Author: Kirstin Fawcett

Night rides can be dangerous for cyclists, even if their bikes have lights and reflectors. To stay safe on dark roads, Mashable reports that two engineers have designed a smart helmet called Lumos, complete with a red brake light and yellow turn signals.

Lumos comes with a small, wireless remote, which riders clip onto their bike’s handlebar and use to control the lights. It also has an accelerometer, which switches on the brake lights when cyclists make a rapid stop. The helmet and remote are both battery-powered, so an accompanying iOS app keeps tabs on how much juice they have, and notifies you when to charge them. (An Android version of the app is reportedly on the horizon.)

The helmet’s designers, Jeff Chen and Ding Eu-wen, raised funds to make the helmet with a Kickstarter campaign. The project is now fully funded, but Lumos isn’t ready for the open road quite yet; beta testers are still providing feedback on its fit and design, and Chen and Eu-wen are tinkering with the accelerometer. They’re also contemplating adding a ride tracker to collect activity data.

You can keep tabs on the helmet’s status by visiting their website, where a limited first-edition version is currently available for pre-order, starting at $170. In the meantime, learn how it works by watching the video below.

[h/t Mashable]

You may be familiar with the BBC Earth-PBS miniseries Spy in the Wild, a five-part documentary featuring up-close footage of wild creatures in their natural habitats. The show uses animatronic spy cameras to capture the way animals—elephants, sloths, meerkats, crocodiles, and more—act when humans aren’t around. That being said, filming doesn’t always go smoothly, as you’ll see in the video above. Spotted by Laughing Squid, the blooper reel compiles occasions when both the lifelike robot cams and their real-life counterparts tripped, toppled from trees, or were simply adorably clumsy. Nature and technology can both be unpredictable—but occasionally, they can also be funny.

Spy in the Wild airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on PBS until March 1.

[h/t Laughing Squid]

Banner image: iStock

In late 2015, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland introduced a series of national emojis that celebrate all aspects of Finnish identity. The first images included Nokia phones, metal heads (Finns famously love the loud music), and naked figures in a sauna. Since then, the Ministry has added new emojis to the collection, including a few illustrating uniquely Finnish terms that we don’t have words for in English. Try using some of them in conversation—and to view and download the whole set of 56 emoji, visit thisisFINLAND, the Finnish government’s promotional website.

1. KALSARIKÄNNIT: “THE FEELING WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO GET DRUNK HOME ALONE IN YOUR UNDERWEAR”

The word quite literally (and delightfully) translates to “underwear drunk.”

2. TORILLA TAVATAAN: “THE FEELING WHEN SOMETHING SO GREAT HAPPENS YOU JUST HAVE TO SHARE IT WITH SOMEBODY”

You’d say “Torilla tavataan!“—which literally means “Let’s meet/see you at the marketplace”—to friends if you wanted to gather together in your city’s public square and celebrate good news—say, your local sports team winning.

3. SUOMI MAINITTU!: “THE FEELING WHEN SOMEONE MENTIONS FINLAND ABROAD”

Finland is home to Nokia, the Angry Birds Land theme park, and even Santa Claus, but the tiny nation still feels like it doesn’t get much international recognition. Suomi mainittu—which literally translates to “Finland mentioned!”—captures the excitement Finns feel when their country is discussed abroad.

4. PERKELE: “THE MOTHER OF ALL FINNISH SWEAR WORDS”

Perkele translates to “the devil,” but like many swear words, it’s not what it means—it’s how you use it. Try rolling the “r” for extra emphasis.

5. SISU: “THE FEELING OF PERSEVERANCE”

Sisu can loosely be translated to “perseverance” or “having guts,” but the word has a deeper meaning in Finland. “The Finns have something they call sisu,” The New York Times wrote in 1940 [PDF]. “It is a compound of bravado and bravery, of ferocity and tenacity, of the ability to keep fighting after most people would have quit, and to fight with the will to win. The Finns translate ‘sisu’ as ‘the Finnish spirit,’ but it is a much more gutful word than that.”

6. KAAMOS: “THE FEELING OF SUNLESS DAYS”

Finns use kaamos to describe the sunless period between December and January. Even though we don’t experience polar nights in America, we can still relate with the gloomy feeling of summer being too far away.

All images courtesy of thisisFINLAND.

In Whitehorse, the capital city of Canada’s Yukon Territory, icy locks are the ultimate bizarre fashion statement. As Marie Claire reports, the chilly municipality is home to the International Hair Freezing Contest—a competition held each February during the territory’s annual Sourdough Rendezvous festival.

The festival—taking place from February 17 to February 26—pays homage to the region’s rich history. Events like log tosses, an axe tossing contest, and a “flour packing competition” (participants haul giant loads of flour on their backs while completing an obstacle course) celebrate the 1890s “sourdoughs,” a nickname given to Yukon Goldrush prospectors who made it through at least one Alaska winter, and subsisted on little more than sourdough flapjacks.

The Hair Freezing Contest was added to the mix in 2011 as more of a nod to the icy local climate than to rugged prospectors of yore. Participants hop into the hot springs at a local resort, the Takhini Hot Pools, and get their heads and faces wet. Then, they mold and freeze their hair into a frosted coiffure, and take a photo. The resort evaluates pictures of the ‘dos, and the top three winners are announced in March. Prizes include cash and free soaks in the hot springs.

The next Hair Freezing Contest will be held on February 24. If you’re interested in entering, the Takhini Hot Pools website has a list of tips to help you score the ultimate hypothermic hairstyle. Until then, you can simply enjoy the video below, featuring the contest’s 2015 winners.

[h/t Marie Claire]

Some lawn ornament thieves target pink flamingos, but a man in rural North Carolina set his sights on a much bigger bird. He’s been accused of using a tractor to steal a 1000-pound concrete chicken statue, the Statesville Record & Landmark reports.

Alexander County police believe that Andrew Emilious Justice of Taylorsville, North Carolina, stole the lawn ornament, which is more than 3 feet tall, from a poultry farm last weekend. On February 16, authorities apprehended Justice and charged him with felony larceny and misdemeanor injury to real property.

Nobody quite knows what may have motivated Justice to commit such a cocky crime. But we do know that in addition to being massive, the statue was also expensive: It cost $1100 and was a birthday gift from the poultry farm’s owner to his wife, NPR reports.

The chicken statue stood on the farm until it mysteriously disappeared overnight, between February 11 and February 12. Police found the base several miles away, but the statue was still missing; they later discovered broken pieces of the statue scattered along the road. Authorities also located a tractor believed to belong to Justice that had white paint on its forks (presumably from the rooster statue).

Justice is scheduled to appear in court on Monday. In addition to larceny and property damage, he also faces a charge of reckless driving: When arriving to meet police, the accused thief reportedly sped off the state highway and into the driveway, proving that there’s more than one way to run a-fowl of the law. 

[h/t Atlas Obscura]

For one London congregation, dressing in their Sunday best means donning a red foam nose, oversized shoes, and a bowler hat. As the Agence France-Presse reports, the All Saints Church in East London is home to an annual church service for clowns, who gather each year on the first Sunday of February to pay tribute to their icon, 18th-century English comedian and pantomime performer Joseph Grimaldi.

Grimaldi, who died in 1837, was one of the world’s first circus clowns. He’s credited with creating the modern archetype of the clown as a mischievous—yet innocent—figure, and for being the first to don all-white make-up. (“Joey,” a slang term for pantomime clowns coined by author George Bernard Shaw, was inspired by Grimaldi.) But despite his happy façade, Grimaldi led a tragic private life, and his signature style of physical comedy led to him developing a host of painful physical ailments, including arthritis.

The first church service honoring Grimaldi’s memory was held in 1946, at a since-demolished church in the London borough of Islington (home to Grimaldi’s grave). Now in its 71st year, the event draws members of the clowning industry from around the world who wish to celebrate Grimaldi, “and to pay…last respects to all those clowns who passed on to the big top in the sky during the previous year,” states the website of Clowns International, a non-profit that describes itself as “the oldest established club for clowns and friends of clowns.”

This year’s Annual Grimaldi Clown Service fell on February 5 and drew dozens of attendees. The program featured hymns, a prayer dedicated to the clowning profession, and tributes to clowns past and present.

“Clowns are the catalyst to laughter,” speaker MC Mattie the Clown told attendees, according to CNN. “And as Charlie Chaplin said: ‘A day without laughter is a day wasted.'”

Check out a video of this year’s clown-themed church service below.

[h/t Agence France-Presse]

For some kids, no backyard birthday celebration is complete without a bounce house. Since an inner child lurks inside every adult party guest, Travel + Leisure reports that a Belgian company called V-Formation has created what’s billed as the world’s biggest inflatable obstacle course, designed for grown-ups.

Called The Beast, the course features 839 feet (that’s longer than two football fields combined) of inflatable plastic fun, with 32 different obstacle course pieces—think bouncy balls, air-filled walls, nets, and other soft barriers—that can be assembled according to personal preference.

Sadly, you can’t purchase The Beast for your own backyard, as it appears to be one-of-a-kind. However, you can book it for private, corporate, and public events, by reaching out to V-Formation. And if you live in England, you can catch The Beast at the Betteshanger Country Park in Kent, from May 26 to 29; and at the Extreme Festival, a “brand new festival for adventure seekers and adrenaline junkies,” held at Kent’s Groombridge Place Estates from April 29 to 30.

Watch how The Beast works below.

[h/t Travel + Leisure]

Seventeenth-century Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn is most famous for his paintings and etchings, but he was also a prolific drawer. Approximately 1400 sketches attributed to Rembrandt survive today—and recently, CNN reports, experts identified a new one hiding in plain sight inside a museum in Braunschweig, Germany.

Rembrandt drawing ‘hidden’ for 250 years is found: A chalk drawing of a dog has been identified as a work by… https://t.co/zuWq5ezyid #cnn

— Breaking News World (@BreakingNews_nl) February 15, 2017

The chalk sketch of a dog was previously thought to be the work of Johann Melchior Roos, a 16th century German Baroque artist known for his paintings of landscapes and animals. The Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum has owned the drawing, called The Braunschweig Terrier, since 1770.

Two years ago, Dr. Thomas Döring, the museum’s curator of prints and drawings, gave the work another look while cataloging works for a digital archive. Thanks to his prior experience studying sketches by Rembrandt and his pupils, Döring was able to detect subtle stylistic details that were unique to the Dutch Master.

The “boldness of the strokes, the variations in the shading from very gentle to quite violent and the expressive gaze [of the dog]—these are very typical idiosyncrasies of Rembrandt’s work,” Döring told CNN.

Doring compared The Braunschweig Terrier to the artist’s other known sketches, and asked other Rembrandt experts to weigh in with their opinions. They, too, are convinced that Rembrandt produced the work, the professor told CNN.

Rembrandt practiced his artistic technique by sketching animal studies in chalk. He rarely made preparatory sketches for his paintings, but experts at the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum have compared his terrier drawing to the barking dog crouching in the corner of the artist’s famous 1642 painting, The Night Watch.

The newly-labeled drawing is slated to go back on display this April, as part of a new exhibition at the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum.

[h/t CNN]

Affairs aren’t always physical; sometimes, they involve a remote control. As Vocativ reports, a new, Netflix-commissioned survey found that nearly half of respondents who stream with significant others “Netfix cheat,” meaning they sneakily watch episodes of TV shows ahead of their partner.

SurveyMonkey conducted the study, which looked at data from 30,267 respondents. They crunched the numbers, and found that 46 percent of couples were guilty of Netflix infidelity. These individuals expressed little remorse: 45 percent didn’t confess the act to their partners, while 61 percent said they “would cheat more if they could get away with it.” Meanwhile, 81 percent of cheaters were repeat offenders, and had committed the 21st century crime more than once.

That being said, these betrayals weren’t always intentional. Eighty percent of the time, the “cheating” wasn’t planned, respondents said. As for the impetus behind their actions, 66 percent said a lack of self-control was to blame. (The “top cheating temptations” were addictive shows like The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, American Horror Story, House of Cards, Orange is The New Black, Narcos, and Stranger Things.)

“In a binge-watching world where it’s easy to say ‘just one more,’ Netflix cheating has quickly become the new normal,” Netflix concluded in a statement.

Netflix conducted a similar survey in 2013; back then, only 12 percent admitted to having an affair with a TV show. In only four years, that number increased more than threefold. But even though this dishonest habit is on the rise, it’s still somewhat socially acceptable: 46 percent of respondents concluded that Netflix cheating is “not bad at all” (yes, that happens to be the exact same percent as those who said they’d cheated), in contrast to 18 percent of couples who said they’d gotten into a verbal fight about it.

Guilty of nefarious Netflix behavior yourself? Master the art of sneaky streaming by watching the video below.

[h/t Vocativ]

Historians still don’t know how Vincent van Gogh lost his left ear, or for that matter, how much of it was actually lopped off. However, as Bored Panda reports, online art community Today Is Art Day decided to take historic liberties in the name of nerdy fun and created a mini van Gogh action figure, complete with two completely detachable ears.

Today Is Art Day developed a prototype of the 5-inch PVC figurine, and to bring it to the art-loving masses, they launched a Kickstarter campaign. Backers who contribute $28 Canadian dollars (around $21 USD) can score their own van Gogh action figure. He even comes in a box decorated with miniature, cut-out replicas of one of his Sunflowers paintings (1888) and The Starry Night (1889).

The campaign ends on March 16 and orders will be shipped by July 2017. View some pictures of the van Gogh action figure below.

[h/t Bored Panda]

Photos courtesy of Today Is Art Day//Kickstarter