(via Bad Newspaper)
Friday, September 30, 2022
Man in Cave
My father was a geologist in Kentucky, so I grew up familiar with the story of Floyd Collins, but I was an adult before I read the book and realized how very horrifying it was. Internet Historian tells the story with cheap animation, but gripping narration, in this hour-long video. (via Digg)
Lego Pancake Factory
Watch this incredibly complicated factory break eggs and mix flour, milk, and the other ingredients, mix it together, ready the frying pan, pour batter, turn the pancake (yes, it's one at a time), and transfer it to a plate. This has to be the most complicated method ever devised to make breakfast, but it's fascinating to watch. If I had been the one to build these machines, I would open a diner to make the time and effort pay off. But LEGO bricks are toys, so the point of this whole project is to have fun doing it. (via Laughing Squid)
Rotisserie Truck Halloween Display
Cleverness is repurposing things you already have for Halloween, and you'll have a unique display that way, too. Wild Bill Knowles did just that for his spectacular 2022 holiday diorama at his home in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. A group of skeletons are roasting a 1999 Chevy S-10 pickup rotisserie-style over a fire! Meet the skeletons: Crankenstein, Frick and Frack, Klinger, Bonita, and Hacked-Up Hank! Don't miss Smilin' Sam in the lawn chair to the right. Is this band of miscreants planning to eat the truck? Does it really matter? The purpose is to make the neighbors smile ...or make them nervous. (Thanks, xoxoBruce!)
Miss Cellania's Links
The Double Life of New York’s Black Oyster King. Thomas Downing served rich white men in his restaurant, but they didn't know about the people he was hiding in the basement.
What’s so scary about a transgender child?
Home For Sale is an Art Funhouse.
An Update on the Next Planet of the Apes Movie. This will be the tenth film in the series.
The CIA declassified these 11 Russian jokes about the Soviet Union. (via Fark, where you'll find more jokes)
Inside the Disneyland of Graveyards. How Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, a star-studded cemetery in Los Angeles, corporatized mourning in America
Taco Bell Is Letting Fans Choose One Of Two Menu Items To Bring Back. Sadly, neither option is the MexiMelt.
They were turned away from urgent care. The reason? Their car insurance.
A Marching Band tribute to The Wizard of Oz
The upside of sitting in the nosebleed section of a football stadium is being able to see the formations of the marching band, especially if it’s the Ohio State University marching band. Saturday, they played the tunes from The Wizard of Oz while forming animated formations of the principle characters. Awesome!
Tweet of the Day
(via Everlasting Blort)A drone footage looking down into a volcanic eruption π pic.twitter.com/rf2f5n0OZ9
— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) September 17, 2022
Thursday, September 29, 2022
Husky and Wolf
I have known huskies, and they are really big dogs. But they are tiny compared to a wolf. (via reddit)
American Food
It's hard to appreciate "American" food. Some people don't even recognize American food outside of a Thanksgiving feast, because we've always taken cuisine from immigrants and made it our own. But don't knock it until you've tried it. I'd say the same about food from other cultures. You're going to like some of it and hate some of it, but either way there's no reason to put down people who eat it. This comic is from But a Jape. You'll find more commentary at the link. (via reddit)
Lizzo Plays a 200-year-old Presidential Flute
Before pop singer Lizzo played a concert in Washington Tuesday, she was invited to the Library of Congress to check out the world’s largest flute collection. Lizzo, who is a classically trained flautist, was eager to see the collection. And Monday, she got the chance to play them, too!
One of the flutes was made for President James Madison by renowned flute maker Claude Laurent. The leaded crystal flute is one of the few items saved from an 1814 fire at the White House started by the British during the War of 1812. The rare instrument hasn't been played in 200 years. The Library also arranged for Lizzo to play the flute at her concert Tuesday night, but only for a few notes, for security reasons. Read about Lizzo's adventure at the Library of Congress blog. (via Metafilter)
Miss Cellania's Links
Neptune in its real glory.
Deadpool and Wolverine Together Again.
Which Jack-o-Lantern Doesn't Have a Nose?
Nikola Tesla Made an X-Ray of His Own Foot With a Machine He Designed in 1896. (via Damn Interesting)
A Calvinesque and Hobbesian look at declassifying documents. The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
The Pumpkin Spice Latte Engagement Ring. Nice, if all your clothes are orange. (via Fark)
Five Pseudosciences That Fueled the Nazis.
The 10 Best Horror Comedies of 2022.
Curious Owls
When you set up a camera to capture wildlife, you hope they don’t know they’re being recorded. It turns out that you can’t fool critters all the time. Someone attached a GoPro to a tree just beneath an owl’s nest. The owls, being eagle-eyed, immediately noticed something new in their environment. The camera gets a thorough inspection, which leaves us with the image of an entire family of owls staring directly into our souls.
The owls don’t care, once they’ve determined it’s something they can’t eat and won’t eat them. I got a little nervous when one owl chick hiked his leg, but I guess he was just stretching. Next, someone will give them funny dialogue. (via Everlasting Blort)
Tweet of the Day
(via Fark)My boyfriend saving a cat from flood waters near Bonita Beach. #HurricaneIan #Naples #Bonita #FortMyers pic.twitter.com/BlBC9P1rdy
— Megan Cruz Scavo (@MeganScavo) September 28, 2022
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Celebrities
Tom Arnold is photobombing the Star Wars guys at Cincinnati Comic Con. That's the real Tom Arnold, but in front is George Flucas (Allen Stephenson) and Fluke Skywalker. Skywalker posted this and answered questions about how he got into this line of work.
Ninety pounds! I am impressed.
I've been a volunteer for charity most of my life, starting with riding my bike to raise money for the Jerry Lewis Labor Day telethon. My family and I have been volunteers at the Ronald McDonald House in Cincinnati since 2006. They hired a professional chef in 2016 so that opportunity changed. By 2017, I lost 90 lb and started hearing how much I look like Mark Hamill from a lot of different people. I decided I would use the look to continue to help out charities. This coming Christmas will be my fifth year of not only raising money for donations but donating toys to their toy closet every 3 months non-stop since Christmas of 2017. I suck at golf so this is my hobby.
Ninety pounds! I am impressed.
Skeleton Rides Horse for Training
Rebecca got creative in training a horse named Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi is a nine-year-old Morgan mare, and Rebecca is desensitizing her and giving her a feel of what it's like to be controlled by a human rider. But instead of a human, she placed a lightweight plastic skeleton on her back! Rebecca is calling out orders and controlling the skeleton's movements with ropes. What could possibly go wrong? Well, the same thing that could go wrong with an inexperienced rider... the horse proved to be a little more powerful than the skeleton, and yes, there were definitely bones broken. It's a good thing they were the skeleton's bones! (via Laughing Squid)
Underwater Welding is Dangerous
Welding and diving are hard enough alone, but when you put them together, you have an astonishingly hazardous career. I hear it pays very well, yet the contents of this video are more than enough to turn you off the job. In the YouTube comments, quite a few people have known an underwater welder at one time or another in their lives. Some of those welders died on the job, some were permanently injured, and the rest will just try to convince you not to go into such a line of work. Besides what is outlined in the video, they relate tales of being in the dark water and suddenly encountering a massive sea creature who came over to get a look! (via Nag on the Lake)
Celebration
Kool & the Gang, from 1980. Guaranteed to get folks out on the dance floor, throughout the 1980s. And maybe even today, I don’t know.
Tweet of the Day
(via Fark)Tactical Ukrainian cat☺️ pic.twitter.com/KrKYE4RwYb
— UkrARMY cats & dogs (@UAarmy_animals) September 24, 2022
Tuesday, September 27, 2022
Suicide Trombone Deluxe
You've seen the suicide trombone routine. It's kind of scary, but you've never seen it like this! The Liberty High School Trombone Headchoppers of Frisco, Texas, do the regular stuff, but then they get complicated, using irregular cadence, spins, and blindfolds. One misstep could mean stitches. They must have practiced diligently, and suffered for their art along the way.
The Making of The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption was a sleeper hit. It didn't make much stir when it was released in theaters in 1994, but on home video and TV, it grew to be a cult classic, and a generation of viewers love it. As such, we didn't have a lot of trivia articles about it on the internet. We now get tidbits of trivia, and a breakdown of the film's special effects. What? You didn't know The Shawshank Redemption, a prison period drama, had special effects? Yes, and before CGI became so ubiquitous they had to get creative for them. See what went into the filming of The Shawshank Redemption, including a small detail that bugged the director for ten years before it was corrected, in this video.
Cat Confused by Escalator
Good thing someone helped him out..ππΎπͺπ pic.twitter.com/cnC82GVGY1
— πo̴g̴ (@Yoda4ever) September 26, 2022
People in Istanbul love cats and go out of their way to help the city's numerous street cats. This cat hasn't learned to distinguished the up escalator from the down escalator, and doesn't understand why he's not making any progress. The lady going up notices him, and then goes back down to help out, but another human is quicker. Notice the little look back, as if the cat is saying "Thanks." Both humans were being way more helpful than whoever shot the video. That said, cats and dogs shouldn't be on escalators at all because of the danger of their paws being pinched at the end.
Treadmill Crane
Imagine the folks who built the Roman Colisuem, and all those beautiful medieval cathedrals. How did they get all that stone way up on the upper floors? For the larger stones, it would have taken a whole team of men to carry each one to those heights. But that wasn't necessary, because they had machines. GuΓ©delon Castle is being built using 13th-century technology to build it. That includes a treadwheel crane, also called a treadmill crane. Using a large wheel with a person walking inside, they transfer the distant walked into lifting power through pulleys. Tom Scott demonstrates the treadmill crane at the GuΓ©delon Castle construction site.
Miss Cellania's Links
Eight Bedroom "Home" Comes with Stained Glass, Steeple, and Organ. It's described as a "church converted to mansion," but if you take a closer look, you'll see that the conversion consists of putting beds in various rooms and adding Jacuzzis to two of the bathrooms. (via Fark)
How One Food Stylist Creates Otherworldly Dishes for Your Favorite Sci-Fi Show. (via Nag on the Lake)
Counterpoised Cranial Support for Eyewear. Why didn't this invention catch on?
Netflix and Chills: New Offerings for Halloween 2022.
Name That Tune with Mandy Patinkin.
The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. If you are out of free articles at Rolling Stone, the titles are listed at Metafilter.
How the 1980s Became the Golden Age of Spoof Movies (And Why It Couldn’t Last).
Snoop Dogg on Wheel of Fortune.
Birthday Mouse
Today is my birthday. I usually don't mention how old I am, but this year, the Beatles wrote a song about it. (via Fark)
28 Birthday Traditions From Around the World
John Green celebrated the anniversary of Mental Floss's video series by examining birthday traditions around the world. We make a wish and blow out candles on a cake, but while cakes are common, that’s not a universal custom. Some countries have other tasty treats, and a lot of places have customs involving smearing food on the honoree. I saved this video for my birthday!
Tweet of the Day
(Thanks, WTM!)Ambush..ππΎπ pic.twitter.com/niscby92fM
— πo̴g̴ (@Yoda4ever) September 17, 2022
Monday, September 26, 2022
Roshklahoma!
Congregation B’nai Israel's High Holy Day Choir in Sacramento wishes you a happy Rosh Hashanah by repurposing the anthem from the Western musical Oklahoma! The soloist is Robert Vann. (Thanks, Marco McClean!)
Orphaned Mountain Lion Find a Home
Remember the orphaned and starving mountain lion found back in April? The Oakland Zoo nursed Rose back to life, but had no room for more mountain lions. Rose was later joined by a rescued male mountain lion they named Sage. They both have been taken to their new permanent home at The Living Desert, a wildlife park in Palm Desert, California. (via Zooborns)
Tweet of the Day
Yes, we are proud of you. This takes real bravery, because they are risking their lives for dignity and freedom. (via Everlasting Blort)Please take a minute to watch brave Iranian women stand up to their authoritarian, theocratic government.
— Yashar Ali π ΫΨ§Ψ΄Ψ§Ψ± (@yashar) September 20, 2022
Iranian women have had enough of the control and abuse and there are many Iranian men who are standing with them. @AlinejadMasih pic.twitter.com/Z2xJee90YW
How Movies Wreck Cars
Okay, here we will see a bunck of cars banged up real good without anyone being hurt. Modern cars are more crumple-resistant than ever, and even when they are damaged, it's not always as dramatic as a movie requires. So film crews have to rig everything ahead of time to get the visuals they want. The company JEM FX specializes in making vehicle destruction look exciting in movies. They've got all kinds of tricks ready so a chase scene or car stunt gets the desired results. (via Digg)
Miss Cellania's Links
Giant Pumpkin Breaks Pennsylvania Record. by 46 pounds. How they managed to get a 2405-pound pumpkin to Ohio without breaking it is a miracle. (via Fark)
Sniffing Out the Science of Smelling.
Restoring painted furniture to its original glory. See 50 very satisfying projects.
A Time-Travel Engineering Pyramid Scheme.
20 Best Picture contenders for the 2023 Oscars.
Cattera, the Heavy Metal Band with a Feline Singer. (via Fark)
A Tale of Two Times: Edo Japan Encounters the European Clock. (via Strange Company)
Meet the Santa Clara Cross Country Team.
Dip Your Apple
The Ein Prat Fountainheads welcome the High Holidays with a parody of Shakira’s World Cup song "Waka Waka." Happy Rosh Hashanah!
Sunday, September 25, 2022
An Elephant Story
Pocha the Asian elephant has lived most of her 55 years in a small concrete enclosure at the Mendoza EcoParque in Argentina. She and her daughter Guillermina finally got to leave the zoo in May of this year and were taken 2,092 miles (3,366 kilometers) to Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, where they can roam through grasslands and the rainforest and meet other elephants. Their joy in their new home is easy to see.
The Crispiest Onion Rings
Kent Rollins is a real cowboy. He grew up wrangling cattle in Oklahoma and became a chuck wagon cook. Here, he shares his secret for crispy onion rings. You'll find the printed recipe here.
You might think that watching someone cook onion rings pales in comparison with eating onion rings, but this video is not only informative, it will inspire you to make some onion rings yourself. There are enough ingredients involved in Rollin's recipe that you have to make a lot of onion rings to justify it. Save some for me! (via Digg)
Rosh Hashanah Rock Anthem
From Aish, we have parody of "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO to welcome in the New Year beginning at sundown. The lyrics are at the YouTube page.
Tweet of the Day
(via Boing Boing)exCUSE me, who taught the raccoon on my back porch how to use a HAMMOCK??
— Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D (@SarahMackAttack) September 9, 2022
[Filmed from INSIDE my house] pic.twitter.com/1Z4UytqBvG
Saturday, September 24, 2022
Bookman vs. Seinfeld
Jerry is confronted by a library detective over a book he didn't return to the library 20 years before. Mr. Bookman is played by Philip Baker Hall. You have to wonder how many times they had to do this skit since you know Jerry kept breaking up. He still can't keep a straight face in this take, but it was probably the best one they could do.
If you are young or from a different culture, this is hilarious because Mr. Bookman is doing a parody of Joe Friday's lectures in the old cop-centric series Dragnet. (via reddit)
Trail Cam of a Playful Kitty cat
A charming trail cam sequence from Colorado shows that mountain lions are not all that different from house cats. Thaddeus Wells built a wooden swing in the forest and set a camera nearby, hoping to catch bear cubs in action. But a young cougar chose that area to sleep in. When she touches the swing, she's startled at its movement. But then that movement becomes intriguing to her, and she bats it back and forth like a cat playing with a piece of string. I wonder if she ever knocks objects off a cliff just for the fun of it. (via reddit)
Walt & Jesse's Magnificent Meth Lab
What if Breaking Bad had been launched by Cartoon Network? JabaToons imagined the content of the AMC show with the animation style of Cartoon Network's glory years. It is not for children, as if that isn't totally obvious. This is just the intro, but people are already asking for full episodes. Yeah, the animation idea has been done before, but not in this particular way. (via Boing Boing)
Tweet of the Day
(Thanks, WTM!)Animals are Smart
— Gabriele Corno (@Gabriele_Corno) September 14, 2022
Via NTD Television pic.twitter.com/QYqqMMg9De
Friday, September 23, 2022
Inheritance
This was in 1934. You have to wonder how long the cat lived. "The first thing that cat did with the money was hire a food taster." (via Undine)
Mesothelioma
"Financial compensation" never sounded so good. The latest project from There I Ruined It takes the monologue from that ad we've all seen again and again and sets it to the tune of "Galop Infernal" by Jacques Offenbach. We know it as the Can-Can song. (via reddit)
It's Fall!
I can SO relate to this! Yesterday was the autumnal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, marking the transition from summer to fall. From this point on, the nights will be longer than the days until next spring. But autumn is often just a state of mind, especially in the torrid American South. Having been through a few equinoxes in the South, I knew that yesterday would be just another day as far as the weather goes, but I was surprised this year. On Wednesday, the high temperature was 90°F (32°C). But where I am, the high temp Thursday was 75°F (24°C) and I needed to bring in the porch plants in last night. The weather is always surprising; this year I am surprised it followed the calendar. (via Digg)
Miss Cellania's Links
The 1904 Olympic Marathon Was The Worst Race Ever. It involved cheating, illness, theft, injury, performance-enhancing drugs, hallucinations, and one runner being chased off course by dogs.
Chagrin Falls: First they came for Trump, and I said nothing… The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
This lady needs to try the taste test again.
We Are a Picturesque Small Town and We Refuse to Be the Setting for Your Romantic Comedy. (via Metafilter)
Rogue One: 15 Stories About The Making Of The Underrated Star Wars Movie.
A new study asks: Are we harming blood donors by taking blood from them? (via Damn Interesting)
Woman With Severe Chronic Pain Was Denied Medication for Being ‘Childbearing Age.’
San Francisco’s Famous Sourdough Was Once Really Gross.
Tweet of the Day
(via Everlasting Blort)it’s friday pic.twitter.com/ENSlpg3Yqp
— Jizz Johnson (@JizzJohnsonJr) September 16, 2022
Thursday, September 22, 2022
How a Lumberjack Cake is Made
Professional cake artist Liz Marek of Sugar Geek Show shows us how she makes a lumberjack cake. In the first two and half minutes, you'll know how the red flannel is done. She uses two layers of chocolate cake, two layers of red velvet cake, and two layers of yellow cake with some red dye to make the four layers of flannel shirt. Then she models a mostly-edible chocolate axe to go with it, then frosts the outside of the cake to look like a crosscut tree stump! I wouldn't go to this much trouble to make my own wedding cake. If you want to try this one yourself, there's a tutorial with words and stuff that explains all the steps at Sugar Geek Show. (via Nag on the Lake)
Olive is a Clever Rat
Rats in the wild are scary because they are so invasive and can spread disease, but they honestly make pretty good pets. With a good home and regular meals, they can be affectionate and entertaining. And one of the reasons they survive in almost all conditions is that they are so intelligent. Esther Minic-Rosenthal has several rats, but she's never had one as willing and able to learn as Olive. While Minic-Rosenthal tells us Olive's story, watch to see all the neat things she can do. At about 1:40, you'll see she can recognize her own name in print! I am quite impressed. See more of Olive's tricks in several videos at Laughing Squid.
LEGO Machine Demonstrates Mechnisms
Brick Experiment Channel shows us a LEGO machine that combines 20 different mechanical principles. If that were all this video had, it would be simply fascinating. You have to have a little awe at the engineers who came up with all these ways of controlling movement. But these mechanism are all eventually combined into one LEGO device powered by one motor. See them all work at once is glorious! They labeled the video as a "useless machine," but it is anything but useless as it demonstrates how all these moving parts work, and brings us joy to see the finished product. And besides, it rotates a Viking. (via Boing Boing)
How to Win a Preschool Argument
Okay, is it sprinkling outside, or is it raining? A little boy tries to argue about the weather with a little girl. She’s got a sister for backup, and although the sister makes an attempt to moderate the disagreement, you know the poor little boy feels totally outnumbered. And she poked his heart! There will be a lot more of that in this young man’s life to come. (via Daily Picks and Flicks)
Tweet of the Day
Just when you thought air travel couldn't get any worse. (via Fark)We teamed up with @guitarcenter to surprise a flight full of Customers flying out of Long Beach with a ukulele and a lesson. By the time they arrived in Honolulu they were pros. pic.twitter.com/XsEx10sRJK
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) September 20, 2022
The Puppy Raised in a Bubble
A tiny dachshund puppy named Sally had pneumonia so bad that she needed an oxygen tent. It's possible that she aspired milk while nursing, which led to lung damage. The Bottle Brigade, a group of vet techs who care for fragile or special needs puppies and other animals, took her in. Sally was confined to an oxygen chamber they called the bubble. Kathryn and her comrades didn't know how long it would take for Sally's lungs to heal, and the puppy did a lot of growing up in the bubble. Watch and see how her story turns out. (via Fark)
Simba's Education
You know what happens to little cubs who ask too many questions! Mufasa, being an apex predator instead of a wise king, chooses the easy way. It sure would have made The Lion King a shorter film. This tale is from Deliberately Buried Comics.
(via Geeks Are Sexy)
Honest Trailer: Elvis
When Screen Junkies gives us an Honest Trailer, the expectation is that they'll tear a movie apart and tell us everything that went wrong. However, when critiquing Baz Luhrmann's movie Elvis, they have little to criticize the film for. They poke fun at Baz Luhrmann (for his other films), the casting of Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker (but not his acting), and the story the movie told, because it was beyond bonkers (but it was a true story). They couldn't say one bad thing about Austin Butler's portrayal of Elvis, except that the camera lingered on his pelvis. Elvis was quite a hit over the summer. That doesn't mean this Honest Trailer isn't worth a watch, because it is. The movie was bonkers, but that's what was called for when you do a biopic of Elvis.
Miss Cellania's Links
His Little Fish (Grab a Hankie). (via Geeks Are Sexy)
The racist backlash to The Little Mermaid and The Rings of Power is exhausting and extremely predictable. (via Fark)
How to gird your loins. (via Everlasting Blort)
"Semper Supra," the official US Space Force song, was unveiled Tuesday. What do you think of it?
The Best Gothic Horror Movies.
Old Oil Paintings of Cats Stealing Food.
The Symbolism of Food in Movies.
How Many Ants Are There? An awful lot! (via Damn Interesting)
September
Do you remember the 21st of September? Earth, Wind, and Fire debuted this song in 1978. It takes me back to college. NPR has an entire article about why this song is so popular after all these years.
Tweet of the Day
(via Everlasting Blort)You can't look away pic.twitter.com/caYkqCuwBa
— Scott Kerr (@scott_kerr) September 14, 2022
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Burning Man Drone Light Show
Watching this light show on video might not quite as awesome as seeing it live, but you didn't have to spend several days at Burning Man to see it. (via Digg)
Fish Brought Back from the Brink of Death
Emma The Cabbage is studying to be a vet tech, and she's studied fish for years. Emma spotted a fish in distress at a pet shop, pale, floating, and not moving except to breathe. The store didn't even charge her for it. Emma brought the fish home for some TLC. After a few weeks of intense care, the little fish changed from a sick nondescript minnow to a beautiful rainbow betta! It's amazing what a little knowledge and the willingness to care for a pet will do. This fish won the lottery in that aspect. He even looks like he's smiling!
The League of Pigs
One guy in the UK has a group of adorable young pigs on his farm, and he's set them up to compete in footraces. These pigs are serious about getting to the food trough first! In this video, you'll get to know and love the competitors: Ginger Hamilton, Bear Trotsky, Piggy Smalls, Pepper Sanchez, and Hoshi Oinku. Besides that, the production values are excellent, and the narrator is not only professional, but quite funny. This is the first race video; if you want to see more, there are other races. (via reddit)
Tweet of the Day
(via Everlasting Blort)π
— Edward K ☮️ππΊπ¦π‘ (@EdgeKay) September 11, 2022
