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Bored with your typical gym routine? Maybe it’s time to give it a medieval twist. Here are 10 workout tips from a 14th century knight.
March Madness is fast approaching. If you’re planning on planting yourself in front of a TV for the duration of the tournament, you’ll need the right equipment—and some sustenance. Enter Pizza Hut’s “Pie Tops,” a pair of branded smart sneakers that can request a pizza delivery to wherever you’re wearing them with just the press of a button, Thrillist reports.
The promotional product ties in with the NCAA tournament taking place from March 14 to April 3. But these stylish kicks aren’t for running up and down the basketball court; Bluetooth buttons embedded in the shoes can be used to place instant pizza orders. When wearers press the Pizza Hut logo on the tongue, the shoe connects to their smartphone and purchases an $8 large supreme pie (owners can change this default setting to the pizza of their choice). Wherever they’re standing when the order is made is where the delivery will end up.
There are just 64 pairs of sneakers to go around and, according to Engadget, the chain will distribute them to the public “at some point in the future.” Lucky recipients might consider supplementing their wardrobe with more Pizza Hut-branded apparel to complete the look.
[h/t Thrillist]
March 2, 2017 – 11:00am
Since the first film premiered in 1995, Toy Story has blown up into one of Pixar’s most beloved franchises. It’s hard to separate Buzz Lightyear from Tim Allen’s deadpan vocal performance today, but if the director had his way, the character would have sounded quite different.
In the video below, shared by The A.V. Club, Billy Crystal can be heard voicing an early version of Buzz in a demo for the movie. Crystal was Toy Story director John Lasseter’s first choice for the role, but the actor didn’t take him up on the offer. In an interview, Crystal would later cite the missed opportunity as “the only regret I have in the business of something I passed on.”
But before Crystal said no to going to infinity and beyond, the studio sampled a clip of his performance from When Harry Met Sally in an animation test. Though audiences never got to see Crystal play a plastic astronaut, he did collaborate with Pixar years later as Mike Wazowski in 2001’s Monsters, Inc.
[h/t The A.V. Club]
March 2, 2017 – 9:00am
Eggs are a breakfast staple for many, but sometimes the hit of protein can get a bit boring. Mix up your egg cooking routine by adding these fun items to your kitchen.
The world of novelty egg separators is surprisingly extensive. From farm animals to plants, you have your choice of charming, silicone suction cups. Regardless of design, they all work the same way: Crack an egg into a bowl and use the separator to suction out the yolk. Decide between a fish, frog, pig, chicken, or cactus.
Freshly boiled eggs are pretty flexible and easy to mold into fun shapes. People have long been turning hard boiled eggs into hearts with the help of a pencil, rubber band, and paper, but now we have molds to make the process a lot easier. This collection of plastic molds let you transform boring eggs into fun shapes and animals. To get started, peel a hard-boiled egg and stick it in the mold. Next, firmly close the mold and let it shape the egg. The molds also work for shaping sticky rice, making for some pretty impressive bento boxes. This set comes with six molds: a star, heart, car, bunny, bear, and fish.
Find it: Amazon
Not interested in boiled eggs? You can also get your fried eggs to be shaped like an animal. These silicone molds from Fred & Friends are shaped like everything from an owl to a skull, all with big yolk eyes. They take a little bit of skill and patience to get right, but once you figure it out, you’re rewarded with a picture-perfect breakfast. Clicking the link will bring you to the cat mold, but there are also options available to choose a robot, skull, owl, or frog.
Find it: Amazon
Making a breakfast sandwich at home might seem like a great money-saving idea, but after seeing all the dirty dishes it creates, you might end up right back at your local deli. Now you can make two breakfast sandwiches in five minutes using just once elaborate device. The lowest ring holds the bottom piece of bread (English muffin, bagel, biscuit, etc) along with toppings like any meats, cheeses, or vegetables. The middle ring holds the all-important egg. Finally, there’s a space for the top piece of bread to complete the sandwich. Everything gets cooked at once, so the entire sandwich is ready to go. For speedy clean-up, the rings are machine-washable.
Find it: Hammacher Schlemmer
Another must-have for anyone who loves food but hates excessive dishes—this handy pan can tackle sausages, eggs, bacon, pancakes, and more all at once. The segmented pan also has even heat distribution and is oven- and dishwasher-safe, so it’s both multi-functional and easy to clean.
Find it: Amazon
Cracking eggs can be a pain, especially if you find yourself frequently fishing out bits of shell from the bowl. This invention aims to take the trouble out of egg cracking with a special handle—now you can crack and separate eggs with the push of a button! It has a little lever that pushes on the top of the egg and two holsters that pull the shell halves apart, letting the egg fall into the bowl or pan. There’s also the option add a small strainer underneath to catch yolks if you want to separate your eggs. At first glance, this hare-brained device looks too “As Seen on TV” to really work, but after watching a couple of videos of other people trying it out, we’re completely sold.
Find it: Amazon
If you enjoy foods on sticks and think eggs could use a bit of a fair-ground spin, then this device is just what you need in the kitchen. With the push of a button, the automatic cooker transforms raw eggs into…egg tubes. Simply crack two eggs into the cylindrical device and wait. Once your egg tube is ready, it’ll slowly emerge from the top of the appliance. Stab it with a stick and bam! You’ve got breakfast to go.
Find it: Amazon
Get restaurant-quality deviled eggs with this easy plunger. The deviled filling can be made entirely using this one device—mash the yolks, blend in any mustard, mayonnaise, and spices, and gently press the top of the tube to create beautiful yellow swirls atop each egg.
Find it: Amazon
OK, so you have a wishlist of amazing egg devices, but what are you going to make? That’s where this attractive and helpful cookbook comes in. The hardcover tome comes with 90 recipes dedicated to the versatile ingredient. The book even has a die-cut cover of an egg cross-section, so even if you don’t use it often, it’ll look great on your coffee table.
Find it: Anthropologie
March 2, 2017 – 8:00am
| Questions: | 5 |
| Available: | Always |
| Pass rate: | 75 % |
| Backwards navigation: | Forbidden |
5 Questions: “Len”t
Thursday, March 2, 2017 – 01:45
On March 10, Buffy the Vampire Slayer turns 20 years old. In celebration of the milestone, a whole slew of themed merch is being released—like this new board game, which lets you and your gang clean up all the baddies and vampires skulking around your cardboard town.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Board Game is for one to six players, so you can gather with all your friends and maybe even your school librarian. The mission takes placed in Sunnydale, which is getting swarmed with vampires and demons. All the players must work together and use action cards to move around the board and defeat the monsters before the town gets overrun. There is also one Big Bad in each game, which the players get to pick at the beginning (you can choose to take down crowd favorites like Caleb, the First Evil, and Mayor Richard Wilkins). Each card comes with special abilities and rules that change the structure of the game in small ways and make the players feel like they’re re-experiencing actual episodes of the beloved series.
There are 185 cards in all, including artifacts, evil characters, and event cards. There’s also different weapons, garlic, and townie tokens.
To get into the vampire slaying business, pick up the board game for your next night in at ThinkGeek.
March 2, 2017 – 6:30am
Maps from the USA National Phenology Network indicate where spring is springing unusually early in 2017. The data is based on budding trees, blooming flowers, and animal migration.
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Spending time on the set of Alien: Covenant. The movie set between Prometheus and Alien is supposed to be the goriest of the series.
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Disney’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson will hit theaters on March 17th. One character has been revealed as Disney’s first openly gay character.
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The Day Ringo Starr Got Death Threats -for Being Jewish. Eddie Deezen has the story.
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An American man has taken out a huge ad in The Times claiming to be the rightful King of Britain. He intends to claim his throne after Queen Elizabeth passes.
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What Color Are These Strawberries? The picture contains no red at all, but your brain wants to see red.
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Getting the Mail to Your Home Is Way More Complex Than You Might Think. A mail route may be designed by computers, but humans still carry them out.
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Our Skin Is Covered With Invisible Stripes. Think about that the next time you get swirled milk in your espresso.
March 2, 2017 – 5:00am
The queen was once one of the weakest pieces on the board, and now she’s the most powerful. Turns out there might be a historical reason for that.
March 2, 2017 – 4:00am
Researchers have discovered hints of life hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously known, according to a new study published in Nature. An international team of scientists led by University College London’s Matthew Dodd have found the oldest microfossils ever in what was once a hydrothermal vent system near Quebec, estimating they could be up to 4.3 billion years old.
Located on the eastern edge of Canada’s Hudson Bay, the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt is left over from Earth’s earliest oceanic crust. There, within the quartz layers of banded iron formations, the researchers found remains of tubes and filaments (seen attached to a clump of iron in the image below) formed by bacteria on that early crust, which was part of an ancient deep-sea hydrothermal vent network.
The bacterial remnants can be dated back at least 3.77 billion years, older than previously discovered evidence of the beginnings of life on Earth. The oldest confirmed evidence of bacterial life before this, discovered in western Australia, was dated at around 3.5 billion years ago.
Other research has pointed to life 3.7 billion years ago, but scientists were uncertain if the microfossils in question were really biological in origin or formed by some other process. In this study, researchers tested several ways the tubes and filaments discovered could have been created, like through temperature and pressure changes, but found that the most likely origin of the structures was biological. The tubes and filaments studied look much like those formed by bacteria in modern hydrothermal vents, according to the researchers.
The newly discovered remains push the timeline of life on Earth back even further. They are probably from even earlier than 3.8 billion years ago and may date to 4.3 billion years ago, according to the study. The planet itself is thought to be around 4.5 billion years old, and multicelled organisms didn’t show up until 600 million years ago. “The findings support the theory that life emerged from hot, sea floor vents shortly after the formation of Earth,” co-author and University of Ottawa professor Jonathan O’Neil explains in a press statement.
March 1, 2017 – 3:45pm
If you’re a tech-savvy American who dreams of living abroad, Wellington, New Zealand wants to make your expat fantasies come true. As Forbes reports, the island nation’s capital city is looking to recruit 100 employees from around the world—U.S. residents, in particular—to work for its start-up scene.
Wellington is famous for its scenic shoreline and its arts and culture scene, but the city is also an emerging tech hub (it has even been nicknamed “Silicon Welly”). To promote growth in the technology sector, the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency (WREDA) joined forces with Workhere New Zealand—a business that connects skilled foreign workers with New Zealand employers—to launch a talent recruitment program called LookSee Wellington.
LookSee Wellington hopes to attract top-notch applicants by offering what they’ve dubbed “the ultimate career trip.” The LookSee team will pre-screen applicants, and prospective employers will choose the 100 most promising candidates. In May 2017, LookSee Wellington will fly the lucky finalists to Wellington—all expenses paid, including travel and accommodations—for four days of prearranged interviews, meet-ups, and sightseeing tours. (You’ll have to cover your own food, beverage, and entertainment expenses.)
“At the end of the week there’ll be offers to jobs you never knew existed in a place with a lifestyle you never thought possible,” LookSee’s website promises.
Already dreaming about life as a Kiwi? Candidates can register for consideration online; applications are due by March 20. This isn’t the first time New Zealand has actively recruited foreign workers: In July 2016, the tiny, 800-person town of Kaitangata offered housing packages worth around $165,000 to applicants willing to live in the area and work at its dairy processing and freezing works plants.
[h/t Forbes]
March 1, 2017 – 3:30pm