Friday Fun Links

How animals participate in the Winter Olympics.

Wow, A Talking Fish! A 1983 animated Russian film of an Armenian folk tale featuring a wildly kaleidoscopic wizard.

Oh, you're invited to the Valentines Day party, but you can't express any affection. Burbia gives us another reason to avoid Home Owners Associations like the plague.

An internet classic, Squirrel vs. Penguin. Probably not what you were expecting, but a delight anyway.

The prettiest time-lapse video of a city in the fog you'll see today. Vancouver City is a nice song as well.

Movie posters and video game titles. They go together so well!

The sex scene from Back to the Future. It was cut from the final movie after it ripped the space-time continuum.

The Best Neuroscience Study Guide Ever (Because It Has Cats). And a sparkly title and lots of sweet sugary cuteness along the synapses. (via Metafilter)

Olympics 2010: Skiing Solo for a Snowless Nation

Jamaica is not sending a bobsled team to Vancouver for the Winter Games, but the Caribbean nation will be represented by one skier. Several countries will have only one participant in the Olympics, because there are no winter sports to speak of in these tropical lands. Yet sometimes the work of one person keeps the Olympic dream alive. Read about eight skiers who are their entire team in this article I wrote for mental_floss.

Good Reads

Carnivals Around the World. These events will have different dates, but they'll be celebrated again this (and every) year.

Missile Silo Confessions: Living on the Edge of Armageddon. Lots of photographs and reminiscing from the people who built, manned, and recovered a Titan missile site.

Edgar Parker opened his dental practice in 1892 and found business was not that great. So he took his practice on the road and became "the P.T. Barnum of dentistry."

6 Shockingly Evil Things Babies Are Capable Of. Of course, babies wouldn't consider them evil, just the result of natural selection that made their existence possible.

After years of delays, the world's largest commercial airplane took its first test flight Monday. The Boeing 747-8 will lift almost a million pounds fully loaded into the air when it goes into service, possibly by next year.

An Intellectual History of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. It began in 1964, which makes it older than any of the models in this year's edition.

The Top Ten Important Moments in Snowboarding History. The next couple of weeks in Vancouver may add to the list.

Take a POV Tour Of The International Space Station. It's much smaller than you'd imagine from watching movies, but much cooler than any fiction.

Winter Olympics Drinking Game

First, lay in a stock of your favorite beverage.

Then, turn on NBC and observe the following rules:

1. Take one drink every time a NBC announcer invites you to "share a moment with the world."

2. Take one drink every time snowboarding highlights are backed up by rock-and-roll guitar/heavy metal headbanger music.

3. Take one drink every time a female athlete is described as "America's _____ing sweetheart." Take an extra drink if the athlete in question is "American's curling sweetheart."

4. Clap your hands and take one drink every time reference is made to "the revolutionary new clap skate" being used in speed skating.

5. Take one drink every time figure skating commentator Scott Hamilton shouts that a skater "NAILED!!" a jump.

6. Take one drink every time you hear a hockey announcer shout, "He shoots...he scores!" Take two drinks if you're watching women's hockey and you hear, "She shoots...she scores!"

7. Take one drink every time NBC promises to get "up close and personal" with an athlete.

8. Take one drink every time a skater is presented with a bouquet of flowers.

9. Take one drink every time America's quest for its first medal in luge is mentioned. Take an extra drink if America actually happens to win a medal in luge.

10. Take one drink and sigh, "That's good, mon" every time reference is made to the Jamaican bobsled team.

11. Take one drink every time the REAL Olympic theme is heard.

Buzzfeed illustrates some more rules of this classic drinking game specifically for the Vancouver opening ceremonies tonight. Warning: Canada jokes. Here are the number of extra sips you should take depending on who lights the cauldron.

(image credit: Michael Barrick)


Links for Fun

We Love xkcd. An all-star cast from the Blogosphere recreates this comic that parodies this ad.

Michael R. Barrick created a graphic last summer using the Vancouver Olympics mascots and the internet cartoon known as Pedobear. It was only a matter of time before someone used it without knowing that Pedobear is not an Olympic mascot.

Is there an Academy Award for weather forecasts? This guy must be trying for one, the way he's hamming it up.

The Coolest Taxi License ID Ever. Yes, even cooler than Ben Bailey's.

How many times have looked in a mirror and saw someone you didn't realize was there with you? Never? Well, it happens a LOT in the movies. (via Gorilla Mask)

A group of passionate Betty White fans want her to host Saturday Night Live. And why not? She's funnier than any other 88-year-old woman you can think of!

Weird Festivals & Strange Celebrations. Proof that, no matter where you live, people love to throw things and make a mess whenever they have an excuse.

The worst (UK) game show answers ever. Proving that American contestants aren't the only ones who fall apart under pressure. (via Bits and Pieces)

Hadacol, the Last of the Medicine Shows

Advertiser-supported entertainment is nothing new. Since medieval times, people could see free entertainment right in their hometown as long as they listened to a sales pitch for dubious remedies along with the singing, dancing, and side show acts. Sales of snake oil and other patent medicines paid for the show and then some. Like other forms of traveling entertainment, the medicine show lost its luster when people gained the opportunity to go see movies instead. The medicine show had one last hurrah during the 20th century in the form of Hadacol. Read the story of the last great medicine show in this article I wrote for mental_floss.

Cat Goes on a Business Trip

(via Metafilter)

News and Information Links

Economic inequality in the free market system holds everyone back because of inefficiency, according to economist Samuel Bowles. Too much time, money, and effort goes into keeping the poor from gaining what the rich have. (via Metafilter)

The Real Rules for Time Travelers. A physicist explains how there would be no paradox if time travel were possible. Then it gets weird.

Land reform in Africa may be the key to solving the continent's other problems. Land rights would bring security, stability, sustenance, and power to those who've lost them over the past couple of centuries. (via Metafilter)

The Top 100 Singles (ten for each year) of the 70s. These would make the ultimate mixtape of memories for me. (via Neatorama)

11 Little-Known Grammatical Errors That Will Shock and Horrify You. Curiously, I am neither shocked nor horrified, but I do find this information useful and worth passing along.

Ghost Ships: Ten Scary Spirits Of The Seven Seas. I'll have to file these and pull them out again to tell the kids around a campfire and ruin their sleep.

German scientists say our world may be a giant hologram. They're looking for Morpheus and his little red pill to find out for sure. (via Neatorama)

A nurse who reported a doctor for malpractice may go to prison for blowing the whistle. Let that be an example to anyone who tries to mess with a friend of a Texas sheriff.

Gimme Dat Ding

(via Dark Roasted Blend)

Camp Variety Speciality Acts 1940s

(via J-Walk Blog)

Good Reads and Information

The Many Lives of Count Dracula. There was plenty of inspirational material for Bram Stoker's vampire, who went on to inspire all other vampire characters.

It's a terrifying scenario you may have dreamed about: falling to earth from a high altitude. Popular Mechanics has a survival guide that will take you longer to read than the six mile fall would take. (via Metafilter)

Will Marry For Health Insurance. Too bad it has to come to this, but people get married for far more frivolous reasons. (via Neatorama)

4 Strange Greenpeace Moments. Sometimes the quest for publicity pays off and sometimes it backfires bigtime.

10 Unbelievable Inheritance Stories. (via Look at This)

A survivor of child sexual abuse is still victimized years later because of a video still in circulation. Now she's seeking restitution from anyone who downloads it, but some think this may set a disturbing precedent.

Five myths about America's credit card debt. The short version: it's not all your fault!

The Vancouver Experiment. Nothing to do with the Olympics, this experiment involves helping heroin addicts with a safe place to shoot up. (via Metafilter)

Saigon Soul

A music video capturing life in Saigon today by Ryan Quinn Mattingly.

Heart Shaped Meals for Valentines Day

We set a day aside for sweethearts to express their love for each other, which sometimes devolves into a “how much will you spend on me?” test. Don’t fall into that trap! You can express your Valentines sentiments with a little more effort and less money spent by sharing a meal at home. Heart shaped food will tell him or her that you really care. Or at least you’ll both have a laugh! See lots of heart shaped foods you can prepare in this article I posted at mental_floss.

Fun and Funny Links

A compilation made especially for Star Trek fans who have a 12-year-old's sense of humor. That's what she said.

Extreme Gaming, anywhere you want. Sure, he could do the same with a handheld game, but this is so much cooler.

7 Of The Most Expensive Flops In Television History. Remember Cop Rock? Supertrain? There's a reason you don't.

Which Disney princess is the greenest? We would all be greener if we could use magic instead of energy to get things done!

Ten Word Wiki describes itself as an encyclopedia for the ADD generation. The site is like Wikipedia, but all entries are limited to ten words. (via b3ta)

The Old Disappearing Water Prank. If she can forgive this, then they've got a wonderful future ahead of them.

If People on the Internet Told the Truth, all the fun would be sucked right out. Even if we know the real story, we like to have our little fantasies.

The newest talking sex robot will set you back ...only a few thousand dollars.

Informative Links

7 Real World Heists That Put 'Ocean's 11' to Shame. Of course they weren't perfect crimes because we found out who did them... all but one.

Radiation therapy saves lives while it kills cancer, but mistakes can lead to horrifying injuries or death. When radiation is delivered by computer software, mistakes can go on too long before someone notices.

15 Big Cheats and Fakers. That includes plagiarists, parodists, impostors, con men, lip-synchers, and those who take credit for other people's work. (via Neatorama)

The Top Secret Drum Corps of Basel, Switzerland should not be a secret. This much rhythm and discipline should be showcased, and often.

The Jihadist Next Door. How an Alabama honors students ended up as one of the leaders of a terrorist group targeting Somalia. (via Metafilter)

The Chaos is a poem often used to demonstrate how difficult it is to pronounce words in English, as the spelling and pronunciation varies so. The poem is now 274 lines long, meant to be read out loud. (via Geeks Are Sexy)

5 Ways to Get Closer to Your Garbage. the point being to understand what it is and how it will affect our world.

A personal story tells how difficult loving a soldier can be when wars and other conflicts never end.

Misery Bear Takes A Day Off

(via Arbroath)

Stars of the Wild West Show

In the latter part of the 19th century, before television, radio, or even movies with sound, traveling exhibitions were the biggest form of entertainment most people encountered. The wild west show merged the entertainment of the circus with the adventure of the new west and brought it to crowds of the eastern US and beyond. The stars of the wild west shows were as famous as world leaders and military heroes -or even more so! Read about the biggest wild west show stars in this article I wrote for mental_floss.

Fun and Funny Links

Five-year-old Malachai Nicolle tells the stories and his 29-year-old brother, a professional comics illustrator draws them up. The result is wonderful webcomic called Axe Cop.

Pee Wee Herman Gets an iPad.

The Star Wars read-along storybook is now on video, illustrated by vintage action figures. Turn to the next page when you hear R2D2.

8 Greatest Jon Stewart Pwnages.

An Englishman marries an American and moves to New York City. Despite knowing the language, he finds himself in a very foreign place.

6-year-old Gabriella Crump made a splash as a gymnast, dancer, and contortionist. Now she's 7 and appearing in TV commercials.

Drug-dealers vs software developers. They only differ where it really counts.

The 12 Most Insane Things You Can Buy on the Internet. But only if you have the bucks!

Chewbacca

By Supernova. (via Everlasting Blort)

Istanbul

Craig Ferguson lip-sync's Istanbul by They Might Be Giants on his late late late show. (via Metafilter)