mental_floss must-reads

Not only is there a great feature by Rachel Stern about the four most "Eco-Fabulous Places to Live in 2020" in the latest issue of mental_floss, but Maggie Koerth-Baker breaks down the meaning of "organic" in a great little post you can find and read here and in the graphic found below. If you don't already subscribe to the magazine, you can usually find one at your local Whole Foods check-out line.

Recycling is so cool

If you think the recycled tire park at Patapsco Valley State Park is cool, check out the super-sized version I just found out about (via mental_floss) that has been providing fun for Tokyo residents and tourists since 1982. The 3,000 spares donated by the Kawasaki motorcycle company have been reincarnated as tire robots, dinosaurs, bridges, tunnels, dragons, slides, mountains and of course swings for the Nishi-Rokugo park. Love it.

Check out some more pics here.

mental_floss

If you aren't already reading Mental Floss Magazine, it's time to pick it up. Find a copy at your local Whole Foods, mag stand, or subscribe here. I'm serious. If you don't, you'll have to wait a pretty long time to read Maggie Koerth-Baker's findings about the origins of those noble, inbred lab mice and their first breeders that have been and continue to be paramount in furthering our scientific understanding of cancer, Parkinson's disease, and pretty much anything else you can think of - because that article is not available online without a subscription.

Another article from the most recent issue needs reading: Tree Bark Eating for Beginners, by David Clark:

For the choicest strips of bark, be sure to go for the nutritious, tender inner layer known as the cambium. (Eating the outer bark would be no more pleasant than chomping into your bookshelf.) If some resin or gum oozes out as you pry off the main course, be sure to lap it up for quick energy. Here are a few fun ways to serve tree bark:

Raw. Shred finely and chew thoroughly.

Slice it into strips and boil it to make a rustic pasta. Top with sap, dandelion greens, or insect parts (see entry #2). Alternatively, you can add the noodles to a stew.

Dry and grind into flour. The ground bark is pretty versatile and can be mixed with water into a breakfast gruel, baked into bread, added to soup for extra body, or even guzzled straight like a Pixy Stick.

Longest jellyfish on record: 160 feet

I'm undecided as to whether or not I want to blog while on vacation -something to think about poolside I guess. Until I decide, check out this fun site I learned about via Mental Floss magazine.

http://www.amazingfactgenerator.com/

Did you know that you shouldn't tease the jaws of a Venus flytrap beacause each jaw can only close a few times before dying? And the title fact about the jellyfish? And that most hoofed herbivores (from horses to giraffes) sleep standing up? Amazing facts here, folks. Amazing.