In this week's episode of the mental_floss List Show, John Green tells us about things that were born or developed in 1995. But it's much more fun to call then "things that turned 21 in 2016." No matter; thinking about how things from 1995 are getting "old" will make you feel old, whichever way we refer to them. 1995? Wasn't that just yesterday?
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Google's year-end report for 2016 is available online. See what we were looking for in 2016. It wasn't all about the U.S. presidential election, and it wasn't all doom and gloom. But even some is too much.
Google has a breakdown of the year's top search terms by category globally and in each country, plus breakout trends by month, subject, or country, and even a map of search terms. -via Uproxx
A few years ago, we showed you an interesting picture of a bagpiper and a penguin in Antarctica. The 1904 image is a classic. You can find the story behind it at Wikipedia, which can be edited by any member -and there are millions of members. Since then, the caption has undergone a slight improvement.
People thought the figure on the left should be indicated, too, so this happened.
Well, that ain't right. Someone who knows their right from their left immediately corrected the caption. But not before people started calling the penguin by the name "Piper," which is the occupation of the man on the right, Gilbert Kerr.
The next person to edit the caption also registered an opinion about the status of the penguin.
By now, the image caption at Wikipedia has been restored to its original. Redditor gorantheg had the most apt comment about the changes:
This is the kind of stupid things that's gonna end up on the front page
A food truck in Breda, Netherlands, is called Keuken van het Ongewenst Dier. That translates to Unwanted Animal Kitchen in English. They serve dishes made of animals that would have been disposed of anyway. The point is to use instead of lose, to stop wasting a potential food source. The menu might make you squirm.
The truck boasts a one-of-a-kind menu highlighting the “wild flavor” of animals otherwise doomed to die, like old horses, pigeons, canal crayfish, and parakeets. Twice a year, it hosts a five-course “Big Pest Dinner” that might feature coot or some rats. Goose croquettes and something called Bambi Balls were also early favorites, but the big-ticket item has always been the $18 My Little Pony burger, seen up at top-left with its pink-ribbon pony flag.
That they named the burger after the cartoon is almost as perverse as the thought of eating pony when one's culture does not do that. Then you think about how, um, elderly the animals are. The real kicker is that the main source for pony meat is a chain of amusement parks. Read more about the Unwanted Animal Kitchen at Grubstreet. -Thanks, John Farrier!
(Image credit: Keuken van het Ongewenst Dier/Facebook)
In 1965 and '66, the most popular name for baby girls was Lisa, in every state of the USA. In 1976, '77, and '78, Jennifer was the most popular name -in every state. As far as I can tell, those are the only years every state has lined up to name their baby girls. In 1935, you can see a definite Hollywood influence in girl's names. For boys, Biblical names dominate over the past hundred years, whether it's John and James in the early 20th century, David and Michael in the mid-century, or Jacob in the 21st century. However, William and Liam (which are practically the same name) dominate today -but Noah is still quite popular. You can see the most popular baby name for each state in every one of the past 105 years in an interactive map by Mike Barry. You can select boys or girls, play it like a video, or use the date slider to select a year to study. -via Digg
The Empire Strikes Back is considered by many to be the best of all the Star Wars films. It had the ice planet Hoth, Lando Calrissian, Han Solo frozen in carbonite, the introduction of Yoda, and the big reveal about Luke's parentage. Does it really deserve such accolades? Yeah, but Screen Junkies is willing to look to the movie's dark side for their Honest Trailer.
You have to give them credit, they've found some strange tropes and repetitions that we didn't catch before. Who knew that Leia couldn't pronounce Han's name consistently? Maybe she got flustered any time Han pointed at her.
Let's be honest; you can only take so many sugarplums and candy canes and "Jingle Bells" before it all starts to become cloying. The antidote to holiday burnout is something a little wicked to get your adrenaline flowing. That's where the Christmas horror movie comes in. You still have the facade of Christmastime, mainly Santa Claus, but everything else is gruesome guts and gore. Den off Geek has rounded up 17 of the most horrible and horrific horror holiday movies to rank. Calling it "the best 17" implies that there are more where these came from. Check out the list, and even check it twice, because you might want to order up one of these movies to watch, for when you need to put a little Krampus in your Christmas cheer.
The sixth annual Nikon Small World in Motion Photomicrography Competition has concluded, and the winners have been announced. The contest is the video arm of the Nikon Small World Microphotography competition. Since 2011, Nikon has recognized video taken at the microscopic scale in addition to still microphotography. The competition encompasses both video and time-lapse photography. Continue reading to see the winners' videos and many wonderful honorable mentions.
Of course there are folks who collect vintage wristwatches from the Soviet Union. They are a challenge to collect, and have a fascinating story. Dashiell Oatman-Stanford is one of those collectors, who tells us how the Soviets got serious about the wristwatch business -with the help of the United States. Two bankrupt American watch companies, the Dueber-Hampden Watch Company and the Ansonia Clock Company, went out of business but were bought up by the USSR in 1930.
Three Soviets traveled to Canton, Ohio, where these two companies were based, to pack up all the manufacturing equipment, leftover watch movements, and pieces to ship back to Russia. Twenty-one former Dueber-Hampden employees from Ohio sailed with them to help set up this new facility in Russia, which was aptly named the First State Watch Factory. They began making 7- and 15-jewel pocket-watch movements made with parts from Ohio. The Soviets changed all the lettering to Cyrillic to signify their new ownership, and there were slight design modifications, all very minor. Starting around 1935, they began taking ownership a bit more, using different insignias that said “First State Watch Factory,” and as the years progressed, they began customizing their pocket watches to be a bit more Soviet-specific.
When World War II began, the demand for watches was unprecedented, and the Soviets went into overdrive. By the end of the 1940s, the Soviets had nearly a dozen factories producing watches, though some had been relocated during the war. They were still using the same movement designs from Ohio, but putting them into new forms.
These original so-called “Type-1” movements are still available today, and I have several dozen in my collection in various dial patterns. A wristwatch Type-1 variant was also produced, though a pocket-watch movement on your wrist makes for an enormous wristwatch, and it was very outdated with a noisy ticking sound. The old joke was that during the war, the Germans didn’t have to seek out any Soviets—all they had to do was listen for their ticking watches and shoot in that direction.
There's more to the story of the Soviet wristwatch industry, and an interesting lesson on mechanical vs. quartz watches, at Collectors Weekly.
Every year, Sleepy Skunk does a masterful mix of the biggest movies of the year, and today he debuted the video for 2016. There are 282 films here, represented by clips from their trailers (where the best visuals are always found) fused into a coherent collage.
Very few people have seen all 282 of the movies this year, but there's always home video and TV, so you'll catch up eventually. A list of the films used can be found at Sleepy Skunk's Tumblr, although it's a work in progress and isn't yet complete.
The Muppets have produced the first episode of the Muppet Show sketch Pigs in Space in over twenty years! Join Captain Link Hogthrob, First Mate Piggy, and Dr. Julius Strangepork of the spaceship Swinetrek. In this episode, they encounter a strange and dangerous alien.
How bizarre is this? When Hogthrob gives birth to an alien being who bursts from his chest, Piggy wants to throw a baby shower. How like her. -via Laughing Squid
VAQ-136 was deployed on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk some years ago. As an EA-6B Prowler took off, a crew member failed to hang on well enough to withstand the exhaust. NavyGuy101 explained the details here.
Then a commenter who had witnessed the incident explained that the guy did this on purpose for the film. He was transferring out and left with a bang. The reddit thread has plenty of Navy personnel ready to tell us more.
The Reverend Jim Ignatowski was a crazy recurring character who became a regular on the TV series Taxi (1978-1983). Cosmo Kramer was the goofy neighbor on the TV show Seinfeld (1989–1998). While we are used to sitcoms employing the same types of characters from show to show, there are clues that Kramer was more than a reasonable facsimile of Ignatowski. He was more like a reincarnation.
Both characters would be lost without friends. They need constant prompting and assistance with activities of basic living. Both men are kept in check by the lead character. In Jim’s case, it’s Alex Reiger, for Kramer, it’s Jerry Seinfeld. The straight men, played by Judd Hirsh and Jerry Seinfeld respectively, provide the “regular guy” voice of reason for the cool wacky guy operating in the midst of an ensemble cast.
Last but not least, both Jim Ignatowski and Cosmo Kramer play off a female character who is a big sister type. She’s hardworking, responsible and feisty–and her name just happens to be Elaine. Elaine Nardo and Elaine Bennis live in different New York worlds, but both serve the same purpose for two “crazy awesome” guys who share striking similarities.
Oh, but there are plenty of other similarities between the two characters that might surprise you, at TVOM.
A student asked teacher Joe Howard a fairly nonsensical question. How loud would it be if all of the cats in the world meowed at the same time? Turns out it would be pretty darn loud, if the cats were close enough to the person listening.
What's really notable here is that Howard is a true teacher. Even though he didn't have an answer ready for the student, and he wasn't all that versed in the science of sound, he searched for an answer. He read up on the physics of sound, redesigned the question to a form that could be answered, and did the math to achieve that answer. And then he made a video explaining his process, which is entertaining even if you don't quite understand the math (like me). Sure, it's hard to compare yowling cats to whale song because cats don't like water. But you might learn a few things about sound by watching this, and even more about the tenacity of someone looking for an answer. That has to be an inspiration for his students. -via Boing Boing
Some young folks get a hoverboard, fall a few times, and give up on it. Others not only master the technique, but put the device to use in their household chores. Like turning yourself into a mechanized snowplow. Those things are more powerful than I had imagined!
This kid was out cleaning the driveway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, on Sunday. If the snow were the tiniest bit wet or slick, this wouldn't work out so well. -via Digg
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