8 Stars and their Second Careers

Sometimes stardom in music, movies, or TV is just not enough. After a life in the spotlight, many stars turn to something else they enjoy that is totally different from what they are known for. Those that go into politics (Jesse Ventura, Al Franken) stay in the spotlight, but others pursue something that may fly under the public radar. Read about eight of them in this article I wrote for mental_floss.

Informative Links

13 Things That Saved Apollo 13. The links to the rest of this 13-part series is at the bottom of the page. (via Bad Astronomy Blog)

6 People You've Never Heard of Who Probably Saved Your Life. One even changed the world after her own death.

My Favorite Monsters: Gacy. John Wayne Gacy, Jr. set the standard for modern serial killers.

We've been told over and over that Neanderthals are extinct and never interbred with humans. Now there is DNA evidence that what we were told is wrong.

A magnetic field, unlike a corn field, is supposed to be invisible. However, there are a few parlor tricks you can use to see a magnetic field in action.

10 Women Who Changed the Face of the Military. If you are already familiar with more than two of these, you are way ahead of most of us.

13 Essential Talking Points for the Earthquake Enthusiast. And if you ever run into one (enthusiast, not earthquake), these will help you keep up.

Mind in the Water: The dolphin as our beast of burden. The story of the intelligent cetacean and the man who introduced them to both the hippie culture and the military. (via Metafilter)

R2D2 and C3PO on Sesame Street

Links for Fun and Entertainment

Stunt man Damien Walters has parkour skills to make your jaw drop. This video left me feeling tired, dizzy, and uselessly weak.

Grammar Nazis. Even Colonel Landa wasn't as scary as this sinister language expert!

I'm Heavin' On A Jetplane: Top 10 Best Barf Bags. Having never used one, I was totally unaware that barf bags sported clever designs.

Imagine a horror movie about a tire, yes, a tire with psychic powers, that kills people by making their heads explode. You don't have to imagine, because Ribber is a real film. (via Gorilla Mask)

Things That Can Make You Feel Like an Idiot Almost Instantly. They may not happen every day, but I bet you've been in at least one of these situations ...and felt like an idiot.

A Star Wars geek put together a video to tell the world he and his wife are expecting. You can read plenty of innuendo into it, if you are so inclined, but the ending will make you smile.

The internet is a wonderful place that you can read the New York Times and find a story about a woman in poor health because of a snake in her stomach. It's from 1864 and you would have never heard of it without digital archives online.

The Shorts From Mystery Science Theater 3000. You may be too busy to watch a movie, but you're never too busy for MST3K! (via Gorilla Mask)

The Dubai Fountain

The fountains at the base of the Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai do their thing. The music is Christopher Tin's "Baba Yetu" performed by Stanford Talisman. (via Metafilter)

Smart Bird!

Who says tool use is confined to primates? Find out more about this research. (via Bits and Pieces)

Goods Reads

How is Linux like the genes in a living cell? Many ways, because its creator set it up to evolve.

How Our Brains Make Memories. Just the act of remembering something can change that memory, sometimes in rather strange ways. (via Boing Boing)

10 TV Shows That Changed the Course of History. Imagine what the world would be like if none of these had aired.

Even after the crowds are gone, Disneyland is buzzing with activity. It takes a big crew to make the park all clean and bright every day.

Rest in Peas: The Unrecognized Death of Speech Recognition. Getting a computer to recognize speech is like getting it to wreck a nice beach. (via Metafilter)

A scientist looks at sea monsters. Among the fish stories may be things lurking in the depths that we still don't know about.

9 People Who Did It Anyway. When you tell someone they can’t do something, it often serves as a motivation to prove you’re wrong, and disabled people are no exception.

We Need a General Theory of Individuality. Science uses large samples and averages to play down differences between people, but still there are no two of us exactly alike. (via Metafilter)

Dave the Wonder Dog

Dave may have had a terrible party in a previous life. He really hates that one particular song! (via the Daily What)

Inspired by xkcd

Who is the most influential person on the internet? That argument could go on for years. It could easily be argued that one guy with a pencil has the strange power to make things happen without a company, without a title, and without even asking. Randall Munroe has influence he never asked for. His creation xkcd is “A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.” See over a dozen examples of how xkcd makes things happen in this article I posted at mental_floss.

Funny Links and Diversions

Everybody Wang Chung tonight! Nobody knows what it means, but that never stopped everyone from saying it. (via Buzzfeed)

Vanity Plates: Annoying but Funny. And well worth taking a picture of to share with everyone.

This guy is ghost riding a lawnmower. I thought they had safety features to prevent just this sort of thing.

A radio controlled car hits a ramp fast and jumps a house. And even more shocking, it drove away from the scene afterward!

Darwin's Beetle Looks for a Mate. You want this nightmare-inducing insect to succeed so much that you won't see the punch line coming.

The Star Wars Trilogy in two minutes. In LEGO! Pay attention, this is fast, furious, and funny.

Randall Munroe of xkcd conducted an online color survey, and the results are ready. I had to stop and roll in the floor at the "disproportionally popular" color names by gender section.

The adventures of Tony Starch in Ironing Man. Nothing can stop a super hero who appreciates a crisp white dress shirt.

Amazing Grace

Performed by 7-year-old Rhema Marvanne. (Thanks, Susie!)

Informative Links

Actress Lynn Redgrave, who died Sunday, asked her daughter to document her battle against breast cancer in photographs. The pictures are sweet, sad, scary, and one may be NSFW. (via Metafilter)

How to make home made Pop Tarts. My grandma taught me how to do this before I'd ever heard of Pop tarts and we called them turnovers. (via Nag on the Lake)

15 Most Disgusting Creatures Found In South America. The term "disgusting" might apply to how it can harm you, or how it can give you nightmares, or how the thought of eating it makes the author feel.

Nine Very Famous Book Rejections. Hamlet and the Bible would probably have a hard time getting published if they were written today.

Bad Astronomy Blog has footage captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory space telescope of a solar flare with amazing detail. Looks like things are really happening on our sun!

Cancer patient Erik Martin always wanted to be a superhero and even designed his own secret identity as Electron Boy. On Thursday, Erik responded when Spider Man called for his assistance in saving the entire Seattle Sounders soccer team.

Famous Animal Gravesites Around the World. Not that you'd want to plan a vacation around them, but it's nice to know these creatures were memorialized.

The 7 Most Disastrous Typos Of All Time. Of course, it could happen to anyone, in fact it happens to me almost daily. (via Gorilla Mask)

Einstein

This miniature horse weighed only six pounds at birth! (via Bits and Pieces)

May the Fourth Be With You

Today is Star Wars Day, an unofficial holiday that has been gaining steam over the past few years, but not without controversy. Some people celebrate Star Wars Day as May 25th instead, to commemorate the day that the first Star Wars movie premiered in 1977. May fourth was doomed to be the day because of the pun, “May the fourth be with you,” which makes me feel as if I am lisping every time I say it. There are many events and ways to celebrate May 4th, as you'll see in this article I wrote for mental_floss.

Funny Links

Thrilling Tales of the Downright Unusual might keep you busy all weekend. The Toaster with Two Brains has to be the story title of the decade. (via Dark Roasted Blend)

Awesome Elderly Dancing Man. This is how you keep your joints in shape and keep the young folks watching as you get older!

10 Songs for Science Nerds. You can listen to each in their entirety, whether you are a science nerd or not.

Proof that Google indeed has a sense of humor.

15 Little Known Geek/Nerd Holidays and Observances.

An excited dog named Sparky tap dances for his food. This proves anyone can dance, no matter how short your legs are.

The lovely story of how ZeFrank and friends collaborated to make a depressed young woman feel better. The resulting song will make you feel better, too! (via b3ta)

The Drunken Moogle is a site at the intersection of alcohol and video games. It contains game-themed recipes for drinks both enticing and disgusting.

Star Wars on the Muppet Show

Mark Hamill guest starred on The Muppet Show in 1980.

Fun and Funny Links

Wish a Friend a Happy Period!

Anita Renfroe has a version of Beyonce's hit song and video for the older generation. Behold the magnificence of Wrinkled Ladies.

Watch as Boeing builds a 737-700 for Southwest airlines in only 2.5 minutes in this time-lapse video. This particular plane is named the Florida One, for its artwork featuring the state flag.

Sony`s Eye Candy Demo Reel. I'm not exactly sure what this is trying to sell me, but it sure is pretty.

Couch Cushion Architecture: A Critical Analysis. A (sort of) serious critique of dozen of structures built from living room furniture presented in two parts. (via Laughing Squid)

Spend a few minutes in the 1960s. This is like coming home for some of us, or like an entirely different planets for younger folks.

The Top 12 Things Uttered by Yoda During Sex.

15 Hilarious No Parking Signs. I'd love to hide and watch these penalties carried out.

The Boston Typewriter Orchestra

Find out more bout them at their website.

A Zoot Suit (For My Sunday Gal)

Dorothy Dandridge and Paul White, 1942.

Horse Racing Hijinks

Today is the 136th annual Kentucky Derby! To get into the mood, about about videos of some classic races from all over featuring creatively-named horses. The first four feature legendary sportscaster Tom Durkin lending his abilities to the silliness. Watch them all in this collection I posted at mental_floss.