It's another case of giving more to those who already have. If you have to skip studying to make it to your fast food job on time, be prepared to work some extra hours for a parking permit, too. (via Buzzfeed)
Friday, June 05, 2026
How Stores Make Produce Look Better
Grocery stores sell fruit in mesh bags because it's to their advantage for you to buy twelve oranges when you only need two. If the last few oranges go bad before you finish the bag, then you'll go buy more. You might even find a couple have gone bad as soon as you open the bag, because you can't inspect each orange in a five-pound bag before you buy them. They looked so good when you picked them up, and some of that is an optical illusion. The video is only six minutes long; the rest is a sponsor message. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Miss Cellania's Links
What Is Happening at CBS and 60 Minutes?
The sitting room. (via Messy Nessy Chic)
Before-and-after pictures of what Israel has done to Gaza. (via TYWKIWDBI)
A thoughtful and comprehensive comment thread for anyone wanting to know what the US Civil War was all about.
George Washington Recorded a Recipe for Beer While Leading a Militia. Thanks to the New York Public Library, You Can Imbibe That History This Summer.
‘The face doesn’t move’: Hollywood’s obsession with cosmetic surgeries has led to stiffer looks – and performances. (via Damn Interesting)
James Talarico explains what a real man is. (via Fark)
All of Steven Spielberg’s movies, ranked. (via Metafilter)
Frontier Psychiatrist
The video for the 2000 song "Frontier Psychiatrist" by the Avalanches is exceedingly strange. Which is appropriate. (via Metafilter)
Customer Loyalty Rewards
I honestly think all the local grocery is getting from me are my grocery-buying habits, which is obvious. I don't use a smart phone, and my store account is set up without email, much less social media. They still manage to send me coupons for what I'm going to buy. However, I'm sure there are plenty of hyper-connected people that make all that information accessible to them without even thinking about it. This comic is from Randall Munroe at xkcd.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
"Thunderstruck" on Acoustic Guitars
The Italian acoustic guitar quartet 40 Fingers (who I have featured here before) had a great idea for their latest music video. They are playing for a medieval king, who has previously ordered the death of musicians who do not please him. It's no surprise when they do, with their instrumental rendition of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck."
This new performance reminds me of this one from 2CELLOS, due to the vintage classical setting and the effect on the audience. (via Laughing Squid)
The Big Revue
This vaudeville-style revue was filmed in 1929. The act is The Gumm Sisters, and they aren't showstoppers yet, but they were cute. What makes this a historical document is that the tiniest sister, on the left, is seven-year-old Frances Gumm, who later became known as Judy Garland. The Big Revue was their first filmed performance.
How Two Teenagers Became The Most Feared Killers In America
Some serial killers commit murder in the furtherance of other crimes, like bank robbery. Some do it for a sexual thrill. Some are lashing out at a world that did them wrong. But it takes a truly terrifying personality to kill over and over for no discernible reason at all. Experts go back and forth about psychopaths- are they a product of an awful childhood or are they born that way, and is that condition even real?
The 20th century blueprint for psychopathy are the crimes of 19-year-old Charles Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate. Starkweather committed his first murder in November of 1957. Then on January 21, 1958, he killed Fugate's parents and two-year-old sister. Over the next eight days, the two traveled around Nebraska and Wyoming, killing almost everyone they encountered. Weird History brings us the story of Starkweather and Fugate and the trail of dead bodies they left behind them.
Freezing 200,000 Tons of Lethal Arsenic Dust
Giant Mine near Yellowknife, in Canada's Northwest Territories, extracted a lot of gold in its time. Then the gold ran out, and the company went bankrupt in 2004. They left behind 237,000 metric tons of arsenic trioxide as a side effect of the mining operation, although that amount does not include the arsenic that has escaped into the environment. You can read more about Giant Mine's history here. The Canadian government was left to deal with the arsenic. Tom Scott introduces us to the technology that won't destroy the arsenic, but will keep the dust from seeping into the air and water. Read more about the Giant Mine Remediation Project at its website. (via Digg)
Mom!
Transitioning from normal English to '90s slang isn't making you cool, not by a long shot. Teen slang evolves specifically to be different from what their parents say. Better to not say anything at all about a 15-year-old. Take it from me, your relationship will change drastically when they want driving lessons and advice in choosing a college. This comic is from Chris Hallbeck at Maximumble.
Wednesday, June 03, 2026
Closing the Fridge
Renzo rage demonstrates the many ways of closing a refrigerator door, using different styles of martial arts. Showing this to your children may encourage them to actually do it, but you might pay in damages. A description of each style can be found at Metafilter.
We've Only Just Begun
You know this song, "We've Only Just Begun" by The Carpenters. It was heard at every wedding you went to for about twenty years -and a lot of graduations, too. You might think it pretty clever for a bank to use it in an ad inviting young couples to establish their accounts. But couldn't they afford to use the hit version?
But that's backwards. "We've Only Just Begun" was written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols specifically to advertise a bank in Mendocino, California. Richard Carpenter heard the ad, liked the song, and reached out to the ad agency for the music rights. The Carpenters recorded an expanded version that proved to be a hit and helped them win the Best New Artist Grammy in 1971. It's not the only advertising jingle that was so catchy it became a song, as you will learn in a list of nine such stories at Mental Floss.
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