(via Bad Newspaper)
Thursday, July 31, 2025
When You Hear Crickets
In pop culture, hearing crickets means that no human is speaking. But even if they were speaking, you'd be able to hear any cricket in the vicinity. Ze Frank explains that sound, but first we learn about the amazing jumping abilities of grasshoppers, katydids, and crickets. Closeup and slow-motion shots show us their wild spring-loaded joints and amuse us when it all goes wrong. Katydids and crickets have ears in their forelegs, and grasshoppers have ears on their abdomens. Then we get to how they produce those annoyingly loud sounds. Katydids and crickets rub their wings together, and grasshopper have to be different- they use their legs to talk. What do they say? Well, these are mating calls, so you can use your imagination. But those sounds don't only attract mates, they also attract predators. The acting award in this video goes to a praying mantis named Nancy.
There's an 80-second skippable ad at 4:10. When I first watched this, the skippable ad was interrupted by an unskippable ad.
Quantum Immortality
There are certain basics of physics that anyone can understand, and indeed even animals learn to deal with them. Then there is quantum mechanics, which is totally over my head. The first half of this video from Kurzgesagt attempts to bring us up to speed on quantum mechanics and the many worlds interpretation. Then we get to the experiment that could prove it- but it involves one person dying over and over. That one person is you, and even if the experiment works, you will be the only person it has been proven to. Of course, you could then write a book about it, but no one would buy it.
But from the perspective of one person (me), it still doesn't prove anything. If there are five (or more) versions of me, it doesn't matter to me because my awareness is only in this one. Even if this one were the version that survives multiple killings (which doesn't address natural human lifespan at all), I still wouldn't be aware of the other versions. So this remains a thought experiment, but is still pretty mind-blowing. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Psychedelic Refreshment Time
A blast from the past! I recall this ad playing at my local drive-in theater when I was young. (via Weird Vintage)
Apple Store
I'm glad the Apple Store is there, somewhere (not here), so I can order something delivered when I need it. This diagram is from Matt Shirley.
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
A Joke By Ingmar Bergman
MST3K figured out how to make a simple joke into a shaggy dog story by turning it into Scandinavian cinema. (via Metafilter)
The Cross-race Effect
When I was a kid in the 1960s, I would occasionally hear someone older say "All Black people look alike." Well, they probably said colored people or something worse. I thought that was odd, since the kids in my school certainly didn't look alike (except the twins). The hometown people stopped saying that (as far as I knew) in the 1970s. Much later I considered that was probably due to the explosion of TV sitcoms led by Black actors, like The Jeffersons and Sanford and Son. Back then, folks in my small Kentucky town tended to quit socializing outside of their race after high school graduation. I went to college out of state.
But that effect rose again later. When we found our best chance of adoption was to go to China, my husband and I started obsessing on Asian babies and children. We read books, cut pictures from magazines, and swooned anytime we saw an Asian child on the streets. In China, we had no trouble recognizing anyone we encountered more than once. All six babies in our group looked totally different (of course, mine was the prettiest). But when Princess started school and brought her friends over for parties, it struck me that I couldn't tell the white girls apart. Mind, I was older than the average mom at the time, and hadn't socialized with a lot of children for many years. I got better with time. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around strangers asking if my daughters are biological sisters. In appearance, the only thing they have in common is that they are beautiful and not white.
It's easy to argue that the cross-race effect isn't racist. However, it does tell you that someone hasn't been around -or hasn't paid attention to- people outside their racial group. At Dr. Dolittle's wedding, one local woman said it was the most diverse group she'd ever been in. My first thought was, uh, you need to get out more. Thinking about it later, I realized that for a group of only 60 people in one room, it was strikingly diverse, but it was nothing compared to a big city street or a military base.
Miss Cellania's Links
50 Fun And Surprisingly Insightful Maps. In which New Zealand wanders the globe.
The Original Survivor Island Changed Television Forever. But it wasn't easy.
America and Lake Cow Bacon. We barely escaped a scheme to import hippos to Louisiana.
It's time to walk the fish.
How a Brutal Beer War Led to the Downfall of the Brewery That Made Milwaukee Famous. Schlitz was a billion-dollar empire battling Budweiser to be No. 1. Then a bribery scandal—and a lot of foul, sludgy lager—took the company down. (via Metafilter)
Meet the lovely and talented Pepper, the first feline movie star!
Trump's mental decline is on vivid display as he rages about Epstein, windmills. (via Fark)
A gorgeous 122-year-old 10-bedroom, 7-bath mansion in California is listed for only $2 million. There has to be a catch somewhere- maybe it's haunted! (via Zillow Gone Wild)
A 1903 film featuring cheese mites shows how early cinema brought the concept of microscopy to the masses. (via Boing Boing)
Thought for the day: We were so broke when I was growing up that we went to KFC and licked somebody else's fingers.
Goalkeeper Cat
This cat rarely lets a bottle cap get by! He was only seven months old when this video was recorded, but he's skilled at stopping them high or low. This kitty is laser-focused on his goal tending duties when the bottle caps start flying in a game a "Nyan hockey." You can see more of his games here. (via Laughing Squid)
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Für Elise
This video shows us 42 penguins playing the piano. That's it. It's rather odd but still pleasant. And it gives me an opportunity to tell a story.
When I was a kid, I took piano lessons with the express stipulation that I would not play any recitals. A few years in, my parents talked me into one. I practiced "Für Elise" for weeks. My fingers knew the song forward and backwards. I still didn't want to do the recital. I sat down and placed all my fingers on the wrong keys to start. It took a minute to realize what I had done, but instead of starting over, I kept going through the whole song, which sounded awful. When I stood up, the entire audience, which was only parents of piano students, were staring in stunned awe. I walked outside and waited for my parents, who had to stay to see my brother play. While I continued lessons for another couple of years after that, no one ever asked me to do a recital again.
The Yangwang U9's "Leaping Function"
The Chinese auto company BYD shows off their Yangwang U9 model, an electric supercar with four motors, fast charging, a top speed of 243 mph, and individual wheel drive system. It also doesn't need a driver. Ys, it's a good-looking car, but the point of this video is to show us the Yangwang U9's ability to leap. Watch carefully, and you'll see the wheels retract into the body like a low rider, and then suddenly extend while at speed to leap over obstacles or holes in the road.
That's pretty cool, both to watch and as a technological innovation. But the Yangwang U9 costs around $233,000, and you can't buy one if you live in the United States. Still, if you could spend that kind of money on a car, would you sit in the passenger seat and let it drive you around? Would you take it to top speed on roads that have potholes? (via kottke)
Avatar: Fire and Ash Trailer
When the first Avatar movie came out in 2009, we had to explain to people that the James Cameron film had nothing to do with the animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender. But 16 years later, it is clear that Jake Sully is on his way to mastering the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Avatar: Fire and Ash is the third film in the series, following Avatar: The Way of Water from 2022. As in that film, our favorite Na'vi encounters a new culture. Cameron is portraying Pandora like Earth in that while the Na'vi are one species, they come in all flavors with varying traditions and motivations. They still have to contend with the invaders from Earth. Avatar: Fire and Ash is scheduled to land in theaters on December 19th. (via Gizmodo)
Selling Arms to Alien Arthropods
When your occupation is selling deadly weapons in bulk, you can end up dealing with some pretty shady characters. Do you trust your customers? Maybe, maybe not, but business is business. See, when you have an ulterior motive, you can't assume that the people, or things, you are dealing with don't also have their own ulterior motives. Good Business is a science fiction short that's shorter than the video indicates, by Ray Sullivan. (via Boing Boing)
Monday, July 28, 2025
A Tiger? In Africa?
They were masters of understatement when the emergency called for it. This scene is from the 1983 movie Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. Until now, all you remembered of the movie was Mr. Creosote's last meal.
Police Train for Bear Attack
Japan has seen several bear attacks and some deaths this year. In certain mountainous areas, bear sightings have tripled over last year. In response, the police in Tochigi Prefecture, 100 kilometers north of Tokyo, are taking a page from Japanese zoos. They partnered with a local hunters club to stage a bear attack drill, featuring a man dressed as a bear. Or at least he had a bear head, designating his role in the drill. They practiced scaring the bear away with fireworks and the proper way to approach a bear that has been shot or tranquilized. Apparently, that involves poking it in the butt with a stick. It's good that the video is clearly labeled "drill," as otherwise it would be terrifying. (via Metafilter)
Lambretta Boogaloo
Looks like vintage fun, but this is a new song by Big Boss Man. (via Memo of the Air)
Miss Cellania's Links
People of 1925: A Year Through the Lives of Those We Never Knew.
Immigration agents told a teenage US citizen: ‘You’ve got no rights.’ He secretly recorded his brutal arrest. (via Fark)
Canadians aren't safe, either.
I Drank Every Cocktail. Adam Aaronson completed his quest to try all 102 cocktails on the IBA list. (via Nag on the Lake)
A little library and an even littler library.
Inside the Days, Hours and Minutes Leading Up to the Hiroshima Bombing. (via Damn Interesting)
Patrick Star found in the wild. We knew he'd been working on that butt.
Los Angeles’ 1936 ‘Bum Blockade’ Targeted American Migrants Fleeing Poverty and Drought During the Great Depression.
You Can Still Have Babies After 35
Once upon a time, babies just came with marriage, as a natural effect of sexual relations. Today, we know how to prevent that, so that becoming a parent can be a deliberate choice instead of just something that happens. But no one should feel pressured into having a baby before they feel ready for the responsibility. Women do have to deal with the biological fertility window, but that window isn't as small as some would have you believe.
In this clip from Adam Ruins Everything at College Humor, we get the lowdown on the research that started that fear of infertility by 35. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Sunday, July 27, 2025
It's Not Even August Yet
I turned my AC on for the first time this weekend. I had gotten along just fine with windows and fans, plus the chimney effect, so the heat could vent up there when no one is living up there. Besides, the house is too big to cool the whole thing for just one person. But Dr. Dolittle came to visit, so the AC is on. She's gone, and the AC is still on. So why does it feel like 80 degrees in here? That's when I checked the weather site. First I noticed 102 degrees. That's bad. Then I noticed the heat index is 124. I kind of wish I didn't know that. But the worst part is that tomorrow is expected to be just as hot.
I don't know whether my kid turned the upstairs AC off when she left (there are separate systems). Should I go upstairs and open the windows to start the venting again? Would that overtax my downstairs AC? Looking forward to nighttime temperatures isn't all that encouraging. We might dip below 80 by midnight.
I don't know whether my kid turned the upstairs AC off when she left (there are separate systems). Should I go upstairs and open the windows to start the venting again? Would that overtax my downstairs AC? Looking forward to nighttime temperatures isn't all that encouraging. We might dip below 80 by midnight.
McDonald's Hash Brown
Most of Weird History Food's videos are pretty evenhanded, giving us the origin story, the ingredients, and any controversies in the food's history. This one raises my suspicions that it might be some kind of promotional deal, because they spent nine minutes rhapsodizing about how great the McDonald's hash brown is. And yes, I looked it up- it's called a hash brown, without an "s." Oh yes, there's an origin story, and the process of making them is covered, twice. Yes, this video could easily have been half as long. The comments prove that they aren't as beloved as the video makes it sound, and those who love them lament the new prices of $3-4 dollars each.
The Most Ridiculous Drum Kits of All Time
Buddy Rich amazed people with a bass drum, two toms, and a snare, plus a few cymbals. But ever since then, drummers seem to have become drum collectors, with ever larger kits. Are they experimenting, expanding what a drummer can do for a band, just showing off, or are they hiding from the audience? Carl Palmer expanded his drum set with tympani, tubular bells, and gongs. Terry Bozzio tuned his numerous drums so that he could play songs on them like a piano. Other drummers built kits that tilted, rotated, or flew up into the air. In this video, Loudwire presents ten of the biggest and most extreme drum kits ever assembled. Some of these kits appear massively redundant, but they can impress an audience. We always need more cowbell. (via Laughing Squid)
Watch This Earth Mover Dance
Who knew a piece of heavy equipment -in this case, a 37,000 pound Foton Lovol Wheel Loader- could balance on its two front wheels, bounce, and shake its rear end? This performance of the rig dancing with a chorus line happened at a trade show in China. While prospective buyers probably didn't want one to dance, they were surely impressed with its abilities. (via Sploid)
Saturday, July 26, 2025
Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is the 1991 retelling of the classic Robin Hood story, starring Kevin Costner in the title role. It also starred Morgan Freeman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Christian Slater, and Alan Rickman. Internet critics love to slam Costner's American accent on this movie, but that distraction is more than made up by Alan Rickman's over-the-top performance as the Sheriff of Nottingham. Rickman won a BAFTA award for his role, while Costner won a Razzie.
Linguistic Self-Censorship
Have you noticed the proliferation of the word "unalive" on the 'net as a substitute for "kill" or "die"? It's not just a fad- there's a reason behind it.
When you tell people they cannot say certain words, they will come up with new words that say the same thing. It's always been this way, which is why we say "golly" or "gee" instead of something that could be considered blasphemous. These polite terms evolved slowly enough that everyone knows how to use them. But in the internet age, the administrators of popular platforms (TikTok in this case) can make their own rules about what words are allowed. Users then find substitutes, or make up new words like "unalive," but those terms are complete nonsense to people who don't use that platform. Five years on, I had no idea that "panini" means "pandemic," because why would that word be banned? Linguist Dr. Erica Brozovsky explains why internet language has become this incomprehensible.
The First Trailer for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues
We're getting the band back together! It's been 41 years since we were introduced to the band Spinal Tap, and their 1984 film is finally getting a sequel. In Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest ), David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) are much older, and look even older than the actors who play them. Not so much with the documentary filmmaker Martin "Marty" Di Bergi (Rob Reiner). The youngest of these actors is 77. Anyway, the plot is that Spinal Tap disbanded 15 years ago, but now they are reuniting for one last show. The movie also gives us a glimpse of what's they've been doing in retirement. They still don't have a drummer, and you can imagine that their reputation is making it hard to recruit one. Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is scheduled to open nationwide on September 12.
Microwaving an Airbag in Slow Motion
What is the worst possible non-living thing you could put into a microwave? Gav and Dan, the Slow Mo Guys, very well may have found it. An automobile airbag. It takes a warped mind to even think up such a stunt, and in their defense, they aren't the first to do it. But do it they did, heating the device to deployment pressure, and then recorded the results on their high-speed cameras. The destruction is impressive. So is the danger. Don't try this at home. (via Sploid)
Alien Sighting
— Sam (ABeardedPanda) (@abeardedpanda.bsky.social) July 19, 2025 at 4:32 PMPriorities. There's something about having your home and freedom attacked that makes Ukrainians ultra resourceful and pragmatic.
Friday, July 25, 2025
Bill McClintock's Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne died Tuesday at the age of 76. Bill McClintock was a fan, and stitched together clips of all the mashups he's done where Ozzy appeared.
Smart Ferrets
If you thought cats were manipulative, you obviously haven't had a ferret. Ferrets are known for their amazing flexibility and never-ending energy. They can fill your home with chaos, if you like that sort of thing. And underneath all that frantic activity, ferrets are pretty clever in getting what they want. YouTuber William Snekspeare got two ferrets, and before he knew what happened, he had five ferrets. Only then did he figure out how conniving they can be. William tries to keep their behavior under control, but they managed to turn the tables on him with their wits until it became clear who's the boss of the house. It ain't William. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
That's What You Call Support
A deaf mother was driven to tears when she realized her whole mom group learned to sign just for her. (via Buzzfeed)
Miss Cellania's Links
Dogs got rhythm!
White House Bashes South Park After Trump Parody. The relevant scene is NSFW.
Women’s Bodies May Actually Be Inherently Stronger—But Science Is Only Just Figuring It Out.
7 Movies That Changed the World in Surprising Ways.
Allergies seem nearly impossible to avoid — unless you’re Amish. (via Damn Interesting)
MAGA Goggles. The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
Study sheds light on why some people keep self-sabotaging. "Some people just don't learn from experience; they fail to realize their own behavior is causing the problem."
Six Films Better Than the Books They’re Based On. (via kottke)
I Can't Show You How Pink This Pink Is
Stuart Semple is an artist who makes paint and pigments. He created the Pinkest Pink, which is brighter than computers can actually show. Tom Scott does his best to describe it to us. It looks pretty pink to me, but I'd like to see how bright it is in reality.
Besides explaining how pink the Pinkest Pink is, this video gives us a glimpse into the catty world of artists and color. By the way, here's Anish Kapoor's Instagram photo Tom referred to in the video. It might be NSFW, depending on your workplace. (via reddit)
Thursday, July 24, 2025
Alone
In an alternate version of the near future, a space station orbiting Mars has a catastrophic accident. A crew member manages to survive in an escape pod, but what then? She can't establish communication with earth, and doesn't have the capacity to return home on her own. That might remind you of The Martian, but this science fiction story is different. The prospect of drifting through space all alone until you die is pretty terrifying, but things can always get worse. You'll know exactly the moment that this sci-fi tale suddenly turns into a horror story. Alone by Nicholas Acosta is the latest release from Dust. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Hummingbird in Slow Motion
Hummingbirds flap their wings about 50 times per second, so all we ever see is a blur around them as they zip around the yard. The folks from National Geographic mounted a high-speed camera on a hummingbird feeder to get some incredible footage of the tiny birds. Not only do we get to see them flap their wings, but also slip their tongues into the nectar up close!
The bird feeder is enclosed in what looks like a wind tunnel, so the photographers can create and control conditions such as wind and rain. Keep watching, and you'll see a hummingbird bird shake the drops of water off its feathers. Watch those feathers shimmer in the light! (via Laughing Squid)
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
The 5 Craziest Things Americans Have Said to Me
To celebrate ten years of his channel Lost in the Pond, Laurence Brown went back to some of his earlier videos. This one he's updating, because of his experiences in the last ten years. It's about the weird things Americans have said to him, and not all of them are about his British accent. There's an 80-second ad at 1:57.
An Honest Trailer for The Fantastic Four
The new movie Fantastic Four: First Steps opens this weekend, and Marvel, as a well as Marvel fans, are holding their breath hoping it will be good. The Fantastic Four comic book characters haven't had a great run at the box office; in fact this is the fourth attempt at making a Fantastic Four movie. The first was back in 1994, when Roger Corman and Bernd Eichinger produced The Fantastic Four, which was never released and indeed was only made so that Eichinger could retain the film rights to the characters. Their budget was only $1 million, but if anyone could squeeze a superhero film out of such a budget, it was Roger Corman. Enjoy the nonsensical plot, lack of action scenes, and cheap production values in this Honest Trailer.
The Fantastic Four of 1994 answers the question "How bad could it be?" and makes all the subsequent Fantastic Four movies look good by comparison. However, if you enjoyed this Honest Trailer, you can watch the full movie at YouTube. And this weekend, look for the four principle actors from the 1994 movie as they appear in cameos in Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Miss Cellania's Links
Health Insurers Are Hiking Premiums as Their Profits Balloon. (via kottke)
Cats and their Mini-Mes.
31 of the Strangest Shows to Ever Air on TV.
The bewildering phenomenon of declining quality. It's a phenomenon fed by our own priorities. (via Damn Interesting)
How Do You Wear a Gown Made of Glass? Marvel at the Eye-Catching History of This Unlikely Fashion Trend.
An update on what's happening in Gaza.
Stanley Kubrick’s last-minute ending change to The Shining included a deleted scene. (via Nag on the Lake)
John Oliver’s Moon Mammoths make minor league debut in Erie, Pennsylvania.
The Counterfeit Coin Riddle
In order to get out of the dungeon, you must perform a service for the king.He wants you to identify a counterfeit coin among twelve coins, but you can only use his scale three times to do it. Lucky for you, you are the kingdom's top mathematician. I can slice a tomato into 18 pieces with five cuts, but this one's a real head scratcher. Jennifer Lu sure came up with a hard one in this riddle. I might have been able to figure it out, if I had infinite time and no stress, but the scenario as it is would not allow for that. The king has a temper, you know. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
The Keebler Squirrel
A squirrel leaves a thank-you gift for the woman who feeds him every day... 🥺
— I Post Animal Vids... 😊 (@realjfairclough.bsky.social) July 19, 2025 at 7:16 AM
[image or embed]
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Killing in the Name of a Terrible Holy Lie
Bill McClintock is a genius music mixer. Most of his mashups have been clever combinations of two main songs from completely different musical genres with a random guitar solo thrown in. His last mashup experimented with using more songs that are somewhat related to each other. This time he's gone all in on moody, even apocalyptic, songs from the past 50 years. No, it's not sunshine and roses, but as far as I can tell, it's SFW. The songs used are::
Nine Inch Nails - Terrible Lie
Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name
Dio - Holy Diver
Soundgarden - Outshined
Judas Priest - Hot Rockin'
KISS - All Hell's Breakin' Loose
Pantera - 5 Minutes Alone
Black Sabbath - Into the Void
Billy Squier - The Stroke
Judas Priest - You've Got Another Thing Comin'
Alice in Chains - Them Bones
Metallica - Sad But True
The Simpsons in Other Languages
The animated sitcom The Simpsons is dubbed into quite a few languages. We can assume that most of what they say is the same in another language, but there are specific phrases we associate with the show. YouTuber MrNostalgik gives us nine of those languages at a time to show us how some of those catchphrases get translated. You'd think Homer's "Doh!" would be the same around the world, but no. Bart uses ¡Ay, caramba! as an interjection because it's a language he doesn't speak. So does the Spanish version use the same phrase? The Mexican version does, but the cartoon shown in Spain goes not. In each country, these phrases can be copied or they can be switched out for a locally-understood phrase that has the same effect. Here's more:
You can read more about non-English versions of The Simpsons at Wikipedia. (via Laughing Squid)
An Ode To Love
A man stranded on a tiny island has nothing but a stick and his imagination. The stick brings that imagination to life. Before long, the stick is a stand-in for everything he ever had in his life. Through it, he experiences joy, excitement, humor, rage, despair, disappointment, and even jealousy. That's an awful lot to pack into one wordless cartoon with one character. Unless you count the stick. An Ode to Love is an award-winning animated short film by Matthew Darragh. (via Laughing Squid)
Cuddles
On the surface, this is just a little slice of life. But it says something profound about consent and acceptance. This comic is from Foxes in Love.
Monday, July 21, 2025
Science Fair Project
Yeah, it's Photoshopped, but the original picture could have been just this funny if you connected the dots. (via reddit)
Dogs Got Rhythm!
Puppies can be so happy that their emotions spill out of their muscles. Sometimes, you just gotta dance!
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