Don't worry about the exhibit quality at the zoo going down. These humans in bird costumes are meant to frighten away seagulls, not attract human visitors.

Blackpool is on the Irish Sea, so the Blackpool Zoo attracts a lot of seagulls, which are a nuisance. They steal food from not only the human visitors, but also the animals in their enclosures. So, the BBC reports, the zoo wants to hire people who will dress as predatory birds and drive off the seagulls. It's looking to hire people who are "outgoing" and "comfortable wearing a bird costume." Is this a good description for you?

-via Dave Barry | Photo: Blackpool Zoo

How can you get the highest possible range of movement on a playground swing? Kids have been experimenting with different options for generations. Now we have a carefully examined and mathematically quantifiable study on how to get the best swing on a swing.

Science Alert tells us about a recent paper published by physicists in Australia and Japan. In addition to creating theoretical models of swinging, they conducted experimental research by recruiting 10 college students to swing with different methods. The scientists concluded that the best strategy is to lean all the way forward as soon as you pass the midpoint of the forward motion and lean back on the backstroke. Get as supine as possible at the highest part of the backward motion.

Now let's go to the playground and replicate these experiments. Replication is essential to valid scientific research.

-via Dave Barry | Photo: Stockvault

Fixed it.#Flandalorian🍮 https://t.co/O3BaFiJ6Wj pic.twitter.com/5HTBfi6ZqU

— The Mad Maker (@The_MadMaker) April 19, 2023

Twitter user The Made Maker is a committed geek of the highest order. He's a Dungeons & Dragons streamer and 3D printer of fantasy art mugs and a rather clever set of dice that serves as a random name generator. In general, he's very creative, so it's fitting that it would occur to him to make this pun-driven dessert.

Din Djarin, the titular character of the space western series The Mandalorian is made of flan, a custard dessert. He's the Flandalorian.

普段の活動といえば150年前のアニメーションおもちゃを現代に甦らせて「博物ふぇすてぃばる」で発表したりしてます。どうぞよろしゅう。 pic.twitter.com/2XV2TTkpgF

— シカクガング (@shikakugangu) April 19, 2023

Japanese Twitter user @shikakugangu makes tiny automata that display little creatures in motion.

Mattea DiGirolamo of Kenilworth, New Jersey, is an impressive young athlete. She does gymnastics, karate, and t-ball. But it's clear that her priority is gymnastics. There's never an inappropriate time to do cartwheels. Telina Cuppari of Tap into Kenilworth reports that Mattea has gained viral internet fame by performing a cartwheel on her way to first base at a t-ball game.

That seems like an unnecessary risk to take and could get her tagged out. But it looks like Mattea can cartwheel as fast as she can run. If anything, her cartwheel distracted the infield players and allowed her to reach first base safely.

-via Buitengebieden

I used my audio editing skills to recover a buried @TheSimpsons joke. #Simpsons pic.twitter.com/H0gD1qO7vF

— Ewzzy Rayburn (@ewzzy) April 19, 2023

On April 23, 1992, The Simpsons episode titled "The Otto Show" aired on television.

The directors and show runners did very thorough work, including burying a joke deep inside the audio track of the episode. It begins with Homer recounting going to heavy metal concerts in his youth. Marge questions whether it impacted his hearing. We hear what Homer does through severe tinnitus. Marge is saying something, but the audience can't tell what.

Ewzzy Rayburn, a professional video editor, recovered Marge's line of dialogue from the audio track and isolated it in the above tweet.

Secret Service immediately responded Tuesday to an intruder at the White House ... a toddler who squeezed through the metal fencing. https://t.co/2NMMoiVlAD

— The Associated Press (@AP) April 18, 2023

The above photo shows two secret service agents seizing a toddler who broke through the elaborate and high-tech security of the White House. He did so by squeezing through the bars of the steel fence, which are 5.5 inches across.

The Associated Press reports that the breach triggered security procedures that temporarily restricted access to one of the most secure buildings on Earth. The uniformed Secret Service agents pictured above brought the child back to his parents.

This is the first successful breach of the White House fence since it was recently doubled in height. It appears that the designers did not consider the possibility of intruders simply going through the fence.

If you're looking for a thoughtful gift for a person who is elderly or ill, consider the Lifetime by Icelandic industrial designer Dögg Guðmundsdóttir.

She was inspired to create this unique piece of furniture after visiting Ghana, where the creation of elaborate coffins and beds are popular crafts.

It serves as a comfortable bed or couch. You can adjust the cushions to suit either need.

Then, after resting, if you're ready for a truly long and deep sleep, it can be a coffin. Open the bed, flip the wooden components over, and you have a functional coffin suitable for a cremation ceremony.

-via Core 77

Pizza delivery drivers are humble heroes who do more than merely provide us with delicious pizzas. They can save customers'  lives and rescue children from burning buildings. Tyler Morrell of Cocco's Pizza Aston of Brookhaven, Pennsylvania fits perfectly into that mold.

Yahoo! News reports that on Sunday, Morrell was delivering a pizza when police chased down a suspect who fled his car on foot through a residential neighborhood. Morrell tripped him, sending the suspect down to the ground, where police restrained him within seconds.

What's even more impressive is that Morrell did this without dropping the pizza! He fulfilled both duties of the pizza delivery guy: bringing pizza and taking down criminals.

-via Dave Barry

Latif Nasser is a writer in Los Angeles. He recently shared on Twitter the story of his discovery of and friendship with an Afghan refugee in the United States.

A friend asked Nasser to deliver an antique violin to a man in Los Angeles when he flew home from a trip to New York. He found it annoying to have this chore and burdensome to arrange a meeting to deliver the violin. But Nasser completed the task and was delighted with who he met. The violin's new owner is Ali Esmahilzada.

Prior to the Taliban reconquest of Afghanistan in 2021, Esmahilzada was a famous musician in his own country. But the Taliban hates music and forced Esmahilzada to flee for his life. Nasser found him working part-time in a shopping mall warehouse.

You can read Esmahilzada's story and how Nasser helped him here.

-via Amanda Brennan | Photo: Latif Nasser

The musical collective Postmodern Jukebox has become famous around the world for remixing modern songs with styles from earlier times in the Twentieth Century, including ragtime, jazz, swing, doo wop, sock hop, and more.

Their most recent music video is inspired by the rhythm and blues music of the early 1960s that is depicted in the Broadway stage and film musical Hairspray. Jeffrey James sings "Lucky," a song most famously sung by Britney Spears for an album released in 2000. The lyrics tell the story of a girl who is a Hollywood star and, consequently, thought to be extraordinarily lucky to have such a happy life. But, as would turn out to be appropriate for Spears's own life, is actually lonely and sad.

This isn't some old T-55 from a couple generations ago that you could buy cheaply after the Soviet Union fell in 1991.* This is a T-90, which is Russia's top-shelf modern main battle tank.

Redditor /u/Mutantlight snapped this photo from a Peto's truck stop and casino in Roanoke, Louisiana. The Drive followed on the story and contacted the manager. She said that the truck hauling the trailer with the tank broke down and the driver asked if he could leave it at the stop while he went to Houston for another truck. The Drive learned that the tank had been captured in Ukraine last fall. Somehow, it has been brought to the United States.

-via Dave Barry

*There was some truly amazing Warsaw Pact milsurp available in the early 1990s.

"Gangsta's Paradise" written by Coolio and Doug Rasheed and performed by the former is one of the most iconic hip hop songs of all time. It's even been honored with a "Weird" Al Yankovic parody, which is how a musician knows that he's really made a cultural impact.

The song is a tragic ballad describing the narrator's regret mixed with a sense of honor. It's a crime story that would be well-completed if followed by Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues," which tells us what happens at the end of a criminal career.

In this video, musician Bob Strachan sings Coolio's lyrics with Cash's melody in a powerful synthesis of two genres.

-via The Awesomer

The Little White Chapel in Las Vegas is a famous wedding venue for couples who would like to get married legally, quickly, and stylishly. There are many package options, including getting hitched by an Elvis impersonator and using the drive-thru window for couples who are in a hurry.

Food & Wine magazine reports that on April 15 and 16, couples will also have the option of getting married while standing in front of the iconic Oscar Mayer Wienermobile for free. As a promotional gimmick, Oscar Mayer is covering the cost of the wedding itself and providing a "Hotdogger"--an official Wienermobile driver--to officiate at the ceremony.

-via Jessamyn West | Photo: Oscar Mayer

Algar the Bard is a musician straight out of the Fourteenth Century. He composes and performs adaptations of modern songs with medieval themes and instruments. Past performances include R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" and Black Sabbath's "Iron Man".

For his latest video, Algar is bardrolling us with Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." Nothing about his performance lets us down. Enjoy this chipper approach to the modern classic on the lute-guitar, whistles, and something called an Irish bouzouki. That latter instrument is a modern Irish alteration of a Greek instrument that can be traced back to Byzantine times.

-via Born in Space