(via Bad Newspaper)
Friday, August 31, 2018
The Cheetahpult
We knew cheetahs were born to run, but who knew that liked to play fetch? The Oregon Zoo throws balls for their cheetahs to chase for exercise and enrichment, and in order to fling them fast and far enough, they built a huge slingshot they call the Cheetahpult. Imagine getting to shoot that contraption and play ball with large cats ...and getting paid for it. (via Laughing Squid)
The Million-Dollar Question
Yes, every cat in the world is just like that. Mine come and get me off the computer so I can go stand at the back door while they reconsider their options. Honestly, cats don't want to go in, they don't want to go out, they want you to leave the door open so they can think about it some more. This comic is from Rachel J. Corey. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
TK630 - A Star Wars Fan Film
In this fan film by Brendan H. Banks, a marooned Imperial scout trooper is tracking a Jedi on an unfamiliar planet. Since the odds of escape are pretty low, he may as well complete his mission. But then a kid shows up. The sequence is beautifully shot, but if you are pinched for time, you can skip forward to 2:45 to catch the story. (via Digg)
Miss Cellania's Links
Alice Cooper on His 50 Years as a One-Man Nightmare Factory. He made it big by bringing a theatrical performance to his music concerts.
President Trump Accuses NBC News of 'Fudging' Famous Interview About Comey Firing. That seems a little desperate, 15 months after the fact.
5 Farming Technologies That Changed the World. Feeding more people with less work made our modern society possible.
Why Romantic Comedies Matter. Movies that bring joy to an audience are worth saving.
The Best Scammers of 2018, Ranked. What we've got so far is pretty egregious, and they don't even include politicians.
Trump says civilian government employees won't receive raises in 2019, citing budget strain. A strain caused by tax cuts for the rich.
To Kill or to Capture Bigfoot: The Great Cryptozoological Debate. For years, people have been fighting over the ethics of hunting a creature that doesn't exist.
My Mom, the Missile Computress. Being one of the first women to work at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in the 1950s was no picnic.
How Two Men Tried to Start a Hate-Free ‘Gay Town’ in the Nevada Desert.
A blast from the past (2009): One-man Construction: 7 Lifelong Personal Projects.
The Return
Things that loomed so big in our memories look so very small when we return to them later. That doesn't mean we love them any less. This award-winning film by Natalia Chernysheva illustrates that feeling. (via Nag on the Lake)
Tweet of the Day
Just gave my name in starbucks as 'stop brexit,. As the (remain) barrista screamed out my 'name' repeatedly, the whole place erupted in to applause. Result. Try it. #FBPE @Starbucks pic.twitter.com/M3qfvfNOaM— EU Flag Mafia (@EUflagmafia) August 25, 2018
Whether the story is true or not, this Tweet started a meme. Read about it here.
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Tom Clancy's Jim Ryan
John Krasinski is best known for playing Jim Halpert in the TV series The Office. Now he's playing the title character in Amazon's new series Jack Ryan (available as of today), based on the Tom Clancy character. It only makes sense that the CIA operative would be instantly mashed up with The Office. Funny or Die jumped on that idea. (via Metafilter)
What Does a Nuclear Bomb Explosion Feel Like?
There have been more than 2,000 nuclear bomb explosions, secret tests that were witnessed by plenty of military personnel. Some of them talk about the experience. (via Motherboard)
Box Reviews
Cats have their standards. It's a good thing I am constantly bringing home a new box for Marshmallow to test and rate. This comic is from Pedro Arizpe at Port Sherry.
Number Words and the Human Body
The roots of the words we use for numbers vary around the world, but they often originated in terms that correspond to our body parts. That shouldn't be surprising, since our base ten (decimal) counting system stems from the fact that we have ten fingers. But there are other number systems that arose naturally, that also relate to parts of our bodies. Linguist Arika Okrent and illustrator Sean O’Neill tell us about the anatomical origins of number language. (via Laughing Squid)
Miss Cellania's Links
The U.S. is denying passports to Americans along the border, throwing their citizenship into question. The passports they will need to cast a vote in November.
Soil Life in Action: Bioturbation With and Without Soil Fauna. Three time-lapse videos show us how organic material becomes compost.
The True Story of Operation Finale. For director Chris Weitz, the movie about the capture of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was a way to connect with his family history.
A twitter thread in which I drag every single US president in order.
The Story of Your Grandma's Weird Couch. In the 1970s, everyone had the same earth-tone sofa, and the decor that went with it.
War of the Pizzas: A Bracket to Determine the Best Pizza-Related Moment in History. The author justifies each matchup down to the champion.
Here’s How Much Time You’ll Waste Commuting in Your Lifetime (by City). An interactive map that that will make you long for a telecommuting opportunity. (via Digg)
Body-cam vid shows Denver cops arresting newspaper editor for taking pictures of an incident. No, HIPAA doesn't apply to journalists, and it does not superseded the First Amendment. (via Boing Boing)
A blast from the past (2014): The Shark Whisperer and Other Animal Whisperers.
Tweet of the Day
These little kittens can't stop climbing up the woman who rescued them 😻 pic.twitter.com/2bBo36xZ0X— The Dodo (@dodo) August 28, 2018
There's a half-dozen of them!
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
How Mass Dampers Stop Structures from Shaking
Being atop a skyscraper when it sways is disconcerting, but not as terrifying as that sway would be if it weren't for mass dampers. That idea comforted me a little while atop the World Trade Center and the Empire State Building, but I never understood how they work until today. This simple but thorough explanation of the science from Minute Physics uses a LEGO Saturn 5 rocket, or two of them, to show how a mass damper works. The video is really only 3:40; after that, it's an ad. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
A Writer's Hierarchy of Needs
Grant Snider made this one for the New York Times Book review. It's also at his webcomic, Incidental Comics.
Munchkin The Teddy Bear Ewok
For no particular reason, I thought you'd enjoy a short video of a Shih Tzu dressed as an Ewok. See more of Munchkin at her Instagram page. https://www.instagram.com/munchkintheteddybear/ (via Metafilter)
Miss Cellania's Links
With Republicans clinging to a precarious 50–49 majority, every individual GOP senator can serve as a check on Trump’s excesses whenever they choose to act. But will they?
16 Foods You Didn't Know Were Named After A Real Person. Some were company founders, while others became cartoon mascots.
Woman Dumps Her Boyfriend After He’s Exposed as a Cheater in a Viral Tweet. Hannah got the bad news from a stranger, but also got help with her college expenses.
What Happens When You're Insured But Still Owe $109,000 For Your Heart Attack. The only thing that will help you is lots of publicity.
Five Terrible Video Games That People Loved Anyway. Playing against multiple glitches turns out to be a guilty pleasure.
How Can We Tell If a Comatose Patient Is Conscious? Neurologist Steven Laureys has developed testing methods for reaching conscious but uncommunicative patients.
The Man Who Was Raised by Wolves. Marcos RodrÃguez Pantoja lived alone in the mountains of Spain from age 7 to 19, and never fully integrated with people in the 50 years since.
The Incredible, Rage-Inducing Inside Story of America’s Student Debt Machine.
Meet Beau Tox, a dog who looks like someone you know.
A blast from the past (2009): 7 More Zombie Animals.
Chilly Wonka
Master editor Melodysheep (John Boswell) took a fairly psychedelic movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and remixed it to be even more magically psychedelic. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Tweet of the Day
This is a pretty great photo.❤️ pic.twitter.com/8Wr8OcXBhd— TrueBlueNY (@makeNYTrueBlue) August 27, 2018
Zephyr Teachout (left) is running for New York attorney general. Here she is being interviewed by Audrey Quinn of WNYC. Just another day at work for two women.
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
The Dover Boys ReAnimated Collaboration
The Dover Boys at Pimento University is a classic Merrie Melodies cartoon from 1942. You can see the original here. We now have a remake of sorts, a collaboration of more than 90 animators who got together to put their personal spin on the Chuck Jones story. The credits are in a spreadsheet used for the project. While the cartoon is still funny as ever, the extra fun is in finding the modern easter eggs many of the reanimators slipped in. (via Metafilter)
Miss Cellania's Links
Millions of American children were placed in orphanages. Some didn’t make it out alive.
10 Underrated Time Travel Movies. Science fiction's coolest plot device can be found in romances, crime stories, and even Westerns.
How Women Over 50 Are Getting Pregnant. Embryo adoption raises the odds of success to 50 percent.
America’s First Female Soldiers Are Now Getting the Recognition They Deserve. The Hello Girls managed communications on the front lines of World War I. (via Metafilter)
Satellite Imagery Shows the World is On Fire. However, that's not really unusual.
Before Hedy, There Was Barbara Lamarr. She was an actress and screenwriter, but it was her scandalous personal life that kept her in the Hollywood spotlight.
How Disease and Conquest Carved a New Planetary Landscape. Columbus and other explorers forever changed what made the Old World different from the New World.
America Soured on My Multiracial Family.
World's pettiest bride calls off wedding after asking guests for $1,500 each. (via The Daily Dot)
A blast from the past (2014): Meet 10 Beautiful Spiders.
Sweetest What the Fluff Surprise Yet
Zephyr is a four-year-old golden retriever witnessing the "What the Fluff Challenge." We don't know what Zephyr was expecting, but we were expecting the young man holding the blanket up to disappear. Instead, he changed into Kevin, Zephyr's favorite person, who has been gone for nine months doing Army training at Ft. Bragg. Zephyr was pretty happy with the result! (via Digg)
Tweet of the Day
I know most things are bad but today I met this asshole penguin who loved untying shoelaces and I'm feeling pretty great pic.twitter.com/h6VH0jBAqq— Jill Twiss (@jilltwiss) August 24, 2018
(via Digg)
Monday, August 27, 2018
Keyboard Trouble
I had a problem like this once. It really crippled my writing, as my keyboard was completely wonky. The only article I could write was one about my keyboard problems, and even then I had to copy and paste some letters to make it understandable. However, these folks went to print without proofreading at all. (via Bad Newspaper)
Christmas Lights
In my neck of the woods, there are quite a few houses that leave their Christmas lights up all year long. We would like it if they quit turning them on about May or so. This comic is from Chris Hallbeck at Maximumble.
The Space Song
Here's a cute and catchy song from Clare and Si Bennett, also known as Planet Custard, about the planets of the solar system. It's set to an animated video that is cute, funny, and artistic at the same time. Each planet gets a verse about what makes it unique, and even Pluto makes a cameo appearance. And now I can't get the tune out of my head. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Miss Cellania's Links
Battle of the Bulge: Why We’re So Fascinated by Superhero Codpieces.
Why Manafort and Cohen Thought They’d Get Away With It. White collar criminals go unpunished most of the time.
Trash, Class, and Free Cigarettes: My Life With The Jerry Springer Show. The trashy talk series lasted 27 years because people can't help staring at train wrecks.
Jackie Gleason was interested in UFOs for quite some time, although he wasn't quite a believer. In 1959, he had a home built that resembled a flying saucer, and it's now for sale. (via Strange Company)
Biddy Mason Went from Slave to Real Estate Tycoon. Then she used her clout to help others get a leg up.
Exaptation Shows That Evolution Is Not Intelligent. That's when a trait finds a new purpose through dumb luck.
Stickeen: The Story of a Dog. John Muir's account of a dangerous 1880 glacier crossing with a canine companion. (via Metafilter)
Why is it So Hard to Design a Better Paper Cup? Materials that can hold hot liquid are maddeningly hard to recycle.
A blast from the past (2009): Invasion of the Zombie Animals.
The (Mostly) True Story of Hobo Graffiti
Hobos have been around since the railroad system made traveling across America possible. Itinerant workers rode the rails to where work was available, as best they could. Their numbers grew when unemployment did, and they developed a system leave messages for each other. Or did they? Historians know that the "hobo code" we've all read about is not what we've been told. (via Kottke)
Sunday, August 26, 2018
The Most Popular Song of Each Year 1940-2017
Take a stroll down memory lane with a compilation of snippets from the biggest song of each year from 1940 to last year. That's 78 songs! No problem, it's easy to skip around and find the years you want to hear. But how do you define the biggest song of the year? In this case, it's the song that stayed at the top of Billboard's pop music chart the longest. In some cases, it wasn't the biggest-selling song, but if you were around, you no doubt remember it. Some of those #1 hits may surprise you (see 1974). If you want to see the UK version of the same idea, you'll find that video at Laughing Squid.
Lesser Superhero Movie Title Generator
Ooh, I'm thinking of plots already! Just pick one from each column, and off you go! This is the latest from John Atkinson at Wrong Hands. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Bear Looking for Hibernation Accommodations Checks Out the Stanley Hotel
The Stanley Hotel in in Estes Park, Colorado, is famous for inspiring Stephen King to write his novel The Shining. But the evil spirits from King's imagination are not the only intruders bringing notoriety to the hotel. A black bear wandered into the hotel lobby Wednesday night, possibly looking for a room, while 300 guests slept through the invasion. The bear climbed on the furniture while a desk clerk stayed very still and recorded part of the encounter. After a while, finding the service unacceptably slow, the bear left on its own. (via Boing Boing)
She's Pretty Happy About That Hair Cut
This 5-year-old is feeling good after her first hair cut, and she tries her best to explain it to us. She's very good at describing the ultimate happiness, as she relates it to her experiences so far in life. No one has felt such joy since Navin Johnson saw his name in the new phone book. (via Digg)
Tweet of the Day
Here’s a vid of my graceful nephew pic.twitter.com/oBBDwLFVPP— grace anatomy ❁ (@graceporras_) August 19, 2018
(via Digg)
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Star Wars Episode 4 Remake
Ever since home video became a thing, kids have wanted to remake Star Wars. This group actually did it. Byron Ruf and friends remade the whole movie on their own, although they skipped a few scenes you really don't need, so it comes in at barely over an hour. The attention to detail meant even having a Stormtrooper knock his head on entrance. There are a few improvements, such as Luke NOT looking straight down into a lightsaber, Han shot first, and in the end, Chewie gets his medal. Incidentally, I love that the shortest kid played Chewbacca. It's awesome. (via reddit)
It's Cancer
If you are convinced it's cancer, why wouldn't you go to the doctor? Any symptom can mean cancer, but the odds are that it's something else. Either way, you could easily find out what you can do about it by talking to someone who really knows. This is the latest from The Awkward Yeti.
Important Offer
Foka Wolf is the British equivalent of Obvious Plant. He makes funny fake ads and posts them in conspicuous places around London. See more here. (via Nag on the Lake)
Crowbox: Build Your Own Crow Vending Machine
Last year, Neatorama posted about a plan to train crows to pick up litter, specifically, cigarette butts. Here's a way that can happen. The Crowbox is a vending machine for crows. It's set up in stages, to train birds how to use it, but crows are pretty smart and learn quickly. This demonstration video uses quarters, but there's no reason you can't use cigarette butts or something else that crows can easily find. If you'd like to make your own Crowbox, the plans and instructions are here. (via Metafilter)
Tweet of the Day
One of my new favorite 18th century images. pic.twitter.com/4tJwzgyvzQ— JackofallTimes (@JackofallTimes) August 19, 2018
Friday, August 24, 2018
Everybody Dance Now -Even if You Can't Dance
Have you ever wanted to dance like a professional? Of course! New software developed by a team at Berkeley can transfer body moves from one person to another- on video. You can read the particulars in their paper here. Sure, it's a breakthrough in video technology, but you can see right now that this will be used to produce big musical production numbers without hiring a full set of dancers. And it won't be limited to dancing. Someone, somewhere, will produce videos of people going places and doing things that they never did in real life. (via Digg)
Pinball Isn’t as Random as it Seems
People who grew up with video games look at a pinball machine and think that there's no strategy, it's just a matter of keeping the ball in play and listening to random noises. Those of us who grew up playing pinball know better. I was never the greatest pinball player, but I managed pretty well to keep the ball in play long enough to score points, but not nearly as well as someone who had studied a machine and maximized his/her strategy. Roger Sharpe knows how to do that, and gives us some tips on the intricacies of scoring big in pinball. (via Boing Boing)
Asynchronous Communication
A few years ago, I had an epiphany and shared it with my children. "You kids text instead of calling so you can just not respond. You really don't want to communicate with anyone." They just looked at me and said, "Duh, Mom." That's one of the reasons I don't text. I don't want to give my kids another opportunity to ignore me. This comic is from Jeff Lovfers at Don't Hit Save.
Creative Dog Plays Ball with Himself
There's no doubt this is a much-loved dog. But humans can't be there all the time, school and all. Bear has figured out how to harness the power of the trampoline to toss a ball for him to catch! Yes, Bear is pretty smart. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Miss Cellania's Links
How (or How Not) to Build a Labor Movement. George Pullman built a town for his railway workers, but they had others concerns. (via Metafilter)
30 Creepy Bad Album Covers. Some are misguided, others are low quality, and many are just plain bizarre. (via Bored Panda)
Simone Biles's Skills Are Even More Mind-Boggling In Very Slow Motion. Grace, power, and strength can apparently overcome the laws of physics.
DNA from Two Human Species Discovered in 90,000-year-old Bone. A small bone fragment came from a girl with a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father. (via reddit)
The Macabre Art of Baking People Pot Pies. Ashley Newman's latex pies and Andrew Fuller's edible pies both stare at you from beyond the grave.
A blast from the past (2009): Invasion of the Zombie Animals.
Not many links today, my cable was down for hours yesterday, and I have a cold. Carry on.
Tweet of the Day
uh, holy shit new @Reuters poll— mike casca (@cascamike) August 23, 2018
"would you support a policy of medicare for all?"
democrats: 84.5%
republicans: 51.9%https://t.co/zU5UHPWqby
I guess we've finally figured out how to get Americans on board with universal health care. When Hillary Clinton came up with a plan in 1993, insurance company lobbyists went all out with scare-mongering ads from Harry and Louise. The plan was called communistic. And people didn't like the First Lady taking charge on it. Then more people got sick. Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) came around in 2010, and was attacked for being socialist plus it was pushed by a black president. A round of compromises was necessary to get it passed, compromises which made sure it would not be sustainable over time. While people who have benefited from it love Obamacare, it has suffered a thousand paper cuts by those who hate it.
But now the majority of Americans -70%, according to a Reuters poll that came out today- think we should provide Medicare For All. The secret was renaming it. People already understand what Medicare is, and how wonderful it's been for the older people in their families. Medicare not only helps grandma get the care she needs, it relieves the financial burden on her children. People who have Medicare are grateful for it, and don't mind to tell you.
Will taxes go up under Medicare For All? Sure! But they won't go up nearly as much as you're paying for health insurance now. (If your workplace provides your insurance gratis now, they should offer a substantial raise under universal health care- they'll be well able to afford it.) And taxes won't go up much at all if the 1% started paying their share. All told, the country will save about $2 trillion over a few years if we enacted it.
Thursday, August 23, 2018
A Bad Lip Reading of Sarah Huckabee Sanders
In this Bad Lip Reading, SHS conducts a press conference. She has the usual nasty and adversarial position, but here she has different answers for the questions, instead of saying the same thing over and over and over.
The Cartoonist Dates
Dan Martin, the cartoonist at Deathbulge, needs to remember that in our modern world, fans don't just admire what they like, they take ownership of it. And they expect fan service. But no matter how successful you are, you're only human.
Blogiversary 13
There are 24,974 posts here, some of which have yet to be published. There would have been thousands more if I hadn't have migrated to Squarespace and back- I still have the data for all those missing posts, but they are formatted for Wordpress and won't post on Blogger. Come to think of it, they wouldn't post on Wordpress, either, because I tried that. I have occasionally reposted some of them manually, but just dipping into those huge files is a pain that I've mostly put off. For years I watched Sitemeter, as it approached ten million pageviews. I was planning to post something special for that milestone, and I almost got there when Sitemeter went out of business. So I started paying attention to Blogger's stats, which had me exceeding ten million pageviews long ago. Oh, well.
Starting this blog all those years ago led me to a career in blogging for a time. I wrote for YesButNoButYes, which ended in 2010, and Mental Floss, which scaled back my duties and pay, and Neatorama, where I was managing editor for years, but cutbacks there meant the entire staff was laid off this last spring. I was then re-hired to post a bare-bones version so the site can hang on until the financial situation improves -if it ever does. So now I am truly part-time and looking for more work. The prospect of punching a clock after years of working from home terrified me, but I applied for jobs around town. However, it turns out that no one wants to hire a almost-60-year-old woman with few local contacts and little relevant experience. So I'm caught in a zone between employability and retirement, as I still have a mortgage and seven years to go before Social Security kicks in.
I am glad to still have my personal blog, which has always been a hobby and an outlet, but also a bridge to meet wonderful people on the internet. Thanks to all of you who come by, who comment, and who make it all worthwhile!
Sheep on a Swing
Trying to keep up with the rest of the flock, this sheep went headfirst into a tire swing -but didn't make it out the other side. Any attempt to flee, in any direction, just lifts her off the ground. We assume the shepherd helped her escape, after having a few laughs and recording it so that the entertainment value spreads beyond pasture. (via Laughing Squid)
Miss Cellania's Links
How (or How Not) to Build a Labor Movement. George Pullman built a town for his railway workers, but they had others concerns.
30 Creepy Bad Album Covers. Some are misguided, others are low quality, and many are just plain bizarre.
If Trump shot Michael Cohen in broad daylight, here's what Republicans would say.
Simone Biles's Skills Are Even More Mind-Boggling In Very Slow Motion. Grace, power, and strength can apparently overcome the laws of physics.
DNA from Two Human Species Discovered in 90,000-year-old Bone. A small bone fragment came from a girl with a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father.
The Macabre Art of Baking People Pot Pies. Ashley Newman's latex pies and Andrew Fuller's edible pies both stare at you from beyond the grave.
A blast from the past (2014): Survival Kits: The Useful, the Cool, and the Ridiculous.
Not all that many links today. My cable was out for hours yesterday, and I have a cold. Carry on.