How many wild canines can you name? There are wolves, foxes, and coyotes, and lots of other wild dogs in Africa. Dingos are descendants of domesticated dogs that became wild again. Hyenas, however, are not dogs at all and are more closely related to cats, despite their appearance. Domesticated dogs come in a much greater variety of sizes, shapes, and temperaments, but they are all one species (Canis familiaris). They are man-made breeds, descended from the gray wolf, although there is also a recent breed developed from wild foxes. 

MinuteEarth gives us an overview of the different kinds of dogs, starting with some examples of extinct canids, then moving to wild dogs of the world and ending with domestic dog breeds and mutts. You might get the idea that this is a ten minute ad for a poster they produced, and you'd be right. But the selling part is not intrusive and the subject matter is interesting enough on its own.

You certainly remember the hullabaloo about crop circles in the 1980s, supposedly made as messages from alien beings. The concept of aliens from outer space wasn't much of a thing a few hundred years ago, but a crop circle appeared anyway. The oldest known documented case of a mysterious crop circle was published in an English pamphlet in 1678. The story told in its five pages involved the devil. 

A farmer had three half-acres of oats ready to harvest. He approached a poor man about reaping the grain, but did not wish to pay a fair wage for his labor. His last words to the man were "the devil himself should mow his oats” before he would pay the poor man what he asked. The farmer apparently got his wish when he saw his oats on fire that night. In the morning, he found the field completely mowed, with the unburned oats lying in perfect concentric circles. However, he was too scared to gather them. Who needs aliens when you have the devil to deliver karma? Read that story in full at The Public Domain review.  -via Boing Boing 

Duh. Americans like ice cream because it's full of milk, sugar, and fat, all delicious things. Plus it's nice to have something cold to eat on a hot day, and we have plenty of those. Besides, there's nothing more American than overconsumption. Laurence Brown, as is his habit, researches all those American things that we never think much about. In this video he goes over the history of American ice cream. It was Thomas Jefferson who popularized the dish in the US (as he did macaroni and cheese). Brown reveals that American ice cream also benefitted from the country's huge size, when ice was harvested in cold areas and transported to the whole nation, even the hot parts. 

I love ice cream, even though I don't eat it much. My teeth are too cold-sensitive. But when I had a houseful of people living here, there was always at least two kinds always available. This video has a one-minute ad at 3:04. 

Those who planned and set up the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II didn't take into consideration the fact that America can be a melting pot. Elaine Yoneda, a Jewish woman with Russian immigrant parents, was allowed to stay home when they came for her Japanese American husband Karl, but when they came back for their three-year-old son Tommy, she accompanied him to Manzanar. But she had to leave her 14-year-old white daughter Joyce behind. 

There were thousands of non-Japanese spouses and parents who elected to accompany their families into internment, and the US government didn't know how to handle them. Every few months, new regulations were written, allowing some families to leave, depending on where they decided to go, and whether their household had been a "Caucasian environment," although that was poorly defined. That rule did not help six-year-old Richard Honda, a Japanese American boy who had been adopted by white parents. It also did not take into account the many mixed marriages in which one person was Black, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, or another ethnicity. So more regulations were written. Read about Elaine Yoneda and the other non-Japanese people in the internment camps at LitHib.  -via Damn Interesting 

(Image credit: TradingCardsNPS)  

If you are a superhero who can fly, or even just leap tall buildings in a single bound, you still have to come down to earth sometime. The standard way to do it is to land with bent knees for shock absorption, feet apart for stability, one hand down for safety, and the other arm flung wide because it's hella photogenic. That gives you the standard superhero landing that we've all become familiar with. It takes some practice, and you get the idea that they learned this from each other. However, it doesn't always go that smoothly (2:35). A few broken bones will teach you to stay on your feet at all times. Deadpool can get away with diverging from the formula, because he doesn't care. Marvel Entertainment put together this compilation of epic landings in the MCU films. If you remember them, you're enough of a fan that you'll want to see them again. -via Laughing Squid 

The crew of the EV Nautilus usually brings us videos of fascinating and rarely seen deep sea creatures spotted by their ROVs. But a recent find on the ocean floor near the Solomon Islands is something completely different. At a depth of 2,214 feet (675 meters), they found the front of a boat. It has been identified as the bow of the heavy cruiser USS New Orleans, hit by a Japanese torpedo in 1942.

The story of the New Orleans is a tale of resourcefulness and innovation. During the Battle of Tassafaronga on November 30, 1942, the torpedo ripped through the ship's bow and detonated a huge stash of ammunition stored there. More than 180 of the ship's crew of 900 were killed. Around 20% of the ship's length was completely gone, but the crew sealed off bulkheads to keep afloat, and the New Orleans limped to the nearest island. They camouflaged the ship and retrieved logs from coconut trees to repair the bow. Then they steamed 1,800 miles in reverse to Australia! The ship was completely repaired, and put back into service for the rest of World War II. Read that amazing story at CNN.  -via Fark 

(Image credit: U.S. Navy) 

Kids that appear different often get bullied. The pressure to conform can be overwhelming, and those who cannot suffer greatly. We've all seen campaigns to fight this tendency, to encourage acceptance of others, and to boost the confidence of those who don't quite fit in with the crowd. The short film We’re Kinda Different by Ben Meinhardt takes that concept to a higher plane by making the protagonist a small marshmallow with a butt where his torso would normally be. 

The idea is so ridiculous, you can't help but laugh. This little guy has his talents, like playing the trumpet. But the reactions from the people around him tear at his self-esteem anyway. Over the course of the song, we get to see the pure and innocent soul underneath that butt. His determination to hold his head high eventually changes those who recoiled at the sight of him, and his confidence spreads to others who may be considered different. -via Kuriositas 

Think what you will about the gluttony and grossness of the sport of competitive eating, but what if it wasn't really competitive? Goats don't care about how much another goat eats, as long as they get what they want for themselves. And eating is what they do best. That's the thinking behind Goatham, an eating contest for goats to be held this Saturday in Manhattan's Riverside Park. 

For the last five years, Riverside Park Conservancy has been using goats to clear away invasive plants, including poison ivy, that want to take over the park. The eating event is to bring awareness to the goats' talents in trimming, weeding, and fertilizing the park. Over a few years, they've expanded the areas of the park that can be used by the public. There are no "rules" posted for determining who wins, but you can meet the five star goats who will be participating. The contest will be overseen by Major League Eating, which usually stages human eating competitions.  -via Boing Boing 

The Jenny Jones Show was a daytime talk show that ran from 1991 to 2003. After a benign beginning, the show descended into the "trash TV" genre by focusing on scandalous subjects for their entertainment value. In 1995, 24-year-old Jonathan Schmitz was shocked to find that his friend Scott Amedure had a secret crush on him- in front of a studio audience, while the tape was rolling. Three days later, he shot and killed Amedure. Schmitz used the "gay panic" defense at his murder trial. The facts of the murder itself were not in dispute, but how culpable was The Jenny Jones Show? Schmitz was humiliated, but was he ambushed? Not surprisingly, there were other cases of crime and death associated with tabloid TV in the 1990s, and while that particular kind of show has mostly gone by the wayside, other TV shows are making bank on drama concocted on the backs of everyday people. 

The Minnesota State Fair opens August 21st in St. Paul and runs through September first. As always, the fair is full of shows, concerts, competitions, and carnival rides. But many people go for the fair food, which we have described for years as "deep-fried on a stick." The menu for the 2025 fair has been released, and it includes new conglomerations of sweet, spicy, exotic, and decadent foods. Treats planned for the fair for the first time this year include Chicken-Fried Bacon Fries, Dill Pickle Iced Tea, Hot Honey Jalapeño Popper Donut, Shrimp & Pork Toast On-A-Stick, and Birthday Cake Cookie Dough On-A-Stick. Is that decadent enough? If not, you must try the Uncrustaburger, a hamburger with cheese and pickles served between two peanut butter and jelly Uncrustables.

There are also fusion dishes, combing two (or more) cultural cuisines, like Somali Street Fries, Tandoori Chicken Quesaratha, Cannoli Gelato Nachos, and a Fawaffle. That's a waffle made of chickpeas. Check out 41 new kinds of food and drink available when the fair opens in this gallery. -via Metafilter 

Just a reminder, the new Superman movie will open this Friday. We saw from the trailer that Krypto will be a part of it, and nothing draws people to a movie more than a dog (except maybe sex and violence and superheroes). Will Krypto be held hostage by Superman's archenemy Lex Luthor? That's the idea in this animated skit from How It Should Have Ended. What will Superman do to get his dog back?

Stay on your toes, Superman. Yours is not the only movie riding the hype machine this summer. There's also Jurassic World Rebirth, in theaters now. Fantastic Four: First Steps will open on July 25. There's always a new Batman movie in development, even if it won't come out this year. And when it comes to dogs in danger, there's one hero who stands above them all. We know you love Krypto, Superman, we all do. But this time you might be outshined. -via Geeks Are Sexy 

You might recall back in 2021 that a woman from Mali had nine babies at once. Halima Cissé was flown to Casablanca, Morocco, and delivered four boys and five girls by Cesarian section, ten weeks before what would have been a normal due date. There had been a couple of cases of nonuplets born before, but none in which even one baby survived. Cissé's infants, who weighed between 1.1 and 2.2 pounds, were kept in a hospital nursery for months, and the family was joined by her husband Abdelkader Arby and older daughter Souda. They returned to Mali 18 months later. The Guinness Book of World Records awarded Cissé the world record for the most children delivered at a single birth to survive, surpassing Octomom's record.   



On May 4, Kadidia, Fatouma, Hawa, Adama, Oumou, Mohammed VI, Oumar, Elhadji, and Bah all turned four years old, and are thriving. People magazine has posted pictures of the family for the occasion. -via Fark 

I recall reading about the Marvel movie Thunderbolts* last year, mainly about why they had an asterisk in the title. It completely slipped by me that the movie opened in May. As the final installment of MCU's Phase Five, it was expected to be a hit. Alas, no. Thunderbolts* received generally favorable reviews, but it has yet to make enough money to cover its massive production and marketing costs. The premise is that a group of misfit antiheroes, i.e. criminals, band together to save the world and become heroes. Marvel seems to be aiming for the heroics of an Avengers movie meshed with the humor of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. However, the too-large cast of characters wasn't likable enough to pull it off. Screen Junkies goes all in on pulling Thunderbolts* apart in this Honest Trailer. 

By the way, the asterisk is supposed to go to the footnote *The New Avengers. Good luck with that.  

In 1929, Germany was still struggling with the political and economic mess left by World War I. Friedrich Ritter was a Berlin physician who wanted to get away from it all and live a simple, natural life. So he left his wife and went to Floreana, an uninhabited volcanic island in the Galapagos. He took a patient with him, Dore Strauch, who he was in love with. Strauch suffered from multiple sclerosis, but gamely went to build a new life on the island. The couple sent letters back to Germany by passing ships, and some were published. Those letters made island living seem like paradise, and Ritter and Strauch were joined by Heinz and Margret Wittmer and their teenage son. The Wittmers set up their own household and gave birth to another son while living on Floreana. In 1932, a third household arrived- Eloise Wehrborn de Wagner-Bosquet, who claimed to be a Baroness, and her two younger lovers.

The Baroness lived closer to the sea, and talked of a plan to open a hotel on Floreana. That never happened, but she greeted passing ships and collected everyone's mail. They suspected she intercepted supplies, too. The three households on Floreana were never close, but they were the only people living on the island. The cordial equilibrium they had built began to break down, particularly when the inhabitants began to disappear. Read the incredible, mysterious, and true story of the settlers of Floreana at Danny Dutch. 

Olivia is experienced in fostering pregnant cats, but Pizza was a really hard case. She was feral and pregnant, and didn't trust anyone. That can be a dangerous combination, so Olivia kept away from Pizza as much as she could, lest she get her fingers bitten off. Pizza did not approve of anyone handling her kittens for even a minute. But like many cats, Pizza was won over by lots of time and a life of luxury. She was only unfriendly as long as it took to get her kittens weaned. Once she came out of her shell, she set her eyes on Olivia's big orange cat! Well, you can't separate a bonded pair, so the ferocious feral foster cat became a forever cat in Olivia's household. You can see more of the foster cat household at Olivia's Instagram gallery. It's titled House of Six Cats, but you'll find a lot more than six!