Posts by Kim Wong-Shing

You probably think you know the taxonomy of stringed instruments. Violins are the tiniest ones, followed by violas, cellos, and basses. But there is another, way huger instrument, appropriately named the octobasse, which sounds like a mythical monster. The octobasse is a string instrument that can create sounds so low, humans can’t hear them. What...

Fast food lovers, prepare to feel embarrassed. It turns out that the employees at the drive-thru can hear every single thing you’re saying in your car, though you wouldn’t guess it by how many times they ask you to repeat your order. One Reddit user and drive-thru worker posted the tidbit, just to let everyone...

Do you ever get impatient with pouring glass after glass of wine and wish that you could just stick a giant straw into the bottle? Yes, I thought so! Lucky for you, there is now a wine bottle-sized straw. Also, it’s pink and has glitter on it because why not! Glitter Wine Bottle Straws are...

Calling all cat owners who are obsessed with their cats – or in other words, all cat owners! You can now become your cat by turning his face into a very realistic and frankly terrifying mask. This takes the phrase “crazy cat lady” to a whole new level. The cat mask service is brought to you...

Do you love Cheez Whiz? It’s okay, this is a judgment-free zone. Well it turns out that there is at least one health benefit to Cheez Whiz, which is something to comfort yourself with the next time you sneakily toss a jar of this Kraft cheese product into your shopping cart. Cheez Whiz apparently contains...

A lot of viral challenges are entertaining, but few of them actually add anything of value to the world. The #trashtag challenge, though, has teens nationwide cleaning up nearby parks, trails and other outdoor areas. The trend started with Facebook user Byron Román. “Here is a new #challenge for all you bored teens,” he wrote....

When you come across a billion cooking “hacks” throughout your life, only the good ones truly stick. The folks over at BuzzFeed compiled a bunch of their favorite cooking tricks, and some of them are actually really useful! 10. Cook your pasta in red wine. Pasta and red wine go together perfectly, and apparently, you can...

If you’ve been recycling for a while, then you may be using an outdated and counterproductive method: removing the caps from plastic bottles. When recycling programs first began, people were advised to always remove the caps from plastic bottles before tossing them into the bin. “In the past the plastics recycling industry was not able...

Online mom groups can be a lifesaver for many parents. Spending time in-person with like-minded moms is difficult, and the internet makes it possible to commune with other moms while also getting your 1000 daily duties done. Magical! But, these groups also have their flaws. One mom wrote on ScaryMommy about her experience after joining “a...

The idea of a universal basic income is one of the most controversial in politics. This year, one city in the US is giving it a shot for the very first time. Stockton, California has dealt with serious financial challenges for years now, with 25% of residents living below the poverty line. The city has officially...

Pineapple is a universally beloved fruit (unless it’s on pizza). But it’s also really intimidating to eat. The fruit is huge! How do you cut it? What type of knife do you use? What if you miss and chop off a finger? Even if you’re a pineapple-slicing professional, it’s a whole elaborate process. Your other options are...

Every parent, teacher, babysitter, and auntie knows this fact: Getting kids to clean up their own mess is difficult. For a lot of caregivers, the task can become too difficult to warrant the hassle, and you often wind up just cleaning up yourself instead. But one mom has had a lot of success with a...

Though it’s long since the Fyre Festival went down in flames, the disastrous affair continues to fascinate people. Case in point: Netflix and Hulu each released documentaries about the festival within the same week, and people happily watched both. Neither documentary, though, centered its story on the people who were most devastated by Fyre Festival: the locals...

In “weird science” news, scientists have finally figured out why grapes explode into flames in the microwave. Most folks have never had a reason to microwave a grape, because why would you. But if you did cut a grape into half and plop it into the microwave, it would spark and begin to spit out bright plasma. ...

A man designed a clever glitter bomb to ruin some local Amazon thieves’ day, and he captured every second of it. Mark Rober has a lot of impressive engineer work under his belt. He’s a former NASA engineer who helped work on the Mars Rover. So when some local thieves began routinely stealing his Amazon...