(via Bored Panda)
Monday, October 19, 2026
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
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)
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)
Sunday, October 18, 2026
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.
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)
Autumn's Transformation
When a dog owner gets older, it gets harder for them to get outside and exercise their dog every day. When dementia slips in, it's easy to lose track of how much the dog is being fed, since feeding is a way of showing love. It happens a lot, and that was the story when Autumn's owner passed away and she ended up in foster care. A beagle shouldn't weigh 72 pounds! But with a careful plan of diet and exercise, Autumn overcame the extra weight that was holding her back. (via Laughing Squid)
How to Vote
Comedian Demi Adejuyigbe busts some myths about voting. It's not hard. Really, the hardest part is making yourself get get off the couch and do it. If you find it's more difficult than it should be, that's a sign that you should do something about it, like get involved in your community to change things. I vote every chance I get, even in elections where I know my vote is akin to spitting in the wind, because I would regret missing that chance. Here in Kentucky's 5th district, that's pretty much all of them, but I will still vote because I care about my country and its future. (via Boing Boing)
Saturday, October 17, 2026
The Tingler
The 1959 horror film The Tingler involves Vincent Price discovering a parasite that attaches to a person's spine. When they are afraid, the parasite grows stronger, and when they scream, it grows weaker. So it is to the tingler's advantage to scare the victim, and if you can't scream for some reason, you're a goner. But there's more than a monster in this movie- there's murder, too.
Producer and director William Castle often used gimmicks for his films. For The Tingler, a method he called Percepto! was used. A buzzer device was installed in some theater seats that relayed a "tingle" at certain points int he movie. The audience was encouraged to scream if they felt it, because that would relieve the effects of the parasite. They also staged medical emergencies among some audiences. The Tingler wasn't all that well-received at the time, but has become a cult classic because of its camp qualities and Vincent Price's performance. (Thanks, WTM!)
Luna and Kallie
When I had a houseful of kids, someone would bring a cat home as "their cat." but the cat would decide to be close to a different person. That didn't really matter with a bunch of busy teenagers. Now the cats are all close to me, because they have no choice. Luna was adopted into a family with several children, and decided the baby Kallie was hers. Can you blame her? Everyone loves babies.
Why Ghosts Wear White Sheets
There was one time I actually went trick-or-treating as a ghost wearing a bed sheet with two eye holes. Just once. I learned that it's impossible to keep the eye holes in the right place when you're walking, or doing anything. I guess that's why Charlie Brown had multiple eye holes cut into his sheet. When my kid wanted to be a ghost, I insisted on using a white bathrobe with a (non-pointy) hood and plenty of white face paint. She changed that to a black robe with white face paint and was much scarier.
But why are ghosts depicted as being covered in a white sheet? The art that makes them look like that goes back further than the trick-or-treat costume. Even today, when very few kids want to be a ghost for Halloween, we hang up balloons with white fabric over them to decorate our porches, because that says "ghosts" to us. Dr. Emily Zarka of Monstrum explains why.
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