Science
100 years ago, people were eating things that most of us will never taste. So what happened?
Um ... where did all the seeds go?
03.23.24
Time travel back to 1905.
Back in 1905, a book called "The Apples of New York" was published by the New York State Department of Agriculture. It featured hundreds of apple varieties of all shapes, colors, and sizes, including Thomas Jefferson's personal favorite, the Esopus Spitzenburg.
That was 110 years ago, when commercial apple orchards were still pretty rare and when even in the biggest of those orchards, everything was done by hand.
1905, image of an apple orchard in Oregon
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But why is that apple book such a big deal? The book is significant because most of the apples listed in it have all but disappeared in the past century. DISAPPEARED. In fact, we used to have thousands of apple varieties, but most of those have largely vanished due to industrial agriculture. Now, many varieties are only found tucked away in agricultural research centers and preservationist orchards.
Fact: Today, the 15 most popular apple varieties account for 90% of all apple sales in the U.S. The most commonly sold apple? Red delicious.
2015 looks so different.
The fate of all those apple varieties is not uncommon. "In the last century, nearly 75% of our agricultural crops have disappeared. They're simply gone. Today, farmers primarily grow 12 crops. And of these, we mainly eat potatoes, rice, corn, and wheat."
So what gives? Why the huge shift? In part, the shift has a lot to do with seed regulation. Back in the day, farmers would save seeds from year to year and share them with friends and neighbors. But nowadays, most seed production is controlled by big companies — and those companies patent their seeds, prohibiting things like seed saving or sharing.
So what do we do now?
Not all hope is lost (yay!). It may be an uphill battle, but there are lots of small farmers working to preserve the freedom to freely share and use seeds. People store thousands of seeds from all around the world in buildings called seed banks, and trade with other farmers at seed swaps.
"They're preserving culture and biodiversity, one seed, one plant, and one person at a time." How 'bout them apples? (No, really, I bet those antique apples they're swappin' are ridiculously tasty.)
To check out the full story from The Lexicon of Sustainability, watch the video below:
This article originally appeared on August 14, 2016
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Health
Here’s a military trick that can help you fall asleep in 2 minutes
It was created to help fighter pilots.
03.25.24
For those in the military, sleep can mean the difference between life and death. But shut-eye can be very hard to come by, especially during active conflict.
According to Sharon Ackman, the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School developed a scientific method to help its pilots fall asleep. Through this technique, 96% of the pilots were able to fall asleep in two minutes or less.
If pilots could fall asleep during war, you should be able to use it to knock out in the comfort of your bedroom.
Here's how to do it:
Step 1: Relax in your seat
Sleeping in difficult environments.
Given the space restraints of a typical plane, the pilots were taught to sleep in a seated position. They put their feet flat on the ground, while relaxing their hands in their laps.
Breathe slow, deep breaths while relaxing every muscle in your face and letting your forehead, cheeks, mouth, tongue, and jaw go limp.
Step 2: Relax your upper body
Let your shoulders drop as low as you can. Allow the muscles in your neck go lifeless.
Starting with your dominant side, let your bicep feel like it's falling off your body. Then move to your forearm, hand, and fingers. If a muscle isn't relaxing, tense it first, then let it go loose.
Slowly exhale your tension.
Step 3: Relax your lower body
Tell your right thigh muscle to sink, then move down your leg, saying the same thing to your calf, ankle, and foot. Your leg should feel like it has sunk into the ground. Then move on to your left leg.
The final step is to clear your mind for ten seconds. You can do this by paying attention to your breath as it moves through your nostrils or holding a static image in your mind.
Once your body is relaxed and your mind quiet, you should slip away into darkness.
For more information on this sleep technique, check out Ackman's Medium blog.
This article originally appeared on 04.11.19
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Internet
Woman explains what dry cleaning actually is and people are legitimately shocked
“They really take the buttons off of every shirt?”
03.24.24
Have you ever wondered what happens at the dry cleaners? Or are you like me, who just assumed the people at the dry cleaners were wizards and never questioned their magic? Turns out, dry cleaners aren't magic and there's actually a pretty interesting explanation of how they came to be and what they do.
Melissa Pateras is known on Tiktok for her laundry knowledge. Seriously, her ability to fold laundry is hypnotizing. This time, she created a video explaining what actually takes place at the dry cleaner and the internet is aghast.
Before Pateras explained what happens in the mysterious world behind the counter of a dry cleaner, she asked a few of her friends what they thought dry cleaning was. Their answers were...interesting to say the least.
One friend surmised, "You put it in a box, right...and then you let some wind, really fast wind, blow around on your clothes and it wipes off all the dirt." The friend, whose username is @unlearn16, continued with her working hypothesis, saying that the clothes are then blasted with infrared heat to sterilize the garments. While that is certainly an interesting theory, that's not what happens.
Another friend guessed, "Dry cleaning is when they take all of your dirty clothes into this big dryer with a clean sheet that sticks all of the dirt to it from your dirty clothes." This friend was also incorrect, and Pateras finally explained why after her friends dug deep into their brains for their best guesses.
Turns out dry cleaning was invented by accident when Jean-Baptiste Jolly spilled a kerosene lamp on his tablecloth, which dried cleaner than it was previously, according to Pateras.
The laundry guru explained that while it was dangerous, the practice of cleaning things with kerosene continued until a less flammable method was discovered. But even the safer method is still fairly harsh, which is why dry cleaners take buttons off of clothing before running them through, she says.
This prompted one commenter to ask, "They really take the buttons off of every shirt?" to which Pateras replied that it only occurs if the buttons won't withstand the chemicals.
If you've ever been curious about what happens at the dry cleaner, watch the video below. She takes you through each step.
@melissadilkespateras What is dry cleaning #laundry #laundrytok #drycleaning #funfacts @Tracy Taylor @Unlearn16 @Ana Pac @Ashley Mathieu @Li
This article originally appeared on 5.10.23
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Joy
It's here: A website that uses an algorithm to match you with the perfect dog for your personality
Not sure what kind of dog is perfect for you? This website kinda is.
03.25.24
via Pinterest
PawsLikeMe might know you better than you know yourself.
Because PawsLikeMe knows about your dreams.
Your DOG dreams, that is.
How? A dog-human personality quiz!
A sophisticated one, too! From their website:
"The personality assessment is based on 4 core personality traits that influence the human-canine bond; energy, focus, confidence, and independence."
It also takes into account environmental factors and other special circumstances as well.
It's not uncommon for dogs that are adopted to be returned because they just aren't compatible with their owner's life.
PawsLikeMe aims to stop dog-owner mismatch by playing dog matchmaker! Its goal is to help people find the right dog for them.
Need a dog that's friendly with kids but loves learning tricks and is also house-trained? DONE. Have other specific requirements? DONE!
Ya got options.
When you go on the website, you can opt to just answer the four most important questions in a dog owner's life:
1. What's your energy level?
2. What kind of parties do you like?
3. What kind of dog personality do you want?
4. What is your personality like?
After those four questions, you can begin searching for a doggie match.
Or you can opt for the full questionnaire (you should) ... and basically feel very, VERY understood.
I took the full PawsLikeMe quiz, and when I saw the results I was kindof taken aback:
PawsLikeMe GETS ME!
Then I was the whisked away to dogs who are just ready to love me.
Listen. My apartment in NYC doesn't allow dogs. But if it did? I'd be 91% ready to adopt Carli. She's perfect, and I love her. CUE ADELE and her songs of lost opportunities to love!
With all the 80 gajillion personality quizzes out there in the world, this one is hands down THE BEST.
Take it for yourself! You won't regret it.
This article originally appeared on 11.06.15
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Education
A dad's hilarious letter to school asks them to explain why they're living in 1968
"I look forward to this being rectified and my daughter and other girls at the school being returned to this millennium."
03.25.24
Earlier in the week, Stephen Callaghan's daughter Ruby came home from school. When he asked her how her day was, her answer made him raise an eyebrow.
Ruby, who's in the sixth grade at her school in Australia, told her dad that the boys would soon be taken on a field trip to Bunnings (a hardware chain in the area) to learn about construction.
The girls, on the other hand? While the boys were out learning, they would be sent to the library to have their hair and makeup done.
Ruby's reply made Callaghan do a double take. What year was it, again?
Callaghan decided to write a letter to the school sharing his disappointment — but his wasn't your typical "outraged parent" letter.
"Dear Principal," he began. "I must draw your attention to a serious incident which occurred yesterday at your school where my daughter is a Year 6 student."
"When Ruby left for school yesterday it was 2017," Callaghan continued. "But when she returned home in the afternoon she was from 1968."
The letter goes on to suggest that perhaps the school is harboring secret time-travel technology or perhaps has fallen victim to a rift in the "space-time continuum," keeping his daughter in an era where women were relegated to domestic life by default.
"I look forward to this being rectified and my daughter and other girls at the school being returned to this millennium where school activities are not sharply divided along gender lines," he concluded.
Dear Principal
I must draw your attention to a serious incident which occurred yesterday at your school where my daughter Ruby is a Year 6 student.
When Ruby left for school yesterday it was 2017 but when she returned home in the afternoon she was from 1968.
I know this to be the case as Ruby informed me that the "girls" in Year 6 would be attending the school library to get their hair and make-up done on Monday afternoon while the "boys" are going to Bunnings.
Are you able to search the school buildings for a rip in the space-time continuum? Perhaps there is a faulty Flux Capacitor hidden away in the girls toilet block.
I look forward to this being rectified and my daughter and other girls at the school being returned to this millennium where school activities are not sharply divided along gender lines.
Yours respectfully
Stephen Callaghan
When Callaghan posted the letter to Twitter, it quickly went viral and inspired hundreds of supportive responses.
Though most people who saw his response to the school's egregiously outdated activities applauded him, not everyone was on board.
One commenter wrote, "Sometimes it is just ok for girls to do girl things."
But Callaghan was ready for that. "Never said it wasn't," he replied. "But you've missed the point. Why 'girl things' or 'boy things'... Why not just 'things anyone can do?'"
He later commented that he didn't think the school's plan was malicious, but noted the incident was a powerful example of "everyday sexism" at work.
Callaghan says the school hasn't responded to his letter. (Yes, he really sent it.) At least, not directly to him.
Some media outlets have reported that the school claims students are free to opt in and out of the different activities. But, as Callaghan says, gendering activities like this in the first place sends the completely wrong message.
In response to the outpouring of support, Callaghan again took to Twitter.
"At 12 years of age my daughter is starting to notice there are plenty of people prepared to tell her what she can and can't do based solely on the fact she is female," he wrote.
"She would like this to change. So would I."
This article originally appeared on 12.08.17.
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Joy
People are sharing all the random things they 'haven't thought about since grade school'
"The flavor of the wooden spoon haunts me to this day."
03.25.24
via Twitter
Everyone's childhood is different. But there are common objects, sights, sounds, smells, and memories from elementary school that most Gen Xers and Millenials share.
Personally, when i think back to being in elementary school in the '80s, I remember the taste of the chocolate ship cookie we got on Fridays (with the pizza). The humiliation of getting nailed in the back during nation ball. And the grumbling, grinding sound that happened when you slipped a disk into the drive on an Apple IIe computer.
Nowadays, in a world where most kids would have no idea how to even turn on an Apple IIe or have never felt the sting of a rubber nation ball hitting them square between the shoulders, I get a bittersweet feeling when I think back to my elementary school days.
Mel Madara stirred the nostalgia pot on Twitter this week when she posted a series of photos of things she remembers from elementary school that anyone from 50 to 25 probably recollect, too.
She started up with a series of objects and experiences you may have forgotten that were a daily part of elementary school life.
bringing back weird memories from elementary school: A THREAD pic.twitter.com/t3hJlWyl9V
— melina ¨̮ (@melmadara) March 3, 2020
resting your head on the cold window just hit different pic.twitter.com/OFhMIeokc5
— melina ¨̮ (@melmadara) March 3, 2020
when this would hit your ankles .. ow pic.twitter.com/TRc3vvGNcK
— melina ¨̮ (@melmadara) March 3, 2020
the original smart board pic.twitter.com/Bg166jAmmA
— melina ¨̮ (@melmadara) March 3, 2020
the flavor of the wooden spoon haunts me to this day pic.twitter.com/8ZRdMy9LE4
— melina ¨̮ (@melmadara) March 3, 2020
these!!! i can still smell them pic.twitter.com/exxYZclPX8
— melina ¨̮ (@melmadara) March 3, 2020
i didn't trust people who did this pic.twitter.com/HGmhDh6AiS
— melina ¨̮ (@melmadara) March 3, 2020
if you had these you were COOL pic.twitter.com/DctrpTXu8s
— melina ¨̮ (@melmadara) March 3, 2020
the static that came from these ... pic.twitter.com/92xsIZcKge
— melina ¨̮ (@melmadara) March 3, 2020
and let's not forget pic.twitter.com/x2nHozoFRP
— melina ¨̮ (@melmadara) March 3, 2020
scholastic. book. fair. pic.twitter.com/LPDgw8iuC1
— melina ¨̮ (@melmadara) March 4, 2020
She inspired countless followers to share the things they remember from elementary school in the '80s and '90s.
Heads-up 7-up!
Can you remember the anxiety as someone walked slowly though the room and you hoped and prayed they touched your thumb?
pic.twitter.com/ZWOzFkSpBW
— Danny Staley (@Elmo69er) March 3, 2020
That clock you can wind up from behind.
pic.twitter.com/qAsBv5BfR3
— Wings 2020! (@let346312) March 3, 2020
Do you remember dying on Oregon trail repeatedly?
Free time on the computer... pic.twitter.com/SdViGfFDnX
— El Negrito (@tedminust) March 3, 2020
Four square!
This game HIT at recess pic.twitter.com/BpqSIEi0p4
— Ariana Navarro (@_navariii_) March 3, 2020
Was that a state-mandated fitness exam or a test for scoliosis?
pic.twitter.com/7JyCe8HbN5
— JP™️ (@generalpatt) March 3, 2020
M.A.S.H.! Did you wind up in a mansion, apartment, shack or a house? What kind of job did you get? Who did you marry? What kind of car do you drive?
pic.twitter.com/fZuUY8bbCE
— bloob🍭 (@bloob3rry_) March 4, 2020
Before Michelle Obama it was acceptable to feed a kid a taquito filled with pizza.
Everyone's favorite day was pizza stick day pic.twitter.com/xFqHQWBUvO
— Jonathan lopez (@JLo_2424) March 4, 2020
Tether ball was fun until one of those rock hard balls hit you in the face.
We settled things out on the court pic.twitter.com/lfALRulfRn
— Ariana Navarro (@_navariii_) March 3, 2020
The stool that helped you grab that Judy Blume book just out of reach. It aw also a rgeat place to sit and read if the tables were filled up or you just wanted some privacy.
Library Stools pic.twitter.com/bAyMGwCNWm
— Wings 2020! (@let346312) March 3, 2020
Is the VCR bolted down? Check! TV strapped in? Check. It's time for a rainy day movie.
This with the lights off in the classroom on a rainy day was 👌🏼 pic.twitter.com/aBpqbDpTwJ
— ashleyyaa (@ashleyyaa) March 3, 2020
... or if you're older, you got "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" or some other Disney nature film on 16mm film in the school cafeteria.
You were lucky. For the older folks on here, you'll remember these. When they worked they were awesome; but if something jammed up, and the film in front of the bulb melted, school movie time was over. Well, unless you had a nerdy AV kid in your class.... pic.twitter.com/XI31FKgpz7
— Big Daddy 🅿️1️⃣ (@bryaninbigd) March 4, 2020
My skin is peeling off!
pic.twitter.com/olDf1s9uPt
— Jason Kizer (@jason_kizer) March 3, 2020
This brutal contraption isn't a Medieval torture device but a way to sarpen your pencil.
pic.twitter.com/BvOjLemYst
— Clare O'Grady, MPH (@ceogrady) March 3, 2020
Finally, if more of us listened to this guy, the country would be in a much better place.
I know y'all remember this mf pic.twitter.com/64xMS2nHYC
— Martin Alvarado (@martinhuerta97) March 3, 2020
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