Month: November 2019

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A Creepy Fish with a Human Face Was Caught on Video in China

Fish can be called many things – slimy, weird, googly-eyed, delicious – but until now, human-like is about the last thing I would use to describe them.

If I had been the person to see this fish in the flesh – er, scales – I honestly am not sure that I would ever recover.

The video was captured at a freshwater lake in southwestern China, and the fish is believed to be from the species Cyprinus carpino (a carp). They come in a variety of colors ranging from olive to silver (in the wild), and in captivity, can sport any number of colors and patterns (like koi fish). And apparently, some of those patterns may involve black outlines that resemble a human face.

Image Credit: YouTube

The New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (and other fish experts) says the human tendency to anthropomorphize animals (see human characteristics where there aren’t any) is responsible for the fact that the fish seems to have a face. But if you look closely, you can see that it actually has does not have one.

At least, not a human face.

Image Credit: YouTube

Scientists believe that humans anthropomorphize animals as a way to enhance our ability to read cues, body language, and other behaviors that have aided in our survival as a species. The ability is “supported by a set of cognitive mechanisms that are both an automatic response to any human-like behavior and reflective,” like thinking your dog is hungry when he sits in front of his food dish.

Image Credit: YouTube

Though a similar video was debunked by Snopes (after amassing over 9 million views) earlier in 2019, so far, the jury on this slimy little fellow is still out.

Here’s the video – you decide!

I don’t know what I think – except that I’m probably not visiting China any time soon.

What about you?

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You Can Stop Putting These Foods in the Fridge

Some foods will quickly spoil if you don’t put them in the refrigerator.

And then there are other foods that you should honestly never put into the fridge at all.

Some of these foods simply don’t need to take up precious fridge space when they could easily sit out on the counter. Others can actually become lower-quality in the fridge.

In the first category are pickles and hot sauce. Both contain ingredients that naturally keep the product from going bad, even if they’re not in the fridge. Nuts are another example of foods that easily stay fresh at room temperature.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

In the second category, there are many types of produce that don’t need to be in the fridge, including onions, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, whole melons, and basil. In all of these cases, the cooler temperatures actually change the texture of the produce, making them less fresh.

Instead, store these in a dry place with plenty of ventilation.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

The fridge can also interrupt the ripening process for certain types of produce. Avocados can go in the fridge or on the counter, depending on whether they’re ripe (if ripe, put in fridge to keep them good for longer). Stone fruits like peaches can also be left at room temperature to ripen perfectly.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Other items that should never go into the fridge include olive oil and honey, which can actually turn solid when cold (and it’s kind of icky).

The more you know!

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A Man Built a Tiny Bookstore on Wheels to Deliver Books to Villages Without Bookstores

Books remain a very popular pastime, even in the age of social media. Unfortunately, with the advent of e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle, physical book stores are going out of business. But people remain passionate about the power of idly browsing through shelves of books.

That’s what motivated Jean-Jacques Megel-Nuber to create a tiny bookstore on wheels. Jean-Jacques of Alsace, France hired a tiny home maker to create the portable library in 2015. He calls it Au Vrai Chic Littérère.

Jean-Jacques drives the bookstore all around Alsace, bringing the magic of books to small villages in the area. He often shows up at festivals, events, or other public places where he’s been invited. His goal is to make books more accessible and affordable.

The cozy design of the bookstore was intended to make folks curious enough to go inside, Jean-Jacques says.

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“I wanted a little feeling of a cabin and an aura of a small bookstore, which both evoke a lot of dreaming,” Jean-Jacques told Architectural Digest.

He added to Fortune that he needed “a place that makes people want to enter.”

That tiny space houses around 3000 books. In addition to the bookshelves, the structure contains a small place for Jean-Jacques to sleep while he travels. As you can imagine, it can get tricky to tow the bookstore — it’s a very heavy and delicate load! All those books weigh about 1,300 pounds.

But we’d guess that it’s totally worth the trouble, if only to see the reactions on people’s faces when they get to crawl inside this dreamy bookstore.

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10 Facts About the Colorado Hotel Stephen King Stayed at When He Came up with “The Shining”

I love all-things horror, and the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, is definitely on my bucket list to visit someday. The hotel was author Stephen King’s inspiration for The Shining, which was published in 1977 and was made into a great horror film in 1980.

King published Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining, in 2013, and the movie version was released just last week. While we’re at it, let’s take a look at the trailer for Doctor Sleep.

And now here are 10 interesting facts about the infamous Stanley Hotel.

1. One night stay

 

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King and his wife Tabitha stayed at the Stanley for one night back in 1974 when King was working as a teacher in Boulder, Colorado.

2. Solitary

The night that King and his wife stayed at the hotel, they were the only guests in the whole place. The Stanley was not a year-round hotel until 1982, and it was the end of the season the night the Kings stayed there.

3. A hard time.

 

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In 1974, Stephen King was suffering from alcoholism and writer’s block.

4. The creepy room.

The Kings stayed in Room 217 the night of the visit, which he wrote into The Shining.

5. The clawfoot tub…

The tub in Room 217 inspired The Shining. King opened the curtain and said to himself, “What if somebody died here? At that moment, I knew I had a book.”

6. The bartender.

After his wife Tabitha went to sleep, King went to the hotel bar and the bartender was named Lloyd Delbert Grady. King used the bartender’s name as inspiration for the characters “Lloyd” the bartender and “Delbert Grady,” the previous caretaker.

7. No cash exchanged.

 

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King tried to give the bartender a $20 bill, and Lloyd Delbert Grady said, “Your money is no good here,” just like in the film. Because it was the end of the season, Grady didn’t want to add more money to his till.

8. But there was another kind of exchange.

Lloyd gave King a glass of whiskey for free, and the writer told him about some ideas he had for books. Lloyd told him personal stories about working at the hotel.

9. Step outside.

 

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King had a nightmare the evening he slept at the Stanley. The next morning he woke up, smoked a cigarette on the balcony outside Room 217, and by the end of his smoke he had the beginning, middle, and end of The Shining in his head.

10. Booked up.

These days, if you want to reserve Room 217 at the Stanley Hotel, keep in mind that it’s usually booked up a year in advance.

The post 10 Facts About the Colorado Hotel Stephen King Stayed at When He Came up with “The Shining” appeared first on UberFacts.

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Take a Look at the 15 Most Popular Disney Tattoos

I’ve seen a lot of Disney tattoos in my day, but now we have some rankings of the most popular ones, put together by Play Like Mum.

The website did some research and crunched the numbers and determined that these are the top 15 most popular Disney tattoos around the world.

Let’s take a look!

15. Brave

14. Bambi

13. Hercules

12. Toy Story

11. Winnie the Pooh

10. Minnie Mouse

9. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

8. Sleeping Beauty

7. Beauty and the Beast

6. Peter Pan

5. Lilo and Stitch

4. The Little Mermaid

3. Mickey Mouse

2. The Lion King

1. Alice in Wonderland

Now I know that some of you folks out there have Disney tattoos…

Share them with us in the comments!

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15 Funny Tweets About the DMV That Hopefully Won’t Make You Miserable

The DMV is a special kind of hell, isn’t it? The employees are often…unpleasant, the other people waiting are in a bad mood, and overall it’s just a miserable endeavor.

But, since we’ve all been there and it’s a shared human experience, let’s laugh at these funny tweets about spending time at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

1. Gee, thanks a lot.

2. Hahahaha. Amazing.

3. Time to throw in the towel.

4. All worn out.

5. Sir, you need that as well.

6. It’s been a long year.

7. Not a good vibe.

8. God doesn’t go in there.

9. I don’t think she got it.

10. Not off to a good start.

11. That makes a lot of sense.

12. You did what you had to do.

13. The man was a legend.

14. Let’s play a game.

15. That’s about the worst thing you could ever hear.

Share your worst DMV experience with us in the comments!

Let’s compare notes!

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You Might Not Know That These 15 Songs Were Written About Celebrities

Musicians write songs about personal experiences, and it seems like there’s always speculation about who one song or another might be about.

Well, finally we have some answers! All 15 of these songs were written about a particular famous person, and you might be surprised by some of them.

These answers come to us from the Buzzfeed community.

1. Gym Class Heroes “Cupid’s Chokehold”

“Cupid’s Chokehold” by The Gym Class Heroes was written about Katy Perry. She used to date the lead singer, Travie McCoy.

2. Coldplay “Fix You”

“Fix You” by Coldplay was written by Chris Martin for Gwyneth Paltrow (his wife at the time) after her father died.

3. Katy Perry “California Gurls”

“California Gurls” by Katy Perry was aimed at Jay-Z and Alicia Keys as a response to their “Empire State of Mind.” She wanted there to be a song to represent California.

4. Ed Sheeran “Don’t”

“Don’t” by Ed Sheeran is about Ellie Goulding cheating on him with Niall from One Direction.

5. Eminem “The Warning”

“The Warning” by Eminem is a clapback at Mariah’s “Obsessed.”

6. Outkast “Ms. Jackson”

“Ms. Jackson” by Outkast was an apology to Erykah Badu and her mother after Badu and Andre 3000 broke up.

7. Nick Jonas “Wedding Bells”

“Wedding Bells” by Nick Jonas is about his ex-girlfriend Miley Cyrus’s engagement to Liam Hemsworth.

8. Nirvana “Heart-Shaped Box”

The song “Heart-Shaped Box” is about Courtney Love and her vagina.

9. Taylor Swift “Better Than Revenge”

Taylor Swift wrote “Better Than Revenge” about Camilla Belle dating Joe Jonas (her ex).

10. Muse “Madness”

“Madness” by Muse is about Matt Bellamy’s (the lead singer) relationship with Kate Hudson. It was inspired by a fight they had.

11. Taylor Swift “Dear John”

“Dear John” by Taylor Swift is about her ex, John Mayer.

12. Ashlee Simpson “Boyfriend”

“Boyfriend” by Ashlee Simpson was aimed at Lindsay Lohan for accusing Simpson of stealing her then-boyfriend, Wilmer Valderrama.

13. Justin Timberlake “Cry Me a River”

“Cry Me a River” by Justin Timberlake is about his breakup with Britney Spears.

14. Carly Simon “You’re So Vain”

A verse in Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” is about Warren Beatty.

15. Mac Miller “Cinderella”

“Cinderella” by Mac Miller, a song that has lyrics about very intimate bedroom moments, is about Ariana Grande.

How many of those did you know about?

Do you have any more? Share them in the comments!

The post You Might Not Know That These 15 Songs Were Written About Celebrities appeared first on UberFacts.

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Record Cold Temperatures Don’t Mean Climate Change Isn’t Taking Place

It’s cold outside! Really cold!

We aren’t even into December yet, but much of the country has already seen frigid temperatures and huge snowstorms this fall.

So, predictably, some climate change deniers and skeptics have rushed out (as they are wont to do) and cried from the rooftops that global warming and climate change don’t really exist. Just look at this cold, snowy weather we’re having…right?

WRONG. These short-term bouts of unusually cold weather don’t really have any effect on long-term temperature averages. Let’s look at the reasons why.

 

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If you’ll recall, a polar vortex developed in early 2019 and then split apart, sending a swath of cold air to the Great Lakes region. Amy Butler, an atmospheric scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, explained it this way, “Like a rock in a stream—in this case, the jet stream—[the polar vortex lobe] helped keep the jet stream pushed southward, which encourages cold air to be transported from Canada and the Arctic into mid-latitudes.”

The split polar vortex and other factors combined to create these cold conditions in early 2019, and some experts believed that the cold temperatures wouldn’t last long. And although the frigid conditions were uncomfortable and seemed to last a long time, the average monthly temperatures last December and January were actually above average for that time of year.

 

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In other words, random cold spells will always take place and weather is chaotic, but that does not mean that climate change isn’t occurring right now as we speak. Zachary Labe, a climate scientist at the University of California, Irvine, said, “The weather frequently changes from day-to-day or even hour-to-hour, while changes in our climate occur in the long-term, such as over 30 year periods. Therefore, we cannot say that one cold outbreak or weather event is evidence for or against climate change.”

And people tend to remember exceptional (read: cold) weather events rather than the normal, average days. But the fact is that winters have been warming. Over the past year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded 11,404 daily record lows across the globe. But the organization also recorded 21,907 new record HIGH temperatures.

 

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Bob Henson, meteorologist with Weather Underground, said, “That ratio [of record highs to lows] has been getting bigger over the past few decades. Cold doesn’t go away, it’s just less frequent.”

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A ‘Friends’ Reunion Special Is in the Works

Eeeeek!

Remember that selfie that Jennifer Aniston posted about a month ago that got people all riled up?

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And now we’re Instagram FRIENDS too. HI INSTAGRAM ??

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Well, it looks like Friends fans have good reason to get all fired up. News recently came out that a Friends special reunion show is in the works, and millions of people across the globe could not be happier.

There’s no doubt that Friends is one of the most popular TV shows of all time. The program ran from 1994 until 2004 and developed a rabid fan following during the years it was on NBC and in the years of re-runs since then.

Could you BE a bigger Friends fan? Download the app by searching 'Friends 25' in your app store.

Posted by FRIENDS (TV Show) on Friday, November 8, 2019

The six stars of the show, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc, and the creators of Friends are all reportedly in talks to reunite on the HBO Max network, which launches in 2020.

One thing to keep in mind: according to reports, the new Friends special would be “unscripted.” So maybe it could be some kind of panel where the stars and the creators talk about the legacy and history of the show?

Time will tell…

But we’re excited to see if the gang gets back together again!

Happy International Day of FRIENDShip! #Friends25

Posted by FRIENDS (TV Show) on Tuesday, July 30, 2019

On October 27, Jennifer Aniston said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, “We would love for there to be something, but we don’t know what that something is. So we’re just trying. We’re working on something.”

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this comes to fruition and no one backs out or the idea just fizzles out. I’m down for this reunion. Are you?

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Every State Ranked by How Miserable Its Winters Are

It’s predicted to be a loooooong, cold, crazy winter from late 2019 into the early months of 2020.

This article ranks all 50 states in terms of how bad, or, let’s just go ahead and say miserable, their winters are. These rankings come from Thrillist and take into account temperatures, weather patterns, how bad the roads are during the winter, and even the success of each state’s winter sports teams.

Let’s take a look at the rankings, starting with the least miserable. Number 50 probably won’t be a huge surprise….

50. Hawaii

 

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49. Arizona

48. California

47. Colorado

 

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46. Florida

45. New Mexico

44. Louisiana

43. Texas

42. Georgia

 

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41. Alabama

40. South Carolina

39. Mississippi

38. North Carolina

 

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37. Nevada

36. Tennessee

35. Utah

 

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34. Arkansas

33. Oklahoma

32. Virginia

 

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31. Maryland

30. Kentucky

29. West Virginia

28. Missouri

 

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27. Kansas

26. Delaware

25. Nebraska

24. New Jersey

23. Pennsylvania

 

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22. Vermont

21. Rhode Island

20. New York

 

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19. Connecticut

18. Washington

17. Oregon

16. Indiana

 

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15. New Hampshire

14. Ohio

13. Illinois

12. Wyoming

 

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11. Iowa

10. Massachusetts

9. Montana

8. Idaho

 

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7. Wisconsin

6. South Dakota

5. Maine

4. North Dakota

 

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3. Alaska

2. Michigan

1. Minnesota

 

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Those poor folks in Minnesota…

Stay warm out there this winter!

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