Back of the Bottle

(via The Chive)

Racoon Rescue

Mack Roesch was riding his bike near his home in Florida when he saw a raccoon with an aluminum can stuck on his head! The raccoon couldn't see and was wandering near the road, so he would have eventually become roadkill. Mack tried to pull the can off, but it was securely jammed on the raccoon's head. Not only that, but the scared creature was keen to attack anyone who touched him. But other strangers got involved. The rescue took a lot of teamwork for one raccoon, but saving the little fella made everyone feel warm all over. And Mack got a video. 

On Composting

It just occurred to me that this summer is the 30th anniversary of my composting system. I bought my first house in the fall of 1994, and spent that entire winter reading about gardening. When the tomatoes were planted the next spring, I started collecting household food scraps, grass clippings, pine needles and leaves from the forest, and a good helping of cow patties from my mother's farm. Over the years, as new piles were formed, I incorporated finished and working compost as a starter, so the piles I have now may contain the descendants of insects, worms, and microbes from 1995. 

When other people hear that I compost, they want to show me their system, which they are rather enthusiastic about. I can understand that. I remember my grandfather being proud of his compost heap, which didn't impress me as a kid. Gardeners are almost giddy about their tumblers that produce a bucket or two of compost in a couple of weeks. I tell them I do it the "slow and lazy way," which I have to explain, and always amazes newer composters. 

I made three bins. At the old place, they were made of pallets because they were free. At first, I turned the compost over into the next bin, but after a couple of years I abandoned that- too much work. I got my current house years before I sold the first house, and brought compost over with me in several stages. Now I have round bins made of wire mesh. I fill one bin every year, starting in November or December when I need a place to put leaves. Every spring, I remove the mesh from the oldest bin, remove the plants and unfinished material from the top (adding it to another bin), and start using the 2.5 to 3.5-year-old compost. After all my potting, transplanting, and gardening, I gradually transfer the rest of the finished compost to a covered barrel near the house for winter use. By the time I use all that, it's four years old! And in the fall I have an empty spot to put the mesh back up and dump leaves into. 

Right now, I have a small pile of finished compost I am using up, then a big one with tomato plants and morning glories growing on top like crazy plus a couple of dragon tree trimmings I put in there to root, and the newest pile that I'm adding grass clippings to rather quickly. Shown above is the middle bin to prove I am not exaggerating. All this means I haven't bought potting soil or topsoil in many years, even though I give most of my plants away every year.

 

Since I was out taking pictures, this is my flower border this morning. 

Groan

(via Bits and Pieces)

Orange

Yes, there are things that we'll never know... until you run into someone who knows.

Big Deal

(via Fark)

An Irish Man Demonstrates Weather

Deric Ó hArtagáin of TV3 was giving a weather report on the show Ireland AM when some weather happened to him. His comrades back at the studio could not contain their laughter, although they might have felt a little guilty about it. You could say they were blown away, but not as much as Ó hArtagáin. Ó hArtagáin was a good sport about it. Let me type that name again: Ó hArtagáin. (via Tastefully Offensive)

Madeline

I loved this book when I was very young, and I recently shared it with my grandson. I should have known there was an animated version somewhere. (via Messy Nessy Chic) 

Fire Exit

(via Give Me a Sign)

35 Pictures

Riki Lindhome, who you know from Garfunkel and Oates, or maybe her extensive TV work that I mostly missed, has a song about family life. It's not just that mommy is expected to do the vast majority of childcare and housework plus the mental load, but she's also responsible for recording the family for posterity, meaning she won't be in the picture. You may think 35 pictures is a lot, but that's because he's not going to put in the effort to get a good one in fewer attempts. She's really not asking for much. 

Pyramids

(via Bored Panda)

Nine Paradoxes

A paradox is a statement that is internally self-contradicting. In this compilation of paradoxes, there are a couple that depend on the way we use language, like how much is a heap, and whether a hot dog is a sandwich. Some depend on fictional scenarios, like the transporter on Star Trek. But others, even though they are dressed up in absurd situations, present a bend in logic as we know it. Oh sure, you can explain a few things by assuming that someone is lying, which is anything but illogical. Or you can spend way too much time overthinking the question. Besides, it's already too late to not do drugs in the 1970s. This video contains some NSFW language. (via the Awesomer) 

Miss Cellania's Links

Photos of anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ demonstrations across the US. And those demonstrations compared with Trump's military parade. 

The English Language Is Weird and Inconsistent. And funny, too! 

Why Chinese Fans Are Hiring Detectives for a Dead Kenyan Lion. (via Nag on the Lake) 

We always joked dad looked nothing like his parents - then we found out why. (via Damn Interesting) 

This Exiled Romanov Princess Fled the Bloodshed of the Russian Revolution and Reinvented Herself as a Fashion Icon. (via Strange Company) 

Lucille Ball Created I Love Lucy to Stop Desi Arnaz’s Womanizing. 

One effect of the trans experience is that we all can get a glimpse into how different the world's viewpoints and expectations are for men and women. (via Metafilter) 

The ‘Holy Grail of Shipwrecks’ Is Still Underwater. So Is Its $17 Billion Fortune. (via Damn Interesting) 

It’s Not Going Great, but Imagine How Much Worse Things Would Be with a Woman President. (via Nag on the Lake) 

Chasing

(via Fark)

Why Olive Oil is Awesome

For a long time, I thought the only difference between olive oil and standard vegetable oil was the price. But would you ever find yourself dipping bread into plain vegetable oil, even with spices added? Olive oil is special, and Reactions, from PBS Digital, is here to tell us why. In this video, we get a chemical explanation for olive oil's benefits, plus glimpse into the manufacturing process and some advice on using your oil. My advice: Start any meal by sautéing onions and garlic in olive oil. After that, it really doesn't matter what you add, it will be good.

Massive

My favorite #Wisconsin #NoKings sign/flag from today. #wipolitics

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— Spud Lovr (@spudlovr.bsky.social) June 14, 2025 at 11:24 PM

Fun with Father

(via Bad Newspaper)

How Muppets Break Free from their Puppeteers

We are used to seeing the Muppets on a studio set, where the puppeteers are beneath the floor- although we habitually suspend our disbelief and don't think about them. So who's controlling the Muppets when they go outside and show their entire bodies? Today, they might use GCI, but that wasn't really a thing when Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas aired in 1977 or when The Muppet Movie came out in 1979. Jim Henson and his crew had to think outside the box, literally, to put the Muppets in the real world. How did they do it? In many different ways, depending on the scene. They might come up with a brand new elaborate method just for a few seconds of film, but it was worth it in the end. Alex Boucher shows us how Kermit sang in a swamp, how Fozzie Bear drove a car, and how a group of Muppets rode bicycles. The real wonder is that even when we know how it's done, even when we can see the puppeteers at work, we still see at the Muppets as distinct characters with their own personalities. 

Taste Testing Homemade Prison Wine

Max Fosh made some prison wine, known as pruno in the US. His first attempt wasn't fit for human consumption, because these things take practice. So he enlisted Kevin, a self-made expert on prison wine who has been perfecting his technique for twenty years. That did the trick, but how good is it? Fosh then invited three expert wine critics to try it out, along with five samples of commercial wine, selected for a variety of price points. What would they think of his homemade hooch? 

The wine tasters were asked to rank all six wines, but Fosh settled for getting their most and least favorite pick. Only afterward did he reveal that one of the choices was his prison wine, made in a cooler and fermented in the bathroom. There's a one-minute skippable ad at 3:43. (via Boing Boing) 

When the Bus Stop Button is Broken

Some municipal buses just drive by a bus stop if there's no one waiting to get on. If you need to get off the bus there, you ring a bell or push a button to let the bus driver know. This bus in Halifax, Nova Scotia, had a non-functioning button, so they installed temporary workaround.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, this technology has been in use longer, so they know they should install the chicken out of reach of children. Genius!