Thursday, February 28, 2013
Breakfast, Lunch, and Hugs
Tim Harris has Down Syndrome and a restaurant in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Tim's Place bills itself as "The world's friendliest restaurant." Seeing the joy Tim puts into his work, I can believe it! However, Tim didn't just luck into his position -he gained as much experience as he could by working at various restaurants and attended Eastern New Mexico University to earn certificates in Food Service and Office Skills. (via reddit)
9 Cute and Clever Snowmen
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You think kids these days have strange names? Read about this family! (via Metafilter)
28 Reasons Kentucky Is The Weirdest State In The Country. Then there's #29: I live here.
Scientists Uncover Invisible Motion in Video.
More of Ol' Jay's Brainteasers.
The Ultimate Fictional Baseball Team. This dream team is composed of the heroic and talented players from baseball movies we know and love.
Viral Video Stars Then and Now. They don't look different, but many have parlayed their moment in the sun into careers or or reality TV.
Making Roadkill Beautiful. Photographer Marian Drew takes dead animals, cleans them up, and places them in lovely settings for their final portraits.
Kimmies Harpin’ Boontling: A Dying American Dialect? Learn a little about the language spoken by only about a dozen people in California.
The disturbing rise of anorexia among very young children. It's too easy for kids to pick up our obsessions without really understanding them.
The Ultimate Fictional Baseball Team. This dream team is composed of the heroic and talented players from baseball movies we know and love.
*
Viral Video Stars Then and Now. They don't look different, but many have parlayed their moment in the sun into careers or or reality TV.
*
Eat Like a Greek: The Mediterranean Diet That Could Save Your Life. A new study touts the benefits of olive oil, nuts, and red wine.
*
Making Roadkill Beautiful. Photographer Marian Drew takes dead animals, cleans them up, and places them in lovely settings for their final portraits.
*
PBS made a cartoon explaining the the tongue-eating fish parasite Cymothoa exigua. Yeah, it's gross.
*
Kimmies Harpin’ Boontling: A Dying American Dialect? Learn a little about the language spoken by only about a dozen people in California.
*
Lago Epecuén: The Lake That Drowned A Thriving Tourist Village. And then 25 years later, it reappeared -wrecked, but recognizable.
*
8 TV mashups almost as good as the originals. The Three Stooges starring in The A-Team? Yeah, I'll buy that!
*
The disturbing rise of anorexia among very young children. It's too easy for kids to pick up our obsessions without really understanding them.
*
Viral Video Stars Then and Now. They don't look different, but many have parlayed their moment in the sun into careers or or reality TV.
*
Eat Like a Greek: The Mediterranean Diet That Could Save Your Life. A new study touts the benefits of olive oil, nuts, and red wine.
*
Making Roadkill Beautiful. Photographer Marian Drew takes dead animals, cleans them up, and places them in lovely settings for their final portraits.
*
PBS made a cartoon explaining the the tongue-eating fish parasite Cymothoa exigua. Yeah, it's gross.
*
Kimmies Harpin’ Boontling: A Dying American Dialect? Learn a little about the language spoken by only about a dozen people in California.
*
Lago Epecuén: The Lake That Drowned A Thriving Tourist Village. And then 25 years later, it reappeared -wrecked, but recognizable.
*
8 TV mashups almost as good as the originals. The Three Stooges starring in The A-Team? Yeah, I'll buy that!
*
The disturbing rise of anorexia among very young children. It's too easy for kids to pick up our obsessions without really understanding them.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Harlem Shake in 2015
Yeah, the Harlem Shake in LEGO might be a neat thing to watch! From the team at Bold Choice, here's a lesson in what can happen when you spend too much time and effort on your video projects in the era of 15-minute memes. (via The Daily What)
Miss Cellania's Links
On Purposely Getting Arrested, to Get Life-Saving Surgery.
Have Freddie Mercury’s Ashes Been Found? A plaque at London’s Kensal Green Cemetery with the singer's birth name and the correct dates has been discovered.
Brilliant and Bizarre Nail Art Inspired by Internet Memes. Wear these and get ready to explain them to half the people you see.
High School Basketball Player Passes Ball to Developmentally Disabled Player on the Other Team.
Take the Breaking Bad tour of Albuquerque and see how the real places stack up against the show. And notice how the city is wild about the show.
New Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer had to do something, so she cancelled all telecommuting within the company. That may backfire, as telecommuting and workplace flexibility are shown to increase productivity.
Not Just Clean, Cat Clean! Enjoy a collection of videos of cats doing housework.
From Quacks to Quaaludes: Three Centuries of Drug Advertising.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
9 Delightful Garden Cakes
Movie: The Movie: 2V
When I posted Movie: The Movie last year, it seemed we would never need another movie, because it had it all. But wait, there's more! Now Jimmy Kimmel has a sequel to that masterpiece. Because every successful movie needs a sequel for more profit. This one, with super heroes, zombies, vampires, pop singers, and inspirational teachers, is targeted a bit more toward the lucrative teen audience. (via Viral Viral Videos)
Miss Cellania's Links
How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans From Tehran. The 2007 Wired magazine article that inspired the movie Argo.
The things people say to female journalists.
Jewel of the Universe is the fanciest world map you've ever seen.
18 ordinary English words that Julius Caesar spoke. Of course, they were Latin words back then, but they've survived to be used today.
Meet The Most Adorably Terrifying Soldier Ever. Wojtek the “soldier bear” did his part for the Polish Army in World War II.
In response to last week's story about the declining birth rate, folks share their stories of how they decided to remain childless. Or, as many prefer to call it, child-free.
Love on the dole: 18 songs about being on government assistance. Not all of them are sympathetic to the downtrodden.
How does one physicist propose to another physicist? With a research paper entitled "Two Body Interactions: A Longitudinal Study."
Post-Oscar Press Conference
Jennifer Lawrence answered questions from the press after she won the Oscar for Best Actress last night. The 22-year-old is delightfully open and honest -and funny!
Miss Cellania's Links
While everyone was focused on the Oscars, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 won seven awards over the weekend. The movie dominated the annual Razzie awards for the worst in Hollywood cinema.
Michelle Obama Busts a Move with Jimmy Fallon. The First Lady re-enacts the famous Evolution of Dance, mom style.
When we debate health care policy, we seem to jump right to the issue of who should pay the bills, blowing past what should be the first question: Why exactly are the bills so high? The original is fascinating, but here's a TL;DR version. The solution to the problem is simple, but will never fly in today's greed-powered political climate.
Delightful and Hilarious Vintage Library Videos. "The job of librarian would be no less challenging, Captain."
Paws, Pee and Mice: Cats among Medieval Manuscripts. (via Neatorama)
The Shocking Savagery of America’s Early History.
Ted Nugent Dubs Next Tour 'Black Power 2013.'
A Daily Mail reporter went to a British parenting forum to dig up dirt for a story. Instead, she got schooled. (via Ed Yong)
Sunday, February 24, 2013
I Can't Believe These Are All TV Shows
Someone once theorized that new TV shows are created by pulling words out of hats, one the adjective hat and one from the noun hat. That's the only way you can explain Cupcake Wars or Amish Mafia. (via mental_floss)
Rollin' Safari
Life can be difficult when you are not only round but extremely buoyant! This is one of four delightful animated trailers produced to promote the 2013 Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film, all featuring peculiarly inflated animals. (via the Presurfer)
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python's 1975 opus. From Wikipedia:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 British comedy film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin), and directed by Gilliam and Jones. It was conceived during the gap between the third and fourth series of their popular BBC television programme Monty Python's Flying Circus.
In contrast to the group's first film, And Now for Something Completely Different, a compilation of sketches from the first two television series, Holy Grail was composed of new material, and is therefore considered the first "proper" film by the group. It generally parodies the legend of King Arthur's quest to find the Holy Grail. The film was a success on its initial release, and Idle used the film as the inspiration for the 2005 Tony Award-winning musical Spamalot.
Miss Cellania's Links
Collectors Weekly has a fairly comprehensive article on the evolution of black dolls, from homemade dolls to racist caricatures to darker versions of white doll molds to specialty doll companies to what's available today. Because children should have dolls that reflect who they are -and that reflect the people around them.
The weirdest news stories of the week.
Our long nightmare is over -one of the worst tattoos that ever went viral has now been fixed.
Vaguely Rude Place Names Of The World. (via b3ta)
Do children owe anything to their abusive parents?
Fill out your bracket for Pope Madness 2013!
10 Things I Wish I'd Known When I Started My Transition. Even when you know who you are, it can be a surprise to find how the world treats who you become.
This web toy has autoplay music and may be a trigger for certain epileptics. That said, if you choose, bring in the cats! (via Metafilter)
The man who keeps falling in love with his wife. He has no memory of what just happened, but he knows what's important. (via mental_floss)
To This Day
Shane Koyczan eloquently describes how childhood bullying leaves lifetime scars. A huge numbers of artists helped with this project, you can see who they are at the To This Day Project site. (via reddit)
Friday, February 22, 2013
10 Artworks Made from Matchsticks
Miss Cellania's Links
Surreal Landscapes by Jim Kazanjian.
High-tech Surveillance Makes Work More Like Prison. Productivity is king, no matter what it does to real people. (via Daily of the Day)
A First-grader Judges Oscar-nominated Movies by Their Posters. (via Laughing Squid)
What the Tea Party has done to Florida. (via Metafilter)
6 Non-Existent People Who Were Nominated for Oscars.
Academy Award nominees will go home with a gift bag worth $45,000 even if they don't win an Oscar. But some of the weird stuff in those bags will make you scratch your head.
The 1963 book A Cat-Haters Handbook contains quotes about how awful cats are. But the overall effect will make you want to get another cat.
An Illustrated Guide to Recognizing Insane People from 1883. That was back when developmental disabilities and mental illness were equivalent and you could diagnose people by looking at them.
In 1912, Douglas Mawson and 30 other men set out to explore the uncharted territory of Antarctica. But Antarctica, unmapped with no wireless communication, was a treacherous place to survive, much less explore.
How to Become Pope
C. G. P. Grey tells us how you can work your way up to the job of replacing Pope Benedict. It's pretty difficult. It may even be too late to get started, at least for the next conclave. (via mental_floss)
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Black History Month for White People
Chris Menning talks about Black History Month from a white guy's perspective, but a perspective that few white guys seem to have. The links he talks about are all available at his site. (via Metafilter)
Crows in the Snow
One crow is taking full advantage of a snow-covered car, not only by sliding on the window, but also by making snow angels! Look closely, and you'll see him throwing snowballs, too. Before the day is over, he'll have that entire back window cleared. (via Arbroath)
ABCinema - Take 2
Evan Seitz has another fast-moving video quiz in which 26 movies are represented, in alphabetical order. How many can you name? He says this is the final episode of his ABCinema series, which includes movies by numbers, movies by colors, and alphabetic video games, as well as the earlier alphabetical movie quiz. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Miss Cellania's Links
I have a friend in Montreal, a chic shopkeeper and an adoptive mom from my online support group, who's been diagnosed with cancer. She is organizing an online auction to raise funds for cancer research, and is looking for items to fill the sale. More here.
Profiting From Human Misery. Gotta keep keeping those prisons!
How To Tell If You Were Adopted.
11 Reasons The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus Is The Biggest Badass On The Planet.
Guilty Dogs Caught in the Act. Much funnier than cats in these positions, because cats don't care about guilt.
The Delicate Architecture of Water Droplets. If we slow down and take a close look, they're works of art.
32 Crazy Hamantaschen For Purim. With recipe links and a short course in what Purim is about.
The still-unidentified Technoviking is suing Matthias Fritsch for recording his dance and making him a meme. He rejected a generous compromise deal in the case that may have global consequences for artists.
Wesley Snipes is in prison, but he stars in a new movie this year anyway. In Gallowwalkers, he's an Old West gunman pursued by zombies.
Best Picture Oscar Winners: the Supercut
The 85th Academy Awards will be handed out this Sunday. That's a lot of history! This supercut from Nelson Carvajal has clips of all the previous Best Picture winners for your enjoyment. How many have you seen, and how many can you identify? The answers are at the end of the video; you will probably have to see them full-screen to read them. The music is “November” by Max Richter. (via Slate)
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Best Witness Statement Ever
The Crown Prosecution Service in West Midlands, England demanded a
statement from a witness named PC Peach about an arrest. Officers on the
case tried to explain that PC Peach was a police dog, but the demand
for a statement stood. So the dog's handler made out a statement for the
dog as best as he could.
The statement read: “I chase him. I bite him. Bad man. He tasty. Good boy. Good boy Peach.” It stated that the age of the witness was “four” and that his number was PD4341. The document was pinned to the wall at West Midlands Police Station, much to the amusement of colleagues. One officer took a photograph of the statement and it soon appeared on Facebook and on several police Twitter accounts.
The CPS, however, failed to see the funny side and complained to the police that their mistake had been turned into a very public joke. PC Mark Tissington, of West Midlands Police, who is believed to have shared the original picture of the witness form, has referred himself to the internal discipline unit although sources suggested he was unlikely to be reprimanded.
Miss Cellania's Links
Redditor 4ecohgie tells the story of his four grandparents who were all interned in concentration camps during World War II. Follow the whole thread, because it is both fascinating and horrific.
Last year, a group of Sasquatch investigators in Texas announced that they had sequenced Bigfoot's DNA, but they had trouble getting the results published in a scientific journal. Now that data has been published and Ars Technica got a copy. (via Metafilter)
21 Amazing Animals Who Defied The Odds.
Surprisingly, Red Isn’t The Most Dangerous Color You Can Wear Aboard The Starship Enterprise. The statistics of Star Trek: The Original Series tell the real story.
More and more Americans are childless by their own choice. When a logical decision that is good for an individual turns out to be bad for a society, the society will have to change.
Argo and Other Forgivably False “True Story” Films. Does historical accuracy matter that much if the film is really good?
How Britain's Last Hangman Did His Job. Albert Pierrepoint shares the ins and out of execution in the 20th century.
Texas Woman Gives Birth to Two Sets of Identical Twins (at the same time). The odds of this happening are so astronomical, she probably won't do it again.
When your father is a photographer, you get used to modeling at an early age. Photographer Bill Gekas puts his daughter into classic paintings with beautiful results.
Miss Cellania's Links
The art of glassblowing hasn't changed much. It's still just as amazing as it was 2,000 years ago.
Russia's Dyatlov Pass Incident, the Strangest Unsolved Mystery of the Last Century.
Cecil Brown tells the remarkable tale of Stagolee. (via Boing Boing)
The Mao Mango Cult of 1968. A shift in the political focus in China coincided with a box of mangoes, which led to a year-long fad that equated mangos with China's leader Mao Zedong.
How to make your cat Internet famous. The first requirement is that you must have the right cat.
Dogs May Understand Human Perspective Better than Previously Thought. This was determined by a study in which dogs took advantage of an opportunity to misbehave.
Anthony Edwards on Zero Hour, ER, and being Top Gun’s “Mr. Lefty Liberal Peace Lover.” After a decade of retirement, it's good to see that he's back on the big screen.
Some states have specific laws that allow ministers and parishioners to carry firearms in church. It's a tradition that goes back to the days where almost every man was armed as a matter of course.
7 reasons to never ever ever vacation on a cruise ship. Going adrift without power isn't the only disaster that has befallen cruise ships in recent years.
The Box
Joshua Durst brings us a short film about a farting box that illustrates how ducks love juvenile humor. (via Daily of the Day)
8 Underground Rivers
Monday, February 18, 2013
Driving While Stoned
CNN affiliate KIRO tested drivers who had smoked marijuana. Something that never occurred to me is how states with varying levels of legal marijuana use have to establish limits on how much would make you legally ineligible to drive a vehicle. They have, and if these test subjects are any indication, you'll probably need several times the legal limit before police will observe you driving erratically. That said, you should never operate a vehicle, or any heavy machinery, while impaired, legally or not. (via reddit)
Cute Animals Compilation
This is the very definition of fluff snuggling: almost seven minutes of adorable animals of all kinds! Some of these you may have seen, but are worth another look, and some are new. My favorite had to be the poor turtle trying to eat the stickers on its aquarium. But the bunnies made my heart melt! (via Blame It On The Voices)
Miss Cellania's Links
This is what happens when you don't close your html tags and you never ever check your web pages after launch. (via b3ta)
Ken Jennings: America's Hardest-Working Know-It-All.
Fighting 188th forum member Zipidi Doodah (Barry) built a diorama of the Battle of Hoth from the movie The Empire Strikes Back in his living room. It takes up the entire room -over 140 square feet! (via Nerd Approved)
How Manhattan Got Its Street Grid.
A Presidents' Day Round-up of Presidential Facts. You never know when you'll need these bits of trivia for an online quiz or a game show.
Two generations of adoptions in one family highlight the differences between eras. Either way, building a family is a labor of love.
Scholastic books is giving a Harry Potter book a new cover. Fans responded with their own new covers, some of which are quite remarkable.
The weirdest injuries in baseball history. Getting hit with a bat or ball is expected, but how do you bite yourself in the butt?
Wedding Cakes with Hidden Spider-Men is a thing now.
Stan's Rants
Comics legend Stan Lee teamed up with the folks who bring us the How It Should Have Ended video series to show us how he would have improved many of our popular movies. (via Topless Robot)
In the Hospital
The
doctor comes
in and says,
"Ah, I see
you've
regained
consciousness.
Now, you
probably won't
remember, but
you were in a
huge pile-up
on the
freeway.
You're going
to be ok,
you'll walk
again and
everything,
but your penis
was severed in
the accident
and we
couldn't find
it."
The
man groans,
but the doctor
goes on, "You
have $9,000 in
insurance
compensation
coming and we
now have the
technology to
build a new
penis. They
work great but
they don't
come cheap.
It's roughly
$1000 an
inch."
The
man perks up.
"So," the
doctor says,
"You must
decide how
many inches
you want. But
I understand
that you have
been married
for over
thirty years
and this is
something you
should discuss
with your
wife. If you
had a
five-incher
before and get
a nine incher
now she might
be a bit put
out and
suspicious. If
you had a
nine-incher
before, and
you decide to
invest in only
a five incher
now, she might
be
disappointed.
It's important
that she plays
a role in
helping you
make a
decision."
The
man agrees to
talk it over
with his wife.
The
doctor comes
back the next
day. "So, have
you spoken
with your
wife?"
"Yes
I have," says
the man.
"And
has she helped
you make a
decision?"
"Yes,"
says the man.
"What
is your
decision?"
"We're going with the granite countertops."
(Thanks, Rich!)