Your passport has many uses beyond getting you in and out of a country. It can serve as a travelogue of sorts, showing you where you’ve been and taking you back in time as you relive trips stamp by stamp. It can also be a form of identification, or a way to remember what you looked like five years earlier, when you had that flattering (or not so flattering) photo taken.
Now, if you live in Finland, it can also be entertainment. Their new passport works like a flip-book. Each page has a photo of a moose, which walks forward when the page is flipped. Cool idea, no?
Think about how many hands the average dollar bill passes through; all jokes about “dirty money” aside, it’s practically impossible for the money that you carry in your wallet to be clean. But some bills are dirtier than others.
Researchers at Oxford put European currencies and banknotes to the test, finding that British pounds are actually cleaner than Euros. On average European bills and coins contain 26,000 bacteria, while UK currency has around 18,200.
How dirty is that? According to Ian Thompson, Professor of Engineering Science at Oxford, 11,000 bacteria is enough to pass on an infection. Makes you want to go wash your hands after paying for your souvenirs doesn’t it?
Surprisingly enough, clean and efficient Scandinavia actually tops the list of dirty cash. The dirtiest currency was the Denmark krone, at 40,266 bacteria, with the Swedish crown at 39,600 not far behind.
Last week in Gansbaai, South Africa, a man almost became an afternoon snack for a great white shark when the predator forced its way into a protective shark diving cage. A video uploaded by YouTube user Bryan Plummer shows a large shark ignoring the bait put out by tour operators and instead going straight for the main course: diver. After jamming its head into the cage through the viewing portal, the shark thrashed around and then swam away. A few nervous seconds later the divers in the cage popped back up, apparently no worse for wear. The man closest to the action, known only as Roger, had reportedly gotten married the day prior.
Tour operators do not know why the shark would have attacked the cage. Perhaps the shark just wanted to wrestle. One thing is certain: this is a story that Roger will be telling his future kids.
Decades before the dawn of 3-D printing and resulting wonders like self-portrait gummy bears, Mold-a-Rama vending machines were pressing hot wax into tiny figurines delivered in seconds. These vintage contraptions still exist at zoos and other attractions, where miniature keepsakes cost only a couple of dollars and smell like melted crayons.
At the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, machines magically make models of Rosa Park’s bus and wee wax Weinermobiles before your eyes:
Zoos are hotspots for Mold-a-Rama machines. At Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, several generations of visitors have taken home 3-inch-tall wax gorillas. The city’s Brookfield Zoo has 13 machines, currently spitting out dinosaurs.
According to the fan site moldamania.com, other zoos proffer macaws, dolphins, manatees, panthers and killer whales. The bust of Frankenstein and tiny space capsules can be found if you’re lucky. Hundreds of molds existed back in the technology’s heyday (the original was invented in the 1960s and spawned several imitators). Back then, Disneyland delighted park-goers with figurines of favorite characters, ready in 30 seconds.
Cheap? Check. Packable? Check. Better than a gummy bear in your likeness? You decide. Here’s a list of Mold-a-Rama locations.
A maintenance team has been working to repair a crack in the ruins of the 14th century St. Michael’s church, which became a cathedral in 1918 and was mostly destroyed by the Luftwaffe in World War II. When the workers investigated the floor of the cathedral, they discovered nine hidden crypts dating back to the 1350s. They also discovered some bones, thought to be of Coventry’s nobility. Coventry was a wealthy and important city in medieval England and the crypts reflect that in their fine workmanship.
Despite being in ruins, the cathedral is still holy ground as well as a historic monument. The World Monuments Fund has put it on its Watch List to highlight its deteriorating condition. The current cathedral is located right next to it. Cathedral officials announced that they hope to open the crypts to the public to augment what is already the most popular tourist site in Coventry.
