(via Bored Panda)
Saturday, June 13, 2026
Raccoon and the Light
A cute animated story of a raccoon finding a flashlight shows what forest creatures do in the dark. (via The Kid Should See This)
Friday, June 12, 2026
"Something" as It Was Born
On February 25, 1969, George Harrison spent his 26th birthday in an EMI studio with sound engineer Ken Scott to make demos of three songs he had written: “Something,” “Old Brown Shoe,” and “All Things Must Pass.” This is one of those recordings. YouTuber britt2001b rendered it in stereo and added some subtle string sounds from the later Beatles' recording of "Something," but the raw emotion is still there.
The Reason Behind Catnip
Crazy cat lady that I am, I have a small part of my garden dedicated to catnip (and strawberries; they seem to get along well). The cats like it, and it makes my home the cool place for neighborhood kitties to hang out. But is there any evolutionary reason for cats to go crazy for catnip? Research has isolated the exact compounds that intoxicate cats, nepetalactone in catnip, and nepetalactol in silver vine, another popular cat attractant.
Not only have scientists found how these compounds affect cats, but also why. It's an adaptive feature of their evolution! Cats rarely pay any attention to plants, but the cats who went for catnip or silver vine were more likely to survive and reproduce millions of years ago until a catnip attraction became quite common among several cat species on the African savannah. This TED-Ed video explains why with charming cat animation, although you might not like one of the experiments that led to this knowledge. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
What's In Your Pants
In the current climate of war, corruption, economic struggle, and hatred, I keep wondering why so many people hang the entirety of their political views on the sex or sex life of consenting adults they don't even know. It's not just in the US, either. New Zealand has a new bill in parliament called Definitions of Woman and Man and they're taking public feedback on it now.
St. Matthew-in-the-City put up a new billboard expressing the church's view.
Nametags for Nameless People
Bill Wurtz shares another nonsense song, this one about name tags. Are they important? No. Are they invasive? Could be. Are they a joy? Only in this universe. (via the Awesomer)
Miss Cellania's Links
Juan Romero: How a Teenager's Thirty Seconds With RFK Haunted Him For Fifty Years. You know him from this picture.
Judge Cancels Whole Case After Lawyers Admit They Didn’t Read AI-Generated Filings.
Look what they did to Tinkerbell!
The World Cup Match So Violent It Changed the Rules Forever.
Hollywood’s Original “Bad Girl”: The Tragic Muse of Kurt Cobain. Was Frances farmer mentally ill, or just more rebellious than the studio allowed?
Dads can't handle the time they hear about their daughter's first boyfriend.
A PR Hoax Created the Year’s Hottest Rock Band. Imagine What It Can Do in Politics. (via Damn Interesting)
A Blast from the Past (2008): Messing with Mother Nature: 5 Cautionary Tales.
The Cats' Orchestra
Anyone who ever saw The Aristocats knows that cats make music like nobody's business. Click the "more" button to see 14 cats playing their chosen instruments.
Cummulus & Nimbus
Every gag about clouds you can fit into a 45-second video is here in this cute animation from German producers we think things. (via Laughing Squid)
Scientists
The struggle is real
— Paul J. Dauenhauer (@pauldauenhauer.bsky.social) June 8, 2026 at 7:53 PM
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Thursday, June 11, 2026
The Slow Loris
You've seen pictures of a loris. They are big-eyed, adorable little primates. But keep your distance. They can be deadly!
Lover's Lane
The story of Lover's Lane is an urban myth about a couple who goes parking and narrowly escapes a horrible death. What we called "parking" is the custom of young people in a car finding a secluded space to canoodle away from prying eyes, and many towns have at least one road that is famous for such activities nicknamed Lover's Lane. The first part of this video explores the history of how parking itself became a thing.
Then at about five minutes in, we learn about the very real crimes that may have sparked the urban legend. Or did the legend inspire the crimes? Since we don't really know how far back the legend goes, it's not quit clear. But for someone who wants to kill and get away with it, teenagers in a car on a lonely road present a tantalizing opportunity.
The third section of the video goes into how these crimes and the Lover's Lane legend influenced the modern horror film. That seems only natural, since the target audience for these movies are young people who have the world in the palm of their hands, until they don't.
70 People Reveal How To Count Money in Their Country
In this video from Condé Nast Traveler, we watch people from around the world count the same stack of dollars. On the surface, it looks like most of them are doing it the same way, but when you look closely, there are variations that would be hard to replicate once you've learned your own way to count cash. Too bad we don't get to practice as much as we should. And you have to wonder whether these ingrained habits will fade away as we move closer to a cashless society. (via Boing Boing)
Hair Color
I was explaining my odd hair colors to a friend once, and ended the story with, "and besides, it keeps conservative old men from hitting on me."I think he may mean venomous, as in injecting a toxin. Poisonous means the toxin is harmful if licked, eaten, or inhaled and I can personally attest women who color their hair are delicious
— South Carolina Department of Propaganda (@southcarolinadop.bsky.social) June 9, 2026 at 12:01 AM
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Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Reflections of My Life
"Reflections of My Life" was recorded in 1970 by the Scottish band Marmalade. Believe it or not, they are still a band, although with none of the original members.
Rory
Rory (short for Aurora Borealis) is a four-year-old Bengal cat with nice markings and stunning aqua blue eyes. But Rory is more than her looks. She understands English better than you can imagine! That's because her person has so many delightful activities and rewards that go with those words. Rory responds to a variety of commands, and she talks back, too. You have to wonder whether she's giving her own commands when she speaks. And since we don't understand, who are the real dumb animals here?
Rory takes that in stride. She's living a good life, chasing a plastic propeller around the house and impressing the internet. See more of Rory at her Instagram page.
If You Drop A Lightsaber Vertically
When a cool science fiction weapon sticks around for half a century and gathers more and more fans and more fiction, there will be people who put way too much thought into it. The lightsabers from Star Wars were born out of a cool special effect, but now everyone wants one, or at least wants to understand them.
What happens if you drop a lightsaber? Specifically, what happens if you drop one vertically, business end first, into the ground. Would it keep burning its way through the earth indefinitely? In the Star Wars universe, no, because there's a safety feature that disables the blade when it's not held. But there have been depictions of Jedi throwing lightsabers, so this feature apparently can be disabled. So what would happen in the real world? Rocket Riley goes through all the ways a lightsaber would act on earth, if it was real. (via Laughing Squid)
Miss Cellania's Links
Huge Psilocybin Dose Has Incredible Effect on Elderly Dementia Patient. (via Damn Interesting)
College students who cannot read.
An infertility scandal 30 years ago led to children who had more parents than the law could contend with. (via Strange Company)
The slippery slope of justifying cruelty.
When a Photographer Turned His Focus on Social Injustice, It Helped Usher in the First Child Labor Laws. Lewis Hine didn’t consider his job as taking pictures; it was “detective work.”
‘Soccer’ is a fine term for the beautiful game – don’t let any ‘football’ snob or president tell you otherwise this World Cup.
My day job is at a rural branch of a public library, and we have a Pride display. Yesterday I was at the desk when a man came in. Fifties, maybe, or sixties. Plaid shirt, mesh trucker cap, suspenders. He went up to the display and just stood there for a long moment. Then he came up to the desk. (via Metafilter)
Snow leopards at play.
How to Film a Canada Lynx in the Wild
The Wild Canadian Year is a five-part TV series about Canadian wildlife. Sam Ellis' assignment for the show was to film a Canada lynx in its natural habitat. Not an easy task, as remaining invisible is a big part of a lynx's lifestyle. But over time, Sam tracked and got to know a cat he called Mad Max. He spent 76 days trying to get some good footage of Max hunting. So here we have a videographer following a cameraman following a lynx following rabbits for more than two months, so let's appreciate the result.
Taxes
We have to get rid of all the loopholes.
— Resist Trump 🤬 🤦🏽♂️🇺🇸 💜💙💪🏽 (@resist-trumps-rule.bsky.social) June 9, 2026 at 1:54 PM
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Tuesday, June 09, 2026
The Joy of Lunch
This guy must work hard, because his wife packs him an enormous lunch every day. He gets excited showing us what's in there, and everything is his favorite. His happiness is contagious! Best comment: "She tells you don’t talk to strangers because someone may want to take you home and keep you for being so adorable!"
What We've Learned From Twin Studies
When you think about how your life turned out, you might wonder how it happened. How much can you attribute to, or maybe blame on, your family? An awful lot of it. You probably resemble your siblings in appearance, health, temperament, and psychological well-being. But is that because you carry the same genes, or because the same parents raised you? The question of nature vs. nurture has been around for a long time. That's why scientists are so interested in twin studies. Identical twins have the same genes, so there's a factor you can control for. But most twins also have the same environment, too.
However, throughout the 20th century, scientists have been able to study the phenomena of twins raised separately, which opened a new door to answering the question of nature vs. nurture. From these studies, it turns out that genetics has more say in some factors, while environment is more important for other facets of life. This video from AsapSCIENCE shares some of the findings of those studies, but it doesn't address the disturbing scenario that made them possible. Why have there been so many identical twins raised apart? It's already a tragedy when a child cannot be raised by their biological parents, but being separated from your identical twin only adds more unnecessary trauma. How does finding that out later in life affect the studies?
There's a skippable ad from 7:49 to 9:36. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Once In A Lifetime: Isolated Vocals
"Once in a Lifetime" by The Talking Heads with just David Byrne and the chorus, without any musical instruments, sounds like the depraved rantings of a lunatic mind. (via Dangerous Minds)
Monday, June 08, 2026
Six Ways America Feels Like a Movie
Most Americans assume that the way things are in America is normal. Yeah, it's normal to us. Every country has its own customs and flavors, but what makes America different is that the rest of the world gets to see the way we do things in the movies. Sure, there are foreign films, but the majority of what the world sees is cinematic America, which is different from any other place. And that's what made Laurence Brown dream of visiting America when he was a child. Now he's an American citizen who's lived here for 18 years. And he still has those moments when the movies of his childhood come alive for him here. This video has a skippable ad from 3:30 to 5:02.
US Military Food
Today's US military is an all-volunteer force, and they spend most of their time on military bases. These young, strong people eat a lot of food. To attract and retain them, base food is plentiful and pretty good. There are plenty of options, and experts are always trying to improve both nutrition and quality.
The story is different for wartime. From the beginning, the nation grappled with the difficulties of procuring, paying for, and delivering food to its troops in the field. There was no refrigeration, and preservation was hit-or-miss. but behind the scenes, there were those trying to solve the problem, because an army travels on its stomach. They developed C-rations, K-rations, and ultimately MREs. All of those work under the idea that hunger makes everything taste better. Weird History Food takes us through the evolution of military food in the United States.
Rolling in the Deep Fried
Taco Bell food has a reputation, deserved or not, for running right through you. It's never happened to me, but then again I have never been able to eat a whole bag of their food. But that's what happens in this parody version of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." Not that Taco Bell deep fries their food, no, they rely on mini-ovens to melt that cheese. But it works with the title.
This is the first offering from Dustin Ballard of There I Ruined It in three months, since YouTube put him in a time-out over some copyright kerfluffle. The song isn't AI-generated. He wrote and sang it, then ran it through an AI filter to make him sound like Adele. His band is working on a way to present it live at their Austin and Houston shows this summer.
Miss Cellania's Links
The 100 Greatest Bird Names of All Time. They didn't ask for these titles. (via Nag on the Lake)
DuPont vs. the Phantom Airborne Saboteurs. Did the Germans infiltrate the US to bomb gunpowder factories? (via Strange Company)
Getting disability benefits got harder after the Social Security Administration’s staff was slashed and program rules were changed by Trump.
The Beatles Hit John Lennon Called “Meaningless” That Sparked Their Breakup.
Peacock silliness. (via Everlasting Blort)
Gargoyles – Glorious Gruesome Grotesques.
The reality of having a premature baby.
We analyzed paper money printed by Ben Franklin to uncover his anti‑counterfeiting techniques and materials innovations.
Why Are There No Mosquitoes at Disney World?
The worst mosquito tourist experience I know is Roanoke Island in North Carolina, and the best is at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. But when you go to Disney World in Orlando, you're too busy having fun to notice the lack of mosquitoes. The theme park is built on a swamp in Florida, so what gives? The truth is that Disney goes to great lengths to control the mosquito population. Rob Plays explains how that happens.
Hand Dryers
When there's no paper towels, I am most liable to dry my hands on my jeans. This comic is from Tommy Siegel. (via Pleated-Jeans)
Sunday, June 07, 2026
One Man Band
Three Dog Night released "One Man Band" in 1970. I seemed like a strange title for a band that had seven members, including three singers. This performance is from the BBC series In Concert in 1972.
Moose Calf Rescued on the Highway
A mother moose in British Columbia could cross a highway barrier, but her twin calves couldn't. Traffic stopped for the drama, but what could anyone do? Approaching a full-grown moose, especially a protective mother, is dangerous. One calf made the leap, leaving his brother behind. Finally, when the mother was off the highway, people could approach the stranded youngster. While others surrounded the calf, Duane Hogberg was able to lift him over and carry him to the other side of the road.
The World's Longest Domestic Flight
What is the longest flight you can take without leaving a country? The answer could be pretty simple and make for a very short video- but first we have to define what we're talking about. Does a "domestic flight" mean a regularly-scheduled airline route? Does it mean that you don't have to have a passport or move through immigration? Does it mean within a nation proper, or do overseas territories count? And are we talking about a currently-existing route, or one from the past? That's what makes this video from Half as Interesting, well, interesting. He goes through several flights that might be contenders for one reason or another, and eliminates them due to any of the reasons above. Yes, we have a winner, but you'll still learn about geography and aviation history along the way. This video is less than six minutes long; the rest is an ad.
Parrot Sings "Bacon Pancakes"
Milo the Quaker parrot sings along with his human, Erica Croke. The song is a classic, "Bacon Pancakes" from the TV show Adventure Time. Milo must watch the show a lot, or he sings it a lot, or he just loves making -or eating- pancakes. You can see more of Milo at his Facebook page.
(via Tastefully Offensive)
Saturday, June 06, 2026
Beginning of the End
Beginning of the End was a 1957 science fiction film starring Peter Graves. Nuclear radiation gives us giant vegetables, but then they are eaten by locusts, so they grow to enormous size, too. But the radiated grain and vegetables aren't enough, so the locusts start eating people. How can we defeat them? Maybe a nuclear bomb- or maybe something less destructive. Beginning of the End was made on a generous budget for its time and genre of $170,000, and it made some money. But the implausible plot and the laughable special effects relegated it as forgettable at the time. Today, it is somewhat of a cult classic for those exact reasons. (Thanks, WTM!)
Useful Robots
British engineers show off futuristic robots in 1968. They say that the first man on the moon will take machines like this with him. Sorry, that happened only a year later, and we have yet to do any mining on the moon. And the reference to Thalidomide victims again makes me glad I wasn't born in Europe. (via Laughing Squid)
Cassette Deck Vader
If you've ever wondered about the functions of all those buttons Darth Vader wears on his chest, the secret is now out. They are controls for his cassette deck. Yes, Vader has achieved what we've all dreamed of at one time or another- carrying around our own soundtrack, so we have the best music for an entrance at our fingertips, plus mood music and sound effects for the appropriate times. Darth seems to prefer his own theme song to any other song.
Auralnauts hasn't posted a new Star Wars comedy series in years. Since this scene is labeled "Episode 1," you can bet there will be more to come. (via the Awesomer)
Too Many Vitamins
T.J. was a 14-year-old who ate gummy vitamins as if they were candy. It was a language problem- he thought they were candy. While he ate too many every day, the day he consumed an entire bottle (150 gummies), he landed in the hospital with strange symptoms. YouTuber Chubbyemu takes us through the process of diagnosis and treatment, and explains in detail what a vitamin overdose does to one's body. It's not pretty. Chubbyemu has a series of horrific medical stories in his YouTube channel. (via reddit)
Blood Oath
Ew. Fresh blood is fairly clean, yet you don't know where that hand has been. But that's nothing compared to the world of bacteria crawling inside the mouth of someone with such weak gums. This comic is from Jake Likes Onions. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Friday, June 05, 2026
Tiny Grandma
Tiny Grandma is a stop-motion Korean woman who's about six inches tall. She's usually cooking full-size food in her videos, but here she takes a break to enjoy cookies and coffee with her cat. In this video, Tiny Grandma gathers dandelions to make kimchi. And we meet her family.
See all of Tiny Grandma's video at YouTube. You can also learn more about her inspiration and creators, and check out her recipes. (via Boing Boing)
Ole Meme
The distracted boyfriend meme has no doubt been a thing long before film, too. Charlie Chaplin just knew a good visual. (via reddit)
Pit: A Short Film About Human Nature
This video is supposed to be about human nature, but where are the humans? Instead, we get fantastical monsters fighting to the death over a piece of food. But are they really fantastical monsters? It doesn't matter; you're too caught up in the violence and creative animation. But then it takes a sharp left. You're wondering if this is really a comedy. Okay, maybe, or maybe it's just a story with some funny parts. But which part is about human nature? Actually, all of it, but you'll need to stay through the credits because there's a whole new scene afterward. I guess you could call it a punch line. (via Memo of the Air)
School Parking Permits
It's another case of giving more to those who already have. If you have to skip studying to make it to your fast food job on time, be prepared to work some extra hours for a parking permit, too. (via Buzzfeed)
How Stores Make Produce Look Better
Grocery stores sell fruit in mesh bags because it's to their advantage for you to buy twelve oranges when you only need two. If the last few oranges go bad before you finish the bag, then you'll go buy more. You might even find a couple have gone bad as soon as you open the bag, because you can't inspect each orange in a five-pound bag before you buy them. They looked so good when you picked them up, and some of that is an optical illusion. The video is only six minutes long; the rest is a sponsor message. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Miss Cellania's Links
What Is Happening at CBS and 60 Minutes?
The sitting room. (via Messy Nessy Chic)
Before-and-after pictures of what Israel has done to Gaza. (via TYWKIWDBI)
A thoughtful and comprehensive comment thread for anyone wanting to know what the US Civil War was all about.
George Washington Recorded a Recipe for Beer While Leading a Militia. Thanks to the New York Public Library, You Can Imbibe That History This Summer.
‘The face doesn’t move’: Hollywood’s obsession with cosmetic surgeries has led to stiffer looks – and performances. (via Damn Interesting)
James Talarico explains what a real man is. (via Fark)
All of Steven Spielberg’s movies, ranked. (via Metafilter)
Frontier Psychiatrist
The video for the 2000 song "Frontier Psychiatrist" by the Avalanches is exceedingly strange. Which is appropriate. (via Metafilter)
Customer Loyalty Rewards
I honestly think all the local grocery is getting from me are my grocery-buying habits, which is obvious. I don't use a smart phone, and my store account is set up without email, much less social media. They still manage to send me coupons for what I'm going to buy. However, I'm sure there are plenty of hyper-connected people that make all that information accessible to them without even thinking about it. This comic is from Randall Munroe at xkcd.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
"Thunderstruck" on Acoustic Guitars
The Italian acoustic guitar quartet 40 Fingers (who I have featured here before) had a great idea for their latest music video. They are playing for a medieval king, who has previously ordered the death of musicians who do not please him. It's no surprise when they do, with their instrumental rendition of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck."
This new performance reminds me of this one from 2CELLOS, due to the vintage classical setting and the effect on the audience. (via Laughing Squid)
The Big Revue
This vaudeville-style revue was filmed in 1929. The act is The Gumm Sisters, and they aren't showstoppers yet, but they were cute. What makes this a historical document is that the tiniest sister, on the left, is seven-year-old Frances Gumm, who later became known as Judy Garland. The Big Revue was their first filmed performance.
How Two Teenagers Became The Most Feared Killers In America
Some serial killers commit murder in the furtherance of other crimes, like bank robbery. Some do it for a sexual thrill. Some are lashing out at a world that did them wrong. But it takes a truly terrifying personality to kill over and over for no discernible reason at all. Experts go back and forth about psychopaths- are they a product of an awful childhood or are they born that way, and is that condition even real?
The 20th century blueprint for psychopathy are the crimes of 19-year-old Charles Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate. Starkweather committed his first murder in November of 1957. Then on January 21, 1958, he killed Fugate's parents and two-year-old sister. Over the next eight days, the two traveled around Nebraska and Wyoming, killing almost everyone they encountered. Weird History brings us the story of Starkweather and Fugate and the trail of dead bodies they left behind them.
Freezing 200,000 Tons of Lethal Arsenic Dust
Giant Mine near Yellowknife, in Canada's Northwest Territories, extracted a lot of gold in its time. Then the gold ran out, and the company went bankrupt in 2004. They left behind 237,000 metric tons of arsenic trioxide as a side effect of the mining operation, although that amount does not include the arsenic that has escaped into the environment. You can read more about Giant Mine's history here. The Canadian government was left to deal with the arsenic. Tom Scott introduces us to the technology that won't destroy the arsenic, but will keep the dust from seeping into the air and water. Read more about the Giant Mine Remediation Project at its website. (via Digg)
Mom!
Transitioning from normal English to '90s slang isn't making you cool, not by a long shot. Teen slang evolves specifically to be different from what their parents say. Better to not say anything at all about a 15-year-old. Take it from me, your relationship will change drastically when they want driving lessons and advice in choosing a college. This comic is from Chris Hallbeck at Maximumble.
Wednesday, June 03, 2026
Closing the Fridge
Renzo Rage demonstrates the many ways of closing a refrigerator door, using different styles of martial arts. Showing this to your children may encourage them to actually do it, but you might pay in damages. A description of each style can be found at Metafilter.
We've Only Just Begun
You know this song, "We've Only Just Begun" by The Carpenters. It was heard at every wedding you went to for about twenty years -and a lot of graduations, too. You might think it pretty clever for a bank to use it in an ad inviting young couples to establish their accounts. But couldn't they afford to use the hit version?
But that's backwards. "We've Only Just Begun" was written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols specifically to advertise a bank in Mendocino, California. Richard Carpenter heard the ad, liked the song, and reached out to the ad agency for the music rights. The Carpenters recorded an expanded version that proved to be a hit and helped them win the Best New Artist Grammy in 1971. It's not the only advertising jingle that was so catchy it became a song, as you will learn in a list of nine such stories at Mental Floss.
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