The shark that crashed into a roof in Headington, UK, might have been one of the first viral images you ever saw on the internet. The Headington Shark was erected on August 9, 1986, by homeowner Bill Heine and sculptor John Buckley. The neighbors were at first shocked, then amused, and then came around to very much liking the shark. The local planning commission was not notified, and no building permit was issued. They were not amused. They didn't want to forgive the violation of its authority, and didn't want to encourage other people to do that sort of thing. Heine battled bureaucrats for years to get permission to leave the shark up. Over time, it became clear that no one else was going to cut through their roofs to make a statement, so the shark was eventually reconsidered as a unique piece of art. Tom Scott gets the whole story from Bill Heine's son and current owner of the house Magnus Hanson-Heine.

Somewhere between seven million and five million years ago, our distant ancestors started walking upright on two feet. This allowed them to do all kinds of things with their hands, like use tools and make fire, and they became hominins. In the classic illustration The March of Progress, we see a chimpanzee-like ape gradually turning in a modern human, walking more upright in each version. That gave us the idea that human evolution was progressive, but we now know that's not true.

Millions of years ago, there were multiple species of early hominins, and they left very different footprints. They walked differently from each other, even in the same time periods, in the same places where they left evidence of their existence. We don't know how or if they interacted, but we know that the different species were "trying out" different ways of walking bipedally. One study identifies at least five different shapes of hominin feet in a million-year period, from both footprints and fossils. They all had both human-like and apelike features, meaning they could walk and climb trees with them. Environmental pressures must have favored those who walked on two feet, but only one style of upright walking led to the much later homo sapiens. Read about the research that led us to learn the many walking styles of our ancestors at Scientific American. -via Damn Interesting

(Image credit: Paul Keller)

The road in front of my house just got a new layer of blacktop. I don't know why; we didn't have potholes or crumbling pavement. Then I realized there is an election coming up. Bingo! But roads elsewhere need to repaved often due to weather conditions and high traffic that wear out the asphalt. In New York City, it's often the case of gaining access to underground utilities. While most places put some old asphalt back into the system to be recycled, New York uses 100% recycled asphalt and it works just fine. This video shows how they do it, and why other communities should, too. Upgrading the recycling process would involve initial expenses, but it would pay off over time. And that's a problem- no governmental body wants to spend money now in order to save money for other people who will be in office by then. -via TYWKIWDBI

Disney's animated film Lilo & Stitch came out twenty years ago. It was a very different film from what we expected from Disney at the time, with hand-drawn animation and watercolor backgrounds in the vibrant colors of Hawaii. We loved the story of a little girl, her naughty best friend, and her big sister struggling to stay together as a family. That overshadowed the fact that it was a science fiction film about aliens. But the real story of how Lilo & Stitch turned out to be so unique was the fact that it was made on a relatively small budget by Disney standards, and that it was made at their Orlando studios, away from the suits in Los Angeles. The animators had the freedom to do what they do best without micromanaging executives tweaking every detail, as is standard for the company.

Writer/directors Christopher Sanders and Dean DeBlois talk about how they made Lilo & Stitch, along with animators, voice actors, executives, and others involved with the movie. Read how they went to great lengths to make the film authentic to culturally sensitive Hawaii, how Stitch went from an odd woodland creature to a  bratty alien, how artists had to learn the lost techniques of watercolor, how Ricardo Montalbán was cut from the film, and how 9/11 forced last minute changes in a compelling oral history of Lilo & Stitch. It will make you want to watch the movie once again. -via Metafilter

Bonus: The Art of Lilo & Stitch.

When you first see this birthday cake, you think, "Gaaahhh!" But then you look closer and decide you'd love to have this cake given to you. Those feelings are reflected in the comments under the post at reddit. It's not a cake wreck, as you might assume at first. The title said, "My mother made this cake for my sister-in-law. It yearns for the sweet embrace of death". Thiagooxr told us how it came about.

In case you aren't familiar with Flork of Cows, (more about), this is not necessarily a cow because all of the characters are drawn this way. And the fact that the sister-in-law received it after her own family forgot her birthday makes it altogether wholesome. I mean, look at all those strawberries! I'm glad they took pictures before they ate it all up.

Michael and Bridget Cleary had been married for eight years in 1895. It was reportedly a happy marriage, although they had no children. Bridget was a sort of independently-minded woman, which didn't sit all that well with the townspeople of Ballyvadlea, Ireland.

It was that year that Bridget took ill and was bedridden for more than a week, so ill that she was given last rites. Her husband came to think there was a supernatural cause- fairies. Folklore had it that fairies sometimes took a woman away to bear their children and left a fairy inhabiting the woman's body. Michael Cleary and some of his friends believed that Bridget was a victim of such a possession, and gathered to exorcise the fairy. They tortured the sick woman until she started acting normal again (which is most likely because her fever broke), but Michael still believed this was not his wife. So he set the clothing she was wearing on fire and buried her body away from their home. Then he sat for three days waiting for the fairies to bring his wife back.

Was Michael Cleary that suggestible, or did he believe in fairy tales all along? Or was he just looking for an excuse to get rid of his wife? Read the details of the murder of Bridget Cleary, along with the lore of Irish fairies, at Atlas Obscura.

The Hangogre returns after a wild Friday night only to be full of regret.

because today is INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY! OUR CAPS LOCK IS STUCK AND ALL WE CAN DO FOR THE REST OF THE DAY IS YELL.

THE HANGOGRE HAS MANY REGRETS THIS DAY#HANGOGRE #HEROESOFBARCADIA #DRINKING #UGH pic.twitter.com/MDwsvS8h3U

— Rollacrit (@Rollacrit) October 22, 2022

TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY, BUT SINCE CAPS LOCK IS SO ANNOYING, I will stop using it now. Using the caps lock as a habit came about as the internet user base grew exponentially, and suddenly we had people all over the world communicating by typing who didn't know how to type. These users soon fell into two groups: those who typed with the caps lock on because it was easier than constantly using the shift key, and those who hated to read anything typed in all uppercase letters because it feels like we are being shouted at. Since then, some people use all caps because they mean to shout, while others still just don't want to use the shift key. I have to admit that I never learned to touch type, but reading all caps is exhausting, so I deal with the shift key. Still, there are some who have more interesting stories about their caps lock use, like Mefite RonButNotStupid.

BY THE TIME I WAS IN FIFTH GRADE, I HAD MOSTLY TAUGHT MYSELF HOW TO TOUCHTYPE EXCEPT THAT I HADN'T YET FIGURED OUT HOW TO USE THE SHIFT KEYS. SO I ALWAYS TYPED EVERYTHING WITH CAPS LOCK ON, BECAUSE I FIGURED LOWER CASE WASN'T SO IMPORTANT ANYWAY BECAUSE THERE WERE STILL OLD APPLE II MACHINES KICKING AROUND SCHOOL THAT COULD ONLY TYPE UPPER-CASE.

I GOT BUSTED FOR IT IN COMPUTER CLASS. WE HAD TO TYPE A STORY. I WAS SO PROUD BECAUSE I WAS SEVERAL PAGES AHEAD OF THE OTHER KIDS WHO WERE HUNTING AND PECKING LIKE AMATEURS WHEN THE TEACHER LOOKED OVER MY SHOULDER AND SAID "YOU CAN'T TYPE WITH THE CAPS LOCK KEY ON, YOU HAVE TO START OVER". AND SINCE WE WERE USING SOME CHILD-FRIENDLY WORD PROCESSOR ON MAC LCIIS WHICH DIDN'T HAVE ANY FEATURE TO ALGORITHMICALLY CHANGE THE CASE, I HAD TO GO ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE BEGINNING AND RE-TYPE EVERYTHING.

International Caps Lock Day was first proposed in 2000 on Metafilter by Iowa software engineer Derek Arnold. A second International Caps Lock Day, June 28, was added later in honor of Billy Mays, the beloved pitchman who always seemed to be shouting. Mays passed away on June 28, 2009.

As the world shifted from people who can't type on a computer to people who can't type on smartphones, all caps became less of a thing, because iPhones do not have a caps lock key for texting, and in fact make any uppercase letter that's not at the beginning of a sentence or the word "I" into a chore.

The proper way to celebrate International Caps Lock Day is to engage the caps lock key on your keyboard and use it all day to annoy your friends and everyone on the 'net. Or not, because it's a holiday you aren't obligated to celebrate. Thank you. -via Metafilter

Image from a horror movie? Nope. That’s the very real face of an ant.
An ant.
Now you have to think about that all night. pic.twitter.com/HOWLTlnfJ1

— Rebekah McKendry, PhD (@RebekahMcKendry) October 17, 2022

Last week in the Nikon Small World competition, one image tucked down into the "images of distinction" gallery went viral, possibly because Halloween is near, and everyone has been watching too many horror films. It was the face of an ant, taken by Lithuanian nature photographer Dr. Eugenijus Kavaliauskas.

Look at those red eyes with slit pupils! Those devil horns! Those sharp snaggly teeth! Sure, that's a face that you wouldn't want to see emerging from the dark, but you wouldn't see it at all, even in broad daylight. It's just too small. Yes, it would make a great model for a movie monster. Still, cooler heads had to come in and explain what we are seeing.

for those confused, these red, circular things are not its eyes, they're not on the photo, those are their antennal fossa, heres a picture where the eyes appear https://t.co/WBMfxJZMTG pic.twitter.com/uxU3Yf40gR

— Manuke (@ManukePoker) October 18, 2022

Oh yeah, that helps. So the top image is just the ant's nose, and his eyes are out of the frame. The ant's mandible looks like a chin. It just goes to show that when your nose alone looks like a demon, the rest of your face either doesn't matter or... it might be worse. -via Digg

I saw the title of this video and thought, "200 bassists! This must be Rockin' 1000." And I was right. The bass guitar section of Rockin' 1000 (previously at Neatorama) played "Under Pressure," originally by Queen with David Bowie, with that ever-recognizable bass line and all the melodies, harmonies, and flourishes played only on bass guitar. They were led by Charles Berthoud, who played the vocals ...on bass. -via Laughing Squid

Received this at my grandmas funeral. What an icon. pic.twitter.com/EhxhzHJfoZ

— gracie perryman (@qrracie) October 18, 2022

On Twitter, Gracie Perryman shares a wonderful photo from her grandmother's funeral. The grand lady exits the stage with a joke. Would you like to have a conversation with her even now? The ouija board will let you drop in to say hello at your local seance.

The early 17th century was a strange time in which religion, science, and superstition were muddled together, both for individuals and for society at large. Johannes Kepler was a deeply religious man who studied astrology as well as astronomy, and not as separate subjects. Today he is best known for using physics to determine the laws of planetary motion. But in 1615, and for years afterward, he was busy trying to keep his mother from being executed for witchcraft.

Katharina Guldenmann Kepler was by all accounts an outspoken and unpleasant woman, whose enemies exaggerated her faults and habits (such as making home remedies) until they resulted in her arrest. Katharina, already in her 70s, was arrested twice and spent more than a year imprisoned each time while her guilt was assessed. The astronomer put his life on hold to handle her legal defense. Read the story of Katharina Kepler's struggle against accusations of witchcraft at The Conversation.

(Image credit: Harke)

The right ring appears to rotate faster than the left one, though the velocity is the same. pic.twitter.com/YnJ9Uh6Hvq

— Akiyoshi Kitaoka (@AkiyoshiKitaoka) October 8, 2022

If you talk about optical illusions, eventually the conversation will turn to the work of experimental psychologist Akiyoshi Kitaoka, which has been featured many times here at Neatorama. One of his latest illusions shows us a couple of circles made of ovals rotating counterclockwise. Which one is going faster? The one on the right, of course! (It's only a couple of seconds long; to watch it again, click the GIF sign on the bottom left.) But when you study them individually, you realize they are rotating at the exact same speed. The right circle gives the illusion of faster movement because the parts of each oval are flashing pretty fast. Kitaoka didn't tell us the name of this illusion, so I just made one up. -via Digg

Volcanic eruptions are graded on a scale, the Volcanic Explosivity Index, to compare which ones are really the biggest. We've seen some pretty big ones, but nothing above a VE7. For those, you have to go back millions of years. Kurzgesagt explains the what causes volcanic eruptions, how we measure them, and whether we should be worried about a supervolcano. Hint: a wise man once told me that there's no use in worrying about things you can't do anything about. Also, Volcanic Explosivity Index would be a great band name.

The Amityville Horror came out in 1979. The horror film was about a haunted house in Amityville, New York, where a real-life mass murder had taken place in 1974, and new owners fled from the haunting in 1975. It was the second-highest grossing movie of 1979, and the highest-grossing independent film ever at the time. Of course there were sequels, prequels, and a reboot that followed. Only a few were in the so-called Amityville canon. Eventually the word "Amityville" came to be a shortcut for saying "this is a horror film." There are ten movies containing that word released in 2022 alone!

Most of the recent Amityville movies are direct to video or streaming. They stretch the limits of the imagination with titles like Amityville in Space, Amityville Karen, Amityville Bigfoot, and Amityville Christmas Vacation. These are real movies. I had to look them up to be sure. If you just type "Amityville" into IMDb, you get a ridiculously long list. Even when you discount the TV episodes, it's still a long list.

How do so many different filmmakers get away with this? The answer is in the 1989 lawsuit Lutz v. De Laurentiis, which is explained in an article at Paste magazine. Besides that, it has trailers for some of the more outrageous Amityville movies. -via reddit

Tom Scott showed us the fun of driving simulators, flight simulators, and even a railroad control simulator. Simulators have long been the safer and less expensive method of learning to operate expensive machinery, long before computer screens and virtual reality. That expensive machinery includes tanks, so Tom went to the Swiss Military Museum to check out how they trained tank operators in the 1970s. The terrain he's traveling is real, but it's very, very small. The trip is anything but smooth.