Nathan Wyburn is a British artist noted for his portraits of celebrities using food products. To celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the debut of the Pop-Tart, he composed this image of Marilyn Monroe that is clearly inspired by those of Andy Warhol.

view masters 👓 pic.twitter.com/MxlG20prdy

— Nicole McLaughlin (@nicolemclovin) October 25, 2024

Nicole McLaughlin, a designer in New York City, has an extraordinary gift for mixing unusual materials into wearable clothing and accessories. In the past, we've seen her bikini made of camera cases and her bra made of electric fans. Her latest project just posted on X and Instagram consists of a pair of tiny View-Masters serving as glasses.

Do you remember the View-Master? This is a fun toy that is like a little film strip projector that you could use at home.

By the way: Mattel still sells a modern version that uses virtual reality. Variety reports that a View-Master based movie is in pre-production, so maybe we'll see a revival of the toy that is iconic of 70s childhood.

It it a coincidence or is the carpenter intentionally joining the band's performance? I can't tell, but approve of this addition to the percussion section.

One YouTube commenter identifies the piece as "Salute to Luxembourg" by Edmund Patzke and Adolf Vancura and suggests that the location is Austria or southern Germany.

-via Kottke

A new ‘GLADIATOR 2’ popcorn bucket has been revealed.

It has a QR code that activates an AR gladiator battle. pic.twitter.com/p6Te2m1Oo5

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 22, 2024

There are those who believe that the American Age has passed--that the people of this city upon a hill have lost the aspirational character that led us to travel to the Moon and invent the Twinkie. Perhaps this blackpilling was once accurate, but we are now in a renaissance of innovation centered around designing popcorn buckets.

We first had hopes for the revival of the innovative spirit when the Dune 2 popcorn bucket presented the world an orifice of joy. Now we may find our aspirations confirmed with the preview of the Gladiator 2 popcorn bucket. Deadline reports that it resembles the Colosseum of Rome. At the bottom of the bucket is a QR code that triggers a virtual gladiatorial fight.

-via Wade Stotts

The Golden Girls premiered in 1985 and ended its run in 1992 while it was still popular. It remains a cultural force with a lively fanbase to this day. But let's say that the series had never ended at all and NBC decided to run over a thousand additional seasons.

Animator Mike Hollingsworth imagines Blanche, Sophia, Rose, Dorothy, and Dorothy's ex-husband Stanley becoming immortal. Hollingsworth uses the original audio from the season 4 episode "Stan Takes a Wife" and adds in visual effects that appear to be inspired by The Jetsons or Futurama. The girls deal with relationship drama, but, sadly, the video ends before they all eat alien cheesecake together.

-via Laughing Squid

There are many great cosplays at the New York City Comic-Con, which is one of the largest fandom conventions in the world. X user Tanooki Joe shares photos of this woman who is festooned to resemble a Pizza Hut restaurant from the 1980s and 90s.

The iconic red booths are immediately recognizable to any 80s kid. The cosplayer offers other visitors to the convention what appear to be shakers of Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper for a fake pizza.

-via Super Punch

Medical researchers in the UK recently dissected the body of a 78-year old man who had donated his remains for research. They were surprised at his genitalia: the man had three penises.

Diphallia, which is the state of having two penises, is rare. But, according to the researchers' article in The Journal of Medical Reports, there is only one other known case of triphallia in medical literature.

This gentleman had one primary and two secondary penises. The largest had a functional urethra which it shared with the medium-sized penis. The smallest of the three penises did not have a urethra at all. Each, however, had a corpora cavernosa and a glans penis.

-via Dave Barry | Screenshot from Inglourious Basterds

The 1990 film The Hunt for Red October is a thrilling film about a Soviet submarine captain who tries to defect to the United States with his advanced ballistic missile submarine. It's an adaptation of a Tom Clancy novel of the same name. It's an exciting, well-paced movie with highly effective visual effects, even by today's standards.

One of the most essential props in the film is a model of the Soviet boomer. X user Winston Smith (possibly not his real name) adores the movie and was able to purchase the model.

He mentions that he has yet to tell his wife about the purchase. I think he may need to make an emergency dive soon.

The Catholic Pipe Company is the firm of artist Caleb C. Mitchell. From his workshop in Hebron, Nebraska, Mitchell produces ornately designed and precisely rendered images of Catholic saints. For him, it's an act of veneration.

Above is Saint Sebastian, who was martyred under Emperor Diocletian during approximately the year 288.

It turns out that they sell edible Crocs in Japan

These are waffles with various fillings added inside. pic.twitter.com/pW83mh5U9g

— 𝕏 Ali Al Samahi 𝕏 (@alsamahi) October 14, 2024

Foodbeast is calling these confections "edible crocs," but I think that appellation is insufficient. Any croc is edible if you put forward sufficient effort. The essential difference is that people enjoy eating these pastries, which are shaped like the futuristic but stupid footwear and are about the size of a child's shoe.

You can find your own at a bakery in Ōkubo, which is a Korean immigrant neighborhood of Tokyo. There are red bean paste, chocolate, and cheese fillings available.

-via Massimo

This image floating around the internet addresses the common trolley problem of ethics, which was invented by philosopher Philippa Foot. Do you throw the switch and kill one person or do nothing and allow five people to be killed?

In the past, we've examined absurd variations of this thought experiment, the the actual practice of railroad engineers who have to deal with the problem on a regular basis, and a solution developed by a 2-year old.

This variation, which is floating around the internet, imagines two scenarios: one in which the train kills an infinite number of people tied to the track and the other in which it continuously kills a finite number of continuously reincarnating people.

Which option do you choose?

-via Red Sun

XVIII century elevator table, allowing hosts and guests to dine without the presence of servants in St. Petersburg, Russia.pic.twitter.com/7ZwHnNCmK5

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) October 14, 2024

One of the challenges of aristocratic life in Eighteenth Century Russia was the ongoing proletarian nature of the servants who made life comfortable. I mean, the lower classes are occasionally useful, but you don't want them actually around, right?

The Hermitage Pavilion in the Peterhof Palace complex in St. Petersburg displays a solution to this problem. Russia Travel Blog shares photos and a video of a technically complex table with built-in elevators to raise food from a lower floor directly into the table itself on the upper floor. Servants could move individual place settings as needed.

A few years ago, redditor /u/whalecat_of_the_sea made these Rice Krispie treats with a wonderfully morbid ambiance. The "roadkill patties" look like they might be freshly scooped from the highway and then ground up, but there's no meat present. The artist used actual butcher trays, so they really look authentic meats from the local grocery store.

The labels, which include "Beef? Mince" and "Gerbil Mince" are a hoot, too. Perhaps we should make them for Christmas morning, too, and call them reindeer meat.

-via I Like Food

Conkers is a traditional British game that uses conkers--the fruits of a horse chestnut tree. They're inedible by humans, so Britons instead drill holes through them and attached a cord. Two players square off against each other, slamming their nuts together until the conker of one player ruptures.

The Associated Press reports that David Jakins may not have played fairly. Alastair Johnson-Ferguson complained that his nut disintegrated after a single blow by Jakins. He accuses the champion of using a steel prosthetic nut instead of a real one. Organizers found a steel nut in one of Jakins' pockets, but Jakins insists that he competed honestly.

Last year, Valkyrie Historical Auctions, a seller of World War II memorabilia, offered a copy of this paper pamphlet attributed to the occupied Netherlands during World War II. The Dutch inscription says, "Where is the fifth pig?" over images of four stocky pigs.

Fold the paper correctly according to the instructions and a fleshy Adolf Hitler appears.

-via Futility Closet | Photos: Alf van Beem