The SS Valencia was a steamship that took off from San Francisco bound for Seattle in January of 1906 with tons of cargo and 108 passengers as well as a crew of 67 men. En route, the ship encountered bad weather and in the dark of night became lost. The crew didn't know the ship was lost, but the officers disagreed about the ship's speed and where they were. When Captain Johnson assumed the ship was near Cape Flattery, he headed toward the shore. But he was wrong, and the Valencia crashed into a reef. Two lifeboats were deployed, but the waves and the rocks tossed the boats around until a very few survivors made it to shore. By the next morning, they could see they were in the middle of nowhere, with a cliff lining the shore, and the Valencia, with more than a hundred people still on it, falling apart.  

In daylight, more lifeboats were launched, but they also lost most of their passengers. The survivors landed miles away. It would be several more days before anyone knew about the wreck of the Valencia. Some tried to swim to shore, others refused to leave, and some braved more lifeboats. None of the women and children aboard lived through the ordeal. Read the story of the Valencia shipwreck, from the accounts of its 37 survivors and those who found them. -via Damn Interesting

(Image credit: Yiran Jia)

Melton Barker was an "itinerant filmmaker." He went from small town to small town across the US, where he would cast local children -and a few adults- in his latest film. It was always the same film, The Kidnapper's Foil. He charged each "actor" a fee to cover production costs. Was it a scam? Not much of one, since he actually produced the films, which were shown in each local theater. Barker made a living, and the kids got to be in a movie. What's more, these local movies, the ones that survive, are a snapshot into the era of the small town in which they were made. Sure, some parents may have had unfulfilled hopes of stardom for their children, but the kids mostly just had fun. And Barker kept making this same movie for 40 years! Was this movie made in your hometown? Check out this map to find out. Filmmaker David Friedman would like to see a revival of The Kidnapper's Foil, so he linked to the script in case you want to film your own community production of the movie. -via Laughing Squid

(Image source: kaupas24)

I wanted to believe the house you see above is a Photoshop job. No, it is an actual house in Nigeria. Two floors, three facades, five colors, and what's going on with the columns? Putting them on the corners would be sensible, but they couldn't even center them together in the middle.

(Image source: HimD98)

While the images are called architectural fails, it's pretty obvious that no trained architect was involved at all. Professionals go to school to learn how not to end up with stairs like this. It's the exact reason why my daughter's kitchen has one cabinet that's just a dummy door, to provide headroom for the staircase below it. Bored Panda has a list of 50 such weird building results, some the result of bad planning from the start, and many of which are the result of modifying a structure without paying a penny more than they had to.  

We know that in the history of mankind, rotten teeth came about because in the abundance of the modern world we consume a lot more sugars and starches than our ancestors did. But what about crooked teeth? They weren't so common in ancient times. Did we evolve to have smaller jaws with no room for teeth to line up, much less wisdom teeth? It seems so, although animal studies have shown that eating soft foods vs. hard foods can affect jaw development regardless of genetic history. It may be a use-it-or-lose it thing. Now I'm wondering if switching diets make any difference in how crooked an adult human's teeth could be, or whether it's too late by then. What foods could we serve our children to encourage bigger jaws and straight teeth? Chewing gum? -via Digg

When someone refers to a show that has been "banned" or "censored," it's usually not a violation of free speech by government authorities, but a reconsideration by the producers or TV networks for good reason. A well-intentioned script can seem innocuous, but after production is done, it turned out scarier, creepier, sexier, or more controversial than intended. Sometimes that only becomes obvious after the fact, when viewers complain, so the episode may air once and then disappear from reruns and syndication. Decades later, they can re-appear on home video or streaming.  

The reasons this happens vary. In the very last episode of I Love Lucy, the Ricardos go to visit Ricky's family in Havana. But it never aired because of the timing of US-Cuban relations. Three episodes from the Star Trek world were banned in various countries because they they were too sexy or politically sensitive. Some TV episodes were pulled because they were a little too soon after a national tragedy that was unintentionally reflected in the plot. Many of The Price Is Right episodes were pulled from the archives years later because the prizes were fur coats. A couple of shows involved copyright violations. A lot of programming aimed at young audiences were deemed too "adult" or too scary. One that you might never have seen coming was a Peppa Pig episode in which someone says, "Spiders can't hurt you." That one is never shown in Australia because it's dangerous- spiders can hurt you very much down under.

Groovy History has the stories behind 61 television episodes that were pulled before or after airing, or else not shown in other countries for one reason or another. Most are available now if you know where to look.  

The remake of Dune is so vast that we had to wait two years for the second half. But Dune: Part Two is coming! Fans of the first part have probably already seen the 1984 version, or read the book, so the overall story isn't a mystery, but how well will this movie tell it? The 2021 movie Dune (the first part) made more than $400 million worldwide, surpassing expectations that were modest because of the pandemic. Then everyone who didn't see it in theaters watched it as a streaming hit.

In part two, Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya return and are joined by new characters played by Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, and Christopher Walken (who isn't in this trailer, but plays the Emperor). Dune: Part Two will open in theaters November 3rd.

The theme for this year's Met Gala, held last night, was the late Chanel director Karl Lagerfield. Many celebrities dressed in frocks that resembled vintage Chanel fashions, but a couple of the participants arrived in costumes that channeled Lagerfield's beloved cat Choupette. Singer and rapper Doja Cat meowed her way through some red carpet interviews, while she opened up about her facial prosthetics and attire for others. But she wasn't the only one who had Choupette in mind. Jared Leto made his entrance in a full furry white cat costume.  

Jared Leto เว่อร์มาก แมวเหมียว แมวใจสุดๆ กินรวบคนเดียวไม่แบ่งใคร 🐱⭐ pic.twitter.com/MvBomj1mb3

— 𝗅𝗈𝗅𝗂𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗒𝖽 🤍ꔚ (@_lolifroyd) May 2, 2023

After posing for pictures, Leto ditched the full body costume and continued the evening with the black suit he was wearing underneath it. But he kept the head around for photo opportunities. The one cat that was missing from the gala was Choupette herself, who preferred to stay at home, as cats will.

In 1986, Barbara Lowe Vollick won five games of ‘Jeopardy!’ in a row. Her episodes were then taken out of circulation. What followed was a nearly 40-year hunt for the missing tapes—and a quest to find out what really happened.@clairemcnear: https://t.co/DHYlN2xbg4

— The Ringer (@ringer) May 2, 2023

The game show Jeopardy! exhibits enduring popularity and has spawned a community of rabid fans, particularly the Alex Trebek years, 1984-2020. Old shows are syndicated and archived, with the lone exception of one week in 1986 in which Barbara Lowe won five games in a row. To add to the mystery, Lowe did not appear on that year's Tournament of Champions, in which all five-time winners were normally invited. As the Jeopardy! fan community coalesced and communicated, those five missing episodes that were never rerun nor appeared anywhere else became a mystery that had to be solved.

An interview with Alex Trebek in 1990 shed some light on Barbara Lowe, who Trebek said was disqualified after her appearance for lying on her Jeopardy! application. That account was bolstered when writer/producer Harry Eisenberg published a book in 1993 that repeated Trebek's story and added that Lowe's demeanor was off-putting to the audience.

The story of Barbara Lowe reached new heights last year when copies of her Jeopardy! appearances were uncovered in a fan's closet. When those were made available, fans were perplexed, because those shows did not portray Lowe as the least bit problematic. She was downright charming.

Meanwhile, Barbara Lowe Vollick doesn't watch Jeopardy! anymore and surprisingly didn't know she was the subject of an internet mystery. The Ringer tracked her down to get her side of the story, which you can read in this article. She gives us her account of her five appearances on the show, what went wrong, and the legal actions that followed. While we now have both sides of the story, Trebek and Eisenburg have both passed on, so there can be no final resolution to the discrepancies in their claims. But we now have the tapes, and Barbara Lowe Vollick's side of the story. -via Metafilter

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert took a week's vacation, and returned Monday ...for one night. Now that vacation is extended indefinitely as the Writers Guild of America has gone on strike. In addition to Colbert, the strike affects Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Daily Show, Saturday Night Live, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Last Week Tonight.  

The writer's union was in talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) until Monday when negotiations about film and scripted TV writing contracts broke down. Talk shows are only the most immediate victims of the negotiation failure; other shows with longer production lag times will be affected if an agreement isn't reached. The reasons behind the contract disagreements are complicated, but mainly comes down to the money involved in streaming platforms.

A protracted writer's strike in 1988 led the industry to develop reality TV, which isn't exactly real, but replaced scripted TV with improvised plots using non-actors and no professional writers. Some worry that if the current strike isn't resolved soon, it could lead to TV and movies being written by artificial intelligence algorithms.

(Image credit: The Late Late Show with James Corden)

The coronation of King Charles III of the United Kingdom will be this Saturday, although he's already been the king for months. The ceremony will be dripping with tradition and pageantry, and that includes the rather weird custom of installing the Stone of Destiny underneath the coronation chair. The coronation chair was built around the year 1300 and is only used for coronations. The stone, also known as the Stone of Scone, has its own story.

The legend is that it is the stone Jacob rested his head upon when he dreamed of a ladder to heaven in the Bible. It then traveled to many countries before ending up in Scotland. But those stories have no documentation. Experts say the sandstone block is the same as other stones from the quarry at Scone in Scotland. The documented history of the Stone of Scone has plenty of details, from the Scottish and later English kings who used it in their coronations to the suffragists who attacked it to its theft in 1950. The Stone of Scone traveled from Edinburgh Castle to London this past Saturday, and will be installed underneath the coronation chair in time for the ceremonies this weekend. Read about the history and traditions of the Stone of Scone at Mental Floss.

In the age of mass communication on the internet, scamming people is a cottage industry that mainly consists of identifying the most gullible section of a population. Some people will fall for anything. It wasn't so easy in earlier times, when you had a limited number of marks to choose from, yet there have always been gullible people, and there have always been smooth-talking con artists who could talk them into doing something they shouldn't. Really, who wouldn't trust the smiling face you see above? Lucky for us, sometimes these talented talkers could perform some really amazing acts.

Con artists are usually after your money, but they also talk people into other tasks like committing crimes or or publicly embarrassing themselves just for giggles or the satisfaction of accomplishment. Read about twelve of those talented scammers in a pictofacts list at Cracked.

Predator and prey only live together in Disney movies and Biblical prophesies, right? Also in real life at times. Researchers studying five hyena dens at a nature preserve in Kenya documented two dens that had three species living in them: hyenas, warthogs, and porcupines! Camera traps recorded the comings and goings of the residents, often within minutes of each other. The hyenas in those two dens did not eat porcupines and warthogs, although other hyenas in the same area did.  

Maybe it's the housing crisis that causes very different kinds of creatures to share dens, as anyone who must endure a bad roommate will tell you. During the dry season, digging dens out of the hard soil is more difficult, so it might be a matter of accepting housemates rather than doing without a den. The scientists behind the study don't know the exact reason for the housing arrangement. But when the rainy season began, all the animals who were cohabiting went their separate ways. Hakuna matata. -via Fark

The Galactic Menagerie is a parody trailer for a Wes Anderson Star Wars film. I have honestly never seen a Wes Anderson film, but I have read enough of the internet to know that his visual style is formal, symmetrical, pastel, and a bit art deco. Oh yeah, it's quite pretty, with unexpected humor in places. The casting is sublime, too. It's been a long time since we've had a memorable Star Wars comedy, like Hardware Wars, Spaceballs, or The Star Wars Holiday Special. The Galactic Menagerie would certainly be a movie worth going to the theater for. -via Geeks Are Sexy

When a clergyman is kicked out of the priesthood against his will, we say he has been "defrocked." That term came about in a very literal way. In Medieval Europe, the Roman Catholic Church was extremely powerful and priests were the local authority, although still subject to the church hierarchy. When one was rejected from the clergy by the higher-ups, he underwent the "rite of degradation," which sounds bad enough, but the ceremony entailed having him take his clothes off. When a man became a priest, he was dressed in layers of holy vestments, and the reverse was stripping him of his frock. He would also have his hair cut and his hands scraped.  

The procedure was first chronicled in the 14th century, but may have borrowed the process from an earlier similar ritual to degrade a knight by publicly removing his armor. The rite of degradation could backfire, however. If the priest was popular, lay people could see the ceremony as analogous to the treatment of Christ before his crucifixion, and transform him into a martyr if he was deemed to be treated unfairly. Read about the rite of degradation at The Public Domain Review.  -via Strange Company

You can tell someone important information using a lot of numbers, but you're liable to put the majority of your audience to sleep. Showing people the relationship between those numbers without having to do even the simplest math is way more effective, and that's the value of graphs and charts. Presenting dry data in visual form can make a trend very clear when the numbers don't, and sometimes those visualizations have an impact that changes the world.

The Royal Society shows us how these charts and graphs made information available to many more people than would have otherwise learned of the data they contain. Of the five examples explained here, I had only never heard of the fictional Kallikak family tree, used for nefarious purposes. But as soon as that section began, I thought of the family tree at the beginning of the movie Idiocracy. Also fictional, of course. -via Kottke


See also: Florence Nightingale’s Statistical Diagrams and John Snow's Cholera Map.