You know how you see painted portraits from 400 years ago, and the subject is wearing clothing with a fancy print? That wasn't printed fabric, but more likely hand-stitched embroidery, an art form available only to the wealthy. The needlework artists developed ever-fancier techniques, such as 3D relief stitching, that incorporated not only thread, but pearls, precious gems, and metal sequins.  

The “Jacobean” style of needlework isn’t so much a kind of sewing technique as it is a vibe (and a reference to the Latin translation of King James I). It refers to a kind of mood board wherein highly stylised mythical creatures, plants, and maidens reign supreme. The Tree of Life was a popular motif. So too were cherubs, chivalrous scenes, or imagery inspired by England’s most recent trade partner: India.

“Crewel” and “stump” work sewing techniques created complex layers of metal, silk and wool threads, adding a richness and dimension to the designs that made them, quite literally, rise from the surface. This included not just clothing and accessories, but precious boxes called “caskets” and hand-sewn “paintings,” frames, and wall panels.

See a selection of this incredible embroidery style from the 17th century at Messy Messy Chic. And don't miss the gloves.

(Image credit: Flickr user Kotomi_)

The Cannonball Run is an unsanctioned race route from New York City to Los Angeles. It is unofficial and unsanctioned because beating previous records means breaking the law all across the United States. But people keep trying, and occasionally they set a new record.

You may or may not be aware of its existence, but there's a robust subculture within the automotive enthusiast community that obsesses over the New York-to-L.A. land speed record. Many of them even go so far as to race beater cars coast to coast every year (also against the law) in most-holds-barred Cannonball-style races called the 2904 and the C2C Express. Two members of the informal "fraternity of lunatics," as it calls itself, are Arne Toman and Doug Tabbutt, who—along with a new-to-the-mania young spotter named Berkeley Chadwick—are the latest Cannonball champions. At least two dozen attempts are known to have been made by others since the last record was set in 2013, but only one managed to break 30 hours. Toman, Tabbutt and Chadwick succeeded not just in breaking a record many people thought would be difficult or impossible to break. They utterly destroyed it, making the trip in less than 27 and a half hours.

In that 27 hours and 25 minutes, they covered 2825 miles. They had to average 103 miles an hour to make it, but since they had to stop for gas, you know they were going faster most of the time. The team drove a 2015 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG sedan that they highly customized and outfitted with extra equipment. Read about their run and see a video at Road and Track. -via Jalopnik

(Image credit: Arne Toman)

HipDict is a crowdsourced dictionary that anyone can submit to. Your suggestion will have to go through some sort of review, but if it's clever, profound, or at least funny, it will eventually show up as an entry at Instagram. The point is to define words and phrases in the manner that people actually use them.



But portmanteaus and brand-new words are welcome as well, if they meet the criteria.



See the dictionary as it is so far at Instagram.  -via Laughing Squid

The adorable Baby Yoda has taken over the internet, and his/her fandom is not limited to Disney+ subscribers. I haven't seen The Mandolorian, and I feel like I know Baby Yoda as well as anyone. Ice2Ice adapted the Lin-Manuel Miranda song "Dear Theodosia" from Hamilton and made it a lullaby/love song about Baby Yoda. It's clever and they perform it well, but best of all, we get clips of the baby in the video. -via Geeks Are Sexy

Since the sequel to It, It Chapter Two, is coming to home video next week, it's time for an Honest Trailer. The movie was profitable, but suffered from high expectations. It turns out that a scary clown menacing adults is not as terrifying as a scary clown menacing children. And since that was exactly the problem with the 1990 TV miniseries, you'd have thought that someone might have suggested a change.

The ancient city of Babylon, also called Babel, lies within modern-day Iraq. Once ruled by Hammurabi and later Nebuchadnezzar, the ruins of the great city are considered sacred by those who lived nearby in the village of Qawarish. Then in the 1980s, as Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces were suffering from a long, drawn-out war with Iran, the Iraqi ruler decided to rebuild Babylon as a tribute to himself, complete with a palace, defensive walls, and a brick maze.

Saddam siphoned millions into the rebuilding, and pushed to have the reconstruction built on the foundations of the original site. The project was not only nationalistic, but also narcissistic. “There was megalomania involved in that,” says Makiya. “Saddam wanted every Iraqi to know that he rebuilt Babylon. The point is that it’s not just an archaeological reconstruction of the city of Babylon for the sake of science and history and the past. It’s an idealization of that history for the purposes of the cementing of the legitimacy of the regime’s presence.”

His palace at Babylon is the clearest example of his hubris. It’s carved with Arabic calligraphy that at first glance resembles religious iconography, but upon closer appraisal reveals itself to be Saddam Hussein’s initials. Brutalist, hyper-realist reliefs depict him leading soldiers on the battlefield; the ceilings are painted with symbols of Iraqi civilization, ranging from Babylonian lions to towers that Saddam built in Baghdad.

So what happened to Saddam's new Babylon? Find out from a lifetime resident of Qawarish, at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: Pesha Magid)

Animation pioneer Max Fleischer brought many innovations to his craft. The technique that enabled artists to translate Cab Calloway's unique dance style to cartoon characters was only one of them. Vox explains the weird beginnings of the Rotoscope and how it changed the art of animation.   

The map above shows the most common surname, or family name, in each country of the world. It's labeled as "last name," although some language conventions put the family name first. The most common family name in the world is Wang, which is used by 76 million people around the world, and is the most common name in China. Translated from Mandarin, it means "king." The names on this map are color-coded by type: patronymic or ancestral, occupational, personal characteristic, signifier of patronage, or a place name. Across major English-speaking nations, the most common name is Smith, which has an occupational origin. In Iceland, the most common surname is the patronymic Jónsdóttir, meaning daughter of  Jón. That tells us there are more women than men in Iceland, because a brother in the same family would be named Jónsson. It also hints that Jón may be Iceland's most common first name. Read more about the map at its source, Net Credit, and enlarge it greatly here. -via Digg

Lil Bub sprang to internet stardom in 2011. She was the runt of a feral litter, with multiple genetic anomalies that meant she would only survive and thrive with the care of a dedicated human. Mike Bridavsky filled that role. Lil Bub's anomalies gave her a distinct look that charmed everyone who saw her, but she also had an easygoing attitude that charmed everyone who met her. Through live and television appearances and even a genetic study, Bridavsky fiercely protected Lil Bub from threats to her health and well-being. Despite her disabilities, Lil Bub was a happy cat. Lil Bub recently suffered from a persistent bone infection, and passed away in her sleep on December first. That announcement and a tribute came from Bridavsky.

But most importantly, BUB has made a huge difference in the world of animal welfare, and in the lives of millions of people worldwide. She has literally saved thousands of lives (both pets and humans), she started the first national fund for special needs pets, she was the subject of groundbreaking genetic and biological  research, she's helped raise over $700,000 for animals in need, and has spread a message of determination, positivity, and perseverance to people all over the world. And even though my heart is absolutely crushed by her graceful departure from planet Earth,  I know that her sprit, magic, and overwhelming energy are still with us, reminding us every day to be better.

That's a good kitty. Read more about Lil Bub at her website and in previous posts at Neatorama. Lil Bub was eight.

-via Metafilter

So many people do the same nonsensical things over and over that you have to wonder if there is some rule somewhere. A rule that everyone follows but you, and that's why they are annoying. Or mostly annoying. The rule against making eye contact with people in an elevator and the one about keeping space between urinal users help to keep people from feeling creeped out. But most are annoying or even downright passive-aggressive.

Most of these rules could be eased out of existence if we just took other people in account at all. But you might even see yourself in some of them.

Oh come on now. I don't go to McDonald's often. It's rare, actually. And when I do, I look at the menu to see how much my old favorites have gone up in price. And then confusion sets in when I can't find them on the menu at all! Hey, at least I stand back and let other people put their order in while I ponder my options -and budget. See 52 of these unwritten rules (yeah, that's a lot) at Cracked.

As he has in years past, Clark Zhu has taken the biggest movies of the year and compiled them into an emotional three-minute video. Relive the memories of 2019, at least those memories made in a theater. You'll find a list of the movies used, with timestamps, at Zhou's website. He hints that this will be his last year-end compilation.

When you were a kid, it was always fun to play Operation, a game in which you fished parts out of a patient named Cavity Sam, and you had be precise or you'd complete an electric circuit and a buzzer would sound. It was not the first game based on an electric circuit- Ben Franklin actually developed one! And the idea behind Operation was originally based on believe it or not, desert survival.

John Spinello created the initial concept for what became Operation in the early 1960s, when he was an industrial design student at the University of Illinois. Spinello’s game, called Death Valley, didn’t feature a patient, but rather a character lost in the desert. His canteen drained by a bullet hole, he wanders through ridiculous hazards in search of water. Players moved around the board, inserting their game piece—a metal probe—into holes of various sizes. The probe had to go in cleanly without touching the sides; otherwise it would complete a circuit and sound a buzzer. Spinello’s professor gave him an A.

Spinello sold the idea to Marvin Glass and Associates, a Chicago-based toy design company, for US $500, his name on the U.S. patent (3,333,846), and the promise of a job, which never materialized.

Read the story of how Operation came about, and how it charmed several generations of players at IEEE Spectrum. -via Boing Boing

Have you ordered your Christmas cards yet? If you've been waiting to see what artist PJ McQuade has new this year, you're in for a treat. New pop culture Christmas cards include the cast of Dune, The Neverending Story, and the Thicc Thanos card you've been clamoring for.



These designs join old favorites such as the Star Wars collection, which has expanded to 15 images with new designs and updates to give old favorites more holiday flavor.

He also has Christmas cards from Star Trek, Alien, The Karate Kid, Die Hard, Godzilla, The Office, Breaking Bad, Twin Peaks, It, and more. Check them all out at McQuade's new online store Castle McQuade. Pull down the "categories" menu to find something from your favorite pop culture world. Many of these designs are available as Christmas tree ornaments, refrigerator magnets and stickers as well.   

You'd recognize what "vomit art" is, even if you've never heard those words together before. The term arose from social media quite recently to refer to a certain style of vintage kitsch. According to Urban Dictionary, it's

“A mid-century trend where it was fashionable to suspend pieces of rocks and glass in color resin, often made into mantlepiece clocks. The result looks like regurgitated gelatin salad full of fruit bits. The term ‘vomit clock’ came into popularity on a thrift store Facebook page. Any other object made this way can be called ‘vomit.'”

But it's not just rocks and glass. You also see examples with shells, insects, or bits of food such as corn enshrined in resin. An article at Par To Perfect looks at the resurgence in popularity of such objects, but it's not clear whether people want them because they honestly like them, or they just want to make everything else they own look better by comparison. It could be that no one is actually buying vomit art; they could be just taking pictures in thrift shops to share on the internet. -via Metafilter

Think of the two most awkward, wooden acting performances you've seen in your life. Yeah, that would be Hayden Christensen in the Star Wars prequels and Tommy Wiseau in The Room. This mashup from PistolShrimps puts them together, not only in the same story, but in an intimate relationship that somehow produces a son named Mark (Hamill). The story also involves Obi-Wan, Yoda, Leia, and Kylo Ren. The tale is completely bonkers, but the editing is exquisite -except for that stupid football.