The 1986 movie Top Gun is about an elite training program for the US Navy's best fighter pilots. It was inspired by an actual school maintained by the Navy. As that movie is one of the most iconic of the 80s, students at the school are, of course, familiar with it. But they know better than to mention or quote it. Doing so results in a $5 fine.

Why? Former TOPGUN instructor Commander Guy Snodgrass explains in his new book about the school that everything about the school is serious. There's no time to make jokes. Business Insider reports on Snodgrass's book:

"But," Snodgrass explained, "when you get to TOPGUN, because it is such a professional organization and you want to emphasize that you are at the top of your game, that it's about professionalism, about good leadership, you don't turn TOPGUN into a joke by referencing the movie."

[...]

"So, it is a part of our bylaws that if someone overtly references the movie — it could be a direct quote, it could be something that is really close to a direct quote — that's an automatic $5 fine. And it's enforced. And you are expected to pay right then. You pull out your wallet and pay the $5," Snodgrass said.

Old habits die hard though. "I think at some point we were all fined because it's so ingrained in our aviation culture," he told Insider.

-via Geek Tyrant | Image: Paramount

The most common types of stained glass works that you might see include windows, decorative panes, and lamps. But Nicole Bex moves imaginatively beyond those norms. Her Etsy shop includes realistic bats with glass wings! Each one has a wingspan of about a foot.

-via So Super Awesome

Rise above those stormy, dreary days. Sit above them on the Rain Cloud Chair by Shota Urasaki, a designer on Okinawa. Stainless steel rods simulating the rain support the polyester foam seat. It would be an ideal chair for creative writing moments.

-via Toxel

You don't have to worry about your pharmaceutical reaction so as long as inanimate objects are waiting to affirm your life choices, as seen in Ryan Hudson's Channelate. And let us be glad that Kyle chose to have a normal throw pillow instead of an anime hug pillow as his companion (I'll let you Google that on your own).

Our game is titled The House on Blue Lick Road. It's a real house and actually for sale in Louisville, Kentucky. You can take a 3D tour of it . . . if you dare!

Walk around the sprawling and labyrinthine structure. There are mysterious and disturbing things beyond just the carpeted urinal and walk-in blue bathtub.

Can you walk through the whole structure while still alive? Some gamers are testing that out, as you can see from the above speedrun video. It may be safer than touring the home in person. WAXY News researched the history of this lair:

But a larger question remained: what’s the deal with this place? Whoever owned it, they were too organized to be hoarders. The home appeared to double as the office and warehouse for an internet reseller business, but who sells a house crammed floor-to-ceiling with retail goods?

Internet sleuths unearthed several news articles from 2014, outlining how police discovered thousands of stolen items being sold online during a raid at the address, the result of a four-year investigation resulting in criminal charges for four family members living and working at the house.

But it didn’t add up. If they were convicted for organized crime, why was there still so much inventory in the house, with products released as recently as last year? Why is it still packed full while they’re trying to sell it? And what’s with the bathtub!?

-via Super Punch | Photo: Redfin

The cats that live in your ceiling need to keep an eye on you. Try to be helpful to them as this shopkeeper in Japan has been. Twitter user SCMCrocodile reports that a friend swapped out the drop panels in his shop's hopefully sturdy ceiling with sheets of glass. The security cats can now see everything that happens in the store.

Suzanne Brewer, an architect, designed this amazing wheelchair for her son, Jarvis. The idea came to her when a man using a wheelchair in a bar couldn't get high enough to reach a drink from a bartender. What if the chair itself could lift up?

The Walking Wheelchair is the result of her search for a solution. Although young Jarvis isn't drinking in bars (as far as I can tell), he can now reach high objects that were previously inaccessible.

-via Nag on the Lake

The high plains town of Lusk, Wyoming has a wild, cowboy history. It has a peculiar relationship with the soiled doves of its past. For example, the Yellow Hotel brothel and its madam, Dell Burke, were famous in the region and respected in town.

So it is not surprising that, just outside of the town limits, there is a monument at the gravesite of Mother Featherlegs, a prostitute who was murdered 1879. Her nickname came from the ruffles of her pantalets, which were publicly visible on windy days. In 1964, people in Lusk erected this monument, which you can find 10 miles south of town, in her honor.

Photo: Jimmy Emerson

The documentary series Star Trek: Voyager told the story of a Federation starship trapped on the far side of our galaxy that made a 7-year long journey back home. The captain of the Voyager was the legendary Kathryn Janeway.

Bloomington, Indiana now has a monument to its most famous daughter. Captain Janeway was born there on May 20, 2336. Her fans, organized under the banner of the Captain Janeway Bloomington Collective, funded and erected a statue in her honor.

One of Janeway's strongest supporters, the actress Kate Mulgrew, virtually attended the unveiling. She said of it:

I’m not often rendered speechless, but in this moment I am. How many people have such a marvelous thing done in their honor, in their memory. It’s a wonderful comment on Janeway’s legacy… And hearing you all speak today is deeply moving to me. To realize that Janeway has had such an important role in your lives, and I think in cultural history, it not only terribly affecting for me, but makes me want to go forth in a new way.

-via reddit

Nota Bene: Lest anyone argue that creating this monument violate the Temporal Prime Directive, be aware that that law applies to Starfleet personnel only. Of course, that doesn't mean that messing with the timeline this way isn't a hazardous idea.

What's going to stop your kids from getting to school on time? Nothing, so as long as they're riding in this bus. Core77 tells us about the Praetorian, a bus platform manufactured by a Czech company called Torsus. It's available for a variety of purposes, including as a military command vehicle and an anti-riot vehicle. It's made to go where other vehicles can't:

The 4x4 Praetorian can carry 36 passengers, handle gnarly angles, clear obstacles 13.4 inches in height and wade through nearly three feet of water.

Imagine where Miss Frizzle could go in this bus!

Sun Woo Chang, a fashion designer from South Korea, says that she felt inspired by the tents used by homeless people in London:

When I was in London, I saw homeless people sleeping in their pop-up tents and carrying them as portable homes. I thought that was the lifestyle I had dreamed of, as I somehow felt that I never really belonged to a certain group since childhood. Based on these ideas, I started to create garments as portable homes, like ‘refuge-wear’ from my reality.

Her series, which is titled "In Between", uses PVC pipes and wire frames that pop out stretched fabric. Like tents, they can be knocked down into compact spaces. Each outfit is thus a wearable, portable home.

-via Dornob

The grunge classic by Nirvana is way, way older than 1991. YouTube user The Miracle Aligner offers this translation and performance. The channel also brings us "On Melancholy Hill" in Middle Scots, "The House of the Rising Sun" in 13th Century French, and Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" in Old Norse.

-via Weird Universe

Etsy member Jennifer Symons made these cute mittens. They automatically put your fingers into the position of the Vulcan salute.

Do you know the origin of this gesture from Star Trek? Memory Alpha describes how Leonard Nimoy invented it:

The Vulcan salute was devised by Leonard Nimoy, based on a gesture made by various Jewish denominations, including Orthodox and Conservative. In TV Land's The 100 Greatest TV Quotes & Catchphrases, William Shatner described the salute as a benediction, comparing it to the Sign of the Cross. The gesture actually forms the Hebrew letter "Shin" and represents the honorific title "Shaddai", which means "Almighty (God)." The hand gesture is traditionally used by the Kohanim (Hebrew "priests"), Jews of priestly descent, during a blessing ceremony performed during the prayer service of certain Jewish holy days. The Jewish blessing is done with both hands, with arms extended upward at roughly a forty-five-degree angle, rather than one hand held upright as in the Vulcan salute. Nimoy learned the gesture, which takes practice to do, from visiting his grandfather's synagogue as a child.

Legend has it that if you say "Bloody Mary" three times into a mirror, then Queen Mary Stuart will attack you. Personally, I prefer the South Park version of the story, starring the ghost of Biggie Smalls.

Playing up on the legend of Bloody Mary and poking fun at its rival, McDonald's, a Burger King outlet in Sweden has created a haunted bathroom. If you say "Cancelled Clown" -- a reference to Ronald McDonald -- three times, then the clown will appear before you. Business Insider reports:

The software, installed by a Swedish agency named INGO Stockholm, is trained to listen for the phrase "canceled clown." If it hears it three times, it dims the lights, makes a noise, and plays visual effects on a screen behind the two-way "smart mirror."

Ronald McDonald has been "cancelled" in that McDonald's has gradually removed the mascot from its advertising.

-via Dave Barry

Good etiquette at the gym and execution chamber calls for wiping down equipment before leaving. Don't leave your bodily fluids everywhere. Keep it all clean, especially now, as cartoonist Madeline Horwath reminds us.