(via Bad Newspaper)
Friday, June 12, 2026
"Something" as It Was Born
On February 25, 1969, George Harrison spent his 26th birthday in an EMI studio with sound engineer Ken Scott to make demos of three songs he had written: “Something,” “Old Brown Shoe,” and “All Things Must Pass.” This is one of those recordings. YouTuber britt2001b rendered it in stereo and added some subtle string sounds from the later Beatles' recording of "Something," but the raw emotion is still there.
The Reason Behind Catnip
Crazy cat lady that I am, I have a small part of my garden dedicated to catnip (and strawberries; they seem to get along well). The cats like it, and it makes my home the cool place for neighborhood kitties to hang out. But is there any evolutionary reason for cats to go crazy for catnip? Research has isolated the exact compounds that intoxicate cats, nepetalactone in catnip, and nepetalactol in silver vine, another popular cat attractant.
Not only have scientists found how these compounds affect cats, but also why. It's an adaptive feature of their evolution! Cats rarely pay any attention to plants, but the cats who went for catnip or silver vine were more likely to survive and reproduce millions of years ago until a catnip attraction became quite common among several cat species on the African savannah. This TED-Ed video explains why with charming cat animation, although you might not like one of the experiments that led to this knowledge. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
What's In Your Pants
In the current climate of war, corruption, economic struggle, and hatred, I keep wondering why so many people hang the entirety of their political views on the sex or sex life of consenting adults they don't even know. It's not just in the US, either. New Zealand has a new bill in parliament called Definitions of Woman and Man and they're taking public feedback on it now.
St. Matthew-in-the-City put up a new billboard expressing the church's view.
Nametags for Nameless People
Bill Wurtz shares another nonsense song, this one about name tags. Are they important? No. Are they invasive? Could be. Are they a joy? Only in this universe. (via the Awesomer)
Miss Cellania's Links
Juan Romero: How a Teenager's Thirty Seconds With RFK Haunted Him For Fifty Years. You know him from this picture.
Judge Cancels Whole Case After Lawyers Admit They Didn’t Read AI-Generated Filings.
Look what they did to Tinkerbell!
The World Cup Match So Violent It Changed the Rules Forever.
Hollywood’s Original “Bad Girl”: The Tragic Muse of Kurt Cobain. Was Frances farmer mentally ill, or just more rebellious than the studio allowed?
Dads can't handle the time they hear about their daughter's first boyfriend.
A PR Hoax Created the Year’s Hottest Rock Band. Imagine What It Can Do in Politics. (via Damn Interesting)
A Blast from the Past (2008): Messing with Mother Nature: 5 Cautionary Tales.
The Cats' Orchestra
Anyone who ever saw The Aristocats knows that cats make music like nobody's business. Click the "more" button to see 14 cats playing their chosen instruments.
Cummulus & Nimbus
Every gag about clouds you can fit into a 45-second video is here in this cute animation from German producers we think things. (via Laughing Squid)
Scientists
The struggle is real
— Paul J. Dauenhauer (@pauldauenhauer.bsky.social) June 8, 2026 at 7:53 PM
[image or embed]
Thursday, June 11, 2026
The Slow Loris
You've seen pictures of a loris. They are big-eyed, adorable little primates. But keep your distance. They can be deadly!
Lover's Lane
The story of Lover's Lane is an urban myth about a couple who goes parking and narrowly escapes a horrible death. What we called "parking" is the custom of young people in a car finding a secluded space to canoodle away from prying eyes, and many towns have at least one road that is famous for such activities nicknamed Lover's Lane. The first part of this video explores the history of how parking itself became a thing.
Then at about five minutes in, we learn about the very real crimes that may have sparked the urban legend. Or did the legend inspire the crimes? Since we don't really know how far back the legend goes, it's not quit clear. But for someone who wants to kill and get away with it, teenagers in a car on a lonely road present a tantalizing opportunity.
The third section of the video goes into how these crimes and the Lover's Lane legend influenced the modern horror film. That seems only natural, since the target audience for these movies are young people who have the world in the palm of their hands, until they don't.
70 People Reveal How To Count Money in Their Country
In this video from Condé Nast Traveler, we watch people from around the world count the same stack of dollars. On the surface, it looks like most of them are doing it the same way, but when you look closely, there are variations that would be hard to replicate once you've learned your own way to count cash. Too bad we don't get to practice as much as we should. And you have to wonder whether these ingrained habits will fade away as we move closer to a cashless society. (via Boing Boing)
Hair Color
I was explaining my odd hair colors to a friend once, and ended the story with, "and besides, it keeps conservative old men from hitting on me."I think he may mean venomous, as in injecting a toxin. Poisonous means the toxin is harmful if licked, eaten, or inhaled and I can personally attest women who color their hair are delicious
— South Carolina Department of Propaganda (@southcarolinadop.bsky.social) June 9, 2026 at 12:01 AM
[image or embed]
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Reflections of My Life
"Reflections of My Life" was recorded in 1970 by the Scottish band Marmalade. Believe it or not, they are still a band, although with none of the original members.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)