An iconic puzzle comes home as production of the Rubik's Cube returns to Hungary
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The Rubik's Cube, invented by Hungarian architect Ernő Rubik in 1974, has become one of the world's most beloved puzzles. Since its creation, over half a billion units have been sold. Production is now returning to Hungary, where Rubik first developed the cube. On Tuesday, a new automated production line opened in Jászberény. Rubik originally produced the design as the “Magic Cube,” and it gained popularity in the late 1970s. By the early 1980s, it had become a global sensation. The cube remains a cultural icon, with global competitions and a current solving record of 2.51 seconds.
Master carver to engrave crystals from last year's New Year's Eve ball sold as mementos
People who find themselves at the site of the iconic New Year's Eve ball drop can purchase one of the 5,280 Waterford crystals from the Constellation Ball that dropped in New York City last year in honor of the nation's 250th birthday in 2026. A master cutter from the company that makes the crystals will hand-engrave customers names on them for the first time. The old crystals that marked the 250th anniversary of the United States will make way for new crystals, whose designs have yet to be announced. A New Year's Eve ball was first dropped in Times Square in 1907, and with the exception of two years during World War II, the event has the marked the ringing in of the new year.
A sweet (and chewy) path: One man's life in gum, and the ripples his innovation caused
NEFFSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — He was 87, living in a retirement village outside a mid-sized Pennsylvania city. Walter Diemer looked like the other residents there, really — except that this one had, long ago, done something momentous. Somewhat inadvertently, he invented the stretchy, usually bright pink stuff known as bubble gum. From one test kettle, Diemer’s concoction raced forward toward becoming an American institution. Now it's the stuff of kids, baseball players and anyone else who wanted to masticate a small piece of flavored latex until it was ready, with the help of your tongue and your lips, to become bubble fodder.
This Beirut family has sold falafel for 100 years, through war and crisis. It has no plan to stop
BEIRUT (AP) — The Tabbara family has been making falafel in Lebanon for over a century. Their shop in Beirut's busy Hamra district is a popular spot for a falafel sandwich wrapped in Lebanese bread with pickled cucumber, tomatoes, parsley, and tahini sauce. For those who like it spicy, there's homemade pepper paste. Despite Lebanon's economic challenges, the falafel remains affordable at around $3 a sandwich. The business started in 1914. It has been passed down through generations. Eighty-two-year-old Mohammed Tabbara still runs the shop. He's preparing to hand it over to his son to continue the family tradition.
Ted Turner's son says his Western art collection reflects the media mogul's passion for 'big'
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A collection of paintings depicting the American West from Ted Turner's Montana ranch are due to be auctioned by Christie’s in New York. Turner died in May. The proceeds of the Jan. 20 sale will go to the Turner Foundation to further its conservation work. Ted Turner didn’t do small — whether it was racing sailboats, building CNN into a global news organization or buying up ranches across the U.S. West. And so it was with Turner's paintings that capture the grandeur of a Western landscape still largely untouched by European settlers.
A Detroit group is using dog tags to aid homeless women veterans
DETROIT (AP) — Alexis Derriso, founder of the Motown Women Veterans Association, highlights the sacrifices women have made in the military. Her nonprofit is selling military-style dog tags to raise funds for a Detroit-area homeless shelter for female veterans and their children. The tags read, “Millions of women have served this country. I am one.” Derriso aims to sell one million tags, with about 2,000 sold so far. Women currently make up about 17% of active duty military personnel. Despite achieving high-ranking roles, women veterans often feel overlooked compared to their male counterparts. The dog tags aim to bring women veterans “out of isolation.”
The historic SS United States is sunk after a long goodbye off Florida's coast
GULF OF MEXICO (AP) — An ocean liner that once was the fastest on the seas went to its final home on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico as the world’s largest artificial reef. Officials on Florida’s Panhandle coast scuttled the SS United States on Wednesday about 25 miles southwest of Destin, between Panama City and Pensacola. The $13.5 million project is designed to attract more divers and fishing enthusiasts while creating a home for tuna, marlin and swordfish. The project will keep what had been a technological marvel from becoming scrap metal. The 990-foot ship set a speed record on its first voyage in 1952.
Baboons made themselves at home in this town and a battle between their defenders and haters ensued
SIMON'S TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The divisions run deep in a coastal suburb in South Africa where two troops of baboons have moved in. Some residents of Simon's Town on the outskirts of Cape Town seek peaceful coexistence and welcome the baboons. Others want them out because they're not good neighbors. The animals climb buildings, smash windows, break into homes to steal food and fight with dogs. Simon's Town and other Cape Town suburbs bordering the lower slopes of Table Mountain have had baboon problems and fierce debates over their presence for years. A plan to relocate the Simon's Town baboons to electrified enclosures and sterilize the males has now deepened the divide.
Poultry in motion: The ubiquitous Buffalo wing, as assessed by a local who loves 'em
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — You know the old saying: You can take the wing out of Buffalo, but you can’t take the Buffalo out of the wing. Ok, fine, that’s not a saying. But it’s true that Buffalo chicken wings are so ubiquitous that people forget where they came from — unless you’re from Buffalo. Yes, you can find them everywhere: your local pub, chains like Wing Stop or Buffalo Wild Wings, the frozen food aisle of the supermarket. Then there are the offshoots: Buffalo-flavored potato chips, peanuts and pretzels. There’s Buffalo ranch salad dressing, Buffalo mac-and-cheese, Buffalo casseroles. But if you want the real deal, you have to go to its birthplace.
Jimmy Carter's family farm to be preserved and opened to the public
The family farm where President Jimmy Carter tended peanuts, corn and sugarcane as a boy and returned throughout his life will be preserved and opened to the public. Preservation group The Conservation Fund says that it has acquired the farm as part of a 2,458-acre purchase just outside Plains, Georgia, the 39th president’s hometown. The fund says Carter spent his youth exploring the woods around the farm and returned many times as an adult to walk with his wife Rosalynn and hunt. The fund said on Monday that the farm should be open to the public for hunting, fishing and recreation as soon as next year. It will eventually transfer to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
