USA Today reports that Brooklyn Anderson, a high school student student at a state-wide track and field competition in Oregon, stumbled at the end of a 100-meter hurdles race.

Even though she was in the lead, that fall probably would have ended her competitiveness in the race. But Anderson, relying on her background in gymnastics, turned the fall into a double somersault. Watch this video of her making the impossibly smooth rolls across the finish line.

Anderson was able to cross the finish line a split second before any of the other runners were, thus securing a first place finish and a time of 14.93 seconds.

-via ABC 7 News

A 2020 article in the magazine Naval History describes "Frankenships" -- ships that, like Frankenstein's monster, are built from parts of destroyed or damaged vessels.

HMS Nubian was a Tribal-class destroyer that was built in 1909 and torpedoed by a German u-boat in 1916 and lost her bow. HMS Zulu, a destroyer of the same class, hit a German mine in 1916 and lost her stern.

Engineers at Chatham Dockyard reasoned that, since the two ships were of the same class, it would be feasible for them join front half of Nubian to the back half of Zulu and put this new vessel into service. Thus the Royal Navy's Zubian --a name derived from those of her parents--was born in 1917. She would serve until disposed of in the postwar culling of the Navy 1919.

-via US Naval Institute

In February, Wendy Chadwick of Oldham, Manchester, UK died at the age of 51. She was a single mother of five children and, consequently, was not able to follow her dream of traveling the world.

BBC News reports that Chadwick's daughter, Cara Melia decided to do something about that loss. She placed her mother's ashes in a bottle and threw that bottle into the North Sea at the town of Skegness.

It was found twelve hours later on the same beach and mentioned on Facebook. But, we are happy to learn, Wendy Chadwick has resumed her eternal sea voyage with her daughter's hope will take her to Barbados or Spain.

-via Vit | Photos: Kelly Sheridan

This true-life story from Brazil would work really well as a premise for a romantic comedy film.

Daniela Signor first saw Apollo Scariot two years ago when she attended a funeral he was working. The story, as shared in the New York Post, is that Signor then began attending funerals that Scariot organized. She eventually made direct contact with them and they began dating. Signore then informed her boyfriend that she had shown up at his funerals to catch his eye. He hadn't noticed.

Signor definitely has Scariot's attention now. The couple just got married. Appropriately, they arrived at the wedding in a hearse provided by Scariot's employer.

-via Oddity Central | Photo: Daniela Signor

Do you remember the pet rock craze of the 70s? How about the invisible pet fad of the 80s? These were playful bits of counterculture in a bygone America. China is evidently experiencing a similar phenomenon.

Channel News Asia reports that young people in China are acquiring unconventional pets, including the aforementioned rocks, blobs of used toothpaste, sprouting mango seeds, and, most inventively, yeast cultures.

These novel pets get names and personality descriptions. Owners show them off online. Can a yeast culture be one of those Instagram pet influencers? I haven't found one yet, but surely that trend is coming soon.

-via Dave Barry

This is a slice of vinegar pie prepared by food blogger Southern Bite. It's a type of pie sometimes called "desperation pies" associated with by not necessarily originating in the Great Depression, when hard economic times required creative substitutions in popular foods. In this case, when a pie requires a certain tartness but citrus juice isn't available, vinegar will do.

This pie is one of 18 old fashioned and largely forgotten pie flavors rounded up by The Takeout. Others include water pie (another desperation pie), mock apple pie, pineapple pie, and grasshopper pie, the last of which is named for the cocktail, not the insect.

Zurich, Switzerland is historically a rather bike-friendly city. It's moved even further in that direction with the opening of tunnel made exclusively for the use of bicycles. Canadian Cycling Magazine reports that the city spent approximately $47 million USD to build this tunnel which is just over a quarter mile long and as wide as 20 feet.

There's clear signage, lighting, and video surveillance in the system. To facilitate its use, the tunnel is adjacent to a bicycle parking complex that can accommodate 1,240 bikes. City officials hope that this tunnel and its amenities will decrease road congestion during high-traffic times.

-via TYWKIWDBI

Alligators are everywhere in Florida. In fact, I actually proposed to my wife next to an alligator pond when we lived there. That wasn't the plan; it's just that alligators are so prolific that we happened to be next to a pond of them at the time.

For the most controlled alligator experience (I'm not a fan of free-range alligators), go to Gatorland, the alligator-themed amusement park in Orlando.

Among the resident gators is Jawlene, a young lady who has no upper jaw. Gatorland posts on Facebook that she was rescued from the wild in 2023. Although she was severely malnourished at the time of rescue, she's recovered her proper weight and is a popular attraction.

-via Massimo

How can I get my dog to poop promptly, ideally on command, accepting that one place is as good as another?

This birthday cake simulates what an ideal dog would be able to accomplish in the morning before we have to get to work. The woman uses a cigarette lighter to release of the cake/dog's digestive tract. Something that is technically edible releases into a pile. Good dog!

-via Born in Space

The Original Series prompted the creation of some very strange merchandise. Most notably, the notorious Spock helmet never appeared in the Original Series, although it did make an appearance in the more recent comedy Lower Decks.

Like the Spock helmet (officially "Space Fun Helmet"), the Astrotank was clearly created by a design team that had never watched Star Trek or did not care about product topicality at all. It had Star Trek written on the side and a sticker vaguely resembling the Starfleet logo. Tanks made only two appearances on Enterprise and none of them looked like this . . . thing.

Still, you can buy an Astrotank if you wish. They're occasionally listed on eBay, albeit for steep prices.

The Astrotank and Space Fun Helmets are only two bizarre items of Star Trek merchandise produced. You can see 7 others at Star Trek's official webpage, including a Star Trek V marshmallow dispenser.

-via @TheMekon_Venus

There's an issue that we need to talk about--something that we've all known about for a long time but have avoided addressing directly.

We're talking about the elephant in the room. Specifically, we're talking about this wild elephant that walked into a grocery store near the Khao Yai National Park in Thailand.

The elephant is named (by humans, we don't know what he calls himself) Plai Biang Lek. The Associated Press reports that shop owner Kamploy Kakaew recorded the elephant shoplifting rice crackers, dried bananas, and a sandwich.

As I said, Plai Biang Lek shoplifted these items; he made no attempt to pay for them. Although he left without attacking any humans, he did steal from them.

Shameful.

In 1973, Gary Gygax and Don Kaye founded the firm TSR -- Tactical Strategic Rules. The next year, this company created Dungeons & Dragons.

This cultural phenomenon had humble origins. Those origins include a hobby shop named the Dungeon Hobby Shop which Gygax established in 1976 at 723 Williams Street in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. TSR went through varied fortunes before Wizards of the Coast purchased the company in 1997. So did the hobby shop, which eventually became a museum about Dungeons & Dragons. It closed several months ago.

Now the building is for sale. You can see more photos of this magnificent historical landmark at the realtor's website.

-via @DungeonNoir

I'm glad you asked!

Cutter Wood has a new book out titled Earthly Materials: Journeys through Our Bodies' Emissions, Excretions, and Disintegrations. It examines the science of our excretory systems. An exerpt available at Harper's Magazine summarizes the numbers.

3,500 kilograms of feces will pass out of your body, assuming that you live 75 years. That would overflow a 20-foot long shipping container. These deposited feces will be matched with 38,000 liters of urine.

Wood also provides numbers for total amounts of hair, semen, menses, tears, and energy measured in joules. This is all information that you will need for future conversation starters.

-via TYWKIWDBI | Photo: Jason Unbound

Singer Michael Geier, better known as his clownish persona Puddles Pity Party, was a friend of the late Paul Reubens--now gone from us nearly two years. In his latest music video, Puddles offers a melancholy version of the theme song to Reubens's iconic show Pee-wee's Playhouse.

The original theme had Cindi Lauper's sped-up voice cheerfully welcoming audiences to Saturday morning joy with Pee-wee Herman. Puddles, though, mourns the passing of Reubens. He offers slow lamentations, then uses an enormous balloon to make fart noises.

-via Laughing Squid

These Dominican friars take their name from a line by Southern writer Flannery O'Connor, who described herself as a "hillbilly Thomist" -- a woman of the Deep South steeped in the thought of theologian Thomas Aquinas.

Based out of a Dominican center in Washington, D.C., the men began recreationally playing together in 2014. They then used their music a means to evangelize their faith while connecting with secular audiences who appreciate traditional bluegrasss music.

The Hillbilly Thomists have released four albums from 2017 to 2024. Much of their music is available on the YouTube channel of an official Dominican publication.

-via J.R.R. TolKee