Tea

(via She Who Seeks)

Ghostmashers

This time of year, you can count on hearing Ray Parker Jr's "Ghostbusters" quite a bit. Sure, it's still appropriate, and so is the movie, but what it really needs is a mashup with eleven other songs from the 1980s. Yes, twelve songs, and if you don't recognize them all, there's a list at the YouTube page. Bill McClintock revealed this mashup in honor of Halloween. Some of the songs are what you'd normally think of as Halloween songs, but most of them are just dance hits that you know by heart. So you may as well get up and dance to them now! 

I Have a New Cat!

This is Toast. I'm sure it's short for Burnt Toast. He's a 6-year-old Russian Blue, and is twice the size of my other cats. That coloring makes him hard to find and he seems to appear out of nowhere. He's a real sweetie.

Back in the summer, Dr. Dolittle lost her older orange cat Bread to cancer. It was a very difficult time, and she ended up euthanizing him herself.

But what about his companion, Toast? The doctor didn't want to get another cat, and her husband was working in Indiana at the time. She didn't want the cat to be lonely, and besides, they were going to be out of the country for a month this fall. Would I take Toast? Sure! So she brought Toast, and stayed a few days with him. She ended up staying with me four days out of every seven for the next two months, only going home to work. Dr. Engineer joined her here two days a week. Dr. Dolittle really doesn't like living alone. Then her husband got laid off and they are now off in Nepal for a month. 

So Toast lost his cat buddy, his family, and his home. But he gained his heart's desire, the ability to go outside. My cats hated him from the start- after all, he's strange, huge, and hard to see. But Toast is eager to make friends, and after about three months, they are making progress. Marshmallow has decided he's no threat and just ignores him now. Tommy is okay and will let Toast follow him around, and only hisses when he gets too forward. Sundae still growls at him, but is no longer terrified (she stayed outside for a month when he first came). I've even caught a few nose boops between Toast and Tommy and Marshmallow.

Toast has learned how to communicate with me, and goes in and out all day. I think he's testing my limits. Now that it's cold, I make the cats all stay in at night. The other three cats sleep with me at night, but if Sundae is outside, Toast will be on my window table behind the bed when I nap. We are making progress.  

 

 

Critique

(via Fark)

Cyriak's Dancing Skeletons

Cyriak Harris already makes the creepiest animated videos on the 'net, so when he makes skeletons dance and releases it the day before Halloween, you know you're in for a really weird treat! this animation is called RIP. (via Laughing Squid)

I'm a Werewolf

It's a Halloween story from Alex Culang and Raynato Castro at Buttersafe.

Going to a Haunted House

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 Meaning a haunted house attraction, not a real one.  

Medical Assistance

(via Bad Newspaper)

When Tarzan Became an Old Man

We are used to a young and virile Tarzan swooping off to the jungle with Jane and assuming they lived happily ever after. But old age creeps up on all of us if we're lucky. It's possible that Tarzan was a lot older than Jane, or maybe she just held up better over time. 

This skit was aired in 1962 on The Jack Benny Program. Carol Burnett plays Jane and introduces her Tarzan yell, which she brought back every once in a while on The Carol Burnett Show. Jack Benny, as always, was the butt of the joke. His very appearance was the joke, and Burnett got all the good lines. (Thanks, WTM!) 

Just What We Need

(via Neatorama)

Peaches in a CT Scanner

This is cute. Plump, ripe peaches got a cat scan and nothing was found wrong with them. The music makes it even better! Yeah, people complained that the peaches got a free ride when they were charged thousands of dollars for such a test. But those who know tell us that various inanimate objects are used in the inspection, calibration, and certification of the machines, and medical students do this to learn how to use the scanners.

Lobsters

(via Bored Panda)

Willowbrook State School

It wasn't all that long ago that developmentally disabled children, particularly those with intellectual challenges, were hidden away and cared for in institutions. Out of sight, out of mind. The largest such institution in the US was Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, New York. It had a capacity of 4,000, but by 1965, it housed 6,000 residents. 

By the 1950s, it was clear to the administration that the families of the children living at Willowbrook were not coming to visit, so they could get away with anything. There were unethical medical experiments performed on residents who could neither consent nor complain. After that era, Willowbrook was seriously overcrowded, underfunded, and understaffed. The employees who did their best were forced to take shortcuts because they had too many residents to care for, and other employees were uncaring and abusive. It took a series of exposés to bring attention to the conditions at Willowbrook, and even more horrors were discovered after the school closed.     

Miss Cellania's Links

Older than Dracula: In search of the English vampire. (via Strange Company) 

The Real Timbuktu: How a City of Books Became the Edge of the World. (via Nag on the Lake) 

Hospital billing can be capricious, unnecessary, and cruel. 

Newly identified green star leaves astronomers amazed. (via Damn Interesting) 

How Medieval Literature Built the Arthurian Legend. With links to original stories. (via Metafilter) 

Stupidity Threatens Everything. (via Real Clear Scence) 

People Are Sharing Their Wholesome Life Moments And Some Of These Are Tear-Jerking. 

The Real Christopher Robin Had a Complicated Relationship With Winnie-the-Pooh. (via Strange Company) 

A bloated ballroom, a six-storey military HQ, a helipad-cum-cocktail patio, a gilded angel on a giant arch honouring himself … our architecture critic deplores the decorator-in-chief’s mutilation of Washington. (via Nag on the Lake) 

Bump in the Night

(via Fark)

Simon's Cat in Spooked!

Have you ever noticed your cat staring at something, or maybe nothing at all? Cats can develop what looks like an obsession, which some folks interpret as a spiritual presence that humans cannot see. Keep telling yourself that, and strange things may start happening. This is Simon Tofield's Halloween story. (via Laughing Squid)

Lumber

(via Bad Newspaper)

Common Words Inspired by Polytheism

The influence of the Roman Empire is everywhere. The many gods of the Latin world influence everything because Latin spawned other languages. Latin and Greek mythology gave us the names of the planets and the months. But deities from polytheistic religions came into our language from all over. Our days of the week come from Norse mythology in several languages, and Roman mythology in other languages. Everyday words have religious roots in other languages that we never knew about. Dr. Erica Brozovsky takes us on a tour of how the names of deities ended up in our modern English. 

Parking Advice

(via reddit)

Remain Calm

When a stranger comes up with an uncanny smile and tells you to remain calm, you know something weird is up, because that's about the worst thing a stranger can say. But then he says he's from the federal government, and that's even scarier. The twist in this story is that remaining calm is the only thing that will save your life. How can you do that when you're terrified? Or when you're watching a creepy horror story? Well, what normally calms you down when you're stressed? You don't need to answer that; the film will guide you. 

Remain Calm is a horror short by Jake Lewis of the Lewis Brothers, starring Pauly Shore, Nick Swardson, and Doug Jones. Yes, it does have some comedy overtones among the terrifying scenes that have commenters asking for more episodes starring the two store cashiers, or a full-length movie, or even a series following these characters. (via Metafilter)