What else would you expect from a joint named Le Maison Pretentieuse? That doesn't even make sense in French. This comic is from Tree Lobsters.
Monday, June 01, 2026
6 Ways Brits and Americans Clean Very Differently
Laurence Brown goes through the differences between housecleaning in the US and Britain. The US has air conditioning, which means cleaning AC filters as well as filters for the heating, the dryer, the dishwasher, the vacuum cleaner, the car, the lawn mower, and the fish tank. Meanwhile in Britain, dishes are washed by hand and some people don't rinse the soap off of them! Does this mean they get a lot of soap buildup in their drying towels, or are you just eating detergent with your next meal?
Personally, I am glad that wall-to-wall carpet is declining in the US. You can clean carpets all day, every day, and they are still nasty, especially if you have children or pets or a spouse or a garden. Note: Fairy washing up liquid is made by Proctor and Gamble, and it's the same formula as Dawn dish washing liquid in the US. This video has a one-minute skippable ad at 3:30.
Russia’s Weird, Bad Alternative Internet
The internet began as "a complicate, global interconnected system almost entirely made up of people who do not want to be told what to do." This was fine for free countries, mostly, although anyone could see how scammy and toxic the system could become. But what about totalitarian nations who were used to controlling what information their citizens were exposed to? China saw the danger early, and locked down what kind of access they would allow. Russia was busy going through a lot of changes in the 1990s, and confronted the danger to government oppression relatively late in the game. But when they did, it was like holding back a flood with a bucket. One method of controlling the World Wide Web they use is to block sources from outside of Russia, both directly and indirectly by making the whole internet slow and wonky. At the same time, they created their own internet services, from providers to websites to social media platforms, that seem like just weird, ersatz alternatives in order to censor what Russians see. Half as Interesting takes us on a tour of the odd Russian internet.
Miss Cellania's Links
90 Years Ago, Florida Converted A Railroad Into One Of America’s Greatest Highways, And It Spanned 113 Miles And 42 Bridges Across An Ocean.
‘I don’t have anybody’: Adoptive teen son of a KY governor talks about life on his own. After rescue from abusive facility, Jonah Bevin wants accountability. (via Fark)
Please Use AI. A lovely poem by a real-life poet. (via Metafilter)
This Javelin Thrower Looks Like He is Impaling Himself in Crazy Optical Illusion Photo. (via Damn Interesting)
The rise in plastic surgeons asked to create ‘AI face.’ It's expensive, dangerous, unnecessary, and often impossible. (via Nag on the Lake)
This Girl with a Pearl Earring Miffy Toy Is Officially an Internet Celebrity. (via Everlasting Blort)
One Weather Forecast Changed the Course of WWII. Here’s the Real Story Behind Pressure, a Drama About the Meteorologist Who Convinced the Allies to Delay D-Day. (via Strange Company)
A Blast from the Past (2013): Who flew before the Wright Brothers?
All Cats Go to Heaven
Bruce and Terry Jenkins have led an interesting life. Now that they are retired, they spend their time running a private shelter called Cat's Cradle. They have 30 cats, all of them rescues, elderly cats who have outlived their original owner, and spend their sunset years being loved and fussed over by the Jenkins. They are awesome people. Stay for the credits, where we get to see the finished butterfly garden. (via The Atlantic)
When the temperature is going up one degree at a time. This comic is from Tommy Siegel. (via Pleated-Jeans)
Sunday, May 31, 2026
An Old Fashioned Love Song
Three Dog Night released "An Old Fashioned Love Song" in 1971. This video appears to use the original audio recording, laid over their 1975 performance on the TV series Soundstage.
Northern African Lion Cubs
Northern African lions, also called Barbary lions, are a threatened subspecies that are close to or maybe even identical to Asiatic lions. They are functionally extinct in their traditional range of northern Africa from Morocco to Egypt. Whipsnade Zoo, the largest zoo in the UK, welcomed a new litter of four Northern African lions last year. They are just as cute as you'd expect. (via Zooborns)
How Pre-Civilization Societies Dealt with Pregnancy
The process of giving birth may be a shock and a new experience to modern people, but ancient communities knew what they were doing. A new mother had already helped her own mother, her sisters, and her friends through it, under the supervision of older women who knew more than they did. Sure, men were excluded, which is why women became the experts in childbirth and by extension, other medical events. Giving birth was a team event, and everyone did their part.
We lost this type of communal childbirth in the modern world, when men took over medical science and women who practiced it were labeled as witches. Not that it ever really went away, especially in traditional cultures. I am glad to see that some of these practices are coming back. While my mother was completely knocked out for labor and delivery, my daughter had a doula, a midwife, and a woman obstetrician in a birthing center that was anything but medicalized.
Magnet Collisions
This is a very "attractive" video. Let's see what happens when a large magnet meets a group of smaller magnets -in slow motion. It's fascinating to see the different reactions depending on the size and configurations of the magnets. And the slow motion is crucial, because in real time it happens in the blink of an eye, which is no fun. We get a glimpse of that at the end. (via Laughing Squid)
The Carpeted Bathroom
When I bought my house in 2008, both bathrooms had wall-to-wall carpet. It looked fairly new. It was the first thing to go, at least in the main bathroom (and the smaller one eventually). Sure, it looked good, and you did not slip on it, but the potential for mold and worse gave me the heebie-jeebies. Besides, you can avoid slipping with a small bath mat that you can throw in the washer. As soon as the last kid left for college, we got rid of all the carpet. (via Boing Boing)
Saturday, May 30, 2026
Creature From The Haunted Sea
Creature From The Haunted Sea is a 1961 horror comedy directed by Roger Corman. He meant it as a parody of Bond films, heist movies, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon all rolled into one. It was a spectacularly bad movie, which is why it developed a cult following many years later. (Thanks, WTM!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)