Cats are more sociable than non-cat owners think. They need contact and attention from their roommate, especially if there are no other cats. Merlot gets plenty of attention and conversation from Sophie, who uses Merlot as her personal therapist. He's a good listener, even if he doesn't understand the nonsense she's talking about.
Lately the Dodo has been combining short videos, so this story is followed by footage of a family who found six kittens and took them all home, despite the fact that the house was already full of cats, dogs, and kids.
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Cat Thinks He's Mom's Emotional Support Boyfriend
Can the Government Control How We Speak?
You can argue about the First Amendment and freedom of speech all day, but when it comes down to individual words and their spelling, we defer to linguist Dr. Erica Brozovsky. She's not a stickler for correct usage, but she does keep an eye on how it changes over time. Today, Brozovsky explains how certain governments have tried to standardize certain words, either to protect a language or even resurrect it.
Users of the English language, however, don't like to be told how to speak and write, which is why it has splintered into British English, American English, Australian English, etc. We have authorities, more from academia than from governments, that tell us the correct way to spell and use English words, but even they are aware of how language changes and evolves due to the way real people use it in everyday life.
Miss Cellania's Links
Cats are always helpful. Well, some cats are. (via Fark)
Resin Lenin presides over Antarctica's Pole of Inaccessibility. It's been there since 1958.
What happened in middle school today- gift potato, rank fart, and magic beard.
The 221-year-old company that reinvented itself — 4 times. It's an illustration in the role of flexibility in success.
The condition that causes people to get lost in their own home. (via Damn Interesting)
Too Much Shit In My Purse.
12 Boomer Cooking Habits People Are Ready To Ditch, According To Reddit. This Boomer ditched them 40 years ago.
Sleep Scientists Favor Year-Round Standard Time. That's not what we're getting.
Abduction As Romance
We might not realize how much of our pop culture stories involve taking women against their will. It's often dressed up as romance. It's an "old, a deeply troubling media convention." It's an outgrowth of the idea that women are passive participants in relationships, and the best ones are too virtuous to seek out sex, but men know best who belongs with who. We can be better than this. (via Boing Boing)
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Why RoboCop is a Directing Masterclass
Can you recall all the reasons you loved the 1987 movie RoboCop? Was it because of the cool robots and the violent action scenes? Was it because of your empathy with the character Alex Murphy, who was doomed to live as a robot- as long as he was useful? Is it because of its satirical take on government corruption, corporate monopolies, and late-stage capitalism? That may depend on how old you were at each viewing. But there are other reasons that RoboCop is held in cinematic high esteem.
Forty years later, RoboCop holds up better than most action films of the '80s because it just plain looks good. Dutch director Paul Verhoeven was criticized by some at the time for his European style of filmmaking, but overall, his care for crafting each scene as a work of art paid off, and audiences didn't even know it. Rowan J Coleman breaks down what Verhoeven did to make RoboCop a timeless film. There's an ad from 5:58 to 6:37. (via the Awesomer)
Mountain Climber Turned Into a Salt Lick
Photographer Jake Baggaley was climbing a cliff in the Chamonix region of France last onth, and was pretty sweaty. So sweaty that a mountain goat (ibex) approached him and started licking. (via Laughing Squid)
What Happened to the Heart Attack Grill
The Heart Attack Grill seemed like a bad idea from the start. That wasn't just a clever name, the Arizona eatery had waitresses dressed like nurses, and offered free food to people over 350 pounds. The restaurant flourished and moved to Las Vegas. It closed a couple of months ago. But it wasn't because of lawsuits or the medical problems of their customers.
The Heart Attack Grill story takes only three minutes, then Weird History explains founder John Basso's reasons for closing his Heart Attack Grill by taking us through the history of Las Vegas restaurants and how they've changed over time.
Dance of the Line Riders
We have a new animated music video from DoodleChaos, who brought us a Line Rider version of the classic Hall of the Mountain King and a Rube Goldberg version of Waltz of the Flowers. This time, he's got two (and sometimes three) riders on sleds illustrating Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Not only is it clever, it might cool you off a bit to hear a song that's traditionally associated with Christmastime. (via Metafilter)
Four Horsemen
You may have heard one of the horsemen called Pestilence instead of Conquest, but that is due to various interpretations. The Four Horsemen are not exactly named in the Bible, but are instead described. In the context of the comic, it's not important. This is just a whimsical but dismissive illustration of Famine.
This comic is from Cheddarbacon Studios.
Monday, July 20, 2026
57 Years Ago Tonight
On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission landed on the moon, and a few hours later, Neil Armstrong stepped out onto the lunar surface. He was soon followed by Buzz Aldrin, while pilot Michael Collins orbited above.
I remember it well. The whole family was glued to the TV, and an hour or so after the first steps were broadcast live, we went outside to look at the moon. Ten-year-old me knew it was pretty profound to think about men walking around up there, and that I had better remember that moment forever.
You can see NASA's restored and colored version of the first moonwalk here, but be advised it's three hours long. The video here is missing a thumbnail, but it plays fine. (via Fark)
Rescuing a Newborn Zebra
You know how people used to say never touch a baby bird that fell out of its nest? That's been debunked, and now we are encouraged to return it to the nest for the mother to find. The same principle held when park rangers in South Africa found a newborn zebra that was in the water behind a concrete dam, with no mother around. They rushed the foal to Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary because there wasn't a zebra sanctuary nearby, and you can't really get picky about the species you care for when a baby is in danger.
However, they didn't find a dead mother, so why was the newborn left behind? If the newborn was unresponsive at first, she may have thought it was dead. Or she may have given up after not being able to get the foal out of the water. In either case, this story from the Dodo has a happy ending.
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