The New Nickelodeon Theme Park Is Now Open to the Public

Nickelodeon Universe Theme Park officially opened to the public on October 25, and it’s sure to become a new crowd favorite.

Unlike that other major theme park, Nickelodeon Universe Theme Park is located entirely indoors. At 8.5 acres large, it’s the largest indoor theme park in the Western Hemisphere – it even trumps the size of the former Nickelodeon theme park at the Mall of America in Minnesota.

The new park is located in American Dream, a 3-million square-foot entertainment and shopping center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which is under 5 miles from New York City.

There are over 35 rides, rollercoasters, and attractions at the theme park, all of which are family-friendly and perfect for kids.

Standouts include the Spongebob-themed Bikini Bottom Crosstown Express, Blue’s Skidoo, the Rugrats Reptar Go-Round, and the Nickelodeon Slime Streak, which affords riders a bird’s-eye view of over half of the park.

There’s also Nickelodeon’s Skyline Scream, the world’s tallest indoor spinning drop tower.

Between all those rides, kids can spot SpongeBob, Dora the Explorer, and other popular Nickelodeon characters in the “flesh.” There will also be a live entertainment stage, which will definitely involve some buckets of slime.

Tickets for the first few days of the Nickelodeon Universe Theme Park sold out quickly, but at $49.99 for all-access and $39.99 for general access, they aren’t unreasonable at all.

The Nickelodeon park isn’t the only thing drawing new crowds in American Dream. The center is also opening Dreamworks Water Park in November 27, which will feature a 142-foot-tall body slide — the world’s tallest. The center also just opened an NHL-sized ice skating rink.

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This Is How to Successfully Escape from a Corn Maze

Chances are you’ll visit a place that has the dreaded corn maze this fall. A big one, with all the twists and turns…and you might get lost. Without a birds-eye view of the monstrosity, it’s easy to get trapped.

That’s where this trick comes in, provided by Kotaku. Nathan Fouts works in the gaming industry where he creates mazes for a living. Given his experience, his maze-related advice is top notch. He recently visited an Indiana farm, explaining, “With my interest in puzzles and design, I was eager to explore in a real maze. I hadn’t been through a corn maze in many years. But as I crested the hill to overlook the massive, 12 acre field, a tiny worry crept into my mind.”

But he still had to try it.

“We were given a map of the maze, which was reassuring, but, again, following a paper map is a bit trickier than following dynamically updating directions in your car. As we made our way through the maze, full of dead ends, and twists and turns, a new thought dawned on me: We’re safe. If we simply follow the wall. If we always take a right turn, and never change, we’ll get out easily.”

And they did! He used the “wall follower rule” to successfully exit the maze. Per his advice, making turns in the same direction will get you there. It doesn’t matter if you always turn right to follow the wall or always turn left, as long as you turn the same way every time. Just make sure you don’t get confused and veer off course.

Here he provides us with a basic map to illustrate his technique.

Photo Credit: Kotaku

“Imagine holding your right hand against the wall. If you happen to find a dead end, turn 180 degrees. Now with your right hand on the other side, exit the dead end, and eventually turn to the right and down a new path.”

Since corn mazes typically start and end on the outside walls of the maze, traveling the “wall” will get you out. Here it is in “action”.

Photo Credit: Kotaku

Seems simple enough!

But…there is a catch. Not all mazes are structured like this, meaning not all have parts that are connected to the main frame. You could find yourself in a maze with an island or a bridge that will make you re-think this technique.

“If there are bridges or passovers within the maze, the wall follower method may still work, or may not. It depends on if the bridge deposits you into a maze island, that is separated from the outer wall.”

The most important thing, though, is that the maze has to start and finish at an outside wall for this technique to help you. If the ‘end’ of the maze is somewhere in the middle, then you’re out of luck.

Also, if you’re in a haunted maze, you have to remember to keep following the wall and turning the way you decided even when you’re being chased…which might be tough.

But, honestly, don’t worry if you get lost! Just have fun and enjoy the challenge of finding the exit. If you need to escape, you can always walk through the stalks of corn until you come to a row then follow the row to the end of the field. Good luck!

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15 People Share How They Got Their Scars

I have a couple of memorable scars on my body. One is from when a kid on the school bus in 8th grade (he shall remain nameless) cut me on the hand with his homemade wooden knife. Another is from getting burned by a piece of plastic that melted onto my right-hand ring finger. That was about 25 years ago, and it still looks fresh! (PS: we were really smart kids).

AskReddit users tell us the stories behind the scars on their bodies.

How did you get your scars? Share your stories in the comments.

1. A black eye for Christmas.

“I have a scar on my eyebrow from when I was an asshole 4 year old. I threw a tantrum and tried to pick up a small plastic kids table to throw it over my head. Instead I dropped it, the leg hit me with a sharp broken edge on the eyebrow/eye, I started bleeding, and I had a black eye for Christmas.”

2. X marks the spot.

“I was making a paper plate mask in grade 3 and stuck a pair of scissors through the plate for eyes… Right into my other hand.”

3. Hockey scars for life.

“I have like 5 or 6 deep ones in both eye brows from hockey and hair doesn’t grow there very well so they look all weird.”

4. Didn’t work out so well.

“I was four. I was bouncing on a beachball. My mom told me to go upstairs to bed, so I thought I could bounce up the stairs on the beach ball. I missed the first step and got stitches in my forehead. That’s kid logic for ya.”

5. Very unsightly.

“When I was 15 I had keyhole surgery for appendicitis. Three barely noticeable scars, one of which is in my belly button. Unfortunately, something was left inside me and the morning after being discharged I woke with a fist-sized cyst on my abdomen.

I had gone septic and had to have whatever was left inside of me removed via non-keyhole surgery which left me with a neat straight line scar about 12cm long. Also had to have a drain into my lower abdomen so I’ve got a big ol’ hole about 6cm below my belly button. Unsightly as hell.”

6. Cat scratch fever.

“I have a pretty noticeable scar on the right side of my neck that often gets mistaken for a really bad hickey. The story I tell everyone because I’m sick of explaining is that I was stabbed in the neck with a knife. The real story is that when I was 5, I had been scratched in my eye from one of our house cats while I was asleep. The scratch had infected lymph nodes in my neck, causing it to become extremely swollen, where it was difficult for me to even breathe.

Doctors were baffled by what it was, where I spent several weeks/months in and out of the hospital. They speculated it was lymphoma at the time. I had my neck drained from the fluid from massive syringes that I still have nightmares over, and also have a paralyzing fear of needles. The scar ultimately came from me undergoing 3 separate surgeries where they removed infected lymph nodes from my neck, and late discovered I suffered from a very severe case of cat scratch fever. Yes it’s a Ted Nugent song, and yes it also my anthem.”

7. That’s a bummer.

“Got shingles on my face as a teenager. Do not recommend. The bonus though is that the scar kind of looks like a love heart.”

8. Probably not a great idea.

“Catching a peacock. They have sharp talons.”

9. Boys will be boys.

“My brother and I were playing WWF in the house (even though we weren’t supposed to!). He grabbed the back of my head and slammed my forehead into the “turn buckle” which was the wooden corner of the arm rest on our couch. Blood started running down my face, he ran and hid under his bed. I got 7 stitches in my right eyebrow.”

10. What’s next for you?

“I have what I lovingly refer to as “Jesus Scars”.

When I was 13, I was trying to pry something apart with a chisel and stabbed myself in the right hand by accident.

When I was 23, I was using my box cutter at work to separate some boxes and cut my left hand in almost the exact same place.

Cant wait to see what stupid thing I do at 33.”

11. A whole list of them.

“Needle piercing my cheek during mother’s labor

Forceps tore the ish outta my face

Flint rock on my bare foot at 3, many stitches

Face smash, concrete

chicken pox

lawn mower muffler

angry rabbit”

12. Lucky to be here.

“I have a big scar down the center of my chest, and 2 little “star scars” right under it.

I had just turned 3 and I was at my grandparents’ house with my family. My older cousin was spinning me around in a swivel chair. I fell off of the chair and landed on my side, on top of my grandmother’s knitting stuff that was sitting in a basket by the chair. A knitting needle went through my side and pierced my heart. My aunt thought the needle was just caught in my shirt, and ripped it out of me. I went unconscious almost immediately.

By time I got to the hospital, I had lost a lot of blood and the doctors basically told my parents to prepare for the worst. Luckily, there was a badass heart surgeon there that performed emergency open heart surgery and saved my life! The star scars are from feeding tubes that were hooked up to me post surgery.

Very thankful!!”

13. Quite a story.

“Two scars on my left arm:

On my wrist from a bicycle wreck

On my bicep from when my arm was blown open by a homemade pipe bomb.

I was working a sketchy, under the table semi truck washing job. This job is typically done on a weekend when the trucks are home, usually on an unsupervised lot or farm.

A person we worked with, Person A, loved pranks. Their favorite, was to stuff some Piccolo Pete fireworks into a plastic 2 liter bottle and toss it at someone. Being plastic, the bottle would melt, and just make a super loud bang, scaring the shit out of someone.

Well, Person A had someone working him him, Person B. Person B also loved pranks, and tried to mimic Person A’s prank, but with PVC pipe instead of a plastic bottle. r/whatcouldgowrong

Person A tossed it my way. How neither of them knew PVC pipe would frag out instead of melt, is beyond me. So I’m washing this truck wheel, when out of nowhere, I get flashbanged Call of Duty style. Loud bang, vision went white, and all I could hear was ringing. I remember screaming “what the fuck”, but not because I heard myself say it; because I felt my vocal chords vibrating so hard.

Anyways, I come to, and my arm is just red. Completely red. I try to spray it off, but my boss is sheared and spewing water everywhere. My buddy nearby was also coming to, and saw what happened, so now we’re both in panic mode. I end up getting rinsed off, and I can see into the muscle of my arm. We get a towel wrapped around it, and get me to the hospital.

The wound itself was somewhat of a lightning bolt shape (Like Harry Potter’s scar, or the Metroid logo). So the doctor had to cut out the jagged inside to create a clean hole to stitch up. Fucking gnarly. 8 stitches. Being a stupid 19 year old with no money or understanding of how a lawsuit would work, I didn’t want to make a huge deal out of it and told Person A, you either pay for all of this and we leave it at that, it I sue the shit out of you. They paid all my medical expenses, and we left it at that.

And 6 years later, the story lives on through Reddit.”

14. Avoid the grill.

“I backed my arm up against a barbecue grill when I was younger. I was the perfect height to get my entire upper arm. Elbow up to shoulder. I still have noticeable scars 20 odd years later.”

15. This is interesting.

“Ben Carson looked at my brain.

Had craniosynostosis when I was born and he went in to put some bolts in my head. 152 stitches across the top of my head.

His politics are whack but dude saved my life.”

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Here Is Every Western Literary Movement in History Summed up with Single Sentences

Are you a history and literature buff?

Well, whether you do (and will know what we’re talking about here and probably feel a bit superior about the whole thing) or don’t (who has time for that stuff, anyway?) there’s a good chance you’ll get a chuckle out of these “layman’s” summaries of histories literary movements.

Courtesy of World Circus.

Please. Enjoy.

Old English

Image Credit: Facebook

Middle English

Image Credit: Facebook

Elizabethan

Image Credit: Facebook

Jacobean

Image Credit: Facebook

Late Renaissance

Image Credit: Facebook

Age of Enlightenment

Image Credit: Facebook

Sturm und Drang

Image Credit: Facebook

Romanticism

Image Credit: Facebook

Victorian

Image Credit: Facebook

Transcendentalism

Image Credit: Facebook

Gothic Literature

Image Credit: Facebook

Post-Colonialism

Image Credit: Facebook

Literature of the Absurd

Image Credit: Facebook

Realism

Image Credit: Facebook

The Beat Generation

Image Credit: Facebook

The Lost Generation

Image Credit: Facebook

The Harlem Renaissance

Image Credit: Facebook

Modernist

Image Credit: Facebook

Surrealism

Image Credit: Facebook

Post-Modernism

Image Credit: Facebook

Magical Realism

Image Credit: Facebook

There you have it – don’t you feel smarter now? I know I do!

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The Roaming Charges on Eagles’ GPS Trackers Bankrupt Russian Researcher Team

Now, this is certainly interesting.

Some steppe eagles got into trouble with their researchers for sending text messages that resulted in huge cell phone bills.

Bad, bad birds!

Researchers at the Russian Raptors Research and Conservation Network were studying the steppe eagles to learn more about their summer migratory patterns. To track the eagles, researchers tagged the birds with GPS monitors that would send their locations via text.

Photo Credit: Needpix

The idea was that the eagles would fly around all summer in a virtually cell tower-less region of Kazakhstan, banking up texts of their GPS coordinates that would eventually get sent when they returned to cell service.

So, yes, the plan worked…almost.

The birds spent the majority of their time in the area researchers assumed they would. And the researchers received texts whenever the eagles hit a network in other parts of Kazakhstan and Russia.

What the researchers didn’t anticipate were the odd trips into Iran, where there is oodles of cell phone coverage. Unfortunately, the researchers’ cell phone plan didn’t cover that service.

The eagles weren’t only soaring, they were roaming.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

Everyone knows– except steppe eagles, evidently – that sending text messages without an international calling plan is like throwing money out the window.

What do birds think? That money grows on trees?

The researchers were charged about $0.77 per text, at four per bird per day.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

In the eagles’ defense, they may have decided to vacay in Iran due to the loss of some of their traditional Kazakh breeding grounds to farmland. At any rate, they literally bankrupted the scientists, who had to turn to social media for fundraising.

Friends and fans of steppe eagles stepped up and covered the birds’ bills (and more) so the research could continue.

Cell phone roaming charges are…for the birds.

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10 Simple Ways You Can Help out the Environment

There are always little things you can do to help out the environment. Even if they seem inconsequential to you, taking small steps adds up – especially when countless other people are out there doing the same thing.

So try to implement these habits into your daily lives, and we’ll all be better for it in the long run.

Cause we’ve got a crisis on our hands, and every little bit helps.

1. Turn down the brightness on your monitor.

Desk Upgrade

You can save up to 20% of your monitor’s energy just by adjusting your brightness from 100% to 70%. Go on and do it now…I’ll wait.

2. Think about your music streaming.

Headphones

A study says that today’s music streaming might produce up to double the greenhouse gas emissions as compared to music streaming in the early part of this century. Consider downloading music instead of streaming and do a little research about which streaming companies use cleaner energy.

3. Streaming devices are important, too.

RCS_7989 - IPad - Game Changer

A gaming console might use 30 to 45 times as much power to stream a movie than a regular media player.

4. Order more.

Package

If you buy things online, order more than one item at a time. This cuts down on delivery and packaging in the long run.

5. Search engines matter.

Search engine optimization

Different search engines give back to the environment in different ways. For instance, Ecosia donates ad revenue to plant trees and, according to their website, they run net carbon negative. Do some research and see which ones are doing green work.

6. Unplug it.

Apple...Unplugged

When you’re not using your charger, unplug it. Simple as that. Phone and laptop chargers draw electricity even if you’re not actively charging a device, so give those breakers…a break.

7. Or use a surge protector.

Surge protector

Surge protectors with an On/Off switch are a good option too for those hard-to-reach plugs.

8. Get on that bike.

Kamilah on a Bike

Biking may actually be faster than driving a car in some American cities, so hop on that bicycle of yours to get to where you’re headed.

9. Spam is bad.

email-spam

Roughly 62 TRILLION spam emails are sent each year. Something you may not think about often: sending email actually has a carbon footprint from servers working. Which means those spam emails equal about 20 tons of CO2 each year. So go ahead and hit the “Unsubscribe” button, please.

10. Buy used and vintage clothes.

Thrift Store

According to The Economist, “From the pesticides poured on cotton fields to the washes in which denim is dunked, making 1kg of fabric generates 23kg of greenhouse gases on average.” Seems like kind of a waste, doesn’t it? So consider heading to the thrift store instead of grabbing a new flannel.

 

Give us some of your tips as well in the comments!

We’re in this together, so let’s all do our part, okay?

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Mountain Dew Will Launch a Peach-Flavored Drink Called ‘Happy Dew Year’

Some people absolutely love Mountain Dew…and then there are those who think it’s kind of revolting.

Love it or hate it, a new Mountain Dew flavor is headed your way very soon…a peach-flavored soda called ‘Happy Dew Year.’ The new flavor will launch on December 16, 2019.

According to the Mountain Dew Fandom wiki,

“Happy Dew Year is an upcoming Mountain Dew flavor that will be officially released in stores on December 16th, 2019 and until at the end of 2019 or in early 2020, in the United States as a limited edition flavor for the New Year’s season 2019-2020. It was first leaked via a Reddit conversation which was talked about being some kind of an upcoming soda.”

This news comes shortly after the announcement about Mtn Dew VooDew, a creepy mystery flavor.

People on Reddit seem to be pretty stoked on the new peachy flavor:

“If this is real, I’m gonna have a new favorite dew.”

“Nice to see them dewing more holidays. From Dew.S.A to Dew Year. For Valentines day, instead of Cupid it could be Dewpid. Or, Will U Dew Me?

Will certainly shake this up like a champagne bottle and pour it in a champagne glass. And store some for 20 or so years, let it age…”

Mountain Dew is clearly not messing around – they’re trying to keep their fans engaged with some new, exciting products.

People are still anxiously awaiting official news and details from Mountain Dew about this new concoction, so, for now, you’ll just have to sit tight and wait for that big announcement. Something to look forward to, right?!?!

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Priest Brings Stray Dogs into His Church so They Can Find Loving Homes

Bless this man.

Those are people who talk the talk, and then there are those who walk the walk. And a priest in Brazil named Father João Paulo Araujo Gomes definitely falls into the latter category.

Father Gomes heads a parish in the city of Gravatá, and he allows stray dogs to come into his church during mass. Why, you ask? So the dogs can hopefully find homes with his parishioners.

Posted by PadreJoao Paulo Araujo Gomes on Thursday, August 8, 2019

Any dogs who wander the street are given ample opportunity to participate in mass so guests can get a look at them and decide if they’d like to give these forgotten pooches permanent homes. Father Gomes says, “They will always be able to enter, sleep, eat, drink their water and find shelter and protection, for this house is of God and they are of God.”

Father Gomes has taken the dogs into his rectory and during services they wander around, sleep, and sometimes even get in on the action, looking to be petted by the priest and his flock.

Der Priester Juan Pablo aus Brasilien fängt streunende Hunde ein, badet und versorgt sie und empfiehlt sie dann der…

Posted by Winfried Niederer on Friday, August 23, 2019

Because of Father Gomes’ charity and kindness, dozens of stray dogs have found forever homes in Gravatá – the kind-hearted priest has even adopted some of the dogs himself. He said, “I helped several dogs with serious health problems. Some of them I brought to the parish house, and they were later adopted. Three of them stayed with me. Today, they are my children and sleep in my bed.”

Posted by PadreJoao Paulo Araujo Gomes on Monday, March 11, 2019

Be sure to follow Father Gomes on Facebook to keep up with all of these beautiful animals and their adventures.

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NASA Wants to Send a Probe to Venus’ Infernal Surface

Even though we’ve had our eyes on the Mars prize for some time, a different team of researchers is actually working on getting to Venus.

Venus gets closer to Earth in its orbit than any other planet, yet we have precious little information about the surface – except that it’s close to a living hell.

In 1966, a Soviet space probe crash-landed on the surface, where it lasted a few hours before being destroyed. Now NASA’s Long-Lived In-situ Solar System Explorer, or LLISSE, is looking to last a full 60 days in the reactive atmosphere, crushing pressure and blasting heat found on Venus’ surface. In fact, each probe has to be specially designed to withstand the high temperatures and pressure.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Called Earth’s evil twin, Venus is roughly the same size and mass of our home planet. Scientists say it was once water-rich, potentially with the elements necessary for life. But it has since turned into a hell planet with scorching, lead-melting temperatures, pressure comparable to what’s found at the bottom of our deepest oceans and winds whipping like tornados. During the day, sulphuric acid blocks the sun’s rays. The nights each last one hundred Earth-days.

One theory about what happened to make Venus so inhospitable is that, over time, the once huge, shallow ocean evaporated, releasing the super-light hydrogen atoms into space. As hydrogen disappeared, all the carbon-dioxide left in the atmosphere created an out-of-control greenhouse effect. Basically, turbo-charged climate change run utterly amok.

But we really don’t know.

And we can’t know, until we put some equipment on the surface.

Small as a ten-inch cube, LLISSE will piggyback on other space-going craft and then get dropped onto Venus. The unit is made of super hard silicon carbide – also used in sandpaper and lab-made diamonds – to protect it against sulphuric crystals. Like a missile, it will be powered by a heat-activated thermal battery for its 60-day life.

Photo Credit: NASA

NASA engineers need the unit powered for that long to see the change from day to night on Venus. Each Venus day lasts almost four Earth-months. If the unit can get placed late in the day, and if it can stay powered long enough, we’ll be get critical data on the transition for the first time.

Eventually, LLISSE will be used as part of a joint Venus project with the Russian space agency, but, as of right now, it looks as if nothing is getting to the next planet over before 2026. Frankly, it’s not even sure if LLISSE will ever get a trip into space at that point.

But the technology is already here, and Venus isn’t going anywhere.

A visit next door is just a matter of a few more Venus days.

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Enjoy These Halloween Skeletons That Are Posed in a Different Situation Every Day

People celebrate Halloween differently. On one end, you have the folks who barely remember to put out a pumpkin on October 31st, and often it’s not even carved into a Jack-o-lantern! On the other end of the spectrum are the people who turn their home into a haunted house, putting in so much time and effort that spectators travel from miles around just to take a look.

And then, there are Bill and Bob. We don’t know their last names or where they live. All we know is that they take Halloween far more seriously than you or I do.

It starts with a few plastic skeletons. Bob and Bill could easily set up their skeletal decorations in a spooky tableau and call it a day. Instead, they pose them in a completely new situation every day. Their neighbor Sami Campoagnano first noticed Bob and Bill’s handiwork and posted it on Twitter, where it promptly went viral.

The scenes are definitely more funny than scary. Almost all of them involve the skeletons in an everyday mundane situation, which makes it even more absurd. (via Bored Panda)

 

1. Follow the yellow brick road!

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

2. Dancing with the Stars

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

3. Piñata time

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

4. Rainy day

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

5. Learning to ride a bike

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

6. Gone camping

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

7. Pool party!

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

 

8.

9. Yard work

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

10. Break dancing

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

11. Feeling the burn

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

12. Garage sale

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

13. “Take a little off the top”

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

14. Happy Easter!

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

15. Lost at sea

Photo Credit: @sami_grayce

 

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