Metropolis is a major city in the US where Superman fights crime. The fictional city was always meant to be generic, formed from "metro," meaning city, and "polis," meaning city. But as children reading comic books, we always saw it as New York City. You might be surprised to learn that in the earliest Superman comic book, Clark Kent lived and worked in Cleveland. After relocating to the fictional Metropolis, clues in the comics pointed to it being New York, and it was explained that Metropolis was near Gotham City. Both cities later moved to different states.
The 2013 movie Man of Steel seemed to place Metropolis in Chicago. But the 2025 Superman has numerous clues that Metropolis is now in Delaware. The map above, enlarged in this reddit post, appears briefly in the film. The city is situated by Delaware Bay. The streets are named after people who worked on the film or on other Superman movies. It is also stamped with "Greater Cleveland Partnership." Those who know recognize a lot of Cleveland in the film, because a lot of it was filmed there. So why Delaware? Read the history of the city that moves from place to place at Big Think.
Humans as a whole tend to distrust anything new, or anything outside their communities' long-held traditions. Those in power felt particularly threatened by anything outside the norm, because people willing to think outside the box or try something new might just be a threat to them. And in many bygone societies, the punishment might be death. YouTuber Chill Dude Explains (previously at Neatorama) has eleven examples of things that are commonplace today, but were once a threat to civilization. Not all of them would necessarily lead to a death sentence, but they were pretty serious transgressions. Well, maybe not potatoes- the consequence of death was natural if you didn't know how to use them properly. Some of these activities could be overlooked on their own, but were used as additional evidence in a witchcraft trial, which led to death. There is a serious lack of dates connected to each story, and a location is rare, but I've posted about enough of these to know they are real.
Many people consider fall the best of seasons because we get relief from the heat and see the kids go back to school where they belong. And of course there's Halloween. But when you think about it, the whole season is full of traditions, from bonfires to football to Black Friday shopping. Some are ancient while others were dreamed up fairly recently because anything that's fun tends to be repeated. Many came out of harvest festivals as a way to show off and indulge in a bountiful crop of one sort or another. Others needs some further explanation. For example, the US holds elections on the first Tuesday in November because that made it convenient for farmers to participate. Black Friday is said to be the day that business are finally "in the black" for the year and the rest is profit, but that's not the origin of the tradition or the term. Read about 25 autumn traditions and where they came from at Mental Floss.
(Image credit: Caleb Zahnd)
The Bard said:
In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger
When hard times are upon us, we may rely upon the stiffened sinews of The Vulgar Chef, a man whom we know only by his title, his manful deeds, in the kitchen. Lo! He has crafted chocolate cups filled with the richest mayonnaise. Let us rejoice.
Gabrielle Wall from New Zealand has become the fastest person to run 100 metres entirely over LEGO.
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) September 2, 2025
Her time was 24.75 seconds and had to do the attempt completely barefoot. pic.twitter.com/nSxPdyPR0d
Stepping on LEGO blocks is a staple of webcomics and parental humor. It is one of those universal experiences for people with young children around. Gabrielle Wall, though, does it competitively. Watch her clear 100 meters in under 26 seconds. Notice that she uses a wide running stance. She developed it specifically for this event so that she can keep traction over the loose bricks.
The movie Superman will always be referred to as James Gunn's Superman or Superman 2025 to distinguish it from the other movies, TV shows, games, and other media with the same simple title. All of them expected to be the definitive version when they came out. This one was only released about seven weeks ago, so you will be forgiven if you intend to see it but haven't yet. According to this Honest Trailer, it's a lot. The first Superman movie specifically designed for Generation Alpha, it is full of social media and fake news. Supes and Lex Luthor aren't carrying the picture alone, though- there's a whole new roster of characters with super powers to meet, both good guys and bad guys, plus monsters, and a dog who steals the show. Screen Junkies pokes fun at Superman, but you get the idea that they enjoyed watching it. It's available for digital download now, and will be on DVD and blu-ray later this month.
The 25 Greatest Sports Movies of All Time, Ranked https://t.co/6Gd0vggsMj
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) August 21, 2025
The latest "list we can all argue about" gives us the 25 greatest sports movies of all time. There are a lot of truly great movies on the list, but they should have made it a list of 50, because everyone has a favorite that's not included. The movies that didn't make the list include Chariots of Fire, The Natural, Field of Dreams, Bend it Like Beckham, Happy Gilmore, The Mighty Ducks, Caddyshack, Cool Runnings, Major League, Miracle, Rudy, North Dallas Forty, The Karate Kid, and I, Tonya. Yes, there are a lot of sports movies.
I'm sure you'll disagree about some of the rankings. You can quibble with the definition of "sports" for this list. Cheerleading, okay, but is pool really a sport? You can also quibble about the definition of "movie," since one entry was made in five parts to be shown on TV. Now that we've gotten those arguments out of the way, go see the list of the 25 greatest sports movies at The Hollywood Reporter and find something you'll want to watch or rewatch tonight. -via Metafilter
As previously noted, the precise day in which World War II ended is nebulous. August 15 is normally celebrated as V-J Day, although it was on September 2 that Japanese officials boarded the USS Missouri to sign the instrument of surrender. Although some committed Japanese soldiers disputed it, we can reasonably say that World War II ended precisely 80 ago.
The US Naval Institute shares the above photo of a special card distributed to people who were on board the Missouri at the time of the surrender. Captain Stuart Murray, the commanding officer of that ship, burned the unused cards and threw the printing plates in the sea to ensure that no one could claim an honor that was not theirs.
Istanbul is famous for its many street cats, but Casablanca in Morocco also has thousands of technically homeless cats. And like Istanbul, they are fed and treated well so they are quite friendly to strangers.
Dr. Meryem Imrani runs a veterinary clinic in Casablanca. A cat came to the clinic by himself when he wasn't feeling well. Maybe someone in the neighborhood steered him in the right direction, or maybe he just knew it was the right place. In any case, Imrani treated him for a viral infection and nursed him back to health, and Rico never left. Instead, he settled in as a clinic cat and started taking care of feline patients himself. Rico turned out to be very social and empathetic to clinic patients, at least the cats, calming their fears, grooming them, keeping them company overnight. He even donated his blood at one point. Rico has found his calling.
You can see more of Rico and Imrani's patients at Instagram.
Here's a kind of internet post you might find on a holiday when no one feels like working, and Labor Day would be that holiday. Cracked found a reddit post asking for examples of badass heroes (or otherwise brave interesting people) of history that few people have heard of. Reading through the entries, I recognized some of these that have been featured right here at Neatorama. Unfortunately, the reddit post is seven years old and there's no link to it. The entries on the list are screenshots, so any links that were originally provided are not there. Well, it's a holiday and I have nothing better to do, so I looked up every one of them for you. Go read the short versions of the stories at Cracked, and if some name compels you to find out more, you can follow these links.
29. Digby Tatham-Warter
28. Subutai
27. Roman von Ungern-Sternberg
26. The Berserker of Stamford Bridge
25. Mannerheim
24. Michael I of Romania
23. Zenobia
22. Olga of Kiev
21. Vera Atkins
20. Carolus Rex
19. Chiune Sugihara
18. Julie d'Aubigny
17. Phùng Thị Chính
16. Wojtek
15. Miyamoto Musashi
14. Bass Reeves
13. Exekias
12. Mary Elizabeth Bowser
11. Yi Sun-Shin
10. Tokugawa Ieyasu
9. Vasil Levski
8. Witold Pilecki
7. Benkei
6. Mariya Oktyabrskaya
5. Mad Jack Churchill
4. Lucrezia Tornabuoni
3. Bertha Benz
2. Ching Shih
1. Ada Lovelace
This should keep you busy for a while.
Eric posts videos about his hobby of restoring rusty antique tools, and has built quite a following over the years. However, the latest video on his channel Hand Tool Rescue, months in the making, veered off into left field. He had found a free packet of seeds distributed in a seed catalog issued in 1926 (so the seeds were actually formed from 1925 tomatoes). Could he get them to germinate? His regular viewers were shocked when he revealed early in the video that he has a PhD in plant science, sparking comments about this being the worst tool restoration video yet.
The video is long, 24 minutes, but often funny and you can skip through if you don't want to learn all about his experiments with different germination media and his various failures and successes. But if you watch the whole thing, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat rooting for the survival of a (spoiler alert) single tomato seedling. -via Metafilter
The USS Constitution--one of the original six frigates commissioned for the nascent United States Navy--is technically still in active service. "Old Ironsides" earned her name during an engagement of the War of 1812 when British cannonballs bounced off her hull, leading one sailor to suggest that her sides were made of iron, not wood.
But they are indeed made of wood. Specifically, the Constitution consists primarily of White Oak. To ensure that the frigate remains in suitable condition should the Royal Navy ever again need a a good thrashing, the US Navy maintains a forest with mature White Oaks.
The Naval Support Activity of Crane, Indiana consists of 64,000 acres of forest, including the finest White Oak in the United States. The White Oak preserve is appropriately named "Constitution Grove."
-via J&L Historical | Photos: US Navy
When the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, it was delivered by a Boeing B-29 Superfortress named the Enola Gay. Strangely, the development of the airplane cost way more than the entire Manhattan Project that gave us the bomb. That's because the B-29 bomber was so different from planes that came before.
Modern long distance air travel is a matter of enduring hours in a crowded fuselage. But at the beginning of World War II, bomber crews flying at 30,000 feet had to wear oxygen masks and heated suits to survive at that altitude. The US needed a long-range bomber to reach the Asian theater and cover the great distances from our Pacific bases to Japan and other targets. That meant developing a pressurized cabin to mitigate the dangers of high-altitude flight. Other innovations in the B-29 included remote control bombing and three-point landing gear. While these features seem commonsense today, starting from scratch and getting them to work at wartime speed involved four factories, thousands of workers, and competition between companies and engineers. Read the story of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress that laid the groundwork for modern airlines at BBC Future. -via Damn Interesting
(Image credit: wallycacsabre)
Yesterday, The Ohio State University Buckeyes played the Texas Longhorns, and we have the opportunity to enjoy the halftime show without having to watch the game. That may sound weird to sports fans, but some of us care little for football. The Best Damn Band in the Land is all brass and percussion, with a saxophone, keyboard, bass guitar, and drums supplementing on a stage in the middle. They are known for their musical ability and clever formations that illustrate the song lyrics or the theme of the show, as we have seen before.
The university held five days of tryouts for TBDBITL only a couple of weeks ago, and the band received their first new uniforms since 2006. In the short time since then, they have practised diligently and put together a new show featuring familiar uptempo Gospel songs that work surprisingly well for a marching band.
Incidentally, Ohio State beat Texas 14-7.
The Long Walk is a film adaptation of an early novel by Stephen King. The depicts a contest in which people must walk continuously along a road at a speed of at least three miles per hour. Anyone who stops is killed. The last walker and sole survivor of the contest gets anything he wants as a reward.
Entertainment Weekly reports that the Culver Theater in Los Angeles is holding a special screening. Each audience member walks on a treadmill for the full duration of the film. Anyone who stops for any reason during the movie will be "removed" by theater staff.
-via @coopercooperco
