Category: Neat-o

But in the 50s, flying was something different. It was something magical and marvelous. Air travel exploded into its Golden Age, and airplane trips weren't just a means of getting to your vacation -- they were a vacation in themselves. Passengersdressed in their finest to fly. They lined up for group photos before boarding. Riding an airplane made them feel like a movie star because it pretty much took the salary of a movie star to do so.

The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer once said that, “talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.”  Lots of people of people are smart, but true genius has always had an element of mystery to it.

NASA astronaut Terry Virts captured several amazing videos of thunderstorms breaking out across the planet this week. Virts caught flashing lightning above Mexico and the Ozarks from his post on the International Space Station, and shared the amazing footage via Vine.

Fortunately, here are six vegetables and herbs you can grow indoors using parts of the produce you would throw away anyways, and this can save you a pretty penny the next time you go grocery shopping.

Earlier this month, to celebrate Star Wars Day (“May the 4th be with you!”), we rounded up 37 amazing facts about the Star Wars saga. But being that today marks the 35th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back’s premiere, we couldn’t let the day pass without shining a little extra saber-provided light on the Oscar-winning second entry in the original trilogy. So here are 10 more fascinating facts about one of the most frequently misquoted films in the history of cinema.

Tools are how we turned primate starvation into "I'd like my steak rare, with a bottle of red." Most of our tools merely obey the laws of physics, but lasers are the laws of physics. We caged quantum mechanics to cut perfect lines through a complicated universe. A single pen laser would tell aliens more about our genius than the complete works of Shakespeare. The laser demonstrates mastery of mind, math, and matter. Shakespeare makes us look like lemmings committed to suicide by misunderstanding. Behold the brilliance of five laser systems being built or already shining right now.

Every Memorial Day, we proudly remember the heroes who served this country with parades, poppies, and the lowering of our American Flag to half-staff until noon, when we again raise it high to let those colors fly. But while we'll never forget the people who sacrificed so much for our freedom, we might gloss over the history of Old Glory herself.

Pilots and crews decorated their planes with colorful art work during World War II.

Back in the 1900s, cigarette manufactures used to insert stiffening cards into their paper cigarette packs to add strength and help them last longer. Along the way, someone had the bright idea of printing trivia, artwork and even famous people and athletes (Honus Wagner anyone?) onto the stiffening cards.

One lucky research assistant caught a rare show in the Straits of Gibraltar last week, as a fin whale was spotted breaching the water three times in a row, right in front of her. While fin whales do sometimes breach, it's rarely seen and even more rarely caught on camera.

Below you will find an excellent lecture by Dr. Sean Carroll delivered on 12 June 2013 at the 46th Annual Fermilab Users Meeting, focusing on the importance of the discovery of the Higgs boson – confirming the existence of the Higgs field – giving us a glimpse into the world of “Particles, Fields and The Future of Physics”.

How it started, how it's like solitaire, how to fold it, and how it ends.

According to popular mythology, the uniquely superb texture of the New York bagel has to do with New York City's water — specifically, its low concentrations of calcium and magnesium, which make it softer.

Let's look at seven complete badasses who turned overwhelmingly awful situations into real victory and success. Because we don't control what happens to us; we only control how we respond. And we can choose to respond well -- like they did.

Although our house pets may not agree, it was so great to see the Blue Angels fly again in Annapolis this week! Here’s some amazing footage from the cockpit. Recognize any landmarks, sailors?

Whether you've struggled with peeling an orange, been confounded cupcakes or just wanted to eat chicken wings without looking like you've been taking part in a BBQ food fight, FEMAIL has found the best ways to get the job done.

“In both writing and sleeping, we learn to be physically still at the same time we are encouraging our minds to unlock from the humdrum rational thinking of our daytime lives.”

Looks like it’s time to retire. If these kids are any indication, it’s clear that the next generation can take things from here.

The good news, which evangelist Chamine has been sharing through lectures, a popular book Positive Intelligence, and executive coaching, is that you can choose at any moment which voice to listen to. “That choice makes all the difference in not only how happy you are, but whether you reach your true potential,” says Chamine, who for many years ran the Coaches Training Institute, a San Rafael, Calif.-based company that trains executive coaches and life coaches.

Over the last couple years, an increasingly popular trend online has been to create and share colorized photos from history. Artists such as Jordan Lloyd, Dana Keller and Sanna Dullaway take intriguing old black-and-white photos and bring them to life with color as if they’d been taken only yesterday.

For pet photography to be a truly special work of art and not just a picture you could’ve taken with your phone at the bark park, it has to really capture something about the dog or cat that shows their personality. Zmyslowska absolutely nails this. “Every pet is different, not only in terms of appearance.” She says. “My goal is to show the uniqueness in the photo.”

Mapping the greatest cultural and scientific advances in modern history with inspiration from John Cage’s music.

Here are 12 things Stanley Kubrick would do in order to perfect a shot, performance, or film.

I will take one of each please, thank you.

Short of mastering chess in five moves or teaching yourself fifteen languages before turning seventeen, there are a number of ways for the “average” person to exhibit signs of excellence in the brains department.

Rocky wasn’t just a boxer. He was a marathoner.

Since music is such a big part of our lives, I thought it would be interesting and useful to have a look at some of the ways we react to it without even realizing.

So this rather proficient guitar player had a cool idea: put his iPhone in his guitar, play for a while, and record what it picked up.

But what, exactly, lies behind this amorphous phenomenon we call “intuition”?

Mine: “Descartes walks into a bar and the bartender asks him what he wants to drink. Descartes says ‘hmmm, I don’t know’ and vanishes in a puff of logic.”

When a song becomes popular, sometimes people forget (or are unaware) that the song they're enjoying actually originated with another recording artist. The popular cover song might be ahead of its time or re-arranged in a more pleasing way, but ultimately, it’s good enough to find a bigger audience than the original. Here are a few of them.

“It ain’t over till it’s over.”

The sun is out, the wind is blowing, and I've been busy taking some sailing lessons. Turns out there's an interesting bit of physics that allows sailboats to not only travel downwind, being pushed by the wind, but also to travel upwind, or nearly so.

Despite a deceptively simple composition, Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring has captured the imaginations of art fans around the world. While little is certain about the girl behind the mesmerizing gaze, here's what we do know about this now-legendary work.

The music of ancient Greece, unheard for thousands of years, is being brought back to life by Armand D'Angour, a musician and tutor in classics at Oxford University. He describes what his research is discovering.

English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Now, anywhere up to 1.8 billion people around the world speak English. It is easy to learn and flexible. In spite of that, there are many words which are mispronounced by many people. This may be because of the fact that English is not their native language and they have their own regional accent. These 30 words are always mispronounced. Even by most of the people whose native language is English.

Here are some mind-blowing facts that sound bogus but are totally legit...

After all these years of tying a shoe, it's funny how we never knew about the extra holes...

We're already a full day into a week-and-a-half of palindromes. From May 10 through May 19, each day, when read in the U.S. style of month/day/year, will be a palindrome.

Nikola Tesla is finally beginning to attract real attention and encourage serious debate nearly 70 years after his death. Was he for real? A crackpot? Part of an early experiment in corporate-government control?

Here's a roundup of some beautiful classic cars sitting next to their beautiful modern counterpart. It's amazing to see side-by-side.

“That is the way to learn the most, that when you are doing something with such enjoyment that you don’t notice that the time passes.”

You know your writing heroes? Would you be shocked to learn that their writing is no better than yours?

You've got to use what you've got to get what you want. That's how the old saying goes, anyway. But how do you get the things you want when you have nothing? That's a trick question, because you've always got a voice, and sometimes, that's all you need. By doing nothing more than asking, the people on this list have raked in riches and rewards beyond your imagination. Things like ...

With the excitement for Star Wars: Episode VII at an all-time high, here's a blast from the past: an audio recording of an audience watching the original film back when it debuted in 1977.