(via Buzzfeed)
Thursday, January 22, 2026
Morals and Responsibility
Most of us realize that the world does not revolve around us, and that we have to consider other people. Still, the amount of selfishness and empathy varies widely from person to person. You probably know people who are just plain awful even though they know better. But what if evil and selfishness were all you ever knew, and it was completely normal in your world? You'd still be a complete failure as a person, but was that your fault, or the fault if the way you were taught? In other words, how responsible are people who never learned ethics or morality?
You'd be hard-pressed to find examples of people who never had the opportunity to develop a moral structure, but that brings up the subject of psychopaths, who have a personality disorder and would like you to think it's not their fault. That subject isn't discussed here. Rather, this is a thought experiment about the responsibility of evil, which philosophers have argued about for thousands of years.
How Long Could We Survive With No DNA?
In the latest episode of the What If? series by Randall Munroe and Henry Reich, the question is: "If someone's DNA suddenly vanished, how long would that person last?" While the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, it's the DNA that tells a cell what to do.
As far as we know, this scenario has never happened. But to give an answer, they looked at a few scenarios in which our DNA becomes damaged and can't do its job. Those are mushroom poisoning, chemotherapy, and radiation poisoning. The consequences of each are pretty ghastly, even though they don't completely destroy the DNA in each cell. Without DNA, we would certainly be up a creek without a paddle.
PS: Commenters cited the case of Hisashi Ouchi, which is a grim and tragic read.
Mantis Squad
What's going on with these mantises? Are they about to fight? Are they posing for a picture? Are they even alive? Yes, they are alive, but it appears to be a kind of stand-off, where they are bluffing each other, waiting and even daring one of them to make the first move.
Turns out they are in their fighting stance in reaction to the camera. They sure are pretty, for a bunch of bugs. Adrian Kozakiewicz of InsecthausTV has plenty more videos that delve into the mysterious world of insect behavior. (via Boing Boing)
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
An Honest Trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Since the extended versions of The Lord of the Rings movies are playing in select theaters to commemorate the silver anniversary of the the beginning of the trilogy, Screen Junkies is taking a cockeyed look at them, one at a time. The Two Towers is like many middle trilogy episodes, dark and violent, to build the suspense for the triumphant end in the next film. Yeah, there's plenty of backstabbing and bloody warfare, but also a few newcomponents. There's Gollum, which, thanks to motion capture, comes surprisingly close to your vision of him from the books. There are the ents. And there's a thirsty focus on Aragorn, in case the first movie didn't make clear that he's the hero. But Saruman gets the best joke.
Two-legged Cat Gets the Home She Deserves
Roux was born with nubs instead of front legs, but she learned to get around surprisingly well. Her owners were lucky she used the litter box at all, but she didn't do it to their standards, so she was relinquished. Duh, all you had to do was scoop more often. But now she's with a family who really appreciates Roux for who she is. You can follow her on Instagram, where her gallery is called lilbunnytrexcat.
The Smarts of the Goffin's Cockatoo
You might think of birds as bird brained, but there are so many different types of bird that you cannot compare the smarts of, say, a chicken with a crow. Crows are pretty intelligent, and can use tools. But a particular bird of the species Cacatua goffiniana, also known as Goffin's cockatoo, pulled scientists into studying them. That was Figaro, who was clever enough to use a tool to get what he wanted. That put Figaro into a lab with other Goffin's cockatoos to see how good they are at problem-solving. The increasingly difficult tasks they solved surely made these birds regret the day they showed off in front of human. Still, they proved they can figure out how to get what they want, up to a point. There's a 70-second skippable ad at 4:30.
Miss Cellania's Links
Prisoners of Fortune. This will almost make you feel sorry for billionaires, but it's a problem of their own making. (via Nag on the Lake)
The 8 Most Ridiculous Bootleg Superhero Movies Ever Made.
The health benefits of swearing. (via Metafilter)
Rupes Nigra: The Fabled Magnetic Mountain at The North Pole.
If Trump chooses to threaten Denmark militarily over Greenland, Denmark cannot respond militarily. But it does have the sort of leverage that matters in the modern global economy because Denmark a critical supplier of medicines to the United States, and the US healthcare system is built in a way that makes rapid substitution for the drugs it supplies nigh on impossible. (via Fark)
Disney Thread Goes Viral For Reasons They Didn’t Expect, They Make It Worse By Deleting It.
‘She had a hidden identity’: new film uncovers a mother’s second world war secrets. (via Damn Interesting)
20 Awesome Historical Words We Need to Bring Back. Most are obscure, but I've heard "kakistocracy" a lot lately. (via Nag on the Lake)
How They Say "Cheers!" in 70 Countries
There are few places around the world without a tradition of group drinking. The English "Cheers!" is a shortcut, a one-word toast. The same thing is done in many other countries in many other languages, although there are some variations on the tradition. You might notice that Russia has several such toasts. And some places that don't use a one-word toast still practice group drinking, so they've appropriated "Cheers!" I learned about the Chinese "Gan Bei" about 40 years ago. My boss told me it meant "Bottoms up!" implying that the glass should be drained. You should not assume that in the other languages. It's not a bad idea to ask about drinking etiquette in places you aren't familiar with. (via Laughing Squid)
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
British Actors Trying American Accents
Laurence Brown makes a living comparing and contrasting the US and Britain, so who better than he to judge how well British actors pull of American accents. They range from "I didn't know he was British when I saw this movie" to "what kind of accent is that?" There's a skippable ad from 2:30 to 3:55.
Testing the Livestock's Reactions
Take good care of your farm animals, and they will appreciate you. This is a compilation of people pretending to faint and/or die in front of their critters to see how they would react. Even when they have no idea what to do, they express concern. Well, most of them.
Robin
In 2020, Jamie Costa wanted to make a film biography of Williams, who died in 2014. He portrayed Williams in this five minute concept film, but in discussions, found out that Williams' family had no interest in turning it into a feature-length movie, so Costa pulled the short. Five years later, the family has no objections to Costa releasing the short online again, although they still do not want a full-length film. Any proceeds from the short will go to charity.
This scene is set in 1982, on the set of the sitcom Mork & Mindy. Williams receives some devastating news, but the show must go on. It shows how Williams dealt with heartbreak by leaning into his comedy. (via the Awesomer)
How to NOT Sexually Harass Someone
For men who are completely confused by women who do not want to be treated as sexual objects at work, Rachel Parris explains what sexual harassment is and is not on the satirical show The Mash Report. Although this was on British TV, it might be NSFW by American standards. While there is nothing graphic, the humor is adult-oriented. That said, it is delightfully funny and cutting at the same time. The way you treat women is not a minefield to negotiate -it's just common sense. (via Buzzfeed)
Monday, January 19, 2026
Dear America, We’d Like to Speak to the Manager
Danish comedian Huxi Bach explains Greenland to America. That is all. (via Metafilter)
Rescue Dog and a Surprise
When you find a beautiful dog in an unusual place or out in the middle of nowhere, there's a good chance that the previous owners dumped her because they were too cheap to have her spayed and now she's pregnant. This happened to me twice- one was even dumped right in my front yard. I managed to find homes for 15 puppies in total. Oh, yeah, they both were spayed soon after.
Joel and his wife found a Great Pyrenees in their front yard. How did she get there? She had no microchip, so they kept her and named her Waco. Waco got along fine with their golden retriever Wellington, and fattened up quickly. That was because she was pregnant, and she soon gave birth to eight puppies who were all mini-Wacos. If you want to see more of these puppies, check out Wellington's TikTok channel.
Shakespeare's Personal Life
William Shakespeare is the most famous writer in history, but we know little about his personal life. You may have seen the 1998 movie Shakespeare in Love or the recent Hamnet, but the former is fiction and the latter is highly fictionalized history. The truth is that people in the 16th century weren't as curious about artists as they were about the art, and Shakespeare's biography has a lot of holes in it. Maybe Shakespeare liked his privacy.
Anyway, the documented facts about Shakespeare's personal life are few and far between, and only take up about half of this video from Weird History. Then there are plenty of rumors and tales that mostly arose after his death and may have been changed over time. They address those, too. What it all adds up to is that the most famous English artist of his time is now a rather blank slate for more stories to be written.
Miss Cellania's Links
Tales from the Olden Days of Landline Phones.
You Need A Kitchen Slide Rule. Even if you never use one, the reasons behind it are interesting. (via Nag on the Lake)
Discover Michelangelo’s First Painting, Created When He Was Only 12 or 13 Years Old. An informative video accompanies the article. (via Boing Boing)
The ancient baths of Pompeii were outrageously filthy, study finds. (via Strange Company)
How White Southerners Distorted the History of Ancient Egypt to Justify Slavery in the U.S.
Valheim player keeps building Dollar Generals despite friend begging them to stop: 'I do not want to play Valheim with Greg anymore'. (via Metafilter)
Barbara Thompson: Prisoner of the Aboriginal.
The Wall Looks Permanent Until It Falls. On the optimism of preparation in a time of democratic decay. (via Nag on the Lake)
What Martin Luther King Actually Thought About Car Commercials
Dodge aired an ad during the Super Bowl in 2018 that used a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. It was supposed to be inspirational, but there was no hiding the Dodge Ram trucks. Then Nathan Robinson overdubbed a different part of the very same speech to show us what King actually thought about advertising. I am not at all surprised. (via Astead)
Sunday, January 18, 2026
MLK's Final Sermon
Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his last Sunday sermon on March 31, 1968, at the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Washington, DC. Now 58 years later, the subject matter is just as valid, and that's a tragedy. This is just a small excerpt. The entire 47-minute sermon is available at YouTube, if you are interested.
A Robot to Control Your Cat
Cats love to stroll along kitchen counters because they are human-high and often contain tasty or at least interesting things. People have tried many methods to stop them, but all cats are different, so nothing works consistently. My Marshmallow roams the counter, leaving evidence that she scratches herself with my cactus garden. I cope by putting dirty dishes away quickly and not leaving uncovered food out. And cleaning the counter often. She has me trained.
Cookie is a hard case, though. He roamed the whole kitchen and was not susceptible to human tricks. The guy behind the YouTube channel Lab-X is an engineer, so he built an AI-assisted robot with a squirt gun built in, and trained it to recognize Cookie and deter him. He named it Puffy. There were plenty of tests and failures and tweaks to be made before it actually worked. If you don't care about the tech stuff, you'll still get a kick out of Cookie's antics. My cat would spot the robot and knock him off the counter immediately.
An Address from the Cabinet
Saturday Night Live has been off for almost a month, so they had a lot to catch up in the opening skit of their first broadcast of 2026. Since the news is so awful, they leaned in more on style and the weird smaller gaffs recently from the current administration. And the language is more SFW than the real news.
Cat Trapped in Stairs
Henriette Kleppan's family moved to a new home with their cat, Sverre. The house needed some work, including building new stairs. After the carpenters were gone, the family couldn't find the cat. They called for Sverre and finally heard him crying weakly from inside the new stairs! Four-year-old Julie and 7-year-old Mikkel were quite upset. Sverre was closed up inside the stairs for at least five hours. He was pretty glad to be out, and doesn't seem to hold a grudge about the misadventure. (via Digg)
Saturday, January 17, 2026
Fiddler on the Roof
This was one of my favorite musicals when I was a kid. Of course, I never saw it, but I memorized all the songs from our vinyl album. The movie version of Fiddler on the Roof didn't come out until I was a teenager, and it never played at our local theater anyway. But when I finally saw it years later, all that childhood nostalgia came back.
It's the story of an everyday Jewish father in Imperial Russia (now Ukraine) dealing with the modern world through the marriages of his three oldest daughters. They each break from tradition in increasingly unacceptable ways to marry the one they love. Meanwhile, we get to enjoy some awesome production numbers.
The City That Wasted Nothing
In the 17th century, the city of Edo (modern day Tokyo) had almost a million residents, but was suffering on the brink of ecological collapse due to the cascading effects of deforestation.
Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled with an iron hand but mostly with an eye toward the long-term benefits to the country and its residents. The government enacted a series of reforms that were difficult, but over time turned Edo into a recovering and sustainable city. You have to wonder how well the people who lived there at the time understood the long-term goals of the sacrifices they had to make- especially those with few resources of their own. The reforms of that period went a long way toward making Tokyo what it is today.
Candide Thovex Sans la Neige
I've posted videos of professional skier Candide Thovex before, and they are always impressive. But the amazing Alpine skier doesn't even need snow to impress us! Watch him ski over sand, dirt, grass, volcanic ash, rock, bricks, brush, and water in some of the most beautiful places on earth. All for a car ad. But when you've got a sponsor who'll send you to such places, you go! (Thanks, Ken D!)
Friday, January 16, 2026
Josephine Baker, Siren of the Tropics
This sequence from the 1927 French silent film La sirène des tropiques (Siren of the Tropics) has added music to make it bearable. It was Josephine Baker's first film and made her a star across Europe. She doesn't show up for the first two minutes, but when she does, she steals the show.
Shy Cats
Some cats don't want to face the world, or anyone in it besides their number one human. Some don't even want to look at the world. It's best to just let them be.
A Hotel on the Moon?
The startup Galactic Resource Utilization Space (GRU) has launched a website to take reservations for a hotel on the moon. No, the hotel is not on the moon yet, but the plan is to have it in place by 2032. Availability dates will be subject to transportation, and of course, whether the hotel is ever built. Or we should say, installed, because it's going to be an inflatable structure. It will hold up to four people for multi-day vacations, which may include sightseeing, driving, and golf.
GRU is the brainchild of Skyler Chan, a 21-year-old Berkeley graduate, who has enlisted tech investors such as SpaceX and Nvidia. A big chunk of money is expected from the guests, though. Reservations range from $250,000 to $1 million, depending on the vacation package. What's in those packages? Who knows- it costs $1,000 just to apply for a reservation. (via Nag on the Lake)
Miss Cellania's Links
Extreme pole dance. (via Everlasting Blort)
13 Movies Where “It Was All a Dream” Is the Ending And Somehow It Actually Worked.
You’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof. (Thanks,Liz!)
Cats make the weirdest sounds, from "beep" to "pew pew pew." That black cat gets me every time.
The Time When New York City Seriously Considered Seceding From the United States. Their problem was more with Albany than with Washington.
Goat's headbutt frenzy causes thousands of dollars in damage to Cobar business. (via Metafilter)
A Busy, Busy Immigration Enforcement Operation. The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
The pink chocolate silos of Brook Park, Ohio. (via Boing Boing)
*****
First they came for undocumented immigrants with violent criminal records, and I did not speak up, for I am not an undocumented immigrant with a violent criminal record.
Ah, you know the rest of the poem, so let's just skip to...
Then they came for the residents of Minnesota, and I did not speak up, because I am not in Minnesota.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.
Sriracha Sauce and the Surprisingly Heartwarming Story Behind It
David Tran escaped Vietnam in 1978 and gave us Sriracha sauce. He concentrated on the product instead of building a successful company, but things happen. Huy Fong Foods is a wildly successful company in spite of their business practices -because the product is what consumers want. Simon Whistler of Today I Found Out explains how Tran, the serious cook and laid-back businessman, achieved incredible success without patents, copyright, or even the original rooster. (via Laughing Squid)
Thursday, January 15, 2026
How Disneyland Came About
At the end of World War II, Walt Disney thought his animation company might be on its last legs, so he was looking for something different. An amusement park? Okay, but it had to be better than what other amusement parks had to offer at the time. The design of Disneyland was an entirely new concept, with architecture created to immerse visitors into a fantasy land. And people would have to pay to get in, which was unheard of at the time.
The story of Walt Disney World in Florida is pretty astounding, since it is so much bigger and has more features, but in pulling off that first park in 1954 was a bigger risk. Disney invested his personal fortune, and took out $17 millions in loans. The park was built in only a year! But no one knew whether it would go over with the public. Well, we know now, but it was a white-knuckle experience for Walt Disney. Too bad you can no longer get in for a dollar. (via Damn Interesting)
What a Good Boy
This is Donut, the most obedient golden retriever you've ever seen. In this video, he is instructed not to eat the hot dog. Oh, he wants to, and decides that his best strategy is to not look at it. But he's not the only one tempted. That's a good dog. I'm sure he got a hot dog for his efforts in the end.
Anytime is Ice Cream Time
Don't let the title fool you. While this cartoon stars many kinds of ice cream treats, the world does not treat them well. The juxtaposition of retro-style animated ice cream cones with their cruel fates may be quite jarring. Steve Cutts brings us all the technicolor carnage. (via Everlasting Blort)
Walkies
I'd walk a lot faster if I were only five years old like you. This comic is from Jimmy Craig at They Can Talk.
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
The Science of Depression
Depression is a horrible malady that's often hard to pin down. Situational depression is when you feel awful with a reason, like personal loss, trauma, or the world is falling apart, and clinical depression is a mental illness, but these lie on a spectrum and it's hard to determine where the line is. Medical science has some standards for diagnosis, but they can be subjective. There are no biological injuries that point out clinical depression, and treatments vary in effectiveness from person to person.
Adding to that, the very symptoms of depression make it hard to seek help. Then there's the stigma and expense attached to treatment. But it's very important to recognize the symptoms and seek help if you or someone you know is suffering from depression. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Wheee!
There is an entire genre of cat videos in which they ride down stairs in plastic containers, but this is the first one I've seen of a cat carrying his "sled" back upstairs. (via The Daily Dot)@tailbitpets he takes it up himself and launches down the stairs everyday 🤣 #funnypets #funnymoments #cats #catsoftiktok #funnyvideos ♬ The Funny Bassoon - Eitan Epstein Music
Kings
Update: But he didn't say this. They haven't found the origin of the quote yet, which means we can all say it. (via She Who Seeks)
An Honest Trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
To celebrate the anniversary of the 2001 movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, it's returning to theaters starting January 16th. The Two Towers will be released on January 17th, and The Return of the King hits theaters on January 18th. If you're in the right place, you can spend 12 hours of your weekend watching the trilogy. Yes, these are the extended editions, which makes The Fellowship of the Ring three hours and 48 minutes long. And it's the perfect excuse for an Honest Trailer.
While Screen Junkies gently pokes fun at the characters, it's obvious they can find little fault with the movie. We do get to see some of the tropes pointed out, like how Frodo is constantly interrupted while trying to sleep. It's no wonder he never thought of just flying to Mordor like Gandalf did. At any rate, you can expect Honest Trailers for the other two films in the trilogy to come out soon.
Miss Cellania's Links
The case of Bob, the fat boxing cat.
Video of V3cam being destroyed by lava fountain. Beautiful while it lasts. (via Everlasting Blort)
Viral outbreaks are always on the horizon – here are the viruses an infectious disease expert is watching in 2026.
Archaeologists Just Discovered the Oldest Known Evidence of Poison Arrows, Which Hunters Used to Slow Down Their Prey 60,000 Years Ago.
Yes, You Can Fry Food In The Microwave, But There's A Catch.
113 historical photographs you'll be glad you saw.
In a small Alaska town, American Samoans face prosecution for voting in the only country they’ve ever known. They live in a limbo, created by colonial expansion, that now confuses even public officials—and has made them a new target for policing voter fraud. (via Metafilter)
Meet the Goblin – the ultra-compact of fighter planes. If a fighter jet can be called cute, this one is it. (via Damn Interesting)
Why Cities Exist
When you have a lot of room, why don't people just spread out over the countryside? Owning, or at least being surrounded by land, would seem to make sense in a civilization that relies on agriculture. Yet cities keep growing, as they have for thousands of years. The explanation of this seemingly dry subject is made intriguing by the fact that it's from Wendover Productions, which is always fascinating.
The simple answer is that people like to live near other people when it's possible, because there are a lot of benefits to living in groups, like jobs, services, and culture. The story of cities is really the story of agriculture, which is the story of civilization. The video goes into quite a bit more detail. (via Digg)
Greenland
Don’t tell him about the Mayflower.
— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) January 12, 2026 at 9:01 AM
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Tuesday, January 13, 2026
Riders on the Storm
The latest project from Playing for Change is the laid-back 1971 hit from The Doors "Riders on the Storm." This collaboration features a couple dozen musicians from eight countries. But who are those two really old guys? That's drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger from The Doors. There are also bits of the original recording mixed in, with Jim Morrison's vocals and Ray Manzarek's keyboards. (Thanks, Brother Bill!)
Cat Does Fortnight Dance
He's pretty good at following directions, but he needs to work on his hip shaking. (via Nag on the Lake)
The Magic Piano
A piano can produce beautiful music if you know how to play it, but what if you could see the music as well as hear it? This idea presented a challenge for the guys at HTX Studio, and they spent three years making it happen. In this video, we get to see the many ideas that didn't work, which are all pretty cool anyway. With every failure, the challenge became more important, and that's why they persevered to the end.
We also have to admire this guy's dedication to learning to play piano in those three years, in order to do the magic piano justice. The result is not only a fascinating musical instrument, but also beautiful music and an astonishingly high-quality DIY video. (via Metafilter)
Robot Chicken Does Sesame Street
Adult Swim UK gives us a compilation of some Sesame Street parodies that Robot Chicken has done over the years: The residents of Sesame Street deal with a flu epidemic, Oscar the Grouch makes a new friend, and Cookie Monster craves cookies. Contains NSFW language. While Sesame Street brought children's TV much closer to real life than anything before it, it was never this realistic. And that's a good thing. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Justification
(cartoon Mike Luckovich) #politics #ice
— Wolf Hour (@wolfhour.bsky.social) January 10, 2026 at 9:44 AM
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Monday, January 12, 2026
Alexander the Great (1963)
In 1963, a pilot was made for a TV series called Alexander the Great. William Shatner was cast as Alexander, and other actors included Adam West, Joseph Cotton, and John Cassavettes. The series was never made, but here's the hour-long pilot. Read more about it at SKJAM! Reviews. (via Boing Boing)
Two Cats on Two Theremins
At first I thought, they need more practice. Then I thought, heavens no! Who thought of this nonsense? CarolClevelandSings, that's who. (via Everlasting Blort)@carolclevelandsings 2 Cats, 2 Theremins 📡😽😽📡 Thank you to @Stylophone for making this dream a reality. #theremin #catsoftiktok #catsonsynthesizersinspace ♬ original sound - CarolClevelandSings
Operation Paul Bunyan
How many soldiers does it take to cut down a tree? In this case, it was 813, in a convoy of 23 heavily-armed vehicles supported by helicopters, fighter jets and bombers, and even rafts. While that sounds absurd on the surface, it was a response to a horrific murder. This all happened in the DMZ between North Korea and South Korea in 1976 (although the narration says 1973 at one point). Cold War tensions were high. In the Joint Security Area, a tree was blocking the view from the south, which was quite important for keeping an eye on North Korean activity. The first crew of 15 sent to trim the tree was attacked by North Korean soldiers, who killed two Americans with their own axes and injured others. Retaliation could have led to war between the two Koreas, which meant war between the US and China also. But the incident could not be ignored.
The response was to return and cut down the entire tree, using all the military might necessary to keep interference from the KPA from happening again. This was Operation Paul Bunyan. Half as Interesting takes us through the entire incident. The video is only 6:35; the rest is an ad.
Miss Cellania's Links
Did Leonardo da Vinci paint a nude Mona Lisa? (via Damn Interesting)
Kitten reacts after being deprived of ham for three days. (via Everlasting Blort)
Since 1938, around 40,000 people have used the Social Security number 078-05-1120. (via Weird Universe)
A Calvinesque and Hobbesian look at invading Venezuela. The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
Anti-Vaxxer Surgeon Gets Epic History Lesson After Pointing Out That We Got Rid Of Bubonic Plague Without Vaccines. (via George Takei)
The Rise and Fall of Iley Tate. The story of a "barbaric backwoods Bluebeard." (via Strange Company)
When you want to watch a movie but you don't want to pay for streaming services or cable, you can turn to the internet and pull up a full-length feature film that's perfectly legal to watch at WikiFlix, a depository of public domain movies. (via kottke)
5 Maps Showing Why Republicans Should Oppose Trump’s Attempt to Annex Canada. (via Nag on the Lake)
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