The scaredy-cat great Dane Scooby-Doo and his human buddies have been solving mysteries for over 50 years now. The series Scooby-Doo, Where are You! first aired on September 13, 1969. No one knew that the concept would still be popular into the 21st century. The characters never age, the basic plot is used over and over, and the look has gone from hip to passé to nostalgic in that time. But people still love Scooby and friends.

Scooby-Doo has appeared in a whopping 16 television series, two live-action films, 35 direct-to-DVD movies, 20 video games, 13 comic book series and five stage shows. Now, with “Scoob!,” the Mystery Incorporated gang will appear in a CGI feature-length film, which, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is going to be released to video-on-demand on May 15.

What many people don't know now is how much of a game-changer the show was in 1969. To understand that, you have to go back in time to see the series in its context among other kids' shows to see what was different about Scooby-Doo. That's where senator and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy came in, which you can read about at Smithsonian.

Last month, we saw a filmmaker use a facehugger as a mask. Now, you can, too! Order this facehugger mask with or without a tail, cat not included, from Well Done Goods. They also have face masks featuring the visage of Cthulhu and the hotel carpet from The Shining. That's the way to wear your geekness! -via Geeks Are Sexy

Life imitated art because Wile E. Coyote once again failed to catch his prey.

Michael Bogan, a zoologist at the University of Arizona, captured this video in Tuscon on May 9. CBS News (auto-start video) reports that the coyote was curiously lacking any fine equipment from the Acme Corporation, such as the anvils that are commonly used to capture roadrunners.

-via Dave Barry

You know what bats are, and you know about fish. Then there's the batfish, which is not at all like a bat, and not much like a fish, either. The batfish walks around (yes) and breathes through what look like eyes or mouths in its armpits. Armpits? On a Fish? Let Ze Frank explain the batfish to you in his own inimitable way.

Anime film producer Toshio Suzuki teaches us how to draw Totoro, one of Studio Ghibli’s iconic characters, in less than a minute. He also teaches us the secret of drawing the said character, and that is by drawing its eyes far apart.

See the full video over at BBC.

(Image Credit: BBC)

British-French illustrator Edmund Dulac created lovely Art Nouveau illustrations for decades. He interpreted the works of the Brontë sisters, Hans Christian Andersen, Edgar Allan Poe, and Omar Khayyam, among others. However, that wasn't the plan that his father had for his life.

Dulac was born in Toulouse, France in 1882. Having completed studies in law, he was going to spend the rest of his life as lawyer when he had a change of heart.

Cher Journal: Well, trouble brewing again. Mon père… Furious upon opening my law books, and seeing page upon page of wizards, mermaids, and unicorns painted by me over “the sacred words.” On explaining to him that these creatures are more real and dear to me than le droit privé [private law], father’s promptly turned the color of a freshly boiled lobster.
    Edmund, June 3, 1900

During World War I, Dulac suffered from lack of paid work, but drew anyway to support the Red Cross and other relief efforts. Read the story of Edmund Dulac and see many of his gorgeous illustrations at Messy Nessy Chic.

The town of Gustavus, Alaska isn't accessible by road. If you want to go there, you have to travel by ship or plane. The 446 residents are at the end of a fragile supply chain that has been imperiled by the coronavirus pandemic. Fortunately, Toshua Parker, the owner of the only grocery store in town, bought a 96-foot long ship a few years ago to make sure that he could supply his customers.

Since the state shut down the ferry service, Parker has been making a weekly 7-hour trip to and from the Costco in the state capital of Juneau. He loads up his ship with groceries and resells them to his customers in Gustavus. The Hustle tells the story of his store, dubbed "Toshco":

“It’s an art form, not a science,” says Parker. “The town might have a 100-gallon swing in demand for milk from one week to the next without any explanation of why. One week, nobody wants whole milk; the next week, everyone wants 2%.”

Toshco employees have been on the phone nonstop, taking down special orders from Gustavus residents — everything from washing machines to baking powder.

Oftentimes, Parker maxes out on the rations Costco imposes at the store to protect against panic buying.

Parker has to be creative in order to keep Gustavus residents supplied:

“Thinking outside of the box [is] the secret to success,” says Parker’s father, Lee. “You start by brainstorming non-traditional sources — vendors that most folks may be surprised even have toilet paper in their inventory. Then you get on the phone and start calling everyone around the country until you find a place to buy a pallet. Some of Toshua’s finds are brilliant. And because of that, Toshco has TP when the rest of the world has empty shelves.”

-via Marginal Revolution | Photos: Sean Neilson

Nebula-75, the improbable puppet drama produced entirely within the confines of lockdown and filmed in a small London flat, has released it's third episode. "Short Circuit" expands upon the world developed during Century 21 Films' debut story (a two episode epic), by introducing Rusty the space scrap merchant and his battered old space ship. Things also look bad for the crew's faithful Robot companion, Circuit, who seems to be suffering from one malfunction too many!

The Century 21 Films team began work on the Supermarionation series as a result of lockdown being imposed in the UK. Left with derailed projects, time on their hands, and a flat filled with puppets, props, and set elements from their previous projects, they decided to attempt to produce a unique "Superisolation" series for 2020. Having now released their third instalment of the show, the team have been encouraged by the reaction their creation is getting:

STEPHEN: Considering the fact that it was initially only publicised on our own social media pages, it has had extremely good reaction thus far. We've been inundated with messages across e-mail, Twitter and Facebook from people saying how much they enjoyed the show – especially during these difficult times. As we've seen with each of our releases – which have included the feature documentary Filmed in Supermarionation, a million pound advert for the Halifax, three new episodes of Thunderbirds and a guest spot on Endeavour ­– there's a real appetite to see a brand new show in this style. Nebula-75 is being made in very compromised circumstances – so it's a testament to the appeal of these puppets that so many can see past the limitations and be drawn into the drama of marionettes and space vehicles on strings. 

ELLIOT: A lot of people seemed to enjoy Circuit, our robot character, and the more retro aspects of the production. It clearly reminds a lot of people of the series they grew up loving as children, but they also enjoy the opportunity to meet new characters in a new selection of adventures. A lot of people seem to be enjoying watching it with their children as well and reaching that family audience means a lot to us. We're also started to receive fan art, which is amazing!

Can we expect to see further episodes from the series? "We've got lots of ideas for future episodes," says art department supervisor Géraldine Donaldson. "Our imaginations are unlimited, even if the same can't be said for the space in the living room!"

You can catch up with the adventures of Commander Ray Neptune and the crew of NEBULA-75 for free via Century 21 Films.

What happens when the media gets involved in legal cases? Will the hype affect the decision of the court? What are the comments of the people who get to follow the case? Will they find the court just or unjust?

Throughout time, some unsettling court cases have been documented and were published by the media. The people also had the opportunity to follow such cases. Now, we'll get to be in the shoes of these people through Trial by Media.

Trial by Media, whose executive producers include George Clooney, Court TV creator Steven Brill and longtime CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin (whose book on the Simpson trial inspired Ryan Murphy’s 2016 Emmy-winning drama The People v OJ Simpson) is a deeply researched, bitingly edited sprawl of a series that favors identifying America’s tentacled media and criminal justice system over one pointed argument. It revisits six cases – some famous, others less so – in which the media played an outsized role. “We wanted a mix of cases that were famous and recognizable, and cases that were … just bizarre and fascinating on their own terms,” Toobin, a New Yorker staff writer, told the Guardian.

Video Credit: Netflix

Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4 in its years has served a lot of games. Some of the notable games that have used this game engine are Tekken 7, Tetris Effect, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), and Street Fighter V. Aside from games, the engine is also used by filmmakers and advertisers. 

With Unreal Engine 4 already being six years old, it is about time that Epic Games released its successor, Unreal Engine 5, which pushes everything from lighting effects to realism towards the next level.

Check out this video and see it in your own eyes.

Via Engadget

(Video Credit: Unreal Engine/ YouTube)

Despite being over a decade old, the game Punch-Out!! for the Wii still looks good to this day. But more than its aesthetics, it’s really the gameplay experience that sells the game. With the different opponents that you will fight (with each of them having different personalities and their own tells when they punch), you’ll surely have a great time playing the game.

Dan from New Frame Plus tells in detail what makes Punch-Out!! For the Wii great, and why its animation is phenomenal.

(Video Credit: New Frame Plus/ YouTube)

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology developed a new camera that can take seventy trillion frames per second. That’s right, a whopping seventy trillion frames. The discovery is called compressed ultrafast spectral photography, or CUSP. Popular Mechanics has more details: 

Prior imaging developments based on silicon sensors have ushered in speeds up to millions of frames per second, Lihong Wang, a medical engineering and electrical engineering professor at Caltech, tells Popular Mechanics. But that still isn't nearly fast enough to observe and document some of the most fleeting curiosities in our physical world, from nuclear fusion, to ultrashort pulses of light on the order of picoseconds (10−12 second), to the fluorescent radioactive decay of molecules.

image via Popular Mechanics

#ICYMI Here is our image comparing #AsianGiantHornet to other flying insects. No, its name is not the #murderhornet pic.twitter.com/cwIgIPGC1t

— WA St Dept of Agr (@WSDAgov) May 3, 2020

With the arrival of an invasive insect species in Washington state, and with the New York Times publishing a story about them, the usage of the term “murder hornet” has rapidly increased in the last week. Entomologists, however, say that naming these species as “murder hornets” is irresponsible.

"It's a ridiculous name," said Akito Kawahara, an entomologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History who researches the evolution and diversity of insects. "I think it's totally misleading."

"Insects already have a bad perception," he added.

[...]

The insects are not even commonly called "murder hornets" in Japan, where they're native. "No one calls them 'murder hornet,'" explained Kawahara. "People there often call them a 'large hornet' or a 'giant hornet,'" he said.

While these hornets are not aggressive to humans (except when you poke their nests), they could, however, be a threat to Western honey bees. But Kawahara assures the people.

"Don't freak out," cautioned Kawahara, noting it's unknown how many hornet colonies there are in the U.S. "Lots of things come to the country and they aren’t able to survive. Just be aware."

More details about this over at Mashable.

In summary, just call it a large hornet.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: WA State Dept. of Agriculture/ Twitter)

If you haven't got any hot water and your heating isn't working then you'll need an engineer. Ringing 999 and asking for the police won't help you. #Not999

— WYP Contact Management Centre #StayHomeSaveLives (@WYP_Contact) May 10, 2020

A few days ago, the West Yorkshire Police Contact Management Center of England reminded the public to not call them for non-emergency situations. Apparently, someone called 999 (Britain’s equivalent to 911) and reported that their hot water wasn’t working.

"If you haven't got any hot water and your heating isn't working then you'll need an engineer. Ringing 999 and asking for the police won't help you," the police department tweeted.

A similar reminder was also issued last month by the Essex Police when someone phoned 999 to report that their neighbor was snoring loudly.

(Image Credit: @WYP_Contact/ Twitter)

Check out this crocheted aquarium made by Italian artist Lindadi of Le Creazioni Di Lindadi. The said aquarium features various aquatic creatures, such as clownfish, jellyfish, octopus, and turtles. She even crocheted the seagrass! If that’s not dedication and passion, then I don’t know what is. Just look at this. It’s amazing!

Some of her creations are available at her online store.

Via Laughing Squid

(Image Credit: Le Creazioni Di Lindadi/ Facebook)