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The holiday season is upon us, which means it's that time of year to indulge in the things that make us happy while we're surrounded by loved ones. — Read the rest
We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views.
Back in school, mastering subjects like calculus and French was of utmost importance. But as you go about life, adulting your way through your complex personal issues and your chosen profession, it's clear you could've used a course or two in things like how to balance expenses, stay ahead of your taxes, and, most importantly, how to be as productive as possible. — Read the rest
While we are still waiting for more definitive proof, it would appear that Omicron is not so mutated that it escapes vaccine efficacy. If you are able to be vaccinated and haven't, or are eligible for a booster, please get right to it. — Read the rest
In 1997, someone claiming to be an alien took over this live Broadcast on BBC. The strange voice which came out of nowhere announced an important message to all Earthlings, which was taken very seriously by authorities at the time. — Read the rest
This incredible 1977 Dodge Tradesman B200 custom shaggin' wagon just sold for $40,000. From Bring A Trailer:
— Read the restThe interior features swiveling captain's chairs upholstered in beige vinyl with brown quilted fabric inserts and yellow trim as well as embroidered surfing bananas on the headrests and a Street Van badge on the glove box.
At least one disillusioned QAnon follower is speaking out, "tired of" the cult's shifty dates and broken promises of fantastical events that never materialize.
In an open letter to Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and John F. Kennedy Jr., — Read the rest
Nehemias Chipada, 68, reportedly climbed into a pool at a Philippines amusement park to snap photos with a 12-foot plastic crocodile. Unfortunately, the reptile wasn't plastic. Chipada was lucky in that he escaped with just wounds to his arm and is now recovering. — Read the rest
In this unbelievably surreal McDonald's training video from the 70s, you'll start to wonder if there was some kind of trippy sauce on everyone's burger. The training video stars American comedian and satirist, Pat Paulsen. The chaos begins to intensify at 3:38, when a fellow sticks his head under the soda fountain to drink directly from the spigot. — Read the rest
Welcome to Elfland, the hottest new neighbor in Somerville, Massachusetts. You can even find it on Google Maps! Luckily, it's so far safe from the real estate inflation affecting the rest of the area, because Elfland is only home to elves and dinosaurs. — Read the rest
For this final episode of the Futility Closet podcast we have eight new lateral thinking puzzles — play along with us as we try to untangle some perplexing situations using yes-or-no questions.
I feel like it should be mandatory for public-venue carpets to get cleaned regularly, but that would deprive the world of videos like this one, featuring Miles and Ethan from Advanced Cleaning Systems. Here, 12 years of grue and grime are lifted from a skating rink carpet with pro gear you can't buy at Target. — Read the rest
Via Lego Movie and Spiderverse filmmaker Chris Lord Miller:
I particularly like how all the actors sound like 60s sci-fi movie actors (although perhaps it'd be better if it were starring Charlton Heston).
This might be the most perfectly English horror movie setup imaginable. On Friday, November 26, 60-or-so people went to the Tan Hill Inn in Yorkshire — the pub with the highest elevation in Great Britain, at 1,732 feet above sea level — to see an Oasis tribute band. — Read the rest
Keymacs makes these Symbolics-style mechanical keyboards to order for people who like their Emacs set up just so—one will set you back €1,148, with some assembly required. The less dedicated among us can still enjoy the vibe with a vintage-style Space Cadet keycap set for standard keyboards.
Mattias Krantz tuned every key on his piano to E, then cut a board so he could play them all simultaneously. The result is an epic "chord" to rival the THX sound.
Andre Weissflog's Tiny Emus makes it easier than ever to jump into an old game or application. Just click on the thumbnail for the system (or system+queued title or demo) that you want and it pops up, ready for action. Covered here are 8-bits popular in the UK such as the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. — Read the rest
Design Toscano makes resin statues of several species of dino in what it describes as "Jurassic-size"—such as this parasaurolophus, about 8ft tall, enough to loom over humans but only a third or so as long as the extinct giants. One will set you back $5,680 plus tax. — Read the rest
We lost a true genius of musical theater with the passing of Stephen Sondheim last week. This video is a lovely little masterclass in musical coaching and a great way to remember the talent and the sweetness of this great artist of the 20th century. — Read the rest
From Vice:
— Read the restAfter graduating in Rome, Nicolas Gentile realised that big city life was not for him. He came back to his hometown on the hills of Abruzzo and decided to build his shire to live like a real-life hobbit.
PETA's not new to outlandish and sometimes-offensive publicity stunts (remember when they claimed milk caused autism?). The group's latest is a satirical online store selling goods made of "human" leather. Called "Urban Outrage," it features belts, skirts, and other "The Silence of the Lambs"-type products. — Read the rest
Hackers and Internet thieves are everywhere these days, and the threat of your systems and devices being breached means that keeping your PC safe these days isn't really an option. Going offline is also a rarity, and being connected to the world wide web only subjects you more to the digital pirates looking to steal your information. — Read the rest
A few messes here and there is no big deal, but too much clutter at home or in your workspace can make you anxious, adding unnecessary stress to your already-buzzing mind. But with all the gadgets you have to charge every single day, it's not hard to cover every tabletop with multiple cables, chargers, and other devices. — Read the rest
Martin Martinez, a Black parking permit inspector, recorded a man and his mother interrogating him about what he was doing in an apartment parking lot. Martinez started recording the woman and son, and the son attacked Martinez, who defended himself by knocking the son to the ground. — Read the rest
When the Delta variant of Covid-19 was first discovered, it was named B.1.617.2 — a scientific name that's part of the Pango nomenclature. But in May, the WHO decided to also assign Greek letters (like alpha, beta, etc.) as names for each variant to make them easier for the pubic to discuss, according to USA Today. — Read the rest
When I first saw this video of a creepy sculpture of a woman's face in a lake, I didn't realize how giant this stunning piece is. If you skip to 0:35 in the video, you'll see the sculpture's giganticness as Ruben Orozco Loza works on it. — Read the rest
A gentleman driver barreled down a residential street in Boston, managing to "heavily damage" at least four parked cars before flipping his own car. He and his passenger then escaped from the scene, according to NBC10 Boston, but the driver was later caught by police. — Read the rest
Disney, terrified at the prospected of having the spigot of HK$ flowing into its coffers shut off, quietly omitted an episode of The Simpsons that criticized China's official denial of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
From Bloomberg:
— Read the restIn the missing episode, "Goo Goo Gai Pan," the cartoon family visits the Beijing square where a character confronts a line of tanks — a reference to the famous Tank Man photograph — and a sign reads "Tien An Men Square: on this site, in 1989, nothing happened."
We bought my daughter a far-out astronaut animal backpack for traveling with her cat, but it's got nothing on this portable fish tank called a "Katsugyo Bag." In development by Ma Corporation in Japan, this, um, reefcase is apparently outfitted with technology to keep the water oxygenated and at the correct pressure. — Read the rest
Ex-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is best known for three things:
Disney+ is betting big on Boba Fett. I will watch it, because Star Wars, but I'm baffled as to how Boba suddenly became competent.
The exciting new thing here is Boba scuba diving with a second-stage demand regulator and no mask. — Read the rest
Viktor Tóth made a giant trackball and set his rat on top of it so it could enjoy running through the corridors of Doom.
— Read the restTL;DR I built a VR setup for rodents from scratch and trained three rats in an automated fashion, without manual intervention, to traverse a corridor rendered in the DOOM II engine.
In 1966, Jim Henson created this commercial for General Foods' Wheels, Crowns, and Flutes snacks. It never aired but is still notable as it featured the first appearances of several Muppets including the Wheel Stealer who would eventually become our beloved Cookie Monster. — Read the rest
The Nordicware Skull Bitelets pan is the perfect accompaniment to its larger sibling the ever-popular Skull Cakelet pan.
I will admit that I texted the link to this pan to my daughter before I clicked to buy one. However, when I wrote the text explaining how the bite-sized skulls would have a better surface area crispy-ness to inner-cakeyness and crumb, I was sold. — Read the rest
Because of the new coronavirus variant, Omicron, Israel says it is banning all foreigners from entering the country — except, that is, Miss Universe contestants.
"This is an event that will be broadcast in 174 countries, a very important event, an event that Eilat, too, is very much in need of," Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov said. — Read the rest
In one of many magical moments in Peter Jackson's documentary The Beatles: Get Back, Paul McCartney writes "Get Back."
"We were sitting in the studio and we made it up out of thin air … we started to write words there and then … when we finished it, we recorded it at Apple Studios and made it into a song to roller-coast by," McCartney said in The Beatles Anthology.
Canada is evidently having a maple syrup shortage. Luckily, they planned ahead.
CNN:
— Read the restAmid shortages, Canada is tapping into its strategic reserves. This time, for maple syrup.
The Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, a leading trade group, said it is releasing roughly 50 million pounds from its strategic maple syrup reserves, almost half of the stockpile, Bloomberg first reported.
Looking for great gifts for tabletop gamers? Here are some of my suggestions, based on games I've enjoyed this year, games friends have suggested, and games I'd love to see in front of my Yule log this year.
I didn't start out with the intention of doing an almost entirely indie game guide, but when I asked friends what games were special to them this year, most of what came back were small press efforts. — Read the rest
The United Kingdom, where more than half of adults drink alcohol at least weekly, is running out of stuff to drink because of driver shortages.
— Read the restThe drinks industry associationsaid that it was taking up to five times longer for some of its members to import wine and spirits than a year ago.
Abbie Richards updated her well-received conspiracy theory chart to account for the latest goings-on. One may certainly quibble with specific placements or emphases but it all looks pretty solid to me!
It's a tough one, especially for people who aren't "into" the whole cult of Rubik's Cube variants and the formulas and tricks we can use to solve them. But this video from J Perm describes a straightforward method for solving the 1x1x1 cube [Amazon] that almost anyone can put to use. — Read the rest
The comic book industry has always been a ripe place for exploitation, dating at least as far back as the earliest days of the superhero genre in the 60s. Creative workers who were brought on to write or draw seemingly-disposable pulp stories ended up accidentally setting new precedents in intellectual property rights when their creations inevitably turned into billion-dollar cash cows … with little to no financial compensation. — Read the rest
On November 23, 2021, the US Department of Defense announced the creation of a new taskforce dedicated to tracking and researching unidentified aerial phenomena: the the Office of the USD(I&S) the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG).
Okay so it's not the catchiest name ever. — Read the rest
I don't know about you, but I needed this. As Byrne quotes Dadaist Kurt Schwitters in the intro to the song, they are "Using nonsense to make sense of a world that doesn't make sense."
He also quotes Hugo Ball (author of the original nonsensical "I Zimbra" lyrics) on one of the artistic aims of Dada: "To remind the world that there are people of independent minds, beyond war and nationalism, who live for different ideals." — Read the rest
We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views.
Thought the shopping season was over? Time to think again. Cyber Monday is meant to be the digital version of Black Friday, but physical tech also gets plenty of love nowadays. — Read the rest
This Republican reenforces vaccine hesitance on FOX, yet claims to be a huge proponent of vaccination on CNN.
Scum.
Though you've probably missed your window of opportunity to take advantage of ample at-home time (well, unless these morons have anything to say about it), your home should still be a beacon of peace. That said, it's currently decorated more like a hopeless abyss of old puzzles looking to be finished and scenes from a failed TikTok trend attempt (face it, you're no meme spring chicken anymore). — Read the rest
Run out of things to do with the family? Because you all went through your activity book during quarantine, you're probably doing literally anything to kill time these days (especially since COVID restrictions are still being upheld by the world's finest and brightest). — Read the rest
We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views.
Set yourself up for the new year by treating yourself to learning. When you learn a new language, you can go see the world and interact with new cultures. — Read the rest
We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views.
This Black Friday, gamers are likely going for new consoles, peripherals, gaming chairs, and other gear that will optimize their gaming experience. — Read the rest
When Prince changed his name to a signature glyph in 1993, Warner Brothers issues a 3.5-inch floppy with the symbol as a font so that print publications could use it instead of saying "the artist formerly known as Prince."
In 2014 Anil Dash acquired a copy of the floppy for his collection, and just last week he took it to his friends at Adafruit to extract the data. — Read the rest
This weird german cat commercial was a hit with my cat. He was fixated on my computer screen all throughout the video, and even meowed a few times to the song. I can see where he is coming from, though, because this commercial rules. — Read the rest
Ben Marks says: "If you are a fan of Southern California modernist architecture in the first half of the 20th century, you are probably familiar with names like Irving Gill, Frank Lloyd Wright, his son Lloyd Wright, R.M. Schindler, and Richard Neutra. — Read the rest
Kitty and Mimmy's New Umbrella is an adorable stop-motion animation from 1981. This 24-minute film is great for Hello Kitty fans of all ages. The plot is about Hello Kitty and her twin sister Mimmy, who receive umbrellas from their mother on a rainy day, and embark on an adventure. — Read the rest
We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views.
Still holed up in the house while the world around you burns ever so gracefully in a myriad of ways? — Read the rest
In the spirit of Thanksgiving we can be grateful for the tabloids' pursuit of truth, justice and the American way – as long as the American way is dedicated to speculation, supposition, suspicion and sensationalism.
Britain's royal soap opera has gone into overdrive as if it's the season finale during Sweeps Week and the writers are scheming to kill off a major cast member if salary negotiations don't work out for the following year. — Read the rest
