(via Everlasting Blort)A kinder and gentler avatar of Cerberus.
— JohnC (@ironist-jc.bsky.social) March 17, 2026 at 7:49 PM
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Thursday, April 02, 2026
Cerberus
Wednesday, April 01, 2026
15 Songs and Their Mistakes
When you're recording a song, you might get a take that sounds wonderful but contains a silly mistake. But the music is otherwise better than anything you've done so far, so why not just leave it in? Especially when it sounds like you can get away with it. It's happened more often than you realize. (via Neatorama)
The Language of Time
Time is often thought of as the fourth dimension. Once an object has length, width, and depth, it also exists over time. We talk about time, well, all the time, but since we operate in the here and now, we often use three-dimensional language. If you speak English, you probably know that the future is ahead and the past is behind us. Timelines go from the past on the left to the present (and sometimes the future) on the right. Whether the future is looking up or looking down has nothing to do with when or how fast it comes.
But that isn't always the case. If your first language is something besides English, you may think of the flow of time differently, and use different words for its direction. Since time is the fourth dimension, it honestly has no direction at all. Yet we adapt language to communicate the concept anyway. There's no "right" way to do this, outside of being aware of the time orientation of the person you're talking to. Dr. Erica Brozovsky explains how some other cultures talk about the flow of time.
Office Prank
In case you can't think of anything new for April Fool's Day. Click the image to bring up the full size version.
Why Can't We Eat Silica Gel?
Most of us are aware, by adulthood, that silica gel is used as a desiccant, or a substance to keep the area around it dry. That's why you see them packed in with all kinds of new purchases, like shoes, pills, snack foods, and electronics. You don't want your stuff arriving moldy or rusted after it's been in a warehouse for a while. These little packets of silica gel beads always say "DO NOT EAT" as if they are poison.
But what is silica gel, anyway? You may be surprised to learn that it has properties that make it useful in other applications besides absorbing humidity. A miracle material, indeed. And what's worst that could happen if someone did eat it? After all, the warning looks a bit like a challenge to people who don't like to be ordered around.
Miss Cellania's Links
McTuscan Heaven. Kate Wagner is back with a house that makes no sense at McMansion Hell.
My Undiagnosed Chronic Illness Taught Me to Love Sci-Fi. The genre taps into our culture’s deepest anxieties about the trustworthiness of women. (via Metafilter)
A List of Chain Restaurants Whose Names Contain Unusual Structures. Ranked by the order of which you'd want to be in one. (via kottke)
When Josephine Baker returned to America to appear in The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936, she ended up swearing off the States forever. (via Messy Nessy Chic)
The King and I Spotlights an English Governess Who Modernized Siamese Society. The Real Anna Leonowens Exaggerated Her Influence and Lied About Her Origins.
How bread was invented. It's made with puns!
These Never-Before-Seen Photos Show Astronaut Neil Armstrong Relaxed and Smiling After He Almost Died in the Gemini 8 Emergency. (via Damn Interesting)
The history of school bus safety. The article says it's about the three black stripes on the side, but it contains much more than that. (via Metafilter)
Always Be'sing and Do'sing
Strong Bad answers his email for April Fool's Day in the latest episode of Homestar Runner. "You say that like it clarified anything." The flash version is here, if you prefer that, although I have no idea why you would. (via Metafilter)
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
The Earliest-Born Person Ever Captured on Film
Pope Leo XIII is believed to have been the earliest-born person recorded in a motion picture. This footage was taken in 1896 by W. K. Dickson. He was also the first pope whose voice was recorded. Pope Leo was born in 1810, and lived to 1903. He was the fourth longest-serving pope, and the oldest for which we have reliable records.
Project Plowshare
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Imagine you're Edward Teller and you've spent years of your life probing the mysteries of the atom and finally invented a nuclear bomb. That happened with the Manhattan Project, and resulted in two nuclear bombs that finally ended World War II. What then? The US and the Soviet Union developed more powerful bombs and large nuclear arsenals until the concept of mutually-assured destruction took hold. These bombs were so deadly that neither side could use them as weapons, since that would be suicide.
So what good are these very expensive bomb-splitting weapons if they can't be used in war? Maybe they could be used for infrastructure projects, like digging canals, opening up harbors, oil extraction, or maybe geothermal heat production. What could possibly go wrong? If you've ever wondered what all those underground nuclear tests in the 1960s were for, Kurzgesagt is glad to explain them to us. There's a promotional break from 4:49 to 5:56. The video ends at 11:56.
Troy James at the Apollo
When you go to Showtime at the Apollo, you expect to hear some awesome music, and maybe see a dance routine or two. The audience wasn't prepared for Troy James. James is a noted contortionist who has appeared in several movies, usually as a monster or supernatural being, designed to freak people out. He's good at that! (via reddit)
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