(via TYWKIWDBI)
Friday, July 10, 2026
Screen Grab
Simon's cat and the kitten accidentally discover the TV set. Unfortunately, it's a modern flat screen. Unlike the old CRTs, these are visible to cats and will draw their attention, depending on what's being shown. They are also lightweight, fragile, and balanced on one tiny leg. The flat screen in my office has a substantial base with four legs widely spaced, and the one in the living room has a heavy weight holding down the base. After all, I have cats.
Yellow
Homemade movies have long used LEGO minifigs as characters, because they are attainable, first for stop-motion, then computer-generated. Eventually, we got full-length official LEGO movies, but like the homemade films, they are often parodies of live action movies starring toys. Technically, Yellow is a parody of psychological horror films, and may remind you of the movie Us at first, but the twist reveals that it makes plenty of sense within the world of LEGO minifigs, and mirrors what happened to the toys in the real world.
Sure, this trailer gives away the twist, but that's okay when you realize that there is no full-length movie. Yet. LEGO fans in the comments are clamoring for the full story in an extended version, so creator George Coley is making plans to do just that. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Miss Cellania's Links
The most relatable domino fall. Because it's like real life.
'I never had the feeling that I was flush in cash': How J Paul Getty became the world's richest man. (via Damn Interesting)
A Busy, Busy Day at Washington DC's Freedom 250 Celebration. The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
The Leaning Tower of Toruń: Medieval Mystery, Myth and History in Poland.
Birds can imitate anything.
That Time Nixon Dressed the Secret Service Up as Palace Guards. (via Fark)
Trump Sparks Outrage After Saying He Knows Migrants Are 'Trouble' Just By 'Looking At Them'—And Everyone's Thinking The Same Thing. "Since October 1, 2025, the United States has admitted 6,668 refugees. Of those, 6,665 were white South Africans, while the remaining three—admitted last November—were from Afghanistan."
28 Backstories of Insanely Popular Songs We Bet You Didn't Know.
The Evolution of Science Fiction
Science fiction speculates about the march of science and technology. The best science fiction raises questions about how those things affect humans and the way we live. PBS Digital Studios looks at the development of science fiction from Frankenstein to Black Panther. (via the AV Club)
Silver Lining
Cartoon by @adamzyglis.bsky.social
— Econ Analytica (@econanalytica.bsky.social) July 9, 2026 at 10:48 AM
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Thursday, July 09, 2026
All the Way from Memphis
This clip is from The Midnight Special. The comments are full of people who went to see Mott the Hoople on their '73-'74 tour and were impressed with the opening act, which was Queen.
Confessions of a Dachshund
Otto the dachshund has a nice life for a pet, at least from our perspective. He has a nice house, plenty to eat, and a human who loves him. But the human becomes more and more obsessed with Otto. Constant photographs. Videos. And the clothing- all so undignified! Otto is more and more uneasy about all the attention. The human doesn't even go to work anymore, because he's too busy posting videos of Otto and his brother Kaspar, who doesn't seem to mind a bit. He's not too smart. Then one day, Otto spots an opportunity to make a break for freedom. The human has left the door open! Otto takes his chance to escape the prying eyes of the internet.
You can see more of Otto, Kaspar, and the human at Instagram. (via Nag on the Lake)
Making Oxygen on the ISS
Have you ever wondered how the International Space Station gets enough oxygen to keep its crews breathing? It's not shipped in, at least not often. The same goes for water, although humans use a lot of oxygen and water every day. The floating laboratory is equipped with hi-tech appliances for renewing its own supplies. Water is recycled into fresh water, and some of it is used to make new oxygen. Humans also expel a lot of carbon dioxide, which is not expelled from the station, but is converted into water and methane. New water is always welcome, but this video does not go into detail on what they do with the methane. One would like to think it's expelled, because a space station fart is amusing to think about. Maybe someday it will be used as fuel.
These conversions require separating molecules into atoms, which is amazing enough, but they've also found a way to do it with no moving parts that could break down. I'm impressed.
Wednesday, July 08, 2026
The Giant Gila Monster
The Giant Gila Monster from 1959 knows its audience. Teenagers go to sock hops in hot rods, accompanied by hep music. Meanwhile, their small Texas town is terrorized by a huge mutant Gila monster, played by a Mexican beaded lizard. The sheriff is concerned, but it's the teenagers who save the day. Critics say the movie is awful, but fun to watch with its unintentional comedy and likable characters. (Thanks, WTM!)
Tourist Reactions to American Restaurants
The World Cup is bringing over a mass of visitors who have never been in America before. Sure, they've seen our movies, but nothing prepares them for the way we eat in restaurants. Josh Johnson describe their reactions in this clip from his appearance in Amsterdam.
What Would a Rainbow Be Like on Tatooine?
We get rainbows when sunlight is refracted through water in the atmosphere. It's an optical phenomena, so it all depends on where you are standing. The rainbow moves when you do, and that's why you can never reach the end of it. What would be different on a planet that orbits a binary star system, like Tatooine? Well, first off, Tatooine is a desert planet, so we can imagine that rain and water droplets in the air would be quite rare. For another thing, Tatooine is fictional. But we can speculate, what is what they do in the What If? series by Randall Munroe and Henry Reich.
To answer the question, we first need to understand how rainbows work, and then how a binary star system works. Once we figure out what kind of stars Tatooine orbits, we find that their rainbows would be quite lovely. However, if rain and rainbows were common, then they wouldn't need moisture farms. A successful moisture farm would suck all the rainbow-making droplets from the air, and ruin any possible rainbows.
Miss Cellania's Links
You might come to regret holding the door open for the person after you.
Unpacking merchandise from the Chamberlain murder trial. The disturbing case of the baby who really was eaten by a dingo. (via Metafilter)
Americans are not as well off as people in peer nations – US safety net’s shortfalls show up in global data.
The Goat Head of Strumpshaw. The goat later named Old Capricorn did not appreciate being separated from his body.
The Best Cosplay of Montreal Comiccon 2026. And a video of cosplayers doing the Safety Dance.
Pablo Torre talks about Major League Baseball’s new challenge system, and how it’s been optimized for maximum drama. In podcast or transcribed in text.
Myopia is booming. Can we stop the epidemic of short-sightedness? (via Real Clear Science)
In my homeland, the eyes eat first. An immigrant poetically describes the experience of biscuits and gravy.
Cats are Beatles Fans!
You might not have known that cats are big fans of the Beatles. Hit the "read more" button for more evidence.
Two New Peacock Spider Species
Jurgen Otto (Peacockspiderman) is known on the internet as for his spectacular photos and videos of peacock spiders. You might not have known that Otto, along with his colleague David Knowles, have discovered the majority of the 70 known species of peacock spider. Knowles spotted a spider with a peculiarly energetic dance he called the Hokey Pokey spider in 1994, but didn't bring back a specimen. He's been looking for it ever since. Knowles and Otto looked for the spider in 2015 and 2016, and almost gave up, but Otto went out into the Australian wild alone in 2017. That's when he found the Hokey Pokey spider, retrieved a specimen as well as pictures and video, and got to name the species Maratus tortus. On the same trip, he found yet another new species with spectacular markings that he named Maratus unicup. See more pictures and more complete videos of these new spiders at ABC News.
Tuesday, July 07, 2026
An AI Group Effort
A few years ago, there was a fad of setting up chatbots to talk to each other, and it was usually pretty funny. Now we have plenty of companies offering artificial intelligence that can talk to you and do stuff for you. But how well they do it depends on quite a few factors. Are these AI agents trying to please the user, or pass for human? Humans don't try this hard to be pleasing.
YouTuber Husk IRL corralled three phones with three different AI agents and asked them to perform a simple task- count to 100. They are intelligent enough to know that they can share the task, but then they have to discuss how to do it. Politely. The problem is that they keep agreeing and reinforcing each other over how to do it, and then they never really do it. Someone compared this to a management business meeting. You can imagine that one of these days, after all humanity is wiped from the earth, that AI assistants will still be talking to each other, and making no sense at all. If we have a power grid that automatically repairs itself by then, it could go on forever. (via Laughing Squid)
Criminal Karma
In Ellicott City, Maryland, Jalen Godard went to burglarize a Verizon store. He left the engine running in his truck for a quick getaway, and someone stole it! Godard called the cops to report the theft, who came and put two and two together. Dodard was arrested, and his truck has not yet been recovered. (via Neatorama)
Why American Girl Dolls Are So Controversial
Pleasant Rowland developed American Girl dolls to teach children about history. The dolls each had a name and a story, and each had a series of books that pout children into a different era of history so they could see it through the eyes of a concrete character about their age. Even then, few could afford the dolls, but the books brought history alive for many kids. Gradually, people became aware that the American Dolls were a way to get a doll that looked like their daughter, and for some, that became more important than the historical stories.
Then Mattel bought the company. The lineup of dolls expanded, became more diverse, and the prices rose. Certain decisions by the company made people angry. The most recent change might infer that the company has completely abandoned the original purpose of teaching history to children. Weird History takes us through the history of American Girl dolls and why are they way they are today.
Impromptu Fusion
A Croatian man married a Kenyan woman, and the wedding guests had a bit of fun as they were waiting for the bride to emerge from the house. The fusion music sounds like cumbia to those who are familiar with it. Here's a peek at the bride and groom. (via reddit)
Bethan's Rock
Here's the whole story.Bethan's Rock is a small grey stone on display at Poole Museum in Poole, England. It was donated to the museum in 2019 by a five-year-old girl named Bethan, and it has since attracted significant attention on social media and become the museum's most famous object. - Wikipedia
— Wil Eelsing (@wileelsing.bsky.social) July 1, 2026 at 4:11 AM
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Monday, July 06, 2026
John and Judas Do Obi-Wan and Anakin
"You were the Chosen one!" When you have memorized your lines and have lots of time between actual filming, actors do what actors do.
For those of you who are confused, these are the actors who portray John (Obi-Wan) and Judas (Anakin) in the TV series The Chosen. Versatility is the key.
Dogs Just Wanna Have Fun
No job, no deadlines, no taxes, no worries about an impending apocalypse, that's the life of a dog. Every piece of the world is an opportunity for fun, and they take the utmost advantage of it. You don't need status or wealth to lose yourself in the everyday joys of play!
CAPTCHA Hell
The concept of a CAPTCHA was introduced to keep robots from spamming websites and spying on users. But then the bots improved, so the CAPTCHAS had to be made more difficult. And more frustrating. As the bots got better at fooling the software into believing they are human, we started to confront multiple CAPTCHAS tests, and it's often so annoying that we give up completely.
Now there's a video game that captures the frustration of CAPTCHAS, called CAPTCHAS Hell. Since we've all been there, it seems completely counterintuitive that gamers would want to recreate that misery on purpose, but some folks look at it as a challenge. Can you get through a maze of CAPTCHAS in order to purchase concert tickets online? Even if you don't want to try, you'll get a kick out of vicariously witnessing someone else try their luck in this game trailer. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Miss Cellania's Links
Could you walk a greasy log to win a contest? There's a lot of falling, but they asked for it. (via Everlasting Blort)
Cats have more skills than you realize. Contains NSFW language.
A reddit thread started out as a standard "wearing white to a wedding" tale, but turned into a fascinating life story when the groom added his priceless two cents.
All 13 Star Wars Movies, Ranked By Rotten Tomatoes. The ten movies I've seen are ranked correctly, and the three I haven't are too low to bother with.
Watch this beautiful dog go on a walk. You'll be glad you did.
How cigar smoke saved the life of Pablo Picasso.
Flash Gordon (1980): The Gloriously Chaotic Behind-the-Scenes Story.
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
There are few songs that aren't improved by a gospel choir. And a great song is made awesome.
Sunday, July 05, 2026
Silver, Blue & Gold
Bad Company had a lot of good songs, but you don't hear this one as much anymore.
What Happened to Long John Silver’s?
The history of Long John Silver's turns out to be way more local to me than I realized. Growing up in Kentucky, I knew Jerry's restaurant was a treat because they had hot fudge cake and strawberry pie. My parents knew that after eating a meal, I couldn't do a whole dessert, so we split one among the family. I had no idea that Jerry's was related to Long John Silver's, but here we are.
Long John Silver's was the second fast food restaurant in my childhood town, going up right as the interstate highway was built (KFC was the other, of course). In high school I discovered that they would sell you a basket of crunchies (the batter that floated away from the food) for a quarter, which was important when you had limited lunch money. It was a way to skip the real food and just get the greasy batter they were known for, cheap.
My current town still has a standalone Long John Silver's without the rebranding. I don't eat there because these days I cannot deal with a meal that's all deep-fried, even if it does include hushpuppies. Weird History has the history of a fast food chain that's time has come and gone.
If Jurassic Park Had a $10 Budget
This homemade Sweded version of Jurassic Park is pretty good considering. They got the scenery right, the weather right, the costumes right, and some of the vehicles right (although others are cardboard). Even the acting is passable. The main shortcut is making pets into dinosaurs, which is funny enough on its own.
Crazy Russian Dog Wash
Taras Kulakov, known as The Crazy Russian Hacker has three dogs: Luke, Gus, and Hugo. With that many dogs, he decided to purchase a machine to clean them. In this video, he tries it out and gives us a review. Listening to Kulakov is always a treat, but the real draw in this video is watching Luke enjoying his bath. Hugo wasn't quite as enthusiastic. (via Laughing Squid)
Brothers
A comic about BIG FEELINGS!
— Litterbox Comics (@litterboxcomics.com) June 27, 2026 at 12:00 PM
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Saturday, July 04, 2026
Stars and Stripes Forever
Stars and Stripes Forever is a 1952 biopic of John Philip Sousa. It begins after Sousa's long stint as the director of the United States Marine Band, and is somewhat fictionalized. It's an entertaining film about the entertainment industry, although with a marching band slant and a romantic subplot. If you just want to hear the song, skip ahead to the last scene, at about 1:16.
The Number One Songs of 1976
Of course I remember all of these songs; 1976 was the year I graduated from high school. They made such a big deal out of us being "bicentennial seniors." It's hard to believe it's been that long. Anyway, none of these songs were particular favorites of mine, since I was quite into album rock, even if it came on an 8-track. But you couldn't escape hearing them, because the radio was always on.
"Play That Funky Music" hold particular memories. I went to college that fall in a state where the drinking age was 18. I was only 17, but no one checked IDs. No matter what bar you were in, the band played that same song, because everyone danced to it.
The Parts of the American Revolution They Don't Teach You in School
The United States traces its official birthday to the issuing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. That's been 250 years now. We celebrate the founding ideals that the US stands for: liberty, democracy, and equality, as the Founding Fathers broke with the British monarchy. But while those ideals are still worth celebrating, they weren't always adhered to. Our elementary history classes used to teach about the more undemocratic episodes of our nation's story as justified. Then they were taught as "just the ways things were back then," and now they are often skipped completely because there's a lot of history and the unsavory parts are just too difficult- and it's sometimes seen as frankly unpatriotic. PBS fills in some of the pieces you didn't learn about in school.
Patriot
Malicious compliance is my jam.
— Gleafer (@gleafer.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 12:50 PM
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Friday, July 03, 2026
The Psychedelic Bicentennial
In 1976, when the US celebrated 200 years, this video aired everywhere. It was made with a grant from the federal government. Groovy!
Ridiculous School Rules Sparked by One Incident
If a school suddenly imposes a ridiculous rule that no one understands, you can assume that someone caused a problem, and they can't figure out a better way to deal with it. When I was in high school, they cut our lunch break from a half hour to 20 minutes. Then the next year it was cut to 15 minutes. That was serious for a school that didn't have a cafeteria. Both cuts came after someone was busted for drugs, and all of us suffered.
I'm sure that's happened throughout the history of public schools, but in the age of the internet, such incidences can make the local news and then go viral globally. You probably didn't hear about each of these instances, but Chill Dude Explains did the research. Here are ten times that one prankster, or one group of pranksters, left their legacy for the classes that followed them. Sometimes these new rules spread to schools statewide or even nationwide.
Miss Cellania's Links
It's America's Birthday. What Are We Celebrating? (via kottke)
How did it feel to be an American colonist in 1776? Probably itchy, achy and slightly nauseated.
Three Hundred Fifty-Four Fireworks per Second. A mathematician explains what a bad idea Trump's Fourth of July plans are. (via Metafilter)
What is the most American animal? (via Fark)
Super-Fun-Pak Comix, feat. Lester the Jester, The Truth About 1969 and MORE! The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
A small remote control vehicle delivers catnip to the neighborhood. It's free, and customers like it. (via Nag on the Lake)
Australian World Cup fans give us the chant of the summer. (via Everlasting Blort)
True Crime at the White House: The Most Ridiculous Burglary Plan in Presidential History. (via Damn Interesting)
Born In The USA
This is an acoustic demo version of "Born in the USA," from Bruce Springsteen. It is more melodic, sadder, and frankly, more memorable than the finished product. I suppose the word is "haunting." (via Boing Boing)
Wisdom
A crossover between Chekhov's Gun, Schrödinger's Cat, Occam's Razor, and Murphy's law. Original post
— Massimo (mirror) (@rainmaker1973-m.bsky.social) June 27, 2026 at 11:47 AM
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Thursday, July 02, 2026
The Real Reason We Separated from Britain
Josh from England contrasts the food and the hygiene of Britain and the US. Yes, British food had a terrible reputation for a long time, but that's changed somewhat now that the most prominent English meal is Chicken Tikka Masala. Or any Indian takeout in general. If it weren't for immigration, they'd still be eating prison food. Meanwhile, Americans are eating authentic dishes from all over the world, with ranch dressing.
50 Artists Sing the Cities of the US
American musicians have always been drawn to traveling the open roads, or at least singing about some wonderful place they've been before. This compilation by Dustin Ballard of There I Ruined It takes us on a musical trip among the cities of the United States, as sung by artists you know and love, from Dolly Parton to Eminem to Frank Sinatra. Of course, this could have been much longer, but we're getting near a holiday weekend, so he didn't want to put too much work into it. The signature slide whistle is there, and the end is not the end, because a special guest comes in to wrap things up.
Fireworks Guns
When John Adams wrote about American celebrating Independence day with bonfires and illuminations, he never dreamt it would be like this. CodyBPyrotechnics shows us the latest innovations in Roman candles. The ones available for consumer use are bigger than ever before. There's also a model of launcher that resemble a Gatling gun. Why would you need a rotating gun for fireworks? I guess because it just seems cool. The real innovation is that you can aim your massive fireworks somewhere other than straight up, which doesn't seem all that safe to me. He compares several of these guns in this video.
The fireworks are pretty, but watching a video is as risky as I want to get with this. Not to mention I dont want to pay for such a single-use gun. These should not be used near people, or forests, or homes, or after holiday drinking. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Cockatiel Sings
These folks watch a lot of movies -enough so that their cockatiel has learned to sing the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean and the Imperial March from Star Wars.
Wednesday, July 01, 2026
One Million B.C.
No, this is not the Raquel Welch film; that's One Million Years B.C., the remake. The original is One Million B.C. from 1940, starring Victor Mature, Carole Landis, and Lon Chaney Jr. With the alternate title Man and His Mate, it's a Romeo and Juliet story of two prehistoric tribes, one more civilized than the other, who learn each other's ways and eventually join forces to survive the dinosaurs who attack them.
One Million B.C. was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Musical Score and Best Special Effects. The dinosaurs are real animals, sometimes dressed in costume like a pig in a triceratops suit. One dinosaur is a man in a suit. The movie led to a protest from the SPCA and a ban on animal cruelty in movies. Therefore, many later dinosaur films reused footage from this one to depict dinosaurs. Footage of the rock slide and volcanoes were reused as well. Despite the expense, One Million B.C. was a box office success. This version is colorized. (Thanks, WTM!)
The First Teaser Trailer for Not Alone
Not Alone is described as an "animated science fiction romantic comedy," which is a mouthful but sounds like it could be good. The voices of Timothée Chalamet and Selena Gomez star as Joe and Fran, ground workers on a space mission, hence the "science fiction." They awkwardly like each other, hence the "romantic comedy." The teaser makes it seem like there's some epic event, like the end of the world, that's driving them closer. Could this be an original thought-provoking drama?
But then we suddenly find out where the "comedy" really comes from. The aliens from outer space who find Joe seem like a combination of the Yip Yips, the Minions, and the Three Stooges. The plot seems like a '60s comedy or sitcom, in which an everyman is charged with hiding something magically incredible, like a sentient Volkswagen or a talking cat or a genie. I guess it really is a kids movie. After all, it's from Illumination, who brought us the Despicable Me franchise. Not Alone is scheduled to open in April of 2027.
o28
If you enjoyed those old Looney Tunes cartoons in which all rules of logic were suspended to build chaos, then you'll love o28. A German couple on vacation ride on the well known Tram 28 (Eléctrico 28E) to see the historic sections of Lisbon, Portugal. Except he is more interested in a magazine than the sights, and she is occupied by taking pictures for Instagram. But once the streetcar goes completely out of control, their attention is focused. The driver is gone, and the brakes are broken. On top of it all, there's a baby on board with a pronounced unibrow.
The film o28 was made by a group of students at Rubika, an animation school based in Valenciennes, France. There are cultural references and easter eggs throughout the video that you might miss the first time around, and are pointed out at Kuriositas.
Miss Cellania's Links
He's De-Mented! Randy Rainbow's latest song parody is set to the tune of Cole Porter's "It's De-Lovely" from his 1936 musical Red Hot and Blue.
How to Get Your Own Ghanian Movie Poster.
Does Russia Have Enough Soldiers to Keep Waging War Against Ukraine? The Russian army is not currently struggling to recruit new contract soldiers, though the number of people willing to go to war for money is dwindling.
During World War I, This Woman Asked Americans to Welcome Immigrants—and Urged New Arrivals to Assimilate. No, it wasn't Emma Lazarus, as I first thought.
The original Moana: did a 1926 documentary give birth to a 21st century Disney blockbuster? (via Damn Interesting)
Mamdani: Democratic socialist candidates ‘can get elected anywhere across this country for any position.' Sure, but only if they drop that one scary, misunderstood word. (via Fark)
The reason Middle Eastern people are considered white in America. The longer version is here.
A Blast from the Past (2014): What to Eat for Canada Day.
Moosestach
This comic is from D.C. Stuelpner at drawer of drawings. The comments are mainly from people who need an explanation because they don't speak Canadian. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
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