They saw the picture and went with it. (via Bad Newspaper)
The Dancing Movies
Diego Carrera made an extremely pleasant music video that uses well-edited dancing clips from movies you've seen. Or at least most of them. They run the gamut from Al Jolson to Emma Stone -and it ends with a clip from 1896. (via Digg)
Why Everyone Should Have a Cat
Simon Tofield of Simon's cat has a guest star- Anna Akana tells of the many reasons you should consider having your own cat.
Fish Man
The latest comic from Lunarbaboon is a palindrome. The panels can be read from either direction. But it also makes me wonder whether we should start to worry about Chris, the cartoonist. He's had several comics lately that may be a cry for help.
Suddenly, a Cat Dad
So... I JUST FOUND A CAT THAT IS NOT MINE AND IT HAS HAD BABIES UNDER MY BED. pic.twitter.com/83ktBHGgT5— Paris Zarcilla (@ParisZarcilla) May 30, 2018
In case you want to shut the world out and wallow in the universe of warm fuzzies, here's a photo-heavy story for you. Paris Zarcilla found a strange cat under his bed that had just given birth to kittens. He's fallen deeply in love with them.
To my cat sons and daughters, I'll be the hero you deserve, but not the one it needs right now (because of mama cat). So I'll hunt for you, because I can afford it. I'll be your silent guardian, your watchful protector. Love, #CatDad pic.twitter.com/JkaUpGzXCP— Paris Zarcilla (@ParisZarcilla) May 30, 2018
Well, "fallen in love" doesn't do it justice. Zarcilla has discovered a new plane of existence and uses words like "nirvana" and "fatherhood" and "the hidden depths of my own capacity to love." He is obviously suffering the effects of either oxytocin or toxoplasmosis. I'll vote for oxytocin. There's nothing like a tiny new family member (or five) to make one's outlook change. Read the entire thread here, and bookmark Zarcilla's Twitter feed for updates. (via Metafilter)
Singing Bulldog
Walter Geoffrey is a French Bulldog who does not like to be ignored. Instead of barking to get attention, he'll sing an aria like he's on stage at the Metropolitan Opera House. See more Walter Geoffrey at his Instagram page. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Miss Cellania's Links
The Little Hero. A familiar yet delightful story.
The Story Behind the Most Decorated Military Unit in U.S. History.
How Dangerous Are the Northwest’s Volcanoes? America has more volcanoes than you realize, but scientists are keeping an eye on them.
The Robot Revolution: Coming to a Restaurant Near You. Students from MIT have already opened a restaurant where robots prepare entire meals in a bowl.
How 1960s Film Pirates Sold Movies Before the FBI Came Knocking. Before DVDs or even VHS tapes, you could watch illegal copies, if you had a film projector.
The Symbolism of Hand Amputations in Star Wars. They are both Freudian and a handy plot device.
A Newly Discovered Victim of Mt. Vesuvius Was Crushed by a Huge Stone. While it looks gruesome, his death was obviously quick.
16 Genius Restaurant Menus That Are Straight-Up From The Future. Some are designed to give you useful information before ordering, while others are just fun.
A blast from the past (2010): Outlaws as Folk Heroes.
Looking for Something
This guy is looking for the meaning of life. I don't think he's looking in the right place. Well, he's looking here and there, but he's actually getting all philosophical until he realizes what's really going on. (via Laughing Squid)
Tweet of the Day
How to pronounce 'ukulele':— T'Other Simon (@TOther_Simon) May 24, 2018
The first 'u' as in 'guilty'
The 'k' as in 'knee'
The second 'u' as in 'build'
The first 'l' as in 'could'
The first 'e' as in 'give'
The second 'l' as in 'salmon'
The second 'e' as in 'pie'.
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
What to Do in Case of a Knife Attack
A police department in China has a helpful public service announcement on how to handle an attacker with a knife. (via Digg)
The Symbolism of All Those Hand Amputations in Star Wars
If you've been following the Star Wars saga, you've no doubt noticed how many times someone's hand gets lopped off. And occasionally a leg or two. It's easy to do and not have the victim bleed out, because a lightsaber cauterizes the wound instantly, which is also handy to avoid a lot of blood on screen. A surprise in the new movie Solo has even more implications for the survivability of severe amputations. This video from Screen Prism does a deep dive into amputations and the psychological symbolism they have. (via Laughing Squid)
Miss Cellania's Links
Royal Beauty Secrets of the 19th Century. An empress has to keep up appearance, even when she doesn't want to. (via Strange Company)
Inside the Pro-Trump Effort to Keep Black Voters From the Polls.
J.K. Rowling Sketches And Plot Outlines For Harry Potter. (Thanks WTM!)
In Istanbul,D rinking Coffee in Public Was Once Punishable by Death. Ottoman sultan Murad IV didn't object to the drink so much as the cafes that served it.
Here's a link-heavy look at the state of capitalism in America. It's problem that goes way beyond the current administration.
Why You Should be Reading the Privacy Notices Choking Your Inbox. New GDPR regulations were supposed to simplify agreements, but that's not what happened.
13 Quirky Destinations for Your Summer Road Trip. Make lasting memories in a place you'd have never thought of.
Why Rachel Carson Didn't Like the Organic Food Movement. The woman who sounded the alarm on DDT had nothing against chemical fertilizers.
A Brief History of America’s Appetite for Macaroni and Cheese. The comfort food is simple, delicious, and most of all, cheap.
Witness the 2018 Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling Carnage
The annual Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper%27s_Hill_Cheese-Rolling_and_Wake in Gloucestershire, England, was this past weekend. People who have lost their minds chase a rolling wheel of cheese down a hill. The hill is a lot steeper than you'd think from the camera angle, but when people start running, you'll get an idea. They really aren't so much running as falling, and there were quite a few injuries: cuts, bruises, and at least one dislocated shoulder. There's also a video featuring closeups of certain participants set to a musical soundtrack here.
(via Tastefully Offensive)
Tweet of the Day
In Roseanne’s defense, it’s hard to know the difference between racism that gets you fired versus racism that gets you elected President of the United States.— Brian Sproul (@bcsproul) May 29, 2018
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Miss Cellania's Links
How the U.S. Army Botched Feeding Its Female Soldiers in World War II. The brass preparing for the new Women's Army Corps did not understand women.
The Trump effect: New study connects white American intolerance and support for authoritarianism. The research suggests that when intolerant white people fear democracy may benefit marginalized people, they abandon their commitment to democracy.
5 People Who Straight Up Survived The Unsurvivable.
Attention, America: We’ve All Been Saying "Gerrymander" Wrong. The politician that the word is named for pronounced it with a hard "G".
Genesis Tour Manager Recalls His Role in One of Rock’s Most Embarrassing Moments. It had to be one of the inspirations for This is Spinal Tap.
One Woman’s Journey from Coma to Consciousness. She spent five months aware but unable to communicate, then recovered to tell about it.
Amelia Bloomer Did Not Invent Bloomers. In fact, she suspected that they were a distraction from more important battles.
The Trump administration is now seeking to criminally prosecute everyone crossing the border, including asylum seekers, whose children are taken away.
According to a study, half of all high school students graduate with an A average. How does a selective college choose among thousands of applicants when they're all perfect?
A blast from the past (2010): The Scientists Behind the Movies.
Tweet of the Day
vagina dentata— Meg Elison @ Wiscon (@megelison) May 27, 2018
what a wonderful phrase
vagina dentata
ain't no passing craze
it means no penis
for the rest of your days
it's a phallus-free
philosophy
vagina dentata
Monday, May 28, 2018
Real Life Spider-Man Rescues Child
Hero climbs up outside of Paris building to save child dangling from balcony. This guy Peter Parker as in Spiderman! Humanity still exists.— ᵈᵉʷᵃ ᵏˡᵃˢᶤᵏ ᵃˡᵉˣᵃᶰᵈᵉʳ (@Dewa_Klasik) May 28, 2018
Mamoudou Gassama (22 years old from Mali) scaled 4 storeys in 30 seconds to save child dangling. Good job brother, wakanda forever! pic.twitter.com/jJavpXDAGu
On the fifth floor of an apartment building on the outskirts of Paris, a 4-year-old boy had fallen from the balcony railing, and was hanging on by his hands. People on the street heard him crying and 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama instantly sprang into action. He didn't even pause to put his Spider-Man costume on, but climbed all four floors in 30 seconds to lift the child to safety.
"I just climbed up and thank God, God helped me. The more I climbed the more I had the courage to climb up higher, that's it," he added.French president President Emmanuel Macron later met with Gassama, an undocumented immigrant from Mali, and said he would be made a naturalized French citizen. (via reddit)
He said that the boy was crying when he hauled him to safety and had also suffered an injured foot.
Firefighters arrived to find the child had already been rescued.
"Luckily, there was someone who was physically fit and who had the courage to go and get the child," a spokesperson said.
How the US Government Kept Oak Ridge Secret
Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was founded as a secret nuclear research facility for the Manhattan Project. My mother's family lived in East Tennessee already, and my grandfather got a job as a day laborer in Oak Ridge. He didn't ask questions, because people who asked a lot of questions didn't last long there. (via Digg)
If you're interested in the history of Oak Ridge, you might want to read the story of John Hendrix, a mystic from East Tennessee who died in 1915. The story is not quite as believable as the video above, but it is interesting.
The Clean Out
I'm not a hoarder, I'm really not. I downsize and clean out regularly, so I know exactly how it is. Last fall, I had three cordless drills. I sold one, then the second one got stolen. Yeah, I had a third, but the charger and batteries for that one were stolen, too. I asked for a new drill for Christmas, and got it. But the newer model from that brand has a different charger, so now I have various other power tools with no charger. No one will buy them without the vintage charger that workls for them, so they're trash. Or should I hold onto them? This comic is from Death Bulge.
Simon's Cat Meets a Crow
In one of the goofiest Simon's Cat videos yet, the cat encounters a crow. Crows are smart, and this one gets a real kick out of tormenting the cat for laughs. The cat isn't going to take that lying down. There's a bit of back and forth to determine who will have the last laugh. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Hollywood LOLcats
Here's another collection of cat images that take us to the movies. Continue reading for eight of them. The movies should be obvious, but in case one stumps you, I'll have the titles in the comments.
You Bet Your Life Outtakes 1960-61
The most innocent chitchat took on a salacious tone when Groucho Marx was around. These two compilations are from only one season of the show You Bet Your Life.
Tweet of the Day
AYOOO I AINT THINK MY SCHOOL WOULD PUT MY QUOTE LMAOOO pic.twitter.com/g0xH5Q7CWo— B.🇭🇹🦋 (@bbernierxo) May 21, 2018
(via Buzzfeed)
Sunday, May 27, 2018
A Graduation Classic
This cake introduces a new graduate to the realities of life. You want, but you can't have. From Cake Wrecks.
Mating Rituals of Humans in Their Natural Habitat
The format of a nature documentary works pretty well with the wildest creature in the world -the human. In a video from Viva Dirt League, the goal is made perfectly clear with narration by a David Attenborough soundalike. However, not all mating rituals are successful, especially when the participants are inexperienced and awkward. The survival of the species depends on whether they learn from their mistakes. (via Laughing Squid)
Realism in Movies
Yeah, that might be your home, but it's not your own home. Especially if you're a member of the target audience for a science fiction movie. This comic is from Toon Hole. (via reddit)
Memorial Day
There's nothing wrong with a picnic or other outing for the Memorial Day holiday. It's the end of school and the beginning of summer, which are worth celebrating. But don't forget who the holiday was made for.
Tweet of the Day
Our hotel pool in Vietnam...booking.com VS reality 😂🤣😂 we’ve been done there pic.twitter.com/lElDjxzFwd— Jenny Kershaw (@jennykershawx) May 12, 2018
(via Buzzfeed)
Saturday, May 26, 2018
Watch Your Step
KLAS-TV in Las Vegas was doing a live report from Lake Las Vegas. Photojournalist Chris Benka was walking along the dock, following the reporter's boat, and wasn't watching his feet. Luckily, the water wasn't all that deep. The camera is okay! Oh, yeah, he's okay, too. In fact, he kept on rolling that live footage. (via Digg)
World Record Stack of Waffles
You know when you get a press release to cover a Guinness world record attempt for tallest stack of waffles & expect it to be some big commercial thing & then it's just a guy's house? This is SO MUCH BETTER. Follow along, #Denver! Things might get weird! pic.twitter.com/xcxqZCMJZM— Elizabeth Hernandez (@ehernandez) May 26, 2018
Today was a momentous day in Denver. Spencer McCullough and Cory Trimm invited all their friends and a few professionals to attempt the Guinness World Record for waffle stacking. Elizabeth Hernandez of the Denver Post was dispatched to cover the event. She is preparing a proper article for the Post, but first posted a Twitter thread as the event unfolded.
Land surveyor Dustin Hoaglin laughed when he heard about his services requested for a waffle record stack measurement but then he figured he had a bunch of fam in town for his son's graduation & decided it sounded GREAT to do this— Elizabeth Hernandez (@ehernandez) May 26, 2018
The previous record was 5 centimeters. Friends flew in from out of town, and total strangers joined the fun. Hernandez' enthusiasm grew as time went along, and you have to wonder how grim her other assignments are.
THE RECORD IS BROKEN THE RECORD IS BROKEN I REPEAT HISTORY HAS BEEN MADE, THIS IS THE TALLEST STACK OF WAFFLES EVER RECORDED *IN THE WORLD* (without official confirmation from Guinness but with official confirmation from a, uh, measuring tape)— Elizabeth Hernandez (@ehernandez) May 26, 2018
The stack was 67 centimeters! You can witness the drama unfold in her Twitter thread.
(via Metafilter)
Relocating Bighorn Sheep
I watched this video and thought about the people who say they've been abducted by aliens. You know these sheep are going to tell tales like that the rest of their lives, and none of the other sheep will believe them. This relocation project brought the population of North American bighorn sheep from 100 to 600 in recent years. It's one of 5 Heartwarming Stories That Are Also Totally Hilarious at Cracked. In fact, the bighorn sheep were just a small part of the story about how helicopters are the funniest way to transport animals.
How to Get Rid of a Bear
Both of these comic panels from Scandinavia and the World https://satwcomic.com/bear-whisperer are true stories. The Canadian method is here and the Finnish method is here. (via Metafilter)
School's Out
Alice Cooper performs his classic tune of the season on The Muppet Show in 1978, with choreography by the Monster Muppet Players.
Tweet of the Day
What a way to make a living. pic.twitter.com/iT1BPXjYgp— T'Other Simon (@TOther_Simon) February 17, 2015
(via Buzzfeed)
Friday, May 25, 2018
Hugh Jackman Recognizes a Reporter
At a film festival in Zurich a few years ago, an intrepid reporter caught up with Hugh Jackman and was surprised to be remembered. (via reddit)
But Why?
This seems awfully familiar for some reason. It's a comic from Zach Weinersmith at Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.
All Star on Organ
A hundred-year-old Marenghi Organ can still play contemporary tunes. See this same organ play a disco hit and another old favorite. (via Digg)
Miss Cellania's Links
Analyzing Trump's Breakup Letter to Kim Jong Un.
Why Are Our Brains So Big, Anyway? A new study points to what we needed to think about the most.
Seventy-Five Years Ago, Women Baseball Players Took the Field. The short-lived All-American Girls Professional Baseball League proved women could play, but it was far from equitable.
If there were a kind of a fireman's pole from the moon down to the earth, how long would it take to slide all the way from the moon to the earth? Randall Munroe ponders this adventure in excruciating detail. (via Metafilter)
Life Inside Texas' Border Security Zone. Billions of dollars have been spent making it a police state, with residents constantly under surveillance.
Remembering the ‘Saurian Monster’ That Terrorized 1880s New Zealand. In a nation that has few predators of any size, the attacks caused a sensation.
Camels Can Eat Long-Needled Cactus. They've adapted to a desert diet, but watching it might make you feel nervous.
Medical Mystery: Something Happened to U.S. Health Spending After 1980. (via Metafilter)
Xena: Disney Warrior Princess.
A blast from the past (2012): Four Feline Photographers.
How to Cook for 10,000 People
Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, Delhi's biggest Sikh temple, welcomes everyone, no matter their station or religion, for a meal. The kitchen is open 24 hours a day, and is supplied and staffed by volunteers. Chapatis, dal soup, potatoes, and more, all for around 10,000 people every day. Anyone who visits can volunteer for simple jobs to help out the production if they want to. Besides a temple and kitchen, the complex also houses a school, hospital, hotel, and a library. (via reddit)
Tweet of the Day
The airport is a lawless place. 7am? Drink a beer. Tired? Sleep on the floor. Hungry? Chips now cost $17— Alyssa Limperis (@alyssalimp) May 23, 2018
Thursday, May 24, 2018
Camel Eats a Cactus
When you live in the desert, you evolve to eat what's there. Watch this hardcore dromedary munch down on a prickly pear cactus with 6-inch spines! And you thought Captain Crunch made your mouth sore. Apparently, camels have protrusions inside their mouths containing keratin that are tough and flexible like plastic that enables them to deal with just about any food source they come across. They are also ruminants, so everything gets chewed up more than once. (via Boing Boing)
That Time It Rained for Two Million Years
The Carnian Pluvial Event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnian_Pluvial_Event was a time of major change for the earth and its supercontinent Pangea. Namely, lots and lots of rain, and all the changes it brings. That was when the forests grew and dinosaurs began to rise to dominance, about 230 million years ago. From the images in this video from PBS Eons, that episode appears to be the line between the familiar (dinosaurs and forests) and the weird, weird, plants and animals that populated earth before that. (via Digg)
MIss Cellania's Links
The Duckmaster Rules the Roost at the Peabody Hotel. The ducks have been the stars of the show for 85 years.
Our Nation's Leaders Analyze the Data on USA's Gun Violence.
Guy the beagle was on the euthanasia list in a Kentucky animal shelter in 2015, but he took a detour through Canada and now he is part of the royal family. (Thanks, Bill!)
Remembering One of the Most Violent Days in the History of the U.S. Senate. A passionate but insulting speech brought out a congressman's wrath -and his cane.
Investigating One of the Oldest Private Detective Agencies in Paris. The Duluc Détective is still in business after 105 years.
Why Does Harrison Ford Love Indy And Hate Han? He's been willing to play older versions of both characters anyway, plus Rick Deckard.
Pterodactyls Probably Didn’t Fly Like We Think They Did. A new study theorizes they resembled birds more than bats in flight.
Rollin' on the River: Pittsburgh Shanty Boat Life. Thousands who couldn't afford land or rent lived in homemade barge houses. (via Metafilter)
How Succulents Took Over Instagram—and Then the World. They make a perfect garden for the Millennial lifestyle.
Maru Vaulting Boxes
Can you stack boxes too high for Maru to climb into? Maybe the real question is, how can you get that many boxes all the same size? Well, I can imagine if you're mugumogu, people just give you boxes all the time. Maru eventually meets his match, and we get to hear him meow more than we've ever heard before. (via Everlasting Blort)
Tweet of the Day
I’m so excited to be part of this administration and I’d like to suck in as many people as I can. Where should I start? #sinkholes— White House Sinkhole ⚫️ (@HouseSinkhole) May 22, 2018
Yes, there's a sinkhole opening up at the White House lawn. Engineers blame the swamp (really). A new Twitter account takes on the persona of the sinkhole and updates us on its mission to swallow the White house and possibly all of Washington, DC.
Famous #sinkholes in history. I aspire to be like these sinkholes someday. @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/9a7Pt4cGL9— White House Sinkhole ⚫️ (@HouseSinkhole) May 22, 2018
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Life is a Highway
You know every one of these vehicles, don't you? This clever graphic is from John Atkinson at Wrong Hands.
Tips for Cooking for One
This video from College Humor contains a little NSFW language. When you find yourself living alone, it is tempting to just eat your favorite food all the time. That gets old. Eventually you resort to sandwiches and cold cereal, and when you realize that cold cereal leads to dirty dishes, your diet become just sandwiches and chips. You might be tempted to whip up an entire meal fresh from scratch, but don't do it. Rationalize not doing it by telling yourself it's too time-consuming so that you don't have to think about how very alone you are. So very, utterly alone. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Miss Cellania's Links
'Jesus never charged a leper a co-pay': the rise of the religious left. Count me in.
Vulture Ranks Every Star Wars Movie. Ten mini-reviews to justify the rankings include Solo without giving away too much.
Han Solo was Almost in Revenge of the Sith. His part would have been too silly to believe.
Deep in the Honduran Rain Forest, an Ecological SWAT Team Explores a Lost World. The diverse biology is a bigger treasure than the lost city that lured explorers there in the first place.
Roxy, the Long Island Railroad Dog. He knew every train and its schedule, and how to get where he wanted to go.
How Gerrymandered is Your State? (via Nag on the Lake)
The 25 Toughest Colleges to Get Into in 2018.
24 Wildly Inappropriate Official Movie Tie-In Products.
Trump admits the reason behind his "fake news" cry.
Tweet of the Day
dough: a bread, an uncooked bread— rachel axler (@rachelaxler) May 1, 2018
ray: of sun that cooks the bread
me: a gal who eats the bread
fa: ther also eats the bread
so: da bread’s a kind of bread
la: vash is another bread
tea: a drink. anyway, bread!
that will bring us back to dough
(via Buzzfeed)
