From 1912. (via Undine)
Friday, July 31, 2026
Whatever happened to Miss Cleo?
Many years ago, I was running a radio contest and was looking for the 9th caller. I picked up the phone, and said "KD99, you're caller six!" and the phone said, "Hello! This is Miss Cleo!" It was a robocall, and I hung up, but later joked that if she were a real psychic, she would have been caller number nine.
Miss Cleo was everywhere back then, especially if you ever turned a TV on. Her persona was delightful, but actually calling her could cost you big time. Simon Whistler explains where Miss Cleo came from, where she went, and how much money was made in her name in between.
On another note, Whistler mispronounces Tammy Faye Bakker in this video, which reminds me of Chill Dude Explains. It's common for people to mispronounce names they've never heard before, but one commenter took it as evidence that Dude might be an AI voice. Whistler is not, but is likely to be unfamiliar with Bakker. I remember the 20th century, but I looked up the pronunciation anyway. Google's AI search assistant says it's "Backer" for Tammy Faye and "Baker" for Jim. So Whistler is doing his research, but relying on AI for accurate information is a losing game.
The Parody That Ruined the Original
Remember when you found out that Foghorn Leghorn was a parody of a human radio character that would have been familiar to the original audiences of the 1940s? That was just one of many pop culture references in Warner Bros. cartoons that eventually lost connection with its source material because those cartoons still hold up almost 100 years later.
The one comedy impression that was used more than any other, however, came from a classic novel. So many students read Of Mice and Men in high school and said, "Wait a minute, this is a cartoon character!" Even more so if you ever eventually watched the 1939 film version starring Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney Jr. Your cartoon experience made it hard to take the tragic story seriously. And even if you knew that, you might not be remembering the same cartoon character as the next person, because it was used so much, from 1940 up to the '60s.
Miss Cellania's Links
The Assault On Science Funding Continues. (via kottke)
What It’s Like Driving An Old VW Bus That Costs As Much As A House. The Kindred EV Bus has the nostalgia of a microbus and the power of modern electric vehicles.
The Ancient Salt Wells of Zigong. As early as the first century BC, industrial workers in China's Sichuan Province were building derricks for wells that eventually inspired US oil wells.
Even a trillionaire isn't as lucky as Lucky Ducky. The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
YouTuber: The school nurse taught me this!
School nurse: No, I did not.
College lab class ends with 32 people on antibiotics for deadly germ exposure. (via Damn Interesting)
Cybertruck Called the Biggest Flop in Automotive History, as Tesla Shares Plummet. (via Boing Boing)
The Troubles At Euston Square. The body was discovered two years later, so who did it?
Aura Cleans Grandpa Mason's Ears
If you've been around here a while, you know I've been following the progress of the new kittens at TinyKittens' livestream. The kittens are old enough to adopt now. Here you see Aura, the one with the cleft palate, showing her love for Grandpa Mason.
I actually think this is her equivalent of comfort nursing, as she only does it whilst making sleepy-happy biscuits and purring. I suspect that she never learned "normal" comfort nursing because it was too uncomfortable with her massive cleft palate for her to latch onto things like other kittens do. With ears, she can still slobber all over them without making it hard to breathe and without sending drool up into her nasal cavity.Aura was the smallest surviving kitten. She looks great now!
Thursday, July 30, 2026
Just Do It!
DEVO co-founder Gerald Casale brings us the new single "Just Do It!" The animation is dense with references, so you may have to watch more than once to catch them all. It's from his upcoming solo album Wetiko, but still quite DEVO, as Josh Hager and Jeff Friedl play on the song. (via Boing Boing)
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes was a 1978 spoof of the low-budget monster movies of the 1950s and '60s. It was cheaply made and critically panned, but made back five times its budget. It became a cult classic, and spawned several sequels. Almost 50 years later, it's time for a remake!
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence is the updated 2026 version. It premiered with a showing in February at the USS Midway Museum in San Diego. The movie is scheduled for a limited release in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Diego on August 7, 2026, obviously so it can qualify for the Razzies. After that we expect it to be on YouTube soon. The timing of the release coincides with tomato harvest season. The scenes from this teaser reminds me of the tomatoes I have on my counters, in my windows, in my refrigerator, and even the freezer. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Fire in Cardboard City
The New Yorker brings us an adventure set in a very flammable location -a city made completely of corrugated cardboard! When a vehicle ignites, it's panic time. Fighting this fire is a dangerous proposition, because even the fire hose is made of cardboard. The story is a mixture of funny, terrifying, and dumbfounding. What kind of dumbass opens a fireworks shop in a city made of cardboard? (via Metafilter)
Adjustment
Have you ever stopped to think that maybe Star Wars hasn't changed as much as you've changed? A little attitude adjustment might help! Honestly, so many fans bemoan that Star Wars isn't as good as when they were kids. Nothing is as exciting as when you were a kid! I was an adult when Star Wars was born in 1977. I thought it was a lot of fun, even though it didn't make all that much sense. All these years later, I don't expect it to make perfect sense, but I still enjoy it. This is the latest from Lunarbaboon.
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Night of the Blood Beast
Night of the Blood Beast is a 1958 science fiction horror film produced by Roger Corman and his brother Gene Corman. The original title was Creature from Galaxy 27. A spaceship crash lands after being hit by something in orbit. The astronaut is dead, but his blood contains something alien, which might remind you of another movie. It turns out an alien was a stowaway on the craft, and has implanted the resurrected astronaut with its embryos, which might remind you of another movie. The alien gains the ability to communicate with humans after eating one of their brains, which has to have inspired some movie I haven't seen. Shot in seven days, the film was so bad that it became an unintentional comedy. (Thanks, WTM!)
Bobkitten
They aren't all that different from our house cats. You still don't want one in your house.
An Honest Trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu
Going into the Honest Trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu, I realized I didn't know anything about the movie because its promotion was kind of lackluster and after it opened, no one talked about it at all. Oh, it made money, because that's what Disney does, but it performed more poorly than any Star Wars movie since Disney bought the franchise. Critics were "meh."
Today I found out this movie continues resurrecting dead aliens by putting new characters in the their CGI suits, first with Grogu and now with Jabba the Hutt, whose offspring are both heroes and villains. Also, Grogu learns to speak English, a skill that Yoda never mastered. And, of course, there's a lot of killing with no blood. The Mandalorian and Grogu is now available for digital download, and goes on sale on home media August 25th.
The Temptations and the Supremes
This is a real treat! The Temptations and Diana Ross & The Supremes together on stage! But this isn't just a singalong. They sing each other's hits, in a back and forth medley. This is from The Ed Sullivan Show, recorded on November 19, 1967.
Thumbelina
In the wild, many gray squirrels die in infancy, and those who survive can live to about six years on average. Thumbelina almost died in infancy. She was only a couple of hours old when her nest was destroyed, but this family took her in. That was ten years ago. Thumbelina is well adjusted to being an indoor squirrel, but she's got some problems in her old age. She developed polycystic ovarian syndrome, which causes her to gain weight easily, and left her quite round. She has also lost teeth, which means her family has to not only strictly measure her food, but puree it as well.
How much effort is too much for a pet squirrel? Thumbelina's family doesn't seem to mind, even though they've gone to extraordinary lengths for her. She's got quite a personality and brings them joy. You can see more of Thumbelina at Instagram.
Weird Fast Food Items from Around the World
Fast food restaurants in the US gather together around interstate exits, and they offer variations on sandwiches, chicken pieces, pizza, burritos, and fried potatoes on the side. They taste the same from coast to coast. Those brands expanded to other countries where food cultures vary from the American model. You can't tell people in Italy that only American cheese is available, and you can't tell people in Thailand that chocolate doesn't belong on a hamburger. And even fast food outlets have to give customers what they want. You know, I could get on board with an edible coffee cup if it weren't for all the people who touched it before me.
Tom Blank, the original voice of Weird History, takes us on a tour of international fast food offerings that might gross you out, but might also make you want to travel to try them.
Cow Wins Horse Race
The annual St. Teresa's Charity Pantomime Horse Race pits teams of humans dressed as four-legged beasts against each other in a mercifully short race.
The St. Teresa’s Charity Pantomime Horse Race at the UK’s Catterick Racecourse raises funds for St. Teresa’s Hospice in Darlington. In its third annual running, the race welcomed four entrants: Heavy Brigade in the cow suit, racing for the Royal Dragoon Guards; Unicorn on the Cob in the unicorn suit, racing for marketing agency Purple Creative; #Professionals in the horse suit, a last-minute entry from Racing UK; and Wonky Donkey, racing for Lookers Volkswagen.Spectators will be forgiven for thinking that drinking may have been involved. (via Metafilter)
The Biggest Plot Hole In the Star Wars Prequels
In which Jhall and Andrew Bridgman at Dorkly explain why Darth gave up his entire reason for turning to the dark side. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Monday, July 27, 2026
Shakir the Turkish Street Cat
Turkey is awash with stray cats, which can't really be called feral because they are friendly and people feed them. Of course, there's not enough kind people to support all of them. One kitten lucked out when a cashier at a shop let him in and informally adopted him. Shakir is there every morning for hte store opening, and keeps watch over everything from his perch on the checkout counter.
Get Ready for a Lack of Communication
Bill McClintock is at it again, with another unlikely rock/soul mashup. Eddie Kendricks never rocked so hard! This one features vocals from The Temptations's 1966 hit "Get Ready" and the music from "Lack of Communication" by Ratt from 1984. Despite being written and produced by Smokey Robinson, the Temptations' song did not do as well as was expected, and the remake by Rare Earth in 1970 was a bigger hit. Still, the Temptations version of "Get Ready" proved to be long lasting, and familiar even 60 years later. The Ratt song? Maybe you had to be a metalhead at the time to really know it.
And if you are such a metalhead, you might recognize Dimebag Darrell's guitar work from the 1994 Pantera song "I'm Broken" in this mix as well. Enjoy songs song three different decades in this masterful mashup.
Miss Cellania's Links
Man Tried to Rob a Bank With a Stolen Kitten. (via Strange Company)
Why American ambulance rides are so expensive. The unfortunately botched economics of emergency care. (via kottke)
Young solo pilot loses her front landing gear. Another pilot takes charge to get her down safely.
What Big Food Did to Ice Cream. The “encrapification” of the American pint — a chemist’s plain-language dissection. (via Fark)
“Weird Al” Yankovic Can’t Stop Landing On The Right Side Of History.
The Largest Intact Meteorite on Earth Is Still Exactly Where It Landed. But Why No Crater? (via Damn Interesting)
If you attack a rapper performing on the street, you might have to listen to him diss you as you wait for the ambulance. (via Metafilter)
The spiteful family feud behind one of New York’s oldest and most luxurious hotels. (via Strange Company)
Road Diets
Yeah, America is big, so we developed four lane roads to get us from town to town faster. Then four-lane roads were extended into town to alleviate traffic. But do we really need four-lane roads in a city? City streets are safer with traffic going slower. To achieve that, some cities are putting their streets on a diet, making them smaller and slower. So far, that's making street use easier for pedestrians and cyclists, while still not causing worse traffic for drivers -in most places. Your mileage may vary, no pun intended. (via Laughing Squid)
Sunday, July 26, 2026
Never My Love
The Association was a pop band who sang sweet love songs with many vocal harmonies. They were the first to record "Never My Love" in 1967, and made it a hit. It has been recorded many times since, most notably by The 5th Dimension in 1971 and by Blue Swede in 1974. This performance by The Association on The Ed Sullivan Show is from December of 1968.
Mr. Jambo
In this music video, musician Barry Bergen travels to Africa in the 1980s to glean the ancient wisdom of this magical land. Mr Jambo is an older man who must contain the wisdom Bergen is looking for, but he doesn't speak English. Indeed, the closed captions tell us that he is saying, "I don't speak English. Do you have a translator?" Meanwhile, Bergan mentions jambalaya and bears, as if they have anything to do with Africa. As silly as the premise is, the song is quite catchy.
There is no Barry Bergen; he's a creation of comedian Kyle Gordon who has has made a career of parodying songs from genres you may not be consciously aware of, but you'll recognize when you hear them. The song "Mr. Jambo" is a parody of the "white guy goes to Africa" genre that you know mostly from Paul Simon's album Graceland, although it's been done by others. It's from his third album Kyle Gordon Is Everywhere, to be released in October. (via Boing Boing)
What Made Darth Vader Visually Iconic
Darth Vader is at the top of many "greatest villain" lists, and near the top in the rest. Nerdwriter looks at the reasons why. (via Laughing Squid)
The Plant Queen
That's life, isn't it? Actually, that's life when you're young and just starting out. I've been growing plant for around 40 years, and there have been plenty of mass extinction events along the way, but you learn, you try again, and eventually you amass a decent garden, whether its houseplants, flowers, or vegetables -or all three! The real secret to convincing people you have a green thumb is to quickly get rid of the failures. Never speak of them. That way, all your friends and neighbors will see are your successes. This comic is from Sarah Andersen at Sarah's Scribbles.
Saturday, July 25, 2026
Terror from the Year 5000
Terror from the Year 5000 is a time travel horror film from 1958. Scientists build a time machine, and trade objects with someone in the year 5200. The objects from the future are radioactive, which should tell you something. They finally bring back a human from that era, but that's not a good idea. Critics said the movie has some good ideas that don't really go anywhere. The budget was low enough to create a "so bad it's good" film that was eventually featured on MST3K. YouTube commenters really like it. (Thanks, WTM!)
How Tonga Made $100 Million Renting Space in Outer Space
The smallest countries of Oceania, spread across the Pacific, aren't rich, but some of them make a surprising amount of money by getting creative and looking to the future. Vanuatu makes a ton of money by selling citizenship. Tuvalu prospers by leasing its .tv internet domain. And Tonga was fortunate enough to be the retirement home of a satellite expert, who saw a fortune in the starry skies above his new homeland. There's money to be made in selling, or in this case renting, what you have plenty of. For Tonga, that was its isolation, which gave them a large swath of the empty space overhead. Half as Interesting explains how Tonga leveraged its location and international pacts about the use of space to make millions of dollars passively. What happened to the money is another story. This video is only around five minutes- the rest is advertising.
Ebenezer
Oh look! It's July, and we have a trailer for a Christmas ghost story! The trailer says "The name you know, the story you don't." Hogwash. Everyone knows the story of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. There have been over a hundred movie and TV adaptations of it. Knowing the story doesn't keep us from watching it again and again. The 2026 version titled Ebenezer stars Johnny Depp in the title role, along with Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit, Daisy Ridley as his wife, and Ian McKellen as Jacob Marley.
The trailer focuses on the star power of Depp and the many oddball characters he's played before. We can assume with this cast that the acting will be good. As far as I'm concerned, the success of Ebenezer will depend on how they portray the ghosts. Meanwhile, it is kind of nice to see scenes of falling snow while we swelter in the summer heat. Ebenezer opens on November 13th.
Cats Groovin' to the Oldies
There are lots more of these, but you'll have to continue reading to see them because quite a few people have complained about the number of cats seen on this blog.
The Two-Minute Wave
Pro surfer Koa Smith caught a wave off Namibia's Skeleton Bay that took him for a nearly a mile! He surfed a single wave for a distance of 1.5 kilometers for two minutes that took him through eight barrels. It was captured on video, both from a drone and from Smith's own GoPro POV. Both videos are mesmerizing.
My whole day surfing I try to InVision that one dream wave that I want to experience. I picture it clearly. What it will look like. How it will feel. The emotions pouring out of me when the wave is complete. Then this happen :)(via Laughing Squid)
Survival of the Fittest
A flying fish wins the Darwin award for bragging about years of evolution instead of generations of evolution. This is the latest from pleumier, a biologist who makes comics. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Friday, July 24, 2026
It's A Man's Man's Man's World
Did you know that James Brown performed this as a duet with Luciano Pavarotti? Yes they did, but not in the same language. (via Nag on the Lake)
An Increasingly Tiny Mailbox
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" is an informal motto of the US Postal Service. However, mail carriers are not obligated to deliver your mail when you're obviously messing with them.
Vlog Creations, a YouTube channel dedicated to non-harmful pranks, invested in a long series of mailboxes of varying sizes and heights, and gradually installed smaller and smaller ones to see how long it took for the mail carrier to notice. Yeah, he noticed, but he's more amused than annoyed. Then it became a battle of wits to see how small they could make the box and still get their mail picked up and/or delivered. My mail carrier will never pick up outgoing mail unless he has some to deliver. This carrier put up with ridiculous challenges all the way through.
You can see a much longer video detailing this prank here.
Miss Cellania's Links
This Indian Maharaja Saved Hundreds of Polish Orphans During World War II, Offering Them Refuge When No One Else Would.
People are watching the Reflecting Pool like reality TV. It's a microcosm of the Trump administration, at the junction of corruption and incompetence. (via Fark)
The Legend of a Lost Roman Legion in China.
A Plane Crash Killed 92 People—And Exposed a Major Government Secret. (via Damn Interesting)
Castlemap is an interactive map of the world's great castles and fortresses. (via Metafilter)
‘We were at their mercy’: inside the Amazon tactics that hiked prices across the internet.
An ad for high heeled shoes. I bet they had to pour the blood out when she finally took them off.
Feds have a new teen pregnancy prevention plan: Fertility and ‘reproductive goals.’ (via Fark)
Duck Plays Fetch
How do you train a duck to play fetch? He must enjoy it. The real question is, can he play Duck, Duck, Goose? (via Blame It On The Voices)