Quick, what's this a picture of? Here's a hint: it's not a bird and it is a food product. In fact, it used to live under the ocean before it was cooked and photographed. Give up? OK, it's a shrimp's tail. Caren Alpert has lots of other awesome microscopic images of food stuffs over on her page for your viewing pleasure, including Oreos, Life Savers, Cake Sprinkles and pineapple leaves. It's interesting how some of them make you hungry while others are just the type of thing to ruin your... READ ON

Knowing _flossers like I do, many if not most of you have experienced McDonald's outside the U.S. because, hey, you like to travel and see the world, right? Indubitably, you've got a story about that one time you were in X and looked up at the McDonald's menu only to find a Mc-Y. Right? Well, here's a list of offerings from 10 countries around the world. Be sure to add your own finds in the comments below. 1. New... READ ON

So you like coffee? Watch this video. Don't read the stuff below, just watch it. In this short, fun documentary by C.G.P. Grey, you'll learn some fun facts about coffee. There's also some interesting speculation (backed up by information from author Steven Johnson) that coffee sparked The Enlightenment. Wonder why caffeine is in coffee beans to begin with? Watch the video. (Tip: it involves death.) Read some more details at Grey's blog. Just ignore the typos. (Via Daring Fireball, via... READ ON

Today in 1893, the US Supreme Court ruled that the tomato was a vegetable, not a fruit. The relevant case (Nix v. Hedden) involved tariffs -- the US had an import tariff on vegetables, but not fruit. So when a tomato importer (the Nix family) claimed that the tomato is a fruit and thus not subject to the tariff, the case ended up in front of the Supreme Court. Last year, our own Ethan Trex wrote an excellent article on the tomato debate, including this nugget: ...the Supreme Court unanimously found... READ ON