We need to step our theme restaurant game up in America. I'm getting tired- or rather, appraising the feeling more accurately, jealous- of the seemingly endless wave of dope theme restaurants emanating from Japan. They've gotGundam restaurants, Pokemon restaurants, and even friggin' One Piece restaurants where the waiters dress like the characters. What do we have here in the states? Bubba Gump Shrimp? Listen, I loved Bubba and Forrest's friendship as much as the next movie watching Millennial, but is that honestly the best we can do?
Since Japan is already running a one-horse race in the field of licensed eateries, you'd think they'd take a leisurely pace from here on out.
Nope.
Not Japan, man. If they're going to win, they're going to make sure they win with style.
In the post linked above, you can see menu items from the new Kirby-themed restaurant that opens in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, on September 15. You can click the arrows on the side of the post to scroll through the gallery.
Located in Torreilles, France, Frenzy WaterPark bills itself as "Most Extreme Waterpark of Europe 🔥", where this guest went for extra distance by jumping off a pergola onto the "JUMP XTREM" water slide:
Rendez-vous demain dès 19h pour notre BEST TRICKS 2022 placé sous le signe du Texas et des cow-boys 🏜😍Avec la présence de youtubeurs, d'influenceurs et de riders plus chauds que jamais 🔥Entrée gratuite dès 19h pour en prendre plein les yeux 🤩Spectacle suivi par une nocturne exceptionnelle au tarif de 15€ seulement jusqu'à 00h 🚀🌙 #frenzywaterpark#extremesports#redbull#ridingzone#besttricks#pourtoi#fyp#fypシ#viral#sport
On the Next Level Twitter feed, they posted this compilation of insane excavator operation. The feed is worth a follow to see impressive mastery of all sorts of skills and physical performance.
While the grim discoveries in the shrinking lake quickly generated theories of mob involvement, Johansson said those ideas are "mere speculation" at this point in the investigation. A National Park Service spokesperson told CNN one possible explanation for the remains could be that they belong to people who previously drowned at the lake when water levels used to be high.
The student reported Bodine to authorities, prompting the teacher to confront him about the images on his phone and delete them. "She told me I wouldn't go to college, that I would go to jail," the teen testified. "She said she would kill herself, go to jail." He said he contemplated suicide and on one occasion, he poured a bottle's worth of Tylenol pills into his mouth but did not swallow. He spent a week in West Oaks Hospital, a mental health clinic.
I wonder what it is about this beautiful white woman that led Judge Greg to leniency?
Remember when watching television was supposed to be a leisure activity? Now, with an endless torrent of streaming services pouring into our living rooms, watching television has become a job. Friends will grill you about what show you're currently watching, which series they think you should be watching, and what you should watch next. People like to cite the advent of Netflix as the beginning of " prestige television culture," but that's not exactly true. Netflix might have invented "binge culture," but The Sopranos was the catalyst for the modern era of television.
Last year, The New York Times wrote an article about how The Sopranos is seeing a massive resurgence in popularity since the first quarantine lockdown. A generation of new fans has discovered the show in their 20s and 30s- a demographic I happen to fall into. For new viewers like myself, The Sopranos was only something we were peripherally aware of through its omnipresence in pop culture. For most new fans of The Sopranos, their first interaction with the series might have come from the Sesame Street clip linked above. In the video, James Gandolfini realizes he wasted a fortune on therapy with Dr. Melfi when a simple hug from a Muppet would've solved all of his problems.
The "Mandela Effect" is a term used to describe the phenomenon (read: conspiracy theory) wherein groups of people collectively mis-remember things, but continue to insist that their (incorrect) memories are in fact true, which may or may not be an indication that someone is messing with our reality (check out my not-yet published novel How To Build A Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart for more information!). Consider the case of the Berenstain Bears, which were never ever called the Berenstein Bears; or Jiffy peanut butter, which never existed (although JIF is real); or the mis-quotation of "Luke, I am your father," when the actual quote was "NO, I am your father."
The Mandela Effect is fascinating & amusing in general, and I can understand how most of its examples came to be
But now it's trying to tell me that Fruit of the Loom -never- had a cornucopia in its logo, ever, and my reality is crumbling pic.twitter.com/W3DEHIBCzr
Now that we've covered basics, let's get to the main attraction: a pre-print research paper from the University of Chicago titled "The Visual Mandela Effect as evidence for shared and specific false memories across people," which takes a sincere scientific approach to understanding the phenomenon.
The researchers brought in 100 participants and presented them with a variety of pop culture-related images — the majority of which were altered, so as not to match the actual, demonstrable memories that people should have. The researchers then asked people to identify which images were the "real" (original, un-altered) ones, and rate how confident they were in their choice. Later, they pointed out the correct images to the participants, and asked them to study and memorize.
And both times, most of the participants chose the altered or non-canonical images. Even when they specifically studied and memorized the correct images, they still insisted that they witnessed the image being manipulated … even though they didn't. Even more bizarre is that people tended to share the same false memories.
Here's what the researchers found:
The occurrence of VME-errors during both short-term and long-term recall suggests that people do spontaneously generate these specific errors; VME is not a recognition-only phenomenon. Given the variability of the error frequency, it also suggests that the ease of spontaneously generating these errors may depend on the specific VME-apparent image. Furthermore, the fact that VME-errors can occur during short-term recall, despite limited familiarity with the image, could suggest that there is something intrinsic to these stimuli that encourages these errors.
[…]
While we showed that these errors are unlikely to be explained by attentional or low-level visual differences, the VME may be driven by schema-based perceptual knowledge for some icons and driven by visual experience with the non-canonical version for others.
The untested explanation for the VME relied solely on the schema theory of false memory: people are more likely to misremember details when they align with expectations of the image. While this explanation is limited, as it fails to fully explain the consistency and specificity of the VME, it may play a role in driving VME errors resulting from an incomplete perceptual experience.
[…]
The VME cannot be universally explained by a single account. Instead, perhaps different images cause a VME for different reasons — some related to schema, some related to visual experience, and some related to something entirely different about the images themselves.
"This effect is really fascinating because it reveals that there are these consistencies across people in false memories that they have for images they've actually never seen," said Asst. Prof. Wilma Bainbridge, a neuroscientist and principal investigator at the Brain Bridge Lab in UChicago's Department of Psychology.
[…]
"You would think that because all of us have our own individual experiences throughout our lives that we'd all have these idiosyncratic differences in our memories," Bainbridge said. "But surprisingly, we find that we tend to remember the same faces and pictures as each other. This consistency in our memories is really powerful, because this means that I can know how memorable certain pictures are, I could quantify it. I could even manipulate the memorability of an image."
In other words, the Mandela Effect exists, and there's no discernible reason why — except that someone is manipulating reality and altering our collective cultural memories.
As the finals for Tekken at EVO (the biggest event on the fighting game Esports calendar) drew to a close, fans got to watch Jae-Min "Knee" Bae, arguably the most legendary Tekken player, finally win his first EVO. Besides being one of the best players on the planet, Knee is one of the prominent figures responsible for bolstering Tekken's popularity in the early 2000s during the fighting game drought. Watching Knee win his first EVO was the culmination of one of Tekken's longest-running real-life story arcs. However, another story had fans anticipating a conclusion at EVO.
Millions of Tekken fans went into EVO praying that there would be new information on the next iteration in the franchise. Although fans are still playing and enjoying Tekken 7, the game was released in Arcades in 2015. To say that fans are ready for Tekken 8 is an understatement. In the video linked above, you can check out the teaser for Tekken 8, which played directly after the EVO grand finals.
Sixty-one years ago today, Marvel Comics started their morning as yet another publisher fighting for space on the newsstand. By day's end, their reputation as a mediocre company would never be the same. In modernity, Marvel is one of the world's most dominant entertainment brands. Similar to the superheroes they publish, Marvel's upward trajectory as a publisher has an equally compelling origin story. So what exactly was the one giant leap that brought comics and pop culture into the Marvel age?
On August 8th, 1961, Marvel—then known as Timely Comics- released the first issue of the Fantastic Four. The titanic 104—issue run by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee that followed paved the way for not only Marvel but the entire comic industry. Since their inception, the Fantastic Four has been a wildly experimental and boundary-pushing property that boasts stories from the minds of the comic book industry's greatest creators. With his new graphic novel, Fantastic Four: Full Circle, comic legend Alex Ross inscribes his name in the pantheon of FF creators while simultaneously reviving the 1960s.
Replete with copious homages to the inaugural Jack "the King" Kirby and Stan "the Man" Lee run, Fantastic Four: Full Circle is an apt title for the graphic novel, as it encapsulates the creative impetus that presumably inspired the project. In Full Circle, Alex Ross endeavors to take Marvel's first family back to its roots. Despite their comparative stature within the industry, Alex Ross and Jack Kirby couldn't be more artistically divergent. Kirby's energetic pencils emphasize the dynamic spectacle of the superhero genre. In contrast, Ross's arresting realism provides a weighty gravitas that practically renders fictional characters into corporeal form. Fantastic Four: Full Circle exists as a dazzling nexus point where Ross can skillfully reconcile the stylistic differences between himself and the King.
In the first two pages of Fantastic Four: Full Circle, Ross deftly uses a quick synopsis of the quartet's space-faring origin to lull readers into the familiarity of his traditional style, only to jettison it for the remainder of the graphic novel. In the subsequent pages, seasoned fans of Ross will notice the artist's use of inked figures, departing from his standard approach to gradation and painting. The inks harken back to the halcyon days of Marvel's Silver age while allowing Ross to embrace an eccentric color palette that reflects the era's spirit. Throughout his career, Ross has drawn several comparisons to Norman Rockwell, but the psychedelic colors of Fantastic Four: Full Circle evoke an undeniable association with Andy Warhol and pop art. The entire book is awash in prismatic yellows, greens, and pinks that frequently replace the character's flesh tones and typical color schemes. Some of Ross's choices in Full Circle speak to his unwavering confidence as an illustrator. The book might go on to become the boldest work within Ross's immense catalog on a strictly visual front.
The narrative of Fantastic Four: Full Circle, written by Ross, follows the eponymous super team as they venture into the treacherous, parallel dimension known as the Negative Zone. Outside of offering an exciting backdrop for our heroes to showcase their abilities, setting the graphic novel in the Negative Zone provides Ross an opportunity to ramp up the book's atmosphere and character designs. Ross's trademark realism turns the Negative Zone from a cartoonish sci-fi realm into a nightmarish dimension that, paired with the book's psychedelic palette, feels like a vivid flashback of a bad acid trip. Never before has the Negative Zone, and its beastly inhabitants, felt as menacing as they do in Full Circle. And while lifelong fans of the Fantastic Four can probably already guess which threats are lurking in the Negative Zone, Ross ingeniously integrates a classic character that will assuredly surprise even the oldest FF diehard.
A vital component of Fantastic Four: Full Circle that one could potentially overlook is the masterfully arranged panel layouts that convey motion and momentum through their placement. Before the Fantastic Four enter the unruly, celestial wilderness of the Negative Zone, Ross wisely juxtaposes the pop art hues with symmetrical panels reminiscent of the grids that dominated Silver age comics. However, once the characters cross the barrier into the Negative Zone, the panels become as chaotic as the realm they inhabit, while the background becomes black and white. In addition to his panel layouts, some of Full Circle's splash and double-page spreads are awe-inspiring. From the gorgeously vibrant recap of the FF's origin to sprawling scenes of cosmic horror in the Negative Zone, Ross constructs some of the finest panels in Fantastic Four history in the pages of Full Circle.
Throughout his career, Alex Ross's name has become synonymous with reinvention. Books like Kingdom Come and Astro City helped Ross and a generation of creators lead the charge into a new era of comics. However, Ross's iconic paintings and pin-ups have led many fans' to view his interpretations of classic characters as the definitive take. It's in the space between both evaluations that a masterpiece like Fantastic Four: Full Circle resides. Older fans that have watched the Marvel universe race to the stars since Fantastic Four #1, as well as newer fans only privy to the Marvel cinematic universe, will swoon over the jaw-dropping quality of Ross's tribute to the FF. There's no better book to celebrate the Fantastic Four's 61st anniversary. Nuff said.
If you peek inside of the toilet hole at Meow Wolf, you'll see a tiny little being staring up at you. Look closely, and you'll see that this little dude is also waving his arms back and forth. I think he's saying, "Stop! Please rescue me before you go potty!" I'm going to have to double-check my own toilet now, just to be sure there isn't a pocket-sized creature hiding in there.
This woman's giant bunny rabbit behaves like a dog. Guus lives in Amsterdam and is one very intelligent, big bunny who loves his human mama. He goes on leashed walks like a pup and hops around the house freely. He also follows his human mama everywhere around the house, and waits at the door for her to return when she steps out. Rabbits are much smarter than a lot of people give them credit for. I wish that I could cuddle with Guus!
There's a lot of reasons to buy a new smoking piece. Maybe you dropped your old one and that cool glass octopus build doesn't work so well when it's in a million pieces. Perhaps you're making the switch from rolling your own to something a little less cumbersome. Or maybe you just want an upgrade. Whatever the reason, if you find yourself asking, "Where can I buy a good pipe?" there are a lot of answers—but only a few of them are routes you probably want to walk down.
Where can I buy a pipe?
In short, you can buy a pipe pretty much all over the place. Tobacco shops generally carry them because tobacco smokers use pipes, even if that's not the particular plant with which you'll be engaging. Dispensaries often sell them, among other expensive smoking apparatus. However, if you want to know where to buy a good pipe, the answer changes a bit.
Tobacco and head shops may have something like what you're looking for, but those can be showy and expensive. You could grab an insanely advanced piece from a dispensary, but if they mark those up like they do some of their other products, then you'll likely be paying out the nose.
Whether you're smoking tobacco or weed, you may be able to find a pipe that has everything, including a lighter, built into it. And by "may" we mean "definitely can," because we've got one right here. The SoloPipe is a self-igniting pipe that makes it easy to pack, light, and transport your bowl wherever you need it to go, and you can have it shipped right to your door for just $47.
All-in-one pipe-smoking supplies
The only thing the SoloPipe doesn't do is grind the herb for you. That can be easily rectified by grabbing a separate grinder and keeping it with whatever you're smoking (or your kitchen herbs, which it actually can work for). For all your other pipe-smoking supplies, the SoloPipe has you covered.
Cannigma called the SoloPipe one of the best pipes for smoking weed in 2022, and it's not hard to see why. Pack this pipe's removable (and easy-clean) glass bowl and press a button for the built-in butane lighter to flip over and automatically light your herb. The adjustable design is fast-release, so you can stay nimble. If you're just looking for a quick hit, you don't have to hunt down a lighter and miss your moment.
If you're one of the many people who use cannabis as a way of treating pain and migraines, the simple design is easy to operate and made of a zinc alloy that should withstand some dings and drops in case. Trembly hands have less to worry about, including burns. The one-button design keeps your fingers safely away from the flame, which is powered by a refillable butane lighter. To refill, all you need is a standard butane canister and you can top up.
Imagine never again searching for your lighter in vain (you know, the one your friend mindlessly swiped from you) because it's built into your pipe. And let's be honest: You're a lot more careful with your pipe than your lighter. So if you know where your piece is and have something to fill it with, then you can smoke. You do need to fill it yourself when it first arrives, though.
A simple, multifunctional piece for smoking
You may be used to having one piece for smoking at home and another for when you're heading out. The SoloPipe eliminates the need. Its metal shell isn't there just for show and neither is the bowl cover or travel case. If you know you'll want a hit later, just grab your pipe and take it with you. The durable design should keep everything secure and ready for when it's time to roll (or not roll, actually). The case also has spots for carrying the cleaning bag, cleaning tools, brush screens, and the replaceable glass bowl insert, all of which are included with your purchase. The only other thing you'd need is somewhere nice to sit and watch the world go by.
The SoloPipe pretty neatly anticipates most things smokers might want from it. Lost your lighter? It has one. Need to move? Pack it up. Time for maintenance? No problem. It can do all of that without straying from its classic roots. It's not a vape, and it doesn't require anything other than ground tobacco or marijuana. It may have some modern amenities in that sleek design, but it still offers the classic way of smoking. You can keep on enjoying your doses the same way you always have. The same may not be said about vaping.
Is this the best pipe for smoking pot?
If you habitually lose your lighter, like to toke up when you're out of the house, or enjoy a simpler smoke, then the SoloPipe may be one of your best options, especially for the price. The design is sleek. The build is solid. The lighter doesn't require some super-expensive, only-find-it-at-one-store refillable fluid. And it just looks so good. It even comes in a handful of colors, including rose, silver, black, and gold.
Streamline your smoking supplies with one piece that does pretty much everything all at once. While it's on sale, you can get a self-igniting SoloPipe, including the travel case, carrying bag, cleaning tools, brush screens, and replaceable glass insert, for $46.99 (reg. $69.99).
See where musicians are located in the Music Galaxy based on the overlap of their listeners. The greater the overlap between audiences, the closer the musicians/bands will be located in the galaxy. For example, a lot of people who listen to The Beatles also listen to The Beach Boys, so those two bands are close in proximity on the map. You can browse around the galaxy with your trackpad, or you can search for an artist and "fly" to them on the map.
From Music Galaxy: "This is a visualization of the relationships and audience listening patterns of over 70,000 music groups + artists. Artists are placed nearby other artists with similar listeners."
This Flying Saucer McDonald's in Roswell, New Mexico is unique. It's the only McDonald's on earth that's shaped like a UFO. It includes a playland, which interrupts the saucer shape and sticks out from the side of the building. Statues of Ronald McDonald and the other company characters are depicted in spacesuits inside the restaurant. It's located at 720 N. Main St., Roswell, NM. Has anyone eaten here before? If so, did you see any Martians hiding in the shadows while you were munching on your Happy Meal?
From Roadside America:
"This is the world's only McDonald's shaped like a flying saucer. Its aerodynamic qualities have been compromised by its need to enclose a Playland, although the restaurant has tried to compensate by outfitting its indoor statues of Ronald McDonald and his various Playland pals in space suits.
Still, there's no mistaking the building's distinctive saucer shape, enhanced during daylight by its metal skin and at night by its judicious used of neon-style LED piping around its window frames and along its ridge lines.
The large wall of an adjacent building has been filled with a mural by Roswell guerrilla artist Larry Welz. Ronald McDonald and Birdie the Early Bird fly space contraptions around what appears to be a planet-size brain. Is McDonald's — which commissioned the art — suggesting that it serves brain food? The mural gives people waiting at the drive-thru something to ponder, and provides a handy photo-op for Roswell's alien-minded fast-food-chomping visitors."
EVO is the Superbowl of fighting games. For those that aren't initiated, EVO—or Evolution Championship Series—is the annual event where the top fighting games, developers, and players come to show off to their most die-hard supporters. For almost 30 years, EVO has grown into a massive juggernaut in the Esports world that essentially acts as a proving ground for the best competitive players in the world.
Although EVO is gigantic nowadays, it wasn't always as commercial in its early years. The moment that pushed EVO into the awareness of the mainstream is, without question, the famous "Daigo parry" or EVO Moment # 37. The video is probably the most famous Esport clip, irrespective of genre, around.
Since EVO is this weekend and the first in-person event since 2019, the hype is at an all-time high. So much so that a pair of exclusive Nike Air Force Ones have made the rounds on the internet. Why are these Nike's so interesting? Oh, they only contain the input required to perform Moment # 37 inside the shoe's tongue.
A seemingly inconsequential, outlet-relegated sneaker gained new relevance this week, the full story of its video game-inspired design surfacing two years after it was produced. The shoe, a white pair of the Nike Air Force 1 dressed in blue accents, nods to Evo Moment #37, the extraordinary conclusion to a Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike game from 2004 that still stands as the most iconic moment in competitive fighting game history.
UNKNOWN MAN DIED EATING LIBRARY PASTE JULY 14 1908
I feel bad for this man. He was poor and starving, and ate the paste (which was made mostly of flour and water) as a means of survival. He found the paste mixture in the library trash can. The chemical compound "alum" was mixed into the paste, which can be poisonous at high doses. The alum is likely what killed him. RIP to this man, whose name is unknown.
There must be a team of face planting attorneys sitting around a conference room at one of Elon Musk's companies right now. Musk has declared that the representations around bots made by Twitter in the SEC filings and due diligence to him we always so unreasonable no one could have believed them. Seems like waiving the right to further due diligence when the buyer knew they had received bad data was cavalier?
There is almost nothing Musk can say that is going to help himself out of this mess he has made, yet Pedo Guy will not stop.
1) he still doesn't understand what Twitter says about bots
Dude Chilling Park is the nickname of Guelph Park, a popular community gathering spot in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1991, a sculptor named Michael Dennis installed an art piece called "Reclining Figure" in the park. To some, the sculpture depicted an abstract interpretation of a dude kicking back and chilling, which is where the park's nickname came from.
In 2012, a local artist named Viktor Briestensky constructed a sign that read "Dude Chilling Park", and matched the look of the city's authentic signage. The city was not amused by the sign, and took it down. This caused great sadness in people who had admired the sign. The lovers of Dude Chilling Park started a petition to get their sign back, and the sign was re-installed in 2014 as a public art piece.
Album By Mood is a site that recommends users an album based on their mood. You can choose from a long list of moods, including aggressive, angry, energetic, explosive, fun, ironic, passionate, relaxed, sweet, and more. I selected melancholy as my mood, and the site recommended the album Midnight Special: The Library of Congress Recordings, Vol. 1 by Lead Belly. What a fantastic album! When you're not sure what to listen to, this site is a fun way to discover music and find something that compliments how you're feeling.
From the site:
All the songs are classified according to their mood. The model that is followed was conceived by Robert Thayer. This pattern divides songs according to their energy and stress line, their happiness and sadness line, and their calm and energy line. Based on the result of all these parameters, a song can be correctly classified.
Brit Eaton is a daring mine explorer and fashion archaeologist who searches deadly mines for treasure . When Eaton ventures into a mine, he's on the lookout for old jeans aka "denim gold." He explains that some of these antique jeans can be worth 50k. The only challenge is avoiding things such as deadly poisonous gasses, rattlesnakes, falling rocks, and other fatal obstacles while searching for the denim gold. I love his adventurous spirit, and wish him safety and luck in his mine exploring.
