Okay, I will admit that there is no such species as a Ukrainian leopard, but Leeloo the leopard was born in a sketchy petting zoo in Ukraine. Her mother rejected her because she wouldn't eat, and she was getting weaker every day. Then Leonid and Valentina Stoyanov stepped in. They are married veterinarians who decided to stay in Ukraine when war broke out to take care of the animals.
This video doesn't go into what was exactly wrong with the cub, but the Vet Crew said it was "a long list of serious health problems." Leeloo underwent two operations and intense therapy before she regained her health. That was three years ago, and now Leeloo is the queen of their sanctuary.
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Saving a Ukrainian Leopard
The History of House Colors
What color your house is may depend on when it was built, and whether the owner follows fashion or function, although the two may be entwined. As the owner of a bright daffodil yellow house in a white vinyl neighborhood, I follow neither. There are always outliers. But Stewart Hicks takes us through the reasons that the dominant house colors change over time.
One reason is which building materials, paint colors, and innovative siding was available. Also, there was a historic trend thrown in when people went from colors that hid dirt to colors that highlighted dirt. In some eras, people just got tired of houses that all looked alike, but then HOAs came in and reversed a colorful trend. Picking a color means risking your home's resale value, offending the neighbors, or making a decision you might regret. Maybe that's why neighborhoods tend to move toward the monochrome, even when it's a weird color like black.
You can lament the lack of color in houses all you want, but there are reasons why people choose the house color they do. I was once able to tell people I had the yellow house near the river, and they instantly knew where I lived. Now they just ask for an address for their GPG system. This video is only ten minutes long; the rest is promotional.
Bootleg
Dram O' Sham @danpirarobizarro.bsky.social @comicskingdom.bsky.social
— Wayno® (@wayno.bsky.social) September 17, 2026 at 3:31 PM
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Monday, September 21, 2026
Why Americans Are So Cautious About Travel
Laurence Brown looks at the difference between the way Americans consider travel and the way Europeans do. There are a few factors at work here. Americans travel a lot without even thinking of it as "travel." We can drive 100 miles to try out a new restaurant, while Europeans would consider that a "road trip." My youngest drives three hours to see me every weekend. It takes at least three days to drive from one end of the country to the other, the equivalent of Europeans crossing a dozen nations. But we do it all the time, in a car, and it's no wonder we think about the safety of those in those cars. And that's just the first part of this video. There's a skippable sponsor message sneaking up on you at 2:50 that lasts until 3:58.
The Search for Green
We are surrounded by green because it's the color of an entire kingdom of life. The green in plants comes from chlorophyll, but chlorophyll has to be constantly produced. When a plant dies, production stops and the green breaks down pretty quickly. But the color is important to artists, who want to recreate the real world. To make green pigment for paint, you have to go to other chemicals, and that's been a difficult journey for a couple of thousand years. Natural ingredients that made green pigment all had something wrong- the paint faded, reacted badly with other pigments, or was downright poisonous. Or it could just be prohibitively expensive. This video from the Getty Museum goes through the many minerals and other materials used for green pigment over the centuries.
You don't have to be afraid of green paint now. What you'll find at an art supply store is synthetic- the product of modern chemistry and safety standards. (via The Kid Should See This)
Miss Cellania's Links
Dementia Donnie runs a demented campaign. The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
The Most Extraordinary Defense Mechanisms in the Animal Kingdom: A Visual Guide. (via Nag on the Lake)
This dog is an angel. https://bsky.app/profile/keeprising.bsky.social/post/3mvrvjbs4rc25
The Mystery of Hildegard von Bingen’s Secret Language. (via Strange Company)
The Jeopardy! in-jokes are getting weirder. (via Fark)
A MAGA heckler gets obliterated at a Polish comedy club.
The Blind Birdwatcher. Juan Pablo Culasso could be the reason we call them birders now.
Agios Neophytos: The Hermit People Couldn't Manage to Leave Alone.
LEGO Wheelchair for Turtle
An employee of the Maryland Zoo found an injured box turtle that couldn't walk, and brought it to the zoo's hospital to see if anything could be zone. His fractured under-side shell was glued together with splints, but how to keep him up off the ground while he heals? The solution was a frame built of LEGO pieces! It could be a year before the frame can be completely removed, but meanwhile, he's getting around just fine. (via Mental Floss)
Vote
VOTE !!!!!!!
— Pissed-Off Scientist (@rockney.bsky.social) September 18, 2026 at 12:12 AM
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Sunday, September 20, 2026
Normal People vs Americans
Ben Reid is a young British man who finds Americans very strange. Here he contrasts the way British people do things with the way Americans do them. But it becomes apparent that he's been observing young American males only. We older Americans have our own way of eating Oreos, and while it is different, it's not frying them. Or maybe he hasn't really been paying attention, because younger Americans don't drink tap water at all, which is why Mom refills your bottles for you. His notions are still humorous.
The World's Oldest Recorded Song
The Seikilos epitaph is a marble tombstone from the first century that has a song recorded in its stone inscription. The large letters, in Koine Greek, contain a poem about grief.They are accompanied by marks above each word that indicate the musical notation. The stone was discovered in 1893 in the town of Ayden, Turkey, and followed a circuitous route to the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen, where it resides today.
We have documentary evidence of older songs, but those are in fragments, while this stone contains a complete song. The musical notation on the Seikilos epitaph is not so old that it couldn't be translated, and that's why we are able to hear the song as it was meant to heard. The lyrics are appropriate to a tombstone, about the fleetingness of life and the futility of grief. Instead, we are encouraged to enjoy life while we have it.
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