Dindin, a guinea pig who lives in Paris, has the same reaction that I do when listening to Claude Debussy's "Clair de Lune." It's incredibly soothing for my skittish soul that is always looking around for predators to avoid and food to eat. Watch him sit on his human's piano and enjoy a private performance.

-via Massimo

Hospitalization is especially stressful for children, which is why children's hospitals search for means to maintain the emotional well-being of their patients. To that end, Glasgow Children's Hospital in Scotland has a "gamer-in-residence" who plays video games with children.

BBC News introduces us to Steven Mair, who is a full-time, professional gamer who wheels gaming consoles into kids' rooms and plays with them. Donations raised by the local community and the gaming industry pay his salary, permitting him to focus on the needs of the children. This program provides social interaction and entertainment to kids in often dire medical conditions.

-via Kottke

This one goes out to all the ketchup lovers out there. Everyone I’ve shared it with either thinks it is awesome or gross. Nothing in between. Also some interesting science stuff happening . . . pic.twitter.com/1hNapN6oRs

— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) October 23, 2024

Commander Matthew Dominick (USN), an American astronaut on the International Space Station, demonstrates his advanced knowledge of physics by squirting ketchup directly into his mouth. In the absence of Earth-level gravity, the fluid pours into his mouth, then pools into a tower of tomato-y goodness on his chin. Popular Science prudently warns us that this video, once seen, cannot be unseen.

-via Dave Barry

X user Nicole Ruiz shares this photo from the recent New York City Marathon. I'm 99% certain that I have identified the woman and found her on Instagram, but will refrain from naming her as she may prefer to remain private.

Anyway, the lady is an innovator. She wants a boyfriend and offers a QR code that links to her Instagram page. This is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that helps break out of the glutted dating market. She's direct about what she wants and markets herself in a novel and attention-getting fashion. If I were single, I might try this at an anime fandom convention (although with perhaps different results).

On reddit, /u/Otherwise_Finger_166 asks what this symbol means. One joker suggests, "This side up," but the black triangle actually designates an important location called William Shatner's Seat.

The New York Post explains that it is from this location that aircraft crew can get the best view of the wing and thereby assess its condition. The presence of ice could necessitate a change of plans.

Why is it named after William Shatner? Before Star Trek, Shatner starred in a 1963 episode of The Twilight Zone titled "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." Shatner is an aircraft passenger sitting over the wing who sees a creature tearing up the plane. Prudent aircraft designers have clearly learned from that episode how important it is to get the best view of the wings.

-via Massimo

The fabric arts are, nowadays, a mostly feminine space. But they don't have to be. There is a space for men to carve out, sometimes literally, and artist Brochet shows us the way. His Instagram page is filled with astonishingly vivid creations in yarn with an emphasis on weapons and the gore that they create.

You want a brain ripped from its braincase? Brochet can provide. How about a bow and arrow? According to this video, they actually work.

Most recently, Brochet made this chainsaw and boomstick set for a realistic Army of Darkness costume that secured him and his companion a Best Couples Costume award at a cosplay competition. Ash would be proud to go into battle with them.

Inventions are often used for purposes other than their original intention. Chainsaws, for example, were conceived of as surgical instruments. Maxipads were designed to soak up blood from wounds (handy, if you misuse a chainsaw).

Similarly, canned crescent rolls can be put to uses other than as mere baked crescent rolls. Takeout has a roundup of 13 uses for canned crescent roll dough, including to make beignets, apple dumplings, and breakfast casserole. My favorite, though, is s'mores made with crescent roll dough as demonstrated by the food blog Lemon Tree Dwelling.

Slightly off topic: I recently used canned crescent rolls as part of a set of ongoing culinary experiments. These have been successful and I plan to, in about a month, inflict upon the world an original recipe that will offend half of you and delight the other half.

The old line goes that an infinite number of monkeys typing on typewriters would be able to type the complete works of Shakespeare if given enough time.

Is it true? That's almost too big of a question. Let's try something smaller: could a single monkey type just one Shakespeare play, such as Hamlet? Australian mathematicians Stephen Woodcock and Jay Falletta say no.

The scholars ran calculations and concluded that the heat death of the universe would occur before the monkey could, by randomly striking keys, complete Hamlet. Even a normal mortal chimpanzee has only a 5% chance of writing "bananas" during its natural lifespan.

Fortunately, we have ChatGPT available instead of monkeys, finite or infinite.

-via Pulp Librarian | Photo: Jim Griffin

Thurzó Zoltán is an acclaimed pianist from Romania. He can hit the keys as fast as he wants. In this case, that's 500 times within a 30 second period. If Guinness World Records accepts his evidence, then Zoltán will have clenched a new world record.

UPI reports that he performed his feat in the village of Biharia on October 23 to honor his mother who died precisely one year previously. Watch him accelerate to an almost imperceptible speed and hold it for half a minute. Zoltán hits the 500 mark, thus taking a record away set by a Japanese pianist last December.

-via Dave Barry

Moo Deng is a baby pygmy hippopotamus born in July in the Khao Kheo Open Zoo in Chon Buri, Thailand. She and her mother, Joni, and father, Tony, are among the mere 2,000-2,500 pygmy hippopotami in the world.

She's become a viral sensation, especially when she goes on violent rampages and tries to bite the human caretakers despite lacking teeth.

Redditor /u/Eskapi 3D printed this astonishingly lifelike sculpture of Moo Deng taking the form and spirit of a chestburster from the Alien film franchise. It correctly identifies Moo Deng as a relentless force of destruction bent upon the annihilation of humanity.

-via Shirts That Go Hard

Gideon Futerman is a scholar in the fields of solar radiation modification and global catastrophic risk. Last month, he and a colleague worked the northernmost tip of the Isle of Lewis, which is the largest of the Hebrides in Scotland. They were doing geological surveying and had a geological hammer handy. So when they noticed that a Google Street View car was approaching, they staged a violent scene.

You can find it on Google Street View close to the point of the island which is called the Butt of Lewis. Notice that Google helpfully blurs the faces of both the killer and his victim.

Walk in style into the nail salon to get your pedicure. Bravest Studios in New York City and footwear designer @canyaon offer these slides that look like giant human toes. They're optimal for attracting attention of both the wanted and unwanted categories.

If you prefer body parts other than toes for shoe design, consider these brain-like mules by the same company or cross species with these shoes that look like bear claws.

-via Ugly Design

X user @OxKruzr is, for this Halloween, dressing as the most famous character created by Stan Kelly of the satirical newspaper The Onion. Note the right side of this cartoon:

Kelly's 2015 comic about a future with legalized drugs imagines degenerates labeled as "sickos" enjoying the downfall of society while cackling "Yes...ha ha ha...yes." It's become a meme. We Sicko-Americans try to take it in stride as a joke from a less culturally sensitive time.

Montgomery McPhee, a cosplayer in Seattle, is known for his flamboyantly extravagant and visually loud cosplays as the Mandalorian from the Star Wars television series of the same name. Sequins, LEDs, and fans help him develop glam rock versions of favorite characters, such as the Glam-dalorian pictured here at the Emeral City Comic Con last year.

-via @atotalposer

Some companies struggle to accommodate employees who really want to work from home. I'll bet that The Great Exhibition, a creative studio in Stockholm with the most painfully designed website that I've seen in years, doesn't have to convince workers to work at the office. The new facility has a fully functional 200-foot long roller coaster inside.

Fast Company tells us about this new working environment that I hope will attract the attention of Neatorama CEO Alex Santoso, who will no doubt leap at the opportunity to put our firm at the forefront of entrepreneurial innovation. An in-office roller coaster enhances drone productivity by providing a form of rapid transit through an office complex.

Petter Kakracka, the founder of The Great Exhibition, says that he overcame naysayers who told him that "it’s not only impossible, it’s impractical, dangerous, and too expensive" to construct a creativity-generating tool appropriately named "The Frontal Lobe."