Lucas the spider is always looking for a new friend. Here he looks for one inside the clock! Lucas is trying to make a connection with the little bird inside, in the latest animation from Joshua Slice.
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Best caption wins an emoji. pic.twitter.com/HOMiBY02Jp
— Wilma Ocasio-Bobo (@fakingstarwars) August 27, 2019
Mark Hamill, along with other Star Wars alumni, attended the grand opening of the new Galaxy's Edge theme park at Walt Disney World in Florida earlier this summer. He tried out all the attractions and had a good time. But this picture shows him trying out the blue milk at the park, and it looks like he is searching for words to describe it. The suggested captions under that Tweet are marvelous. But how was the milk? And how did it compare with the blue milk he drank on set?
"Note to self: Remember you're on-camera & Disney signs your paychecks."
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) August 28, 2019
(Honestly though: the warm, oily, sickly-sweet milk dyed blue from the movie was gag-inducing 🤮-while this frosty non-dairy drink tasted like a yummy fruit smoothie. 😋 #GotBlueMilk? https://t.co/C4Qx1iFfMq
Hamill was talking about the milk he drank on Tatooine in the first Star Wars film. He says the green milk he drank in The Last Jedi was much better, even if the scene was somewhat distasteful.
— It's spelled ''Cincinnati'' (@ItsCincinnati) August 30, 2019
It's hard for anyone to spell Cincinnati if you haven't had to do it quite a few times. People who live there have it down, but visiting rock stars do not. When KISS played Riverbend Music Center Thursday, they sold commemorative t-shirts for $50, complete with the city's name ...with two "t"s. CityBeat reports:
KISS's variation on the common misspelling is fairly common — the double "Ns" seem to confuse people. It's as if they start writing it, knowing there's a double letter somewhere, but are unsure of exactly where. Some go for a single second "N," then a double "T," but KISS went all-in with a double "N" and a double "T," just to be safe. Epic.
Anyway, thanks to Jean Simmons and the rest of the band for a great final show!
People had a good time over the snafu on Twitter. Locals couldn't wait to report the incident to the Twitter account It's spelled ''Cincinnati.'' And it wasn't the only mixup of the night.
That's not riverbend
— Christopher whiting (@mustangw69) August 31, 2019
-via Mental Floss
The only thing more common than people numbering things is when we then later rank those same things, which can cause trouble numerically. The National League of Cities lists the most common street names in the US, according to data from the Census Bureau. Coming in first place is Second, and number two is Third. Third is First, and fourth is Fourth. Fifth is the sixth-most common street name, and Main comes in seventh. Is that clear? If it sounds like an Abbot & Costello routine to you, you're not alone. Earthmens-9 used this information to rewrite the classic "Who's on First?" routine.
Hey, let’s go visit the most common street names in the U.S. what’s the first?
-First is third.
-Wait you’re saying Third street is first?
-No, it’s Second.
-Ok, so what’s first?
-Third.
-I thought it was second.
-First.
-First what?
-Street
-That’s what I’m asking! What’s the first street?
-Second.
-Ok then, so you’re saying the first street is second and Third is first?
-No, First is third, Third is second.
That's just the beginning. You can read the rest of the routine at reddit. And learn about some other weird street names in the comments at Metafilter.
(Image credit: formulanone)
This might be the best video on the Internet right now. pic.twitter.com/6AyR6hricX
— Blattman (@davidblattman) August 27, 2019
This guy has probably spent years practicing his pen-throwing skills. The workers obviously have very little supervision at this office. How many times can he nail it in a row? You'll have to watch and see. A little cleverness goes a long way. -via Nag on the Lake
The Wizard of Oz premiered in August of 1939, making the classic movie 80 years old. What better time to learn some trivia from the film production? There are enough behind-the-scenes "secrets" to fill books (and they have), a few that Neatorama readers already know, and some that will be new to you. Here's a taste:
1. Remember Dorothy's infamous ruby slippers? Well, they were originally silver.
Just like in the book, Dorothy's shoes were really silver. But because Technicolor was a new and exciting thing during this time, MGM studio head, Louis B. Mayer, thought it would be cool to test it out...ultimately changing the color of her shoes.
22. Dorothy and Scarecrow were originally supposed to be romantically involved.
In earlier versions of The Wizard of Oz scripts, Dorothy and Scarecrow form a love connection. Obviously, the film went in another direction. Maybe that's why Dorothy said she'll miss him most...or maybe it's because he was her first friend in her Emerald City journey. I guess we'll never know.
Read a roundup of trivia from The Wizard of Oz (with links for further reading) at Buzzfeed.
This interactive fluid simulation by Pavel Dobryakov is beautiful. And a lot of fun! If you ever get tired of just dragging your cursor around the screen, you can adjust the parameters and create a whole new world to wallow around in. -via Boing Boing
Drilling a hole in the skull of a living person is a serious tactic that is only used out of medical necessity. At least, that's case today. While surgery can be dangerous, it was much more dangerous in the 19th century, when archaeologist Ephraim George Squier was presented an ancient skull in Peru. It showed not only a hole deliberately cut into it, but evidence that the previous owner had survived the surgery! For some time, that prehistoric case was considered unique.
When the skull was presented to a meeting of the New York Academy of Medicine, the audience refused to believe that anyone could have survived a trephining operation carried out by a Peruvian Indian. Aside from the racism characteristic of the time, the skepticism was fueled by the fact that in the very best hospitals of the day, the survival rate from trephining (and many other operations) rarely reached 10 percent, and thus the operation was viewed as one of the most perilous surgical procedures. The main reason for the low survival rate was the deadly infections then rampant in hospitals. Another was that the operation was only attempted in very severe cases of head injury.
While modern medicine has improved since then, archaeologists have found plenty of evidence that trepanation has been practiced in all parts of the world going back at least to the Paleolithic era, with surprising survival rates. Literature on the practice goes back to the fifth century BC. The prevalence and longevity of the technique suggests it must have worked, at least some of the time, for some ailments. Read an overview of what we know about the history of trepanation at the MIT Press Reader. -via Digg
This impressive wedding cake with cupcakes was made by Liz and Darlene at Malizzi Cakes and Pastries in Douglassville, Pennsylvania. They posted this and other images at Facebook. With this colorful design, you can feed all the wedding guests peacock feathers and still have your lovely cake intact! -via reddit
Ann was an admitted snob who was once quoted as saying
— KEYONCÉ (@thatssokeshaun) August 27, 2019
"I love my clothes and I'm particular about who wears them. I am not interested in sewing for cafe society or social climbers. I do not cater to Mary and Sue. I sew for the families of the Social Register. pic.twitter.com/agF123PXuN
Fashion designer Ann Lowe came from a family of Alabama dressmakers stretching back three generations. In New York, she designed clothing for society's elite: Roosevelts, Rockefellers, and the Bouviers, among others. However, she rarely got credit for her work. In 1953, Lowe scored the task of making dresses for the wedding of the year between Jacqueline Bouvier and John F. Kennedy. Lowe and her salon team worked for months to construct dresses for the bride, bridesmaids, and the bride's mother. An unforeseen disaster meant they had to work around the clock to have the dresses ready in time, and Lowe ended up losing thousands of dollars on the project. Author Rosemary E. Reed Miller tells what happened afterward.
Joe Kennedy invited the press to cover the “social event of the season,” and reporters breathlessly recounted every detail they could glean.
Except one.
“[Jackie] didn’t love the dress, and people asked her who did the dress. She said, ‘I wanted to go to France, but a colored dressmaker did it.’ And Ann Lowe was devastated,” Miller told NPR.
Lowe was essentially written out of what would have been a career-making gown for anyone else. According to Miller, only The Washington Post’s Nina Hyde reported who the designer was.
Read the story of Ann Lowe and her relationship with Jackie Kennedy at the Washington Post.
Learn more about Lowe in a roundup of links at Metafilter.
Last year, The Simpsons featured an episode called "Lisa Gets the Blues," in which Homer eats his way through many of the signature dishes of New Orleans. Katrin von Niederhäusern and Janine Wiget from Switzerland went to the Big Easy and recreated the sequence shot-by-shot, with the exception of eating a king cake, which is seasonal. See their gastronomic adventure side-by-side with Homer and Lisa. You might want to watch this in full-screen mode or go to the YouTube page to see it bigger. There's a rundown of the restaurants featured in a list here. -via The Daily Dot
Style matters in publishing, whether in print or on the internet. How much it matters can be left to the reader, but to some readers, it matters a lot. Websites that I have written for have varying headline styles, but each tries to be internally consistent, at least. With that in mind, Publishers Weekly managing editor Dan Berchenko sketched out a handy flow chart that answers your questions about what to capitalize in a headline. They describe this as the "remixed and modified University of Chicago style that is PW’s own." In other words, your mileage may vary. Notice that Berchenko labeled his chart with an all-caps title, although he did make some letters larger than others. -via Boing Boing
While there have been several presidents in the White House without First Ladies, James Buchanan remains the only US president who remained a lifelong bachelor. That, coupled with his close relationship with William Rufus King, led to speculation that Buchanan was gay. The rumor was sometimes alluded to while Buchanan served in government, but was rarely mentioned in history books until relatively recently. Buchanan and King lived in the same boardinghouse for ten years while both served in Congress.
Each of these two middle-aged bachelor Democrats, Buchanan and King, had what the other lacked. King exuded social polish and congeniality. He was noted for being “brave and chivalrous” by contemporaries. His mannerisms could at times be bizarre, and some thought him effeminate. Buchanan, by contrast, was liked by almost everyone. He was witty and enjoyed tippling, especially glasses of fine Madeira, with fellow congressmen. Whereas King could be reserved, Buchanan was boisterous and outgoing. Together, they made for something of an odd couple out and about the capital.
While in Washington, they lived together in a communal boardinghouse, or mess. To start, their boardinghouse included other congressmen, most of whom were also unmarried, yielding a friendly moniker for their home: the “Bachelor’s Mess.” Over time, as other members of the group lost their seats in Congress, the mess dwindled in size from four to three to just two—Buchanan and King. Washington society began to take notice, too. “Mr. Buchanan and his Wife,” one tongue wagged. They were each called “Aunt Nancy” or “Aunt Fancy.” Years later, Julia Gardiner Tyler, the much younger wife of President John Tyler, remembered them as “the Siamese twins,” after the famous conjoined twins, Chang and Eng Bunker.
Thomas Balcerski, in his book Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King, looked deep into that relationship and cautions us not to assume that friendships from almost 200 years ago expressed themselves the way they do now. He runs down the evidence we have, and explains the evidence we don't have, at Smithsonian.
Long before the Romans invaded Britain and built spas in the town of Bath, the king was enjoying the area's warm mineral springs. Bladud, the ninth king of Briton, stumbled upon the springs around 863 BC, according to the earliest record of his reign, which was the 12th-century chronicle History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth. That's the same source for what we know about King Arthur, so you may take it with a grain of salt. Anyway, the legend of Bath tells how Bladud was cured of a disfiguring skin disease by the miraculous springs. That story is surpassed by the time Bladud, as king, built himself a pair of wings so that he could fly. Both tales are charmingly told by Margo Lestz at The Curious Rambler.
(Image credit: Smalljim)
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