The chiropractor had a walk-in clinic, but this guy decided to use the drive-through anyway.
A traffic accident in Atlanta was caught on surveillance cameras. But stitched-together footage from two different cameras still had people scratching their heads. The driver walked away unhurt. The accident starts to make a little sense when you see the location. The clinic roof is level with the adjacent parking lot, and the garage is underneath the lot. (via Boing Boing)
Kooks Tour from 1970 is the final film made by The Three Stooges. The hour-long TV show was supposed to be a pilot for a series, but Larry Fine suffered a stroke before it was released. Joe DeRita had already replaced Curly, and series plans were scuttled. The premise is that the Stooges had retired and embarked on a world tour for their own pleasure. (Thanks, WTM!)
Back in the 20th century, when we all read the same textbooks and newspapers and watched the same TV shows, we could all understand the same language most of the time. Sure, young people had their slang, which changed from generation to generation, but that took time. Now, with the internet splitting us into different spheres of influence, people who live on Facebook have a hard time understanding a thing the TikTok generation says.
Dr. Erica Brozovsky put on her longest earrings to explain how the internet has changed the meaning of words quickly in the modern era. Not only has she kept up with those changes, but she has linguistic terms to described what happened to those words. See, while words are changing their meaning faster than ever, they are changing in the same ways that words have always shifted.
When a Ship Blew Up and Caused the Deadliest Industrial Accident in United States History.
Star Trek, But It's an Italian Comedy.
Gladys Pearl Baker: The Troubled Mother of Marilyn Monroe.
Nurses blowing off steam about their work.
Cryptid Tourism: The Best Museums, Destinations & Festivals Across America.
These deep-sea spiders give off an otherworldly glow. And they're huge! (via Damn Interesting)
The US and Britain have been described as two nations forever divided by a common language. It's a quote attributed to George Bernard Shaw, but never confirmed. Americans can sometimes get confused by British terms, and vice versa. When that happens, the best thing to do is note the accent, if spoken, or check the spelling in text. Whether some words ends in "or" or "our" will tell whether the source is in British English or American English.
Laurence Brown defines some words that are opposites in the two languages, like "public school." And some that are not quite opposites, but mean something very different, like "pants." And also "nonplussed," a word in which the meaning has drifted through incorrect usage. In any event, 'nonplussed" should always be avoided, because no one knows what it really means, and those who think they do invariably use it incorrectly. There's a 30-second skippable ad at 2:24.
If you ever had a soft spot for a spider named Charlotte, then you'll fall in love with a jumping spider named Violet. She's really cute, once you get over how hairy she is, and those eight eyes. Only two of them are big enough to be noticeable and they look at you with love. Claudia Araceli Reichard is an artist who makes miniatures. She's very allergic to cats and dogs, and she's afraid of spiders. Or was, until she met Violet. At a car wash. She took Violet home, and bonded with her. You might wonder how you know a spider bonds with a human, so watch how Violet follows Claudia around. Now Claudia had someone who could enjoy her miniature rooms and settings! (via Laughing Squid)
Some people manage to navigate in unfamiliar areas just fine, while others can get lost walking home from school. We used to be able to tell those people apart, until everyone became so reliant on GPS to do the navigating for us. When my daughters started driving through big cities, I told them not to panic when they realize they are in the wrong lane; just go with it. It's better to be lost than to crash, and they needed to learn how to get un-lost anyway. That's what my parents told me, too.
Science has determined where in the brain our navigation skills lie, and we've learned that part of our talents in that area are genetic. Still, we can get better at wayfinding by learning, observation, and practice. It's a pity that so many people have outsourced that task and no longer practice finding their way around without GPS. I can see a time in the near future when these same people outsource all their critical thinking to AI and lose that ability, too.
