On the McItaly’s promotional material is a seal saying “Under the patronage of” the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry — a highly coveted government endorsement that is more often seen on museum exhibits and cultural initiatives than fast-food containers.

If you haven’t seen this yet, then you must.

A UK man who secretly built a castle by hiding it with bales of hay has been ordered to tear it down.

To keep prying eyes from noticing his unauthorized abode, Fidler placed bales of hay and tarpaulin around his dream home in Salfords, Surrey, authorities said. The court ruled he could not benefit from his deception.

Authorities said he incorporated two grain silos into the design, covering them with material to give them a castellated appearance.

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The myth of the academic meritocracy powerfully affects students from families that believe in education, that may or may not have attained a few undergraduate degrees, but do not have a lot of experience with how access to the professions is controlled. Their daughter goes to graduate school, earns a doctorate in comparative literature from an Ivy League university, everyone is proud of her, and then they are shocked when she struggles for years to earn more than the minimum wage. (Meanwhile, her brother—who was never very good at school—makes a decent living fixing HVAC systems with a six-month certificate from a for-profit school near the Interstate.)

Unless, of course, your reason for studying was for the love of wisdom and not a career, but does anybody do that anymore? (via Austin Kleon)

via waxy

From Friday evening through Saturday afternoon, we had steady, heavy, snowfall in Pittsburgh. By the time it stopped, 21 inches had fallen.  (Another storm is expected tomorrow, with 6 – 10 inches more.)  Our street is still unplowed, buses are infrequent and delayed, and we are walking a lot.  Plenty of time to look up, look around, enjoy the changed landscape.

For example, the color test shows that the typical CEO is more sensitive and private than the typical person and is less likely to be a perfectionist or to be dominant and more likely to be emotionally unstable.

This is how it will be, our new life.