The habu (Protbothrops flavoridis) is a venomous snake common to the Ryukyu Islands, which includes Okinawa. These snakes measure about four feet long and their bites, if left untreated, can result in death. They don't prey on humans, but humans do prey on them, often by infusing them in local liquors.

Sora News 24 found that they're good eating. The publication sent a reporter to the island of Amami Oshima, where restaurants offer habu meat. This serving of fried habu sells for ¥2,000, which is about $13.98 USD. The reporter says that it tastes like fried chicken, albeit with a chewy texture.

Arieh Smith, who goes by the online pseudonym of Xiaomanyc, is a polyglot who picks up languages incredibly easily. Among other languages, he has a nearly native-level command of Mandarin Chinese. He teaches it online using his sophisticated knowledge of the way that languages work.

In this video, he first delivers a speech to high school students using Gen Alpha slang, which is helpfully subtitled for Gen Xers like me. Then he gives another speech, also in Gen Alpha slang, to language education students at the Ohio State University. Gyatt, Xiaomanyc's rizz is no cap sigma and mad lit.

-via Laughing Squid

National Public Radio reports that Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago* has been elected the Bishop of Rome. He has taken the name of Pope Leo XIV. Fast Company informs us that the house that the Pope grew up in located in Dalton, Illinois is for sale. The house, built in 1949, covers 750 square feet and sits on a quarter-acre lot. Steve Budzek, the agent for the seller, says that he's already received two offers.

*Now there has been a pope from every continent except Antarctica. Better luck next time to the presiding cleric of the Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows.

Photo: Redfin

UPDATE: In the comments, Andrew Dalke points out that I forgot about Australia, which has also never produced a Pope. Get to work, Aussies.

The New York Post reports that a 21-year old pilot in control of a 1966 Cessna 172G Skyhawk made an emergency landing on the golf course of the famous Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. He tried to land at the nearby Santa Monica Airport, but was unable to for reasons that remain unclear.

One golfer recorded the landing on a cell phone. It shows the pilot struggling to remain upright as he touches down on fairly uneven ground.

Redditor /u/colormuse makes embroidery pieces, many of them profoundly non-traditional. Her works that use multiple hoops at the same time stand out as innovative and clever. Wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tubeman definitely draws our attention.

The 2008 action film Taken offers Liam Neeson as an ex-CIA operative who puts his professional skills to work when his daughter is kidnapped by Albanian human traffickers. The scene in which Neeson's character calmly threatens to find and kill the criminals shows the actor's ability to play intimidating roles.

It would be terrifying to be on the other end of the phone, as Neeson once demonstrated on Jimmy Kimmel's show.

Dustin Ballard's There I Ruined It project presents the scene in musical format. Neeson's threat is light and playful, melodiously singing a casual conversation that suggests that the threat is only a joke.

Sora News 24 tours a convenience store in Chikusei, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan that offers rental showers.

Here in the United States, it's possible to get showers at truck stops, which is handy for long-haul tractor trailer drivers. But I've never heard of getting a shower in a convenience store. It's apparently rare in Japan, too.

Sora News 24 found their showering experience quite inexpensive. A mere ¥200, which is about $1.40 USD, purchases 10 minutes of hot water. That fee also provides free soap, shampoo, and towels so that it's not necessary to arrive with those supplies.

It might be interesting (in all possible meanings of that word) if American convenience stores provided showers.

Thirteenth Century Gothic cathedrals expressed a golden age of stained glass. Film photography, some historians argue, reached its zenith in the 1930s through the 1950s. For every medium, there is a time when human creativity surges. Now, in the 2020s, the great artists of the age are pouring their magic into designing the best popcorn buckets.

We've seen this phenomenon with buckets designed for Dune 2, Despicable Me 4, and Gladiator 2. Now that the horror classic Jaws has reached its fiftieth anniversary and return to theaters, Alamo Drafthouse has released images of its custom popcorn bucket for the event. It mimicks the most famous poster for that film.

-via Discussing Film

Fast Company reports on an epoch-defining technological development: the self-propelled zipper. YKK, the Japanese firm that is the largest zipper manufacturer in the world with possession of about 40% of the global market, is experimenting with motorized zipper pulls.

The product will mostly likely begin with large tents that normally require the use of ladders to assemble. These new zipper pulls can join sections 16 feet long in a mere 40 seconds. This invention is obviously useful for people assembling tents. But it's also clear that smaller versions could be helpful in alleviating people of the laborious task of getting dressed.

-via Book of Joe

It's worth noting that Tim Friede didn't allow himself to be bitten by so many venomous snakes while in a controlled laboratory setting with close medical supervision. Rather, Friede's hobby is getting bitten by  snakes. He's enjoyed this practice since childhood. Now, at 57, he's encouraged snakes to bite him hundreds of times.

The New York Times reports that scientists have determined that Friede's lifetime of venom acquisition has allowed him to develop powerful antibodies to the venoms of 19 snakes.* The pharmaceutical firm Centivax thinks that Friede's blood can be developed into a universal antivenom that can provide an effective medical response to bites by a vast variety of snakes.

-via Alex Stapp

*There's a similar means of protection from iocane powder.

Legally Trek pic.twitter.com/FT2BE19lB9

— I Love Spaceships (@SpaceshipAddict) May 2, 2025

Science fiction X account I Love Spaceships remade the climactic scene in the 2001 comedy Legally Blonde with Star Trek: The Next Generation-era action figures. Ensign (note that she has just one rank pip) Barbie cross-examines Counselor Troi in the courtroom of Judge Guinan.

It pairs with the original very well, although I Love Spaceships uses what is, I think, a Voyager mess hall playset as a courtroom. And there's also a Conehead on the jury, whom I think was absent in the original film (a poor casting decision by director Robert Luketic).

AI is amazing, right? But although British voice actor Sam Hughes uses artificial intelligences to add Schwarzenegger's face to all characters present, his human facilities are impersonating the Austrian Oak.

In this scene known as the Council of Elrond, the Schwarzeneggers debate about how to deal with the menace of the One Ring. In their thick Austrian accents, dwarves, humans, and elves consider their options. It is the 4-foot tall Frodo Schwazenegger who proclaims the mission of the hobbits to ensure the Ring's destruction.

-via Giga Based Dad

Taste Atlas introduces us to the Salzwedeler Baumkuchen, which means the tree cake from Salzwedel. This small town in north central Germany is famous for its unique confection that vaguely resembles a tree.

The cake is made of multiple layers--generally a dozen or so--of batter dripped over a form rotating on a spit over an open flame. The ingredients are simple: butter, eggs, flour, sugar, and vanilla. Sometimes honey or brandy is added for flavor. Once finished, the cake is slid off the spit and coated with chocolate or a sugar glaze and sliced into individual servings.

Photos: Sven Tetschke, Klass Brumann, respectively.

Cosplayer @shellzyeah_cosplay wore this fantastic costume at the 2023 DragonCon. It perfectly blends the madness of the Barbie movie with magnificence of the 1988 Tim Burton film Beetlejuice. I've seen this movie about 167 times and it keeps getting funnier every single time I see it.

For humans, polar bears are perhaps the most dangerous of all ursines. That's why Churchill, Manitoba has a special-built jail for them and residents leave their car doors unlocked.

The Noregian archipelago of Svalbard, which is frozen year-round is home to many polar bears. As a result, carrying a rifle while outside of a settlement is not only lawful, but mandatory.

This gentleman in the village of Pyramiden was caught by surprise by a polar bear. He fired off a round from his rifle at the bear, which still charged him. The man fled on foot until he got onto a snowmobile. Nonetheless, the bear kept up the chase. It's not a bad strategy for a polar bear, as the species can run at up to 25 MPH.

-via kira