Mike and Brian got close to take a picture of an owl, but the owl couldn't move because he was tangled in fishing line. That poor bird must have been so exhausted and frightened! This is why it's always a good idea to carry a knife out in the woods.
Thursday, February 19, 2026
Owl in Trouble
Humanoid Robots Dancing with Children
The annual Spring Festival Gala is a "must see" TV production in China, broadcast on the eve of the Lunar New year. This year's show featured dancing by humanoid robots developed by several Chinese robotics firms. The robots danced, flipped, jumped, and performed martial arts moves. They were joined by a group of children dancing onstage, which was impressive due to the danger it implied. This performance was designed to impress the world, but Western roboticists emphasize that dancing robots don't need to have situational awareness in order to adapt to changing conditions like industrial robots would. But they can sure put on a show. (via Laughing Squid)
Why Do Cameras Do This?
Now that panoramic photos are widely available on phones, you see weird camera effects more and more often. Destin Sandlin of Smarter Every Day explains the rolling shutter effect and why it happens. Wait until you see what the effect does to a fidget spinner, a guitar, and a spinning coin! (via Everlasting Blort)
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
American Obituary
U2 released a surprise six-track EP today called Days of Ash, no doubt to coincide with Ash Wednesday. The song "American Obituary" is about Renee Good. Bono said he started writing it the day after she was shot by ICE agent Jonathon Ross. The other songs on the EP deal with subjects like Ukraine and Gaza. U2 is planning to release an album later this year (their first since 2017), but these songs couldn't wait.
Get a Big Dish of Beef Chow Mein
The person who posted this didn't even know the reference, and went in a totally different direction. (via reddit)
The Fat Problem
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.
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)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)