From 1992. (via Undine)
Sunday, May 31, 2026
An Old Fashioned Love Song
Three Dog Night released "An Old Fashioned Love Song" in 1971. This video appears to use the original audio recording, laid over their 1975 performance on the TV series Soundstage.
Northern African Lion Cubs
Northern African lions, also called Barbary lions, are a threatened subspecies that are close to or maybe even identical to Asiatic lions. They are functionally extinct in their traditional range of northern Africa from Morocco to Egypt. Whipsnade Zoo, the largest zoo in the UK, welcomed a new litter of four Northern African lions last year. They are just as cute as you'd expect. (via Zooborns)
How Pre-Civilization Societies Dealt with Pregnancy
The process of giving birth may be a shock and a new experience to modern people, but ancient communities knew what they were doing. A new mother had already helped her own mother, her sisters, and her friends through it, under the supervision of older women who knew more than they did. Sure, men were excluded, which is why women became the experts in childbirth and by extension, other medical events. Giving birth was a team event, and everyone did their part.
We lost this type of communal childbirth in the modern world, when men took over medical science and women who practiced it were labeled as witches. Not that it ever really went away, especially in traditional cultures. I am glad to see that some of these practices are coming back. While my mother was completely knocked out for labor and delivery, my daughter had a doula, a midwife, and a woman obstetrician in a birthing center that was anything but medicalized.
Magnet Collisions
This is a very "attractive" video. Let's see what happens when a large magnet meets a group of smaller magnets -in slow motion. It's fascinating to see the different reactions depending on the size and configurations of the magnets. And the slow motion is crucial, because in real time it happens in the blink of an eye, which is no fun. We get a glimpse of that at the end. (via Laughing Squid)
The Carpeted Bathroom
When I bought my house in 2008, both bathrooms had wall-to-wall carpet. It looked fairly new. It was the first thing to go, at least in the main bathroom (and the smaller one eventually). Sure, it looked good, and you did not slip on it, but the potential for mold and worse gave me the heebie-jeebies. Besides, you can avoid slipping with a small bath mat that you can throw in the washer. As soon as the last kid left for college, we got rid of all the carpet. (via Boing Boing)
Saturday, May 30, 2026
Creature From The Haunted Sea
Creature From The Haunted Sea is a 1961 horror comedy directed by Roger Corman. He meant it as a parody of Bond films, heist movies, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon all rolled into one. It was a spectacularly bad movie, which is why it developed a cult following many years later. (Thanks, WTM!)
Winston
This stray cat had everything stacked against him, but he finally found a family who would take him in and make his last days as comfortable and loving as they could. They had him for a couple of years, then Winston passed on May 3, 2026. You can see more of him at his Instagram page. (via Laughing Squid)
The Real Crucial Scenes from Jurassic Park
There are now seven films in the Jurassic Park franchise, because people like adventure movies with dinosaurs. The first movie back in 1993 set the stage with amazing breakthroughs in computer-generated imagery that made the dinosaurs seem real, and every subsequent film upped the ante by making the dinosaurs bigger and more dangerous. But each iteration makes less and less sense overall because the characters constantly forgot the lesson of the first film.
In the first movie, the dinosaurs took up only about 15 minutes of the more than two-hour film. The actual story was a deep dive into the ethics and philosophy of messing with Mother Nature, which makes it a think piece compared with the many sequels. It is also the only one of the series directed by Steven Spielberg. In this video, InCinematic looks at the crucial conversations that unveil the true meaning of Jurassic Park, and how Spielberg frames them to emphasize the point. It's no wonder the only two quotes you recall are from Dr. Ian Malcolm.
Not in Kansas Anymore
Hungry
the hungry observatory
— House & Field Negro Quarterly (@morethanmud.bsky.social) May 23, 2026 at 4:56 PM
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Friday, May 29, 2026
Traffic Stop Ends in the Weirdest Way
A sheriff's deputy pulled Katie Thomas over and as he was approaching her stated that he saw her holding a cell phone in her right hand. The kicker is that Thomas does not have a right hand. A normal person would have laughed and sent her on her way, but this cop could not be wrong, so he checked her papers and issued her a citation. Thomas went to court, but the deputy asked the judge to dismiss the charge due to insufficient evidence just before court began. I guess he thought he could avoid a viral moment. No such luck. You can see an extended interview with Thomas if you like.
Something Different with Maple, Walnut, and Cherry
Ryan Hawkins of West Coast Boards shows us what he does. You won't be able to keep up, but it is mesmerizing. It was only the second time through that I realized that it's not paint, but glue he's slathering on the wood. The best comment:
I tried to do the same but I realized I was missing 23 of the 24 machines and tools required, so I just replayed the video with envy.Yeah, this is no how-to video. It's more like a wish-you-could video. I bet even his scrap pile is pretty.
Bisected
Is it possible to make a phone call across dimensions? A couple on a lonely highway see something strange in the sky. I couldn't see it at first, but it eventually looked to me like an incoming nuclear attack. But that turns out to be a MacGuffin, and director Danny Piñeros tells us he didn't even know what it would look like until the effect was added post production. What's important is that the couple becomes separated and we don't know how -and neither do they. They appear to be in the same space but not together. Or are they in a completely different place? Or maybe "place" isn't even the right word, as subsequent events bend even that idea.
Be sure to stay for the credits, because the voiceover adds more to the story. The scene sets up a premise that the producers hope to expand into a feature-length film. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Miss Cellania's Links
Jimmy Savile: How Britain's Most Prolific Sex Offender Hid in Plain Sight.
A Gallery of the Most Amusing Animal Faces To Make Your Day.
The lineup for Washington's Freedom 250 Festival is shrinking once the artists learned it's a Trump-linked event.
Bruce Springsteen calls out the White House and announces a protest festival. (via Fark)
Great Danes are as goofy as they are big.
Rechalking beloved Cerne Giant is a sticky process – and climate crisis is making it worse. (via TYWKIWDBI)
At Long Last, I Have Maxximized My Looks.
Could aliens ever visit Earth? An aerospace scientist unpacks the challenges of interstellar spaceflight. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Driving at Night
I'd rather not, thank you. Not that I go anywhere anyway. But now that it doesn't get dark until after nine, I don't even have to think about it until September or so. This chart is from Matt Shirley.
Thursday, May 28, 2026
True Facts: The Mystery Of How Bees Build
We know honeybees build wax honeycombs where they can efficiently work together to produce honey. How did they ever learn to do that? Ze Frank takes us through the behavioral evolution of insect architects. Honeybees descended from wasps, who went through many phases on the way to building geometrically efficient nests. Ants and termites build elaborate nests, too, harnessing a new word I just learned: stigmergy. Honeybees are the best at making lovely hexagonal cells to build their combs, but it's not because they are all that smart. Hexagons are just what happens when you cram cylinders together in the most efficient way. In fact, their combs are not made of perfect hexagons all the way through. Still, those imperfections are a way of coping with uneven surfaces, so maybe they are pretty smart. Instead of an ad, there's a mere 30-second promotional message at 4:20.
What If You Dropped a Bowling Ball Into the Mariana Trench?
The latest hypothetical question for the What If? series by Randall Munroe and Henry Reich asks how long it would take a bowling ball to fall from the ocean surface to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The trench is the deepest part of the world's oceans, and the point called Challenger Deep is around 11,000 meters or 36,000 feet deep. A bowling ball would take quite a while to sink that far.
But wait- the real surprise here is that it might not sink at all. It might float! That depends on how heavy the ball is. Galileo told us that a hammer and a feather will drop at the same rate if you control for air resistance, like doing it on the moon or in a vacuum. Apparently, it doesn't work like that underwater, so we find out how objects of different weights fall in the ocean.
Brainstorm or Green Needle?
The question in the title sounds like we are going to name a new superhero. No, this is another audio illusion that might freak you out a bit. A toy says "brainstorm." Or maybe it says "green needle." You need to decide which one it is before you play the video. Then play it again, thinking about the other option. Keep your finger on the replay button (bottom left on the video), and you'll find that this toy says what you expect it to say, even if you change your mind between plays. Some people hear "green storm" or "brain needle," but that's because they chose to hear it. For some science behind the phenomena, and the actual answer to what this toy is saying, go to HuffPo. (via Geekologie)
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Happy Tooth and Old Mr. Tooth Decay
This 1952 TV ad for Colgate is about as cheaply produced as you could get. Pretty cheesy, too. (via Weird Universe)
Banana Synthesizer
I knew you could tuna fish, but how do you tune a banana? This is the kind of nonsense we expect from Weird Al Yankovic.
Why Judges and Linguists Can’t Stop Arguing About Words
Language is a funny thing. It changes over time, and the exact meaning of a word can drift to become more broad or more specific. That can spill over into a courtroom, when the exact wording of a law is debated. Does a more modern interpretation of those words change the intention of those who originally passed the law? And how do we determine exact meanings? By current dictionary, the generally-understood meaning at the time the law was written, or how the wording of the law is understood today? It depends on how you look at it, or even more importantly, who looks at it. Dr. Erica Brozovsky breaks down the legal battle over words. All I could think of while watching this is a quote: "It depends on what the definition of 'is' is."
Miss Cellania's Links
6 Musicians That You Didn't Know Were in the Military. Not all of them wanted to be.
250 to 250. We Are America.
The Let’s Have Better Mottoes Association. If you define "better" as "funny."
Unusual hotel rooms. (via Everlasting Blort)
This Jewish Community in the Caribbean Smuggled Gunpowder to the Patriots During the Revolution. A British Admiral Condemned the Island as a ‘Nest of Vipers.’
Akku Yadav: The Serial Rapist Who Was Killed by His Victims in an Indian Courtroom. Many, many victims.
The price America paid for its first big immigration crackdown. Before that, we didn't even have the concept of "illegal" immigrants.
A Blast from the Past (2008): Who Was Dr. Frankenstein?
You Bet Your Life Outtakes 1959-60
When anything can be a euphemism, everything is a euphemism in the hands of Groucho Marx on the set of You Bet Your Life.
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Part of Your World
The Shiki Theater Company is the biggest such company in Japan, and they have a longstanding relationship with Disney. Beginning in August they will stage the musical The Little Mermaid at the Maihama Amphitheater in Maihama, near Tokyo. Rina Tachibana stars as Ariel. She has a lovely voice (crucial for the plot, I know) and belts out "Part of Your World" that sounds very much like the movie version, except it's in Japanese. But how does she do it while floating through the water? And how do they make swimming underwater look so effortless and even realistic onstage (here's a rehearsal clip)? For that matter, how are they going to pull this off in an amphitheater? During the song, we also get glimpses of other scenes from The Little Mermaid. (via Kuriositas)
British Toilets vs. American Toilets
Most Americans aren't aware of how different toilets in Britain are, even those who have traveled to the UK. Oh yeah, there are places you have to pay to use them, but at least they are available. Laurence Brown, with years of experience living on both sides of the pond, is very aware of how our toilets are different. And our sinks and bathtubs, for that matter. The toilets actually use different mechanisms for flushing. He doesn't mention which system uses more water, but that's not really a concern in Britain, which is geographically consistent and it rains all the time. Now that I'm in the know for watching this, it's my opinion that American toilets are superior, with the exception of having to plunge or snake them occasionally, which is honestly not often enough to be a bother (your mileage may vary). American sinks and tubs seem to be better as well, even though I prefer a shower to a bath.
It's somewhat amusing to hear how he talks about toilet efficiency without using any rude words. There's a skippable ad from 2:55 to 4:10.
A Brother's Tears
This little boy is singing a lullaby to his newborn sister Alice, but then he's overcome with emotion at the beautiful moment. (via Digg)
Catch of the Day Lands Cat in Hot Water
First, some background. My husband, Rich, and I had just returned from a five-day spring-break vacation in the Cayman Islands, where I had been sick as a dog the whole time, trying to convince myself that if I had to feel lousy, it was better to do it in paradise. We had arrived home at
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It is very disturbing to see the headless body of your cat in the sink. This is an animal that I have slept with nightly for ten years, who burrows under the covers and purrs against my side, and who now looked like a desperate, fur-covered turkey carcass, set to defrost in the sink while it's still alive and kicking. It was also disturbing to see Rich,
First we tried to ease Rudy out of the disposal by lubricating his head and neck. We tried Johnson's baby shampoo (kept on hand for my nieces' visits) and butter-flavored Crisco: both failed, and a now-greasy Rudy kept struggling. Rich then decided to take apart the garbage disposal, which was a good idea, but he couldn't do it. Turns out, the thing is constructed like a metal onion: you peel off one layer and another one appears, with Rudy's head still buried deep inside, stuck in a hard plastic collar. My job during this process was to sit on the kitchen counter petting Rudy, trying to calm him, with the room spinning (vertigo), Lowell howling (he's part Siamese), and Rich clattering around with tools.
When all our efforts failed, we sought professional help. I called our regular plumber, who actually called me back quickly, even at
The dispatcher had other ideas and offered to send over two policemen. This suggestion gave me pause. I'm from the sixties, and even if I am currently a fine upstanding citizen, I had never considered calling the cops and asking them to come to my house, on purpose. I resisted the suggestion, but the dispatcher was adamant: "They'll help you out," he said.
The cops arrived close to midnight and turned out to be quite nice. More importantly, they were also able to think rationally, which we were not. They were, of course, quite astonished by the situation: "I've never seen anything like this," Officer Mike kept saying. (The unusual circumstances helped us get quickly on a first-name basis with our cops.) Officer Tom, who expressed immediate sympathy for our plight — "I've had cats all my life," he said, comfortingly — also had an idea. Evidently we needed a certain tool, a tiny, circular rotating saw, that could cut through the heavy plastic flange encircling Rudy's neck without hurting Rudy, and Officer Tom happened to own one. "I live just five minutes from here," he said; "I'll go get it." He soon returned, and the three of them — Rich and the two policemen — got under the sink together to cut through the garbage disposal. I sat on the counter, holding Rudy and trying not to succumb to the surreal-ness of the scene, with the weird middle-of-the-night lighting, the room's occasional spinning, Lowell's spooky sound effects, an apparently headless cat in my sink and six disembodied legs poking out from under it. One good thing came of this: the guys did manage to get the bottom off of the disposal, so we could now see Rudy's face and knew he could breathe. But they couldn't cut the flange without risking the cat. Stumped.
Officer Tom had another idea. "You know," he said, "I think the reason we can't get him out is the angle of his head and body. If we could just get the sink out and lay it on its side, Ill bet we could slip him out." That sounded like a good idea at this point. ANYTHING would have sounded like a good idea, and as it turned out, Officer Mike runs a plumbing business on weekends; he knew how to take out the sink! Again they went to work, the three pairs of legs sticking out from under the sink surrounded by an ever-increasing pile of tools and sink parts. They cut the electrical supply, capped off the plumbing lines, unfastened the metal clamps, unscrewed all the pipes, and about an hour later, voila! the sink was lifted gently out of the countertop, with one guy holding the garbage disposal (which contained Rudy's head) up close to the sink (which contained Rudy's body). We laid the sink on its side, but even at this more favorable removal angle, Rudy stayed stuck.
Officer Tom's radio beeped, calling him away on some kind of real police business. As he was leaving, though, he had another good idea: "You know," he said, "I don't think we can get him out while he's struggling so much. We need to get the cat sedated. If he were limp, we could slide him out." And off he went, regretfully, a cat lover still worried about Rudy. The remaining three of us decided that getting Rudy sedated was a good idea, but Rich and I were new to the area. We knew that the overnight emergency veterinary clinic was only a few minutes away, but we didn't know exactly how to get there. "I know where it is!" declared Officer Mike. "Follow me!" So Mike got into his patrol car, Rich got into the driver's seat of our car, and I got into the back, carrying the kitchen sink, what was left of the garbage disposal, and Rudy. It was now about
It was lucky that Mike got to the vet's ahead of us, because we hadn't thought to call and warn them about what was coming. (Clearly, by this time we weren't really thinking at all.) We brought in the kitchen sink containing Rudy and the garbage disposal containing his head, and the clinic staff was ready. They took his temperature (which was down
Rich and I got back home about 3:30. We hadn't unpacked from our trip, I was still intermittently dizzy, and I still hadn't prepared my
I slept late the next day and then badgered the vet about Rudy's condition until he said that Rudy could come home later that day. I was working on the suitcases when the phone rang. "Hi, this is Steve Huskey from the Norristown Times-Herald," a voice told me. "Listen, I was just going through the police blotter from last night. Mostly it's the usual stuff breaking and entering, petty theft but there's this one item. Um, do you have a cat?" So I told Steve the whole story, which interested him. A couple hours later he called back to say that his editor was interested, too; did I have a picture of Rudy? The next day Rudy was front-page news, under the ridiculous headline "Catch of the Day Lands Cat in Hot Water."
There were some noteworthy repercussions to the newspaper article.
I don't know what the moral of this story is, but I do know that this "adventure" cost me $1100 in emergency vet bills, follow-up vet care, new sink, new plumbing, new electrical wiring, and new garbage disposal, one with a cover. The vet can no longer say he's seen everything but the kitchen sink. I wanted to thank Officers Tom and Mike by giving them gift certificates to the local hardware store, but was told that they couldn't accept gifts, that I would put them in a bad position if I tried. So I wrote a letter to the Police Chief praising their good deeds and sent individual thank-you notes to Tom and Mike, complete with pictures of Rudy, so they could see what he looks like with his head on. And Rudy, whom we originally got for free (or so we thought), still sleeps with me under the covers on cold nights and unaccountably, he still sometimes prowls the sink, hoping for fish.
-Patti Schroeder
I had the pleasure of reading this story for the first time recently, although it has been around for a while. Snopes, where I got it, says it's completely true. (Thanks, Daniel Kim!)
Update 2026: This was first posted here in 2014. I was looking for something completely different when I ran across it and decided it was worth reposting. The accompanying photo shows my cats Marshmallow and Apollo.
Monday, May 25, 2026
If Cats Could Talk
If cats could talk, they'd have plenty to say. But it's not just cats, there's also mice, sheep, reindeer, and some kind of birds.
Memorial Day
There's nothing wrong with a picnic or other outing for the Memorial Day holiday. It's the end of school and the beginning of summer, which are worth celebrating. But don't forget who the holiday was made for.
Famous People Who Were Nothing Like History Books Told You
History is long and history classes are short, so what you learn about the movers and shakers of the past are only the highlights. You know, what they did that affected the world of today. But every person has a backstory that doesn't get covered, and some of them can be pretty wacky. Chill Dude Explains gives us the details that you would never learn unless you did extra reading outside of class. Who knew that Abraham Lincoln loved to tell dirty jokes, and that Harriet Tubman suffered from narcolepsy?
Miss Cellania's Links
The Mona Lisa goes on vacation.
The Mysterious 20th-Century Disease That Left People Frozen Inside Their Own Bodies. (via Strange Company)
Don't Try This at Home: The Extreme Sport of Snowless Skiing.
People Share The Moment They Knew They Were In The Presence Of A Truly Massive Intellect.
US is ‘simply choosing not to stop’ Ebola outbreak after massive public health cuts, experts say. Hundreds of cases reported in the DRC after USAID has been dismantled and key scientific research canceled. (via kottke)
The Tales of Two Counterfeiters. Emerich Juettner and Czesław Bojarski both eluded police for more than ten years, but their talents were completely different.
Kalshi and Polymarket Are Spoiling Reality TV Shows — and Studios Don’t Know What to Do About It. (via Metafilter)
18 Traffic Signs That Make Little to No Sense. Some do make sense, but they're still funny.
Shoop Shoop Diddy Wop Cumma Cumma Wang Dang
This song from Monte Video And The Cassettes takes me back to my first radio job, which is the only place I ever heard the song. That was still enough to make it play in my head for weeks at a time.
Memorial Day
Reminder... My late Dad, a veteran, would noticeably cringe when someone told him "Happy Memorial Day". He had fellow soldiers/friends who died in combat. He did not.
— Strictly 4 My Navigators (@lizzslockeroom.bsky.social) May 24, 2026 at 12:00 PM
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Sunday, May 24, 2026
(I've been) Searchin' So Long
I well remember the first time I heard this Chicago song in 1974, back in high school. I thought it was boring, but then the second half just grabbed me. This performance was recorded in Netherlands in 1977.
Lester
Lester was in pretty bad shape when he was caught and sent to the veterinary hospital. But with medical care and a real home, he's become a regular cat.
Why Are Babies So Useless?
Almost all animal babies emerge from their mother or from an egg able to do the things that its species is expected to do. Mammals feed their young for a time, but even kittens and puppies can walk around on their own at about two weeks of age. Then there are humans, who are spectacularly helpless for a very long time. They can't walk, talk, eat, or control elimination for a couple of years, and even then they need guidance and protection. Why do we have such an extended infancy?
In one version of the story, Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and was cursed to bear big-brained babies in pain. That's not far from the science version, because humans have enormous brains for their body size, and we had to offload a lot of that brain growing to after birth. Not all of it, of course, as anyone who has given birth will yell you. Human mothers wouldn't survive much more baby brain size. That equates to humans being born relatively premature compared to other animals. Getting a child to maturity is quite a chore, but it also has its upsides, as this video from The Thought Vortex explains.
The Pits
A lonely avocado has an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach. No, wait, he is empty because his stomach doesn't have a pit. He's searching for his other half. This sweet short film by David Bizzaro was selected for more than 30 film festivals so far. (via The Kid Should See This)
30-Year-Old
The modern 30-year-old might have to put more thought into that. Those students loans are still looming over him. This comic is from Jake Likes Onions. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Update: I should have thought about this myself, but an anonymous commenter likened this comic to a bit of news that came out at the same time as this comic.
Update: I should have thought about this myself, but an anonymous commenter likened this comic to a bit of news that came out at the same time as this comic.
Saturday, May 23, 2026
Zombies of the Stratosphere
This is not a movie. Zombies of the Stratosphere is a 12-chapter serial produced in 1952. There are no zombies, and it doesn't have anything to do with the stratosphere. The premise is an invasion from Mars, because Mars is dying and needs to swap orbits with Earth for warmth. They plan to steal our nuclear bomb technology to make it happen. Larry Martin, a leader in the Inter-Planetary Patrol, must stop them! Zombies of the Stratosphere is most notable for the appearance of 21-year-old Leonard Nimoy, who plays one of the Martians. (Thanks, WTM!)
The Definition of "Clingy"
Are these cats insecure, or do they just love being close to their people? Either way, it's super cute.
Children's Dream Jobs Over a Century
What do kids say when you ask them what they want to be when they grow up? When I saw the premise of this video, I immediately thought "Astronaut! President!" This reflects the historical era I grew up in, and I well remember being set straight that girls cannot be either. But this graphic video covers 1920 through 2026. It begins with "cowboy" being the most popular answer, and reflects what children are exposed to over time. Watch how fast "pilot" ascends to the top early on. World War II promotes "soldier." "Astronaut" debuts in 1958 and quickly becomes the go-to profession, although "spy" is pretty popular during the Cold War. "Pro Athlete" takes the top as the Apollo program ends. "Programmer" debuts in 1985. "Dinosaur Expert" hits the list in 1992, a year before Jurassic Park, but the same year that PBS's miniseries The Dinosaurs! aired. "YouTuber" joined in 2007, only two years after the platform launched, and became the real aspiration for children.
Pay attention to what's simmering under the top. "Nurse" and "teacher" were consistently on the list until the 1970s, because little girls assumed those were the only professions open to them. I'm surprised "movie star" stayed so low. Be aware that the very question assumes that an adult will be defined by their job, which is a very American thing. (via Born in Space)
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