacation spot, it was a breeding ground for organized crime and murder. The Vegas Mob Tour treats travelers to an inside look at the Mafia and other crime syndicates from the ’40s to the ’80s, many of whom helped build Sin City. Tours around Las Vegas feature various locations and sites where murders and mob activities occurred, as well as admission to the Mob Museum and Geno’s Pizza Party—where the notorious Hole-In-The-Wall Gang planned their crimes and hits.

3. WILD PARROT SAFARI // BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

In a failed attempt at pest control, the Argentine government shipped a large number of monk parrots to North America during the 1960s, pitching them as pets to the U.S. consumer market. The USDA halted the scheme after several containers of the parrots broke open at airports and the birds escaped. At least one crate of parrots got free at JFK, and the birds have since made their homes in various spots around Brooklyn. Today, tour guide and parrot enthusiast Steve Baldwin leads walking tours throughout Brooklyn College for those who want to learn more about the exotic birds and how they came to call the borough home. The “wild parrot safaris” are free through the Brooklyn Parrot Society.

4. CHERNOBYL TOUR // PRIPYAT, UKRAINE

A catastrophic nuclear accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant took place 30 years ago, but now you can safely walk the grounds. The Chernobyl Tour offers a (mostly) radiation-free look at the remnants and debris of the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, including a view of the zones after the accident, survival and migration stories from people who lived through the disaster, and information on surviving a nuclear fallout. The Chernobyl Tour also offers single day or up to seven-day tours of the Chernobyl Zone and the abandoned town of Pripyat.

5. GHOST TOUR // OAHU, HAWAII

Hawaii’s combination of modern cities built right next to burial grounds and ancient rainforests has led some to believe that much of the state is haunted with ghosts and supernatural beings. The Oahu Ghost Tours offer tourists a glimpse of the sacred grounds of Hawaii’s past, featuring a look at the myths and legends of Waikiki, the “Night Marchers,” the “Orbs of Oahu,” and many other sacred spirits.

6. CATACOMBS TOUR // PARIS, FRANCE

The Catacombs of Paris are a series of underground tunnels and limestone quarries originally used as a network of mines but later transformed into a burial ground for over 6 million Parisians when cemeteries began to overflow in the 1700s. Now, tourists and travelers can take guided tours of the spooky underground ossuaries, which feature millions of human skeletal remains resting over 65 feet underground in dark cavernous tunnels. Be prepared to do some stair climbing, though: The catacombs also feature about 215 steps to go down and back up to street level.

Bill Harding may be gone, but a group of real-life storm chasers want to be sure he isn’t forgotten. After news of Twister star Bill Paxton’s passing broke over the weekend—he died of a stroke following surgery February 25—nearly 200 weather-loving adventurers collaborated on Sunday to spell out the late actor’s initials on a map using GPS coordinates.

Spotter Network, a nonprofit group that tracks tornado chasers’ positions and provides storm information to the National Weather Service, arranged the tribute on Facebook. Participants were instructed to enter their coordinates on a map depicting Tornado Alley, a particularly storm-prone region in the southern plains of the central United States. (The town of Wakita, Oklahoma, which served as a backdrop for most of Twister’s scenes, sat in the map’s center.)

Some storm chasers traveled to designated points on the map to mark their dots, but many entered their GPS coordinates manually. The project took place in real time; as the day went by, Paxton’s red-dotted initials covered swaths of Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

Folks are getting their dots into position pic.twitter.com/vnq9rZNKY9

— Jeff Frame (@VORTEXJeff) February 26, 2017

The letters “BP” coming together on storm chaser GPS coordinates for actor Bill Paxton. #Twister #RIPBillPaxton pic.twitter.com/GXLlWVSfFV

— SevereStudios (@severestudios) February 26, 2017

It just keeps getting better! Hundreds of storm chasers honoring Bill Paxton in KS and OK. Each dot is one person’s GPS. #RIPBillPaxton pic.twitter.com/z14XQ9msPR

— Aaron Brackett (@Aaron_Brackett) February 26, 2017

Spotter Network president John Wetter told the AP that the group had previously performed tributes like this for people who have “made a significant contribution to the field.”

“This is the first time we’ve gone way outside of that. There are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of meteorologists today—myself included—who were impacted by the movie Twister and the role Bill played in that,” Wetter told the AP. “Twister was kind of the first time in a mass media marketplace the meteorologist became cool, if only for a little while.”

[h/t Associated Press]