(via Bad Menu)
Thursday, January 29, 2026
When That Man is Dead and Gone
The song was written in 1941, and this recording was posted eight years ago. So why does it come up every time I reload YouTube for the last four days? No other video comes up that often, and the algorithm usually gives up gives up if I don't click on a video after two or three tries. Someone -or many someones- are goosing the algorithm.
Anyway, this is Lizzy & the Triggermen doing the Irving Berlin song "When that Man is Dead and Gone," originally performed by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.
I Can't Hear You
This was me until a few weeks ago, when I got my hearing aids. Now I hear my clothes making noise, and clock ticking two rooms away. (via Bits and Pieces)
The Dumb Luxury Homes of Hawaii
Ryan George, who has several video channels, took some time off and came back blonde. But he hit the ground running, with a video that combines two things we enjoy very much: dreaming of a tropical paradise (nice when you're snowbound) and roasting mega-expensive real estate. If you're one of the few people who can afford multi-million dollar property in Hawaii, he's making fun of you, too.
This video explores five homes on the market in Hawaii. They are gorgeous on the surface, but George focuses in on the details most people would miss, and constructs a complicated backstory to explain why they are so bizarre. The rich are not like you and me. But then again, someone is selling these homes, so maybe it's because they aren't that rich anymore.
No Landing Gear
Tuesday morning, a NASA pilot managed to set down a WB-57 aircraft as smoothly as you've ever seen at Ellington Airport in Houston after the landing gear failed to deploy. With no brakes, it had to be a butt-puckering experience, but no one was injured. Luckily, the runway was longer than the video.
The WB-57, also known as the Martin B-57 Canberra, is a superlative plane. The B-57 was the first jet that could cross the Atlantic without refueling, and made the trip in just four hours and 40 minutes in 1951. It was used extensively as a bomber in Vietnam. The WB-57 variant could fly at altitudes up to 62,000 feet. That's why, when the Air Force phased out the plane, NASA snapped up the remaining three WB-57s in America. They are used for high-altitude research like collecting near-space samples and observing spacecraft launches. Read more about the WB-57 at Ars Technica. (via Fark)
Why Is Blue So Rare In Nature?
There are blue animals, but those species are small in number compared to the other colors among living things, such as red, orange, yellow, and brown. Sure, when we look up to the sky, we see blue. When we look at the Earth from space, we see a blue marble. But the few animals that look blue don't use pigments -they use physics. And those physics are complicated. It turns out that animals are better at engineering than they are at chemistry. Okay, there's one exception not the pigment thing, which we learn about in the video. Our friends at It's Okay To Be Smart explain why it's so hard for nature to create the color blue. (via Boing Boing)
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Streets of Minneapolis
Every historical movement needs an anthem. Bruce Springsteen wrote this on Saturday, recorded it yesterday, and released it today. The lyrics are here.
Cats and Snow
If you need a laugh, here's ten minutes of cats frolicking in the snow. You'll see cats in sleds, on skis, and in snowsuits. You'll see cats running, jumping, digging, and exploring. Most of them are having a good time, but there are a few who prefer to be someplace warmer.
An Honest Trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Screen Junkies celebrates the silver anniversary of The Lord of the Rings movies, or at least the beginning of them, by giving us a full set of Honest Trailers in conjunction with the release of the extended versions of film in theaters. It's time for the last one, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Everyone from the previous installments shows up for the battle, plus many characters we've never seen before. Everyone either dies gruesomely or gets to be the hero. The satisfying ending is not the end, and neither is that one. Or that one, either. The extended edition runs four hours and 23 minutes, so you wonder how many more ending scenes were tacked on. But you'll get plenty of Monty Python references and jokes at the expense of farts, George RR Martin, and England.
Miss Cellania's Links
Wild Star Wars Theories That Could Be True, But Probably Aren’t.
"I'm trying to imagine all these actors getting the script and trying to figure out how they're going to convey, like, two whole minutes of shock and paralysis while the dumbest thing that's ever happened plays out in front of them."
Halley’s Comet wrongly named: 11th-century English monk predates British astronomer. More on that interesting monk. (via Popular Science)
The Kill Line: What America looks like on Chinese social media. (via Metafilter)
Gen X is feeling old. Delicious karma for Boomers.
10 Life-Threatening Beauty Hacks From Eras Gone By.
You know Renee Good and Alex Pretti, but there have been nine people killed by ICE so far in 2026, and it's still January. (via kottke)
Caroline Hampton's Rubber Gloves. The American nurse was the first to wear gloves while assisting in surgery.
The Dangers of an Icy Hill
This happened in Texas some years ago. Kristy Boyd of Longview, Texas, recorded vehicles trying to make it up an icy hill, with some having more success than others. Then a big rig tried it. It had the speed going up, but couldn't quite make it over the top. That's when things went downhill, so to speak. First, gravity wins, then inertia. The real winner is the smaller car that didn't even try the hill. I bet that driver's life flashed before his eyes. (via Digg)
Widow
(via Nag on the Lake)I’ll admit, this one got me. 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ikt6sgthBr
— Steve 🇺🇸 (@SteveLovesAmmo) January 24, 2026
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
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