Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Cat Asks for Help, Gets It
The YouTuber who goes by the name "walter santi" (Walter is his/her dog, and Santi is the cat) tells the story of an injured stray cat who came to their house and asked for help. The video shows his wounds and may be disturbing for sensitive souls. You'll be glad to know the cat is fine now. Here's an update video taken 40 days later, showing him chasing around like he was never hurt. (via Laughing Squid)
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Everyone is a Hero
The song "みんながみんな英雄" ("Everyone is a Hero"), from the Japanese singing group AI, became a big hit in 2016. The video is gorgeous, and full of wacky scenes depicting heroes from different folktales coming together. You might recognize the tune as "Turkey in the Straw." That song has a peculiar history in Japan, where it is known as The Oklahoma Mixer. Read about it at Metafilter.
Miss Cellania's Links
Gun owners are outraged by the Philando Castile case. The NRA is silent.
Are Alien and Blade Runner Set in the Same Universe? After all, they were born inside the same brain.
Operation Tracer: The Secret Plan To Bury Soldiers Alive Inside The Rock Of Gibraltar. Spoiler- they didn't have to carry out the plan. (via Metafilter)
Dan Rather On Why America Needs More Empathy.
A Hilarious Series of Tweets That Imagines What Dogs Would Say If They Could Call 911. You'll laugh, but you won't be surprised. (via Neatorama)
How the Great Yankee Wife Swap Scandalized—and Changed—America. The story of the baseball players who married each other's wives is being developed into a movie 44 years later.
Baby Name Guide: Updated for 2017. Learn the meanings behind "Donald" and Vladimir." (via Nag on the Lake)
Why Fewer Lower-Class Americans Are Getting Married.
A Man and His Pineapple.
Auto Nom
When you think of autonomous cars, you think of Google and Elon Musk and the idea of trucks with no drivers hauling loads down the highway. But why not think of the fun these cars can have?
Oh hello lovely machine, emancipating yourself from function... You look adorable, you know? Yes dear, you were built to be autonomous, it said so in the campaign brief.Director Julius Steinhauser of f°am Studio in Germany brings us Autonomous Rolf, a Mercedes Benz with a mind of its own, and a sense of fun that even the laws of physics cannot stop! (via Nag on the Lake)
No rush – getting from A to B was never an exciting idea to begin with, for your kind. Dance yourself clean, pull your metal frame apart and let the sun burn through your circuits. Ride your autobiography, guided by the beauty of your code.
Monday, June 26, 2017
One Tree, 365 Days
Italian photographer and conservationist Bruno D'Amicis set a camera up in a forest in the Apennine Mountains, trained it on one beech tree, and let it record for an entire year. This video contains clips of that recording that show the diversity wildlife that passed by, stopped to mark their territory, scratch their back, or take a bite. The song is "Have You Ever" by Brandi Carlile. You can see D'Amicis wildlife photography at Instagram. (via Tastefully Offensive)
The 2017 World Taxidermy Championships
Every year, the world's top animal stuffers and fish carvers meet up to show off their skills and compete for cash prizes. Emily Graslie of Brain Scoop works at the Field Museum in Chicago, but she was excited to attend the World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships in Peoria last month. Graslie can't contain her enthusiasm as she wanders among freeze-dried fish, animals made from completely different animals, recreations from scenes in nature, creatures in funny poses, and animals the judges had to look up to see what they're supposed to look like. (via Mental Floss)
The Many Uses for Gummi Bears
I have an ongoing project to make posts for mental_floss articles I wrote way back when that I do not have an archive for. Here's another one, from 2007.
Last week, a chandelier made of Gummi Bears made the rounds on the 'net. I was inspired to look up the history of the Gummi Bear. Did you know Gummi Bears were first produced in 1922?! Candymaker Hans Riegel called them "dancing bears". It wasn't until 1981 that they became widely available in the United States. Besides appealing to kids' tastes, Gummi Bears turned out to be useful in many other ways. Check them out in an article I wrote for Mental Floss.
Miss Cellania's Links
Look Who Caught a Record-setting Salmon. (via Metafilter)
5 mind-blowing things about the GOP's 'Better Care' act. Get ready for a big financial hit -unless you're rich.
Do Giraffes Get Struck by Lightning More Than Other Animals? They do kind of look like lightning rods.
Masabumi Hosono survived the Titanic, but not the public’s scorn. As the only Japanese aboard, he drew publicity just for getting into a lifeboat.
How a Star Wars Superfan Scoured the Earth for Space Debris. Brandon Alinger started building his own lightsaber when he was 12, and now is the world's premiere collector of authentic Star Wars props.
Crowdfunding doesn’t help everyone. In fact, it doesn’t help most people.
In addition to developing the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell did extensive research in aerodynamics. From 1898 to 1912, he experimented with a tetrahedral structure for kites to lessen the weight-to-surface ratio to enable humans to fly. (via Nag on the Lake)
7 Everyday Experiences Other Countries Do Waaay Differently. In this list, "other countries" include Los Angeles and Florida.
The Forgotten Man Who Transformed Journalism in America. Lowell Thomas was the first superstar journalist of the broadcast era.
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Why Olive Oil is Awesome
For a long time, I thought the only difference between olive oil and standard vegetable oil was the price. But would you ever find yourself dipping bread into plain vegetable oil, even with spices added? Olive oil is special, and Reactions, from PBS Digital, is here to tell us why. In this video, we get a chemical explanation for olive oil's benefits, plus glimpse into the manufacturing process and some advice on using your oil. My advice: Start any meal by sautéing onions and garlic in olive oil. After that, it really doesn't matter what you add, it will be good.
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