Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 261
July 20, 2019
July 19, 2019
July 18, 2019
Carrots, Eyesight, And World War II Propaganda
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Eating carrots won’t correct vision problems such as nearsightedness or farsightedness. While consuming carrots will keep your eyes healthy and prevent vision loss—particularly if you have a vitamin A deficiency—they won’t improve your eyesight.
If you need glasses or contact lenses, eating extra carrots won’t take care of the problem. Most eye issues are caused by genetics, aging, or diabetes, and a carrot’s beta carotene properties won’t help. The beta carotene converts into a form of vitamin A during digestion called “retinal,” which is important in maintaining normal vision.
Dark, leafy green vegetables such as spinach, kale, and collard greens are actually better for your eyes than carrots. These veggies contain more antioxidants such as lutein and zeaxanthin, which can protect your eyes from certain high-energy rays of light that can harm your retina. These greens and their carotenoids can also reduce the advancement of age-related macular degeneration, which can cause blindness.
Sweet potatoes are also good for your eyes, and they contain more vitamin A than carrots. Fresh fruit also has vitamins C and E, which are good for your peepers. Most people get enough vitamin A from their diets to keep their eyes healthy and strong.
If you don’t get enough vitamin A, you can actually go blind. As many as 500,000 malnourished children lose their eyesight every year due to a vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A supplements and beta carotene are known to help people see better at night if they suffer from a vitamin deficiency.
So, where did the myth about carrots improving your eyesight come from?
During World War II, the British government promoted the nutritional value of carrots and their purported night-vision properties. The U.K. Ministry of Food wanted people to eat more carrots during food rationing shortages, according to the World Carrot Museum.
The government credited carrots for helping the British Air Force see better while hunting down German aircraft at night. The federal campaign included the slogan, “Carrots Keep You Healthy and Help You See in The Dark.” As a result, the general public believed eating carrots led to improved vision at night, specifically in blackout conditions (a real concern during the war).
If you really want the vitamin A benefits from carrots, you should eat them with a fat-soluble vitamin, such as ranch dipping sauce, so your body can fully absorb the antioxidants.
And there is such a thing as eating too many carrots. Your body can only convert so much beta carotene to vitamin A, and the rest is just excess. It is also possible to overdose on Vitamin A supplements, so consult a doctor before taking them. Plus, carrots can turn fair skin a shade of orange.
By Noelle Talmon, contributor for Ripleys.com
July 17, 2019
July 16, 2019
Finally, An Italian Sports Car That Can Navigate Venice
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
It’s impossible for most people to drive their cars in the water-filled streets of Venice, but with this Italian sports car, waterways are what it was made for. This Ferrari F50 was carved entirely out of wood by master sculptor Livio Di Marchi.
The supercar can’t drive on traditional roads, but instead, uses its buoyant frame to float. While the production version could go from zero to 60 in just 3.8 seconds, the 512 horsepower V12 engine has been replaced with an outboard motor that will definitely make you want to row your gondola out of the way.
The car is truly one of a kind. The road model may have only had 349 models manufactured, but the wooden 350th was sculpted entirely by hand using only hand chisels. Marchi is a prolific artist, carving a number of other novelty boats as well. He’s whittled replicas of a gull-wing Mercedes, a 1930s Jaguar, and even a wooden Vespa.
Popularly known as the “Carpenter of Venice,” Marchi began his obsession with sculpture after studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. Finding wood to be a kind of muse that summoned his creativity and spontaneity, he settled on the medium as his favorite.
Marchi has even played fairy godfather with his creations, sculpting a floating pumpkin carriage complete with horses for people’s weddings.
The man is absolutely obsessed with wood. His home is filled with wooden sculptures, including renderings of beds, teddy bears, clothes, dishes, and even underwear carved by hand.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! has bought a number of Marchi’s works, displaying them in museums all around the world. The wooden F50 once sailed the San Diego Bay with a surfing dog in tow, and it’s returning to the city once more for San Diego Comic-Con as part of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Car Lot!
Source: Finally, An Italian Sports Car That Can Navigate Venice
July 15, 2019
Edison And The Electric Chair – Ripley’s Believe It or Notcast Episode 006
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
“An inventor needs enemies.” These are the words of the man who brought electricity into the home, Thomas Edison. While many will argue the particulars of what he invented, Edison was perhaps the most influential man in technology during the turn of the century.
This week, Brent and Ryan talk to Dr. Paul Israel, the Director and General Editor of the Edison Papers at Rutgers University. They explore the competitive nature of the “Wizard of Menlo Park,” and how this led him to be involved in the use of electricity for capital punishment.
Marlon Brando: The Inventor
By Havaa via Wikimedia
Or Not: Edison And The Lightbulb
For more weird news and strange stories, visit our homepage, and be sure to rate and share this episode of the Notcast!
Source: Edison And The Electric Chair – Ripley’s Believe It or Notcast Episode 006
Whale Decomposition: The Lifecycle Of A Cetacean Carcass
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
While the death of a whale can be a sad sign of polluted waters, food scarcity, or human violence, the gargantuan bodies left behind by these majestic creatures can create a hotbed for life, even as they decompose.
Whales can die in a number of ways, many of which are not well observed by science. Some whales get sick and become too weak to keep returning to the surface for air and drown, while others might beach themselves on a nearby coast in distress. Either way, the decomposition process starts immediately.
Bacteria in their guts often produces gas that bloats their bodies and causes them to float. Sharks and other carnivorous fish get first dibs on recycling the whale’s body, taking what pieces of flesh, muscle, and blubber they can. Some of these floating whales end up deposited on the shoreline, where land-bound creatures are gifted a unique, but bountiful feast.
A whale that sinks to the seafloor as its gassy interior bursts or slowly deflates becomes a unique habitat for bottom-feeding fish and crustaceans. Some fish and sharks are actually believed to thrive specifically on whale corpses, while the flesh, once again, is the prime target for shrimp, eels, and crabs. Sometimes called a whale fall, carcasses that end up in the deep depths of the ocean’s abyss are an important transmission vector for nutrients to an otherwise static part of the ocean.
When a 60,000-pound gray whale lands 6,500 feet below the surface of the ocean, it makes an impact. Over the course of months, the soft tissue is completely eaten away. The detritus and material of the whale don’t just provide direct sustenance, however. The nutrients that make it into the soil give rise to plant life and bacterial mats, that in turn are a new food source for the whole biological community.
Craig Smith, University of Hawaii/NOAA
Even the remaining skeleton can become a basis for colonization, with microorganisms living off the chemical reaction of its decomposition. Anemones specific to whale falls, as well as unique bone-eating zombie worms, make the rotting carcass home. These organisms can be supported for 10 years from a single whale carcass.
Whales that don’t reach as deep a resting place can last even longer, as the microbes that break down their bones may not be present. Whale skeletons recovered on land have showcased equally long-lasting effects. A whale carcass taken off the bow of an oil tanker in Massachusetts was reduced to a skeleton and hung in the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The bones of the whale oozed oil—whale oil, unrelated to the tanker—for over 15 years, a demonstration of the longevity of the carcasses biological resources.
The oily blue whale/CC Elpriceisright
Along the Oregon coast this year, whales have been washing up in record numbers. Fishery officials believe the cause is that the whales’ food has been largely driven south by warming waters. The deaths have meant their shores are inundated with whale carcasses without many optimal places for decomposition. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had to resort to asking for people to volunteer their backyards for the whales to decompose in. Though the smell might be unbearable, some biologists are excited to see these land decompositions themselves, in real time.
Source: Whale Decomposition: The Lifecycle Of A Cetacean Carcass
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