Mondrian painting has been hanging upside down for 75 years https://t.co/TKyyo0g84H

— The Guardian (@guardian) October 28, 2022

In 1941, the Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian painted this untitled work, which was first displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1945, and then the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany.

Recently, curator Susanne Meyer-Büser researched Mondrian’s work to prepare for an upcoming exhibition on his work. She determined that Mondrian tended to put thicker lines at the top of his paintings. Furthermore, a photograph of Mondrian working on this piece shows with it rotated from its usual direction on his easel.

Thus, this painting certainly upside down—and had been for over 75 years.

The Guardian reports that the exhibition, which will open today, will not reflect this new conclusion. The Mondrian piece will continue to be hung in its traditional orientation—upside down.

-via Dave Barry

My friend's sister's Halloween costume is too good not to share pic.twitter.com/4V0eMy7CIm

— Steph (@EristicEnigma) October 26, 2022

Some environmental activists are keeping busy lately by vandalizing famous works of art and/or gluing themselves in public places, such as roadways or convention centers. A couple weeks ago, two such activists threw tomato soup at Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London, then glued themselves to the wall on which the painting hung.

The good news from that incident is that the precious painting is safe. It was protected by a sheet of glass.

An acquaintance of Twitter user @EristicEnigma was inspired by the incident to make this amusing Halloween costume. She's dressed as the defaced painting.

-via Super Punch

Bar-tailed godwits are known for their spectacularly long flights during their annual migration. The haul from Alaska to Tasmania is brutal, but #234684 was up for the task, even though he lost half of his bodyweight during the ordeal.

ABC News reports that for 11 days, without interruption, #234684 flew 8,426 miles, which is about 311 miles longer than the previous record for a bird migration, which was also held by a bar-tailed godwit. Scientists were able to track his movements with an electronic device.

#234684 didn't rest or feed. That's because godwits don't have webbed feet. If they land in the water, they die because they can't get airborne again. And as most of these godwits weigh just under a pound, they don't have a lot of body fat to burn through. So they just have to persevere, as #234684 did.

-via Massimo

In the glorious ending of The Shawshank Redemption, Warden Norton realizes that Andy Dufresne has not only escaped from prison, but trapped him in his own. He opens his safe and finds Andy Dufresne's Bible inside. It's inscribed with a simple message:

Dear Warden,

You were right. Salvation lay within.

Andy Dufresne

Norton turns to the Book of Exodus, where pages have been hollowed out to hide Andy's rock hammer--the one that he used to tunnel out of the prison.

That prop Bible used in the film will go on auction on November 3. Fine Books Magazine expects that it will sell for perhaps $115,000-$172,000 USD. That sale will also feature the prop newspaper that breaks the story about Warden Norton's corruption.

-via John Overholt | Photo: Propstore Auction

There's a thriving new profession in Brazil. Universa (English translation) interviewed a few women who work as "loyalty testers". Women hire them to hit on their boyfriends or husbands and see if the men reject the advances of these seducers.

One of these testers, who is named Nicolly, was approached by a married woman who hired her to "accidentally" message her husband on WhatsApp. The man enthusiastically continued the conversation with the strange, beautiful woman. Nicolly then took screenshots of the conversation and sent them to her customer.

Nicolly earns about $750-940 USD per month at this job.

Other gigs in this line of work are more unsavory. Nicolly has been hired by women who are interested in married or otherwise taken men. Such customers want to see if their prospective lovers are open to the idea of an affair or even destroy the married man's marriage in the hope of creating an opening.

Nicolly works solo, but Universa reports that this market is launching professionally organized businesses. One of them has 16 employees to offer customers a variety of options when selecting a temptress.

-via Marginal Revolution

pic.twitter.com/j8zCG4a4js

— Out of Context Simpsons Treehouse of Horror 🎃 (@OOCCouchGags) October 25, 2022

Death Note is an acclaimed manga and anime series about a high school boy who encounters a magical notebook dropped by a death demon. If he writes someone's name in it, that person dies. This young man suddenly has the power to kill anyone he can name.

The Simpsons is usually less disturbing--until now. The upcoming Halloween episode, "Treehouse of Horror XXXIII", depicts the people of Springfield in an anime style. The death demon once again drops his "death tome". This time, it falls into the hands of Lisa Simpson.

I can't wait to see this episode! In the meantime, let us content ourselves with screenshots from it at Kotaku.

Okay, yes, flying a plane sounds really exciting. But flight simulators are hard to complete successfully and take a lot of work. Wouldn't you prefer to just sit in a comfortable reclining chair while someone else flies the plane?

Alex Shakespeare built this simulator of the experience of being a jetliner passenger. It has a window that is actually a monitor that can be changed to accurately reflect different airports, including ones in Hong Kong, Las Vegas, London, and Innsbruck.

The overheard service board includes functional lights, a fan, and a call button. The button marked with a trumpet plays the iconic Ryanair landing jingle.

All that Shakespeare needs to complete the experience is a food cart with overpriced drinks. 

-via Hack A Day

This video allegedly shows helmet camera footage from a Russian Air Force pilot ejecting from his Sukhoi Su-25 "Frogfoot" attack aircraft. Internet rumor initially said that he was shot down over Ukraine, but later rumors assert that the pilot hit a power line while flying in Russia itself.

That's probably a pretty embarrassing mistake.

In just a brief moment, the flight went from calm and normal to a midair catastrophe. The pilot ejects while only a few hundred feet off the ground, then parachuted down to the ground. At about 0:11 into the video, we see the broken Frogfoot crash into the ground.

-via Dave Barry

King Charles Albert (1798-1849) of Sardinia-Piedmont owned this spectacular writing desk, which is now up for auction by M.S. Rau in New Orleans. A mere $266,500 can get you behind the ultimate power desk for your office.

Antiques expert Bill Rau takes us on a tour of the desk and its many, many secret compartments. Hidden buttons open spring-loaded drawers, as well as a centerpiece that pops out of the top. And if that's not enough, there are even hidden compartments in the chair.

I wonder if Rau has actually discovered all of the secret compartments or if some remain yet undiscovered.

-via Steampunk Tendencies

Received this at my grandmas funeral. What an icon. pic.twitter.com/EhxhzHJfoZ

— gracie perryman (@qrracie) October 18, 2022

On Twitter, Gracie Perryman shares a wonderful photo from her grandmother's funeral. The grand lady exits the stage with a joke. Would you like to have a conversation with her even now? The ouija board will let you drop in to say hello at your local seance.

Nobody’s gonna pick on the band kids any more!

I built my buddy a chainsaw clarinet, combining his two passions into one ridiculous multi-tool: the Clarisaw! Or would that be the Chaininet? pic.twitter.com/PQ0ibZiw7o

— Nathan Pryor (@nathanpryor) April 23, 2021

Nathan Pryor comes from a "DIY family" and grew up making things, many of which are useful. The chainsaw clarinet is certainly one of those for the times in life when one desires to make music, but also clear away brush and cut up firewood.

Pryor made the instrument for a friend who is a professional clarinetist in a symphony orchestra, as well as the owner of a wood milling business. The saw is an adapted angle grinder powered by a battery and a motor from a drill.

This is as close to an example of why we exist as you can probably get.

— US Consumer Product Safety Commission (@USCPSC) October 12, 2022

Pryor's invention has gathered the strong approval of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, a US federal agency responsible for ensuring that unsafe commercial products stay out of the hands of consumers.

Amazing walnut carvings.. 👌 pic.twitter.com/H8YbOjqOe2

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) October 14, 2022

These dioramas are attributed to xiujun1314, a user of Douyin, a Chinese-language social network that I gather is identical to TikTok. The artist hollows out walnut halves with a craft knife and adds miniature hinges to allow them to easily open and close. Tiny homes exist inside. They're cozy due to space limitations, but full of useful furniture and homey decorations. Lights provide illumination for those cold nights when you want to crawl inside your shell and shut out the world.

And perhaps the rent is, at least temporarily, affordable.

It appears that teqball has been around since 2014, but it's new to me. The ideal player is an expert soccer player who can adapt to the small confines of a table tennis setting. The table is curved to allow it to bank shots into high arcs that the players must send to the other team with feet, heads, or chests.

Players can't touch the ball with the same body part twice consecutively and can't send the ball to the other side with the same body part twice consecutively. These subtle rules make the game even more athletically demanding than this short video reveals.

The US federation for this sport claims that about 2,000 players in 100 countries play teqball. World championships were held in 2017, 2018, and 2019. They hope that teqball becomes an Olympic sport in 2028.

The iconic sitcom Seinfeld is often described as a "show about nothing", or to, borrow a play title from William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing. It is fitting to let the Bard of Avon have a go at screenwriting for this comedy program. At McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Michael Leonetti and Nick DiMaso rewrite scenes from Shakespeare plays as though they were Seinfeld episodes. Here's a passage from Romeo and Juliet in which Romeo and Mercutio attempt to make a purchase from the Soup Nazi:

Romeo and Mercutio wait in line in a Verona alley.

ROMEO: Now, Mercutio, remember what I said: he’s very peculiar about his wares.

MERCUTIO: I’m aware. He’s wary of selling his wares.

APOTHECARY: NEXT!

Romeo and Mercutio enter the Apothecary’s store. Mercutio steps up to the counter.

MERCUTIO: Medium coma-potion.

Mercutio pays the assistant but notices his order is missing something.

MERCUTIO: Uh, excuse me… but where is the dram of poison?

ROMEO: Leave it, Mercutio.

APOTHECARY: You want such mortal drugs, little man?

MERCUTIO: I would very much like it, please.

APOTHECARY: ONE HUNDRED DUCATS!

MERCUTIO: One hundred ducats? For a dram?

APOTHECARY: NO POTION FOR YOU. RETURN HENCE, FIVE AND THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY DAYS!

Read it all for selections from Hamlet, the Merchant of Venice, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, and the Scottish Play.

-via Debby Witt

Boing Boing describes this manual as something from "the handbook for a horror RPG", but I'm seeing similarities with the Monster Manual series from Dungeons & Dragons. I think that it's actually a fairly complete monster encounter manual for McDonaldland if only someone added stats and powers.

Browse through the 78-page document on the Internet Archive. It includes characters that have been slain, such as the French Fry Thatch (pp. 66-68), which has colors very inappropriate for fries, and CosMc the alien (pp. 76-78).

Visit your local McDonald's to mourn their loss. It's unlikely that you'll see Ronald McDonald himself. But if you do, keep out of his way, as urged on p.3:

Ronald resides in McDonaldland but is equally at home anywhere he goes. The other characters in McDonaldland look up to him, respect him, and are fond of him. Ronald is intelligent and sensitive, but always clown-like. He can do nearly anything, even incredible feats of magic. The antics of the other McDonaldland characters serve to complement Ronald's humor. They do not upstage him.

Ronald McDonald is the star.

You have been warned.