(via Bad Newspaper)
Monday, December 23, 2024
Holodeck Holiday
You've never heard "Deck the Halls" like this. Another supercut, holiday edition, from John C. Worsley.
TV Stand
My kids skipped buying textbooks for the vast majority of their classes, but we still ended up with a carload after graduation, and schools don't even bother facilitating the sale of used books anymore. Libraries don't want them, either. (via Bored Panda)
The Great Stalacpipe Organ
Have you ever been in a cave, admiring the stalactites, and thought they resembled a pipe organ? You're not the only one. In fact, Luray Caverns in Virginia has an instrument that can play those stalactites like an organ! The Great Stalacpipe Organ is an electronic device that taps into the stalactites with rubber mallets to produce musical notes. This lithophone is the largest musical instrument in the world. The device brings the notes together, but it doesn't change the actual note- those comes from the striking of the stones themselves. They were cataloged and tuned more than 60 years ago, but considering the way stalactites are formed, they made have to be re-tuned in a few thousands years.
Veritasium takes us on a tour of the history of Luray Caverns and the musical instrument it contains. There's a one-minute ad at 4:38. (via The Awesomer)
Miss Cellania's Links
The Real-Life Origins of Taboo Fairy Romance. Long before “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” 17th-century Swedish courts investigated supernatural love.
When women under age 25 in America get pregnant, their odds of death by homicide more than double. (via Kottke)
22 Movies They Made Three Times in One Year.
Everyone has the right to refuse medical care, but when your children keep dying from treatable illnesses, that starts to look like a crime. (via Strange Company)
Torpedo juice: The legendary, illegal WWII liquor drunk in Alaska and around the world. (via Boing Boing) https://boingboing.net/2024/12/19/how-wwii-sailors-turned-torpedo-fuel-into-bootleg-alcohol.html
Does your health insurance cover prosthetic limbs? Many companies say they aren't medically necessary. (via Fark)
The plight of crunchy moms who didn't want to get political. (via Nag on the Lake)
How a College Gym Teacher in Massachusetts Invented a New Sport to Keep His Students Entertained and Fit During the Frigid Winter.
Sulu's Cats
Lots more cats in the comments at Bluesky.Happy Holidays from the pets of Team Takei! ✨🐾 Our fur babies are feeling festive, and we’d love to see yours in the comments below.
— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) December 18, 2024 at 2:06 PM
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Sunday, December 22, 2024
Chibs is Home
When the I-75 shooting happened in my neck of the woods a couple of months ago, authorities sent thermal imaging drones over the Daniel Boone Forest to find the suspect. What they found were thousands upon thousands of deer, but no shooter, because he was already dead. But sometimes such search stories have a happy ending.
A golden retriever named Chibs went missing for more than two weeks. His family in Coventry, Rhode Island, frantically searched for him, and enlisted the help of a drone service. Four K Videos not only has drones, but thermal imaging capability as well. Watch as a thermal imaging drone leads the search party to Chibs, who was hiding in the forest after being hit by a car. He had been gone for 16 days by then, but is now back in the arms of his loving family. This is only the last part of the search; you can see a 17-minute extended video of the thermal footage at Laughing Squid.
The Five-Timers Club
The opening skit to last night's Saturday Night Live was a Christmas reunion, as stars gathered to welcome Martin Short to the Five-Timers Club. Back in the 1990s, this was a very exclusive club, but in the show's 50th season, they must have a very big closet full of those jackets.
Making Ribbon Candy
Even if you don't eat it, you must admit that old fashioned ribbon candy is beautiful and takes you back to Christmas of your childhood. Watch as the folks at Lofty Pursuits make it the old-fashioned way. Watching a confectioner make candy is mesmerizing. They make it look so simple, but we all know that without the expertise and the specialized equipment, this project is impossible. But you can buy the candy at Public Displays of Confection.
Snow
(Thanks, WTM!)Thats not a cave. 😮 pic.twitter.com/My92m1KRT6
— AlphaFo𝕏 (@Alphafox78) December 15, 2024
Saturday, December 21, 2024
Interstellar
The 2014 Christopher Nolan film Interstellar is set in the next century, when earth is worn out and astronauts try to find a different planet where humans can flourish. The movie involves bending both space and time to fulfill the mission.
Ginger Beer
Flatbush Cats advocates for the street cats of New York City. They do trap-neuter-release, adoptions, and low-cost vet services. The organization always needs new foster homes for cats, because 1. there are so many cats, and 2. there are quite a few "foster fails" when a foster family falls in love with their temporary cat and makes it permanent. That what happened to Ginger Beer, who got lucky after many years of roaming on his own.
Then Comes The Body
Sometimes it only takes one person to start something big. There was no ballet in Nigeria until Daniel Ajala watched an American movie. He was inspired to learn ballet, but without any teachers, he did it on his own by watching YouTube videos.
In America, successful ballet dancers start very young, have their choice of dance schools, and get opportunities to perform in front of audiences. In Nigeria, the public is rather unfamiliar with the art, and many think it's downright scandalous. But hard work, passion, and dedication wins out over lack of resources. Ajala opened his own ballet school in Lagos, Leap of Dance Academy, which charges no tuition. His students are going to places all over the world. Meet a few of them in the award-winning documentary Then Comes The Body by Jacob Krupnick. Besides the a students in this video, a student named Anthony Madu who went viral in 2020 is attending school in the UK and is the subject of a full-length documentary on Disney+. (via kottke)
Meanwhile, in Washington
— call634-5789 (@call634-5789.bsky.social) December 18, 2024 at 4:01 PMAre they going to ask for pre-emptive forgiveness? Or just a blessing?
Friday, December 20, 2024
The Night Before Christmas
The 1941 Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Night Before Christmas shows us Tom and Jerry cavorting among the gifts under the Christmas tree. Eventually, they are both overcome with the Christmas spirit.
Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer
For many years I hated this song with a passion, because every December it would be requested non-stop all day long. That kind of died out in the 20th century, yet I would still turn off the radio if the original recording came on. But this isn't Elmo & Patsy, this performance is from Postmodern Jukebox with vocalist Sunny Holiday, who gives the song a classy, melodious, and fun sound. Speaking of fun, keep your eyes on the dancers in their reindeer outfits, putting on their own show in the background to illustrate the lyrics. And there's a saxophone player hiding in the tree!
Our First Look at James Gunn's Superman
The first movie in the newly-created series called the DC Universe is titled simply Superman, but will be known in the future as James Gunn's Superman. Superman will star David Corenswet as Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor.
The trailer begins with a beat-up Superman, as if someone has thrown a chunk of Kryptonite at him. But who's there to save the day? Krypto! Yes, this movie will have a dog, and that makes it a hit among other Superman films right out of the starting gate. While Superman will obviously battle Lex Luthor, the stated premise of the film is Clark Kent's journey in reconciling his alien origins with his Kansas upbringing. We will find out when Superman opens in theaters on July 11, 2025. (via Metafilter)
Smoke Alarm Sing-Along
This will warm your heart. Gus Johnson and family break out into song, along with the smoke alarm. This might seem weird to you, but not to me. The smoke alarm in my house goes off every time I fix a holiday meal, and constantly during canning season. That doesn't mean the house couldn't also be on fire. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Workout
(Thanks, WTM!)Perspective
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) December 17, 2024
[📹 lexbu]pic.twitter.com/3lT3ifeCde
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Oh Goodness
This toddler has the perfect thing to say when she opens Christmas gifts. (via Everlasting Blort)
Christmas Venn
The Spanish Inquisition also had great power. What ever happened to them? Oh yeah, they went to the North Pole. (Thanks, Brother Bill!)
A Wicked Hanukkah
Hanukkah doesn't start until the evening of December 25th, but we already have two a cappella holiday songs using the tunes from the Broadway musical turned hit movie Wicked. The movie is already the fourth biggest film of 2024 (expected to be third after this weekend) and has grossed more than any other Broadway musical adaptation, surpassing Grease. Above you have The Maccabeats singing about Hanukkah to the tune of "Defying Gravity."
The other Jewish a cappella group from New York, Six13, also released their song for Hanukkah 2024. It's a medley of several songs from Wicked with new lyrics, beginning with "Defying Gravity," rewritten as "Defining Destiny." If you want to sing along, the lyrics are here.
It's not the first time the two a cappella groups have latched onto the same pop culture phenomenon for Hanukkah. In 2016, both groups did song parodies using the musical Hamilton.
Behind the Dyker Heights Christmas Lights
For many New Yorkers, and tourists, too, Christmas just isn't Christmas without a trip to the Dyker Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Practically every home is festooned with Christmas lights and decorations to the max. It's not an organized event, but a neighborhood custom that grew organically since Lucy Spata moved there in 1986 and decorated her home in a very festive way. Over time, her Christmas spirit spread from house to house. Great Big Story went to Dyker Heights to talk to the people who live there and spend all year planning their Christmas displays. Their homes are well-decorated inside, too! (via Laughing Squid)
Miss Cellania's Links
Humans may not have survived without Neanderthals. Except in Africa, where they did just fine. (via Damn Interesting)
Planet Puppet. A weekend at the ventriloquist convention. (via Metafilter)
The Not-So-Grimm Story of Gingerbread Houses.
"It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Potter!" The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
People Share The Dumbest Customer Questions.
The Grungiest Christmas Song Of All Time. "Feliz Navidad" mashed up with "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
Public services don't need to be profitable, or even self-sustaining. Government should be of, by, and for the people, not the oligarchs.
Twins were the norm for our ancient primate ancestors − one baby at a time had evolutionary advantages.
How to Prepare for Christmas
Gregory Baskwell's dog is getting ready for Christmas. You could take a lesson.
Handwriting
And the teacher gives him demerits for "floating above the line." (Thanks, WTM!)English handwriting skills pic.twitter.com/kISigDumLs
— Visual feast (@visualfeastwang) December 9, 2024
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
A Time-lapse of Antarctica's Midnight Sun
We are nearing the winter solstice, so anyone below the 66.5 south latitude line (the Antarctic Circle) is experiencing continuous sunlight. The sun is not static, though. Instead of rising and setting, the sun goes around in a circle in the sky. Pretty cool, huh? Unless you are trying to sleep. Dave McKeegan set up a camera and live-streamed this at normal speed for 24 hours, although less than three hours remain of that livestream. This time-lapse version shows us the entire day in less than a minute. Meanwhile, the North Pole is experiencing continuous darkness, but that's okay because it's an ocean (except for Santa's workshop). A commenter from Norway said they are experiencing a 24-hour moon right now.
However, most of the comments are rants over the shape of the earth. Are we really still arguing about that? Flat-earthers (flerfs) decried the video as fake or else justified the weird movement of the sun somehow, while those who consider the earth as round (globies) textually rolled their eyes. It turns out that McKeegan went to the Antarctic for the express purpose of recording this video to prove the earth is round, as part of the expedition called The Final Experiment. At least I learned a couple of new slang words. (via Fark)
Merry Gen-Xmas
Penn Holderness is getting a bit nostalgic for his childhood Christmases in the '90s. It was a weird time.
Which Christmas Movie Are You Watching?
Notice the complete absence of any Hallmark Christmas romance. That's because this flow chart is from Matt Shirley, who obviously never watched one worth remembering.
Syd Mead's Gingerbread Castle
Designer and artist Syd Mead worked with many companies to create the look of the modern world, but he is best known for designing the futuristic looks of movies such as Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Blade Runner, Tron, 2010, Short Circuit, and Aliens, among others. Mead died in 2019 at the age of 86.
One of the things Mead did in his spare time was making gingerbread structures. The Syd Mead Archive found a video that they labeled as from 1990, but Mead himself introduces it as for "the 1992-91 Christmas and New Year's season." At any rate, this is no ordinary gingerbread house. It's a fantasy castle designed the way you'd expect Mead to do it. He sketched the architectural plans, then made a prototype of foamcore. Only when the design was right did he bake gingerbread. In the video, he shows us how to make curved walls by working quickly with hot gingerbread before it turns crispy, using his foamcore prototype as a mold. Everything is thoroughly iced and decorated, even the trees. The finished castle is quite stunning. (via Boing Boing)
Twelve Hundred Ghosts
There are countless versions of Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol on film and video (and comic books, cartoons, video games, stage performances, radio, and other media). Heath Waterman combined 400 of them them all in a supercut to tell the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and the Christmas Eve in which the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future paid him a call. He worked on this project for 18 months, and the result is a masterpiece. Seeing the many faces of Scrooge is quite an experience. It's 53 minutes long, which is pretty much what you need to get the whole story, so you might schedule some time this holiday season to enjoy it all. Don't miss the credits, either. (via Metafilter)
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
The Insects' Christmas
Polish/Russian filmmaker Ladislaw Starewizc started out making his insect film projects with live insects, but they tended to die under harsh lighting. He then turned insect carcasses into puppets controlled by wires for a few movies. By the time he made The Insect's Christmas, he had graduated to stop-motion animation, which he learned from French animation. All the copies of this movie on YouTube are labeled as 1913, but Wikipedia says it was made in 1911 under the Russian title Rozhdyestvo Obitatelei Lyesa. Maybe it took a couple of years to get an English version of the intertitle cards. (via Nag on the Lake)
See also: The Cameraman's Revenge.
The Badger, The Rabbit and Billy
This story begins with a lovely animation, sweet music, and a few philosophical questions. The rabbit needs some reassurance, and the badger is glad to give it. Then you realize it's from Bird Box Studio, and they don't disappoint. Oh, to be young and ignorant again, and so sure of yourself! Be like Billy.
Miss Cellania's Links
How To Fix Your Holiday Funk.
Six Childhood Scourges We’ve Forgotten About, Thanks to Vaccines. Most Americans, including doctors, have no memory of the devastating diseases that routinely threatened children until the 1960s. (via Nag on the Lake)
Minnesotastan's First Letter to Santa. He was three years old. (via Everlasting Blort)
An Impossible Situation is Made Clear as Day. How did this car get stuck up on a bollard?
The original Charlie Brown Christmas special promo from 1965, with an additional scene.
“I Can’t Afford My Oxygen”: The Human Toll of For-Profit Insurance. (via Fark)
That Time A Cow Ate 19 Sticks Of Dynamite And Exploded. Plus other tales of livestock munching on dangerous and delicious dynamite. (Thanks, WTM!)
Churches and their Hidden Basement Bowling Alleys.
Snow Shoveler Bhangra
The Maritime Bhangra Group of Halifax, Nova Scotia, found a way to put some fun in shoveling snow. We don't see much snow actually being shoveled here, but their Sikh moves are so hot the snow will melt in no time. They have a good time, and raise money for the ALS Society. (via reddit)
The Big Ball
(Thanks, WTM!)This is great 🤣👇 pic.twitter.com/VvDZvChpla
— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) December 10, 2024
Monday, December 16, 2024
When The Olympics Became A Hostage Crisis
Adolf Hitler proudly hosted the 1936 Olympics in Berlin as a demonstration of German racial superiority. Jews were not allowed to compete for Germany, and Jewish athletes from other countries boycotted the games or were barred by their countries to avoid upsetting Hitler. It was another 36 years before Germany got another chance to host the Olympics, this time as West Germany. The 1972 Munich Olympics gave us global stars Mark Spitz and Olga Korbut, and the German authorities were very determined to not resemble a police state. This led to a certain lack of security, and suddenly, a Palestinian militant group set upon the Israeli athletic team.
With the entire world watching, West Germany was thrust into the ongoing struggle between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and the games were halted -but only for a short time. German police were ill-equipped to deal with the situation, which went from bad to worse to completely horrid. Tom Blank of Weird History explains what really happened at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
About The Hunt for Gollum
After six epic films and a spinoff TV series, do audiences want more stories mined from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings? Sure they do! A new film centered around the character Gollum is in the works, and should be in theaters in 2026. There are tons of people who will go see any movie having anything to do with The Lord of the Rings, especially one written and produced by Peter Jackson. The movie tentatively titled Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will be directed by Gollum himself, Andy Serkis.
But is Gollum the best character to hang a spinoff film on? We know it will be a prequel, because we've already seen Gollum's end. That in itself restricts what can be done with the character. Yes, Smeagol will be involved, too, as we'll get a closeup of the metamorphosis that Gollum goes through. But is there anything new to be revealed there? Are we capable of rooting for Gollum? These and other questions are explored in depth by The Art Of Storytelling.
Miss Cellania's Links
Spamalanche. MattHowie explains a recent attempt at a credit card scam. (via Nag on the Lake)
Study Reveals Great Pyramids Have Eight Sides, Not Four. And there was a good reason for that. Aerial photo here. (via Strange Company)
What manifesto will they find on your computer after you're finally apprehended? Hundreds more here.
The story behind that weird AI gymnastics routine. (via Damn Interesting)
The Story of the Aurochs Is More Complicated Than We Thought.
11 Frightful Facts About Nosferatu. The 1922 German silent film shamelessly plagiarized Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula.
Newly Described Fossil From Wyoming Sheds Light on When Frogs and Toads Lost Their Teeth.
Boston's Hot Dog Santa. (via Strange Company)
Science Wars
AsapSCIENCE brings us an a cappella performance to the tunes various Star Wars melodies, but about the sciences. Or at least a few of them. Which is best? I am reminded of a certain xkcd panel. (via Daily of the Day)
Bucket
(via Everlasting Blort)Did anyone order a bucket of ducklings? #ducklings
— Annie Parker (@annieparker.bsky.social) December 4, 2024 at 7:19 PM
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Sunday, December 15, 2024
Holiday Trek: The Motion Pictures (Captain Please Come Home)
John C. Worsley has released his annual holiday supercut featuring the beloved characters of Star Trek. The video clips are from the feature films that followed the short-lived original series and cemented Star Trek's enduring fandom. The song that provides the backbone of this lunacy is the 1963 holiday staple "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Darlene Love. The "singers" are credited as James T. Kirk and the Original Crew, The Nexus, and The Next Genettes.
Gymnastics Performance
You can tell this is generated by artificial intelligence because gymnasts don't perform en pointe. (via Born in Space)here's a Sora generated video of gymnastics
— Peter Labuza (@labuzamovies.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 12:35 PM
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Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
I don't know if Sarah Sherman nailed this Nancy Grace impression, because I had to look up who Nancy Grace is to understand it at all. Your mileage may vary. In the opening skit to last night's Saturday Night Live, she opines on Luigi Mangione, who I did not have to look up.
Drone & Tigers
How do you get closeup shots of beautiful tigers in the snow? You use a drone, of course! Filmmaker David Etienne Durivage sent a camera drone (or two) in to record the tigers of Zoo Sauvage de Saint-Félicien in Quebec as they played in deep snow. However, cats are cats, and when these guys saw the drones, it awakened their curiosity and predatory instincts. Could this be a delicious bird? That drone had better stay a safe distance, because tigers can leap great heights, even in snow. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Drone Santa
(Thanks, WTM!)5000 drone Santa pic.twitter.com/8GyRg1Uvyb
— Enezator (@Enezator) December 7, 2024
Saturday, December 14, 2024
Jurassic World
The 2015 film Jurassic World re-started the Jurassic Park franchise, 14 years after the original trilogy. The dinosaur theme park on Isla Nublar has been re-established and the operators think they've figured out how to do this after all these years. They are wrong, of course. The movie stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio, and B.D. Wong.
Luna
There are special people who go to a pet shelter and ask about the cat (or dog) who has been there the longest. The reasons vary, but it's often just because they are older than other adoptable pets. Luna was just such a cat, plus her background was tragic. She had spent her twelve years with a cat hoarder who kept her in a cage. Luna had some health problems, too, as a result of her confined lifestyle. Living in a shelter was better, but she was still in a cage by necessity.
Julie Nashawaty makes a living taking care of other people's pets. For her own household, she only adopts senior cats. She decided to take a chance on Luna, since she looked at the situation from the cat's point of view. Luna needed to learn what a normal life was, for what was left of her life. Julie knew that she deserved something better than what she'd already experienced. You'll see in this video that Luna was worth taking a chance.
SNL Impressions in Front of the Actual Person
It takes real guts to mimic someone right in front of them. Even more so when it's a celebrity, and that goes double when they are facing an audience who will be judging the impression. Saturday Night Live has done this many times, sometimes getting the entire cast involved. (via Laughing Squid)
Robot Around The Christmas Tree
It's a Christmas song for the robot apocalypse! This chilling tune is by samuraiguitarist. I, for one, welcome our robot overlords. If they're listening, that is. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Friday, December 13, 2024
Bicycle Race
Cyclist: I guess this is my life now!Apparently, it is possible to finish a race after you've fallen off the bike. It looks like he came in fifth, but according to the comments at reddit, the race is determined by when the front wheel crosses the finish line, not the rider's body. So this poor guy came in sixth.
byu/Thapee infunny
Strange Beasts
The 1970s were hardcore. Australia is always hardcore. Tigers are hardcore, too. Between 1970a and 1985, Bacchus Marsh Lion Safari Park pioneered the idea of driving through a reserve for dangerous big cats. They learned safety protocols the hard way, but the park was never profitable enough to follow them. In the partially-animated short documentary Strange Beasts, Ron Prendergast tells us of his days as a young zookeeper who was attacked by a tiger at the park -twice. His injuries were horrific, but the psychological scars were even worse. The film was directed by his son, Darcy Predergast. (via Nag on the Lake)
US and Mexican Coca-Cola: Are They Different?
For decades, people have been drawn to Mexican Coca-Cola because it is made with cane sugar, while US Coke is made with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Those who know swear that Mexican Coke tastes better. The difference benefitted the Coca-Cola company because some people would go out of their way to pay a premium price for Mexican Coke, while most Americans drank whatever was available, and it was made with cheaper corn syrup. But a 2011 paper claimed that there is no difference in the sugar content between the two Cokes. Has the company been lying to us? George Zaidan of Reactions decided to do his own sugar content tests to find out. His confounding results required more research.
Sucrose, glucose, and fructose are all sugars, but they are chemically different. Sucrose, or table sugar, is made from sugar cane. Many of our processed foods are made with HFCS, which is a mixture of two simple sugars, glucose and fructose. And since HFCS is made from subsidized corn, it is much cheaper than cane sugar. But as we will find out in this video, cane sugar, or sucrose, has its own secrets that make everything clear in the end. (via Damn Interesting)
Miss Cellania's Links
Hailed as a savior upon his arrival in Helena, Dr. Thomas C. Weiner became a favorite of patients and his hospital’s highest earner. As the myth surrounding the high-profile oncologist grew, so did the trail of patient harm and suspicious deaths. (via Metafilter)
The secret reason the USA beat the USSR to the Moon.
European Workers Are Happier Than Americans — Here's The Proof.
The Booze-Soaked Lives of Wild Animals.
Five Things Only The Middle Class Own, Not The Rich or the Poor. Spoiler: lawn mowers, free time, a refrigerator in the garage, economy airline tickets, and medical debt.
House Cat: The Legend of Gato Gordo.
A Folk Song about United Health Care. (via Boing Boing)
A Blast from the Past (2016): 9 Homemade Food Gifts to Give This Holiday Season.
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