(via Give Me a Sign)
Friday, July 31, 2026
Whatever happened to Miss Cleo?
Many years ago, I was running a radio contest and was looking for the 9th caller. I picked up the phone, and said "KD99, you're caller six!" and the phone said, "Hello! This is Miss Cleo!" It was a robocall, and I hung up, but later joked that if she were a real psychic, she would have been caller number nine.
Miss Cleo was everywhere back then, especially if you ever turned a TV on. Her persona was delightful, but actually calling her could cost you big time. Simon Whistler explains where Miss Cleo came from, where she went, and how much money was made in her name in between.
On another note, Whistler mispronounces Tammy Faye Bakker in this video, which reminds me of Chill Dude Explains. It's common for people to mispronounce names they've never heard before, but one commenter took it as evidence that Dude might be an AI voice. Whistler is not, but is likely to be unfamiliar with Bakker. I remember the 20th century, but I looked up the pronunciation anyway. Google's AI search assistant says it's "Backer" for Tammy Faye and "Baker" for Jim. So Whistler is doing his research, but relying on AI for accurate information is a losing game.
The Parody That Ruined the Original
Remember when you found out that Foghorn Leghorn was a parody of a human radio character that would have been familiar to the original audiences of the 1940s? That was just one of many pop culture references in Warner Bros. cartoons that eventually lost connection with its source material because those cartoons still hold up almost 100 years later.
The one comedy impression that was used more than any other, however, came from a classic novel. So many students read Of Mice and Men in high school and said, "Wait a minute, this is a cartoon character!" Even more so if you ever eventually watched the 1939 film version starring Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney Jr. Your cartoon experience made it hard to take the tragic story seriously. And even if you knew that, you might not be remembering the same cartoon character as the next person, because it was used so much, from 1940 up to the '60s.
Miss Cellania's Links
The Assault On Science Funding Continues. (via kottke)
What It’s Like Driving An Old VW Bus That Costs As Much As A House. The Kindred EV Bus has the nostalgia of a microbus and the power of modern electric vehicles.
The Ancient Salt Wells of Zigong. As early as the first century BC, industrial workers in China's Sichuan Province were building derricks for wells that eventually inspired US oil wells.
Even a trillionaire isn't as lucky as Lucky Ducky. The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
YouTuber: The school nurse taught me this!
School nurse: No, I did not.
College lab class ends with 32 people on antibiotics for deadly germ exposure. (via Damn Interesting)
Cybertruck Called the Biggest Flop in Automotive History, as Tesla Shares Plummet. (via Boing Boing)
The Troubles At Euston Square. The body was discovered two years later, so who did it?
Aura Cleans Grandpa Mason's Ears
If you've been around here a while, you know I've been following the progress of the new kittens at TinyKittens' livestream. The kittens are old enough to adopt now. Here you see Aura, the one with the cleft palate, showing her love for Grandpa Mason.
I actually think this is her equivalent of comfort nursing, as she only does it whilst making sleepy-happy biscuits and purring. I suspect that she never learned "normal" comfort nursing because it was too uncomfortable with her massive cleft palate for her to latch onto things like other kittens do. With ears, she can still slobber all over them without making it hard to breathe and without sending drool up into her nasal cavity.Aura was the smallest surviving kitten. She looks great now!
Thursday, July 30, 2026
Just Do It!
DEVO co-founder Gerald Casale brings us the new single "Just Do It!" The animation is dense with references, so you may have to watch more than once to catch them all. It's from his upcoming solo album Wetiko, but still quite DEVO, as Josh Hager and Jeff Friedl play on the song. (via Boing Boing)
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes was a 1978 spoof of the low-budget monster movies of the 1950s and '60s. It was cheaply made and critically panned, but made back five times its budget. It became a cult classic, and spawned several sequels. Almost 50 years later, it's time for a remake!
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence is the updated 2026 version. It premiered with a showing in February at the USS Midway Museum in San Diego. The movie is scheduled for a limited release in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Diego on August 7, 2026, obviously so it can qualify for the Razzies. After that we expect it to be on YouTube soon. The timing of the release coincides with tomato harvest season. The scenes from this teaser reminds me of the tomatoes I have on my counters, in my windows, in my refrigerator, and even the freezer. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Fire in Cardboard City
The New Yorker brings us an adventure set in a very flammable location -a city made completely of corrugated cardboard! When a vehicle ignites, it's panic time. Fighting this fire is a dangerous proposition, because even the fire hose is made of cardboard. The story is a mixture of funny, terrifying, and dumbfounding. What kind of dumbass opens a fireworks shop in a city made of cardboard? (via Metafilter)
Adjustment
Have you ever stopped to think that maybe Star Wars hasn't changed as much as you've changed? A little attitude adjustment might help! Honestly, so many fans bemoan that Star Wars isn't as good as when they were kids. Nothing is as exciting as when you were a kid! I was an adult when Star Wars was born in 1977. I thought it was a lot of fun, even though it didn't make all that much sense. All these years later, I don't expect it to make perfect sense, but I still enjoy it. This is the latest from Lunarbaboon.
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Night of the Blood Beast
Night of the Blood Beast is a 1958 science fiction horror film produced by Roger Corman and his brother Gene Corman. The original title was Creature from Galaxy 27. A spaceship crash lands after being hit by something in orbit. The astronaut is dead, but his blood contains something alien, which might remind you of another movie. It turns out an alien was a stowaway on the craft, and has implanted the resurrected astronaut with its embryos, which might remind you of another movie. The alien gains the ability to communicate with humans after eating one of their brains, which has to have inspired some movie I haven't seen. Shot in seven days, the film was so bad that it became an unintentional comedy. (Thanks, WTM!)
Bobkitten
They aren't all that different from our house cats. You still don't want one in your house.
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