(via Bored Panda)
Wednesday, July 08, 2026
What Would a Rainbow Be Like on Tatooine?
We get rainbows when sunlight is refracted through water in the atmosphere. It's an optical phenomena, so it all depends on where you are standing. The rainbow moves when you do, and that's why you can never reach the end of it. What would be different on a planet that orbits a binary star system, like Tatooine? Well, first off, Tatooine is a desert planet, so we can imagine that rain and water droplets in the air would be quite rare. For another thing, Tatooine is fictional. But we can speculate, what is what they do in the What If? series by Randall Munroe and Henry Reich.
To answer the question, we first need to understand how rainbows work, and then how a binary star system works. Once we figure out what kind of stars Tatooine orbits, we find that their rainbows would be quite lovely. However, if rain and rainbows were common, then they wouldn't need moisture farms. A successful moisture farm would suck all the rainbow-making droplets from the air, and ruin any possible rainbows.
Miss Cellania's Links
You might come to regret holding the door open for the person after you.
Unpacking merchandise from the Chamberlain murder trial. The disturbing case of the baby who really was eaten by a dingo. (via Metafilter)
Americans are not as well off as people in peer nations – US safety net’s shortfalls show up in global data.
The Goat Head of Strumpshaw. The goat later named Old Capricorn did not appreciate being separated from his body.
The Best Cosplay of Montreal Comiccon 2026. And a video of cosplayers doing the Safety Dance.
Pablo Torre talks about Major League Baseball’s new challenge system, and how it’s been optimized for maximum drama. In podcast or transcribed in text.
Myopia is booming. Can we stop the epidemic of short-sightedness? (via Real Clear Science)
In my homeland, the eyes eat first. An immigrant poetically describes the experience of biscuits and gravy.
Cats are Beatles Fans!
You might not have known that cats are big fans of the Beatles. Hit the "read more" button for more evidence.
Two New Peacock Spider Species
Jurgen Otto (Peacockspiderman) is known on the internet as for his spectacular photos and videos of peacock spiders. You might not have known that Otto, along with his colleague David Knowles, have discovered the majority of the 70 known species of peacock spider. Knowles spotted a spider with a peculiarly energetic dance he called the Hokey Pokey spider in 1994, but didn't bring back a specimen. He's been looking for it ever since. Knowles and Otto looked for the spider in 2015 and 2016, and almost gave up, but Otto went out into the Australian wild alone in 2017. That's when he found the Hokey Pokey spider, retrieved a specimen as well as pictures and video, and got to name the species Maratus tortus. On the same trip, he found yet another new species with spectacular markings that he named Maratus unicup. See more pictures and more complete videos of these new spiders at ABC News.
Tuesday, July 07, 2026
An AI Group Effort
A few years ago, there was a fad of setting up chatbots to talk to each other, and it was usually pretty funny. Now we have plenty of companies offering artificial intelligence that can talk to you and do stuff for you. But how well they do it depends on quite a few factors. Are these AI agents trying to please the user, or pass for human? Humans don't try this hard to be pleasing.
YouTuber Husk IRL corralled three phones with three different AI agents and asked them to perform a simple task- count to 100. They are intelligent enough to know that they can share the task, but then they have to discuss how to do it. Politely. The problem is that they keep agreeing and reinforcing each other over how to do it, and then they never really do it. Someone compared this to a management business meeting. You can imagine that one of these days, after all humanity is wiped from the earth, that AI assistants will still be talking to each other, and making no sense at all. If we have a power grid that automatically repairs itself by then, it could go on forever. (via Laughing Squid)
Criminal Karma
In Ellicott City, Maryland, Jalen Godard went to burglarize a Verizon store. He left the engine running in his truck for a quick getaway, and someone stole it! Godard called the cops to report the theft, who came and put two and two together. Dodard was arrested, and his truck has not yet been recovered. (via Neatorama)
Why American Girl Dolls Are So Controversial
Pleasant Rowland developed American Girl dolls to teach children about history. The dolls each had a name and a story, and each had a series of books that pout children into a different era of history so they could see it through the eyes of a concrete character about their age. Even then, few could afford the dolls, but the books brought history alive for many kids. Gradually, people became aware that the American Dolls were a way to get a doll that looked like their daughter, and for some, that became more important than the historical stories.
Then Mattel bought the company. The lineup of dolls expanded, became more diverse, and the prices rose. Certain decisions by the company made people angry. The most recent change might infer that the company has completely abandoned the original purpose of teaching history to children. Weird History takes us through the history of American Girl dolls and why are they way they are today.
Impromptu Fusion
A Croatian man married a Kenyan woman, and the wedding guests had a bit of fun as they were waiting for the bride to emerge from the house. The fusion music sounds like cumbia to those who are familiar with it. Here's a peek at the bride and groom. (via reddit)
Bethan's Rock
Here's the whole story.Bethan's Rock is a small grey stone on display at Poole Museum in Poole, England. It was donated to the museum in 2019 by a five-year-old girl named Bethan, and it has since attracted significant attention on social media and become the museum's most famous object. - Wikipedia
— Wil Eelsing (@wileelsing.bsky.social) July 1, 2026 at 4:11 AM
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Monday, July 06, 2026
John and Judas Do Obi-Wan and Anakin
"You were the Chosen one!" When you have memorized your lines and have lots of time between actual filming, actors do what actors do.
For those of you who are confused, these are the actors who portray John (Obi-Wan) and Judas (Anakin) in the TV series The Chosen. Versatility is the key.
Dogs Just Wanna Have Fun
No job, no deadlines, no taxes, no worries about an impending apocalypse, that's the life of a dog. Every piece of the world is an opportunity for fun, and they take the utmost advantage of it. You don't need status or wealth to lose yourself in the everyday joys of play!
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