QAnoners pride themselves on being independent thinkers who know the real truth. And the latest version of the QTruth is that drinking "industrial disinfectant mixed into a chemical cocktail" is a swell idea.
From Raw Story:
— Read the restQAnon cultists gathered in Dallas have started drinking an industrial disinfectant mixed into a chemical cocktail.
Kenyon Wilson is a professor of performing arts at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and this semester, he ran an experiment: hiding a cash prize in a locker and burying the location and lock combination deep in the syllabus. At the end of the semester, the money was still there. — Read the rest
Marjorie Taylor Greene proved the GOP is diverse in her opening speech during a rally at Turning Point USA's "AmericaFest" on Sunday by using a racial slur against Asian Americans.
"When I walked in yesterday, I was like, what kind of people come here?" — Read the rest
This video about how run down Gary, Indiana is begins with a remarkable image: the main road to it from a neighboring suburb has been bricked up. Welcome to The Most Miserable City in America! Formerly the murder capital of the U.S., — Read the rest
Julian Lucas supplies today's illustration of Betteridge's Law of Headlines, on the subject of writing itself: "Can "Distraction-Free" Devices Change the Way We Write?"
— Read the restI tried "distraction-free" writing apps that encouraged mindfulness, disabled the backspace key, or, in a few extreme cases, threatened to delete everything if I took my hands off the keyboard (Write or Die).
Paleoburrows are the vernacular architecture of extinct megafauna. With enough headroom for the average-height human, the giant sloth tunnels of Brazil speak to the industry of their creators.
— Read the restOnce Professor Frank got a taste of one tunnel, he went looking for more and was shocked to see just how many were laying in plain sight.
Looking at the wave of video game mascots with an attitude created to cash in on Sonic the Hedgehog's early 90s dominance feels like a fever dream. There was an innumerable roster of pretenders to the throne with games like Awesome Possum, Fartman, and Gex littering the market. — Read the rest
Yours for $500 is this remarkable work of art crafted in the unusual medium of hacked-up game consoles. "Sega Saturn Devouring His Son" is by Josh Oliver and a perfect accompaniment for a story today about how Sega exective Yuji Naka helped kill the Dreamcast by killing one of its most promising exclusive titles. — Read the rest
Nurdles are lentil-sized pellets of plastics—polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and so on—that are used to make everything from consumer goods to the containers we ship them in. They're an environmental terror, not least because they look like food to aquatic life. Some 230,000 tons of them are set afloat on the high seas every year. — Read the rest
Through his brilliant array of imaginative films, Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder of Studio Ghibli, has not only turned a couple of Western generations into anime fans but helped expand the visual language for millions of film fans. Recently, the accomplished director announced that he is getting set to work on his last film. — Read the rest
Four hours of the recent 2021 Game Awards boiled down to 8 minutes of new game reveals. Time saving!
Image: Screengrab
I just published a new guide over at Wirecutter that goes into exquisite detail about the best at-home karaoke machines. This involved a surprising amount of research just to figure out what the hell a modern karaoke machine actually entails:
— Read the restThe biggest challenge we faced with this guide was also the most basic part of it: What exactly is a "karaoke machine," anyway?
Growing up Black in the West means that learning a narrow version of world history is inevitable. Even if you took AP classes in high school, the European perspective was always the main course in any history class. That isn't to say that understanding the nations and events that solidified Western dominance isn't valuable, but having the appropriate amount of nuance regarding the divergent cultures that influenced European life would be helpful. — Read the rest
On Sunday, December 19th, Andrew Marr signed off for the last time.
"I had been wondering how to close this final show but I can't do better than quoting my great mentor: you stay classy, San Diego."
Andrew Marr
If you haven't seen Anchorman (in a while), the two-minute scene containing the golden line is here. — Read the rest
On this episode of Monstrum, they look at the origins of everybody's favorite Christmas devil, Krampus.
Image: Screengrab
This time last year, I shared a hilarious tribute album by the B-69s, a tribute band that covers other artists' songs in the style of the B-52s. Welp, now they're back with an equally absurd follow-up titled "Non Funkable Token'," which includes covers of Britney Spears' "Toxic" and "Call Me By Your Name" by Lil Nas X. — Read the rest
Even though the world is beginning to open up slightly, you'll understand my hesitancy to start booking flights. In lieu of actually traveling, I've been content to compile a list of sights and locations for my bucket list. I ain't Anthony Bourdain, but I tend to lean towards places a little off the beaten path. — Read the rest
It's fascinating how interwoven the worlds of organized crime and entertainment are. From Sinatra to early stand-up comedy and Hollywood, gangsters were among the most important patrons in entertainment history. There's money laundering to think of, but I like to imagine my gangsters with a refined cultural palate, equivalent to an Austrian Archduke in the 1500s. — Read the rest
Since 2002, the Alpha Writers Workshop has hosted a group of a teenagers from 14 to 19 years of age for an 11-day residential writing workshop at the University of Pittsburgh's Greensburg campus. As far as I'm aware, it's the only teen workshop to focus on science fiction, fantasy, and horror writing, too. — Read the rest
"Fall asleep to the sounds of the world around us," promises Real Life Ambience, "1 Hour of fire sounds for the whole family."
My own contribution to this satirical genre was 10 HOURS HENRY KISSINGER ULTIMATE RELAXATION, featuring 10 hours of gently panning and fading footage of Dr. — Read the rest