(via Bad Newspaper)
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Cat Fight in the Street
Sarah Verney was traveling near Kokadjo, in northern Maine, when the car had to slow down because there were two lynx in the road. Lynx usually do whatever they can to avoid humans, so it seemed odd that they didn't get out of the road. It turns out these cats had very important business with each other. They stopped traffic while they had a bit of an argument. Verney wanted to record what they sounded like, so she rolled down the window. The terrifying wildcat screams we expect turned out to resemble two old women arguing. Redditor stanfan114 nailed it.
They sounds like the old ladies from Monty Python with the penguin on top of the television set.You can see that reference here. (via reddit)
Puppies' First Howl
Puppies are new at the business of being dogs, and they aren't very good at it. But every learning experience has to start somewhere. Watch these puppies of all breeds take their first attempt at howling. Keep it up, little guys! You'll get it right with practice! (via Tastefully Offensive)
Miss Cellania's Links
Joel Osteen’s Hurricane Fumbling Reveals The Absurdity Of His Preachings. But sticking to the Gospels is not as profitable.
How to Detect a Bad Restaurant.
Yes, That's a Huge Floating Mass of Live Fire Ants in Texas. Flooding makes them aggressive and more venomous than usual.
When the U.S. Put the Mormon Church on Trial. It was a test of how the separation of church and state would actually work.
Behold Burning Man’s Awesome and Totally Bizarre Architecture. See 15 pictures that show why it's called an art festival.
In the Cold War, Makeup Was a Weapon. Beautiful suburban housewives were offered as proof that the capitalist way was better than communism.
These Women Entrepreneurs Created a Fake Male Co-Founder To Dodge Startup Sexism. And it worked like a charm.
Coffee Lowers Your Risk of Death. Oh, you'll die eventually, but people who drink four cups a day live longer than those who don't.
At Starbucks, your maternity leave depends on whether you're a barista or a boss. Part of the Guardian's series Inequality and Opportunity in America. (via Metafilter)
The Hummingbird Whisperer
Swiss geologist Dr. Melanie Barboni is doing a fellowship at at the UCLA Earth, Planetary and Space Science program. She is also known as "the hummingbird whisperer."
Every weekday, Barboni welcomes clouds of these “fairy” birds to her office window with nectar she mixes from large bags of sugar and water. In a frenzy and flash of iridescent greens, blues, reds and purples, the birds flit around four 80-ounce feeders that hang outside the windows of her ground-level office. If she puts her hand on the rim of a feeder, they will perch there in fond recognition of the human who feeds them.You have to have special observational skills to know these tiny birds by their individual names. But Barboni has watched many of them since they hatched, and some will even come and sit on her fingers. Read more about Barboni and her hummingbird friends at UCLA. (via Nag on the Lake)
If she doesn’t feed them in a timely manner, the miffed hummingbirds will fly into her office to “yell at me. … They are so demanding, but they know I will give them everything,” she said with a smile.
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Stayin' Alive
North Koreans are marching for Kim Jong-un as if their lives depended on it -and they probably do. (via reddit)
What Mercury Can Do To Aluminum
You aren't allowed to take mercury on an airplane. It's dangerous stuff, to be sure, but who knew that the way it interacts with aluminum was the reason? Nile Red shows us what happens, although it isn't easy. Aluminum is usually protected by a layer of oxide, which he removes. In the real world, we don't want to count on that safety feature. The mercury did not end up damaging the aluminum all that much, but that doesn't mean airlines should allow it. Who knows what that "Oh, cool!" effect would do in a uncontrolled situation. Oh yeah, the generator site Nile Red talks about is here. Open the menu at the upper left to change it. (via TYWKIWDBI)
Why America Still Uses Fahrenheit
Why does America still use the Fahrenheit system to measure temperature, when the rest of the world uses Celsius? I figured it was because we are lazy and don't want to learn a whole new system. Vox looks more deeply into the question, although yeah, it turns out I was right. Fahrenheit is just one of the ways Americans are holdovers for Imperial measurements, when the rest oft he world is using the metric system. And Americans will stay on the Imperial system until someone finds a way to make the conversion profitable. (via Laughing Squid)
Miss Cellania's Links
5 Well-Meaning Rules New Parents Will See Blown To Hell.
Economists still can’t decide whether the minimum wage is a good thing.
The Tater Tot Is American Ingenuity at Its Finest. What was once cattle feed became an American classic.
A Short History of Fire Marks, The World’s Hottest Insurance-Related Antiques. They designated which private fire brigade might respond to your burning building.
Jack Kirby: Comics' Greatest Storyteller. He helped to elevated comic books from child's play to real entertainment.
The Day Van Gogh Cut Off His Ear. Read Paul Gauguin's account of that night and the aftermath.
What Would Aliens Look Like? Four scientists tell what they expect from real extraterrestrial life.
11 Cool, Funny or Just Plain Strange Patents for Back to School. One even made a middle-schooler wealthy.
11 Gross Things That Could Be On Your Toothbrush. Disinfect that thing, or better yet, replace it.
Back to School Shopping
The lists of supplies that parents are asked to buy for back-to-school keeps getting longer. It's not the teacher's fault, it's the cutbacks in government funding. Teachers will end up spending hundreds of dollars of their own money on classroom supplies they need. Dena Blizzard understands that. She is also desperate for school to start after spending all summer with her children. There's nothing like putting up with kids all summer to make someone appreciate a teacher's job. (via Buzzfeed)
Tweet of the Day
Bowser thinks if he moves reeeeaaaaalllll slow I won't notice him getting in my lap. 😼😼😼 pic.twitter.com/CbYDsNFLti— Corey Motley (@coreymotley) August 22, 2017
(via Laughing Squid)
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
No. 5
A medley of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Perez Prado's Mambo No. 5, arranged and conducted by Akira Miyagawa. (via Metafilter)
An Honest Trailer for Face/Off
Although it doesn't seen that long ago, it's been twenty years since the John Travolta-Nicolas Cage movie Face/Off came out. To "honor" the film for its anniversary, Screen Junkies has given it an Honest Trailer. What is there to say about Face/Off besides how implausible it was? This Honest Trailer ratchets that concept up to eleven for our entertainment. Turns out the movie was way more implausible than we already knew.
Cheating On Your Barber
You can develop a very special relationship with the professional who cuts your hair. Take care of that relationship, because it's a fragile and beautiful thing. This guy learned his lesson the hard way, when he cheated and used another barber. The hurt feelings escalate over time. Can this relationship ever be repaired? Comedian Anwar Jibawi has a message: don't cheat on your barber. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Miss Cellania's Links
As Earth's Climate Changes, Is It Time to Redefine the Four Seasons? Spring, summer, fall, and winter aren't what they used to be.
Touching Death: The Turbulent Life of One of America’s Last Snake-Handling Preachers. Cody Coots risks arrest as well as death.
The Millionaire Teenage Ad Girl Who Wrote the Book on Jazz Age Etiquette. Lillian Eichler broke barriers in everything she tried.
The 16 Best Cooking Tricks I Learned In Culinary School. They'll make your home cooking taste more professional.
The Greatest Dance Number Ever Filmed. The Nicholas Brothers weren't only great dancers, they conveyed a sense of true joy in their work.
How Chuck Norris Facts became The Internet’s First Great Meme. The action star was selected by a poll in 2005.
The Day Notre Dame Students Pummeled the Ku Klux Klan.
Demanding Kinder Classrooms Doesn't Make You A Snowflake. (via Metafilter)
Capturing the French Ripper. (via Strange Company)
Cat Did Not Need a Rescue
A young cat is down in a hole, and this guy is going to do the right thing and give him a way out. The cat doesn't climb the ladder, so the guy goes down to execute a rescue. Surprise! The cat was apparently doing his own thing, and did not feel the need for your assistance. You'll want to let the rest of the video play out, because laughter is infectious no matter what language you speak. (via Digg)
Monday, August 28, 2017
How To Do A Plot Twist
Fiction loves to surprise its audience with a plot twist. You either saw it coming, or you didn't. Surprisingly, knowing what's coming doesn't ruin the experience as much as you might think. However, for a plot twist to make a great story, it has to makes sense to the audience. Otherwise, it's like a deus ex machina that provides no real closure for the audience. Jack Nugent from Now You See It explains the difference between a plot twist that satisfies and one that doesn't, which is completely different from a plot twist that surprises. Oh yeah, this video contains spoilers, but probably none that you care about. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Cat Did Not Need a Rescue
A young cat is down in a hole, and this guy is going to do the right thing and give him a way out. The cat doesn't climb the ladder, so the guy goes down to execute a rescue. Surprise! The cat was apparently doing his own thing, and did not feel the need for your assistance. You'll want to let the rest of the video play out, because laughter is infectious no matter what language you speak. (via Digg)
Miss Cellania's Links
"Trump doesn’t know anything or really believe anything about any topic beyond himself, because he has no interest in any topic beyond himself; his evident cognitive decline and hyperactive laziness and towering monomania ensure that he will never again learn a new thing in his life."
How Would We Pay Interstellar Workers? A contract signed today may not be worth much when they return in twenty years.
The Neapolitan "Kindergarten Ship." For 15 years in the early 20th century, poverty-stricken Italian boys as young as six could better themselves by going to sea on the ship Caracciolo.
How Terminator 2: Judgment Day Changed the Blockbuster Game. Making a sequel when the main characters already died was a fairly new concept.
My Hero Grandmother Who Escaped An Arranged Marriage. She sailed to America by herself at age 13. (via Metafilter)
How to Sell a Frank Lloyd Wright House. And why you might not want to buy one.
Why Obamacare didn't implode. Every county in the US now has at least one insurance option available through the ACA exchanges.
It Wasn't Always Easy to Determine Whether a Person was Dead. A case from 1702 chronicles how doctors tried to revive a man with procedures that were tantamount to torture. (via Strange Company)
The Socialism America Needs Now.
Sunday, August 27, 2017
Lion Cub Won't Listen to Mom
A pride of lions is gathered around a watering hole at the Djuma Game Reserve in South Africa. One cub keeps running to the water, while his mother tries to keep him under control. But kids just want to play! No, son, there may be crocodiles down there! She manages to get him to the baby pool, but you can tell this mischievous cub is going to strain his mother's patience for quite some time. (via Laughing Squid)
Kittens Being Kittens
Simon Tofield gave his animated cat a break, and instead strung together a parade of kitten clips showing real young cats playing, like kittens should. I love the imaginative names these kittens have. Meet Strudel and Schnitzel, Auto and Motive, Cletus and Bubba, Hot Dog and Tatertot, Vents Du Sud, and my favorite, Lugnut.
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Thank You, Jeeves!
Thank You, Jeeves! is a 1936 movie not at all based on the novel of the same name by P.G. Wodehouse. From Wikipedia:
Bertie Wooster is a frivolous fop who gets himself into a number of scraps only to be rescued by his erudite manservant Jeeves. One rainy night a damsel in distress intrudes on their London flat, carrying half of some mysterious plans. Bertie accompanies her to country hotel Mooring Manor, prepared to do battle with criminals posing as Scotland Yard detectives.
Tweet of the Day
Phoenix, AZ Mayor Greg Stanton: "This is not a proud day for Phoenix." pic.twitter.com/Wcm1cQ0c3A— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 26, 2017
The pardon of Arpaio is within the president's rights, but it is a slap in the face to the US federal court that convicted him, a statement against the constitutional concept of equal protection under the law, and a tacit endorsement of racism. (via Uproxx)
Body-Popping Sage Grouse
In a mating ritual, this species shows off and jiggles two big floppy chest orbs to attract the opposite sex. Strangely, it's the males who do this. Meet the sage grouse, a really different kind of bird. (via Everlasting Blort)
Barnaby Dixon's Bug Puppet
Barnaby Dixon, who made some unbelievable puppet designs before, is back with an impressive finger puppet of a glow-in-the -dark insect! One the one hand, it's cute and the fluorescent effects are neat. But the real magic here is Dixon's skills as a puppeteer and the way he makes the bug move so naturally with just his fingers. (via Boing Boing)
Friday, August 25, 2017
Miss Cellania's Links
The Girls Scouts of the USA is mad at the Boy Scouts of America. A letter from the president of the Girl Scouts was sent to the president of the Boy Scouts accusing the organization of considering programs that will be open to girls, in order to please millennial parents and boost the declining BSA membership
How Flavor Enhancers Work. The magic happens in your mouth, not in the food itself.
What Led Benjamin Franklin to Live Estranged From His Wife for Nearly Two Decades? The entire 44 years of their union was unconventional.
What Dinner Time Looks Like Across the USA. Photographer Lois Bielefeld documents how Americans gather for their evening meal.
How Tough Is Your Diet? A graphic chart shows what different diets are called, and how challenging they can be.
The Great Digital Media Culling of 2017. Online publishers are giving up text in favor of video, which may be a mistake in the long run.
The Cult of Guinefort. Saint Guinefort does not appear in the official canon of the Catholic Church, because he was a 13th-century dog. (via Metafilter)
‘This Is Not Hazing. This Is Rape’: Inside a Texas Town’s Football Nightmare.
The Last Adventure of Richard Halliburton, the Forgotten Hero of 1930s America. The travel writer went on one trip too many. (Thanks, Tim!)
Cockatiel Sings the Theme to My Neighbor Totoro
An adorable and talented white-faced cockatiel named Poko songs the theme to My Neighbor Totoro while his human accompanies him on piano. (via Laughing Squid)
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Why Black Holes Could Delete The Universe
Black holes are more powerful than we ever imagined. Kurzgesagt drives that point home with frightening words in a calm voice. Then they go on to explain the information paradox. The paradox seems simple. It's the difference between "without form, and void" and the universe as we know it. But it will blow your mind when you think about the size of the universe and the information involved. That said, the art in this video is beautiful. (via reddit)
American Bulldog vs the Dangerous Chihuahua
This little chihuahua puppy is learning the art of intimidation. He thinks he's a match for Pacheco, the big bulldog! To Pacheco, the puppy is possibly a student, a playmate, or just a minor annoyance. The big dog has infinite patience with the youngster. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Amazing Illusion
If you stare at this circle for ten seconds, your brain will begin to perceive that it is a red dot. Go ahead, try it! Crinchy posted this at reddit, and SEILogistics gave a simple explanation.
It's caused by a prefrontal imbalance of the auxiliary nerve on the eye retina created by the spheroid object being stared it. It confuses the obsidian prenatal synapses in the brain.
If you'll notice on your peripheral vision you can see the prenatal synapse snapping on the right of your field of view before it turns red.
As your prefrontal cortex adjust you can see the neuropathic synapse being repaired in your eye and the circle centre returns to its normal colour.
Well, that makes perfect sense.
Tech Support on the Enterprise
The life of an IT professional is never easy, having to deal with all those other folks who don't understand computers. What makes you think it would be any easier in the future? People will always be just people. Clueless people. Tech support in the Star Trek universe wouldn't be any easier than it is in the real world, as imagined by Bitter IT Guy. He says, yeah, he knows the uniform should be gold, but all he had was a Picard uniform from last Halloween. It makes the face palm look real, though. (via Digg)
Miss Cellania's Links
Growing Up in the Shadow of the Confederacy.
Wedding Brawl Ends with Bride in Handcuffs. Witness Matt Machado gave a radio interview about the situation that is quite amusing. (via Metafilter)
An Architecturally Baffling Indiana Mansion for Sale.
Read This Dystopian Vision of a Future Controlled by Amazon and Whole Foods. Who knows what we'd be willing to do in the name of convenience.
Don’t Think Too Positive. While general optimism may be a good life strategy, research has shown that when positive fantasies are connected with specific goals, the outcomes often aren't good.
The Romans Could Have Been Poisoned by Something Deadlier Than Lead. The pipes of Pompeii reveal an alarming level of antimony.
The Many Faces of Brooklyn’s Greatest Imposter. Stanley Clifford Weyman had no real motivation beyond wanting to live different lives.
A Prehistoric Toothless Dolphin Ate by Vacuuming Up Squid. Inermorostrum xenops lost its teeth in an evolutionary experiment that did not last.
Evict the rich. The one neat trick to solving the housing crisis: give the things owned by the rich to the poor.
Insanely Complicated Chain Reaction Marble Run
From Japan, here's a four-minute marble run that incorporates ping pong, magnets, dominoes, and a whole lot of nonsense that shouldn't work. But it does, at least this time. Who knows how many tests went into each component, and how many times they failed before making the entire thing work. Rube Goldberg would have been proud. (via reddit)
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Hello Goodbye
The Beatles from 1967. An excellent print of the promotional film, which is what they called them before the term "music video" was used.
Silly Robots
YLLW is an animation, Illustration, and motion Studio in London. Their first project to be made public is an exercise in designing robots to be silly, yet attractive.
We wanted each ‘Silly Robot’ to be different from one another, either in movement or conceptually so we created a set or rules; a strict colour palette, one texture and no more than 4 hours to create each one from start to finish (which we broke only a few times).You can see each of the 50 individual robots as gifs in this gallery. (via The Kid Should See This)
Each robot started as a sketch, we then worked directly wthin After Effects where we used shape layers and a few plugins to help speed up the design and animation process. We didn’t want to be too precious over every little movement and whatever we had at the end of a few hours usually went up to social media and we moved onto the next robot.
Daddy's Home!
You know how kids get so excited when a family member comes home after being gone all day at work? It's enough to make the stay-at-home parent feel jealous. Omni the umbrella cockatoo knows what time to expect his human to come home, and becomes quite happy to welcome him into the house. There's plenty of evidence that Omni loves his "mom," Rebecca Stout, too, and the entire family as you can see in their videos. You can also follow Omni at his Instagram feed. (via Laughing Squid)
Miss Cellania's Links
A Most American Terrorist: The Making of Dylann Roof. (via Metafilter)
Why Land on the Moon? A 1963 article lays out the arguments for space travel from two scientists.
The Alaska Gold Rush’s All-in-One Miner, Hunter, Brewer, and Cook. Fannie Quigley became a legend for her abilities and hospitality.
How to Repurpose Your Solar Eclipse Glasses. Keep them as a souvenir, or do some good by donating them to an educational charity.
The 100 Greatest Comedies Of All Time. Do you agree at all with the rankings of 253 film critics?
A Real Life Murder Mystery from 1933. Rheta Wynekoop was shot in the back, but the confession and evidence made a mess of the story.
The Best Way To Read Tolkien's Hobbit And Lord Of The Rings Stories. You should go in the order in which the author dreamed them up.
How America Forgot the True History of the Civil War. The story was whitewashed in the name of national healing, but it didn't really work.
America, Home of the Transactional Marriage. The country’s exceptionally thin safety net prompts residents to view partnership in more economic terms.
When The Catnip Kicks In
America's Funniest Home Videos gives us a compilation of cats doing funny stuff. This is what the internet was made for. (via Neatorama)
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Honest Retro TV Themes
Congratulations to Screen Junkies for being nominated for an Emmy! Their Honest Trailer series is up for the award in the Outstanding Short Form Variety Series category. In honor of the occasion, they make a collection of "Honest TV Themes," for Emmy-nominated shows rendered in the style of old shows and songs from the 1970s and '80s. There are plenty of big-name guest artists singing them. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Miss Cellania's Links
The Secret Service Reportedly Can’t Pay Its Agents Because Of Trump’s Constant Travel And Huge Family. (via Uproxx)
Five Incredibly Powerful Opening Scenes in TV Shows.
The History of White Supremacy in America.
The Man Who Got Rich Off the Gold Rush ... Without the Gold. The folks who really prospered were those who provided goods and services to the prospectors.
An American Werewolf in London Is Still the Best Horror Reimagining. A look back at the 1981 thriller.
NASA's Ambitious Plan To Save Earth From A Supervolcano. And we might produce usable energy as a bonus. (via Digg)
The Devil’s in the Details of These Dark Miniature Scenes. Artist Frank Kunert makes beautiful dioramas, but they each have something weird going on. (via Nag on the Lake)
Why Lottery Winners Make Dangerous Neighbors. It's not because they attract burglars.
Your City's 'Ghost Signs' Have Stories to Tell. Craig Winslow has a unique method of preserving old painted walls without affecting the building itself. (via Metafilter)
Tiki Torch Nazis
Sandy and Richard Riccardi wrote new lyrics for the tune "Beauty School Dropout" from Grease to reflect current events. (via Everlasting Blort)
Monday, August 21, 2017
If Student Loan Providers Were Honest
A student just out of high school has plenty of decisions to make, like what to do with their lives, whether to go to college, which college to attend, and what to major in. Many of those decisions will be changed over time. But when you've borrowed money, you have a debt no matter what you eventually decide to do with your life. The latest in Cracked's Honest Ad series looks at those friendly student loan providers who help you breeze through the decision of how to pay for college. You'll learn a few things that go on behind the scenes. What to do about the situation? The video doesn't say much about that.
Explaining the Solar Eclipse
Did you see the eclipse today? It was 97% where I was. Watching the sun turn into a crescent, and then seeing that crescent flip around, was really weird. Some places actually went dark for a couple of minutes. Zach King explains what causes a solar eclipse. Things should return to normal now that the job is done. (via reddit)
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