From Married to the Sea.
Tuesday, July 07, 2026
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!
CAPTCHA Hell
The concept of a CAPTCHA was introduced to keep robots from spamming websites and spying on users. But then the bots improved, so the CAPTCHAS had to be made more difficult. And more frustrating. As the bots got better at fooling the software into believing they are human, we started to confront multiple CAPTCHAS tests, and it's often so annoying that we give up completely.
Now there's a video game that captures the frustration of CAPTCHAS, called CAPTCHAS Hell. Since we've all been there, it seems completely counterintuitive that gamers would want to recreate that misery on purpose, but some folks look at it as a challenge. Can you get through a maze of CAPTCHAS in order to purchase concert tickets online? Even if you don't want to try, you'll get a kick out of vicariously witnessing someone else try their luck in this game trailer. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Miss Cellania's Links
Could you walk a greasy log to win a contest? There's a lot of falling, but they asked for it. (via Everlasting Blort)
Cats have more skills than you realize. Contains NSFW language.
A reddit thread started out as a standard "wearing white to a wedding" tale, but turned into a fascinating life story when the groom added his priceless two cents.
All 13 Star Wars Movies, Ranked By Rotten Tomatoes. The ten movies I've seen are ranked correctly, and the three I haven't are too low to bother with.
Watch this beautiful dog go on a walk. You'll be glad you did.
How cigar smoke saved the life of Pablo Picasso.
Flash Gordon (1980): The Gloriously Chaotic Behind-the-Scenes Story.
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
There are few songs that aren't improved by a gospel choir. And a great song is made awesome.
Sunday, July 05, 2026
Silver, Blue & Gold
Bad Company had a lot of good songs, but you don't hear this one as much anymore.
What Happened to Long John Silver’s?
The history of Long John Silver's turns out to be way more local to me than I realized. Growing up in Kentucky, I knew Jerry's restaurant was a treat because they had hot fudge cake and strawberry pie. My parents knew that after eating a meal, I couldn't do a whole dessert, so we split one among the family. I had no idea that Jerry's was related to Long John Silver's, but here we are.
Long John Silver's was the second fast food restaurant in my childhood town, going up right as the interstate highway was built (KFC was the other, of course). In high school I discovered that they would sell you a basket of crunchies (the batter that floated away from the food) for a quarter, which was important when you had limited lunch money. It was a way to skip the real food and just get the greasy batter they were known for, cheap.
My current town still has a standalone Long John Silver's without the rebranding. I don't eat there because these days I cannot deal with a meal that's all deep-fried, even if it does include hushpuppies. Weird History has the history of a fast food chain that's time has come and gone.
If Jurassic Park Had a $10 Budget
This homemade Sweded version of Jurassic Park is pretty good considering. They got the scenery right, the weather right, the costumes right, and some of the vehicles right (although others are cardboard). Even the acting is passable. The main shortcut is making pets into dinosaurs, which is funny enough on its own.
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