IKEA Monkey

Mavis Wanczyk, the winner of a $758.7 million Powerball, says she quit her job after learning she won the lottery.

What do you get when you combine virtual reality, escape rooms, corporate training videos, and a very cranky fast food mascot? In the case of KFC’s bizarre new VR training video, probably the weirdest eight minutes of your day.

As seen in a demo of a game designed for Oculus Rift, KFC trainees will find themselves locked in a room that seems to be some sort of shrine to the company filled with chicken decor and inhabited by what I can only guess is the ghost of Colonel Sanders, who does not ever stop talking.

The only way to escape the room and the colonel’s incessant, cranky narration is to correctly fry a batch of chicken, following the ghost’s instructions to inspect, rinse, bread, rack, and fry.

Things take an especially bizarre turn when it comes time to learn how to bread the chicken: Col. Sanders’ ghost begrudgingly accepts the help of a pair of robotic arms to demonstrate the proper technique, while taking a vehemently anti-robot — pronounced “ro-butt” — stance.

“But robots could never make the chicken,” he grumbles. “Robots are just stupid pieces of dumb metal without souls or mouths. I demand a human touch in my kitchen.”

In the end, the only way to escape and “enter the light,” as the colonel so eerily puts it, is to use your disembodied hands to feed a perfectly fried drumstick to the mouth of a Col. Sanders head on the door.

“You are ready to cook my original recipe chicken like a professional, well done,” he says. “Now you may leave this delicious prison and ascend, ASCEND! ASCEND, MY FRIEND! GO NOW! GO!”

It’s probably time you watch for yourself:

Is this real life, or is this just fantasy?

You’re probably wondering if this is a real training program and yes, yes it is. The program hasn’t started yet, but when it does, actual employees will be taken through a 10-minute game, which speeds up the usual 25-minute process of preparing and frying chicken.

“KFC will use the VR simulation to supplement its robust, multi-step employee training program, called Chicken Mastery Certification, which provides detailed eLearning and hands-on training for cooks in each of KFC’s kitchens,” the company says in a press release. “KFC will provide yet another platform for training by bringing the VR simulation technology to its regional general manager training classes, quarterly franchise meetings, and employee onboarding.”

Could wacky VR training videos be the new wacky airline in-flight safety videos? Only time will tell.

[h/t PCGamer, Eater]

Some men just want to watch the world—or at least Twitter—burn, and one such man is sports writer Jim Salisbury, who recently tweeted that he once put mayo in his coffee.

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Creepy robots, coming your way

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in August 2015 and has been updated with the most recent information.

If people just aren’t your thing, check out the Henna Na hotel in southwestern Japan. Instead of your normal—and let’s face it, mercurial—hotel staff, you’ll get 140 robots catering to your every whim.

Now, the two concerns weighing equally on your mind are probably 1) I hope there isn't a power outage, and 2) I hope I'm not a protagonist in a movie that ends with me being enslaved by robots.

The 100-room Henn na Hotel (literal translation: strange hotel) bills itself as the world’s first hotel staffed by robots, and in terms of addressing the latter concern, they may be employing some reverse psychology in terms of making all the robots as creepy as possible.

If you're nervous about checking in to your robot hotel room, don't worry—there's a raptor with a bow tie and beard to greet you in Japanese, English, or Korean. Or you can choose the somehow-even-more-unsettling lifelike lady robot, or the robots that handle all the window-cleaning and vacuuming.

For our money, though, the one that's most like to murder you in the concierge robot in your room or the “cloak” robot that runs the in-house lockers. And then there’s the bright-red “porter” robot that could take your luggage and flee at any moment. It’s hard to choose which one to be scared of first.

Since opening in 2015, the Henn na Hotel has done fairly well, even if its robots are a bit buggy. So well, in fact, that owner H.I.S. plans six openings in Tokyo and three in Osaka Prefecture by 2018. After that, grand plans call for 100 more robot hotels, including some overseas. There’s no doubt a novelty factor happening at Henna na Hotel, but its owners also claim that robots cut costs and help make the hotel more efficient.

Whether or not you buy into the robot-as-staff phenomenon, the hotel is using some interesting tech. The Henn na Hotel is keyless, preferring facial-recognition for guests. It also boasts an air-conditioning system that is sensor-controlled and tailored to your personal body temperature.

But we still can’t get over the robots.

Courtesy of Henn na Hotel

Courtesy of Henn na Hotel

Courtesy of Henn na Hotel

Sweet lighthouse included!

If you’ve been dreaming of a private island retreat but balked at the price tags of this $8 million isle or the $15 million Petra Island, here’s a relatively more affordable option. Green Island, off the coast of Brooklin, Maine, is on the market for $650,000.

The island includes the sweet historic Blue Hill Bay Lighthouse, built in 1856 to help guide ship traffic related to the booming lumber business of the nearby town of Ellsworth. Adjoining the lighthouse is a 1,750-square-foot keeper’s cottage with four bedrooms and a half-bath.

The house has a charming New England feel to it and will come fully furnished. There are also a couple of extra buildings on the island including what looks like a large boathouse/garage and a wee little windowless stone structure.

The island itself is about an acre, with 450 feet of pebble-y beach. It’s also accessible by foot from the mainland during low tide.

You probably wouldn’t want to hang out at Green Island during the harsh Maine winter (even though that’s what the lighthouse keepers did). This one is listed as a seasonal dwelling.

Via: Apartment Therapy

The fire service saved these pigs bacon in February, now they've had them as sausages!

Forecasters say 115-mph winds are expected, along with "life-threatening" storm surges and flooding, as Harvey churns over the central coast of Texas.

For some inexplicable reason, Jon Snow and Danerys Targareyn have more chemistry in this Instagram photo from a Rolling Stone photo shoot that took place five years ago than they do acting on the show about dragons and politics, and I would LOVE to know why!

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The woman was standing outside near Spaulding and Cortland when someone got out of a car, started chasing and opened fire, a witness told police. [ more › ]

The Portland residence is on the market for the first time

Have a nomination for a jaw-dropping listing that would make a mighty fine House of the Day? Get thee to the tipline and send us your suggestions. We'd love to see what you've got.

Location: Portland, Oregon

Price: $1,795,000

Built in 1956, this midcentury modern residence in Portland, Oregon, is unique in that it is one of only three homes designed by its owner, who, surprisingly enough, is not a trained architect.

It’s also situated on over an acre of private land, right by the Portland Japanese Garden—which recently got a high-profile expansion by Kengo Kuma—and close to downtown, making it the Holy Grail of properties.

But it’s the structure itself, and the way it engages with its site and the surrounding gardens, that sets it apart. Measuring a generous 4,750 square feet over multiple levels, the house comprising four bedrooms, four bathrooms, two living areas, three fireplaces, and many more opportunities—like wraparound porches—for outdoor relaxation and entertaining.

Floor-to-ceiling windows, sliding glass doors, skylights, and sloping ceilings frame verdant views, while materials like stone and wood create further connections to the natural elements. Updated with modern amenities, the home features an elevator, green roof, and geothermal heating and cooling, which combine seamlessly with original features like wood paneling and built-in shelves and other storage.

One of the most memorable details of the house is a gorgeous, wood-carved spiraling staircase, but the beauty doesn’t stop there. Outside, gardens landscaped by Barbara Fealy plus a covered wooden walkway and separated covered porch continue harmonious natural living.

The property even comes with a 3,511-square-foot secondary building containing two separate apartments (each with a bathroom), a second garage, an office and workshop, plus storage and a wine cellar. On the market for the first time, the residence located at 2855 SW Rutland Terrace is offered at $1.795 million.

Courtesy of Windermere Stellar

John Cena is in China as part of WWE’s tour of the country and decided to take some time out to rap — in Mandarin.

Rapping John Cena is a category of Cena we don’t see much anymore — but he busted it out to try to be welcoming on his trip abroad. I don’t know Mandarin, but those who do say that Cena’s pronunciation and tone are not good. But, hey, at least the dude tried.

His flow in English doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

“Here is my freestyle rap. I got the dopest style that no one can compete. You disagree with it, but I’m the professional, I’m the champ. North to the South, East to the West. You’ve never heard this before. Someone like me, don’t compare yourself with me. Cuz I’m way better than you. Don’t forget that. You’re tiny and I’m huge. My name is John Cena, you can’t see me.”

You can’t see him, or unhear this.

The balls create a canopy over a pedestrianized street in the city’s Gay Village

For the past six summers, pink balls have been strung up like strands of pearls over a segment of Montreal’s Sainte Catherine Street East, home to the city’s Gay Village. The street is closed to cars from May to September and the space is used to host outdoor cafes and concerts. This year, as the Gay Village planned its 35th anniversary celebration, and the city geared up to host its first-ever Pride festival (which kicked off earlier this month), it made sense to turn the balls technicolor.

The Walk of Colors—nicknamed “18 shades of gay” by the community—was installed in May using 180,000 balls divided into 18 different shades to create a rainbow. The 3,400 strands alternate colors to transition from one shade to another, creating a gradient effect that stretches a little over one kilometer in length (about 14 blocks).

Raphael Thibodeau

Landscape architect Yannick Roberge, who has worked with Claude Cormier + Associates to bring the installation to life since 2012, knew that the balls had become a tradition for the neighborhood, and didn’t want to change the concept too much. “It brings the notion of seasonality and ritual, which is very important for a community,” says Roberge. “It is like a crabapple tree that blossoms to start spring.”

His idea to reference the shades of the gay pride flag was an easy decision, and one that’s aesthetically reinforced by the hundreds of rainbow flags and banners displayed by businesses and residents along the street.

Raphael Thibodeau

The balls, which are cast-resin, were made in Quebec, and hang on a rope system made by a local business. Members of the community hand-strung the balls, essentially participating in a large-scale communal craft project in the streets. The balls will be carefully taken down in September and stored for next year’s installation.

In addition to the balls—which do add a bit of dappled shade to the asphalt below—the installation includes 150 weeping willow trees, which cool the street even more. In the evening, the balls appear to glow, creating yet another interesting—and very Instagrammable—visual effect.

What Roberge likes about the installation is that it invites exploration. Taking in the balls becomes a wholly different experience whether you’re simply seated below a strand, walking the entire stretch to see the colors change overhead, or viewing them from above at a nearby building or bridge. It encourages people to move around the neighborhood.

“We see it as a piece of infrastructure in the city,” he says. “The idea is to connect one side to another.”

Jean-Michel Seminaro

Roberge has seen a huge transformation in these blocks just in the last few years, with businesses eager to set up shop near the installation. With the photos of crowds seen walking these colorful streets every day, it’s not hard to see why the installation has been so galvanizing for the neighborhood.

Tina Fey shoveled sheet cake into her mouth on a "Saturday Night Live" skit while ranting about the politics surrounding violent rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia. She urged viewers to not attend the dangerous marches and to eat cake instead.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered mostly praise for President Donald Trump's administration in a speech at the Kentucky Farm Bureau's annual ham breakfast Thursday morning -- as the President continued slamming the Kentucky Republican on Twitter before and after his speech.

The property’s prime Milwaukee Avenue location is expected to fetch millions

Another big development may be on the horizon for Logan Square. The Milwaukee Avenue home of Hollander Storage & Moving Company is now formally listed on the commercial market for sale. Located at 2418 N. Milwaukee Avenue, the large five-story masonry structure has for decades been a prominent staple of the Logan Square area for its height and location adjacent to the Blue Line ‘L’ tracks and the busy Fullerton and Milwaukee intersection.

A brochure from the commercial brokerage Newmark Knight Frank lists the building as a redevelopment opportunity, featuring nearly 27,000 square feet of useable space. In addition to the building itself, the property also includes a small surface parking lot on Milwaukee Avenue which broker Dominic Soltero of NKF suggests could be redeveloped. The total land area for sale comes in at 11,000 square feet of prime Milwaukee Avenue and Fullerton frontage in the heart of Logan Square.

Logan Square has had a number of major new developments proposed in recent years, and the redevelopment of the old Hollander Storage building is likely to be the next. Last week, DNAinfo revealed that the Hollander family had decided to list the property for sale for a likely redevelopment. Now that the building is formally on the market, it is could be a matter of months until a new plan for the property emerges. However, residents shouldn’t worry about a demolition of the hulking brick building according to Soltero. The building is being positioned as a redevelopment opportunity, possibly for a number of different uses like condos or office space, Soltero suggests.

And in terms of the price tag, Soltero says that it’s subject to offers. However, when considering comps from nearby commercial properties and vacant land sales around the Bucktown and Logan Square area, the firm estimates that the Hollander property could ultimately fetch a price in the $7 million to $8 million range.

The Hollander isn’t the only commercial property along Milwaukee Avenue in play at the moment. Several sites along the busy road in Avondale are currently up for sale and possible redevelopment. Meanwhile, back in Logan Square, construction has finally started on a new six-level, 138-unit apartment block and groundbreaking is expected any moment for the new Logan’s Crossing mixed user which is replacing the old Mega Mall indoor flea market.

Does It Suck? takes a deeper look at pop cultural artifacts previously adored, unjustly hated, or altogether forgotten, reopening the book on topics that time left behind.

The best bad movies share three key qualities: They're never boring, the actors give it their all, and the dialogue and plot contain a higher level of nonsense than you'd see in a competently produced film. These elements run rampant in low-budget, low-quality masterpieces like The Room and Fateful Findings, but can be harder to find in big-budget blockbusters. Typically, when a blockbuster fails to entertain, it's because it's rote or dull; if a blockbuster isn't fun, that makes it purely bad, and that's not the kind of bad we talk about when we talk about something like Face/Off.

Face/Off opens with the murder of a child and doesn't let up for nearly two and a half hours. Within the first few minutes, the film introduces John Travolta as Sean Archer, whose son was slain by Nicolas Cage's Castor Troy years before. Archer never fully recovered, so he never stopped hunting for Troy, the wackiest terrorist the country's ever seen. When Archer gets a lead on Troy's whereabouts, they end up in a firefight that takes them from various vehicles speeding along a tarmac to a hangar filled with video game-esque cover spots. That's where we see Troy die—or so we think.

As it turns out, Troy is still alive, and Sean gets the opportunity to borrow Troy's face and disrupt the destruction he and his brother, Pollux (Alessandro Nivola, who's delightful), are plotting on Los Angeles. The plan progresses beautifully as Archer-as-Troy spends some time gathering intel in a landlocked prison where the Geneva Convention doesn't apply and all inmates wear magnetized tracking boots so security runs smoother. Then Troy regains consciousness, threatens the doctor who performed Archer's surgery, gets himself a Travolta face, and sets about dramatically changing Archer's life.

It's around this point that the viewer realizes the disparate elements of Face/Off, when listed, sound a lot like Stefon describing New York's hottest new club on SNL. This movie has everything: twins named for the sons of Leda, identity swapping, prison brawls, magnetized boots, and Joan Allen's ass in sensible slacks. And that's just the first hour.

The remaining hour and change skew closer to the typical trappings of a 90s action movie: Archer-as-Troy does his best to restore order and convince his wife of his true identity, Troy-as-Archer tries to foil that plan, and each attempts to take the other down in a series of gunfights, at least one of which involves a SWAT team. Fear not, though. The movie remains deeply weird, thanks in part to how the Archer family expresses affection: by placing their hand on their parent or child's face and stroking downward. This recurs throughout the movie and reaches its bonkers crescendo in the film's final scene.

Before we get there, though, we're treated to the aforementioned gunfights—one in a room full of mirrors (why not?), the other in a church with an inexplicably high number of doves fluttering around—and a lengthy boat chase that leads to Troy-as-Archer's demise. (Somewhere in the crossfire, Archer's daughter shoots her father and makes up for it by stabbing Troy-as-Archer with a method he taught her in a misguided attempt to seem like a good father. This is ultimately not that important, but it feels worth mentioning that a girl shoots her real dad and stabs her fake dad.) The chase and subsequent death both feel a touch too normal, so the movie course corrects in its closing scene.

For years, Sean Archer has mourned the death of his son. That doesn't mean a surrogate won't do just as well, though, as we learn when Archer brings home Adam, Castor Troy's son who's now parentless after Troy's slaying and his mother's death in the church. (There's a side plot here—Troy didn't know about his son, he left things undone with the mother, and Archer sort of makes things right for him, but none of that really matters.) When Archer informs his wife that Adam will be staying with them, she simply says, "OK," and Archer's daughter does that weird face-stroking thing to Adam as though bringing a replacement child into your home is nothing if not normal. And in the Face/Off universe, why wouldn't that be the case?

To call Face/Off a good movie wouldn't be quite right. The script is uneven, the acts don't flow together particularly well, and it becomes a bit of a slog as it draws to a close. But for this movie, that doesn't matter. What does matter: the commitment of the actors, particularly the two leads, to the sheer insanity of their roles; the hard left turns the plot takes as the cast spews dialogue that ranges from goofy to absolute nonsense; and how utterly entertaining it all turns out to be. Face/Off may not be good as a film, but it's as close to perfect as a good bad blockbuster can be. And sometimes, that's the way you want it to be.

Follow Christy Admiraal on Twitter.

In March, political chatter erupted over the a fact dredged up by The Washington Post from a 2002 The Hill article: Vice President Michael Pence won’t dine alone with any woman other than his wife, or at least that was the case in 2002. (The Hill article also noted that he will often decline drinks or dinner with solo male colleagues as well, though that was largely lost in the public conversation.)

While some, particularly conservative Christians, commended the practice, saying it showed respect for his marriage, others lamented such a policy means for women more broadly. Mentoring relationships often solidify outside of work hours—when two people sit together, relax, and get to know each other. If men feel uncomfortable doing that with women, they’re a lot less likely to have female mentees. And as long as men dominate corporate spaces, that puts women at a serious disadvantage.

For The Atlantic’s series, “On the Shoulders of Giants,” I talked with Kim Elsesser, a professor at UCLA who focuses on psychology and gender, and the author of Sex and the Office: Women, Men and the Sex Partition That’s Dividing the Workplace. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

---

Caroline Kitchener: How can gender get in the way of mentorship at work?

Kim Elsesser: If a woman asks a male coworker to go out for a beer, the male coworker could wonder, “Is she interested in me? What is my staff going to think if I go out with her? Will I somehow be accused of sexual harassment?” Those issues don’t necessarily come up when coworkers of the same sex go out together. This is problematic because that kind of experience—going out for a beer—is often how mentoring relationships start.

Kitchener: Can you give me a real-life example of how this dynamic might play out?

Elsesser: A boss has season tickets to see a baseball team. He generally invites men from work to join him—not because of discrimination, but because he’s worried about how the invitation would be perceived if he extended it to a woman. So he invites male coworkers to the baseball game, and they discuss work—clients and upcoming projects. The boss hears these male employees’ ideas, and that gives them an advantage in the workplace. As time goes by, he gives them opportunities the women just don’t get.

Kitchener: What are the long-term consequences?

Elsesser: Over time, men get to know other men much better and women get to know other women much better. Men run most of our companies, and therefore they tend to be the most valuable mentors. When a promotion or a new job opportunity comes up, the man chooses the person that he knows slightly better—the person he had that beer with. Over time, this can have major repercussions.

Kitchener: Do you think a lot of people feel uncomfortable hanging out with a coworker of the opposite sex after work hours?

Elsesser: The New York Times recently published a survey that showed that nearly two-thirds of people feel like they need to be extra cautious around the opposite sex. One-quarter think one-on-one work meetings between a man and a woman are inappropriate. If you can’t have one-on-one meetings with someone, that makes it really hard to find a mentor.

Kitchener: Do men feel more uncomfortable spending time with women, or do women feel more uncomfortable spending time with men?

Elsesser: My research shows that men experience more discomfort. They don’t know where the boundaries are, they don’t want to send the wrong message, they don’t want to be accused of sexual harassment. Women sense that discomfort, and they have to work at putting the men at ease.

Kitchener: How can this dynamic be changed?

Elsesser: Organizations need to make this clear to employees: If they only do things with people of the same sex, that is discrimination. Organizations need to emphasize the importance of opposite-sex interactions. They should institute formal mentoring programs that pair women and men together. This would reduce any suspicion of romantic involvement from other people in the office.

Kitchener: Do organizations need to change their sexual harassment policies?

Elsesser: Absolutely. Organizations aren’t really concerned with reducing the amount of sexual harassment. They’re concerned with reducing their legal liability. So they hire lawyers to write their sexual harassment policies. There is no evaluation of the success or the repercussions of these policies. There are some sexual harassment policies that discourage men and women from interacting at all.

Kitchener: Have you looked into how these dynamics change for a LGBT employee? Are men more comfortable inviting a woman to a baseball game if she identifies as LGBT?

Elsesser: Gay men report the same issue that women do. Men are also less likely to invite a gay man to a baseball game. Women report less of an issue with gay men—the gay man would be more likely to invite the woman to the baseball game. I don’t know for sure whether men would be more comfortable inviting a lesbian to a baseball game, but I would assume so.

Here’s the problem with “sin” taxes, like those on alcohol, tobacco, and fizzy beverages: You can use those taxes to raise money for a specific purpose, or to encourage citizens to consume less of the thing being taxed, but you can’t hope for both. That’s what Philadelphia has learned as its tax on sweetened beverages has failed to raise as much money as the city hoped.

The Philadelphia (Beverage) Experiment

Soda taxes are usually sold as a public health measure, which made the campaign for the tax in Philly unusual among similar campaigns. The mayor and other proponents sold the tax primarily as a way to raise money for pre-kindergarten programs, city parks, libraries, and tax credits for businesses that sell beverages without added sweeteners. Any health benefits to the population would be a pleasant side effect.

Only around 80% of the tax money was earmarked for that purpose in the end, but that’s not really the problem right now. The problem is that when something is taxed, people tend to either buy less of it or go buy it somewhere else that it isn’t taxed. Conveniently, that’s pretty much everywhere except the Philadelphia city limits.

CNBC reports that the city estimates that the tax, which took effect on Jan. 1, raised $39.3 million through the end of June. The city had originally projected that it would take in $46 million in taxes by the end of June.

Where did the money go?

People who live in Philadelphia are still drinking soda, but people who drink it at home and have access to cars are going to the suburbs and stocking up.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo stopped selling their main brands of cola in two-liter bottles in the city, since a tax per ounce on a 2-liter bottle meant charging an extra dollar.

CNBC cites a study from consumer research company Catalina that shows that while soda sales within the city are down 55%, they’re up 38% in surrounding areas. Sales of bottled water in the city are up 9%.

A spokesman for the city responded to the survey by pointing out that most sodas aren’t sold in supermarkets and drugstores, and Catalina’s data didn’t include restaurants. The soda tax data also ends before the hottest days of summer.

He also suggested that eventually shoppers would get tired of traveling out to the suburbs to buy soda, which might increase sales within the city limits later in the year.

Still, it’s hard to ignore that the tax was meant to raise money, and it’s not raising as much money as it was supposed to.

A new study published in JAMA Psychiatry this month finds that the rate alcohol use disorder, or what's colloquially known as "alcoholism," rose by a shocking 49 percent in the first decade of the 2000s. One in 8 American adults, or 12.7 percent of the U.S. population, now meets diagnostic criteria...

This freshly renovated home may have at one time served as a hotel

Here’s an interesting one. Behind the permastone and builder-grade finishes may be a very unique and important heritage. According to the listing agent, this house once served as a hotel to Bronzeville’s historic Sunset Cafe, a popular venue which helped launch the careers of many jazz artists during the bebop age. Its location just steps away from the former Sunset Cafe could certainly help corroborate the story, but a quick look around online doesn’t produce anything beyond more real estate listings.

Of course, any history the building may have had as a hotel component to the old Sunset Cafe is long gone. This single family home has been thoroughly rehabbed and is seeking a contract. The house, which features five bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms spanning over 3,300 square feet, boasts all new finishes and appliances over three levels.

According to records, the overhauled house first listed last October seeking $549,000. Over the following months, it took a few price reductions before settling at $399,000 by March. Just a few days after dipping below the $400K threshold, it was under contract. However, the deal appears to have fallen through and this one returns with a slight price bump taking the ask up to $415,000.

• 3515 S. Calumet Avenue, Chicago, IL 60653 [Redfin]

In the wake of deadly violence following a white supremacist rally, George and Amal Clooney have donated $1 million to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights advocacy organization that monitors hate groups. The pair, which made the donation via their Clooney Foundation for Justice, join a number of others giving funds in recent weeks to anti-discrimination organizations, which have seen a surge in donations since clashes between white supremacists and anti-racism protestors amid a demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia left one dead. "What happened in Charlottesville, and what is happening in communities across our country, demands our collective engagement to stand up to hate," the Clooneys said in a statement announcing the grant.

I was not prepared for how incredible the total eclipse was. It was, literally, awesome. Almost a spiritual experience. I also did not anticipate the crazy-ass, reverse storm-chasing car ride we’d need to undertake in order to see it.

I’m not a bucket list sort of person, but ever since seeing a partial eclipse back in college in the 90s (probably this one), I have wanted to witness a total solar eclipse with my own eyes. I started planning for the 2017 event three years ago…the original idea was to go to Oregon, but then some college friends suggested meeting up in Nebraska, which seemed ideal: perhaps less traffic than Oregon, better weather, and more ways to drive in case of poor weather.

Well, two of those things were true. Waking up on Monday, the cloud cover report for Lincoln didn’t look so promising. Rejecting the promise of slightly better skies to the west along I-80, we opted instead to head southeast towards St. Joseph, Missouri where the cloud cover report looked much better. Along the way, thunderstorms started popping up right where we were headed. Committed to our route and trusting this rando internet weather report with religious conviction, we pressed on. We drove through three rainstorms, our car hydroplaning because it was raining so hard, flood warnings popping up on our phones for tiny towns we were about to drive through. Morale was low and the car was pretty quiet for awhile; I Stoically resigned myself to missing the eclipse.

But on the radar, hope. The storms were headed off to the northeast and it appeared as though we might make it past them in time. The Sun appeared briefly through the clouds and from the passenger seat, I stabbed at it shining through the windshield, “There it is! There’s the Sun!” We angled back to the west slightly and, after 3.5 hours in the car, we pulled off the road near the aptly named town of Rayville with 40 minutes until totality, mostly clear skies above us. After our effort, all that was missing was a majestic choral “ahhhhhh” sound as the storm clouds parted to reveal the Sun.

My friend Mouser got his camera set up — he’d brought along the 500mm telephoto lens he uses for birding — and we spent some time looking at the partial eclipse through our glasses, binoculars (outfitted with my homemade solar filter), and phone cameras. I hadn’t seen a partial eclipse since that one back in the 90s, and it was cool seeing the Sun appear as a crescent in the sky. I took this photo through the clouds:

Some more substantial clouds were approaching but not quickly enough to ruin the eclipse. I pumped my fist, incredulous and thrilled that our effort was going to pay off. As totality approached, the sky got darker, our shadows sharpened, insects started making noise, and disoriented birds quieted. The air cooled and it even started to get a little foggy because of the rapid temperature change.

We saw the Baily’s beads and the diamond ring effect. And then…sorry, words are insufficient here. When the Moon finally slipped completely in front of the Sun and the sky went dark, I don’t even know how to describe it. The world stopped and time with it. During totality, Mouser took the photo at the top of the page. I’d seen photos like that before but had assumed that the beautifully wispy corona had been enhanced with filters in Photoshop. But no…that is actually what it looks like in the sky when viewing it with the naked eye (albeit smaller). Hands down, it was the most incredible natural event I’ve ever seen.

After two minutes — or was it several hours? — it was over and we struggled to talk to each other about what we had just seen. We stumbled around, dazed. I felt high, euphoric. Raza Syed put it perfectly:

It was beautiful and dramatic and overwhelming — the most thrillingly disorienting passage of time I’ve experienced since that one time I skydived. It was a complete circadian mindfuck.

After waiting for more than 20 years, I’m so glad I finally got to witness a total solar eclipse in person. What a thing. What a wondrous thing.

Update: Here are some reports from my eclipse-chasing buddies: a photo of Mouser setting up his camera rig, Nina’s sharp shadow at 99% totality, and Mouser’s slightly out-of-focus shot of the Sun at totality (with an account of our travels that day).

Tags: 2017 solar eclipse   astronomy   Moon   Mouser Williams   Nina Lanza   photography   Raza Syed   science   Sun   travel

Everybody wants to capture the perfect eclipse photo today, but not everybody has thousands of dollars in professional photography equipment. Turns out you can take some half-way decent pics with your smartphone.

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Last year, John Cena and Cricket Wireless teamed up to prank unsuspecting fans, playing on Cena’s cult status as a living meme. This year, Cricket surprised him with an appearance from fans whose lives he’s touched, and oh man, you’re gonna want an entire box of tissues for this one.

The heart of the clip is in the story of a young boy named Tyler Scheer, whose mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. But y’see, Tyler had gotten a John Cena wristband from Cena at a WWE Live event. He gave it to his mom to help her through it, reminding her that Cena says you should “never give up.” That’s when Tyler and his mom surprise Cena, getting to thank him to his face, and showing him the wrist band that helped save her life.

Then, one by one, more people whose lives Cena has made better show up to thank him. I never thought I’d be sitting in an airport sobbing at a Cricket Wireless commercial, but here we are. And it’s always good to remember the broader reach of pro wrestling, and how stuff that seems corny to us sometimes can really make a difference, and literally save lives.