Friday, March 29, 2024

Miss Cellania's Links

Seven of the Worst Bridge Disasters in World History. The collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge is shocking—but not unprecedented.

Dogs’ brain activity shows they recognize the names of objects.

Find the Glasses on the Bed. 

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is gritty, janky, goofy, tough, and lots of fun

How to Store Cucumbers So They Stay Extra Crunchy. Plus recipes for both fresh cukes and those that have started softening.

Michigan State Rep complains that busloads of immigrants are invading Detroit. It's the Gonzaga men's basketball team. (via Fark)  

A recent analysis by USC reveals that medical documents dating back 2,500 years rarely mention severe memory loss, indicating that modern times’ widespread dementia stems from modern environments and lifestyles. (via Damn Interesting

How to Send Fan Mail to Mona Lisa. (via Metafilter)

A Blast from the Past (2016): The Real Story Behind "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll".


Showing Off



(via Fark)

Marble Mountain



Ben Tardif spent three years designing and building an intricate marble machine he calls Marble Mountain. It has everything- ramps, stairs, slides, a castle, a luge run, a ski jump, a golf course, a bowling alley, and so much more. He says it’s not yet complete, but it’s complete enough that he can turn it on and show us what it does.
-It has a footprint of 12' x 8' and stands 8' tall
-The material of the tracks and supports consist almost entirely of wood
-Everything is custom-made from materials bought mostly from craft and hardware stores (mainly Michaels and Home Depot)
-The lift is 11 feet long, holds 90 marbles at once, and rotates at 1 revolution per second (60 RPM)
-It takes at least 250 marbles to keep it running without delay, but looks better with 300
-There are 32 possible paths for the marbles
-There are 14 rockers that distribute the marbles onto the different paths
-The first year and a half of construction happened in my apartment before moving to a small warehouse
-The original design was smaller and not as cool, so a redesign took place making it much bigger and morphed into a half-conical shape with the lift right down the middle
-I do know how much it cost to make thus far but even my finaceé doesn't know that number
-It takes just under an hour to set up or tear down Marble Mountain
-Since it is modular, I could remove a section and rebuild it as something else as long as the tracks matched up with the other pieces
Give him a couple more years and this will be a monster. See more of Tardif’s project at Instagram. (via Tastefully Offensive)

Tweet of the Day

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Guaranteed



Barabbas



The 1961 film Barabbas stars Anthony Quinn as the prisoner who is pardoned while Jesus was sentenced to death. The plot is not found in the Bible, as Barabbas was only mentioned in passing, but is based on Pär Lagerkvist's 1950 novel. However, it's pretty compelling story of the later life of the man who escaped death by crucifixion, and it still gets high ratings. What's unique about this film is the eclipse that happens while Christ is crucified. Director Richard Fleischer delayed the shooting schedule so that he could film the scene during the solar eclipse of February 15, 1961. Now, that's attention to detail.  

Apostrophe Catastrophe



If Cashiers Behaved Like Self-Checkouts



I use the self-checkout at some stores, but not others. One store has easy machines, just scan, scan, scan, and put in your credit card and get a receipt. There is a screen with instructions, but you don't have to read it because the machine just works. Then there are the self checkouts like this one shown above, in which nothing you do is right and the machine is rather hostile about it. It is unreasonably fixated on the bagging area, urges you to hurry up, and will give up at the first chance. Ryan George again plays all the parts, including the self checkout machine itself, to show us what kind of personality it has in human terms. Not a good one. Yes, if the self checkout machine were a person, it would be a bully.

Bunny



Ryan Gosling vs. French Bulldog



Ryan Gosling memorably sang the song "I'm just Ken" from the movie Barbie at the Oscar awards ceremony earlier this month. The performance sparked a sense of deja vu for The Kiffness because it reminded him of the singing bulldog that went viral five years ago. Therefore, he couldn't resist editing together a mashup of the two. So who does it better- Walter Geoffrey's French bulldog or the movie star? Neither are professional singers, and that's okay, but personally, I can't help but be drawn to the bulldog's performance. It's just so emotional!

Miss Cellania's Links

Woman mistakes bobble for baby hedgehog and rushes it to Cheshire animal hospital. When I first saw the headline, I had to read the rest because I didn't know what kind of animal a bobble is. (via Metafilter

Car Terms I Learned From Song Lyrics: Charabanc.

Which Grocery Chain Has the Best Prices in America?

D.E.I. is weakening America, and it's got to go! The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.

The Introvert Test. Alasdair Beckett-King nails it.

How did the Big Bang get its name? Here’s the real story. (via Damn Interesting)

How Do You Make a Freezer Colder?

A Texas man changed his name to Literally Anybody Else to take advantage of the slogan to run for president. He's not helping. (via Digg)

9 Misconceptions About Popular Songs and Misheard Lyrics. You can also listen to the article in video form.

Bed



(via Fark)

The 100 Greatest Before the Kill Movie One-Liners



What’s the greatest thing you can say right before you kill someone? Or conversely, what’s the most fearsome last thing a bad guy could hear before he gets it? Burger Fiction gives us 100 examples from movies you may or may not recall. I’m sure you’ve seen the majority of them. Some became catch phrases, while others will spark your memory for the first time in years. Contains NSFW language. (via Tastefully Offensive

Tweet of the Day

Yeah, this looks weird. Several people made jokes about a cervix playing pinball with a fetus. One person guessed a digestive problem. But doctors who know recognized a blood clot in the left atrium of the heart. If it gets loose, it can cause a stroke, heart attack, or pulmonary embolism.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Headline Implication



Women's History Month Quiz



Jimmy Kimmel's staff went out for a "man on the street"segment to see how men recognize famous women from history- or even current events. I got them all until they got into the celebrities, but it becomes clear pretty fast what they were going for.


Bunny



(Thanks, WTM!)

Actors Who Died With Unfinished Roles



What happens to a movie when a star dies during filming? It happens, and studios take out insurance on their main cast, but how the production handles that in regards to the completed movie depends on how much of the role was completed, how important the character is to the story, and the whims of the producers. Different movies took different tactics, with varying levels of tastefulness. Plan 9 From Outer Space had no budget, so when Bela Lugosi died during production, a much taller stand-in took the role and held his cape over most of his face for his scenes. Other productions, both movies and TV series, put a bit more thought into how to handle the death of a star, as you will see in this compilation from Weird History.

Vacationing in the US



Matt Shirley is surely making plans for going somewhere in the near future. This map is surely going to spark arguments. I haven't been to all the states, but I have at least passed through most of them, and I can't make any good arguments against his classifications. This map to help you plan your vacation was made by Matt Shirley.

Management