Trading One for Another

While we may be glad to say goodbye to the old and hello to the new, keep in mind that the new is a complete unknown that may be even worse. But hey, any new year is a new opportunity. The year 2017 will be what we make of it. This is the latest comic from John McNamee at Pie Comic.

Year-end Lists 2016: Personal

Hope you are all having a safe and peaceful New Year holiday weekend. On a personal note, looking back at 2016 is mainly about my kids' accomplishments. Our two youngest children graduated from high school, so Mr. Cellania and I are officially empty-nesters.

It's not so easy. Daily life is easier, but we are both so used to caring for children that we've became crazy cat people. I lost my beloved cat Gogo this year, so the three younger cats are getting so much attention that they may as well be speaking English to us. Marshmallow, who is deaf and anti-social, had a hard time dealing the Gogo's absence. I did not know they were that close, but they did usually occupy the same room. Since the tom cats are always outside or sleeping, Marshmallow has started letting us pet her and sometimes she even comes into a room with humans in it.

But 2016 was about the kids. Gothgrrl and Cowgirl both graduated in May, worked all summer, then went to college. Cowgirl is on the equestrian team at a Kentucky school and racks up ribbons every weekend. Gothgrrl got a full ride at a school in Minnesota; she is majoring in nursing, and will begin a well-paying CNA job in January. Princess is living in Georgia, majoring in historic preservation, and will be a junior when school starts again next week. In 2016, she got a boyfriend, an apartment, and two jobs.

I am quite proud of all of them. I am also thankful for free long-distance cell phones and FaceTime. I rarely spoke to my parents when I was in college, but the girls can keep in touch much more easily these days.

Thanks you for coming to Miss Cellania in 2016. Your visits, shares, and comments are what keeps this blog going! Hope you have a wonderful 2017!   

Orca Beached by Low Tide

In July 0f 2015, a juvenile orca found herself stuck on the rocks on the coast of British Columbia when the tide went out. Volunteers worked all day to keep the orca wet, to prevent overheating and sunburn, until the tide came back in. The rising water allowed her to swim back out. See pictures of the rescue operation at Laughing Squid.

Year-end Lists 2016: Miscellaneous

(Image credit: Eena Scott/Fusion)

No, 2016 wasn’t ALL terrible: These were the bright moments.

33 Pictures That Show 2016 Wasn’t A Completely Terrible Year.

Oxford Dictionaries have designated "post-truth" their Word of the Year for 2016.  

Flo & Joan get all sweary with a song about 2016. Contains NSFW language.

Cracked's Year in Review, Illustrated in Photoplasty.

The 10 Best Ads of 2016.

29 Perfect Tweets About Being A Woman In 2016.

Mapping the Year in Truck Spills. An interactive map.

The Ringer's Best Video Games of 2016.

An Overly Specific Look At The Best Games Of 2016.

Dezeen's top 10 houses of 2016.

The Best Stand Up Comedy Moments of 2016! (As Decided by the Club Owners, Bookers and People Who Produce Comedy)

The Dogs of 2016


In 2016, as in every other year, dogs were ready to bring us joy. The folks at We Rate Dogs put together a compilation of the most adorable dog videos of the year. Those are good dogs. The song is "Center of Gravity" by Brazen Youth.

Best of Media Corrections 2016.  

The Year in Money.

Nine Cars Americans Loved or Hated in 2016.

What 2016 meant for Asian Americans.

What Did We Get Stuck In Our Rectums Last Year? And other orifices.

See more year-end lists here.

The End

(via Mostly Forbidden Zone)

Tweet of the Day

2016 (via @silentmoviegifs) pic.twitter.com/71HDmKJcJw

— Melissa Gira Grant (@melissagira) December 11, 2016

Let's drink to 2016! (via Everlasting Blort)

Goodbye, 2016?

From Matthew Inman at The Oatmeal. (via Facebook)

Year-end Lists 2016: Best of Blogs

Based on a tweet by Karina Farek!

A photo posted by Dami Lee (@dami_lee) on Nov 16, 2016 at 7:13am PST

The year we wanted to hide from, by Dani Lee at As Per Usual Comics.


Neatorama's Top Ten Posts of 2016.

2016: The Year in Digg.

These Top 10 Reddit Posts Are the Perfect Reflection of 2016.

Mental_floss's 35 most popular stories. 

Longreads Best of 2016: Here Are All of Our No. 1 Story Picks from This Year. 

The Onion’s Best Photojournalism Of 2016.

Cake Wrecks posted The Best Literal LOLs, The Best Misunderstandings, and The Best NSFW Wrecks of 2016.  

The 25 Most Popular Atlas Obscura Stories of 2016.

Read the best stories Fusion published this year.

Your Most Favorite Viral Viral Video Posts In 2016. 

Death, politics, and Vincent van Gogh: 2016 as seen through the lens of Wikipedia.

The Most Memorable Crime Stories Buzzfeed Published This Year. And their most popular feature stories.

The A.V. Club's 2016 Retrospective.

Ars Technica's most popular stories of 2016.

Fark's Headlines of the Year. Also, their top voted pun headlines.

All The UPROXX Videos From 2016 You Need To Check Out.

The top ten TreeHugger posts of 2016.

See more year-end lists here.

The Most Cringe-Worthy Political Moments of 2016

How crazy was the election of 2016? Here's a compilation of some of the more memorable moments. HuffPo says this is just a partial compilation, because otherwise it could be an hour long. (via Tastefully Offensive)

The Life and Death of Grigori Rasputin

Rasputin, the mad monk of Russia, was assassinated 100 years ago, in the early morning of December 30, 1916. The police investigation never led to a court case, and those who are suspected of being involved gave conflicting reports. The legend goes that after surviving several earlier assassination attempts, on December 30, he was poisoned, which had no effect; shot in the chest, but he got back up; beaten, to no avail; and then shot in the head, when he finally succumbed to death. Sometimes an attempted drowning is included in the story, but Rasputin was dead when his body was thrown in the Neva River, where it was found two days later under ice. 

A hundred years later, we are still fascinated by the story of the mystic who wielded a huge influence over the last Tsar's family. Darmon Richter and Diana Naneva of the webcomic Rasputina tell the short version of Rasputin's life and death graphically at Atlas Obscura.

Evil Thoughts

(via Mostly Forbidden Zone)

May the Force be With Them

(via Fark)

2016: The Movie

If 2016 were a movie, it would be a horror film. And that's exactly how it's portrayed in this trailer. First, a sense of unease, then things happen that you can't explain, and then your worst nightmares come true.

Brian Huther, Ben Auxier, and Seth Macchi crammed all the unease and suspense of 2016 into one trailer. I don't think I'd want to see the full feature. (via Uproxx)

Year-end Lists 2016: News

 John Oliver's last show of the year aired on November 13, and it was way too NSFW for me to post it at the time like I normally do. I kind of expected that after the election. It is mostly about the election, but also includes an expletive-laden roundup of the horrible things that happened in 2016.

Dave Barry's Year in Review. 

The New York Times Year in Pictures.     

2016’s top 10 news stories ranked by the Associated Press.

So long, 2016: the year of the political earthquake.

The 6 biggest political surprises in 2016. 

The 12 kookiest political moments of the year — that don’t involve Trump or Clinton.

The 4 most severely undersold political stories of 2016.

2016 In Review Fast Facts.

12 Stories From Around The World That Show What Really Happened In 2016.

2016: The Year in Quotes (from world leaders).

The year that broke: 16 ways 2016 let us down.

Inspiring images from the many, many protests of 2016.

The Year in Hoaxes: Pizzagate, Plus-Sized Undies and a Lying Santa.

The Worst Political Predictions of 2016.

The Year That Culture Disappeared.

99 Reasons Why 2016 Was a Good Year.

The Most Awkward TV News Bloopers Of 2016.

The Top 10 Weirdest Stories Of 2016.

2016's Over Now


Tessa Netting sums up the year in a song in Hamilton-style rap. The lyrics are at the YouTube page.

See more year-end lists here.

Miss Cellania's Links

How to Saber Champagne. That's the way to really show off at your New Year's Eve party.

5 Discoveries Made by the Large Hadron Collider (So Far). Physicists think there's a lot more on the horizon.

Leia Organa: A Critical Obituary. A rundown of the Star Wars character's extensive career as a Rebel warrior. (via Metafilter)

The Actors Who’ve Played Batman. Eight men have given the Caped Crusader eight different spins.

5 Reasons Fake News Killed Facts In 2016.

Congratulations to reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who is officially engaged to tennis star Serena Williams.

Trump May Well Try to Clamp Down on Anti-Trump Humor; Can He?

Guy Who Harassed Leslie Jones and Got Banned From Twitter Now Has a Six-Figure Book Deal. A case of bad behavior paying off spectacularly.

Why Sarah Paulson stole the show in 2016. In The People Vs. OJ Simpson, she perfectly conveyed the real struggles of a woman in a high-profile profession.

Even Small Changes In Global Temperatures Can Have Disastrous Consequences For Birds. Their yearly migration patterns are linked to temperature.

Everything you need to know about New Year's Eve champagne. It's the wine that shouts "celebration!"
 

Year-end Lists 2016: People

2016 has been a horrible year for celebrity deaths. Chris the Barker, who created this image for a b3ta challenge, will tell you about it.  He's had to update his very popular artwork many times.

The Top Baby Names Of 2016 (100 for girls, 100 for boys).

Men Who Got Away With It in 2016.

The People You Needed To Read About In 2016.

The 18 Biggest Breakout Stars Of 2016.

A Tribute to Barack Obama

Spiros Lena made a tribute to the "coolest President the world has ever seen" set to the song "Don't Go" by Jon Tarifa.

Kim Kardashian, Brangelina and the Most Shocking Celebrity Scandals of 2016.

2016’s Most Charitable Celebrities. 

38 Celebrity Couples That Got Married This Year.

The 10 Most Dramatic Celebrity Relationship Moments Of 2016.

53 Celebrity Breakups That Prove Love Died In 2016.

Celebrity Deaths in 2016: Some of the Many Famous Figures We Lost This Year. It's a long list.

Stars We Lost

See more year-end lists here.

Bumps on Your Head

(via Mostly Forbidden Zone)

Tweet of the Day

pic.twitter.com/R7bOrjLUik

— Daisy Ridley❄️ (@_DaisyRidley_) December 28, 2016

Carrie Fisher completed all her scenes for Star Wars Episode VIII before she passed, so we will see Leia Organa next year. (via Uproxx)

She's Got Legs -or Does She?

A few days ago, redditor jr0d7771 posted this picture and gave us a conundrum. There are obviously five young women sitting on the couch. But there are four pairs of legs. The woman in the middle appears to have none. Can you figure it out?

First off, you shouldn't be led by my assumption that it's the middle woman who has no legs. It could be any of them. When you've given up, you can read about the investigation and conclusion at The Concourse.

People Are Awesome: The Best of 2016

People Are Awesome looked back at all the great videos of folks doing impressive things over the past year and compiled them together for you. These athletic young people show off amazing skills while having the time of their lives. The activities themselves are pretty offbeat. There are two guys playing ball while skydiving. A fellow hits a golf ball into a pool. Several people, unaware of each other, use inner tubes as targets of one sort or another. But they are all awesome. (via Tastefully Offensive) 

Year-end Lists 2016: The Internet

Twitter's look at 2016

2016.#ThisHappened pic.twitter.com/dyBWDvQjtj

— Twitter (@twitter) December 6, 2016

The most-shared Tweet and other statistics from Twitter in 2016.

The definitive meme of 2016. The real title of this article is NSFW.

19 of the best Snapchats of 2016.     

100 Outstanding Audio Stories of 2016. Podcasts to keep your commute interesting for months.

2016’s most popular destinations, according to Instagram.

What Went Viral in 2016 — and Where Is It Now? 

Damn, internet: 9 people made famous by the internet in 2016. 

The Year’s Most Depressing Meme.

The Year in Memes.

These Are The Most Popular YouTube Videos Of 2016.

2016 Internet Slang: A Year in Review.

Protecting Net Neutrality and the Open Internet: 2016 in Review.

Google's Year In Search 2016

See what we were looking for in 2016. It wasn't all about the U.S. presidential election, and it wasn't all doom and gloom. But even some is too much. Google has a breakdown of the top search terms by category globally and in each country, plus breakout trends by month, subject, or country, and even a map of search terms.

See more year-end lists here.

The Untold Truth Of Darth Vader

You think you everything there is to know about Darth Vader? There have been tons of publicity about Star Wars' most popular character, who has appeared in seven movies so far (and another as a dead icon), but I'll bet there's something in this video that you haven't heard before. I've been following Star Wars since 1977, and even I didn't know about all the shenanigans that went on behind the scenes of the original trilogy. Get the lowdown on Darth Vader right now, in the video and more at Looper.

Cougar Talk

You've probably heard recorded cougar screams, the blood-curdling threats of a cat determined to vanquish all competitors or warn intruders away. This is different. Mac isn't trying to terrify anyone; he just knows it's time for breakfast, and like any cat, he's going to let you know that he doesn't like to wait. The sounds coming out remind me of a person trying to imitate a cat. Mac lives at Big Cat Rescue in Florida.

Year-end Lists 2016: Sports

Sports was the relatively bright spot in an otherwise bummer of a year. The 2016 Olympics in Rio had its share of scandal (Rio, Ryan Lochte), but it also gave us Michael Phelps and the US gymnastics team. And 2016 also gave us the Cubs.

The stars of Rio 2016.

The 7 Greatest Moments of the Rio Olympics.

Rio Olympic controversies and scandals. 

Sports Illustrated's most memorable sports moments of 2016.

The Best Sports Photos of 2016.

Some of the best feel-good stories in college sports for 2016.

Top baseball stories of 2016: Cubs win, Odor punches, Jays reach ALCS.

20 Biggest College Football Stories Of 2016.

Top Fantasy Football Stories of 2016.

Top 10 stories of 2016 around Planet Fútbol.

Looking back on the biggest soccer stories of 2016.

The 16 Most Memorable NBA Moments Of 2016.

The 10 Best WWE Matches Of 2016.

See more year-end lists here.

Your Idea

(via Mostly Forbidden Zone)

Tweet of the Day

I'll still be waiting for you....... pic.twitter.com/ef461OcqKJ

— Carrie Fisher's Dog (@Gary_TheDog) December 27, 2016

Try not to tear up. I dare you. Gary will be going to live with Fisher's daughter, Billie Lourd.

Taken

(Thanks, Bill!)

Miss Cellania's Links

4 Classic TV Show Deaths. With video evidence so you can relive the moments.

In the new movie Why Him? Bryan Cranston doesn't like his daughter's new rich boyfriend. In the parody Why Walt? Bryan Cranston is his daughter's rich boyfriend, Walter White. Contains NSFW language.

The U.S. government is asking foreign visitors to hand over their social media profiles. There's no law against it, but the ACLU doesn't like it.

A Journey To The Bottom Of The Internet. In which we get a look at the cables that carry signals all over the world.

Marvel icon Stan Lee turned 94 years old, so let's celebrate by watching his movie cameos from the past 16 years.

36 Bizarre Things Being Dropped on New Year’s Eve. Many towns have their own version of the Times Square celebration, with a little local flavor.

The Importance of General Organa.

National Geographic's Nature Photographer of the Year 2016 winners. All winning photographs are available as wallpapers, too! (via Boing Boing)

Year-end Lists 2016: TV

Uproxx's 20 Best TV Shows Of 2016: From O.J. Simpson To Bojack Horseman And Beyond.

io9's 10 Best (and Five Worst) TV Shows of 2016.

Flavorwire's Best TV Shows of 2016.

The Ringer's Best TV Shows of 2016.

The Av. Club's Best of TV 2016, part one and part two.

The Ringer's Best TV Episodes of 2016.

Uproxx's Best TV Episodes Of 2016.

Flavorwire's 10 Best TV Episodes of 2016.

Flavorwire's 15 Best TV Performances of 2016.

23 TV Sex Scenes You Need To See From 2016. NSFW.

The Pop Culture Advent Calendar. A reminder of some of the good things of 2016.

The 40 Most WTF British TV Moments Of 2016. 

The 10 Best SNL Sketches of 2016.

Uproxx's Very Specific Best Of TV Awards For 2016.

37 Of The Best TV Lines From 2016 According To Twitter.

37 TV Deaths Of 2016 We Still Can’t Get Over.

From ‘Snail Trails’ To Singalongs: The Best Stand-Up Specials Of 2016.

See more year-end lists here.

Miss Cellania's Links

The Power of Red Pens, Red-Clad Politicians, and Red Sneakers. What research says about the effect of color.

Iran has the death penalty for homosexuality but subsidizes sex reassignment surgery.  

5 Times Carrie Fisher Made Hollywood History. She was much more than Princess Leia.

Full Star Wars Movie Schedule and Release Date Calendar. Mark your appointment book through the year 2020.

Cheetahs Are Far Closer To Extinction Than We Realized. Loss of habitat has the numbers down to little over 7,000.

Let Kids Lose! Scientists Say It Helps Children Learn Better Judgment. Mistakes made as a child are less costly than those of a young adult.

The 21 Worst Handymen In The World. Sometimes you gotta work around what you already have.

How One Man Used a Deck of Cards to Make Parapsychology a Science. Dr. Joseph B. Rhine develop Zener cards to test psychic abilities.

10 tasty winter-weather drinks to keep you warm. Although they may leave you too tipsy for ice skating.


Everything is Fine: House Republicans Propose Fines for Congressional Live-Streams. We'll no longer get to see sausage being made.

6 New Year Traditions from Around the World. Maybe we should try them all out.
 

This Is Why Your New Year's Will SUCK!

Have you ever had a truly wondrous New Year's Eve celebration? Yes? Too bad, that just means all your other New Year holidays will be compared to it, and will never measure up. The New Year is a holiday based on the calendar and the ideas we have imbued it with. The end of one year and the beginning of another is just the change of one day to another, and there's really no magical quality to it. The secret to having a good New Year is to keep your expectations low. And try not to invite a hangover. This is the latest video from AsapSCIENCE.

Year-end Lists 2016: Books

The New York Times 10 Best Books of 2016.

The Washington Post's 10 Best books of 2016.

Boing Boing's 2016 Book Guide.

Flavorwire's 15 Best Books of 2016.

Digg's 10 Best Books of 2016.

The A.V. Club's 20 favorite books of 2016.

The 31 Most Interesting Comics of 2016.

io9's 20 Best Comics of 2016.

Buzzfeed's 24 Best Fiction Books Of 2016.

Buzzfeed's 18 Best Nonfiction Books Of 2016.

The Best Memoirs of 2016.

The Best Self-Published Books of 2016.

Buzzfeed's 19 Of The Best YA Books Of 2016.

My Favorite African Science Fiction and Fantasy (AfroSFF) Short Fiction of 2016.

7 Must-Read Historical Fiction Books of 2016.
Hidden gems of 2016: the best books you may have missed.

See more year-end lists here.

Green Olives

(via Mostly Forbidden Zone)

Year-end Lists 2016: Science

Top 10 science stories of 2016: Gravitational waves, Zika, Proxima b and more.

The biggest science stories in 2016.

The Top 10 Science Stories of 2016.

The Most Popular Science Stories of 2016.

33 Science Facts We Didn’t Know At The Start Of 2016.

6 Science Breakthroughs Of 2016 That Might Save Humanity.

2016's best bits: breakthroughs in science.

16 Depressing Science And Health Stories From 2016.

The Best Space Photos of 2016.

2016: the year in space. 

The biggest chemistry-related stories from 2016.

Images of 2016 in physics.

The 10 Weirdest Animal Stories of 2016.

The 9 Biggest Archaeology Findings of 2016.

The Coolest Archaeological Finds of 2016.

Reporting Archaeology in the Post-truth Era. 2016 was an epic year for failures of archaeology.

Medical and Health News That Stuck With Us in 2016.

The best climate graphics of the year.

The Top Eight Ocean Stories That Made Waves in 2016.

A look back at the country’s most disastrous weather of 2016.

Meet the Most Incredible Robots of 2016. 

The Top 10 Websites for Science in 2016. 

The Worst Websites for Science in 2016.

The Biggest Junk Science of 2016.

(Image credit: NASA/ESA)

See more year-end lists here.

Miss Cellania's Links

Liquor Laws Around the World. Every nation limits drinking in their own way.

There is no other helicopter in the world like Marine One, the president's No. 1 getaway vehicle. It's as first-class as a helicopter can get.


A Trump Christmas Carol. (via Boing Boing)

Who Dies Most Often in Movies? It's not Sean Bean.

An 8-year-old dressed up as Ruth Bader Ginsburg for Superhero Day. http://fusion.net/story/377869/8-year-old-dresses-rbg-for-super-hero-day/ RBG loved it.

Human-robot marriage could be legal by 2050, experts say. But probably not that soon in America.

Meet Margaret Douglas, the Tudor that time forgot. She was never a monarch, but is the ancestor of many.  

When Spinsters Couldn't Get Credit. Even working divorcees and widows lost out because a credit history belonged to their husbands until the 1974.

Clico: The Story of Franz Taaibosch. He was short, talented, and African, so he became of part of the freak show.

Post Apocalyptic Fiction

(via reddit)

Year-end Lists 2016: Movies

Moving Pictures 2016

Relive the films of 2016 in this trailer mashup by teenage film editor Clark Zhu. He included 262 films and sorted them into five parts: epic, silly, suspenseful, romantic, and dramatic. You'll find a list of the films, in the order used, at Zhu's website.

The Ringer's Best Movies of 2016.

Uproxx's 20 Best Films Of 2016.

Digg's 10 Best Movies of 2016.

The Verge's 15 best movies of 2016.

Rotten Tomatoes' top rated movies of 2016.

The best films of 2016 ... that you probably didn't see.

IndieWire's 25 Best Movie Moments of 2016.

io9's Best, Worst, and Most Unforgettable Movie Moments of 2016.

The 25 worst movies of 2016, according to critics.

Sleepy Skunk's 2016 Movie Trailer Mashup

Every year, Sleepy Skunk does a masterful mix of the biggest movies of the year. There are 282 films in the 2016 video. A list of the films used can be found at Sleepy Skunk's Tumblr. 

IMDb's 2016 Most-Viewed Stars Ranking. 

Flavorwire's 10 Best Documentaries of 2016.

The Best Historical Films of 2016.

Best movie mistakes of 2016.

The best movie trailers of 2016.

The Best Movie Posters of 2016.

The Worst Movie Posters of 2016.

Film Critic David Ehrlich's 25 Best Films of 2016

The first three minutes are a montage of 2016 films. The countdown begins after that. 

See more year-end lists here.

Please Come to the Point

(via Mostly Forbidden Zone)

Year-end Lists 2016: Music

As in years past, I spend the final week of December compiling lists of the best of and worst of the year, categorized in different posts. Expect more of this all week long. Today we are looking at the music of 2016.

United State of Pop 2016 (Into Pieces)

DJ Earworm is back with his mashup of the biggest pop hits of the year. The 2016 version continues a trend that aging folks know well -every year the music gets less recognizable. But it's got a good beat; I can dance to it.

The best songs of 2016: A 24-hour Spotify playlist.

Digg's 10 Best Songs of 2016.

The Ringer's Best Singles of 2016.

Rolling Stone's Highest Rated Albums of 2016.

The Ringer's Best Albums of 2016.

Bandcamp's Best Albums of 2016.

Uproxx's 20 Best Albums Of 2016.

The A.V. Club’s 20 best albums of 2016.

Spin's 50 Best Albums of 2016.

Digg's 10 Best Albums of 2016.

Album of the Year's albums of 2016.

Uproxx's Best Country Albums, Best Rap Albums, Best R&B Albums, and Best Pop Albums Of 2016.

The Best Southern Records 2016.

19 Best Music Videos Of 2016.

The year in band names, 2016.

Best of Bootie 2016 (the best song mashups).

These Are The Five Worst Songs Of 2016.

You Came For 2016

See more year-end lists here.

Miss Cellania's Links

Alien: Covenant Trailer, Release Date, Casting, Story Details & Everything We Know. Ridley Scott's new sequel/prequel is scheduled to be in theaters on May 17.

23 Teachers You Wish You Had As Your Teacher. A sense of humor goes a long way.

2016: The Year American Cinema Was Saturated in Beauty, and American Reality Was Saturated in Ugliness. Contains spoilers for some recent films.

She Went To Alaska To Photograph Polar Bears In Snow, But Found No Snow. The bears, however, posed nicely for pictures.

75 Years After Her Debut, Wonder Woman Remains Iconic. Her creator, William Moulton Marston, imbued her with his personal concept of feminism.

The Most Commonly Misused English Words. Check to see if you know their exact meanings. 

8 wacky ways to top a latke. Because you can't risk getting tired of those wonderful treats.

6 Badass Unsung Heroes From History's Darkest Hours.

Donald Trump will be president because James Comey and Loretta Lynch were scared. This is how bullies win.

Can't Hang Out

(via Buzzfeed)

Man and Fish are Old Friends

The Asian sheepshead wrasse is a long-lived, funny-looking fish native to the Pacific Ocean near Korea, Japan, and China. Hiroyuki Arakawa is a diver who made friends with a wrasse named Yoriko over 25 years ago. Arakawa dives to an underwater Shinto shrine at Japan's Tateyama Bay, and taps out a familiar call with a hammer. Yoriko then knows he has a visitor. Arakawa obviously enjoys seeing Yoriko, and you can assume that Yoriko is just as happy. (via the Presurfer)

The Baby Cried, So Everyone Cried

(via reddit)

Tree's on Fire

(via Mostly Forbidden Zone)

A Cake Wrecks Christmas

See a roundup of holiday horrors at Cake Wrecks. And here's more.

Tweet of the Day

Watch @POTUS and @FLOTUS give their last holiday message from the White House: https://t.co/DMIoyKr3WH

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 24, 2016

Yeah, it's late, but I've been busy today. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Tip Jar in Mexico

(via reddit)

An Honest Ad for a Hotel

Cracked has managed to ruin the experience of many products and services for you with Honest Ads. Now Roger Horton is back again, with the lowdown on hotels. Grody, huh? These are the things you try your best not to think about when you're selecting a place to sleep on the road. Often, you don't have a choice. (via Cracked)

Merry Christmas from the Ryder Ranch

(via Pleated-Jeans)

Cars of the Future (1948)

In 1948, our visions of the cars of the future were more aligned to design instead of engineering. Imagine a shiny new car that looked like an airplane! By the time these prototypes would be ready for sale, airplanes would have moved on. Can you imagine the added cost of a car that came with its own automatic jacks? The real innovations in automotive technology would make them more efficient, safer, and easier to use. You must admit that anti-lock brakes, rack and pinion steering, automatic transmissions, air-cooled engines, and crumple zones would have made for a boring short to see in a theater between features. (via the Presurfer) 

Santa's Shiner

(via Distractify)

The Many Faces of Santa Claus

You probably think of Santa as a jolly guy in a red suit who hangs out with elves and reindeer. But that’s only the American view. Saint Nick, it turns out, is a man of the world, and other countries have their own wildly varying versions. See several of them at Neatorama.

Christmas Fun for Big Cats

The cats of Big Cat Rescue get their Christmas treats just like house cats: trees, boxes, gift wrap, and even paper ornaments. What else could a cat want? Watch tigers, cougars, bobcats, leopards, and a serval destroy the accoutrements of the holiday. (via Tastefully Offensive)

Miss Cellania's Links

For the Record: The Most Successful Songwriters in Rock History.

25 Funny Historical Letters to Santa. 

The Great Yuletide Caper: The Year I Got My Christmas Tree From The Cheesecake Factory.

Meet the Real-Life Rocket Scientists Behind Hidden Figures. The mathematicians who powered the space race also fought against segregation.

What's With the Odd European Replica Towns All Across the United States? Some go with their heritage, while others were theme parks from the beginning.

This Year’s Extreme Weather Was One For The Books. Wildfires, floods, and tornadoes, oh my!

Victorians' Christmas Parlor Games Will Leave You Burned, Bruised, And Puking. This was before we could get our violence from TV.

Christmas at the White House. Photographs showing us how 12 First Families decorated and celebrated.

Obama Sings a Christmas Song

The YouTube account baracksdubs won't have many more chances to put these Obama videos together. So here's a special holiday edit for President Obama's last Christmas in the White House.

Can't Count

(via reddit)

Cat-Proof Christmas Trees

Chris Poole celebrates Christmas with his cats Cole and Marmalade, and comes up with a list of alternative Christmas trees that the cats won't destroy. One solution to the cats vs. tree problem is to give in and create a tree they can destroy, made of boxes covered with Christmas wrap. That is awesome. But it's not cat-proof, just a way of catering to them. It's too late for you to take most of these ideas for a Christmas tree substitute, but that's not really the point. It's a nice visit to two cats enjoying Christmas to the max. (via Uproxx)

Naughty Santa

(via Buzzfeed)

The Elephant in the Room

(Thanks, Kurt!)

Miss Cellania's Links

White Christmas: The Movie. It took forever to get off the ground, but the result was a smash. 

How free college transformed this Rust Belt town in Michigan. Investing in young people pays off long-term, if we have the patience.


Furiosa’s Cat Feeder. What can a hacker do when her cat's a hacker, too? (via Metafilter)

Why does a frozen lake sound like a Star Wars blaster? Or maybe it's the other way round -that sound had to come from somewhere.   

Texas is trying to defund Planned Parenthood. History shows us why that would be a nightmare.


Vintage Christmas Movies. Holiday films from as far back at 1898 are available through YouTube.

The Reindeer Dancing Simulator is a game somewhat akin to Dance Dance Revolution, with a reindeer doing the steps. I couldn't get the hang of it, but it's worth a try to watch those reindeer limbs fly around in ridiculous ways. 

What Are the Most Egregiously George Lucas-Ass Names in Baseball?  (via Metafilter)

25 Facts About Famous Christmas Movies. The more you know, the more you can show off while your family watches them.