Category: Bazaar News

Viking treasure found in Norway, Maya masks unearthed in Mexico, animal bones discovered beneath the Roman Colosseum.

1,200-Year-Old Viking Treasure Hoard Uncovered By An Amateur Metal Detectorist In Norway

Throughout the early Middle Ages, much of Europe was still using what’s known as the weight economy, a system in which the actual heft of a bartering object was directly correlated with its value. It was only during the Viking era in the ninth century C.E. that the continent truly began pivoting to a more modern, coin-based system in which currency’s value was largely irrespective of its weight. Now, an exciting find in Norway has illustrated this crucial moment in Western history like few discoveries before.

An amateur archaeologist equipped with a metal detector on Norway’s Kongshaug Plateau unearthed an enormous hoard of Viking silver, including rings, necklaces, coins, and dozens of other objects. And while some of these relics belong to the era of the weight economy, others represent proto-modern currency not unlike that which much of the world uses to this day. Experts aren’t sure exactly when each of these artifacts was first forged, but the entire find dates to 700-950 C.E., putting it right in the heart of this critical transition period in Western economies.

Learn the full story behind this astounding discovery here.

Archaeologists Unearth An “Exceptional Collection” Of 1,300-Year-Old Stucco Maya Masks In Mexico

The Toniná archaeological site in southern Mexico is proving to be a treasure trove of pre-Columbian Maya relics, as a team of archaeologists working in the region recently unveiled a large number of carved stone masks worn by the ancient population.

Many of these stucco pieces, they say, were found in and around a structure known as the House of the Recreation of the Universe, near the Sunken Plaza of the Palacio de los Caracoles, both of which date back to around 650 C.E.

Dig deeper in this report.

Archaeologists Uncover Animal Bones And Ancient Roman Snack Foods Beneath The Colosseum

For the past year, archaeologists have been conducting a study of the drainage systems beneath the Colosseum in Rome — which has led to the discovery of bone fragments of bears, big cats, and even small dogs.

Archaeologists also found more than 50 bronze coins from the late Roman period, silver coins commemorating the 10-year anniversary of Marcus Aurelius becoming emperor, various seeds from figs, grapes, and melons, and traces of olives and nuts.

Read on here.

Elom Agbegninou claims she became “very anxious” during the flight and “normally would not have done those things.”

A woman was arrested following an incident on a Southwest Airlines flight that forced the plane to make an emergency landing after she attempted to open the aircraft’s side door at 37,000 feet — and claimed that Jesus had told her to do it.

As KPRC reports, the plane made its emergency landing in Little Rock, Arkansas en route from Houston to Columbus on November 26.

Prior to the emergency landing, according to court documents from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, the 34-year-old woman identified as Elom Agbegninou stood from her seat and walked to the back of the plane, where she stood “staring” at the side door.

A flight attendant told Agbegninou that if she wasn’t going to use the restroom, she needed to return to her seat.

Agbegninou then reportedly asked if she could look out the window, and, when she was told no, pushed past the flight attendant and started pulling on the handle of the emergency exit door.

Other passengers started to notice the disturbance, and someone was heard saying, “She’s trying to open the door,” prompting another passenger to get up and rush to the rear of the plane to help detain Agbegninou.

They managed to wrestle her to the ground, but during the scuffle, Agbegninou bit the other passenger on their thigh — and refused to let go until the victim “worked their fingers up to [her] jawline in an attempt to have [her] release the bite, which she eventually did.”

Documents say Agbegninou then began bashing her head against the floor of the plane, adding, “Jesus told her to fly to Ohio and Jesus told her to open the plane door.”

The biting victim was taken to a local hospital to receive antibiotic treatment and a hepatitis injection, and has been suffering from PTSD and anxiety since the incident.

Per The Independent, Agbegninou was said to have been traveling alone. She carried no luggage with her, and reportedly did not tell her husband that she would be flying.

Agbegninou told authorities that she was on her way to Maryland, intending to stay with a family friend who was working as a pastor. She also said that it had been a long time since she’d last flown, but sometime during the flight, she struggled to breathe and stood up from her seat.

According to legal documents, Agegninou claims she “became very anxious and normally would not have done those things.”

She now faces federal charges of assault within maritime and territorial jurisdiction, and interference with flight crew members and attendants.

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Believe it or not, this is not the strangest emergency landing in recent memory. Read about the time a plane was forced to land because a stowaway cat attacked the pilot. Then, read the story of the woman who bit off a Chinese restaurant owner’s ear because she was unhappy with her order.

Though we’re separated from it by only a handful of generations, the turn of the 20th century can feel like ancient history. This is exacerbated by choppy, black-and-white footage from the era that makes the people who lived through it feel like characters in an old movie. To make the early 1900s come alive, a film editor used AI to enhance and colorize a clip of Edwardian-era women working.

In the video below, a stream of women sporting floor-length skirts and perfectly-coiffed hair clock into their jobs at the the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company in Pittsburgh. The original 1904 film from the Library of Congress archives is black and white, and the quality has degraded over the years. YouTuber glamourdaze used deep learning and neural networks to colorize the footage, upscale it to 4K resolution, and reconstruct the women’s facial expressions. An ambient soundtrack was also added to heighten the realism of the scene.

These workers will look familiar to anyone familiar with the Gibson Girl. Popularized by the illustrations of artist Charles Dana Gibson, the look was characterized by the trumpet skirts, cinched waists, and lofty pompadours sported by these women. While Charles Gibson’s drawings often showed these style icons in leisurely settings, this footage shows that the look was just as popular on the factory floor.

Motion pictures were still in their infancy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but pioneering filmmakers of the period managed to capture everything from a solar eclipse to boxing cats (you have Thomas Edison to thank for the latter example). You can find more historic videos enchanted with AI on glamourdaze’s YouTube channel.

Researchers say these owl carvings are simple enough to have been made by children and could have been used as toys, dolls, or amulets.

Over the years, thousands of small owl carvings have been unearthed across the Iberian Peninsula. Though archaeologists have long assumed that these curious artifacts held some kind of religious significance for ancient people, a new study suggests that they may have been toys carved by children during the Copper Age.

According to a study led by Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) biologist Juan J. Negro and recently published in Scientific Reports, researchers examined 100 of the more than 4,000 owl carvings that have been discovered in tombs and pits across the Iberian Peninsula.

The carvings were made during the Copper Age, some 4,750 to 5,500 years ago, and researchers say that the designs were simple enough that Negro suspected that they’d been made by children. Though most have assumed that the palm-sized stone carvings “served ritual purposes,” Negro hypothesized that they were actually toys, dolls, or amulets carved by children who played with them.

“My first impression when looking at the engravings was that they were simple to make,” Negro told Live Science. “[The carvers] didn’t invest a lot of time or skills into making them, and they could be finished in a few hours.”

Following that hunch, Negro and his team compared the owl carvings with drawings of owls made by modern-day children. As phys.org reports, he and his team rated the stone owls on a scale of one to six based on how many owl “traits” they depicted, like eyes and a beak, then compared them with drawings made by children between the ages of four and 13.

“[The] owl engravings could have been executed by youngsters, as they resemble owls painted today by elementary school students,” the researchers determined after examining the two depictions.

So, why did Copper Age children choose to depict owls? Negro and his team speculated that humans have had a long and enduring fascination with owls.

“[O]ur hypothesis… is based on the transcultural fascination of humans by owls since time immemorial, in turn due to their peculiar anthropomorphism that predispose us to pay attention to them,” the researchers explained.

Negro also speculated that Copper Age children would have frequently seen owls like the little owl (Athene noctua) and the long-eared owl (Asio otus), who likely nested near human settlements that they drew prey like rats.

“Most likely these youngsters lived in settlements and would see owls regularly, since they’re known to get rid of rats and mice,” Negro explained to Live Science, adding: “Owls are different from other birds due to their large heads and frontally placed eyes, which people find striking.”

He added: “Because of this, if you were to ask children to draw an owl, they wouldn’t need a model, since everyone has an image of an owl in their brains. They’re iconic animals just like horses, dogs, and elephants.”

He and his team hypothesized that the owls may have also served an educational purpose for Copper Age children. The carvings are made with slate, a soft material composed of quartz, illite, and chlorite, according to Live Science. It’s easy to mold with simple tools and may have helped the children develop carving skills.

“Competent engravers, perhaps adults or adolescents, may have initiated novice children,” the researchers wrote. “Whether this learning process took place in the household or in other production contexts is unknown.”

In their study, the researchers also raised larger questions about the history of toys and play among ancient people.

“Children’s object play, and the objects themselves, has been disregarded in the archaeological literature until recently even though object play is ubiquitous in both tribal and modern societies,” they wrote.

As such, there’s still a lot for modern-day researchers to learn. But if one thing seems clear, it’s that ancient and modern-day children have a lot in common. When asked to draw an owl, they produced a similar design.

To the researchers, this similarity in owl depictions “suggests that schematic drawings are universal and timeless.”

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After reading about these Copper Age owl carvings, discover the story of Ötzi, the man murdered during the Copper Age whose body was preserved for thousands of years in the frozen Alps. Or, take a look at these surprisingly dangerous toys from the 20th century.

Jeremy Skibicki’s online presence was allegedly rife with antisemitic, misogynistic, and white supremacist vitriol.

A Winnipeg man who was charged in the death of an Indigenous woman earlier this year now faces charges relating to three additional deaths.

The alleged serial killer, 35-year-old Jeremy Anthony Michael Skibicki, is in police custody and has been since May 18th, CNN reports, following a homicide investigation into the death of 24-year-old Rebecca Contois of the O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi, or Crane River, First Nation.

The investigation began on May 16th when Contois’ partial remains were discovered in a garbage can near an apartment building in Winnipeg. Just two days later, Skibicki, who had reportedly known Contois beforehand, was taken into custody.

As the investigation continued, police searched the nearby Brady Road landfill and discovered additional remains belonging to Contois, Global News reports.

Now, Skibicki is being charged with three more counts of first-degree murder, all occurring between March and May, before Contois’ death.

The additional victims are 39-year-old Morgan Beatrice Harris and 26-year-old Marcedes Myran. The fourth victim has yet to be identified, but police believe her to be an Indigenous woman as well.

Investigators believe Harris was killed on May 1st and Myran on May 4th. The unidentified victim was likely murdered around March 15th. So far, none of their bodies have been found.

“It’s always unsettling whenever there is any kind of a serial killing,” said Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth. “It does involve Indigenous women. We’re very sensitive to the whole Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women investigation and inquiry and the recommendations that came out of that.”

Police have yet to say if the women were murdered because they were Indigenous, and Skibicki’s guilt has not yet been assessed in a court of law. Investigators did say, however, that they believe he acted alone.

“He was arrested as soon as we were aware of what was going on,” said Inspector Shawn Pike. “He has been housed in a correctional facility since that time, and he has not, to my knowledge, been released at any given moment.”

As CBC reports, the murders have also prompted action on the part of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Persons Implementation Project (MMIWP), which is calling for hate to be factored into the police investigation.

“Successive governments said, no, we’re not implementing the recommendations of the [Aboriginal Justice Inquiry],” said Sandra DeLaronde, the project lead for the MMIWP in Manitoba. The Aboriginal Justice Inquiry (AJI) was commissioned in 1988 and presented in 1991 as a means of examining “the relationship between the Aboriginal peoples of Manitoba and the justice system.”

In 1999, the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry Commission was established to develop a plan to act on the inquiry’s recommendations after finding that there was continued race-based genocide of Indigenous peoples, specifically targeting girls, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“This is not something that happened; it’s something that continues to happen. And unless we are making systemic change to laws and policies, then it will continue to happen,” DeLaronde said.

And according to Helmut-Harry Loewen, a former criminology and sociology professor at the University of Winnipeg, Skibicki’s online presence is grounds for further investigation. If Skibicki is found guilty of his charges, his crimes being fueled by hate could result in harsher punishment.

“I strongly urge that this first-degree homicide also be looked at very closely, not just in terms of the social media posts, but how these posts may have formed this mindset,” Loewen said.

On Facebook, Skibicki had described himself as an “official member of Holy Europe,” a far-right group. His page is also allegedly full of antisemitic, misogynistic, and white supremacist content.

Police involved in the case, however, were not able to comment on whether hate would be considered as a factor in Skibicki’s trial.

Evan Balgord, the executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, lamented that even though hate-filled motivation can impact the accused’s sentence, it is rarely pursued as a factor, in part because it is difficult to prove. Still, he believes it should be taken into consideration more often.

What’s more, a look into Skibicki’s past shows that he has a history of violence against women. On the one-year-anniversary of his marriage to his estranged wife, she filed for a protection order against him. Two years later, he was charged with threatening her, assaulting her with a weapon causing bodily harm, and disobeying court orders.

“Not often enough do we interrogate how much a person’s ideology and their hatred for women play into the act,” Balgord said. “I hope that that is something that is seriously looked at and considered in the context of this case.”

The communities which the victims belonged to, meanwhile, are looking to support one another and remain strong in these turbulent times.

“Our First Nation will need support in the days, weeks, and months ahead as many of our members will be impacted by this tragic news,” said Long Plain Chief Kyra Wilson. “There’s a lot of violence directed toward Indigenous women, and this is something we’ve had to deal with for generations.”

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Historically, Canada has not been kind to its Indigenous population. Learn about the country’s Indigenous residential schools, where Indigenous children were forcibly taken from their parents. Or, read about another alleged serial killer — who was hiding body parts in potted plants.

Every year, Americans purchase upwards of 30 million Christmas trees, enveloping their houses with the smell of pine and a surplus of shedding needles. After a few weeks, the tree is taken down and discarded. So how long did it take for the tree to reach Christmas status?

According to Outdoor Happens, the growth rate of a holiday tree depends on its stage and type. On average, the tree in your living room needed roughly four to five years to grow to 5 feet tall, a common height for holiday trees.

The growth isn’t really consistent, though. For a tree to go from seed to sapling and reach 1 foot could take as long as four years. From there, growth can speed up significantly, with some trees growing 4 feet in just 12 months.

If you have vaulted or raised ceilings, you might opt for a more imposing tree that’s 7 to 8 feet tall. That tree probably spent eight to 12 years reaching that height.

Rate of growth also depends on type. Balsam firs tend to grow slowly at just 12 inches annually; a Leyland Cypress can hit 24 inches in the same period of time.

Christmas tree farms do what they can to encourage the kind of big, bushy, cone-shaped trees that people tend to favor. In addition to weeding and controlling pests, they’ll shear trees to promote an appealing shape.

If you don’t want to simply discard a tree after it took so much time getting to you, you can always opt to have it recycled. Most communities offer tree pick-up in which trees are used for mulch or compost or repurposed as natural barriers for soil retention. Just be sure to strip it of all lights and decorations. If not, it’s likely to be diverted to a landfill instead.

[h/t Outdoor Happens]

In the weeks leading up to Christmas 1983, pandemonium erupted at toy stores across America as shoppers scrambled to get their hands on the season’s hottest commodity: Cabbage Patch Kids. People camped out for hours, hoping to nab one of the chubby-cheeked dolls, but demand drastically outpaced supply. Police had to be called in to quell customer outbursts, which sometimes turned violent. A pregnant woman in New Jersey was trampled by a stampede of frantic customers. Adults grabbed dolls away from children. One store owner opted to have his stock of Cabbage Patch Kids delivered in an armored vehicle. 

Above, an archival news segment from New York station WABC captures the wacky heights of the consumer craze now known as the “Cabbage Patch Riots.” The clip includes footage of a department store manager wielding a bat to protect himself from shoppers, who scream and grasp as boxes of Cabbage Patch Kids are hurled into the crowd by the store’s staff. On the ground at a New York-area Toys “R” Us, reporter Josh Howell finds a more orderly scene—customers needed a coupon to be able to buy a Cabbage Patch Kid—but the store’s supply sold out within minutes. “I missed work, I’m late for work, to get this for my little girl,” one dad tells the channel, showing off his new Cabbage Patch Kid. “I’m not going to tell my boss.”

Why did American parents—“otherwise dignified, calm, mannerly,” as Howell puts it—go collectively bonkers for Cabbage Patch Kids? When the dolls were first mass-produced and released to toy stores in 1983, the market was rife with newfangled, electronic gadgets like the Walkman and the Atari Gaming System. Cabbage Patch Kids, with their doughy bodies and homely little faces, seemed refreshingly quaint by comparison. The dolls “promised a return to simplicity,” writes Timeline’s Stephanie Buck. “[They were] something you could just … hug.” Coleco, the company that manufactured Cabbage Patch Kids, deliberately targeted Cabbage Patch ads at adults, predicting that parents would be eager to buy the dolls as wholesome gifts for their children. 

The toys themselves may have been low-tech, but the production process that created them was rooted in advanced technologies. Using computers, Coleco was able to diversify its designs, making each Cabbage Patch Kid unique. No two dolls looked exactly alike, they each had different names, and every doll came with “adoption papers” that could be signed by the children who took them home. It was a clever marketing strategy that positioned Cabbage Patch Kids as something more than a mass-manufactured toy. Each one was distinct and special. 

And so, as the WABC footage shows, people were desperate to get the dolls for their own special little humans. “What is it, two hours to go to Pennsylvania? I think it’s worth going there,” one dejected woman, who left the Toys “R” Us without a Cabbage Patch Kid, tells the outlet. “If not, I’ll try California, I have a niece that lives in California. I’ll go all over.”

Is your biological parent an identical twin? If so, you and your cousins might have a lot more in common than you realize. The children of identical twins are as genetically similar as a half-sibling would be.

Research on the children of identical twins

Like identical twins themselves, the children of identical twins provide researchers with great insight into how children develop. In fact, the University of Minnesota helps fun a “Children of Twins Study” to look at ” – like the twins themLike for their twin parents, there are many fascinating family relationships for the children of twins–when identical twins have children, their children are cousins but genetically as similar as half-siblings. The Children of Twins (CoT) study examines “psychopathology, psychosocial functioning, neurocognitive functioning, and brain structure and functioning in a sample of 176 substance-naïve children of twin parents…without a history of problematic substance use.”

According to their website, they are also “in the process of completing a neuroimaging assessment with the twin parents of children in the CoT study, which will yield the first (to our knowledge) comparable imaging assessment in twin parents and their children and will allow us to examine whether brain deviations associated with problematic substance use in adults are also observable in their young children prior to substance initiation.”

Twinning

Cousins whose parents are identical twins share will have 25% of their DNA in common (as opposed to 12.5%). (Full siblings share 50% of their DNA.)

In rare cases when sets of identical twins marry other sets of twins, their children are genetically full siblings. They’re called “quaternary twins” and are incredibly rare. Of course, a person’s environment and other causes of genetic mutation can change their phenotype (the expression of the genes). — WTF fun facts

Source: “Children of Twins (CoT) Study” — University of Minnesota, Family Cognitive Affective Neurodevelopment Lab

In 1325, the Italian city-states of Bologna and Modena engaged in a short-lived war that allegedly started when Modenese soldiers stole a wooden bucket.

During the Medieval period, what we know today as Italy was not a unified country, and it wouldn’t be fully unified until 1871. Italy was once fragmented into various city-states, duchies, and kingdoms that were all governed independently and had their own traditions, languages, cultures, and politics. Given all these stark differences, it was not unusual for Italy’s provinces to come into conflict with each other — and one of the oddest conflicts of all was the War of the Bucket.

The groundwork for the War of the Oaken Bucket was actually set two centuries before the battle began. Per War History Online, in 1154, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of Germany decided he should be king of Italy, declaring himself God’s chosen earthly representative. This statement put him at significant odds with the Italians, who argued that the pope crowned Barbarossa as Holy Roman Emperor, which meant the pope was God’s anointed representative.

At this point in history, the pope was always the one who bestowed spiritual recognition on European Christian rulers. Barbarossa responded to these concerns from the Italians by conquering Milan, Tortona, Pavia, Bologna, and Tuscany.

After talks with Pope Alexander III failed, Barbarossa continued to lay siege to Italy until his defeat at the Battle of Legnano by the pro-papal Lombardy League in 1176. Barbarossa retreated back to Germany, but his parting gift to Italy was a major political rift that would keep the city-states feuding with each other for centuries. It was this rift that sparked the bizarre War of the Bucket in 1325.

What Started The War Of The Bucket?

Barbarossa’s siege may have been over, but conflict was alive and well in Italy. Two factions emerged from the war: the Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor, and the Guelphs, who favored the pope.

This political division led to resentment and rivalries among Italy’s city-states, which meant that skirmishes and disputes became regular occurrences in the centuries following Barbarossa’s reign.

Bologna and Modena were two such bordering city-states that were on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Bologna was more Guelph-dominant (pope-supporting), and Modena was mostly Ghibelline (emperor-supporting).

This caused a significant rivalry between the two that led to many raids over the years. But in 1325, according to HistoryNet, tensions finally boiled over.

The Outbreak Of The War Of The Oaken Bucket

One night in 1325, several Modenese soldiers infiltrated the city walls of Bologna. They spotted a bucket at a public well, seized it, and hightailed it out of the city, delighted with their victory.

Upon discovering the missing bucket, the Bolognese were infuriated and demanded its return. The Modenese were not amenable to this demand and refused. Incensed and humiliated, Bologna declared all-out war on Modena. With that, the War of the Bucket commenced.

Between Bologna and Modena, Modena was considered the underdog. Compared to Bologna, the city-state had significantly fewer resources and soldiers.

Per Amusing Planet, Bologna assembled over 32,000 troops and brought in forces from other northern Italian Guelph contingencies for backup. They even managed to get the pope actively on their side. Pope John XXII reportedly declared Modena’s chief magistrate a heretic and stepped up to lead an army of foot soldiers against Modena.

Modena managed to gather only 7,000 soldiers. On the surface, they looked as if they were surely doomed to suffer a miserable defeat at the hands of Bologna’s army and their allies. However, Modena had the distinct advantage of having professionally-trained German soldiers in their army, due to the Modenese’s status as Ghibellines who supported a German Holy Roman Emperor. Bologna’s army was technically bigger, but their troops consisted of a mostly untrained militia.

With their more experienced soldiers, the Modenese confronted the Bolognese outside the town of Zappolino. Due to the chaos and disorganization of Bologna’s troops, Modena soon overwhelmed them, forcing the Bolognese to retreat. Between the two sides, it’s estimated there were approximately 2,000 casualties.

The Bolognese, overwhelmed and humiliated, had no choice but to call off the attack and remain within the safety of their city’s walls. The Modenese continued to taunt the Bolognese by staging a mock decathlon right outside the city — and they reportedly even stole a second bucket for good measure.

The Lasting Aftermath Of The Bizarre War

Of course, the War of the Bucket was about much more than an actual bucket. In fact, some historians say the pail itself wasn’t actually stolen until Modena had already defeated Bologna in battle. Centuries of discord led up to the conflict, and the bucket — if it did truly exist — was simply the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The war eventually fizzled out, and in January of 1326, an armistice was signed by the two rivals that temporarily settled matters. Conflict, however, would continue between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines for another two centuries until Italy was invaded by Charles I of Spain in 1529.

While Modena and Bologna grudgingly called a ceasefire, Bologna never had their bucket returned. The Modenese proudly displayed the bucket up in the bell tower of their cathedral, the Torre della Ghirlandina — just to continue to rub Bologna’s face in its defeat. Modena still has the bucket to this day. A replica now hangs in the bell tower, but what’s said to be the original bucket is on display in the Palazzo Comunale.

And even now, 700 years later, the bucket is still a source of playful dispute between the two cities.

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After learning about the War of the Bucket, read about the shocking poison that 17th-century Italian wives used to kill off their unwanted husbands. Then, check out photos of life in fascist Italy under Mussolini.

New York City is advertising for a “somewhat bloodthirsty” person not opposed to “wholesale slaughter” to be its new rat czar.

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration wants someone with “a general aura of badassery” to lead the city’s battle against the rodents.

While the official job title is for a “director of rodent mitigation”, the role has been dubbed the rat czar. It comes with a salary range of $120,000 to $170,000 (£97,700 to £138,430).

“The ideal candidate is highly motivated and somewhat bloodthirsty, determined to look at all solutions from various angles, including improving operational efficiency, data collection, technology innovation, trash management, and wholesale slaughter,” the ad reads.

New York City has been trying to control its rodent population for generations, with sightings of rats in parks and on the streets recently increasing.

The vermin have survived a multimillion-dollar effort under former mayor Bill de Blasio which introduced more rubbish pickups and better housing inspections in targeted neighbourhoods.

The city also used dry ice to suffocate rats in their hiding spots.

Mayor Adams, when he was borough president of Brooklyn, once demonstrated a trap which used a bucket filled with a toxic soup to drown rats lured by the scent of food.

Read more:
Rats have rhythm and love to dance to Lady Gaga, researchers discover

Now, his administration is looking for someone to become the public face of the city’s eradication and education efforts.

“Cunning, voracious, and prolific, New York City’s rats are legendary for their survival skills, but they don’t run this city – we do,” the posting adds.

Applicants are expected to have good communication skills, a keen sense of humour and “to lead from the front, using hands-on techniques to exterminate rodents with authority and efficiency”.

Digital nomads and tourists have one thing in common: They both enjoy going to new places!

But although they both love to travel, digital nomads take it up a notch because they work online and live in different countries for months!

This lifestyle is the epitome of “living life to the fullest,” and it has many benefits other than creating memories.

Now, you might be wondering…

How much money do digital nomads earn?

A digital nomad’s annual income can range from $25,000 to $250,000, which is enough for their monthly expenses, typically costing $1,000 to $2,000.

But of course, their income can go even higher, depending on what they do for a living.

The most common remote work for digital nomads is self-employed jobs like freelance writing, virtual assistance, and social media management.

But it’s worth noting that there are digital nomads who are employees or entrepreneurs.

Regardless of their profession, studies found that digital nomads worked for roughly 40 hours per week – working in co-working spaces, hotels, or coffee shops.

Do digital nomads pay taxes?

Digital nomads file and pay their taxes from their home country, as they’re considered citizens in that place.

But to avoid some of your tax obligations in your home country, you can declare yourself non-resident for tax reasons.

Countries that welcome digital nomads can also require them to pay taxes.

For example, digital nomads with a Thailand Digital Nomad Visa must pay 17% in taxes instead of a 35% tax rate.

Getting taxed twice can be a pain for digital nomads, but luckily, they can avoid it with the help of tax benefits, such as the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) and the Foreign Tax Credit (FTC) for US citizens.

Can you be a nomad with a child?

You can still be a digital nomad despite having kids, but expect more challenges in traveling and parenting with this kind of setup.

And regarding their children’s education, digital nomads with families either enroll their kids in an online school or homeschool them.

Homeschoolers even have a term for this kind of learning.

It’s called “world schooling.” This educational movement aims to let children study and improve their education by traveling worldwide!

Where do most digital nomads choose to live?

Digital nomads prefer living in Southeast Asian countries since this region offers an affordable lifestyle.

A study from the UK even states that Bangkok, Thailand, is ranked as the best city in Asia and the second-best city in the world for digital nomads.

It’s reasonable, though, as most digital nomads are from countries like the US and the UK that have a high cost of living.

But affordability isn’t the only basis of digital nomads when choosing a city to live in; other factors they consider are the weather, internet speed, and safety.

Also, it doesn’t mean that all countries outside of Southeast Asia aren’t suitable for digital nomads.

In fact, Lisbon, Portugal, ranks number one as the best place for digital nomads.

How long do digital nomads stay in one place?

According to digital nomads themselves, they often live in one place for around one to six months.

But some digital nomads only stay a few weeks in a particular city or country, living in numerous countries in under a month or two! 

They’re able to pull it off by strategically planning their thrilling journey.

Generally, a digital nomad’s multi-destination travel plan includes researching places for their itinerary, choosing airlines with better deals, and inviting other digital nomad friends to cut costs.

Are digital nomads minimalist?

Since digital nomads travel a lot, many also live a minimalist lifestyle.

After all, having and bringing a lot of possessions to different countries can be stressful – carrying dozens of books instead of just getting a Kindle is an example.

Most focus on only carrying their travel and work essentials, although others bring more, especially if they travel and live in a camper van.

Of course, this is limited to countries digital nomads can go to without needing an airplane or a boat.

Are digital nomads good for the economy?

Digital nomads are beneficial for a country’s economy for many reasons.

Higher demand for short-term rentals and small hotels is an ideal example.

There are also digital nomad vloggers that do travel vlogs, showing their audience where they go, which leads to attracting more tourists.

This fact makes digital nomads high-value customers for those in the real estate and tourism industry.

That’s why numerous countries are now offering digital nomad visas.

What’s a digital nomad visa?

A digital nomad visa is a type of visa that allows remote workers to keep on working while staying in a particular country.

Think of it as an upgraded version of a travel visa, allowing digital nomads to do their work legally and stay for more extended periods.

Processing and receiving a digital nomad visa can take a few weeks or months, depending on the country they’re applying for a visa.

For example, it can only take 15 to 30 days when you apply for an Estonia Digital Nomad Visa. 

But besides Estonia, other countries are also offering visas ideal for digital nomads, such as Germany, Iceland, and Croatia.

Can being a digital nomad improve mental health?

Being a digital nomad is a double-edged sword; it can improve or worsen your mental health.

Recent studies show that digital nomads are more productive, creative, and engaged with their work – three factors that contribute to improving mental health.

But people traveling and working anywhere they want aren’t an exception to challenges and struggles.

An example would be digital nomads being pressured to succeed in their careers because people have high expectations for them.

Working anywhere and any time you want is often associated with “living the dream.” which makes it harder for some digital nomads to share their struggles (which everyone has).

Another struggle digital nomads have is called travel burnout.

Digital nomads who’ve experienced this struggle combat it with what they call “slow travel” – focusing on getting to know more about the country they’re visiting rather than trying to visit as many places in a short time frame.

How old are most digital nomads?

It’s a misconception that a digital nomad lifestyle is only for young people.

Digital nomads are mostly comprised of millennials or those in their mid-20s to early-40s; a study also shows that almost half of digital nomads worldwide are in their 30s.

This age group is the sweet spot for having a stable income that allows them to afford this adventurous lifestyle.

And out of all the generations, millennials were found to be the age group inclined to job-hop, which is perfect for people working remotely.

Many in their 40s to 50s, or Gen X and Baby Boomers, are also a large part of digital nomads, some even turning digital nomads after retirement!

Preventing loneliness was one of the biggest reasons they became digital nomads later in life.

How do digital nomads date?

Like their work, digital nomads also find partners online through dating apps like OkCupid, Bumble, and Tinder. Some dating apps are even dedicated to digital nomads!

They can also meet their future partners in Facebook groups and Slack channels created to meet digital nomads.

But digital nomads aren’t limited to dating online.

For example, some digital nomads can find their one true love because of co-working spaces, digital nomad events, and co-living spaces.

The biggest struggle for digital nomads is if their significant other isn’t a digital nomad, which means they have to make a long-distance relationship work.

When did the digital nomad lifestyle start?

Living a digital nomad lifestyle started in 1983 when the term “digital nomad” wasn’t even invented.

One of the first ones to enjoy this lifestyle was Steven Roberts.

He was a freelance writer and corporate consultant from Columbus, Ohio, that turned his recumbent bike into his workspace, which he calls Winnebago.

The term “digital nomad” was eventually created in 1997 because of a book published by Wiley called The Digital Nomad.

Tsugio Makimoto and David Manners wrote it, and their book clearly defines what digital nomads are doing now.

 

Living in another country while working without the need for an office feels surreal.

That’s why more and more people are shifting to the world of remote work to achieve this lifestyle.

And countries are more than willing to support this since it benefits their economy.

It also doesn’t matter whether you’re in your early 20s or late 50s. You can still become a digital nomad because the point of this lifestyle is to have freedom.

Have you ever looked at the way a specific food grows and been totally surprised? We’ve certainly felt that way – especially about asparagus and pineapples. Now the banana curve is blowing our minds (with how little we know about our food).

How the banana gets its curve

The reason bananas don’t grow straight and instead have a curve is so that they can retrieve sunlight. It makes sense, we just couldn’t quite picture it at first.

According to Chiquita, “Bananas go through a process called ‘negative geotropism’…What it means is that bananas grow away from the ground, instead of growing towards it, hence the ‘negative’ geotropism.”

Despite bananas being ubiquitous on grocery store shelves, they come from the rainforest (or at least places that can simulate that environment). In a place with so much foliage, bananas had to find a way to claim some sunlight for themselves since they hang downward.

Bananas evolved not to grow straight up but rather to curve in order to get around the foliage and soak up some rays.

More about banana growth

You might think that if it’s looking for the sun, a banana would evolve to grow upwards. But they’re simply too heavy to do that. Because gravity pulls them down, they develop a slight curve rather than a new growth pattern.

Not only is banana growth a fun new fact for us, but we also didn’t know they were considered a berry. Bananas may have actually been one of the first fruits. They date back about 10,000 years, although they taste much different now.

And it turns out the world loves them – we consume about 100 billion bananas globally every year. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Bananas. Not only one of the healthiest fruits but most recognizable!” — Chiquita

When your messaging app starts suggesting high flatulent instead of highfalutin, or copulation instead of cooperation, autocorrect has gone too far. Though the feature is meant to make communication easier, some users say it creates more misunderstandings than it prevents. Fortunately, you don’t have to be at the mercy of an algorithm every time you send a text. Changing a few preferences in your iPhone settings is all you need to do to make autocorrect a help instead of a hindrance.

According to PCMag, iOS gives you the option to turn off autocorrect altogether. In the Settings app, go to General, and then Keyboards to toggle off the Auto-Correction feature. You can also block spell-check and auto-capitalization if you really feel like playing fast and loose with your correspondence. If you opt to keep spell-check on, you can use it as a less aggressive alternative to autocorrect. When a red squiggly line shows up beneath a word in your draft, tap it to see a list of spelling suggestions. You can choose a word to replace the potential typo with a second tap. Though it requires a few extra steps, the peace of mind may be worth it.

If you’re hesitant to get rid of autocorrect completely, but can’t stand it in its current form, there’s a second option. Under Keyboards, select Text Replacement to customize the list of words your phone will automatically change to something else. You may see some shortcuts in here already; the casual abbreviation omw might autocorrect to the jarringly enthusiastic On my way!, for example. You can change these by deleting the suggested shortcut and leaving the field blank. If your phone doesn’t recognize words you use regularly, like an uncommon name or a certain expletive that rhymes with ducking, you can add them to the Text Replacement list and keep the Shortcut field empty to prevent auto-correction.

iOS’s Text Replacement feature can also be used to tweak autocorrect to fit your needs. Instead of limiting the function to spelling mistakes, you can input a new list of shortcuts and abbreviations that will automatically change to the words of your choice. Here’s another iPhone keyboard hack you should be using.

John Dee is a figure whose life has become the stuff of legend, with unfounded claims about him being a sorcerer and a spy. Dee, born on July 13, 1527 in London, England, was a revered polymath, with particular expertise in mathematics and astronomy. But he was interested in the occult, too: He served as Queen Elizabeth I’s court astrologer and conducted séances in an attempt to speak to angels. Read on to learn the facts about Dee—the scholar, scientist, and seeker of the esoteric.

Dee was arrested for “conjuring or witchcrafte” in 1555 after casting a horoscope of Queen Mary I—but he was exonerated a few months later. Fortunately for him, during the Renaissance, astrology was often thought of as a science (albeit a suspicious one), rather than a supernatural dark art.

In 1556, Dee tried to convince Mary I to set up a library for the “whole realm” to use that would preserve the “excellent works of our forefathers from rot and worms.” When his request was refused, he set up a library at his home in Mortlake, which—although not technically public—was open to other scholars. It was one of the largest personal libraries in England, housing around 4000 texts (3000 books and 1000 manuscripts). Many of the tomes were stolen when Dee left the library under the care of his brother-in-law, Nicholas Fromond, while he traveled around Europe for a number of years in the 1580s.

Dee found royal favor when Elizabeth I, who was interested in astrology, took the throne. She asked him to choose an auspicious date for her coronation, which, according to his calculations, was January 15, 1559. Dee became Elizabeth’s court astrologer, and while she relied on him to interpret the stars for her, he was also a trusted authority on matters of mathematics, chemistry (including alchemy), astronomy, geography, and navigation.

In The General and Rare Memorials pertayning to the Perfect Arte of Navigation (1577), Dee recommended to Elizabeth that she use the force of the navy to expand Britain’s overseas territory—which he termed the “Brytish Impire.” This is the first recorded use of the phrase, but it’s possible that he was simply the first person to write it down.

The Julian calendar that had been established by the Roman Empire was still in use across much of Europe, but it was far from perfect, having overestimated the length of a solar year. To remedy this, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1582, which axed 10 days from the year and changed the way that leap years worked thereafter. Dee, with his vast knowledge of astronomy and history, was asked to give his opinion on whether or not England should adopt this new calendar.

Dee concluded that England would be wise to make the change, but that 11 days should be cut and that it should be done more gradually to reduce disruption. However, the new calendar was rejected by the Anglican Church, likely because it originated from the Pope and England was a Protestant country at the time. England and its colonies did not switch to the Gregorian calendar until 1752.

During the Renaissance, mathematics was not a popular subject; the school curriculum focused on the learning of rhetoric and moral philosophy through Latin and Greek texts. However, Dee was a proponent of math—despite its occasional association with witchcraft. He even helped to introduce English readers to the now-common mathematical symbols +, -, x , and ÷ by writing the preface to Sir Henry Billingsley’s 1570 English translation of Euclid’s The Elements of Geometrie. He used this introduction to defend the practicality of math and attempted to break its links to dark magic.

Although Dee was adamant that mathematics was not demonic, he did employ it for his own investigation into the occult. Dee practiced numerology and divination, using tools such as a crystal ball and a spirit mirror made of obsidian, in his attempts to speak to angels. The polymath thought the divine beings could share their esoteric knowledge with him, like how to make the fabled philosopher’s stone, an alchemical substance that could provide immortality and turn base metals into gold.

However, he found that he was unable to scry, which is the ability to perceive supernatural messages, and sought the aid of a medium—at one point even using his own son, Arthur Dee. Arthur also encrypted the apparently divinely received recipe for the philosopher’s stone, which, according to legend, was an “elixir of life” that could make a person immortal and also turn common metals into precious ones like gold and silver. The message Arthur recorded was cracked in 2021 by scholars Megan Piorko, Sarah Lang, and Richard Bean.

Dee first met Edward Kelley (who these days is largely regarded as a charlatan) in 1582, and became convinced that he could communicate with angels. The pair held many séances together, with Dee keeping detailed records of the allegedly divine conversations. The angels supposedly talked to Kelley in an unknown language, which had to be deciphered by Dee. The pair referred to this language as Angelic or Adamic, but it is now commonly known as Enochian.

Dee and Kelley embarked on a tour of Europe in 1583 with their families in tow, seeking patronage for their research into alchemy and the occult. They met with mystically inclined royals, such as King Stephen of Poland and Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. It’s thought Dee may have been the person who sold the still undeciphered Voynich Manuscript to Rudolf, the earliest known owner of the mysterious text.

During one séance in Bohemia in 1587, Kelley claimed the angel Madimi insisted the two men share everything they had—including their wives. According to Dee’s dairy, when his wife Jane was told of the “cross-matching” arrangement “she fell a weeping and trembling for a quarter of an hour.” However, both Jane and Kelley’s wife, Joanna, reluctantly submitted. Nine months later Jane gave birth to Theodore Dee, who may have been sired by Kelley, and whose name, which means “gift of god,” is possibly a reference to the circumstances of his conception.

When Elizabeth I died in 1603 and was succeeded by James VI and I, who detested all things related to witchcraft, Dee received a cold reception. James refused to clear Dee’s name when he was accused of being a “Conjurer, or Caller, or Invocator of Divels, or damned Spirites.” Dee died in poverty in either December 1608 or March 1609.

Some scholars believe that Prospero from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1610/11) was modeled after Dee: Both were wizardly figures who believed in the supernatural, both had large libraries, and both suffered misfortune. Dee was certainly well-known by the time Shakespeare was penning his magician character, but there is no direct evidence that Prospero was based on Dee. It has also been suggested that Dee and Kelley inspired the conmen Subtle and Face in Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist (1610).

A less likely character that may have been partly based on Dee is Ian Fleming’s James Bond. In John Dee: Scientist, Geographer, Astrologer and Secret Agent to Elizabeth I (1968), Richard Deacon describes Dee as “a roving James Bond of Tudor times.” While Elizabeth certainly had spies, there is no proof that Dee occupied such a role. It is often reported that Fleming took Bond’s code name—007—from Dee’s secret signature. But despite extensive research, Katie Birkwood, a rare books librarian at the Royal College of Physicians, London, has never found any letters from Dee signed 007. Fleming never commented on his inspiration for the iconic moniker, allowing rumors to flourish.

CNN — In the shimmering heat of the Saudi desert, it could be dismissed as a mirage — but photographer Khaled Al Enazi has the pictures to prove he really did spot a giant fish-shaped rock emerging from the sands.

Al Enazi captured images of the unusual formation using a drone while recording the archaeological treasures of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ula county — an area known for ancient structures that rival Jordan’s Petra city.

“While I was documenting the area, a view of a mountain appeared in front of me, its shape suggesting a fish in the heart of the desert,” he told CNN via email.

Al Enazi says he’s probably not the first person to encounter the rock formation, but he believes his aerial perspective meant he was the first to note its curious shape.

“A photographer’s eye sees what people do not see,” he said.

The photographer fittingly named the rock Desert Fish.

In drone footage recorded by Al Enazi in June this year, the rock formation resembles an aquatic creature swimming through the golden sand, its dorsal fin-like structures also suggesting it could be a shark emerging from the depths to stalk its prey.

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