A recent post on reddit sent me down a wonderful Internet rabbit hole in search of Bonsai fruit trees growing both full-sized and miniature-sized fruit.
People considering a Bonsai fruit tree should know that in the winter the leaves of a fruit tree will fall and the they typically grow much faster. You can find many more tips on growing Bonsai and specific considerations for growing Bonsai fruit trees here.
To see more pictures of Bonsai fruit trees and learn more about the art form, check out Bonsai Empire.
Welcome to the Shirk Report where you will find 20 funny images, 10 interesting articles and 5 entertaining videos from the last 7 days of sifting
Welcome to the Shirk Report where you will find 20 funny images, 10 interesting articles and 5 entertaining videos from the last 7 days of sifting. Most images found on Reddit; articles from Digg, Kottke, WITI, Facebook, Twitter, and email; videos come from everywhere. Any suggestions? Send a note to submit@twistedsifter.com
“Doubts” is the latest sculptural rug by artist Faig Ahmed
“Doubts” is the latest sculptural rug by artist Faig Ahmed. Ahmed is an internationally recognized artist from Baku, Azerbaijan, who represented his country at the 2007 Venice Biennale. He is well known for this conceptual works that utilize traditional decorative craft and the visual language of rugs into contemporary sculptural works of art. On “Doubts” he explains:
“We started the production of this work a month before the whole world plunged into doubts about the future due to the current situation caused by the pandemic. Because of the quarantine we had to close our textile studio several times and artwork on the loom was waiting for its time. A few days ago, after 7 months, ‘Doubts’ were cut off the loom. There are no more doubts in this carpet, destroying the geometric intelligible boundaries of the patterns – overflowing they congeal on the floor – this is the limit of doubts.”
Ahmed is represented by the Sapar Contemporary Gallery in New York City. For Faig, “Doubts make you move forward and pursue answers. Doubts are an unequivocally force for progress in your head, without them we would never have thought about the essence, results and new reality.”
Reddit user lurkface recently shared this beautiful specimen of glass gem corn from this year’s crop. She explains that the unique strain was developed by farmer Carl Barnes before he passed, and that she traded for some of the seeds nearly a decade ago and has been growing them on her farm in Fallsington, PA ever since.
Glass gem is a flint corn that can be made into a ‘decent’ popcorn or ground into flour, but is not suitable to eat ‘off the cob’. Other potential uses could be for grits, hominy, masa or even whiskey. For those wondering, when popped, the popcorn is white, not colored.
If you’re interested in trying to grow your own ‘jellybean’ corn she sells the seeds on Etsy and offers the following basic growing advice:
“Put corn into ground, at least 10 seeds, spaced 1 foot apart. Water. Watch grow and weed. Fertilize with a high Nitrogen fert 2 times, once at a foot tall and once again when going to tassel.”
Welcome to the Shirk Report where you will find 20 funny images, 10 interesting articles and 5 entertaining videos from the last 7 days of sifting
Welcome to the Shirk Report where you will find 20 funny images, 10 interesting articles and 5 entertaining videos from the last 7 days of sifting. Most images found on Reddit; articles from Digg, Kottke, WITI, Facebook, Twitter, and email; videos come from everywhere. Any suggestions? Send a note to submit@twistedsifter.com
The colour-changing skies are a result of smoke particles, which block certain wavelength colours from the sun
Wildfires are currently raging across the United States and wreaking havoc. They have also turned the skies a surreal orange-red that conjure up visions of the apocalypse. Comparisons have also been made to Mars, the film “Blade Runner 2049” and the shows “Stranger Things” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”
Parts of Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona and Utah are currently under critical and elevated risk of fire weather, according to the National Weather Service and people going outside are also encouraged to check their local AQI (air quality index) to determine if the air is safe.
According to NASA, the colour-changing skies are a result of smoke particles, which block certain wavelength colours from the sun:
The smoke particles from the fires allow sunlight’s longer wavelength colors like red and orange to get through while blocking the shorter wavelengths of yellow, blue and green. Those longer wavelengths give the sky a red or orange tinted appearance. Similarly, during sunrise and sunset times when the sun is near the horizon, sunlight has to travel through more of Earth’s atmosphere to get to you. The additional atmosphere filters out the shorter wavelengths and allows the longer wavelengths to get through, providing reds and oranges during those times. [source]
Below you will find some amazing shots shared on reddit and Twitter along with a surreal video of San Francisco captured by a drone. Be safe!
In a record-setting 48 hours, temperatures in Colorado over the Labor Day long weekend reached 100+°F, only to dramatically drop to the low 30s on Tuesday/Wednesday, with snowfalls totalling anywhere from 1 inch (Barr Lake) to 14 inches (Westcliffe).
While large temperature swings in Colorado are known to occur, it’s unprecedented for this type of swing to happen in September.
In Fort Collins, the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University measured 0.3 inches of snow Tuesday morning, tweeting “the earliest accumulating snow ever observed in over 130 years of records!” That followed Sunday’s high of 99 degrees, the highest temperature ever observed so late in September. The National Weather Service says Fort Collins hit 100 degrees on Saturday.
In Denver, it has been 20 years since it has snowed in September for much of the Front Range. Denver reached 101 degrees on Saturday, making it the latest triple-digit day on record and helping to set a new monthly record high. [source]
There are countless regional records being set for both heat and cold across Colorado. You can find just a few of them below.
With did some searching, and we found a station in southeast CO that reported 104° on September 7 and 3.9" of snow on September 9.@Climatologist49, obs time is 6am, which means the 104 actually occurred on the 6th, but some of that 3.9" snow likely fell on the 8th. pic.twitter.com/JazEtY3Qom
Alamosa taking the records to another level yet again. On both Saturday and Sunday (Sept 5-6) they set a new monthly record high temperature of 89F. The earliest measurable snow on record was Sept 18. This morning, September 9, they have a foot of snow on the ground. 🤯 #cowxpic.twitter.com/PGQTA22rWj
The Del Norte climate station, with pretty complete records back to 1920, has recorded a total of 16" of snow in September *in its entire history*. We'll await the final tally, but they may have exceeded that in this one storm. Love the comment from the @CoCoRaHS observer #cowxpic.twitter.com/Pe8M3MD2Vc
Morning measurement at the official Fort Collins weather station was 0.3" of snow – the earliest accumulating snow ever observed in over 130 years of records! Previous earliest was Sept. 12 (in 1974 and 1989). #cowx@NWSBoulder
This follows a high temperature of 99°F on Sunday September 6, the highest temperature ever observed so late in September (breaking the record set last year on Sept 2) 🔥 🌨️ #cowx
It was a scorcher statewide today, but the hot spot was the Arkansas Valley in southeast Colorado. Today’s high temperature of 108F at La Junta is the highest temperature ever observed in September in Colorado! 🔥🌡️ #cowxhttps://t.co/COAIQowDfV
The bill features Grover Cleveland, the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms
Bank teller and reddit user, 3BirbsInARainCoat, shared this photo of a rare $1000 bill from 1934. The teller told the customer he could accept the bill at face value, but urged the customer to try and find a collector that would likely pay more than face value for it.
$500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000 and $100,000 bills were in circulation. After the last printing of those denominations in 1945, the Treasury Department and the Fed discontinued them in 1969.
First printed in 1928, this $1,000 bill features two-time United States President Grover Cleveland. He was the nation’s 22nd and 24th president, earning him the distinction of being the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms.
A previous $1000 bill was also printed, starting in 1918, which featured Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton. For more history and photos of all large denomination bills printed in the US, check out this article on Bankrate.
Welcome to the Shirk Report where you will find 20 funny images, 10 interesting articles and 5 entertaining videos from the last 7 days of sifting
Welcome to the Shirk Report where you will find 20 funny images, 10 interesting articles and 5 entertaining videos from the last 7 days of sifting. Most images found on Reddit; articles from Digg, Kottke, WITI, Facebook, Twitter, and email; videos come from everywhere. Any suggestions? Send a note to submit@twistedsifter.com
The M.V. Louise Michel is a high speed lifeboat that patrols the Mediterranean
In an Instagram post (his only official online presence), British artist Banksy revealed that he had used proceeds from his recent art sales to finance the M.V. Louise Michel, a high speed lifeboat that patrols the Mediterranean.
The Louise Michel is a former French Navy boat that was acquired by Banksy and customized to perform search and rescue. Measuring 30 meters (98 ft) in length and capable of over 28 knots, she is captained by Pia Klemp and crewed by a team of rescue professionals drawn from across Europe. In a note to Pia last September, Banksy wrote:
“Hello Pia, I’ve read about your story in the papers. You sound like a badass. I am an artist from the UK and I’ve made some work about the migrant crisis, obviously I can’t keep the money. Could you use it to buy a new boat or something? Please let me know. Well done. Banksy.”
The vessel is named after French feminist anarchist, Louise Michel. So far in 2020, more than 500 refugees and migrants are known to have died in the Mediterranean sea, and the real number is estimated to be considerably higher. More than 19,500 migrants have survived the Mediterranean crossing along the central maritime route this year and reached Italy or Malta.
To receive the latest updates from the lifeboat, you can follow on twitter @MVLouiseMichel. You can also check out the website for more information on the cause and how you can help fund their efforts.
