(via She Who Seeks)
Tuesday, December 16, 2025
The Christmas Closet
The challenge is to concentrate as many Christmas lights into a small space as possible, or so it seems. Why else would you decorate a tiny room with no furniture? Watch as Justin strings lights in a closet and adds extra Christmas enhancements. You know he fell off those ridiculous homemade stilts at least once. And how many plug-ins can one electrical outlet hold? When the big moment comes, you expect a fire instead of Christmas lights. Watch the video before you continue reading.
Miss Cellania's Links
Volcanic eruption triggered 'butterfly effect' that led to the Black Death, researchers find. https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/volcanic-eruption-triggered-butterfly-effect-that-led-to-the-black-death-researchers-find (via Strange Company)
A child bride who was due to be executed this month in Iran over the death of her husband has had her life spared by his parents, who were paid the equivalent of £70,000 in exchange for their forgiveness. (via Damn Interesting)
Truckers Say These Are The Best (And Worst) Highways In The U.S.
Looking Back at the White Man: The story of Julius Lips. His 1937 book on colonialism as seen from the other side rubbed Hitler the wrong way. (via Metafilter)
Hegseth’s New Pentagon AI Is Telling Military Personnel His Boat Strike Was Completely Illegal. (via Fark)
The Lost Forty: How an 1882 Surveying Error Saved a Patch of Forest from Logging.
The Judy Garland Christmas Movie Meet Me in St. Louis Was Surprisingly Spicy Behind the Scenes.
Most radioactive site in US is moving on from the Manhattan Project. And finally dealing with its nuclear waste in a surprising way. (via Damn Interesting)
A Hamilton Hanukkah
2016 was the year for a Hamilton Hanukkah. The a cappella group Six13 was invited to perform at the White House, and they unveiled their 2016 Hanukkah sequence, modeled on the Broadway musical Hamilton.
Not to be outdone, the a cappella group the Maccabeats also did Hamilton for their annual song parody for Hanukkah 2016. "Hasmonean" tells the tale of the miracle of the lights, also in the style of the Broadway musical Hamilton. (via Metafilter)
The Robot Apocalypse
www.smbc-comics.com/comic/rise-o...
— The Fake History Hunter (@fakehistoryhunter.net) December 13, 2025 at 9:52 PM
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Monday, December 15, 2025
RIP Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were killed by a knife attack in their home yesterday. Their son Nick has been arrested. We are all shocked and saddened.
When I was a kid, my family never missed watching All in the Family. In its early years, I wanted to be Meathead, because he knew so much and wanted to make the world a better place. Then came This Is Spinal Tap in 1984, and I was in the perfect place to find it outrageously funny. Reiner's movies that followed were all good -or at least the ones that I saw. This 60 Minutes interview is from earlier this year, ahead of the opening of Reiner's last film This Is Spinal Tap: The End Continues.
Ríu Chíu
The Monkees may have been a musical group manufactured for TV, but they were all talented musicians. Here they sing the 16th century Spanish Christmas carol "Ríu Chíu" a cappella on their 1967 Christmas episode. That performance was broadcast live, and the song went over so well that they had to record it later to include in their compilation albums. (via Metafilter)
Red Baron vs. White Death
Nice Peter and Epic LLOYD of Epic Rap Battles of History only release a new video maybe once or twice a year now, but they put a lot of thought into each one. Not only is this one clever, it's so fast-paced that you'll need to see it more than once to reap all the highly-accurate historical details in the rap, and then again to catch all the visual details. It pits two of the world's most renowned warriors against each other.
Simo Häyhä was a Finnish farmer and sniper who racked up more than 500 kills in the Winter War of 1938. He became known to the Russians as the White Death. You don't know dread until the snow begins speaking Finnish. Baron Manfred von Richthofen was a German flying ace credited with 80 air battle victories in World War I. And they can both throw flyting words.
The Red Baron has a lasting reputation that allows them include references to pizza, Snoopy, and Meet the Fokkers. Finnish commenters helpfully explained a few terms used here. "Sisu" is a Finnish term for determination, grit, and courage. "Paskapää" means shithead. This video contains NSFW language. (via Boing Boing)
70 People from 70 Countries Imitate Americans
Condé Nast Traveler asked folks from other countries to show what an American is like. They pulled up US slang, put on their best American accent, and planted a big smile on their faces, because we're known for that. Taken all together, they seem to have the same stereotype of what an American is like. Did they get that from tourists, or from the movies? I would guess movies. Mean Girls, to be specific. The woman from South Africa talking about Texas is my favorite. Or maybe Japan, when she just imitated us eating. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Sunday, December 14, 2025
A Jackson 5 Hanukkah
Y-Studs is a Jewish a cappella group that remakes familiar pop songs into celebrations of Jewish life and holidays. Their new song for Hanukkah 2025 is a medley of Jonas Brothers songs. It's a nice performance, but sadly I did not recognize any of the tunes, because I am an old lady. But I looked into their catalog, and their Hanukkah song from last year is right up my alley. The tunes are from "I Want You Back," "I'll Be There," and "ABC" from The Jackson Five.
If you liked that, you can revisit other Y-Studs songs I've posted before.
Bearded Dragon Overcomes the Odds
Valerie Musser knows bearded dragons- she has five of them! She sometimes dresses them up and poses them in miniature kitchen scenes for fun, as you can see at Instagram.
Winny came as a rescue when she was abandoned in front of a pet shop. She may have been considered a defective dragon, as a veterinary workup determined she has muscular dystrophy. Not only that, but Winny was malnourished and full of eggs! Would she survive long enough to lay those eggs? Good food and loving care in her new home helped, but Musser still kept her fingers crossed. And Winny came through like a champ!
Even though all the bearded dragons are treated like royalty, Musser has made extra accommodations for Winny's health. At Facebook, you can see how a bath mat helps her walk without sliding, and an improvised vibrating device helps her digestion. Winny has found the perfect family and is living each day to the fullest.
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