Hint: two things. (via Bad Newspaper)
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Tinder: The Superhero Movie
A new superhero has arrived! Tinder has the ability to destroy others with a left swipe! Watch him as he battles an army of evil bots set to take over the world -the world of internet dating! Tinder is joined by other superheroes as he pursues his archnemesis eHarmony in a war of wits and superpowers. Too bad Tinder has more power than wit. This movie trailer parody is brought to you by Rooster Teeth. (via Tastefully Offensive)
15 Pop Culture-Themed Graduation Caps
Decorating one’s graduation cap, or mortarboard, is an opportunity to illustrate a degree, share a quote, make a joke, or communicate what’s important to the graduate. Some use movies, TV shows, and internet memes to make a statement. See 15 of them in a list I posted at mental_floss.
Miss Cellania's Links
What Questions the 50 States Ask Google. (via the A.V. Club)
The Commute Map is an interactive graph that shows the flow of commuters in your area. Mark Evans explains more about this visualization at I Like Big Bytes. (via Metafilter)
What The Mark Of The Beast Taught Me About The Future Of Money.
Ranking the best that McDonald's has to offer around the world. April Siese tried them all so you don’t have to.
America’s First Female President (Sort of). Edith Wilson stepped up to run things when her husband suffered a stroke.
Two versions of Good News set the tone for decades of campus comedies. The 1930 version was a victim of the Hays Code; the 1947 remake was cleaned up.
10 Ridiculous Headline/Picture Combinations (That Should Have Led To Major Firings). No one sees the big picture until it’s already gone to print.
The Surprising Upside of Herpes. Not that you’d want it, but there may be a silver lining.
Why This Professor Leaked Standardized Test Questions. You can’t protest what you don’t know about.
Voltige
Léo Brunel’s student animation project Voltage is a nightmare of physics for the characters, but a laugh for us! Two hapless mechanics attempt to protect a customer’s vehicle from disaster when the garage gets a little out of hand. There is no deep message here. It’s just fun. Brunel says this sequence was inspired by Laurel and Hardy. (via Everlasting Blort)
Monday, May 30, 2016
Player Two
When you’re the younger brother, you’re always player two. That’s the way it is growing up playing video games with your older sibling. But there comes a time when “the way it is” suddenly is no more. Older brothers grow up, leave home, and suddenly the younger is player one. While it’s nice to be number one, it’s a bittersweet victory.
Zachary Antell captures that feeling that so much of the video game generation can relate to, in this story that’s making the rounds of various film festivals. If you ever bonded with a sibling over The Legend of Zelda or Super Mario, you might need to have a hankie ready. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Chipmunk Caught Red-Handed
This little chipmunk thought he had stumbled on a perfect treasure trove when he found a full bird feeder. Yet he couldn’t shake the feeling he was doing something wrong by taking all those seeds. When confronted by the guy who loaded the feeder, he did the only thing a thief with a conscience would do. He gave it all back. Under enough pressure, a thief will cough up the goods. Of course, it’s probably just a fear response, but look at how much he had stuffed in those cheeks! (via Arbroath)
The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster
Coal miners in the early 20th century risked their lives just to go to work every day. In the first decade of the 20th century, around a half-dozen miners died on the job every month in the coal mines of northern Illinois. Nationwide, more than 2000 coal miners died on the job every year between 1905 and 1930. But the workers at Cherry Mine in Cherry, Illinois, which included some underage workers as young as 10, never expected a disaster on the scale of the 1909 fire that killed 259 miners. Read the whole story in an article I wrote for mental_floss.
How Is This Not A Thing?
Last Week Tonight wasn’t on TV last night, but John Oliver managed to bring us a video anyway. I think he’s trying to initiate some memes.
Miss Cellania's Links
Rosie the Riveter is Alive and Living in California. (Thanks, Dr. Kimble!)
20 Movies About Real Estate. Also about homeowners, home buyers, home sellers, renters, roommates, and the homeless.
Rapper's amazing new music video about Asians in the film industry. NSFWF lyrics.
The Confusion of Papal Numbering. All in all, it’s a mess in the historical records.
Roots is a Stunning, Unflinching Portrait of American Slavery and Ancestral Pride. The eight-hour miniseries will run tonight through Thursday.
These Women Helped Prevent A Date Rape At A Restaurant. You don’t have to wear a uniform to be a hero.
The federal prison system has a big problem with a little number. For 1 percent of inmates, their release date comes and goes and they’re still in prison.
Corporations have a 1 percent problem, too. Only the outliers keep getting richer, while most go into debt.
Why Graduates Dress the Way They Do. Besides it being a requirement to participate in the ceremony.
Nathan Dances to the Beer Barrel Polka
Nathan the Hairless Chinese Crested dog dances along to Grandma Tillie’s rendition of "Beer Barrel Polka." That should be enough to make you giggle just a little. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Sunday, May 29, 2016
The Best of Spock
Vulcans might be completely logical, and Spock is super smart, but he still had trouble with metaphors. Here are some clips from Star Trek: the Original Series that made us love him so. (via Metafilter)
Ten Examples of Cat Logic
Chris Poole (not Moot) has observed quite a few things about cats while caring for Cole and Marmalade. Here he shares the logic cats us, which is a bit different from human logic. You knew that. But you’ll enjoy this anyway. (via Neatorama)
Un-Melting Things
Let’s Melt This is a YouTube channel that shows various things melting. This one a switch-up, where they show the videos in reverse. It’s neat because instead of being destructive, it looks constructive. Also, some of the things are completely unidentifiable melted, so we get to guess what they are as the video rolls. The only part I don’t like is that the music is backwards, too. If that bugs you, turn the volume down, or mute it. (via Laughing Squid)
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Tap Roots
This 1948 film is a fictionalized version of the story of Newton Knight, who led of group of Southerners who seceded from the Confederacy. Tap Roots was described as "Gone With The Wind for abolitionists," and isn’t all that historically accurate. Knight’s story will be retold again in the new movie Free State of Jones this summer. (via Metafilter)
Cheetah with a GoPro
The folks at the Cincinnati Zoo outfitted Savanna the cheetah with a GoPro camera on her back. She probably wouldn’t have liked one on her head, and you really can’t force a wild cat to do something they don’t want to. Watching her zoom around the compound with this point of view is kind of scary, like riding in the car with your 16-year-old driving.
Even when they go to slow-motion, you really get a sense of how fast they run. I couldn’t even keep up with a cheetah in slow motion! But then again, if a wild predator were chasing me, I might surprise myself. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Next-Level Finger Puppet
Barnaby Dixon shows off his new puppet design, and it’s quite clever. It combines the articulation of a marionette with the direct action of a hand puppet. Of course, the skill of the operator is key to making it move realistically, and he’s pretty good at that, too.
The only drawback I see is that necessarily long loincloth, which could create design problems in making a specific puppet, but I’m sure that can be worked around. Dixon did another video, in which you can see how he assembles the puppet, and then it dances to music. Imagine this with a pair of black gloves underneath for live performance, or green gloves for videos. (via Viral Viral Videos)
Friday, May 27, 2016
When Carmakers Taunted Horses
A hundred years ago, automobiles were a new idea, so why would someone buy a car when they had a perfectly good horse, which was safer? Enter the marketing department. While the poor horses got slandered, there were definite advantages to driving cars, especially in cities. Car manufacturers didn’t have to be so nasty about it, but even when they’re right, business trumps the common good. The campaign against the horse wasn’t nearly as bad as the battle against pedestrians or the campaign to design American infrastructure around the automobile. (Thanks, Phil Edwards!)
Mega Sticky Trap
A group of scientists are testing a new kind of sticky trap. To get accurate information on its effectiveness, they sent various types of humans across a 20-foot section of the material. First, a scientist as a baseline, then a sprinter, then a sumo wrestler. I was hoping the sumo wrestler wouldn’t get his loincloth caught in the sticky stuff. He does. Of course, this is an ad, for a Japanese cockroach trap. For such products, we’d hope they do their testing on actual cockroaches. (via Tastefully Offensive)
12 Ways to Repurpose a Phone Booth
Once upon a time, you could find a phone booth on any city corner. But the rise in mobile phones means they're not used much anymore, and many are likely to be taken out of commission to save on maintenance costs. That might sound like a problem, but for some people, it's an opportunity. Here are some of the most creative ways phone booths have been transformed, in a list I posted at mental_floss.
Miss Cellania's Links
Jonathan Lawrence was the third director hired to shoot the film Empires of the Deep, but the first of three to direct the actual shooting. The story of what went on behind the scenes at Atavist magazine is a fascinating look at how culture clash can suck millions of dollars down the drain. (via Digg)
The Inevitable, Intergalactic Awkwardness of Time Capsules.
Volunteers are fueling the growth of orphanages in Uganda. They need to stop. (via Metafilter)
All-Night French Fries with T-Rex: Seattle's Trippiest Rock-Poster Artist Tells All.
Ranking the Romances of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some are meant to be, while others are just phones in.
I Tried To Follow 8 Different High School Dress Codes And It Was Frustrating. Believe it or not, uniforms are easier.
New Zealand Has A Cave Full Of Glowworms, And It’s Wholly Surreal. It fits in well with the Middle-Earth esthetic.
15 Unrepentantly Trashy Beach Reads for Summer 2016. You might even enjoy them stuck in a flyover state.
The scientific case for being super busy. Your hurried schedule says good things about you.
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Drunk Australians Answer American Trivia Questions
Okay, this premise is guaranteed to be funny. There’s really no reason that Australians should know these things about the United States, but they have a few drinks and give it their best shot anyway. Need I say this contains NSFW language? It does. Anyway, some of these folks know more about America, even drunk, than Americans know about Australia. Honestly, can you name the capital of Australia without looking it up? (via Buzzfeed)
MIss Cellania's Links
Why Are There Violent Rabbits In The Margins Of Medieval Manuscripts? (via Metafilter)
What Not to Wear After Age 50: The Final Say in Very Adult Language. (Thanks, Dawn!)
Beatrix Potter Based Peter Rabbit On Her Pothead Bunny. Benjamin Bouncer was her beloved Belgian hare from 1885 to 1892.
Massachusetts McDonald’s Is Waging Sign War With Liquor Store. (via Neatorama)
“You stupid darkness!” and 29 other Peanuts quotes for everyday use. With context and explanations for each.
I've eaten on $2 a day and tried living on an $8.15-an-hour salary in NYC — here is my single best tip for saving money. You probably already do it.
A pop-up Himeji Castle made with LEGO. A LEGO construction you can unfold like a book!
What it’s like to look for love on a clown dating site. Turns out that niche dating sites can be short on niche people.
We Love Who They Aren't: 7 Famous Impostors. A fake identity could land you in jail, or in a movie.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Syncopated Ladies Salute Prince
Today is National Tap Dance Day! You might think tap is an obsolete form of dance, but the troupe Syncopated Ladies puts a modern twist to their routines.
Here they dance to Prince’s song “When Doves Cry.” They dance in perfect rhythm with very little repetition in the routine. This had to take some real work to learn.
Want to see more tap? Check out these 12 famous tap dance routines.
Miss Cellania's Links
Everything is a Remix: The Force Awakens. JJ Abrams recycles elements in all his movies, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
How 4chan trolls plan to help Donald Trump win the White House. Some people just want to see the world burn.
These Rescued Baby Beavers Will Melt Your Heart. The four kits were taken in as newborns and raised by hand.
Time Trap: How Escape From the Planet of The Apes Was Ahead of Its Time. It was a “sequel, prequel, and reboot” that had to be made due to the demand for more sequels.
10 Lost Islands. Volcanoes, earthquakes, and changing sea levels make them appear and disappear again.
This Comic Sums up Why All Women Need Feminism for Different Reasons.
Sick Dog Who Was To Be Euthanized Gets Diagnosed Just In Time. And he’s recovering nicely.
Why America is about to start freaking out about babies. With the birth rate so low, our demographics may change forever.
Finals Week in Graphs and Charts. Aren’t you glad that’s over for another semester!
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Hamlet Is Back
Shakespeare gets the action movie treatment he deserves in this sequel to Hamlet, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. With a special appearance by Alan Rickman. It's an internet classic from long ago.
Miss Cellania's Links
6 genetic experiments happening now that sound like science fiction. Bringing back extinct species, gender switching, and designer animals are becoming real.
A Look Back at Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The one film that even non-Trekkies can quote. (via Metafilter)
The Fake Disease That Plagued Darwin, and Other Illnesses That Never Actually Existed. Status Lymphaticus, anyone?
Combat juggling exists, and it is damn entertaining. Can you keep three pins in the air and mess your opponent up at the same time?
Why the First Cremation in the U.S. Was So Controversial. Strange that it didn’t happen until 1876.
Why the Big, Bad Kaiser of World War I Grew Up to Be Such a Jerk. Kaiser Wilhelm II had a tragically strange relationship with his mother.
The Gospel of Supply-Side Jesus.
The Cathedral Floor Made of Tombstones. (via the Presurfer)
Monday, May 23, 2016
19 Authors and Their Typewriters
In the more than 100 years between the widespread introduction of the typewriter and the rise of the word processor, a great many masterpieces have been produced on the handy office machines. Some of those machines are still around, and some are still in use. Find out what kind of typewriter your favorite author used in a list I wrote for metal_floss.
9 Unusual Prom Dates
Most students take their significant others or a friend to the prom. But sometimes circumstances, luck, or imagination intervene to pair a promgoer with someone—or something—very unexpected for that special occasion. Check out nine such prom dates in a list I prepared for mental_floss.
Primaries and Caucuses
Why do we hold caucuses and primary elections? You might think it’s to select party candidates, but the party really controls what happens behind the scenes. And that goes for all political parties. John Oliver explains on Last Week Tonight.
She Can Finally Breath
Janeen recently attended her daughter's college graduation ceremonies
(congratulations, Janeen's daughter!) and took many pictures. Another
graduate at the school showed off her decorated mortarboard. She majored
in respiratory therapy, not English. Still, you'd think that the one word a respiratory therapist would be expected to spell properly would be "breathe." (Thanks, Janeen!)
Miss Cellania's Links
George O’Donnell died last week, after a glorious life of drinking, gambling, and womanizing. His family wrote wrote his obituary, which runs ten paragraphs and tells quite a tale. (via reddit)
11 Fascinating Facts About Mad Max.
These Frenchmen Are Building an Epic Medieval Castle. They use authentic techniques from the 13th century for the 25-year project.
10 Cult Films That Found Fame as VHS Bootlegs. The greatest allure is the unavailability of those film through normal. NSFW titles.
One Woman Opens Up About Her Experience With Domestic Violence. When it happens so gradually, it’s hard to know where to draw the line.
Rare Photos Show Mount St. Helens Erupting From View Of Passing Plane. They have only been made public 36 years later.
How to rig elections, the legal way. A primer on gerrymandering.
Grandpa Winner and Other Pro Wrestlers.
Photos of Veterans of the Napoleonic Wars. (via reddit)
Sunday, May 22, 2016
The New West
A gang of outlaws discusses the lack of diversity in their group while awaiting to rob a train. Contains NSFW language.
It turns out that the group is already way more diverse than you would expect in a historical era in which such gangs were usually quite homogeneous -all criminals and all kind of dumb. Well, they got that part right. (via Digg)
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Disney Songs Mashup
Grant Woolard, who gave us that awesome Classical Music Mashup a few months ago, is back to give the same treatment to Disney songs. he mixed 49 different songs into a pleasing mashup that highlights how similar some of them are, illustrated by musical notes made from icons of the movie, to make it easy for you to follow along. Some tunes stand out above the others, while some stay in the background, and others just blend well. I think you’ll like this! (Thanks, Marissa Bush!)
Friday, May 20, 2016
Smoke on the Water (Accordion Version)
I wish I could love anything as much as this guy loves playing rock music on the accordion. (via Metafilter)
Miss Cellania's Links
JBreezyBaby fulfilled a lifelong dream by attending the 2015 Star Wars Celebration and paying to have photos taken the the Star Wars actors. He used them to re-enact scenes from the movies! (via reddit)
Benin’s Amazing Technicolor Voodoo Cloaks. (via the Presurfer)
The “middle class” myth: Here’s why wages are really so low today.
How the Philadelphia Experiment Worked. The true story is nowhere near as exciting as the movie.
Do Overused Words Lose Their Meaning? When enough people repeat a word, a certain percentage of them will use it wrongly.
24 Pictures That Show The Difference Between Having A Dog And A Cat. Take your pick, or have a couple of both.
Kiss Me Deadly: Still The Most Hardboiled Noir Ever. A thorough review that will make you want to watch a 61-year-old film.
7 Nominees for the Best Tree in Literature. See if your favorite is there.
The Last Headhunters. The Konyak Naga tribe no longer cuts off the heads of their enemies, but the oldest warriors carry the tattoos that recorded their victories.
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Spoilers
She didn't bother to tell them that the TV show is further along than the books. (via Bad Newspaper)
Miss Cellania's Links
You can be notified when people open your email messages, even years later. It’s great for some purposes, but creepy for others.
Pre-Meds Should Suffer Through Hunger Games. Competition to get into medical school is stressful, but medicine itself is stressful.
How a Mexican Dictator Introduced Chewing Gum to the US. He wasn’t the one who made the money, though.
What Transmen See that Women Don’t. The world treats you very differently when you’re a man.
12 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Pharmacists.
21 Depressingly Funny Tweets About The FAFSA.
Need some ideas to write your crimefighting buddy story? Try out the generator They Fight Crime. (via Metafilter)
The Waco Horror. The story of the lynching of Jesse Washington 100 years ago is disturbing, and contains graphic photos.
Modern Marriage Proposals. These are some of the pioneers of the creative and very public act of popping the question.
Death in Space
How many ways are there to die in space? Way more than we really want to think about. This animation by Thomas Lucas has quite a few of them, crammed into a very short amount of time. If you’re going to die at the hands of a space alien, better do it within two seconds! Am I horrible for laughing at this? (via Everlasting Blort)
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Miss Cellania's Links
How Epic Fortunes Were Created During the California Gold Rush. (via Digg)
The last King of England who went by the name of Edward was Edward VIII (1936). So, how many King Edwards has England had? Ha. Fooled you. It's eleven. (via Metafilter)
Why Americans Ignore the Role of Luck in Everything. (via Boing Boing)
Canadian North Airlines staff said they would watch a Fort McMurray family’s cat for a few days. In that time, they made Meow Meow a social media star.
Krystel Ciocon and Earle Doudera had a Star Wars wedding, complete with a lightsaber battle between the bride and groom. Oh yes, there are pictures.
The History of Constipation. Backed up to the first mention in medical literature.
Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin Reveals Why He's Killing Your Favorite Characters. It’s honestly not just because he hates the audience.
The grotesque criminalization of poverty in America. Our bail system is one step away from debtor’s prison.
The Appropriate Weight of Grief. How much are you allowed to mourn for a cat? (via Metafilter)
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
The Worst Industrial Disaster in U.S. History
The deadliest industrial disaster in U.S. history occurred on April 16, 1947, in Texas City, Texas. When the French ship SS Grandcamp exploded, a thousand buildings were destroyed and hundreds of people were killed. Among the dead were the firefighters in the Texas City Fire Department. All of their firefighting equipment was destroyed, too, which made the city more vulnerable to the damage of the second explosion. Read the story in an article I wrote for mental_floss.
Miss Cellania's Links
Bar Rescue: Cheers. The reality show gives the once-over to the place “where everyone knows your name.”
The Science Behind North Korean Defectors. Most North Korean defectors in the South are woman, because who pays attention to lowly housewives?
Why Presidential Candidates Get Top Secret Intelligence Briefings. It’s mainly to let them know what they may be getting themselves into.
Don’t fall for Japan’s urban legends. They’re scary enough if you just read them as fiction.
How a Century-Old Territorial Agreement Still Haunts The Middle East. The Sykes-Picot accord carved up the Ottoman Empire.
Can the Christian Left Be a Real Political Force? I hope so.
The Glasgow Ice Cream Truck Wars.
The Zippo at the Bottom of the World. Maciej Cegłowski gives us an unvarnished, darkly funny account of what a port of call is like at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. (via Metafilter)
The Merci Train: 49 Boxcars Filled With Gratitude. (via the Presurfer)
Monday, May 16, 2016
10 Animal Webcams You Can Watch Right Now
One of the great wonders of the internet is the ability to see things happen remotely. There are many facilities that are sharing the wonders of nature with us on live webcams, particularly the activities of their animals raising babies. You can watch cheetahs, pandas, nesting hummingbirds and eagles, walruses, kittens, puppies, and more in this list I contributed to mental_floss.
Calling 911
John Oliver addresses our emergency 911 system on last night’s episode of Last Week Tonight.
Miss Cellania's Links
What Do American Teens Want? Less Racism.
Removing One Letter From a Book Title Completely Changes the Plot. You can join in the game at Twitter.
Walmart saves on security costs by calling the local police constantly. That way, taxpayers pay the bill.
Serena Creary added subtitles to explain the many key changes in the national anthem as performed at a recent Trump rally. Then she added piano. Do not watch while eating or drinking. (via Metafilter)
13 Items Labeled “American” in Other Countries. http://cms.mentalfloss.com/article/79878/13-items-labeled-american-other-countries
The Year Cancer Didn’t Kill Me. A story of dealing with a 50-50 prognosis of survival.
20 Filmmakers on the Art and Habits of Screenwriting. They collect ideas from anywhere and everywhere.
Unearthing the Secrets of New York’s Mass Graves. A million bodies over 150 years can hide a lots of secrets.
Cooking with Tools. There’s more than one way to heat up your dinner.
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Don't Get Screwed Buying A Used Car
If you insist on buying a used car from an individual, this is a pretty good checklist. I took the easy way out and bought the last two cars from my mechanic. There’s not much selection, but he occasionally has a repair job that doesn’t ever pay or pick up the vehicle (yes, he had the titles). Or I can find a car and take it to the same mechanic and he’ll check all these things and tell me whether it’s worth buying. My family has pretty much paid for his last boat, so he’s good to us. (via Digg)
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