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Up until about 50 years ago, women were excluded from marathons, and indeed the longest footrace in the Olympics open to women then was 800 meters -less than a half-mile. In the early ‘60s, a few women snuck into marathons without registering, but in April of 1967, Kathrine Switzer of Syracuse University registered for the marathon under the name "K.V. Switzer." She started undetected, surrounded by fellow Syracuse runners. But at about the two-mile mark, she was spotted by a bus of reporters and officials, which included John Duncan Semple.

On Patriots’ Day 1967, “Mr. Boston Marathon” was a very angry man. Runner No. 261 had violated the sacred code of the institution that was his baby. She deserved to be punished – and if Cloney couldn’t do the job, then Jock Semple would. “This wasn’t just about me being a girl,” Switzer said. “Jock probably would have left me alone if I was just running along like Bobbi. It was the number that got him. I had made him look like a fool.”

Semple evaded Briggs and lunged at Switzer, grabbing at the cardboard bib pinned to her sweatshirt. “He was pulling at me and screaming, ‘Get the hell out of my race and give me that number,’” Switzer recalled. “Arnie was screaming at Jock, and then Tom smashed Jock out of the way.”

News photographer Harry Trask caught the assault on film, which changed the way people viewed women in sports. The sequence overshadowed the winners of the race, and showed the public that not only can women run a marathon, but also refuse to be pushed away. Switzer finished the race in four hours and twenty minutes. Read the entire story at Deadspin.

Switzer was at the Boston Marathon yesterday, broadcasting the action as Caroline Rotich won the women’s division in 2:24:55.

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The Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice teaser trailer was barely out to the public before Bobby Burns began remixing it to feature Christopher Reeve and Adam West in their iconic superhero roles. The audio from the teaser remains the same. This makes it clear that while we can imagine Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill as having nefarious intentions underneath their public personas, it’s hard to look at our old-school heroes that way.

This could have starred George Reeves as Superman, but then you’d get into the color vs. black-and-white mixing problem. And the fact that only us old folks would have appreciated it. -via Time Newsfeed

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You can knock his taste in music all you want, but this horse has the moves! Watch him prance to the music along with a group of line dancers in from tot an appreciative crowd. Billy Ray Cyrus posted this video to Facebook, but there's no mention of where or when it happened. Just click on the image above to start the video.  -via Daily Picks and Flicks

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John Oliver was not impressed with CNN’s Doomsday Video that Ted Turner had ready just in case, and made an effort to improve upon it. Oliver apparently does not care for marching bands. His alternative video for the end of the world features humanity's greatest hits, a few bloopers, and of course, cats, hosted by Martin Sheen. This is from the HBO show Last Week Tonight. -via Daily Picks and Flicks

The following is an article from the book Uncle John’s Perpetually Pleasing Bathroom Reader.

Ever see a police car in your rearview mirror and think, “Hey! Where’d that come from?” If so, you probably weren’t wondering about the origin of the police car, but in case you were, here it is.

THE COMMISH

Frank Croul was the Police Commissioner of Detroit, Michigan, from 1909 to 1913. Then, as now, the city was the heart of the American auto industry. Ford, Studebaker, Packard, and Cadillac were all headquartered there, and as Croul saw an ever-increasing number of cars buzzing around the city streets, he wondered if they might have some use for the police.

He wasn’t the first person to contemplate such a possibility: In 1899, the city of Akron, Ohio, paid the Collins Buggy Company $ 2,400 ($ 65,000 today) for a battery-powered “paddy wagon,” complete with a stretcher, a cage for prisoners, electric headlights, and a gong. America’s first horseless police vehicle left a lot to be desired. Weighing 5,000 pounds, it had a top speed of just 16 mph and a range of 30 miles before the batteries had to be recharged. A year after it was built, an angry mob pushed it into the Ohio Canal during a race riot. Though the wagon was returned to service, the city never bothered to build another one.

IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED…

As Croul could tell from watching the traffic in front of his office, motor vehicles had improved a lot since 1899. Cars with newfangled gasoline engines had none of the problems with range that older electric cars had. Now that automakers had been building them in quantity for nearly a decade, gas-powered automobiles were becoming quite reliable. Some, like Ford’s Model T, were even affordable. Croul thought the time was right to buy a car for the Detroit Police Department. But when he asked the city for money to buy one, they turned him down. Croul was adament. He was so sure that “police cars” had a future, he bought the department a Packard with his own money, $ 5,000— more than $100,000 today.

ON A ROLL

Croul’s hunch proved to be correct: His Packard was a lot more useful than Akron’s electric paddy wagon. It was speedy and reliable, needed less care than a police horse, and it allowed police to get to the scene of an emergency faster than if they went on foot or in a horse-drawn wagon. After just four months, the city reimbursed Croul for the Packard and made plans to buy six more cars. These proved so economical to operate— less than half the cost of the horses and wagons they replaced— that by 1913, even the city dog catcher had his own truck. Detroit’s last horse-drawn vehicles were phased out forever.

FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE

"There's coffee in that nebula"... ehm, I mean... in that #Dragon. pic.twitter.com/9MYrqIOXnI

— Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) April 17, 2015

Is there any more appropriate place to wear a Star Trek uniform than in outer space? That couldn’t have been easy, considering the limitations on how many belongings crew members are allowed to bring to the ISS. This is astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian engineer from the European Space Agency (ESA) aboard the space station. For this picture, though, she is Captain Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager.

She’s pointing to the SpaceX Dragon capsule that was delivering supplies to the ISS Friday, and her text is referring to the coveted espresso machine aboard. They call it the ISSpresso. That is one necessary delivery for an Italian astronaut! -via Uproxx

We showed you a wedding RSVP card last week that no one will ever use because it’s a snarky statement on horrible wedding guests. This is much more lighthearted. Redditor cloggingthetubes received this wedding RSVP form from a couple who have their sense of humor intact.

There doesn’t appear to be an option for people who can’t come, but the bride can get some really useful information from those who do. Those who are hoping to meet someone will all be seated at the same table(s) so they can. Anyone planning to propose at the reception will be given the wrong location (really, don’t do that). Imaginary children don’t have to be counted for catering. And nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Is there a bug is your system? If not, you can get one from artist Julie Alice Chappell. Her Etsy shop has several models of insects hand-crafted from old computer parts. Take, for example, this blue-winged butterfly.

The Sky Blue Winged Short Bodied Butterfly has been thoughtfully fabricated from circuit board components from inside obsolete computers and printers. Delicate circuit board patterns make his tiny wing veins and he is embellished with blue glass jewels as his eyes. He has a 12.5cm wingspam and his box frame measures 19cm squared. He is settle on a complimentary blue and pale cream symmetrical pattern. The art of upcycling, helping to raise awareness of e-waste in the environment.

There are only a few available, and each is a one-of-a-kind artwork. See the rest of them at Chappell’s Etsy store. -via Boing Boing

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The movie Furious 7 has racked up a billion dollars in box office receipts worldwide in only 17 days, which sets a new record. But what if the film had been made by Pixar? We get the answer in this mashup, which uses the audio from the Furious 7 trailer and video from Pixar's Cars, Cars 2, and Planes. The movies must have some similarities underneath it all. And you know that little kids who watched Cars in theaters in 2006 are now buying tickets for Furious 7. -via Uproxx

Steven Spielberg made quite a name for himself with the 1975 blockbuster Jaws. There were big expectations for his next film, which was going to be about aliens from outer space. But before Close Encounters of the Third Kind was produced, the story went through a lot of changes. Would you even recognize it with a plot like this?

Spielberg’s initial story outline involved UFOs and shady government dealings following the Watergate scandal, which became a script entitled “Watch the Skies.” The idea involved a police or military officer working on Project Blue Book, the Air Force’s official study into UFOs in the 1950s and 1960s, who would become the whistleblower on the government cover-up of aliens. There were numerous rewrites—Taxi Driver scribe Paul Schrader even took a crack at it, penning a political UFO thriller titled “Kingdom Come” that Spielberg and the movie studio rejected—before the story we know today emerged.

The movie he eventually produced put Spielberg into overdrive, as he directed or produced hit after hit in the 1980s. One of them, E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, was inspired by the final scene in Close Encounters. Read how that happened and lots more stories about Close Encounters at mental_floss.

The cape, the loose collar, the ‘stache. It must be 1980! And Lando Calrissian is ready to welcome you to Cloud City. This young man’s picture is from a collection of Star Wars Celebration cosplay pictures at ComingSoon.com. There are 75 photos. Star Wars Celebration Continues through Sunday at the Anaheim Convention center.

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Father Roderick Vonhögen is a huge Star Wars fan. He wrote a book called Geekpriest, and has a podcast. Here, he records his reaction while watching the new teaser trailer for Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens. It’s two minutes of pure joy and excitement. -via Geeks Are Sexy

We’ve seen some pretty unusual things that pop up in medieval religious manuscripts. Now it appears that one features a certain Jedi master from long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away. Julian Harrison of Medieval Manuscripts told NPR:

"The Yoda image comes from a 14th-century manuscript known as the Smithfield Decretals," Harrison said, after we reached out to the British Library.

"I'd love to say that it really was Yoda, or was drawn by a medieval time traveler," Harrison continued. "It's actually an illustration to the biblical story of Samson — the artist clearly had a vivid imagination!"

The monks who spent their lives hand-copying books can be forgiven for letting their creative juices flow, but none of them would have ever guessed that their art would be so entertaining to us in the 21st century. Read more about the 14th-century Yoda at NPR. -via Daily of the Day

If you went to reddit at all on Wednesday, you couldn’t swing a cat without hitting a post about Charmander. Now, Charmander is the name of a Pokemon, but this is a little different from what you’re used to. A guy got a tattoo of a Pokemon he called Charmander, but it was actually a poor imitation of the work of Vaughn Pinpin (Hat Boy), who did a series of Pokemon in the style of Tim Burton. See his Charmander, which was obviously the inspiration for the tattoo.

Redditors laughed at the tat, and then started using the design for their own ends. Before the day was over, there were t-shirts, cups, animations, a packet of coffee, jewelry, and toys made in the design of what became known as “shitty Charmander.” See a roundup of them at Dorkly. I had considered doing a roundup myself, but other duties got in the way. See even more of them at Kotaku.

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Has it really been 35 years since the movie Airplane! came out? Yes it has, and that means an entire generation of viewers needs to learn the history behind the groundbreaking film. It was full of actors who didn’t normally do comedy. It was a parody of several serious movies. And it made Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker names to remember in Hollywood. The A.V. Club talked to 14 different people involved in the making of Airplane! to compile the story of the film. They talk about the script, the casting (both Bruce Jenner and David Letterman auditioned), the shoot, the final product, and plenty of great stories about the stars.

Leisure: Leslie Nielsen’s whole persona up to that moment—Airplane! absolutely changed his career—was that he was the big, handsome, staid leading man. But he was the goofiest motherfucker you’ve ever met in your life.

D. Zucker: In person, Leslie was a silly practical joker, as probably everyone knows by now. He had that little fart machine of his, so that every time he was interviewed on a show or something—and in real life—he would be talking with a straight face, and then he would appear to be farting. That’s just what he liked to do.

Leisure: He was a virtuoso fart musician. He had a little fart machine that he would keep in his hand, and he would, like, sit down next to you. [Adopts deep voice.] “Hi, I’m Leslie Nielsen. You’ve probably seen me in the movies and things.” [Belches.] “Sorry, I had some onions at lunch.” And then he would have this thing tucked under his arm, and you’d hear this loud, boisterous fart come out, and you’d go, “Oh, my God!” And then you’d realize he was pulling a gag on you, and he’d go sit down next to some girl, some extra, and he’d do the same thing. You’d see her face just blanch, waiting for the invisible thing to hit her nostrils.

Bryant: The first day I walked on the set, Leslie introduced himself, and then I heard these horrible noises. [Laughs.] This rubber and metal thing fit in the palm in his hand, and it would make farting noises. People would walk by, and they’d think, “Oh, that poor man!”

Other stories include how they wrote the “jive talk,” why Kareen Abdul-Jabbar was paid that much, how the kid who visited the cockpit didn’t understand the jokes until he saw the final cut, and the story of those people who lined up to slap some sense into a panicking passenger. It’s all at the A.V. Club, and don’t call me Shirley. -via Metafilter