Need some excitement on a Saturday night? Ultron will funk you up. Filmmakers Angie Griffin and Chad Nikolaus, who are known as the Screen Team, offer this parody of Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk." The hit movie Avengers: Age of Ultron is now about an unstoppable dancing robot. If you look carefully, you'll see Hawkeye appear . . . somewhere.
-via Nerd Bastards
(Photo: Chris-Rachael Oseland/BBC)
With a clever pun, Chris-Rachael Oseland, AKA the Kitchen Overlord, devises a great treat for Doctor Who fans. Keep your eyes on the deadly Weeping Angel inside this cake. She made them in a Bundt cake pan that highlights the Gothic architecture that appeared in the famous episode “Blink.” Don’t eat. Eat and you’re fed.
(Image: Fox)
Why would anyone develop a computer program that will insult people? It’s to improve customer service. The Australian reports that the Touchpoint Group, a company in New Zealand, is creating a computer model that accurately simulates irate and obnoxious customers. Customer service workers can interact with that model in order to learn how to deal effectively with terrible people that they encounter at work:
Touchpoint Group chief executive Frank van der Velden said the research would help with the complex task of understanding how customers were affected by the various products, systems, policies, processes and people they interacted with in the lead-up to reaching breaking point.
Mr van der Velden said the program would constantly run “what if” scenarios to see if a particular scenario was likely to enrage or benefit the customer.
“The end goal is to build an engine that can recommend solutions to companies — and we’re talking about the people at the frontline here — how they can improve particular issues that customers are facing,” Mr van der Velden said.
-via Uproxx
(Photo: Sarah Anderson/Thrillist)
In the name of science, the staff of the food blog Thrillist gallantly ate all 27 varieties of Pop-Tarts commonly available on the open market. By doing so, they spared you the trouble of doing the same. They then reviewed and ranked all of those flavors, carefully noting the variable tastiness of each. As a result, all of us now have available a complete buyers’ guide.
The Thrillist writers gave the #27 slot to Unfrosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon and the #1 position to Blue Raspberry. I had not heard of most of the flavors, including #19, which is Whole Grain Brown Sugar Cinnamon. And I’m at a loss to understand why there is a whole grain Pop-Tart at all, as anyone who is eating Pop-Tarts is completely unconcerned with nutrition.
-via Nag on the Lake
This is really clever! Adrian Hogan, an artist in Tokyo, has a new take on coffee cup art. While sitting at café terraces, he draws landscapes on coffee cups. These are fully panoramic images. As you see in the video, as he turns the cup, the scene shifts to reflect the background behind it. It’s a really creative idea that I think could be the basis for a narrative music video.
You can see two more of Hogan’s videos at Colossal.
-via That’s Nerdalicious!
(Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra)
It’s called the octobass or octobasse. French violinmaker Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume invented it in 1849 or 1850. He wanted to add a very low tone to orchestral performances. The octobasse is 2 octaves lower than a cello. Its lowest C note can’t even be heard by the human ear.
The body is so huge that the performer can’t play it like a bass violin. It rests in a purpose-built stand that the player climbs to reach it. Levers at the top permit the player to press the strings.
Vuillaume built 3 octobasses. 2 of these instruments survive to this day. There are also 2 replicas. The Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona has one of those replicas. In this video, curator Colin Pearson demonstrates how to play it.
Now here’s a real treat! In the video below, a few people play the theme from the movie Jaws on the octobasse:
I tell my daughters, who are 4 and 6, that when I was their age, all phones were connected to walls with cables. The only thing you could do with them is talk to people. They’re skeptical that such primitive, savage conditions were normal not so long ago.
Jake has a similar reaction. What is this thing?
Redditor umdean shows a clever use for a hijab. When wrapped up carefully, this woman’s headscarf gives the impression of Princess Leia’s hairbuns. The white shirt is a nice accent to the look.
-via Cosplay in America
(Photo: US Post Office)
In a fascinating article at io9, Esther Ingils-Arkell tells us about United States fractional currency. During the American Civil War, the Trent Affair almost drew the UK into declaring war on the United States. This would almost certainly have resulted in a Confederate victory. Thankfully, Union diplomats were able to sooth British anger. But the war scare resulted in popular hoarding of metallic currency.
It was necessary to print out money in a hurry, so the Treasury released paper bills with designated values of fractions of a dollar, such as the 3-cent bill pictured above:
To put a lid on the chaos, the United States Treasury issued postal currency. These were, essentially, “small change,” and they could be exchanged for real money as long as the amount of postal currency being exchanged was five dollars or less. The ability to conduct everyday transactions with the confidence that these special stamps could be exchanged for bills stabilized the situation, but it was a stop-gap measure. To prevent forgery, the Treasury started making fractional currency, in denominations of 3, 5, 10, 15, 25, and 50 cents. Each was roughly the size of six modern-day postage stamps. This currency stayed in circulation for a decade and a half. It was only in 1876 that it started getting replaced with coins again.
Flowing Data created several charts of sandwich chains across the 48 contiguous US states. This one makes it clear: the Subway company rules the land with a lettuce-covered fist. You can see the other charts here.
This chart removes Subway from the dataset. Arby’s is strong in the Midwest. Jimmy John’s and Panera Bread appear to be concentrated in major cities. I have not eaten at most of these delis, although I remember Jersey Mike’s as being quite good.
(Photo: BBC)
His mother remembers it clearly: when he was about 7 or 8 years old, she took young Steve Easton of Surrey, UK to the hospital. She thought that he had snorted a rubber sucker from a dart up his nose. But hospital staff were unable to locate it, even after taking x-ray images.
More than 4 decades later, Easton had a terrible sneezing fit. The tiny rubber piece that you see in his hand fell out of his nose.
I wonder what else is up there. It’s probably a good idea to vigorously dig around and find out.
-via Stuff
George Zisiadis explains that he designed this bench to create a “playful connection between strangers.” They can’t help it. Two people can sit quietly on a static bench without acknowledging each other, but a merry-go-round is inherently interactive. So the Bench Go Round provides a great way to meet people.
It was his contribution to the Market Street Prototyping Festival last month in San Francisco. That’s a public exhibition of new product and architectural ideas that visitors may want to make a reality. The Bench Go Round should certainly be one of those ideas that is built in every city.
-via Laughing Squid
(Photo: Evan Margerum)
Franklin High School in Franklin, Ohio now has a very eco-friendly ballpark. On one recent night, someone planted a 25-foot tall tree right between the home plate and the pitcher’s mound. The city government arranged for its removal.
Michael Sander, the school district superintendent, isn’t laughing at the joke. He says that if police are able to find out who is responsible, he’ll bill them for the cost of removing the tree.
-via AP
On Mother’s Day, the family and friends of Louise Bonito of New Haven, Connecticut gathered around her to celebrate her birthday. She had reached the grand age of 102, which is certainly cause for a party. Mrs. Bonito blew out the three candles on her birthday cake. It was a vigorous wind that sent her dentures flying out of her mouth.
This was funny to everyone present, especially Mrs. Bonito.
-via Daily Telegraph (warning: auto-start video)
When you and your mate are having beef and the only logical way to settle it is... pic.twitter.com/E6lsiVtvhO
— Medieval Reactions (@MedievalReacts) March 27, 2015
It’s Friday night and it’s time to hit the clubs. Bring your cash, a strong liver, and an eye for the ladies. What’s the experience like? You can Snapchat it or just use Medieval manuscript illustrations and Renaissance art. The twitter account @MedievalReacts shows people from a millennium ago getting trashed at bars and waking up to the consequences.
Content warning: occasionally, some surprisingly obscene manuscript illustrations.
When your mate thinks they can take down a double tequila pic.twitter.com/MSRnoJacFI
— Medieval Reactions (@MedievalReacts) March 24, 2015