(via Bad Newspaper)
Friday, March 31, 2017
Bubble Party
— (=^･ω･^=) (@kirayusa) March 9, 2017
As nice as it to watch a couple of raccoons play with bubbles, turning on the sound will only add to that enjoyment. (via Everlasting Blort)
The Medium Cat
Atchoum is a French Canadian cat with hypertrichosis who communicates with ghosts. He also does owl impressions. Otherwise he looks like a small dog with a bad case of bedhead. Here, he explains how he deals with ghosts, and the other residents of his home. You might have to watch this video twice to catch everything Atchoum does, since you may have to follow the dialogue by the subtitles. See more of Atchoum at his Facebook page. This video dub is from Faireset, who has given us several great cat videos. (via Metafilter)
Mail Carrier vs. Attack Cat
Debra Anderson delivers mail in Canada. She seems like a cheerful person. She really gets a kick out of one of the homes she delivers to, because of the tuxedo cat that obviously hates her. Here's art two, taken a few days later.
Anderson truly enjoys her job. I hope she enjoys having a viral video. (via reddit)
12 Amazing Underground Destinations to Visit
It's going to be hot this summer, so you might want to visit a really cool place on your vacation. It's always cool underground, and the world offers many fascinating underground travel destinations you might consider. Check out a dozen of them in this list I posted at mental_floss.
Miss Cellania's Links
21 Famous Movie Scenes with the Added Benefit of Photoshop.
Designing Lessons from Cats. While this motivational article is about designers, it could apply to any worker. (via Metafilter)
The Old Man Who Claimed to Be Billy the Kid. Ollie “Brushy Bill” Roberts convinced quite a few people he was the famed outlaw.
These Fish Inject Predators With Opioid Venom and That's Not Even the Coolest Part. The tiny fangblennie is impressing evolutionary scientists with its tiny teeth.
Freemasonry Forsaken: 16 Abandoned Masonic Lodges, Temples and Halls. Secret societies can't fill a big man cave anymore.
The Myth of Professional Beggars Spawned Today’s Enduring Stereotypes. If the undeserving poor were punished enough, they'd stop being poor.
Alex Yeatts created what appears to be natural geodes, but they're entirely edible chocolate and rock sugar! It took him six months to perfect the technique.
The secret monopoly behind America's outrageous drug prices. Martin Shkreli is more the rule than the exception.
Bare Skin! 'Hussies'! Miss America's Scandalous Beginnings.
The Lure of Fishing
I have an ongoing project to make posts for mental_floss articles I wrote way back when that I do not have an archive for. Here's another one, from 2007.
Now that the daylight lasts longer and the weather is more pleasant, it's time to confront the big decision: should I mow the lawn or go fishing?
Field and Stream published a list of the 50 Best Fishing Lures. Just the names made me curious: Swedish Pimple, Pencil-Popper, Pork Frog- those terms probably make perfect sense to a fisherman. But not to me. So I went looking for strangeness in the world of fishing lures. See what I found in a list at mental_floss.
Thursday, March 30, 2017
World's Fastest Bumper Car
Who would bother making a souped-up bumper car? Why, it's Colin Furze, of course! He installed a 600cc motorcycle engine in an old bumper car, and off he goes!
Ray Manzarek Tells the Story of "Riders on The Storm"
In this video from a few years ago, musician Ray Manzarek recalls how The Doors wrote "Riders on the Storm." Even of you don't listen to the story, the music will transport you somewhere far away. (via Boing Boing)
Miss Cellania's Links
The story behind "Smoke on the Water."
How a Wild West Showman Brought Man-Lifting Kites to the British Army. And then abandoned them for planes.
Janelle Shane spent some time teaching a neural network how to generate recipes. The results are quite interesting. (via Metafilter)
Genevieve von Petzinger & the invention of graphics on cave walls. We are still trying to decipher the messages they left us.
10 Eerie Abandoned Cities You Can Visit. It might be difficult to find overnight accommodations, however.
7 Hilarious Ways Reality Would Ruin Famous Movie Scenes. It's a good thing we can suspend our disbelief and just go with the flow when watching.
9 Remarkable Ultrasound Images. Pareidolia reigns supreme when we don't know what we're looking at.
Project Moby Dick, the Cold War’s Least Believable Surveillance Strategy.
Social Security Cards Explained
Social Security numbers are confusing. The SSA tells you to never give your number out except to your employer and the government, but then the bank, the utility office, schools, and every store you visit want to know yours. And what do those numbers mean, anyway? CGP Grey explains social security numbers from their beginning to us in a way we can all understand, which is what he's good at. Meanwhile, Social Security is not so good at security. (via reddit)
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Frolic ‘n Mae
Mae is an imaginative young girl who does artwork with a magical touch. But her friends at the slumber party have a different idea of fun, and it's no fun for her. Then things get a little out of hand. Frolic ‘n Mae is an action-adventure short that combines live-action with hand-drawn animation by Ornana Films. You can see a behind-the-scenes video here. (Thanks, Benjamin!)
MEAL Team Six
With Trump's federal budget plans cutting social programs to fund the military (and the border wall), Trevor Noah has a plan to save Meals on Wheels. It's simple -make it a part of the military!
Puffer Fish Courtship
The Japanese puffer fish goes through a week of craziness to impress lady puffer fish. Wait until you see what he's working on! This clip is from the BBS Earth series Life Story. (via reddit)
Miss Cellania's Links
"Paulownia is known in Japanese as ‘kiri’ and as ‘Princess Tree’ because it was once customary to plant a tree of this kind when a baby girl was born, and then to make it into a dresser as a wedding present when she married." (via Nag on the Lake)
Spiders could theoretically eat every human on Earth in one year. Without them, we'd be overrun with insects.
The Incredible Legend of the First Black Samurai. He sure impressed the Japanese in 1579.
Watch all ten good dogs go up the steps one-by-one as their names are called. Even Mayhem and Chaos are good dogs.
A Japanese photographer who goes by Nyan Kichi has made friends with a colony of feral cats. He's found that the cats particularly love to play in an area where the street has a lot of drain holes they can jump in and peek out of. (via Metafilter)
The Country That Doesn't Exist. Transdniestria lies between between Moldova and Ukraine, but no one recognizes it.
Who Owns Your Face? You may be attached to it, but you don't have exclusive rights to what it looks like.
The Rebel Virgins and Desert Mothers Who Have Been Written Out of Christianity’s Early History. The church was not so patriarchal in the beginning.
Thug Notes: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Insightful commentary, NSFW language. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Are You Lost In The World Like Me?
The music video for "Are You Lost In The World Like Me?" by Moby and the Void Pacific Choir. Animation by Steve Cutts. (via Everlasting Blort)
Tweet of the Day
broccoli has caused system failure pic.twitter.com/nHgyZfAcnY— Shibesbot (@shibesbot) March 26, 2017
Broccoli has caused system failure. (via Everlasting Blort)
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Recreating History
When Hollywood does history, they often go to great lengths to portray an iconic moment accurately, especially when there is film or photographs of the original event. They get pretty darn close, as this comparison from Vugar Efendi shows us. For most of these, I am more familiar with the actual film or photographs than I am with the movies. I'm impressed at how well they copied the existing archives. Then again, if a movie didn't resemble the real history, it wouldn't have made it into this video. If you have trouble reading the captions, try it in fullscreen mode. (via Laughing Squid)
Tweet of the Day
Our very own @nancycartwright charming the world as Bart from @TheSimpsons This is adorable! His face when he realizes is priceless! pic.twitter.com/CpPgvV2hCL— Spotted Cow (@SpottedCowEnt) March 24, 2017
This kid didn't realize he was talking to Nancy Cartwright, who does the voice of Bart Simpson, when he was peddling chocolate for his school. (via Buzzfeed)
The Avengers React to Justice League Trailer
After 15 years or so of Marvel movies raking in billions of dollars by using teams of superheroes in The Avengers, X-Men, and Guardians of the Galaxy, DC is finally ready to jump in with Justice League this November. The first trailer debuted this weekend. The Avengers saw it, too. Dr. Machakil edited this fan film that gives us a hint that the Avengers will be plotting a one-up soon. (via Metafilter)
Miss Cellania's Links
The Soul-Sucking, Attention-Eating Black Hole of the Trump Presidency.
Brendan and Robert have a Facebook thing. My sides started to hurt reading this.
Why Women Couldn’t Wear Pants on the Senate Floor Until 1993.
On the advice of a friend, actor Robert Harling quickly wrote a play about the pain his family went through when his sister Susan died of complications from diabetes. Thirty years later, the people that were involved in Steel Magnolias tell the story from there to the filming of the movie. (via Metafilter)
If Obamacare ever fails, it's because the republicans gutted it.
Your Complete DC Comics Superhero Movie Release Calendar. You can write them down, if your calendar goes through 2020.
The 1950s game show Queen for a Day profited from the poverty of a new woman every day. Both reality TV and poverty porn are older than you thought.
How America's Obsession With Hula Girls Almost Wrecked Hawai'i. When Captain James Cook and his crew landed on the islands in 1778, the meeting set off a culture clash that has repercussions to this day. Article contains some vintage nudity.
This Little Girl Meeting A Robot Is The Cutest Thing You'll See All Day. He's the strong, silent type.
Dis My Human Now
Dis my human now pic.twitter.com/oS9MVLJWN4— catclick (@catclick) March 22, 2017
"I get what I wants cuz I'm so cute." (via Everlasting Blort)
Monday, March 27, 2017
Cat Controller
Max X is not catering to his cat properly. That all changes when the cat gives him a taste of his own medicine! (via b3ta)
The Healthcare Solution in a Nutshell
The West Wing explained it in 2005. I should have watched that show. The people will have to demand it, with the 2018 midterms hanging in the balance. (via Boing Boing)
Miss Cellania's Links
Why Democrats should push 'Medicare for all' now. The majority of Americans want it.
Literally 100 Really Funny Game Of Thrones Jokes, Memes, and Puns. But you have to know the show to get the jokes.
Is There an Error in this Painting? John Constable was commissioned to paint Wivenhoe Park and include certain important elements.
Inside Alabama’s Auto Jobs Boom: Cheap Wages, Little Training, Crushed Limbs. "…the global economy’s race to the bottom"
Spite’s a great motivator, even when building a home. A look into the most famously odd spite houses.
When he moved from Dublin to L.A., photographer Andrew Ward became fascinated with the phenomena of abandoned sofas on city streets, so he began photographing the couches. Ward's photographs now fill the Tumblr blog The Sofas of L.A.
One Sloppy Land Surveyor Almost Caused a War Between Missouri and Iowa. You can't just declare what state your land sits in.
22 Vintage Photos of Animals Acting Like People. And looking adorable doing it.
The Peak Age for Everything. Each conclusion has links to the research that produced it. (via mental_floss)
Cat Stalks a Mouse
Cat stalking a mouse until... pic.twitter.com/TlYYhB8X9n— Fascinating things (@YupThatExist) February 12, 2017
It doesn't turn out like you think. A dinosaur shows up. (via Everlasting Blort)
Sunday, March 26, 2017
The Economics of Airline Class
Wendover Productions goes deep into the economics of airlines and the tickets we buy. In case you want to see the previous video he referred to, it is here. My kids are becoming frequent fliers; in fact, I'm driving seven hours (round trip) today to put one on a plane that will get her back to school in two hours. Go figure. (via mental_floss)
Ceiling Cat Goes to School
It can be annoying when non-students drop in unannounced. This happened at the University for Peace in Costa Rica. (via Buzzfeed)
Dolphin Enjoys Floor Show
Bonnie Anna "MissChief" from FunDipped Productions (a circus theater company) visited an aquarium and did a few tumbles. One dolphin was particularly impressed. (via Bits and Pieces)
Where the Easter Bunny Came From
An interspecies relationship leads to a child who feels like she doesn't fit in. She can't take the bullying anymore and decides to leave it all behind. It's a common story, but well done here. Grab a hankie just in case. This ad is from the German supermarket chain Netto Marken-Discount, who earlier brought us the Grocery-Shopping Cats. (via Metafilter)
10 Internet Memes Illustrated in Peeps
I have an ongoing project to make posts for mental_floss articles I wrote way back when that I do not have an archive for. Here's another one, from 2014.
Marshmallow Peeps are everywhere! The stores are full of them, and so are Easter baskets. Better stock up now if you use them as an art medium. Plenty of people do for the Peeps diorama competitions held each year. And every year I pick some of those best, centered around a theme for your entertainment. More and more of the dioramas feature internet themes and memes, social networking, and popular videos. See ten of them in this list I posted at mental_floss.
Saturday, March 25, 2017
R2-D2 is Sad Obi-Wan Doesn't Remember Him
Obi-wan doesn't remember R2D2, but the droid remembers, and those memories are painful. But you have to remember that Obi-wan in his ild age fed Luke a lot of other BS, too. And then he wanted to
Stubborn Russian Cat
Boris is hungry, or at least he knows a good stash of food when he sees it. He's not giving up his loaf of bread easily. No siree. And you see who wins the battle, even though Boris never stooped to attacking the woman. Boris lives in an animal shelter in St. Petersburg. He has to share food with 25 other cats who need homes, and no doubt has memories of greater hunger in his past. While this particular scene doesn't bode well for Boris' adoption, the Instagram video assures us that he is usually a nice cat, believe it or not. See more from the shelter 50 Tails. (via reddit)
The Secrets Behind Rogue One's Final Vader Scene
Director Gareth Edwards explains how the Darth Vader scene in Rogue One came about. It almost turned out quite differently. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Friday, March 24, 2017
Simon's Cat in Camouflage Challenge
Blending in with one's surroundings is a common strategy for predators to use in getting some other animal to eat. Leopards are good at it. So are spiders, anglerfish, and octopuses. Simon's Cat tries it out. But Simon's cat is neither a spider nor an anglerfish, although he probably thinks he's a leopard. He just doesn't quite have the needed skills. It might have been his comfy suburban upbringing, or it may be just his bad luck.
Miss Cellania's Links
Nowruz Celebrations Around the World. Nowruz is the Persian New Year holiday, which starts at the vernal equinox.
The Upside of Anger: It's a Strong Emotion, But Not Always a Bad One. And it makes people finally listen to you.
Why 10 Daily Tons of Ant Poop Keep This Rainforest Thriving. Instead of a village, it takes an army to grow a tree.
30 Passionate But Pointless Arguments. And afterward, you wondered why it mattered so much. (via Metafilter)
This $5900 office chair is supposed to counteract the ill effects of sitting at work. But can you stay awake while being that comfortable?
The Gig Economy Celebrates Working Yourself to Death.
Trump Lawyers Swipe at Teen Over Cat Website.
Why Are There No Eggs in Indian Cakes? You don't need them to make light and airy pineapple cake.
Neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you stress-free. Bring on the puppy videos!
Peeps in a Vacuum
This is neat. Scientist and science educator Carl Nelson demonstrates what happens when you put things that contain air pockets into a vacuum chamber. the Peeps are cool, but the shaving cream is the best part.
13 Graphs for Laughs
I have an ongoing project to make posts for mental_floss articles I wrote way back when that I do not have an archive for. Here's another one, from 2014.
Can graphs be funny? That’s a silly question, as you’ve seen plenty of funny flowcharts, pie charts, and Venn diagrams, as well as other charts and graphs, made just for fun here already. But there are other kinds of charts that have a joke in them somewhere. Doghouse Diaries explains a graph's potential for humor. This type of chart is called an XY Plot, or scatter chart, which places items along two axes depending on the two variables measured in relationship to other items. See all of them in a post I did for mental_floss.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Unwind With These 6 Quirky Crochet Projects
If you can imagine it, you can make it with yarn and a crochet hook. Let the crochet lovers of the internet help you try some of these projects from a list I compiled for mental_floss.
Things Many People Still Don't Understand About Star Wars
Star Wars has become such an epic franchise with such a devoted fandom that the origins of that universe have been left behind. To understand some of the mechanics of the story, Looper takes us back to how the stories were first constructed to remind of some details we've either forgotten or never realized in the first place. A little context helps us to understand how the juggernaut we know as Star Wars grew from just a movie into what it is today: a modern mythology that became more than anyone could have imagined. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Miss Cellania's Links
White House: Trump's golfing is work, unlike Obama's golfing, which was scandalous.
30 Years Ago: A Look Back at 1987.
"A woman came through the drive through yesterday and got a little irritated with me because we didn't have drink carriers. Today, she came back and handed me this."
The Origins of the World’s Most Divisive Condiment. There is no middle ground when it comes to Marmite.
North Carolina’s Shangri-La Stone Village. More links to explore Shangri-La.
10 of the Lowest-Rated Cars for 2017. If you're having trouble deciding on a model, at least you can eliminate the bottom of the barrel.
Catnip Ain’t the Only Plant That’ll Send Your Kitty to Blissville. A cat-loving scientist has discovered three others.
This Is What America Looked Like When Alcohol Was Illegal. A gallery of images from Prohibition.
If Deadpool were a musical, our hero might sing this parody of "Gaston" from Beauty and the Beast. Contains NSFW language, as you would expect.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Trump Campaign Rally
Trump is already campaigning for the 2020 presidential race, because running is way more fun than presidenting. (via Uproxx)
Hi Stranger
Kirsten Lepore gives us an odd little video that turns out to be just a nice, affirming talk from an animated humanoid with a butt. (via Metafilter)
Miss Cellania's Links
Where to Hide If a Nuclear Bomb Goes Off In Your Area. It's been a few years since they taught this in school.
How WWI food propaganda forever changed the way Americans eat. We learned to be more resourceful, thrifty, and efficient.
The Like Button Ruined the Internet. Why bother with words when you can just press a button?
How to trap a self-driving car. It's much easier than it should be.
How Disney Saved Musicals for a New Generation. A little song and dance seems almost normal again.
The Haunting Face of a Man Who Lived 700 Years Ago. He could be our neighbor, but his life was very different from ours.
How many kids is too many kids? Large families were once unavoidable, then irresponsible, and may now be turning into a status symbol.
10 Things to Know When Sneaking into North Korea. Not that we recommend actually trying that, of course.
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