(Thanks, Janet!)
Friday, May 29, 2026
Bisected
Is it possible to make a phone call across dimensions? A couple on a lonely highway see something strange in the sky. I couldn't see it at first, but it eventually looked to me like an incoming nuclear attack. But that turns out to be a MacGuffin, and director Danny Piñeros tells us he didn't even know what it would look like until the effect was added post production. What's important is that the couple becomes separated and we don't know how -and neither do they. They appear to be in the same space but not together. Or are they in a completely different place? Or maybe "place" isn't even the right word, as subsequent events bend even that idea.
Be sure to stay for the credits, because the voiceover adds more to the story. The scene sets up a premise that the producers hope to expand into a feature-length film. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Miss Cellania's Links
Jimmy Savile: How Britain's Most Prolific Sex Offender Hid in Plain Sight.
A Gallery of the Most Amusing Animal Faces To Make Your Day.
The lineup for Washington's Freedom 250 Festival is shrinking once the artists learned it's a Trump-linked event.
Bruce Springsteen calls out the White House and announces a protest festival. (via Fark)
Great Danes are as goofy as they are big.
Rechalking beloved Cerne Giant is a sticky process – and climate crisis is making it worse. (via TYWKIWDBI)
At Long Last, I Have Maxximized My Looks.
Could aliens ever visit Earth? An aerospace scientist unpacks the challenges of interstellar spaceflight. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Driving at Night
I'd rather not, thank you. Not that I go anywhere anyway. But now that it doesn't get dark until after nine, I don't even have to think about it until September or so. This chart is from Matt Shirley.
Thursday, May 28, 2026
True Facts: The Mystery Of How Bees Build
We know honeybees build wax honeycombs where they can efficiently work together to produce honey. How did they ever learn to do that? Ze Frank takes us through the behavioral evolution of insect architects. Honeybees descended from wasps, who went through many phases on the way to building geometrically efficient nests. Ants and termites build elaborate nests, too, harnessing a new word I just learned: stigmergy. Honeybees are the best at making lovely hexagonal cells to build their combs, but it's not because they are all that smart. Hexagons are just what happens when you cram cylinders together in the most efficient way. In fact, their combs are not made of perfect hexagons all the way through. Still, those imperfections are a way of coping with uneven surfaces, so maybe they are pretty smart. Instead of an ad, there's a mere 30-second promotional message at 4:20.
What If You Dropped a Bowling Ball Into the Mariana Trench?
The latest hypothetical question for the What If? series by Randall Munroe and Henry Reich asks how long it would take a bowling ball to fall from the ocean surface to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The trench is the deepest part of the world's oceans, and the point called Challenger Deep is around 11,000 meters or 36,000 feet deep. A bowling ball would take quite a while to sink that far.
But wait- the real surprise here is that it might not sink at all. It might float! That depends on how heavy the ball is. Galileo told us that a hammer and a feather will drop at the same rate if you control for air resistance, like doing it on the moon or in a vacuum. Apparently, it doesn't work like that underwater, so we find out how objects of different weights fall in the ocean.
Brainstorm or Green Needle?
The question in the title sounds like we are going to name a new superhero. No, this is another audio illusion that might freak you out a bit. A toy says "brainstorm." Or maybe it says "green needle." You need to decide which one it is before you play the video. Then play it again, thinking about the other option. Keep your finger on the replay button (bottom left on the video), and you'll find that this toy says what you expect it to say, even if you change your mind between plays. Some people hear "green storm" or "brain needle," but that's because they chose to hear it. For some science behind the phenomena, and the actual answer to what this toy is saying, go to HuffPo. (via Geekologie)
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Happy Tooth and Old Mr. Tooth Decay
This 1952 TV ad for Colgate is about as cheaply produced as you could get. Pretty cheesy, too. (via Weird Universe)
Banana Synthesizer
I knew you could tuna fish, but how do you tune a banana? This is the kind of nonsense we expect from Weird Al Yankovic.
Why Judges and Linguists Can’t Stop Arguing About Words
Language is a funny thing. It changes over time, and the exact meaning of a word can drift to become more broad or more specific. That can spill over into a courtroom, when the exact wording of a law is debated. Does a more modern interpretation of those words change the intention of those who originally passed the law? And how do we determine exact meanings? By current dictionary, the generally-understood meaning at the time the law was written, or how the wording of the law is understood today? It depends on how you look at it, or even more importantly, who looks at it. Dr. Erica Brozovsky breaks down the legal battle over words. All I could think of while watching this is a quote: "It depends on what the definition of 'is' is."
Miss Cellania's Links
6 Musicians That You Didn't Know Were in the Military. Not all of them wanted to be.
250 to 250. We Are America.
The Let’s Have Better Mottoes Association. If you define "better" as "funny."
Unusual hotel rooms. (via Everlasting Blort)
This Jewish Community in the Caribbean Smuggled Gunpowder to the Patriots During the Revolution. A British Admiral Condemned the Island as a ‘Nest of Vipers.’
Akku Yadav: The Serial Rapist Who Was Killed by His Victims in an Indian Courtroom. Many, many victims.
The price America paid for its first big immigration crackdown. Before that, we didn't even have the concept of "illegal" immigrants.
A Blast from the Past (2008): Who Was Dr. Frankenstein?
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