Informative Links

Deconstructing Disney Princesses. A much deeper discussion continues in the comments. (via Buzzfeed)

How Do Vaccines Work and Are They Dangerous? Understand the basics and then go get your flu shot.

The 10 Neatest New York Inventions Ever. The Empire state is the birthplace of many of our modern comforts, such as Jell-o, toilet paper, and air conditioning.

Curious Expeditions needs help identifying a place where a vintage photo was taken. The biggest clue is the building in the background with its distinctive architecture.

Homeless by choice, because an apartment isn't worth it. Another camped in her car to ride out depression with her dog and cat. (via Metafilter)

The United States' plan to conquer Canada. Which is part of a plan to conquer England. (via Dark Roasted Blend)

Newsweek presents a pictorial history of birth control methods. We've come a long way since the Greek philosopher Aristotle recommended olive oil as a spermicide!

Fifty-one years ago today, a scary mistake by a cardiologist led to the development of modern angiograms. Angiograms then led to coronary bypass surgery, which has saved countless lives.

What a Blockbuster Movie Can Do to a Small Town

What if a story about your little hometown became extremely popular and brought visitors from all over the world seeking a piece of it? When a book or movie puts a quiet little town on the map, you have to expect people will want to come and see it. Whether that’s a benefit or curse may depend on the movie, as we see in this article I wrote for mental_floss.

Weird Halloween Links

Take a stroll down memory lane with posters of horror and sci-fi movies from all eras of film making. They might give you some ideas on watch to watch for Halloween! Part one and part two. (via Everlasting Blort)

Perfect for Halloween, the Meat Hand is a regular meatloaf made into the shape of a hand! Not Martha has the instructions for several different versions, depending on how badly you want to creep out your dinner guests.

What do vampires talk about when they get together? Let's listen in on the family reunion.

The Six Creepiest Places on Earth. Some are haunted; some only have the memories of terrible things that happened there.

Six Popular Monster Myths. Yeah, monsters are myths but they come from some unpleasant place in the human psyche that almost makes sense.

Halloween Costumes to Inflict upon the Innocent. Because babies can't fight back!

Twelve Ossuaries Around the World. You might call it an index of boneyards where the bones are showing.

No Census, No Feeling

Part One

Part Two

The Three Stooges get jobs as Census takers in this 1940 color short.

Creature from the Haunted Sea

From Wikipedia:
Creature from the Haunted Sea is a 1961 comedy film directed by Roger Corman. Written by Charles B. Griffith, the film is a parody of spy, gangster and monster movies, concerning a secret agent, XK150 (played by Robert Towne under the pseudonym "Edward Wain"), who goes under the code name "Sparks Moran" in order to infiltrate a criminal gang led by Renzo Capetto (Antony Carbone), who is trying to transport a colonel, a group of exiled Cuban nationals, and a large portion of the Cuban treasury out of the country.

Good Reads and Information

Who Was Dr. Frankenstein? If the character was modeled after a real person, here are seven possible suspects.

What does it take to get kids to eat healthy foods? Bribery, according to scientific studies.

America\'92s Nastiest Toxic Waste Dumps (And Whether Or Not You Live Near One). Always good information to have handy.

Ze Frank tells the history of Afghanistan in three minutes. Just an overview, but more than most Americans know about a country we're fighting in.

The Top Ten Internet Rules and Laws. They were never legislated, but are more like scientific laws in that they are observed in action over and over.

A people's history of the internet: from Arpanet in 1969 to today. I found out the first message sent on the internet was "L... O..." and then it crashed.

How Rewards Can Backfire and Reduce Motivation. Ask anyone who turned an enjoyable hobby into a career.

Norman Rockwell: The Original King of the Photoshop. Of course, the software didn't exist back then, but he was a master at taking a photograph and making it something special.

The term ghost ship can refer to a mysterious apparition of a ship when a ship is not really there, or it can refer to an abandoned ship found with no crew or passengers, usually under mysterious circumstances. Both kinds are listed here in these ten spooky stories of ghost ships. (via Unique Daily)

5 Scary Places and the Legends Behind Them

There are more haunted places and scary stories around the world than you can shake a stick at. Here are a few you might not be familiar with already, including a haunted cave, a haunted bridge, and a haunted tunnel in this article I wrote for mental_floss.

Fun and Funny Links

Everything you wanted to know about vampires but didn't know who to ask.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Especially if she's a cat.

No matter what zoo patrons expect from animals on display, some are not going to fit their expectations. A wise zookeeper would respect that, for his own good.

Salvador Dali taking his anteater for a walk.

Terminator 2, told in only nine minutes thanks to a hip-hop narration. Admittedly, it's easier if you've already seen the movie, but who hasn't?

The 8 Manliest Images on the Internet. Trying to outdo these could be dangerous, or even lethal.

Terry Tate, Office Linebacker. The kind of guy every office needs to keep productivity up.

DIY Halloween Decorations. Creepy displays that will make your party the scariest on the block.

Primordial Soup

Julia Child makes Primordial Soup for the Smithsonian Institution. This video was featured at the Air and Space Museum. (via Metafilter)

Horror Hotel

Also known as City of the Dead. From Wikipedia:
City of the Dead (US title: Horror Hotel) is a 1960 film directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and starring Christopher Lee and Valentine Dyall.

On the recommendation of her professor (Christopher Lee), a young female student (played by Venetia Stevenson) travels to a small Massachusetts town to do some research into witchcraft. She finds the town occupied by the reincarnation of an infamous witch (played by Patricia Jessel) burned at the stake in the 17th century.

Funny Links

MC Trebek is in da house! A mashup by Tronovitch shows just how cool Jeopardy is.  

Our Favorite Vampires. Does not include vampires born in the past two years. 

What English might sounds like to a non-English speaking person, wrapped up in a killer beat with dancing girls. Oll Raigth!  

This will explain why this blog has sucked for the past two weeks. 

 The Critterati Photo Contest. Pictures of pets dressed as literary characters. It doesn't get much more fun than that!  

Ten Vampire Cats.  

Star Wars (episode four) done completely in ascii. Someone has a lot of extra time on their hands. (via Gorilla Mask) 

 I vant to suck your broccoli: 23 unusual vampire variations. They come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors. (via Lists Galore)

Dracula vs. Frankenstein

From Wikipedia:

Dracula vs. Frankenstein is a 1971 horror film directed by Al Adamson.

J. Carrol Naish plays a mad descendent of the original Dr. Frankenstein who, with his mute assistant (played by Lon Chaney Jr.), take to murdering young women for experimentation in hopes to revive his great ancestor's creation. Things start to heat up when Dracula (Zandor Vorkov) arrives and promises to revive Frankenstein's monster in return for a serum that will grant him immortality. The film was distributed by Troma Entertainment.

The Satanic Rites of Dracula

From Wikipedia:

The Satanic Rites of Dracula is a 1974 Hammer Horror film directed by Alan Gibson, and starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

The film is the eighth Hammer film featuring Dracula, and the seventh film to star Lee in the title role, and a sequel to Dracula AD 1972, with action which follows up on the previous Hammer Dracula film without being dependent on it.

Beware the Blob

1972 sequel to The Blob. From YouTube:
A geologist (Godfrey Cambridge) unwittingly brings home an unusual frozen piece of debris from the North Pole. But when it accidentally thaws, the hungrier-than-ever blood-red Blob comes to life again, consuming nearly everyone in its path and terrorizing the town.Can this bizarre creature ever be stopped?

Information and Good Reads

Atlas Obscura looks at some of the most magnificent spiral staircases in the world. Now I really want one of my own!

A man joined the Army at age 39 so his wife will be covered by health insurance. She needs chemotherapy for ovarian cancer, but he won't be there when she gets the treatment.

Scientists have developed a robot that can shuss down the hills on skis. Of course, just like the Winter Olympics, it's much more fun to watch its sips and tumbles. (via Neatorama)

An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All. Diseases that were once made to be rare are now making comebacks because some skip the vaccines.

A time-lapse video of Tibetan monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery creating a sand mandala over five days. Then they just sweep it up! (via Metafilter)

Seas that are rising twice as fast as expected are threatening cities like Shanghai, China, which is ten feet above sea level. They are already battling saltwater and drainage problems.

50 Kick-Ass Websites You Need to Know About. I know enough of these to think the rest are worth checking out. Yes, mental_floss is listed!

Good Night and Tough Luck. A surprising number of things can go wrong with getting a good night's sleep.

Ron "Typewriter" Mingo

The world's coolest typist.

9 Halloween Pumpkin Projects

There are traditional Jack-o-Lanterns with a face carved on the front and a candle inside. Then there are art pumpkins, with skillfully carved scenes of all kinds. A third category contains the geeky Jack-o-Lanterns that do something strange and unexpected, like the ones we are looking at today in this article I wrote for mental_floss.

Links for Fun and Entertainment

Pachelbel's Canon in D Major performed by a Korean orchestra with scratching, beatboxing, and breakdancing. If that's not enough of a cultural mashup for you, I don't know what is.

People in Order. A fascinating video project from filmmakers Lenka Clayton and James Price.

The Pixar Lamp: the whole story. A much more sordid tale than the film studio would have you believe.

The Blue Beanie. This point and click adventure game can eat up all your available time and more if you let it!

5 Winter Sports The Olympics Are Missing. If there's an opportunity for someone to crash spectacularly, they might someday be included.

This guy gets really drunk and wanders all over a convenience store and the surveillance video becomes an internet hit. But the show is even better with editing, a nice soundtrack, and proper silent film staging. (via Gorilla Mask)

A man cheats death (just barely) when crossing the street. A longer video of the same accident gives more context.

A Photoshop contest shows what the world will be like after the internet dies. I honestly don't know how I'll cope.

Symphony in Slang

1951 Tex Avery cartoon. (via Metafilter)

Informative Links

Scientists sticking wires into human heads have found our brain’s language center can multitask. Now we all be expected to keep that up at least 40 hours a week.

An interview with Randall Munroe of xkcd on his first book. And some other bloggers who have made the leap into print.

What it's like to be a Canadian with a baby in Mongolia, a land where they take breastfeeding very seriously. And not just for babies. (via Metafilter)

Everyone hears the original story, but few ever hear the admission that it was a hoax. Here are five such stories you should know about.

More and more people are dying from natural causes in prison. Hospice care in prison uses inmates to minister to each other in their last days.

Van Gogh often added sketches or paintings to his letters, to illustrate what he wrote about. Some people were lucky enough to be his pen pals and recipients of personal art.

Homeless at age 97, Bessie Mae Berger and her two sons live in an SUV in Venice, California. They prefer this arrangement to being separated.

The beginning of life may have been in rocks instead of the primordial soup. The alkaline vents of the ancient ocean had the necessary chemical reactions, even if its a counterintuitive idea. (via Metafilter)

The Haunted Plantation

The Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana bills itself as “One of America’s Most Haunted Homes”. It operates as a bed and breakfast, so for as little as $115 a night (plus tax), you can stay there and see for yourself how haunted it really is. Will you see the slave who's ear was cut off? Or maybe the faces in the mirror? Or will you hear children playing in an empty room? Read about these ghosts in this article I wrote for mental_floss.

Fun and Funny Links

Captain Kirk has taken too much LSD.

If scientists and police investigators can reconstruct a face from a skull, why can't we figure out what Skeletor looked like before he was a skeleton? We can, so Manuel Calavera and Jack Skellington get the treatment as well. (via Laughing Squid)

Dustin Hoffman is very cut, which can mean something very different to a Jewish man.

Down For The Count: Dracula's Greatest Comics Appearances. (via Metafilter)

The Hottest Heads of State. I would rank the Prince of Liechtenstein higher and Vladimir Putin lower, but otherwise it's a pretty good list. (via YesButNoButYes)

7 Horrifying Moments from Classic Kids Movies. Most of these are so old, even I was traumatized as a child!

Messy, embarrassing, and delicious- what's not to love? The Greatest Pie Fights in Movies.

Think about what this might be before you click the link. The best costume ever for a trick-or-treater in a wheelchair.

When I'm 64

From the movie Yellow Submarine. (via Swiss Miss)

Shadow of a Doubt

Alfred Hitchcock, 1943.

Good Reads and Information

How hard is it to recreate the world of the 1960s? The propmaster for the TV show Mad Men has a great time doing it. (via Metafilter)

The Opium Museum tells the history of opium use, but since opium paraphernalia was outlawed, is actually about the rare antiques market.

The economic crisis we know today began back in the 1970s. (via Simply Left Behind)

Would you ever consider giving marijuana to your nine-year-old? What if the child was violent, in pain, ate fabric, and had tried every other drug available? Here's the followup. (via Metafilter)

Over 2000 people have seen the same face in recurring dreams. Do you recognize This Man? Oh sure, it's viral marketing, but w don't know for what yet. (via the Presurfer)

What other worlds are most likely to harbor life? We can't yet get the odds on exoplanets, so this list is for our solar system only.

Five of the original Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz are still alive. They were recently reunited to talk about their experiences on the film set. (via Neatorama)

The Worst Job of the 19th Century? Tongue-Pullers, Nipple-Pinchers & Anal Tobacco Blowers Try to Revive the Dead. Well, I guess somebody has to do it. (via Boing Boing)

Fossils of flying reptiles come in two versions: the older long-tailed pterosaurs and the more recent short-tailed versions. The fossil gap between the two was a mystery until 20 skeletons of the new species Darwinopterus were discovered early in 2009 in northeast China.

The Chicago Flood of 1992 was caused by an illegal underground railroad system that everyone forgot about. When the collapse finally came, it took a live radio report from the "drain" before authorities could figure out what happened.

Sixfinger

(via Dark Roasted Blend)

Story Time

A classic from Monty Python. (via Everlasting Blort)

Judge Justice

William Wayne Justice wasn't in history texts when I was in school, because the history he was involved in was news at the time. He deserves to be in those texts today, so future generations can know as much as I've learned today. Judge Justice served on the bench in Texas for 41 years until his death Tuesday in Austin. Texans once sported bumper stickers that called Justice the "most hated man in Texas." President Lyndon Johnson appointed Justice to the federal bench in East Texas where he used his power as an activist judge to help those who were least able to help themselves.

His legal compassion forever changed the lives of millions of schoolchildren, prisoners, minorities, immigrants and people with disabilities in Texas. He ordered the integration of public schools and public housing. He outlawed crowding, beatings and inhumane medical care in prisons and youth lockups. He ordered that community homes be provided to people with mental disabilities who were living in large institutions. He expanded voting opportunities.

And that was just the tip of the docket.

Justice also changed the landscape of public education. He ordered education for undocumented immigrant children and bilingual classrooms. And, back in the nonconformist hippie days of 1970, he ruled that bearded and long-haired students, including Vietnam veterans, had a right to attend public college. "I held that that was silly," he said in June 2009 while reminiscing about the old Tyler Junior College rule forbidding long hair on male students.

Judge Justice pushed Texas kicking and screaming into the 20th century. He endured death threats, political opposition, and social ostracism, but never even had an unlisted phone number. In later years, he received many honors and awards for his work. He will be missed. (via Metafilter)

Friday Fun Links

The Wardrobe: A Man and His Story. Never underestimate the value of a great story, and sticking to it.

Kiteboarding (snowboarding and flying a kite) can be a lot of fun. And then this happens. Language NSFW in French environments.

7 New Professors on RateMyProfessors.com. If only I had teachers this interesting, I might be able to remember college.

Pet Confessions. Kind of like PostSecret for animals, except they are made up and much funnier than real pets would be.

Here's a frog riding a motorcycle. I don't even have a one-liner to follow that. (via Gorilla Mask)

5 Irrational Fears (Even Rational People Have). Your odds of death or injury are far greater driving to work every day.

11 Variations on the Rubik’s Cube. Most are centered on the idea of making the puzzle harder!

Popeye

The very first Popeye cartoon from 1933, with a special guest appearance by Betty Boop.

10 Awesome Homemade Halloween Costumes

If you have the time and tools to make your own Halloween costume, all you need is a little inspiration to make it awesome, like the ten in this article I wrote for mental_floss. Note: these are presented in no particular order. They all rank #1 in my book!

Links for Fun

Cute Cats Incorporated. A look at what goes on at a cat show, which seems to be more of a convention than a show.

Witness the 7th Annual Altered Barbie Exhibit, which took place last month in San Francisco. Artists from all over exhibited Barbie dolls in all manners of unspeakable scenarios. Oh, they may be unspeakable, but you can see them displayed at If It’s Hip, It’s Here. NSFW. (via Nag on the Lake)

If all band-aids were packaged as cleverly as these, it would take the sting out of getting a boo-boo.

The Golden Age of Video. The only thing these movies have in common is the rhythm and the rhyme.

Twilight: The Musical is a parody of the Stephanie Meyer novel and movie. Five of six segments are ready for your viewing pleasure. (via Metafilter)

The Sashimi Tabernacle Choir. Also known as "fish on a Volvo".

5 Creatures That May Not Exist, But Get Government Protection Anyway. After all, it's good for tourism!

Top 10 Creepiest Ghost Movies. (via the Presurfer)

Tractor Square Dance

(via Bits and Pieces)

Informative Links

Sportswriter Wright Thompson tried out the Legends section at the new Yankee Stadium. You don't have to be a baseball fan to relate to this story of a business prizing short-term profits over long-term growth. (via Metafilter)

How to make Aloe Ice Cream. Really!

Food Rules: Your Dietary Dos and Don'ts. Good advice contributed by readers make the most out of your meals.

How Traffic Jams Help the Environment. Making the streets more efficient only leads to more drivers.

The History of David Seville and The Chipmunks. Desperation is the true mother of invention. (via Boing Boing)

A healthy, breast-feeding baby is "too fat" to get health insurance.

An interview with Frank Warren, the webmaster behind PostSecret. And an opportunity to win a copy of his new book.

35 Years of the World’s Best Microscope Photography. These awesome images are from Nikon’s annual Small World photomicrography competition.

Is there an evolutionary reason for women to undergo menopause? One theory says that it happens so they can be grandmothers.

The Higher Up the Monkey Climbs

Recorded in 1928 by Fiddlin' Bob Larkan & His Music Makers. The Betty Boop cartoon is from 1939. (via J-Walk Blog)

Good Reads and Information

An Australian television show showcased a comedy act in blackface, sparking a controversy that many didn’t understand. How can we explain that something is offensive when what we see as blatantly obvious isn’t to others?

Max Hirschberg rode a bike for two months to get to Nome, Alaska to join the Klondike gold rush in 1900. And you think you have a difficult commute. (via Metafiter)

8 Ingenious Ways Animals Outsmart Predators. Creativity comes when your life depends on it! (via Gorilla Mask)

Right Stuff, Wrong Sex: NASA’s Lost Female Astronauts. They were physically better qualified than the male astronauts, but politically never had a chance. (via Boing Boing)

Scans of the human brain show how neurons fire in different patterns when we are asleep, drugged, experiencing seizures or headaches, and when the brain is damaged. (via the Presurfer)

Screenwriter John Cox posted a guest blog at Frankensteinia about his search for the site of the only location shot in the 1931 movie Frankenstein. The search led him to Malibou Lake and a serious case of deja vu. (via Metafilter)

Viewing one’s own body can reliably reduce the perception of pain. Maybe you shouldn’t close your eyes while getting a tattoo. Worth a try.

6 Assorted Animal Adventures. Fate leads some creatures to fame and/or fortune they never asked for.

13 Bacon is Good for Me (The Remix)

Bacon is good for me - Da Remix
(via Everlasting Blort)

Links for Fun

The Best Villains in Movie History. I must be getting decrepit -I can name all the old ones and none of the recent ones.

Butterball goes down the stairs. That’s a big accomplishment for an adorable seven-week-old puppy who’s never done it before.

Extreme Swing Tricks. Just some things kids pick up on their way to parkour or Olympic half-pipe.

One Man Band. I wish my town had wonderful characters like this.

The Coolest Guy in the World. He’s kinda just great at everything except making those around him feel adequate.

Why I Slept with 1300 Women. (via Ty.rannosaur.us)

How to Defy Death on the Golf Course. I had no idea the sport was so dangerous!

Some people dream of fame and fortune, others of making the world a better place. Reed Fish and his wife Liz dream of taking photographs of every Sizzler restaurant in the United States.

We Will Rock You

Performed by bathing babies. (via Arbroath)

Normisms

(via Bits and Pieces)

One Man Band

Friday Fun Links

6 Beloved TV Shows (That Traumatized Cast Members For Life). Hey, nobody said stardom would be easy!

10 Reasons Not to Bring Someone Back from the Dead. You can learn a lot from science fiction. (via Gorilla Mask)

Verizon Wireless pranks a customer. He made a call, they showed up, just like in those ridiculous TV ads.

Roman Polanski on To Catch a Predator. So what if the interviewer and interviewee are 30 years apart, it still works.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Support the cause by buying one of the 15 Strangest Breast Cancer Awareness Products.

Imagine watching Star Wars and the actors, sets, and style changed every 15 seconds. You’d be imagining the collaborative project Star Wars Uncut, which still needs volunteers, even though the first trailer is out.

Sesame Street Channels Mad Men. Good work, sycophants! (via YesButNoButYes)

7 Secrets Only Two Living People Know (For Some Reason). That reason is that if only one person knew it, no one would believe they knew it.

A Chorus Line

(via Arbroath)

Creepy Halloween Party Food

When you plan your Halloween party, the food must be front and center. Since we published Gruesome Halloween Party Food two years ago, many more creepy and delicious treats have surfaced. Try serving the dishes in this list I posted at mental floss, and your guests will be talking about your party for years. Warning: some images may be disturbing.

Good Reads and Info

6 Natural Disasters That Were Caused by Human Stupidity. “Mountaintop Removal” is conspicuously absent.

Top 10 Fascinating Facts About Cheese, researched by a cheese fan, encompasses a great portion of the history of cheese as well as the different varieties and how they are made. Who knew you could buy cheese made from moose milk? (via Unique Daily)

When it comes to phones, notebooks and portable game consoles, smaller is nearly always better. But sometimes a gadget just needs to be really, really huge.

Benjamin Franklin invented a musical instrument in 1761 based on the same principle as wine glasses played with a wet finger. Listen to French artist Thomas Bloch demonstrating a glass harmonica, or armonica, at the Paris Music Museum.

Volcanoes Wiped Out All Forests 250 Million Years Ago. That time, it took them four million years to recover.

Famous Dogs Adopted From Shelters or The Streets. See, the pup you rescue during Adopt A Shelter Dog Month may turn out to be a star!

Putting Humpty to Shame: How to Have a Great Fall (and Survive). Still, you don’t want to try this at home.

He wrote the song. He owns the copyright. But MySpace won’t let Edwyn Collins upload it because a Warner Brothers automatically protests anyone but themselves controlling music.

Bicycle Acrobatics

If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing, skip to the three minute mark and watch the end. (via Bits and Pieces)

Music on Wheels: 7 Bicycle Bands

Few things go together as well as bicycles and music. If you didn’t already know that, there are plenty of people who will prove it to you. Read about marching bands on bicycles, rock bands touring on bikes, and musicians who play bicycle parts in this article I wrote for mental_floss.

Informative Reads

The 2009 Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded last Thursday. The winners include the researchers who did an experiment to determine whether it is better to be smashed in the head with an empty beer bottle or a full one.

Fifteen years after the bones were found, a new species of hominid dating from 4.4 million years ago has been publicly unveiled. Meet Ardipithecus ramidus. (via Metafilter)

Student Loans by the Numbers. The time to start working on those scholarships is now!

Putting Things In Perspective. Before you click the link, think about the one thing you want badly but can’t have.

Understanding the Anxious Mind. Those who realize they are born worriers can learn to deal with anxiety in their own way.

The High Price of Being a Gay Couple. The differences in taxes, job benefits, government benefits, and other expenses will add up over a lifetime. (via Metafilter)

Among the scientists, inventors, engineers, and leaders who left their mark on the world are some who were mentally ill or even downright insane. Their private peccadillos don’t survive in many history books. (via Unique Daily)

War Dances. In excerpts from Sherman Alexie’s new book, a Native American relives the last days with his father as he investigates his own hearing loss.

Funny Links

Cocktails Inspired by Super Heroes.

Superman's powers explained. Is there anything geekier than coming up with ways to make superheroes possible?

What happens when a 28 year old guy makes a fake profile of a hot girl on a free dating site? A bunch of WTF.

The 10 Manliest Geeks of All Time. Too bad most of them are fictional.

Simon’s Cat knows where the warm spot is. Like all cats, he is fully capable of taking what he wants.

The Top 12 Movie Devils. I’ll take George Burns. Or Viggo Mortensen maybe.

Make your own fractals with just a mouseover on these magic dots. Other games on the same site are just as fascinating. (via Gorilla Mask)

30 Truly Bizarre Family Portraits.

One After 909

The Beatles at the Cavern Club, circa 1960. (via Tacky Racoons)

Classical Gas

Mason Williams performs his hit on The Smothers Brothers Reunion Special in 1988.

The Hula Song

Someone at Reddit recently called this song “The best 17 seconds of film Disney has ever made.” I can’t argue with that. Also check out this tribute.

Riverdance Dog

(via Arbroath)

The House of Blood

Where is the house of blood? It could be your house with these home furnishings, most of which are available at the click of a mouse. Individually, they might be described as conversation pieces; put them all together and you’ll have a house of horrors no one would want to visit twice. One of these products used the description “Gruesome, bloody, and absolutely offensive.” This collection I posted at mental_floss is not for the squeamish.

Informative Links

The Creepiest Thing Ever. L’Inconnue de la Seine, the most-kissed face ever, was a dead woman pulled from the seine in the 1870s or 1880s.

Extreme pain and stress can actually impair a person's ability to tell the truth. Just in case ineffectiveness is more important than inhumanity in deciding whether to sanction torture.

9 Ways Marketing Weasels Will Try to Manipulate You. Thinking rationally before you buy will save you money, especially if you decide not to buy.

The Mystery of Hitler’s Missing Gold. They still don’t know where it is, but here are six possibilities.

Things you might not know about schizophrenia, in comic book form. There but for the grace of God go any of us. (via b3ta)

8 Historical Crossdressers: Women in a Man’s World. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/10822 Because in many times and places, a man’s life was a lot more fun.

Roman Polanski: What Did He Do? Here’s the story from the transcripts of the 1977 grand jury investigation.

Redwoods: The Supertrees. They live for thousands of years and grow hundreds of feet, and they support an entire ecosystem in their branches.

Her Nightly Routine

(Thanks, Bill!)