We know that being overweight is bad for our health, but Kurzgesagt tells us why down to the molecular level. And it's not just one thing, but an entire constellation of effects that excess fat can have on us. Carrying more weight than is healthy will screw up every organ in your body sooner or later. If you think of a hundred ways to die, 99 of them are liable to be due to excess fat. It's pretty scary, especially right after you've splurged on a fast food meal. However, it's better to understand what's going on than to just die in ignorance.
The horror is somewhat assuaged by the googly eyes on our cells and organs when they are under stress, and by the forces of evolution that are illustrated by opossums. This video is only 9:12; the rest is an ad.
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
The Fat Problem
AI Chat
After a while, he got tired of that, and dialed the level to 100. The machine began discussing celebrities and TV shows, and that was fun for a while.
But then out of curiosity, the guy dialed the IQ level down to 50.
The machine said, "10-4, good buddy!"
I've never tried chatting with AI, and I have no desire to. The closest I've come is trying to get an answer about a utility service, and I had no choice. At least I found out how to escalate to a real person. But surely this joke could be updated to be relevant in 2026. What would be the punch line?
The Mandalorian and Grogu
Seven years after the last feature film, Star Wars is coming back to theaters, with The Mandalorian and Grogu. The film takes the place of a planned season four of the TV show The Mandalorian. Grogu (who we all cane to know as "baby Yoda") is still cute, still young, but appears slightly older and more in touch with the Force. We get to see Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver. And a line from Din Djarin sets up his fierce devotion to Grogu and his fears for the future. There's very little plot revealed in the trailer. You'll find a very detailed breakdown of what we learn from this trailer at Gizmodo. The Mandalorian and Grogu will open in theaters, including IMAX theaters, on May 22.
Miss Cellania's Links
Can you recreate a color from memory? Test yourself with the Color Memory Game. (via Metafilter)
My Beauty Uniform: Felicity Aston. A polar explorer explains her beauty routine (via kottke)
The Runner Ducks of Minnesota is a satisfying TikTok channel. Every day the farmer opens up their pen, and the ducks run to assess whether going out to play is worth it that day. (via Nag on the Lake)
Win or lose, they all had fun playing this game. Warning: contagious laughter.
A 13-Year-Old With Autism Got Arrested After His Backpack Sparked Fear. Only His Stuffed Bunny Was Inside.
Dogs in winter. Contains NSFW language. (via Everlasting Blort)
Rolling Stone Readers Vote 'Disco Duck' as the Worst Song of the 1970s. It had a lot of competition. (via Fark)
American Kids Used to Eat Everything. The term "picky eater" only came about in the 20th century. (via Damn Interesting)
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
The Valley of Gwangi
The Valley of Gwangi came out in 1969 and could be described simply as "cowboys and dinosaurs." When I finally saw it many years later on TV, I enjoyed it but was under the impression that it was a much older film. Maybe it was because of the Ray Harryhausen stop-motion. After all, in 1969 we also got Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and we already had 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Valley of Gwangi didn't have the production values it should have, since all the money and effort went into the special effects. The plot was rather recognizable as that of King Kong. The movie didn't do well in theaters because it had no promotion at all. But its popularity grew in the years afterward, and it has become a cult classic.
Iko Iko
The song "Iko Iko" has been recorded by many musicians, the most popular being this version from The Dixie Cups recorded in 1964 during an informal jam with no instruments, just drumsticks banging on furniture. But it was written by James Crawford in 1953, and recorded with the title "Jock-a-Mo." There were years of litigation between Crawford and the Dixie Cups over the rights to the song.
"Iko Iko" is a Mardi Gras song. Crawford wrote the lyrics from phrases he heard during a confrontation between two Mardi Gras Indian groups during a parade in New Orleans. Crawford did not know what the words meant. Read more about the song's fascinating history at Wikipedia. (via She Who Seeks)
Jane Austin's Period Drama
The Regency-era romance novels of Jane Austin defined an entire literary genre. They lend themselves well to cinema, with lush historical settings and the strictly-defined etiquette of the upper crust. We call these movies period dramas. Sketch comedy writers Julia Aks and Steve Pinder saw a pun in the term, and went to great lengths with it, turning a period drama into a comedy of errors.
Mr. James Dickley is about to propose marriage to Miss Estrogenia Talbot when she starts her menstrual period. The clueless Dickley assumes she has been injured, and escalates the situation to a ridiculous degree. The short Jane Austin's Period Drama is up for the Oscar for Live Action Short Film at the 98th Academy Awards. If you want to know more after watching it, Wikipedia has you covered.
Patient Awakes from Anesthesia, Proposes to Nurse
Paris Ferguson had a car wreck and broke her arm. They gave her some good drugs at the hospital, since they didn't know what other injuries she had. As she came out of surgery and woke up, all her inhibitions fell away, and she proposed to the cute nurse, Luke, who was tending to her. Luke alternated between laughing and blushing. Paris later made a video telling the whole story, which is pretty long. (via Digg)
O Printer! My Printer!
Mr. T-blog sent me a poem (Thanks!). It was inspired by the loss of TWO printers in a span of only two months. I can relate to the magnitude of this disaster. Apologies to Walt Whitman.
O Printer! my Printer! our fearful trip is done,
The laserjet has weather’d every rack, the PPM we sought is won,
The USB port is near, the drum roller I hear, the users all expletiving,
While follow eyes the DPI, the copy jam grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of ink,
Where on the desk my Printer lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
My Printer does not answer, his papertrays are pale and still,
My HP does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The laserjet is recycled safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From Staples trip the victor ship comes in with replacement won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Watch the desk my Printer lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
-Mr T-blog
Monday, February 16, 2026
The Radio Quiz
Old folks lament that young folks don't know how to hold a regular conversation with other people, but that nothing new. This episode of I Love Lucy was way back in the 1950s (that will become evident), and people had the same problem back then. We had TV to avoid talking the same way people use phones today to avoid interacting with each other. At some point they give up and listen to the radio, and find that Ricky knows more about American history than anyone. I'm not surprised. He obviously studied for the US citizenship test.
He Survived Both Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On August 6th, 1945, the US military dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and killed 70,000 people. Another 70,000 would die later from injuries and radiation within a few weeks. Three days later, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The Japanese, not knowing how many bombs the US had (which was two), surrendered and ended World War II.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima when the first bomb detonated. He was severely injured, but managed to get back to his home in Nagasaki and go to his job just in time for the second bomb to be dropped. What are the odds? Weird History tells the story of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived both bombs and became a staunch advocate for nuclear disarmament later in life. There's a skippable promotional break from 2:03 to 3:13.
Speaking of the odds, back in 2012, Neatorama published an article about the approximately 165 people who fled Hiroshima after the bombing and went to Nagasaki for safety. Read about these nijyuu hibakusha, or "double bomb-affected people" in The Unluckiest Train Ride.