*think cool thoughts*
run cool- hit em w/ that COOL #Baywatch run...
Oh yeah, Feelin it
*think coo- AGH WTF #notcool pic.twitter.com/XrbvPhCoGC

— Zac Efron (@ZacEfron) April 26, 2016

In case you didn’t know, there’s a new Baywatch movie now in production, starring the Rock and Zac Efron. You might have seen some well-staged publicity stills, but Zac Efron posted an outtake as well. It seems he was messing up the less-to-more-clothing progression, and tripped while trying to quickly get in the right spot. I think the second picture would easily bring more people to the movie, but this scene probably didn’t end up in the movie this way. -via reddit

Neatorama is proud to bring you a guest post from Ernie Smith, the editor of Tedium, a twice-weekly newsletter that hunts for the end of the long tail. In another life, he ran ShortFormBlog.

(Image credit: Flickr user Fygget)

Making your bed every morning is the most dumb, useless waste of five minutes ever created. You should stop right now because you’re wasting your time.

It’s one of the most annoying possible tasks out there—a chore with limited value that gets undone every single night. Unlike tying your shoes, making your bed doesn’t protect you or significantly improve your life. It’s an aesthetic task at best. Yet, for some reason, we as a society value this form of busywork way too freaking much. There are people who swear by folding their blanket over two sets of sheets, perfectly creasing the top sheet under the mattress, but I’m not one of those people. And by the end of this piece, I hope that you too will leave your comforter lumped in a pile on top of your bed, just as disorganized as you left it the night before. I’m like the Howard Beale of bedding over here.

Who Needs a Bed?

“I realize it might seem crazy for a thirty-year-old to exist without a bed, but I just can’t get myself to buy one; it never seems worth it, because all I would use it for is sleeping (and once I’m unconscious, what do I care where I’m lying?). I get by fine with my ‘Sleeping Machine,’ sort of a self-styled nest in the corner of my bedroom.”

— Author Chuck Klosterman, discussing his sleeping habits at the time of the writing of his breakout book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. Klosterman’s rebellious screed against sleeping in traditional beds came up in a section of the book where he highlighted the requirement that, in The Sims, the characters must own a bed. Klosterman eventually admitted that he changed his sleeping habits, telling a Redditor in a 2014 IAmA session, “I have a bed now. You can’t be married while still sleeping in a sleep machine.”

Cities are looking for ways to make themselves cleaner, greener, and more sustainable. So cities here and there are trying out pilot projects and even have permanent installations that other cities should seriously look at, like installing solar panels in places you wouldn’t think of otherwise.

Cycling is a popular hobby in the Netherlands.  As such several companies combined forces for the installation of bike pathways that can collect harvest solar power to go back into the grid. The project consists of concrete panels topped with glass; there are silicon solar cells between the glass and concrete designed to trap energy of over fifty kilowatts annually per square meter. Although it doesn’t appear to be much, eventually the paths could cover over a hundred and thirty seven kilometers of the pathway.

Other projects include solar-powered markets that can set up anywhere, architectural designs that employ passive cooling and water collection, wind farms, and capturing storm water. Read about all of them at Housely.

(YouTube link)

Tea is the most popular beverage in the world -besides water. It sure is at my house! My husband goes through about a gallon of sweet tea a day, and I drink hot tea all afternoon and evening after one pot of coffee these days. It’s like that all over the world. Brew some leaves, have a nice drink. Or, if you're in the US, make it hot to brew it, put ice in to make it cold, then put in sugar to make it sweet, and lemon to make it sour -while the rest of the world shakes their heads. John Green gives us a lot more trivia about tea in the latest episode of the mental_floss List Show.   

The 1979 movie Alien launched a franchise that now has five movies and another on the way, and that’s not even counting the two Alien vs. Predator movies. Why so many sequels? Because the second movie, Aliens, was so good that it rivaled, or even eclipsed, the first one. James Cameron directed the 1986 sequel, which brought back Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, who has to battle the xenomorph once again. None of the later movies could compare. Let’s learn what went on behind the scenes of Aliens.  

1. CONAN THE DESTROYER HELPED IT GET MADE.

The movie, not the guy. Based on the strength of his script for The Terminator (then in pre-production), James Cameron was approached by 20th Century Fox to write an Alien sequel. But the outline he came up with for Alien II got a lukewarm reaction at Fox, and the idea was put on hold for the time being. Then, as luck would have it, the start date for The Terminator was pushed back nine months so that Arnold Schwarzenegger could make Conan the Destroyer, the sequel to his 1982 hit (in which Conan had been merely a Barbarian). This extra three-quarters of a year gave Cameron time to write three-quarters of a full screenplay for Alien II, not just an outline. (He also co-wrote Rambo: First Blood Part II during this time, by the way.) The Fox bosses liked what they read. Cameron was told that if The Terminator proved successful, he could write and direct the Alien sequel.

6. THE SET WHERE THE ALIEN NEST IS FOUND SHOWED UP IN TIM BURTON’S BATMAN.

It was a defunct power station, called Acton Lane, and it had the right atmosphere for Aliens. It later appeared as Axis Chemicals, which is where Jack Napier falls into some acid and becomes Joker-fied in 1989's Batman. Parts of the alien hive were still there when Burton and his crew came in, which must have freaked them out a little.

There’s more that you don’t already know about Aliens at mental_floss.

Bill Rankin at Radical Cartography created a set of maps that show the growth of slavery in the US between 1790 and 1870. The population of the US is indicated by the size of dots on each 250-square-mile cell, and the percentage of those people who were enslaved is indicated by color. At the site, you can mouseover the map titles to advance to the next map. As you can see by the map of 1830 here, the population surrounding Charleston, South Carolina, was over 95% enslaved. The other highest concentration is around the lower Mississippi River. As you advance the maps, you can see the spread and concentrations of slavery move as the country grew, and the growing dependence of southern agriculture on slave labor. Another map at the site charts the year of peak slavery for each area. -via Digg

John "Chickie" Donohue was a guy who “did things nobody else would think about doing.” In 1968, he traveled around the world and snuck into the thick of the Vietnam War to deliver beer to three friends from New York who were serving in the military. He hitchhiked to the front line without food, tent, or camouflage and surprised his friends with a 6-pack.

(YouTube link)

Past Blue Ribbon heard the story, and assembled the principle characters to tell us the tale 47 years later. You can read more about it at BroBible. -via reddit

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

1. Elvis Presley- movie theater usher

Elvis worked as a movie usher as a teenager. A girl who also worked at the theater liked Elvis and gave him free candy. This was fine until her boyfriend found out about the freebie sweets and he and Elvis tangled.

Because of the fight, Elvis was fired.

2. Walt Disney- Kansas City Star

Disney's editor fired Walt because he said he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”

3. Babe Ruth- New York Yankees baseball team

Take a POV ride on a train with this model engine on a LEGO track with a GoPro strapped to the front! First you think, this is pretty neat. Then you get a little dizzy. Then you wonder how big this house is, and then it goes outside! What a setup he has!

(YouTube link)

Wasn’t that almost like a thrill ride? By the time it’s done, you’ll have an urge to start building your own track. But you know what’s even more fun? The blooper reel.

(YouTube link)

Yeah, this wasn’t a perfect one-take video. TrainGuy 659 had to deal with wrecks, pets, wildlife, and more. This is a more realistic version of model train videography. -via Tastefully Offensive

I’m not altogether convinced that the 27 Facebook posts are all from elderly people, but they all show a charming amount of naiveté about social media. Or even computer usage. The obviously elderly lady above, who expects to get a profile pic installed about Thursday, makes perfect sense to me: she needs someone with a digital camera to come and take her picture. Younger readers thought it hilarious because you can snap a selfie with your smartphone anytime and it doesn’t take days to upload a profile pic. See? It’s a matter of perspective. Then there are posts that can really bother you.

Now we have to wonder what to do with the orange. That will bother me all day. There are people interacting with corporate accounts like they are old friends. And Grandma, who loves her vibrator. See all 27 of these at Buzzfeed.

Twice a day, you can see a parade of ducks in Stellenbosch, South Africa, when hundreds of ducks go to work at 9:45 AM, and when they come home at 3:45 PM. The Vergenoegd Wine Estate keeps 700-800 ducks as pest control specialists for the vines.

(YouTube link)

The ducks eat slugs, bugs, and other pests that threaten the vineyards. They have been employed since 1984 (not the same ducks), and have proven invaluable. Since no chemical pesticides are needed, the vineyard has a WWF biodiversity certificate. -via the Presurfer

Police in Kensington, New Hampshire, arrested 29-year-old Joshua Tackett on charges of driving under the influence. The result was a priceless mugshot with Tackett grinning, barely able to hold his eyes open, and wearing a classic t-shirt for the occasion. Police Chief Scott Sanders arrested him Friday night. 

According to Sanders, who responded to the scene, Tackett crossed into the northbound lane and went off the road. He drove through a stonewall and a granite post before after striking a utility pole and getting tangled up the in the pole's guide wires.

His vehicle sustained major damage. The stonewall and granite post were also heavily damaged.

Tackett suffered minor injuries and refused medical treatment at the scene.

Tackett was released on a $750 bond, and presumably went home to await his viral fame. -via Arbroath

(Image credit: Kensington Police Department)

A traffic officer in Hangzhou, China, knows his road. A slight depression developed in an intersection, and he noticed right off. He diverted traffic around the crack, even standing on top of it, to prevent cars from passing over it, until traffic cones were brought in. Motorists were not pleased at having to divert.

(YouTube link)

It only took a few moments for a giant sinkhole to appear and swallow the pavement! If it weren’t for that one diligent cop, there might be someone at the bottom of the hole. -via Arbroath

Raising your bed high up off the floor is totally cool when you’re a kid and have the imagination to make it into a make-believe pirate ship, spacecraft, or lookout point. Guess what? It’s totally cool when you’re an adult, too. Besides that, an adult bed takes up a lot of room that can be used for other things when configured right. Loft beds help make tiny rooms usable and are downright cool. The bed above has a whole kitchen underneath it! Other beds in this list from Housely incorporate storage, desks, or lounging space below, and there’s even a couple of convertible beds that lower from the ceiling when needed! 

Brian de Vera works at the radio station at San Diego State University. They asked him to produce an employee training video. Since this is just one piece of instruction, they probably expected a clip of about 15 seconds max to compile with other clips. What they got was a fully-produced quasi-action film with special effects, subtle memes and tropes, and retro VHS titles and credits (which go on all their videos).    

(YouTube link)

Whether this ends up in some instruction video or not, they deemed it worthy of YouTube. There’s a lot in this video that might fly past you on the first viewing, but you have to take note of his shirt. -via reddit