Humanity has a long tradition of trading witty insults as a form of entertainment and one-upmanship, manifested in modern times as rap battles or playing the dozens. These (sometimes) good-natured competitions are found all over the world in many eras of history. One in particular survives in the literature from medieval Britain. Back then, it was called flyting.

Flyting is a stylized battle of insults and wits that was practiced most actively between the fifth and 16th centuries in England and Scotland. Participants employed the timeless tools of provocation and perversion as well as satire, rhetoric, and early bathroom humor to publicly trounce opponents. The term “flyting” comes from Old English and Old Norse words for “quarrel” and “provocation.” 'Tis a form of highly poetic abuse, or highly abusive poetry—a very early precursor to MTV’s Yo Mama and Eminem’s 8 Mile.

“Court flyting” sometimes served as entertainment for royals such as Scottish kings James IV and James V. The most famous surviving exchange is The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie, which was performed in the early 16th century by William Dunbar and Walter Kennedy for the court of James IV. A medieval rap battle between two clever men, it featured the first recorded instance of poop being used as an insult. The moment Kennedy called Dunbar a “shit without a wit,” he ushered in a whole new era of scatological humor.

See some examples of flyting from medieval records and read about how it evolved into the rap battles of today, at Atlas Obscura.

Watch a demonstration of the visual effects work in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but only if you’ve seen the movie, since there are plot points revealed here. I would suggest watching it in full-screen mode, since it's shown mostly in split screen.

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The Force Awakens has been nominated for five Academy Awards, all in technical categories. The lack of pre-release viewing for critics may have contributed to the film receiving no major nominations for acting or directing, but it's up for Oscars in Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects, and Original Score. And deservedly so. Still, there's no guarantee of winning. Mad Max: Fury Road received ten nominations, in many of the same categories (plus Best Picture and Best Director), and the technical aspects of that movie were quite stunning. -via io9

Games are often used as metaphors for life. Chess is often used as a metaphor, although usually for war, which is more accurate in some ways than in others. Tor Bair beccame intimately aware of chess as a metaphor at an early age, and other games came only later.

From the age of seven, I played chess constantly and competitively. I played in school, online, at national competitions. Chess taught me patience, perseverance, critical thinking — crucial skills for tackling life’s hard problems and difficult situations.

Chess wired me to think causally at a young age. Move your knight here; you’ll trap his bishop. Capture that pawn; you’ll weaken his right side. Every correct move led me closer to a checkmate; every false step brought me closer to defeat.

Chess also introduced the idea of the “other”. Black versus white. Our school versus theirs. And every game was zero sum — there was only ever one point to score, either to be shared or taken in its entirety. No way to grow the pie.

The problem is that chess is logical, and can be as simple or as difficult as your opponent is. Life isn’t logical or simple, even though it can take a lifetime to master, as they say about chess. Bair decided that life is more like Tetris than chess, and requires a completely different set of skills, strategy, and philosophy. Of course, playing and winning are two different things. He lays out four ways Tetris is a metaphor for our lives, and it all makes perfect sense. -via reddit

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Klara Tavakoli Goesche put together a feel-good music video featuring clips of the biggest musical acts of the past, set the the 1974 song "I've Got the Music in Me" by Kiki Dee. It's a great dip into a pool of nostalgia for those of us of a certain age -and just plain fun for everyone else. From the vimeo description:

I began this video project in December 2015. Sadly, we've lost two of the legends featured since I started. So this is now dedicated to David Bowie and Lemmy Kilmister. This video is a celebration of when musical artistry was all about the music. I also wanted to showcase this great song by Kiki Dee, the first white, female, 'blue-eyed soul singer' from the UK accepted by a Motown label. Finally, I made this in anticipation of the forthcoming HBO show 'Vinyl'. Turn it up.

Oh, you better believe I turned it up! -Thanks, Klara!

Echo 12, a pilot of the Rebellion, crashed and is left for dead on the ice planet Hoth. He’s not entirely alone there, which makes the situation quite dangerous. Even worse, it will be dark soon.  

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Rebel Scum is a Star Wars fan film by Blood Brother Cinema Co.

Rebel Scum pays homage to the original Star Wars trilogy; nearly all visual effects were created without the use of CGI, using time honored methods such a stop-motion animation. Shot on location in -30°C (-22°F) at Columbia Icefield in Alberta Canada.

There is a moment where it might have helped to have a lightbulb go off over the character's head. Read more about this production at its website. -via Geeks Are Sexy

Some times you feel like an adult; sometimes you don’t. As someone who’s done too much "adulting," I have to give this one a pass. Having cookies and alcohol for dinner occasionally may be ridiculous, but it’s not all that irresponsible. At least she isn’t driving around drunk or falling behind on her rent. Baby steps, y’all! This is the latest from Brandon and Dami at Hot Comics for Cool People. -via Tastefully Offensive

British actor Alan Rickman was a star of the London stage, but became better known when he went to Hollywood and landed parts like that of Hans Gruber in Die Hard, the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Rasputin in Rasputin, and Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series. The Guardian has announced that Rickman has died of cancer in London.

Rickman was an actor unafraid of the unexpected. He voiced a monarch in an episode of cult carton King of the Hill and a megalomaniac pilot fish called Joe in the Danish animator Help! I’m A Fish. In 2000, Rickman appeared as Sharleen Spiteri’s love interest in the music video for Texas’s 2000 hit ‘In Demand’, which involves them tangoing at a petrol station. In 2015, Rickman again featured in the video for one of their singles, this time with vocals.  

He spoofed his own persona in comedy Galaxy Quest (2000), in which he plays a Shakespearian-trained actor who has found fame as a Spock-style alien in a long-running sci-fi series and in Victoria Wood’s Christmas special of the same year, as an upright colonel at the Battle of Waterloo.

Rickman was sanguine about his legions of admirers, who declared their love on countless websites, video tributes and at stage doors. Even scientists were not immune: in 2008, linguistics professors concluded that the most appealing male voice mixes elements of Rickman, Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon.

Rickman has 68 acting credits listed at IMDb, and also tried his hand at writing and directing. Alan Rickman was 69.

(Image credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen)

At Johnson Space Center, south of Houston, Texas, there’s a nondescript building that contains things you won’t find anywhere else in the world. And some things you might find, but you wouldn’t know their significance. Building 31 has laboratories containing a curious and carefully curated collection of objects from outer space. There are rocks brought back from the moon by Apollo astronauts, meteorites from Mars, particles from the tail of a comet, and a precious but tiny amount of solar wind particles.  

NASA keeps some of its most sensitive samples in the “Genesis” lab, which has the most rigorous cleanliness protocols of any facility at the space center. The Genesis lab houses particles from the solar wind, essentially tiny bits of the Sun which hold clues about the composition of the solar nebula at the time when the planets formed.

That morning we had been instructed to not wear wedding rings, nor scented deodorant. In the anteroom we had donned gloves, booties, and hair nets. In the “gowning” room, we had put on masks, full-body polyester suits, head covers, boots over the body suit and booties, and a second pair of gloves. Also, they’d taken my notepad and given me “clean” paper—once inside I’d receive a clean Sharpie pen. Nor did our photography equipment escape the cleanroom regime: we had to spend several minutes rubbing down cameras and lenses and tripods with alcohol wipes until the scientists were satisfied that the devices were reasonably dust-free.

After this entire process, we asked if the lab gets a lot of visitors. “I don’t take people in,” Allton, the lab's curator, said. “You guys are special. The main reason is, people are dirty.”

The general public doesn’t have access to those samples, but we can see them anyway. Ars Technica took plenty of photographs and notes on their exclusive tour to share with us. While the photos are fascinating, the best part of the article are the stories of how these outer space samples came to be there. -via Metafilter

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The newest edition of the Mode 100 Years series shows us what women wore to exercise in over the past century. The model is YouTube fitness vlogger Cassey Ho. It’s not just a fashion video, either: Ho demonstrates what was considered a “workout” in those bygone decades.

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We may laugh now, but 100 years ago, household chores meant heavy lifting, transportation meant walking, and “fitness” was something people rarely had time for anyway. As real life got easier, we had to adjust our recreation to fill in the physical fitness gap. Most of us don’t exercise enough even now. -via Tastefully Offensive   

The nominations for the Academy Awards will be announced later this morning. Meanwhile, as is tradition, the nominees for the 36th annual Golden Raspberry Awards, affectionately known as the Razzies, were announced a day earlier. The Oscars recognize excellence in filmmaking, and the Razzies throw a spotlight on the worst movies and actors of the year. A few films dominate the nominations.  

While the Academy Award-worthy films seem more plentiful than usual this year, the Razzie noms are focused on a few exceptional front-runners. Fifty Shades of Grey, the obvious favorite, is nominated in six of 10 categories: worst picture, worst actor, worst actress, worst “screen combo” (chemistry), worst director and worst screenplay. Adam Sandler’s Pixels (five nominations), Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (six nominations), and the Wachowski siblings’ Jupiter Ascending (six nominations) are also prime contenders.

The winners will be announced Saturday, February 27, one day ahead of the Academy Awards. See the full list of nominees at Flavorwire.

It’s hard enough to keep the kids in the backseat from fighting each other on a road trip, and then your vehicle starts acting up, too. The gas gauge has picked a fight with the oil pressure gauge! They’re going at it like they are wielding swords, or maybe even lightsabers. You can tell that the gas gauge is the instigator, and the oil pressure is just defending itself. -via reddit

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.

The Three Stooges first comedy short for Columbia pictures was Woman Haters. Woman Haters was released on May 5, 1934 and was a smash hit at the box office. The boys' follow-up effort was originally called A Symphony of Punches. The title was later changed to Punch Drunks.

Punch Drunks was filmed from May 2 to May 5, 1934. Directed by Lew Breslow, Punch Drunks would prove to be one of the most popular-ever Three Stooges films.

Out of the boys' 190 shorts made for Columbia over a period of 24 years (1934-1957), this was to be the only Stooge short where the Stooges received screenwriter's credit. The official credit listed on the film is "story by Jerry Howard (Curly), Larry Fine, and Moe Howard.” In truth, Moe wrote the original treatment for Punch Drunks; he added Curly and Larry's names  as "writers" even though they had nothing to do with it. The actual screenplay was written by Jack Cluett.

A rarity for the Stooges, in Punch Drunks, Moe, Larry and Curly do not start in the film as a team, but as three separate entities. In the story, Moe is a down and out boxing manager, Curly a suppressed waiter in a cheap diner, and Larry an out-of-work violin player. Although not a team yet, right off the bat Moe immediately establishes himself as the team's bossy leader.

Also, in this early short, Curly uses his real-life voice, not the higher-pitched "Curly" voice we would all later come to know so well.

As Curly is being worked over and berated by his boss, Larry randomly plays the song "Pop Goes the Weasel" on his violin. This stirs an animalistic strength in Curly and he knocks out the boss, as well as Moe's three clients.

Netflix is really taking off as an alternative to both cable TV and movie theaters. The subscription service’s original programming for 2016 has a slew of new series, movies, and specials that rival any network. They include movie sequels that we’ve waited for a long time, like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (shown above) and Pee-wee’s Big Holiday. Also the Tanner family of Full House returns in 13 episodes of Fuller House. These are just a few of the 21 original shows and movies Netflix will debut this year. Read about them, mark down the premiere dates, and watch video previews at The Daily Dot.

This scene is from a Norwegian TV show called Ikke gjør dette hjemme (Never Ever Do This at Home). It seems to be an apt title. The premise of this excerpt is that they are cleaning a stairway in the house with chemicals. Specifically, hydrogen peroxide, potassium iodide, and soap. You might know this as the recipe for Elephant Toothpaste. The Norwegian term for elephant toothpaste is foam troll. In that “experiment,” you use small amounts of the ingredients, whereas the guys in the show use barrels. And gasoline.

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A YouTube commenter quipped that the whole idea was to get the fire brigade out to clean the house with their hoses. You can see the entire episode here. The description, run through machine translation, is no help at all. Still, I’d watch a TV show with a cast named Roar, Morten, Rune, and Thorfinn. -via reddit

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We spend a lot of psychic energy trying to figure out how to put inflection, accent, and expression into out text communication. It’s a little easier in phone conversations, but when we are face-to-face, we get the nuances of meaning easier because of body language. That includes facial expressions, too. Adrienne tells us a lot of stuff about body language in the latest episode of the mental_floss List Show, while she gestures with her hands to help us understand.