Month: March 2017

Today an 89-year-old piece of mold sold for $14,751 at an auction house in London. As The New York Times reports, the sample is part of the original culture used by Alexander Fleming to grow penicillin.

In 1928, the Scottish scientist accidentally discovered the life-saving antibiotic as a result of his slovenly lifestyle. Fleming had a habit of leaving out bacteria-filled petri dishes to fester around his home for weeks. He was disinfecting old dishes one day when he noticed that a spot of fungus had appeared on one of them and had killed the surrounding bacteria. Apparently, the fungus was a rare strain of penicillium that had blown in from an open window and found its way on to the sample.

Part of that original batch was purchased today, March 1, from Lot 92 at Bonhams for a five-figure sum. The back of the sample is signed by Fleming himself with the message, “The mould that first made penicillin.” Other historic mold samples from Fleming’s lab have been gifted to Winston Churchill, Prince Philip, Marlene Dietrich, and Pope Pius XII.

[h/t The New York Times]

We’ve all been there: A distant relative or forgotten acquaintance posts something insulting, vulgar, or just downright obnoxious on Facebook; so, without thinking, you just delete them from your “Friends” list. But what if someone had the same idea about you? Would you even notice if they got rid of you? Well, a Google Chrome extension called Who Deleted Me will tell you who has unfriended you on Facebook.

Who Deleted Me is pretty simple: After you download it, you upload your Friends list to the program, where it will log the number of people you’re friends with. From there, it will recheck your list whenever you click on the app and let you know if there have been any changes. The program will also scan your list periodically on its own to notify you if anyone has dropped you. Who Deleted Me differentiates between people who outright unfriended you and those who simply disabled their Facebook accounts.

If you have been unfriended, know that you’re not alone. In his research on the subject, Christopher Sibona—a PhD student at the University of Colorado Denver when he released his study—found that, “The most common type of friend who is unfriended is the high school friend (18.6 percent), followed by other (uncategorized), friend of a friend, and work friend.”

“High school friends are unfriended for making online posts that are polarizing and for posting too frequently about unimportant topics,” Sibona concluded. “Work-related friends are commonly unfriended for engaging in disliked offline behavior and are not typically unfriended for their posting behavior.” Sibona’s study on Facebook behavior also revealed that the person who originally sent the friend request is more likely the one to be deleted.

There has been an uptick in similar apps in recent years, including Who Unfriended Me?, which is available on Google Play, and a rival service on the App Store. You can also download like-minded services to track your Twitter followers.

Remember, though, none of these programs are approved by either Facebook, Twitter, or whatever social media platform you’re monitoring. In fact, Facebook urges people to stay away from any add-on that doesn’t go through their Application Programming Interface, or API. If a program doesn’t use Facebook’s API, that means it’s not adhering to the company’s privacy policy or its terms of service agreement. So be careful, and maybe cut down on all of the political posts and photos of your dinner if you want to avoid deletion.

Today (March 1) is National Pig Day, which makes it a great day to meet some of the internet’s most popular pigs.

1. AND 2. PRISCILLA AND POPPLETON

From the time they were piglets, Priscilla and her younger brother Poppleton have dressed in a variety of adorable costumes and posed for pictures, which you can see on their Instagram. The Florida-based siblings are so popular (they’ve got more than 660,000 followers) that they have their own line of plush toys, and are now teaching fellow pigs Posey and Pink to walk in their hoofsteps.

3. PADDINGTON THE PIG

Scottsdale, Arizona-based mini pig Paddington is a beloved house pig who also has a day job: he works as a Thera-Pig, helping his human’s special needs students.

4. HAMLET THE PIGGY

Despite the name, Hamlet—a.k.a. Hammy—is a female micro pig who lives in Los Angeles, and will happily pose in wigs and costumes. You can see more of Hamlet and her human, Melanie, on their YouTube channel.

5. ESTHER THE WONDER PIG

In 2012, Steve Jenkins and Derek Walter adopted Esther the Wonder Pig when she was just a piglet. They were told she was a micro pig, but quickly realized that wasn’t true. The 650-pound pig—who has more than 332,000 Instagram followers—inspired Jenkins and Walter to found the Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary in Ontario, a home for abandoned and abused farm animals.

6. JAMON

In 2013, Andrea Mendes received a very special Valentine’s Day gift from her husband: a precious little pig she named Jamon. Thanks to Jamon’s willingness to dress up in costumes, the São Paulo, Brazil resident became a Facebook and Instagram celebrity—and even inspired a cartoon series.

7. KAMA THE SURFING PIG

A few years ago, Kai Holt was camping with his family at Hawaii’s Bellows Beach Park when a stray piglet made its way into their cabana; he hasn’t left Holt’s side since. In addition to becoming a cherished member of the family, the pig—named Kamapua’a, or Kama for short—is also Holt’s surfing buddy. While he’s pretty good at balancing on a surfboard, he doesn’t mind the occasional wipeout, as he loves the water and is an excellent swimmer.

Since Holt adopted him, Kama has produced a son, Kama 2, who also surfs. You can see Kama 2 surfing with Holt’s son in this video and keep up with Kama and his family at Facebook and Instagram, too.

8. CHRIS P. BACON

Chris P. Bacon was born with malformed, nonfunctional rear legs. He was taken to veterinarian Len Lucero to be put down, but the doctor decided to adopt him instead. As a piglet, he learned to balance on his front legs, but that solution wouldn’t work for a heavy, full-grown pig, so Lucero fitted him with a set of wheels, and now he gets around his Florida home like a champ. Chris’s story was even turned into a children’s book.

9. WILBUR THE TRAVELING PIG

There are few things cuter than an interspecies friendship, and Wilbur the Traveling Pig has got two of them: He lives with two Bengal cats, Suki and Sashimi, and their friendship is one of mutual benefit. The cats consider Wilbur a pillow, and he considers them back scratchers. Wilbur accompanies his humans on road trips and has become quite a well-traveled pig.

10. BACON THE PIGLET

Like the aforementioned Esther the Wonder Pig, Fort Worth, Texas’s Bacon the Piglet is a mini pig that turned out to be anything but. Bacon may be big, but he’s not too big to be lifted (yet). Watch him grow up in his Instagram gallery, where you’ll find videos of Bacon in his apartment complex swimming pool. Bacon is in no danger of becoming bacon, but strangely, he is calmed by being stroked with a fork. 

11. AND 12. LEO AND OLIVE

Mini pigs Leo and Olive live together with their family in North Carolina. According to their Facebook page, they like “Cheerios, Raisins, Rooting, Cuddles, Grazing. Fort Building. [And] planning missions to acquire more treats.” According to the photo above, they also enjoy a dip in the backyard pond.

13. BITSY THE MINI PIG

Bitsy is a small pig growing up in Washington State. She takes walks on a leash and loves Cheerios, being around people, and occasionally dressing up in a tutu (much to her more than 13,000 Instagram followers’ amusement).

14. LILY PIG

Lily is a Vietnamese potbelly pig who is an ambassador for Tucson, Arizona’s Ironwood Pig Sanctuary. They take in abandoned or rescued Vietnamese potbelly pigs and give them a chance to either be adopted or live out their lives there in peace.

15. LORD HAMILTON

Lord Hamilton (Hammy for short) is only a year and a half old, but he’s already the director of emotional support for HEAL (the Happily Ever After League) in Scottsdale, Arizona. The organization, founded by Hammy’s human mom, Lauren, provides support for women going through cancer treatment.