(via Weird Universe)
Saturday, January 31, 2026
Plan 9 from Outer Space
You've heard about it for years; now you can see the entire movie at your leisure! The 1957 movie Plan 9 from Outer Space was a labor of love by director Ed Wood. Wood's ambition outpaced his talents and resources, but he managed to put together a stellar cast of Bela Lugosi, Vampira, and Tor Johnson. Bela Lugosi was at the end of his career and actually died during filming. That's why his character often holds his cape over his face- that is the stand-in who completed the role. Tor Johnson was a wrestler, and Vampira was a TV host. Plan 9 from Outer Space is often listed as the worst movie ever produced, but has a reputation as being entertaining specifically because of that. I can think of a few that are worse. (Thanks, WTM!)
The Lapua Movement
An episode from Finland in the 1930s has lessons for us today. The nation was still reeling from the formation of the Soviet Union next door, and political factions split between the communists on the left (red) and the nationalist Lapua Movement on the right (white). Sure, most Finns weren't extremists, or even political, but they feared communism. When the right wing moved into violence, kidnapping, and election fraud, it lost support, yet gained power because the majority were afraid of them as well. In 1931, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud was elected president. He was a white, but moderate enough to be elected. Svinhufvud, however, believed in the rule of law and thwarted a coup attempt by the Lapua Movement. The lesson is that it's more important to elect leaders who care about the country as a whole than about their political party.
The Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Cream Mystery
Some observed that when a chocolate ice cream cone sideswipes a vanilla ice cream cone, both of them end up with a bit of each other. Others of the TikTok generation rushed out to replicate the experiment because, hey, ice cream! James Orgill of the Action Lab explains why they don't just mix together and why it's always both cones involved.
I must admit he almost lost me in the middle of the video. I understand laminar flow, but not so much quantum physics and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. But hang on, because all he's explaining there is what's not happening. Then he compares the two ice cream cones to planets colliding and it all becomes clear. Still, all I could think of during this video is the old Reece's campaign: "You got your peanut butter on my chocolate! You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!" Because after all, these ice creams are two great tastes that taste great together.
The Fair Maiden
Epic NPC Man takes a cockeyed look at the nuts and bolts of gaming, using real people instead of computer graphics. In this video, he explores the moment after the player has fulfilled his quest to rescue the damsel in distress. She's been the prisoner of the villain for ten years. Our hero takes her to her home, but now what? Will he marry her and live happily ever after? Will he gallantly consider her freedom and happiness as his only reward? Will he at least get a kiss? Let's Remember, this is a video game, in which the player controls the action. The player is a gamer, so his priorities might be different from whatever you, the viewer, would like to see. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Bigfoot is Bears
(via Everlasting Blort)is it time to bust out my "bigfoot is bears" photo collection again? if your mental image of a bear is a thick-furred, fat glossy male bear in autumn, you're probably not prepared for how weird their proportions can look in spring, or when walking upright, like they frequently do.
— Dildo Elysium (@amagire.bsky.social) January 20, 2024 at 11:21 AM
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Friday, January 30, 2026
Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
"Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" was the first track on Elton John's 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. I don't think there's an official music video for it, but there are many live versions at YouTube. I selected this one because it has relatively decent sound, but it does not indicate when or where it was performed. I believe it is from the 21st century.
Update: Bicycle Rider added some info. "This is at Madison Square Garden. This was in 2007, the Elton John 60
Concert on March 25th, his 60th birthday and his 60th concert at MSG." Thanks!
Chilly Cat
This cat got caught in the freezing rain. Not only is she inaccessible, but her paws were frozen to the surface! Yes, he climbed out on those beams to get her. A vet found no lasting damage, and confirmed that she's a female about 12 weeks old. The guy took her home to his family and named her Chilly.
Lightsabers in the Real World
The coolest weapon in the Star Wars universe is the lightsaber, even cooler than the death star. It's a high-tech plasma laser, but you can swing it like a sword and show off your swashbuckling skills. The real genius of the lightsaber is that you can kill all kinds of people on film and never have to spill any fake blood (or clean it up). The ability to sell a ton of them as cool toys is a bonus. The best fictional weapon ever.
Lightsabers come with an in-universe explanation, which is that the business end is made of superheated ionized gas, or plasma. It would be hotter than the surface of the sun. In the real world, such a weapon would be impossible to train with, too dangerous to wield, and its actual use in battle would probably be a war crime. YouTuber Mr. Death explains in gruesome detail what a lightsaber wound would do to you. The good news is that such a weapon isn't at all feasible in the real world. (via the Awesomer)
Miss Cellania's Links
It's the Magas! The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
A Library Book was Returned 36 Years Late, After It Had Traveled Around the World.
This donkey playing with their favorite toy is pure joy. Turn the sound on. (via Everlasting Blort)
15 Actors Who Lied Their Way Into Iconic Roles.
Planning a Great Meal For Valentine's Day Isn't So Simple.
I bought “Remove Before Flight” tags on eBay in 2010—it turns out they’re from Challenger. (via Damn Interesting)
Police Explain the Difference between Sleet and Freezing Rain. In a very police way.
The Unintentionally Comedic Moments Of Parenting.
It's Not My Dog
How many different kinds of dogs are on YouTube? All of them! This compilation of canines makes a fine music video for the song "It's Not My Dog" by Bombay Monkey. (via b3ta)
Thursday, January 29, 2026
When That Man is Dead and Gone
The song was written in 1941, and this recording was posted eight years ago. So why does it come up every time I reload YouTube for the last four days? No other video comes up that often, and the algorithm usually gives up gives up if I don't click on a video after two or three tries. Someone -or many someones- are goosing the algorithm.
Anyway, this is Lizzy & the Triggermen doing the Irving Berlin song "When that Man is Dead and Gone," originally performed by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.
I Can't Hear You
This was me until a few weeks ago, when I got my hearing aids. Now I hear my clothes making noise, and clock ticking two rooms away. (via Bits and Pieces)
The Dumb Luxury Homes of Hawaii
Ryan George, who has several video channels, took some time off and came back blonde. But he hit the ground running, with a video that combines two things we enjoy very much: dreaming of a tropical paradise (nice when you're snowbound) and roasting mega-expensive real estate. If you're one of the few people who can afford multi-million dollar property in Hawaii, he's making fun of you, too.
This video explores five homes on the market in Hawaii. They are gorgeous on the surface, but George focuses in on the details most people would miss, and constructs a complicated backstory to explain why they are so bizarre. The rich are not like you and me. But then again, someone is selling these homes, so maybe it's because they aren't that rich anymore.
No Landing Gear
Tuesday morning, a NASA pilot managed to set down a WB-57 aircraft as smoothly as you've ever seen at Ellington Airport in Houston after the landing gear failed to deploy. With no brakes, it had to be a butt-puckering experience, but no one was injured. Luckily, the runway was longer than the video.
The WB-57, also known as the Martin B-57 Canberra, is a superlative plane. The B-57 was the first jet that could cross the Atlantic without refueling, and made the trip in just four hours and 40 minutes in 1951. It was used extensively as a bomber in Vietnam. The WB-57 variant could fly at altitudes up to 62,000 feet. That's why, when the Air Force phased out the plane, NASA snapped up the remaining three WB-57s in America. They are used for high-altitude research like collecting near-space samples and observing spacecraft launches. Read more about the WB-57 at Ars Technica. (via Fark)
Why Is Blue So Rare In Nature?
There are blue animals, but those species are small in number compared to the other colors among living things, such as red, orange, yellow, and brown. Sure, when we look up to the sky, we see blue. When we look at the Earth from space, we see a blue marble. But the few animals that look blue don't use pigments -they use physics. And those physics are complicated. It turns out that animals are better at engineering than they are at chemistry. Okay, there's one exception not the pigment thing, which we learn about in the video. Our friends at It's Okay To Be Smart explain why it's so hard for nature to create the color blue. (via Boing Boing)
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Streets of Minneapolis
Every historical movement needs an anthem. Bruce Springsteen wrote this on Saturday, recorded it yesterday, and released it today. The lyrics are here.
Cats and Snow
If you need a laugh, here's ten minutes of cats frolicking in the snow. You'll see cats in sleds, on skis, and in snowsuits. You'll see cats running, jumping, digging, and exploring. Most of them are having a good time, but there are a few who prefer to be someplace warmer.
An Honest Trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Screen Junkies celebrates the silver anniversary of The Lord of the Rings movies, or at least the beginning of them, by giving us a full set of Honest Trailers in conjunction with the release of the extended versions of film in theaters. It's time for the last one, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Everyone from the previous installments shows up for the battle, plus many characters we've never seen before. Everyone either dies gruesomely or gets to be the hero. The satisfying ending is not the end, and neither is that one. Or that one, either. The extended edition runs four hours and 23 minutes, so you wonder how many more ending scenes were tacked on. But you'll get plenty of Monty Python references and jokes at the expense of farts, George RR Martin, and England.
Miss Cellania's Links
Wild Star Wars Theories That Could Be True, But Probably Aren’t.
"I'm trying to imagine all these actors getting the script and trying to figure out how they're going to convey, like, two whole minutes of shock and paralysis while the dumbest thing that's ever happened plays out in front of them."
Halley’s Comet wrongly named: 11th-century English monk predates British astronomer. More on that interesting monk. (via Popular Science)
The Kill Line: What America looks like on Chinese social media. (via Metafilter)
Gen X is feeling old. Delicious karma for Boomers.
10 Life-Threatening Beauty Hacks From Eras Gone By.
You know Renee Good and Alex Pretti, but there have been nine people killed by ICE so far in 2026, and it's still January. (via kottke)
Caroline Hampton's Rubber Gloves. The American nurse was the first to wear gloves while assisting in surgery.
The Dangers of an Icy Hill
This happened in Texas some years ago. Kristy Boyd of Longview, Texas, recorded vehicles trying to make it up an icy hill, with some having more success than others. Then a big rig tried it. It had the speed going up, but couldn't quite make it over the top. That's when things went downhill, so to speak. First, gravity wins, then inertia. The real winner is the smaller car that didn't even try the hill. I bet that driver's life flashed before his eyes. (via Digg)
Widow
(via Nag on the Lake)I’ll admit, this one got me. 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ikt6sgthBr
— Steve 🇺🇸 (@SteveLovesAmmo) January 24, 2026
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
My Name is Edgar and I Have a Cow
Edgar is a normal and unassuming guy with a rather boring routine until that day he witnessed a calf being born at a beef processing facility. Then his life gets turned upside down. (via Kuriositas)
How to Get 20 Cats
This guy, who goes by Whisker Street, took in a stray cat. The stray cat brought his girlfriend around, so he welcomed her in as well. Before you know it, he has 20 cats. But it's not just because he fell into the habit of rescuing more street cats. It took him a couple of years to figure out why they kept having kittens and how to prevent that. Well, he sounds young. Anyway, all the cats are loved and cared for. But what you'll remember from this video are the names he gave them. The first two are Epakateketekete and LaoGanMaHuHanCha. One is named HP Deskjet 2852E All-in-one Printer, but he admits that he calls her simply All-in-one-printer for short. That's short? We learn a few others, and then more crazy names at their Instagram gallery.
Name a New Species
If you recall, back in 2024, Ze Frank was invited to be on the board of the Senkenberg Ocean Species Alliance (SOSA). He promptly visited them in Germany and made a video roasting the organization. Now, this is the institute that is charged with studying and naming new species of mollusks as they are discovered. What would Ze Frank offer this organization? Publicity, of course. They soon returned the favor by naming a type of chiton after him, Craspedochiton zefranki.
What next? How about crowdsourcing a species name? SOSA and Ze are now inviting fans to suggest a scientific name for a new species of Craspedochiton. You can submit one in the comments at this video's YouTube page, but it must only be one word, Latin or not, with an explanation, so molluskmcmolluskface won't cut it.
Going Fishing
A little fishing trip is more complicated than just that, when you have to build your world first. Even when that world is on your desk in your bedroom! The result is just as cute as it can be. I have some concerns, however, about the hooks that weren't removed from the fish before it was consumed. Swedish stop-motion animator Guldies Konst used 2,500 still pictures (out of 4530 he took) to create this video. That's a lot of time spent in his bedroom. You might want to go back and check out the images in the still frames -especially the fire. It looks completely different than what the moving video shows. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Reflecting a Mood
Morning.
— Frostbitten Flamingo (@flemtheparrot.bsky.social) January 25, 2026 at 11:51 PM
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Monday, January 26, 2026
How They Made Darth Vader
It took a team to make Darth Vader so menacing. It wasn't only George Lucas and his team, but David Prowse, James Earl Jones, and the special effects guys.
Even Insects Use Tools
When you think about animals using tools, you probably don't think about the examples given at the beginning of this video. You think about the Veronika the cow, or maybe Figaro the cockatoo. But yeah, chimps and crows and octopuses use tools as well. Even insects use tools! Stefan Chin of SciShow tells us howinsects use external objects as weapons, grocery bags, glue traps, bait, compactors, and amplifiers.
By now, we should completely let go of that outdated theory that tool use is what distinguishes humans from other species. The problem with that is having to come up with a new way to distinguish humans from other animals. (via Laughing Squid)
Asteroids and Planets
We learn in elementary school that planets orbit around the sun (or their nearest star, in the case of exoplanets), and moons revolve around a planet. But then there are asteroids, which also revolve around the sun like planets, but we didn't cover those much in elementary school because there are too many of them to learn. The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter has thousands of asteroids, which were once called small or minor planets. But are they really planets? That's a matter of semantics, and depends on how you define terms, which is very important in astronomy. A discovery in 1953 helped to determine the definition of a planet, sort of, but it took some time for all astronomers to come around to how these terms are used. Meanwhile, Minute Physics makes the difference between a planet and an asteroid clear and simple, although there are still some edge cases.
Miss Cellania's Links
The Cry-Cry Horse for Lunar New Year 2026.
Little Addie’s Last Fight. Adolph Wolgast was the world lightweight boxing champion, but he paid a terrible price. (via Nag on the Lake)
Field of clones: How horse replicas came to dominate polo. (via Metafilter)
I found a political post from eight years ago that should be obsolete, but is strangely more applicable now.
Budget-Friendly Casserole Recipes from the Great Depression. Any mention of hominy takes me back to elementary school lunches. (via Strange Company)
Because there is so much to say, here's a link-heavy index of what ICE was been doing before Alex Pretti was killed.
How to determine the national origin of a cinematic death scene.
Age of marriage & giving birth in medieval Europe. It was a lot more civilized than you thought. (via Strange Company)
A Mother’s Promise: You Can Be Yourself
Laurin is raising Danny, the only thing she has left of her husband, and she can't know what he'd say in any situation concerning him. (via Digg)
Sunday, January 25, 2026
The Fisherman and His Wife
This episode of Fractured Fairy Tales is about two really stupid people. No wonder kids laughed at it. (Thanks, WTM!)
AIDA
When you want to make a good impression on a first date, you take any advantage you can. This guy is a bit shy and socially awkward, but thinks he will get a leg up with the help of the Artificial Intelligence Dating Assistant, or AIDA. Yep, there's no need to think when you have an app to tell you what to say and do. But when technology fails, he finds he has nothing to fall back on. This creepy little skit portends a world in which we've outsourced our common sense and personalities to AI as well as our mental work, because it's just easier that way. (via Kuriositas)
The Trump Awards
Since this week's news is so grim, Saturday Night Live decided to focus its opening skit on one of Trump's relatively less destructive obsessions. He not only hosts the Trump Awards show, but also wins most of the awards. Any that he didn't win, he takes anyway. The jokes just write themselves.
Boomwhackers
This video was presented as "bro's night out," which makes it seem like a silly game, but watch and listen. These guys are making serious music! Well, maybe not 'serious' music, it's the theme from Knight Rider followed by the theme from The Flintstones, but they do it well.
They are playing musical instruments called boomwhackers, or tubes that are tuned to a musical pitch to be played like bells. The group is Louie's Cage Percussion, made up of classically-trained musicians from Austria.
Named after the Monkey King Louie and the composer John Cage, this percussion group consists of six talented young musicians in their twenties. They are some of the youngest members of renowned Austrian orchestras including the Vienna Volksoper, the Lower Austria Tonkuenstler Orchestra and the Graz Opera and play all repertoires of classical music. Besides their studies of classical music, they have always been interested in jazz, rock and electronic music and have played in various bands and broadened their knowledge of various musical genres.You can get an idea of how boomwhackers work from an extended cut of one of their practice sessions. Now watch a stage performance from Louie's Cage Percussion.
(via reddit)
Saturday, January 24, 2026
The Nun's Story
Audrey Hepburn stars in the 1959 film The Nun's Story. It is loosely based on the life of the Belgian nun Marie Louise Habets. The story of a woman who chooses a cloistered life may seem dry and boring on the surface, but in this case Sister Luke is sent to work at a mental hospital, then to the Belgian Congo, and then back to Europe just in time to work under the Nazi occupation in World War II.
Hepburn later said that The Nun's Story was her favorite of the movies she made. It was a critical and box office success, and still holds an 85% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. The movie was nominated for eight Academy Awards, but won none of them, thanks to Ben Hur.
Bear in the Basement
A homeowner in Altadena, California, had a bear living in the crawl space under their home for more than a month! They had contacted state wildlife officials, but attempts to evict the 550-pound bear were unsuccessful. The bear was causing some damage down there, so they did the prudent thing and shut off the gas line before Christmas. Then they called the Bear League, who does this a lot. They sent Scott and Dave, and they aren't afraid of anything. They couldn't lure Yogi out with a pic-a-nic basket, so Scott went down into the crawl space and got behind the bear to chase him out! Dave was ready outside to shoo the bear away, and we get to see it because he was wearing a camera on his hat. The bear barely squeezed through the opening. No bears nor humans were injured in the operation. (via Laughing Squid)
Watch Out For Ice
DHS told FEMA not to talk about ice when they issue warnings about the coming winter storm. Why? Because people will hear ICE and make memes out of it. They are supposed to use terms like "freezing rain" instead. What snowflakes. Oops, that word will be banned next.
Of course, it has already happened, but since the news got out, it only encouraged the production of more memes, many of which you can see at Fark.
Meanwhile, I hope everyone in the storm's path is as prepared as can be. I have the supplies I need, and nowhere I have to go. I live in town, so I can walk out if I need to, and I have Yaktraks. My phone is fully charged. I will leave my favorite games loaded on an extra window on my desktop, because the cable is pretty much guaranteed to go out. The worst that could happen to me is the electricity going down, which will affect heating. If that happens, and the house gets cold, the problem is finding out how widespread the outage is, because there's no use in walking out if there's nowhere warm to go. And my area will stay below freezing for a week after the storm. However, if worst comes to worst, I have gas logs in one fireplace. I don't know where the key to turn them on is, but a socket wrench will work.
Of course, it has already happened, but since the news got out, it only encouraged the production of more memes, many of which you can see at Fark.
Meanwhile, I hope everyone in the storm's path is as prepared as can be. I have the supplies I need, and nowhere I have to go. I live in town, so I can walk out if I need to, and I have Yaktraks. My phone is fully charged. I will leave my favorite games loaded on an extra window on my desktop, because the cable is pretty much guaranteed to go out. The worst that could happen to me is the electricity going down, which will affect heating. If that happens, and the house gets cold, the problem is finding out how widespread the outage is, because there's no use in walking out if there's nowhere warm to go. And my area will stay below freezing for a week after the storm. However, if worst comes to worst, I have gas logs in one fireplace. I don't know where the key to turn them on is, but a socket wrench will work.
Snowboarders Try to Use a T-Bar
If you're used to a regular skilift, trying to get up a snowy mountain with a T-bar is challenging. It's even harder on a snowboard. But when you are an inexperienced snowboarder, it's almost impossible. These guys are out on their first snowboarding expedition at Nevis Range Mountain Experience in Torlundy, Scotland. On the one hand, it's nice to find out how incompetent you are before you get to the top of the mountain. On the other hand, you're now stuck in viral video with the videographer laughing at you, leading the internet audience to do the same. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Friday, January 23, 2026
Miniskirters Protest
Priorities. In 1970, with the Vietnam War going on, a group decides to protest lower hemlines. Read more about this, and see pictures at Weird Universe.
"Let It Go" in Klingon
The pop culture mashup you didn't know you needed. (via Neatorama)@emeraldcitycomicco 🖖 Our fans are so talented! #frozen #startrek #cosplaytiktok #cosplay #eccc ♬ original sound - ECCC
Know Your Motivational Speaker
One of the hardest things to learn is who to listen to and who to trust. To get to the point you can really tell, you will have to make mistakes, but the best thing to do is own up to it and learn from it. But from my many years of experience, I will tell you that this guy is pretty sketchy. Maybe it's the mustache. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Masters of the Universe Trailer
We haven't had a live-action He-Man movie since 1987, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. The new Masters of the Universe has been in development for twenty years, but couldn't get off the ground because of the huge investment required, so the rights have been bandied about like a balloon. But by the power of Grayskull, the movie was finally made.
This movie is an origin story, in which Prince Adam Glenn/He-Man is exiled as a child to modern-day America for his own safety, but returns to Eternia as an adult to fulfill his destiny and defeat the evil Skeletor (Skeletor, no! Everyone loves Skeletor!) played by Jared Leto (oh, never mind, then). He-Man is played by Nicholas Galitzine, and the movie also features Camila Mendes, Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Kristen Wiig, and Idris Elba.
In case you're wondering, yes, Mattel still sells Masters of the Universe toys, the 1983 TV show can be found on streaming services, and there was an animated reboot in 2021. Masters of the Universe will open nationwide on June 5, 2026. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Miss Cellania's Links
The urgent mission of Percival Dunwoody, Idiot Time-Traveler from 1909. The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
Meet 13 People Who Survived on Deserted Islands, From a Real-Life Robinson Crusoe to a Noblewoman Marooned With Her Lover.
What is the scale of the resistance in Minnesota? (via kottke)
20 Slang Words and Phrases That Are Much Older Than You’d Think.
Many, many suggestions for a theme song for ICE. With videos.
Witness a truly awesome big brother.
Now That I Am Old Enough to Enroll in Medicare, I Am Against Socialized Medicine. I get the irony, but you can opt out by getting the capitalist Medicare Advantage, which benefits insurance companies but is less likely to approve claims.
A century in the Siberian wilderness: the Old Believers who time forgot. (via Damn Interesting)
Quentin Tarantino's Star Trek: Voyage to Vengeance
If Quentin Tarantino directed the next Star Trek feature film, it would be the weirdest, bloodiest, most intense Star Trek ever! Luckily, we have some footage that fits the bill in this trailer. This is not for children. Nerdist presents a vision of Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Bones, and the rest of the crew in a grindhouse B-movie you can't wait to see. (via Digg)
Thursday, January 22, 2026
Stairway to Gilligan's Island
Today we are used to song mashups that set the lyrics of one song to the tune of another. This goes double for the theme to Gilligan's Island, which can all be interchanged effortlessly. But the granddaddy of such shenanigans is "Stairway to Gilligan's Island."
The San Francisco band Little Roger and the Goosebumps came up with the song in 1977 to fill out their live sets. They recorded and released a single in 1978 titled "Gilligan's Island (Stairway)." Led Zeppelin's management threatened to sue for copyright infringement, which seems hilarious these days. But Little Roger and the Goosebumps couldn't afford a defense, so they pulled the single. It was still played on the Dr. Demento Show just enough to draw a following, because you couldn't forget it once you heard it. The band reissued the song on a 2000 album under the title "Stairway to Gilligan's Island." (via Metafilter)
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.
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