Simon's Cat confronts his scariest nemesis yet, the infernal monster that is the household printer. It's a rare scene in which the loser isn't Simon himself, although his documents may be shredded by the time he finds them.
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Prints of Darkness
The Logistics of NYC Waste Management
New York City has 8.5 million people living within the city limits, which are in a relatively small area compared to other large cities. Manhattan has more than 70,000 people per square mile, stacked atop each other in tall buildings, all producing garbage everyday. Where does all that garbage go? Up until 2001, it was taken to a landfill on Staten Island, but Fresh Kills was never adequate or safe. And you can't just dump all that trash in the ocean.
New York City employees more than 9,000 people to deal with garbage, and there are thousands more working for private companies under city contracts. They collect trash every day, compact it, load it onto huge containers, and send it by train to far-flung parts of the country. Half as Interesting explains the complex logistics of dealing with trash in a system most New Yorkers know little about, and don't want to think about. The video is only 5:45, the rest is an ad.
A 5-Year-Old's Questions for Google Home
A father who is totally embracing modern technology discovers that Google Home had saved a year's worth of data, including his 5-year-old son's questions. He is charmed by his son's curiosity about the world, and appreciates the funny parts.
Rowan's questions are adorable. On the other hand, it's a bit creepy to think that all these commands to an app are recorded for someone else to find, and for Google to analyze and market.
My children came to me with incessant questions about the world throughout their childhoods, which I tried my best to answer, even if I had to look it up. As a result, they thought I was the repository of all the world's wisdom. They know better now, but I wouldn't trade that experience for all the chocolate. (via Laughing Squid)
Cheat Day
Like they say, nothing succeeds like excess. It's the American Way. This comic is from the Awkward Yeti.
Friday, October 09, 2026
The Biggest Ball of Twine
In 1989, Weird Al Yankovic included a song called "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota" on his album UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff. The song was not in the movie, and was never released as a single. But it referenced a real story.
In 1950, Francis A. Johnson of Darwin, Minnesota, started collecting sisal twine from hay baling. He rolled it into a ball that became enormous, and made the papers. But then Frank Stoeber of Cawker City, Kansas, decided to give Johnson a run for his money, and the race to get into the Guinness Book of World Records was on. You might even call it a war.
Drunk History gave Patton Oswalt all the Scotch whisky he could drink and had him tell the story of the world's biggest ball of twine. It features special appearances by Colin Hanks, Seth Green, Steve Agee, and Weird Al Yankovic. Oswalt kept up pretty well considering, until he was asked to give us the moral of the story. At least he tried. This video contains NSFW language.
Blue Planet III
It's rare that a trailer for a TV show can stand on its own as a beautiful short film, yet that's what our first look at the upcoming BBC series Blue Planet III is. You should put this on full-screen mode. The effect is both relaxing an awe-inspiring.
Blue Planet III will premiere before the end of the year in quite a few countries, although exact dates haven't yet been announced. The series will have six one-hour episodes focusing on the real blue part of our world, earth's ocean life, narrated by the legendary Sir David Attenborough. Four years of filming went into the project. This trailer features music by Hans Zimmer sung by Jade Thirlwall. (via TYWKIWDBI)
The Coffeemaker at Work
The Introverted Attorney illustrates how the coffeemaker at his office sounds the way he feels first thing in the morning. It doesn't want to work, either. (via Neatorama)
Miss Cellania's Links
38 Extremely Rare “Once-In-A-Lifetime” Photos That Completely And Totally Scrambled My Dumb Little Brain.
Astronomers May Have Found the First Direct Hint of Planet Nine. (via Damn Interesting)
When you try "pspspsps" on a wild cat. NSFW language.
The 10 Most Popular Pop Culture Halloween Costumes of 2026, Ranked.
Nobel prize in chemistry awarded for work on mirror-image molecules.
Neal Agarwal has a new game out called Spend Elon's Money. You can buy lots of expensive items, but that will barely make a dent. More about it here. (via Boing Boing)
15 Women Share How They Know a Man is a Creep.
“Has No Friends”: Amazon Is Keeping Amazingly Detailed Records on Its Customers and They Are Downright Insulting. My info there is mundane, but wrong because I buy gifts for other people. (via Fark)
Why 2000 People Died Fighting Over a Bucket
Wars have been fought for a lot of dumb reasons, but when political, religious, or ethnic tensions are inflamed, it only takes a spark to light a conflagration. In medieval Italy, all those tensions were sprung into war by a bucket. To be honest, the two regions were already fighting, but the bucket incident blew everything up, drawing thousands of fighters to their deaths in the battle of Zappolino. It was called the War of the Bucket. Be aware that the last minute of this video is an ad, so it's not as long as it seems. (via Digg)
Thursday, October 08, 2026
The Legend of The Jack O Lantern
What could be more fun than stealing a pumpkin and taking it out to a cemetery to scare people? He didn't think about how there might be more than just people out there in the land of the dead. This creepy tale is from The Animation School. It's only three minutes long, with extensive credits.
Which is Better: Buying or Renting a Home?
Is it better to rent a home or buy one? It all depends. The TED-Ed lesson compares two people who made different choices. The amounts of money thrown around here are scary, because I've never had that much. But it's all relative. I told my kids to buy a house once they've decided where they want to live for many years to come. Otherwise, rent until you are ready to settle down. Princess bought one, where her kids can make all the noise they want. Dr. Dolittle rents. She and her husband come to my house and cosplay as house owners, mowing my lawn and doing other maintenance. Personally, I get a lot of satisfaction out of owning my home, but I never had to sign a 30-year mortgage. That's really scary.
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