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No, Thanks: Six High Profile Award Renunciations

By Patrick James,
Patrick James
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Sasha Jones
Sasha Jones
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Aug 16, 2010

A look at honorees of major awards who said, "No, thanks."

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Brian Wilson was profoundly moved when Paul McCartney visited him and played a new Beatles song

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How a small 1934 college experiment completely changed our relationship with tomatoes

Long before they appeared on hamburgers across the country, the tomato actually had quite a naughty history—or one that was perceived as naughty, anyway. The tomato was initially shown to European colonists in the 1500s by the long-established Aztec civilization in Mexico–it was originally called “Xitomatl” in the native Aztec language of Nahuatl–but because the color red was associated with hedonism and sexuality in Europe at the time, people were hesitant to get too close. They were also concerned it was an aphrodisiac whose purposes would have been strictly condemned by the Catholic Church unless used explicitly for conception.

The tomato’s bad reputation continued this way for centuries, until it then extended into murder. Because tomatoes are acidic, and many plates of royalty were made from lead-heavy pewter, the combination created lead poisoning for many who ate tomatoes off of these plates, National Geographicshared. The tomato had been framed as a “poison apple,” but this reputation changed in part because, as Italian immigrants moved westward in the 19th century, they were among those who brought tomatoes with them as a beloved ingredient. This love later extended across ethnicities and across the U.S., and in particular to a college in New Jersey.

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David Foster Wallace was asked to define "Lynchian." His answer involved peanut butter.

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Asked about David Lynch's surrealism, David Foster Wallace's perfect response involved peanut butter

Few artists create sounds or images so unique, their very names become adjectives. "Hitchcockian" conjures a highly stylized and unsettling flavor of suspense. "Beatles-esque" can point to dozens of different vibes, from psychedelic marching bands to sweetly sung pop-rock vocal harmonies. But the best example of this phenomenon might be "Lynchian": a somewhat abstruse term used to describe the surreal, largely disturbing, and often darkly hilarious films and TV shows—from Eraserhead to Blue Velvet to Twin Peaks to Mulholland Dr.—made by the late, great David Lynch.

It’s a difficult word to define, but the most profound attempt came from acclaimed author David Foster Wallace, a massive Lynch fan who wrote a famous essay about the director for Premiere ahead of the 1997 movie Lost Highway. "An academic definition of 'Lynchian' might be that the term 'refers to a particular kind of irony where the very macabre and the very mundane combine in such a way as to reveal the former's perpetual containment within the latter,'" he wrote. "But like 'postmodern' or 'pornographic,' 'Lynchian' is one of those Porter Stewart-type words that's ultimately definable only ostensively—i.e., we know it when we see it."

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Knuckles the cat wasn't going to take his illness lying down.

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After a challenging diagnosis, a cat saved his own life by taking to the treadmill

When Knuckles the cat’s family adopted him, they knew he had been diagnosed with pectus excavatum, a chest compression or malformation that can cause breathing problems, and would need some extra attention. This was especially true as it pertained to weight gain–if Knuckles gained too much weight, breathing could become extremely difficult. His family knew they’d have to come up with a solution, but what they didn’t expect was that Knuckles would come up with it himself.

After Knuckles was adopted, he saw his dad take to the stationary bike in his basement for workouts. While Dad was on the bike, Knuckles developed a taste for treadmill, and now loves it so much that he even has a preferred speed of 1.4 miles per hour. For Knuckles, staying a trim feline just became that much easier, and according to his mom, he now asks to take the treadmill for a spin "six to seven times a day."

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She went to the ER in Spain. The bill made her question everything about U.S. healthcare.

When Ana Ochoa’s 83-year-old father fell on a sidewalk in Madrid, her heart sank. He had tripped outside a restaurant, hit the pavement hard, and couldn’t get up. Paramedics arrived quickly and rushed him to Hospital Clínico San Carlos, one of Spain’s top hospitals.

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Fleetwood Mac cut this haunting ballad from 'Rumours.' Then Stevie Nicks gave it new life.

Fleetwood Mac’s 11th studio album, 1977’s Rumours, is widely considered one of the greatest ever—a multi-platinum, immaculately produced blockbuster that encapsulates the drama, both musical and interpersonal, that made this band so fascinating. But much like The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which set aside the non-LP singles "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever," Rumours is a perfect album that could have been even better—if only they’d used all the classic material in their repertoire.

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Jerry Seinfeld's lunch-break ritual "saved" him while making 'Seinfeld.'

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Jerry Seinfeld said this lunch-break ritual 'saved' him during the chaotic 'Seinfeld' production

The clichéd stereotype of a meditator is probably someone with a tranquil and peaceful demeanor, dressed in a flowing robe. It’s definitely not Jerry Seinfeld: an energetic, sneaker-loving stand-up comedian known for his obsessive, granular observations. Nonetheless, he’s probably the world’s most famous practitioner of Transcendental Meditation, a practice developed and taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1950s India before spreading around the world, most famously via the influence of celebrities like The Beatles. (According to its official website, TM is "a simple mental technique practiced silently with the eyes closed, sitting in any comfortable position.")

An inquisitive Seinfeld first learned about TM around age 18 while attending State University of New York at Oswego. "I don’t remember exactly how I started," he said during a 2013 speech for the David Lynch Foundation, which was founded by the titular filmmaker and TM practitioner in 2005. "It was some kid I knew. I had just gone to college, and we were still kind of in the flush of the feeling of the '60s, and I just wanted to try any new thing that I heard about. So I went and learned TM. I do remember the first time I did it, and I remember I was up the entire night because I’d never felt that good before. I had terrible acne…and it all just went away, and I became a world-famous comedian. That’s the story. That’s the entire story of my life."

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People were challenged to write 3-word-long happy stories, and they’re bite-sized delights

Many people gather around the Internet to read up on stories, whether it’s news, fun information, or interesting anecdotes posted on publications like this one or on social media. In that spirit, many people online were presented with a writing challenge to come up with or share a story with a happy ending that is only three words long. With that, posters and commenters showed up with heartwarming bite-sized tales.

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For over 20 years, Conan O'Brien has been entertaining audiences through remote segments overseas on his late night show to countries like Japan, Finland, and Ireland. He has even turned those trips into a show of their own: Conan O'Brien Must Go. It's fun to watch Conan interact with fans from around the world and get into international antics. It might even inspire you to go on a trip somewhere around the world for a vacation and get you thinking about how to the make the most of the experience.

You might not want to fall into the typical crowded tourist traps and want a more authentic experience with another culture. Well, while Conan is obviously playing things up for laughs, his body of work can also be a guide on how to make the most of your vacation. Here are some travel tips and lessons he unintentionally taught us about how to visit other countries and make the most of your excursion.

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