When you hear about a mob of wallabies in a nearby park, you might assume that this all takes place in Australia, but no. Lindsay Clarity runs Animal School in East Sussex, UK! It is a shelter for all kinds of rescued animals and also an educational institution where children can learn about nature. One of the odder residents is Blossom, an albino wallaby who was abandoned by her mother at a very young age.
Clarity took Blossom in and had to learn everything about how wallaby mothers normally raise their babies, which includes carrying them around in their pouches until they are 18 months old. Yes, she did that for a year, and now she has a lifetime companion in the little Australian creature. See more from the Animal School at YouTube.
Sunday, April 12, 2026
Raising an Albino Wallaby
The President Makes Phone Calls
There was way too much news this week. Should SNL open the show with him threatening Iran, or Melania's unhinged press appearance, or the peace negotiations? They all make an appearance, as well as Tiger Woods, when Trump took some time to catch up on phone calls.
Saturday, April 11, 2026
Move On Up
"Move On Up" by Curtis Mayfield is one of those songs you hear all the time, but usually as an instrumental, because the horns are just so awesome. When you do, you think "I know that song! What's the name of it?"
The 1950s Sitcoms Never Showed Real American Family Life
This interview with Steve Allen was recorded in 1989, before the world wide web and long before smart phones, but it holds up.
The Imperial Fugue
John Williams composed "The Imperial March" from Star Wars as a military march because that's how Dart Vader enters a scene. It's a tune that's been stuck in your head for almost 50 years now. Or at least in mine.
Swedish guitarist Lucas Brar turned "The Imperial March" into a fugue, which is a composition with a main theme plus bells and whistles that complement and compete with the main theme but always comes back to it. Read a better explanation here. Johann Sebastian Bach was well known for his musical fugues. Brar was thinking of Back when he dressed up the march in a way that make it sound a little less ominous, or at least least a little less military, and a lot more interesting.
Musical World Map
We've seen before how people turned art into music by playing it through a midi program. John Keats did that with a map of the world, and the results are surprisingly pleasant. Well, maybe it shouldn't be too surprising, since a talented programmer/musician would adjust those pixels to avoid the most dissonant notes. But it's nice to see our world sounding this good!
Keats' musical map of Europe is way more discordant, his musical map of Africa is more dramatic, and his musical map of France is experimental, since he used the sounds of different musical instruments. You can see more of Keats' musical midi maps at YouTube. (via b3ta)
Friday, April 10, 2026
This Dance Will Make You Hurt
Ukrainians are hardcore. Maxim Mitinsky of the Pavlo Virsky National Ensemble in Kyiv shows us how it's done. The best dancers you know might be able to keep this up for a few seconds, but he just keeps going and going. I think the algorithm showed me this video because I spend too much time at YouTube and need to get up and exercise.
Found Wallet
He found the wallet on Saturday. This is genius. There's an odd number of phone number digits because this was in Finland, where IDs don't have addresses on them. (via reddit)
What He Does For Fun
It's strange how a mundane question can turn nonsensical and then into a slowly unfolding horror story. You won't see what's coming for a while, and by the end, you'll wonder what kind of mind dreamed this up. That would be Chris Barnett.
Love & Gold
Two adventurers, or looters if you will, separately seek the treasure of an ancient king and queen from a magical booby-trapped castle. Their names are Robin and Rayden, although which is which I cannot tell. The voice actors are named Darci and Parley, which doesn't help. Anyway, they don't know each other. She's tougher, but he has the instructions, so they need to team up to find and steal a huge gem. The plot is far from groundbreaking, but the animation is luscious, the action is invigorating, and there are some funny moments.
Love & Gold is a student animation, written and directed by Connor Van Dyke and produced by Jaysen Duckworth of Brigham Young University's Media Arts program, although many others were involved. The film won the award for Best Animation at the Television Academy Foundation’s 45th College Television Awards last week. You can read more about it at Kuriositas.
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