Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Time to Call in Godzilla

Toddler Get Her First Glasses



A 14-month old girl has never been able to see clearly, so she doesn't know anything different. Until she gets her first glasses. She doesn't want them, because she's 14 months old. But when she looks through them, her whole world changes, and you can see it all over her face! (via Nag on the Lake)

Long Happy Marriage



(Thanks, CJ!)

Claude's Story



Claude was bred to be a racing dog, but his owner lost interest in the sport and poor Claude was just a neglected castaway for his first two years, kept in a paddock like so much livestock. Then through a greyhound rescue organization, he found a new home with a loving family. Claude had some serious adjusting to do before he could let his guard down and enjoy his new life. But he loves his mom and dad, baby brother, and his cat. He also loves going outside because he was born to run! You can see more of Claude at Instagram. (via Nag on the Lake)

Superman is 85 Years Old



It's somehow a bit reassuring that even the Man of Steel has senior moments. Artist Kerry Callen creates comic book pages that fit uncannily into the Golden Age era so that you will approach them as being from a vintage comic book, but they twist the narrative in a hilariously human manner. (via Geeks Are Sexy)

Cookies



The Archive of Air



Considering the way we've been treating our planet, testing air quality is crucial. At Kennaook/Cape Grim in Tasmania, the cleanest air in the world blows in from the Southern Ocean. The Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station is constantly testing this air, but they also keep samples in the Cape Grim Air Archive. Every few months a new sample is taken for the archive. Sure, we have air testing results for the last 50 years, but what if, sometime in the future, we need to test for something we never tested before? This historic air will be available for new tests. Tom Scott gives us a look at the archives and explains how these samples are taken, stored, and used.

Miss Cellania's Links

Marie Kondo Gives Up. Her home is no longer tidy.

Why We Made Fewer Memories during the Pandemic. (via Damn Interesting

Visualizing the Odds of Dying from Various Accidents. (via Boing Boing)

Ten Dazzling Celestial Events to See in 2023.

This Maine home can stay 70 degrees without a furnace, even when it's freezing outside. (via Nag on the Lake)

Outtakes from Comedies and Shows That Are Better Than Anything On-Screen.

Fun or feud? These are the tell-tail signs that a catfight has gone sour. (via Real Clear Science

The Pigeon-Neck Illusion. (via Boing Boing

Finding Krao Farini. Public discourse on the bearded lady, a staple of circus sideshow, revealed the racial biases underpinning Darwinian theory. (via Damn Interesting)

Priorities



Reading Material



(via Fark)

Impromptu Jam



A busker outside a Kroger store in Dallas is joined by a passerby -and then another, leading to a nice jam session on the sidewalk. These guys may not know each other, but they know what they’re doing! Don’t you wish you could randomly come across a scene like this in real life every once in a while? The video was originally recorded and posted on Facebook by Jaime Tatos Maldonado. (via reddit)

Tweet of the Day

(via Pop Culturista)

Monday, January 30, 2023

Specialized Job



Laboratory Conditions



A doctor loses a patient- literally, as no one can find him. The doctor follows a hunch and finds that her patient has been abducted for an experiment in death at a medical school. Can they detect a soul leaving the body at the moment of death? Should they? In a word, no. Marisa Tomei and Minnie Driver star in this disturbing short from Alter. (via Gizmodo)


Housekeeping



(Thanks, Bicycle Bill!)

Bald Eagles Play with a Golf Ball



Eagles just wanna have fun! Stumpy Lake Golf Course is right on the banks of Stumpy Lake in Virginia Beach, Virginia. You can imagine how many golf balls are at the bottom of the lake. Just a couple of days after Christmas, these guys were out birdwatching near the lake, which was frozen over. There were two bald eagles out on the ice playing with a golf ball! One guy took still pictures while the other ran video. The game started out as soccer (even though the narration is golf), but it turned into a game of keepaway once they noticed they were being watched. Who knew that bald eagles could be so playful? I guess they just don't want to play with humans. (via Everlasting Blort)

Movie Game





The Prophesy



Our hero is on a quest to fulfill his destiny, but first he must uncover the foretold knowledge of what that destiny is. The secret is in the hands of a wise mountain hermit. This is a scenario you'll find in countless fantasy books, movies, and video games, but you've never seen it unfold as realistically as it does in this animated video by Joel Haver. While it's no Lord of the Rings, it is long enough to get the point across. But it still leaves us with lingering questions, like what was the wooden triangle supposed to do? And did they ever kick it? (via reddit)


Miss Cellania's Links

The Most Unique Apartment in St. Louis is For Sale.

The Jurisdiction Problem of a Murder on Ice.

The Games of Squid Game: The Challenge. It will be most interesting to watch real life contestants trying to cross a glass bridge. 

Inside a US Neo-Nazi Homeschool Network With Thousands of Members. (via Fark)

The Balochistan Sphinx. (via Strange Company

Chronophoto, the Photo Dating Game.  It's harder than it looks. (via Metafilter)

How to Make Your Very Own Thing.

The Invention of Fettuccine Alfredo: A Love Story. (via Damn Interesting

Just Look at This 30-Foot Snowman! (via TYWKIWDBI)

The Liar



(via Fark)

Homemade Riding Mower



An innovative fellow in Brazil cuts a large lawn with his cow-powered riding mower. And if it gets fertilized along the way, his blade is set low enough that it works as a fertilizer spreader as well. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near when that happens! (via Daily Picks and Flicks)

Tweet of the Day

The National Park Service found the perfect person to run their social media. There are many more gems like this. Check out a collection of their best Tweets at Bored Panda and follow the National Park Service at Twitter.

Sunday, January 29, 2023

Oh Dear



At First Glance



Colleen Kelly Starkloff tells her daughter about how she met and fell in love with Meaghan's dad Max Starkloff. Max is gone but will not be forgotten. 

After you watch this love story, read more about Starkloff and his legacy. (Thanks, Kolo Jezdec!)


Articles



(via reddit)

Employee of the Month



Daniel is an employee at Shopper's Hardware in Portland, Maine. After he was hired, Daniel quickly became a favorite among the regular customers. The boss thinks he's the best worker ever. He even won the employee of the month award before his first month was up! However, this has sparked some jealousy among the other employees, who believe that Daniel is the boss's pet, because he doesn't do much work, and when he does, he's not all that good at it. They've even caught him sleeping on the job! Oh yeah, and Daniel is a cat. You can follow Daniel's adventures at work at TikTok and Instagram.

Postie



(Thanks, WTM!)

Classified Press Conference



If Merrick Garland was the protagonist of a TV police procedural, they'd have to jazz him up a bit and make him a badass. That ain't never gonna happen. But the recent government shenanigans could make a good comedy. That's what happened last night during the Saturday Night Live opening skit.



Sleeping with Dogs



Charcoal And His Bucket



Move over, walrus! Nobody loves his bucket more than Charcoal, the Labrador. YouTube member cdal233 made this video of his mom’s dog to present to her as a birthday gift. It’s actually a gift for all of us. I wish I could enjoy anything as much as Charcoal enjoys that red bucket. (via Metafilter)

Tweet of the Day

The replies to this are great. Especially those that don't get the joke. And the ones who added their own jokes. (via Everlasting Blort)

Saturday, January 28, 2023

Imagine That



A Real-Life T-1000 Liquid Robot



You surely remember the T-1000 terminator from the movie Terminator 2: Judgement Day. It was a shapeshifting liquid robot that made for some awesome special effects. Now the real world has something that approaches the T-1000. These robots are quite small (for now), but watching them is awesome. We get to see one liquify itself to escape jail bars and then turns back into a tiny human again when it's free! SciShow gives four minutes to the robots, and then talks about the odd movements of the earth's core.


Monopoly



The Difference Between Pudding and Pudding



British folks have blood pudding or black pudding, and they also have Christmas pudding, which are nothing like each other, and nothing like what Americans put into a chocolate pie. So why are they all called pudding? Adam Ragusea explains the different kinds of puddings. The European pudding began as a sausageThen pudding became more than just sausage, and the word was highjacked to mean a sweet soft dessert with all manner of things in it. Ragusea even makes one from a 17th century recipe. But the evolution continued in a different way in the United States, where our pudding eventually became more liquid with fewer things in it. The video has a skippable ad from 3:00 to 4:20. (via Digg)

Restaurant For Sale



(via Buzzfeed)

Josh Jacobs, the Slinky Master



Josh Jacobs, also known as Slinky Josh, is the world's premiere expert in slinky manipulation, or slinking, as he calls it. He came by the art honestly, by seeing someone on the internet do it. He was so fascinated that he got a slinky and started practicing. In this video, he shows us a couple of the basic moves that anyone can do, but you only get really good at it with practice. (via Digg)


Where Were You on January 28, 1986?



There are certain news items that are seared into our memories forever. One happened 37 years ago. I was at work at WTPR in Paris, Tennessee, when the Space Shuttle Challenger took off. Space shuttle launches had become somewhat routine at the time, and I hadn't made a point to watch the recent ones. This was different, because for the first time in NASA's history, a private citizen would be aboard, an elementary teacher named Christa McAuliffe. Also, because our news director Bart Herbison invited the staff to drop by the newsroom if we could to watch the launch on live TV. What we saw was devastating, never to be forgotten. Do you remember where you were and what you were doing that day?

Cat Burglar



(via Fark)

My Wife's Enchanted Pregnancy



Dan Tran and his wife Anne Tran made a time-lapse video of her pregnancy, but wanted it to be a little more entertaining than the usual picture-a-day video. They added vignettes that show the passage of time through the holidays and the nursery preparation along the way. It turned out to be a charming document even for those outside the family! In case you’re wondering, they now have a little girl. They did not mention whether they named the baby something that rhymes with the rest of their names. (via Buzzfeed)

Tweet of the Day

Friday, January 27, 2023

Expeditiously

Born to Be Wild

This looks really dangerous. Someone should call the police. (Thanks, WTM!)

Socializing Feral Kittens



Flatbush Cats runs a trap-neuter-return program for feral cats in Brooklyn, and are also working to establish a veterinary clinic for both homeless cats and low-income families with pets. And when they can, they take kittens off the streets and find them permanent homes. Kittens born to feral mothers don't know anything about trusting humans, but they are young enough to learn. It's not an easy task, but it is wonderful to watch, as a volunteer foster dad takes us through the steps to show a litter of four feral kittens that humans can be friends. He also addresses the hardest part of fostering kittens: how to let them go.


Olden Times



Ode to Chubby Cat



Take a good look at the musical notation before you play the video. In ten measures scored for ten instruments, you see a cat curled up in a ball. How does it sound? Surprisingly good!

Noam Oxman wrote this music as a memorial tribute for his beloved Chubby Cat. We can be impressed with the skill that went into this, although it's not Oxman's first such musical illustration. His YouTube channel of "Sympawnies" has a lot more, and some of them are for sale as art prints as well. When you've got the talent to do something as odd as this, you have to share it with the world. (via Fark)

Miss Cellania's Links

The Evolution of Kitchen Style in the Late 20th Century.

Earth's inner core may have stopped spinning – but what does that mean? It doesn't mean we should panic. (via Damn Interesting)

What If a Conjoined Twin Commits a Crime? This is a common thought experiment in law school, but believe it or not there have been a couple of real world cases. (Thanks, Jill!)

Hollingsworth Hound, as Scrooge, in "A Q-1 Carol." The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.

Historical Candidates for the Real-Life Carmen Sandiego. Women were proven to be con men, too.

When Lyndon B. Johnson Chose the Middle Ground on Civil Rights—and Disappointed Everyone. Despite its glaring limitations, the 1957 law was a useful tool for proponents of civil rights.

Exaggerating China’s military spending, St. Louis Fed breaks all statistical rules with misleading graph. It uses two different scales! (via Kottke)

Barefoot Bowling Ball Soccer on Legos. The dumbest game ever.

Before Folding 30 Years Ago, the Sears Catalog Sold Some Surprising Products.
 

Darkness



(via Fark)

Confused Collie



A Norwegian Border Collie name Fant got to visit a bowling alley. This bowling lane is equipped with a sensor that buzzes when a bowler steps over the line. Fant is fascinated by the buzzer, but goes bonkers when it activates. Franzied Fant is funny! (via Viral Viral Videos)

Tweet of the Day

The artist was definitely a dog owner. (via Everlasting Blort)

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Overweight?



New Beginnings in Love



Here's a sweet little love story that begins during World War II.

Isaac Newton



How Unexpected



Sara Kim made this cute short as a student at the Vancouver Film School. You know how young men never dress for the weather, because it's not "cool"? This guy learned his lesson. Are you disappointed that it's not a love story? Think again, as commenter Annika Heydl  explains it to us. 

maybe I'm overanalyzing but I saw this as a metaphor for their relationship progression. He met her and was totally unprepared for the feelings that she would ignite in him, so he got figuratively "caught" in the weather that symbolizes his emotions. These get stronger, notice how the weather goes from some rain to a sudden tsunami, and he gets (figuratively and literally) swept away. She however, was inmune to all these feelings, and went through life as if nothing had happened because she was prepared and armed against the weather conditions beforehand. this continues until he decides that maybe he too should protect himself against these huge unexpected weather conditions (meaning he repressed his feelings), but just then, she comes completely unprepared (meaning she too develops feelings for him), and so they brave the weather together. Love this animation with all my heart.


See?

Siblings



(Thanks, WTM!)

Crystallizing Vitamin C



It's so cool when people who have access to hi-tech equipment share the stuff they see with the rest of us. Photographer Jens Braun dissolved some vitamin C and then let it recrystallize under a microscope fitted with a camera, using polarized light. We get to see the action in various speeds and colors. It's the conjunction of art and science. Or you might say that the natural world is a work of art, but we aren't able to see all of it without the help of an artist. (via Digg)

Rusty



Clap Your Hands



Swing dance combines discipline and athleticism in a way that makes it look effortless and joyful. Those who are good at it will tell you its certainly joyful, or they wouldn't do it! However, it is anything but effortless. Remy Kouakou Kouame and Jessica Lennartsson perform at the International Lindy Hop Championships in 2013. (via Viral Viral Videos)

Tweet of the Day

An apt illustration of Mommy Brain.

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

What a Bargain!

Sisyphus



In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was punished for cheating death by being forced to roll a huge stone up a hill for all eternity. Every time he would get near the top of the hill, the boulder would roll all the way down and he would have to start all over. Sisyphus became a metaphor for any tragically futile action.

Ross McSweeney built an automata illustrating the trial of Sisyphus, made from laser cut wood. The devil is in the details. Literally, as you can see the devil underneath making sure that Sisyphus never makes any real progress. A vulture is keeping an eye on him for added effect. This work of art isn't for sale, but you can make your own, because McSweeney has the digital files for the laser cutting for sale at his Etsy shop. (via Geeks Are Sexy)

Roadwork

(via reddit)

House Cat at Night



Minnie is a very affectionate cat. Her humans were curious about what she does while they are sleeping, and so set up a camera. What she does is her best to get close to Dad, and to get him to pay attention to her. No wonder he's so tired during the day! At least the dog stays at the foot of the bed. My advice would be to get another cat. I have four cats, and they bother me only about half this much while I'm trying to sleep. (via reddit)

Side Effect



From Drew Fairweather at Married to the Sea.

Honest Trailer: Snakes on a Plane



Snakes on a Plane started out in 1992 as a single pitch line, which became the title. "Snakes on a plane" was such an intriguing idea that it became an internet meme, gaining so much steam that the producers incorporated elements of the meme into the movie. Yeah, it was lots of fun until the actual movie was released in 2006, and the fun came to a screaming halt because the movie was awful. However, the story of how it came about is interesting.

Miss Cellania's Links

The Nominations for the 95th Academy Awards.

The Controversial King of Hardcore Climbing. A profile of Nims Purja. (via Digg)

The Pitfalls of Typography Decisions.

Knowing More Than One Language Can Stave Off Alzheimer's Disease. (via Real Clear Science)

‘Wobbly cat’ Elvis is king of fostering kittens at Kentucky shelter. (via Fark)

Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham. A new direct-to-video animated film.

The 15 Best Films Of The 1950s.

Glass Artist Genki Hirano Crafts Tentacle Earbuds. (via Nag on the Lake)

The Holiday That Welcomes Back the Sun With Pancakes and Coffee



On a personal note: I've been using the same coffee filter for about ten years. Don't laugh, it's one of those silk and plastic reusable filters. A couple of months ago, I noticed the silk has started to separate a little at the top, and I bought a new one. It didn't look the same. It was used less than ten times before it started falling apart. I tossed it and lamented about how they don't make things they way they used to. I went back to using the ten-year-old filter.

Fast forward to last week, I was inspired by the post about the cabinet above the refrigerator. I finally got up there and took everything out yesterday. Way in the back was a box. I pulled out, and there was an unopened coffee filter that looks at least ten years old! So I eventually got what I wanted. Being a pack rat can pay off sometimes, but only if you keep up with what you've got.  


Beer Bunny



(via Fark)

Makeover



Horrie, an aging widower, decides it's time to start dating again, so he gives himself an extreme makeover. The most disturbing part is the homemade facelift, but once you get past that, it's a delightful story. The short film Makeover by Don Percy won second prize at Tropfest 2013. (via Daily Picks and Flicks)


Tweet of the Day

Yeah, it's real. (via Everlasting Blort)

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

The Painter



How Dare You Catch That Fish!

This cat has no mercy for the seal in the front. Notice he gets smacked again when the second seal gets a chunk of fish. The rest of the seals have the foresight to cause some confusion for the rest of the dispensation. (via Fark)

Do Not Drive



This reminds me of the day I said goodbye to my pickup truck. It wouldn't start anyway. (via Bits and Pieces)

The Weirdly Complex Science of Snow Removal



I always thought that not plowing the streets in residential neighborhoods was a genius way to keep people at home on snow days, at least before everyone and their brother decided that owning a pickup truck or an SUV made them invincible. People look out their windows and assume all the streets are covered the way theirs is. But cities put a real effort into clearing snow from the streets, starting with the main thoroughfares and places like hospital entrances. It's just a lot more expensive and time-consuming than it may appear to us. Streets like the one to my house usually have to wait at least until the temperature rises, and by then the problem is solved on its own. Half as interesting explains the factors that slow down snow removal. This video is five minutes long; the rest is an ad. (via Digg)


Miss Cellania's Links

The 2023 Razzie Nominations. The awards will be announced on March 11.   

The Vacuum Cleaner Defense League. (via Metafilter

These Toilet-Shaped Carnivorous Plants Thrive By Eating Poop.

What “choice” means for millions of women post-Roe. Also this.  (via Fark)

In the game 10 Typos, you'll be presented with a news article, and you must find the ten words that are misspelled. You will be timed (via Nag on the Lake

15 reasons why the world needs Ukrainian victory. (via Boing Boing)

"Speaker of the House," a Randy Rainbow Song Parody. He tells the story of Kevin McCarthy to the tune of “Master of the House” from Les Misérables. Contains NSFW language.

Julie d’Aubigny: sword-slinger, opera singer, and larger-than-life bisexual celebrity of 17th-century France. (via Metafilter)

If You Can't Understand Modern Movie Dialogue, You're Not Alone.

Bang Bang



 

(via Fark)

Ode To The Picard Maneuver



The crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation flew aboard the Enterprise for seven seasons, the first two in onesies. The jumpsuits were futuristic, but they has a tendency to ride up a bit. This led to the famous Picard Maneuver, which you’ll see over and over in this supercut. Oh, he’s not the only one doing it (Riker’s solo begins at 3:50), but the poor captain had to adjust his accoutrements in almost every scene. By the third season, the wardrobe department had seen the error of their ways and replaced the jumpsuits with shirts and pants that looked the same, but still rode up, so the shirts were still tugged down every time someone stood up. Now I wonder how much the uniforms contributed to Riker’s odd method of using a chair. (via Uproxx)

Tweet of the Day

The more you watch this, the more you realize that it was sagging at the beginning and they should have seen this coming. Notice all the un-installed rebar on the ground at the left. (Thanks, WTM!)

Monday, January 23, 2023

A Sandwich Story



The Greatest Batusi Ever



Enjoy a truly batty scene from the TV series Batman. King Tut has tortured Batman to the point of  insanity and then ordered him to dance. The dance is truly insane. The episode is "The Pharaoh's in a Rut" from season one in 1966.

My friends and I were seven years old. We knew Batman, but had never heard of King Tut. I clearly remember one of my classmates telling us that there was a really stupid villain coming up next week called King Ducks. She misheard it, but I was really looking forward to seeing King Ducks, because I figured it would be really funny. (via Nag on the Lake)



Test Results



Hey There, Delilah!

Grab a hankie. (via Fark)

Closed-Captioned Tennis Matches


The Sordid History of Sugar



Humans, and many other animals, evolved to seek out and enjoy anything sweet, because the sugars those foods contain provided us with much-needed calories and energy. That's a useful adaptation because in the natural world, sugar is relatively rare and comes in fruits and other plants that also provide other nutrients. But humans found a way to process sugar into its purest form, and we went wild for it. That's not healthy, but it is lucrative. The money to be made in sugar production led to some shady episodes in history. Even today, when we know that sugar is bad for us, it's hard to get away from it, even if you give up candy, soda, and sweet treats. Food products that aren't even supposed to be sweet contain sugar, and it's difficult to find alternatives without it. That's because those who profit from those products know we are evolutionarily wired to prefer anything with sugar in it.


Miss Cellania's Links

A Most Attention-Grabbing Real Estate Listing.  Yeah, there are plenty of jokes you can make about this "fire sale," and you can read them all at reddit.

1895: Jack, the Fire Dog of FDNY Ladder 9 Who Dined With Teddy Roosevelt. (via Strange Company)

Influencer Job Opening has a Surprise Description.

This School Teaches People How To Poop Properly.

Small-Penises/Fast-Cars Research Study. If a man thinks he has a small penis, he is more likely to want a sports car.

50 Perfectly Accurate Memes That Capture What It’s Like Living With Cats.

47 Examples of Movie Errors You Never Noticed.

Rescued Beavers Design Their Own Pond in a Back Yard.

Famous Brand Logos Are Reimagined as Medieval Art Illustrations. (via Pop Culturista

 

On a personal note, I woke up this morning to find Sundae has been trying to change my browser settings. Again.


 



Doesn't Bite



Barack Obama does “Uptown Funk”



Fadi Saleh of the YouTube channel baracksdubs has been working steadily to edit former president Barack Obama into singing songs for years now. In this one he outdid himself, as Obama does the Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars song “Uptown Funk.” (via Viral Viral Videos)

Tweet of the Day

(via Fark)

Sunday, January 22, 2023

Oven Trouble



It's a Beautiful Day



The little boy is named Rushawn, who inspired The Kiffness to collaborate. The original song is by Jermaine Edwards. (Thanks, Paula!)

Your Horoscope for Today



"Your Horoscope for Today" was an song from Weird Al Yankovic's 1999 album Running With Scissors that was never released as a single. Augenblick Studios, who have worked with Yankovic on several previous projects, gives it a new animated video that Yankovic released this week. The video makes the fast-paced song much easier to follow, even if the predictions under your star sign are pretty dismal. But that's just yours; everyone else's horoscope is pretty darn funny. (via Geeks Are Sexy)

Donnie Dunagen



True story. (Thanks, WTM!)

The NFL on Fox



Saturday Night Live returned last night after a month off for the holidays. The opening skit featured the post game panel from Fox's NFL coverage, a curious robot, and the show's newest hire, George Santos.


Weapons



(via Fark)

Why Children Need to Be Quiet



Children make up a particularly gullible audience, so its very tempting to impress them with whatever nonsense you want to concoct, and sometimes those tall tales have a positive effect. Or one like this could just as easily scar them for life. This tall tale was inspired by a real-life train ride with children. It was produced by British animation studio Kilogramme, which had already produced another episode of tall tales you can see here. (via Geeks Are Sexy)