She was a housekeeper. (via Bits and Pieces)
Thursday, January 16, 2025
Transcultural Surprise
He'll never forget this interview pic.twitter.com/JeE3vC8QRp
— non aesthetic things (@PicturesFoIder) January 15, 2025
Do yourself a favor and watch the above video before reading the rest of this post.
Now that you've seen it, meet John bin London. You might think he is a Saudi who has been raised in the UK, but no. This Nottingham native only started learning Arabic in the last few years. You can see a short documentary about him at Neatorama, although you will have to turn on English captions.
How the Blind Cook
Christine Ha was the winner of the cooking competition show MasterChef season 3. She is also blind. Ha and her husband John now co-host the Canadian cooking show Four Senses. Here, she shows us by GoPro how she maneuvers around the kitchen by memory and feel. You can follow Christine at her personal website or her cooking blog, The Blind Cook. (via Nag on the Lake)
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Rolligon Tires
This 1953 British Pathé newsreel introduces us to the Rolligon, and gives the impression that it's a vehicle. But the name Rolligon actually refer to the tires that make this vehicle special. Inventor William Albee designed these tires after watching Inuit roll heavy boats on inflated seal hides. These enormous tires only need pressure of about 7 psi because there are so many square inches on tires that are five to nine feet wide. They are great for rolling over soft terrain, no matter how uneven it is, and they do very little damage to plants and animals in their way. Rolligon tires never made much headway with the military because these vehicles can't go fast enough, and as far as consumer use, any vehicle using them would be too high to easily get in and out of, and too wide for standard lanes. But they are being used today, in the oilfields of Canada and Alaska. (via Nag on the Lake)
Ich bin das neue Jahr
You probably remember actor Christoph Waltz from his portrayal of the Nazi officer Hans Landa in the movie Inglourious Basterds. He was evil incarnate in that film. But back in 1977, he was 20 years old and just getting started in acting. This is his first television appearance, on the Austrian children's show Am Dam Des. The song he's singing is "Ich bin das neue Jahr," which translates to "I Am the New Year."
Frogs Are Belly-Floppers
Certain species of frogs appear to hop across the surface of water in a process that's been called "skittering." It's like watching someone skipping a stone across the surface. While the frogs go pretty fast, it would be pretty rough to hit the water as hard as a stone does. So how do they do it? A team led by engineer Talia Weiss of Virginia Tech put some northern cricket frogs to the test and filmed them with a high-speed camera. When the film was slowed to 5%, they could see that the frogs are actually submerged in a kind of belly-flop. They don't sink all that deep, though, and use their webbed feet to re-launch themselves into another belly-flop. This kind of motion is seen in cetaceans, so it's less skittering and more like "porpoising." Read more about this research at ScienceAlert. And if you see a remix of this video with the appropriate sound effects (whee! plop) let me know. (via Damn Interesting)
Miss Cellania's Links
The Good Dogs (and People) of the LA Wildfires. (via Metafilter)
The Hidden History of Queer 18th Century London. When you could be executed for being gay.
5 Times People Refused to Perform in SNL Sketches.
Archaeologists Discover Intricately Decorated Tomb Belonging to a Doctor Who Treated Egyptian Pharaohs 4,100 Years Ago.
You move heaven and earth to enable your son to communicate, but he's still a teenager. And that's great.
Why Does So Much Bourbon Hail From Kentucky?
7 U.S. Inauguration Day Mishaps.
A list of snacks that rhyme with (Justice Sam) Alito. (via Metafilter)
Swans Swim Through Ice
There's a thin layer of ice on top of the pond at Bradgate Park, in Glenfield, UK. But swans gotta swim, for some reason. This swan family follows dad single file as he breaks through the ice, bit by bit. You may think it's more trouble than it's worth, but you are not a swan. It must be important to them. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Adam West
How cool was Adam West?
— Alexander Burns (@_Alex_Burns_) January 11, 2025
This cool... pic.twitter.com/THwGqETgGf
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Elmo Learns a New Word
The folks behind (and inside) the Muppets are masters of improvisation. Things go sideways and they don't break character; they just go with the flow. In this scene on the set of Scrubs, Zach Braff teaches Elmo a new word and Elmo is proud of it! (via Digg)
Getting an Apartment, Then vs. Now
I rented quite a few apartments before I bought my first house. One time a landlord just flat out told me, "Oh, we never refund security deposits." And that was that. I always left an apartment in better shape than I found it, and never saw a refund of a deposit. Over time, I got smarter and told them to take my last month's rent out of the deposit.
A friend of mine, in the early 90s, called to ask if a place was still available. The landlady said I'll have to see you in person. She went over and the landlady said, "I just wanted to make sure you were white." She did not rent the place.
A commenter called foul on this video by Man Carrying Thing because rental companies will make sure you've paid the application fee before they reject you. (via Laughing Squid)
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