Dolly Parton is an acclaimed singer, yet few outside the country music world know her as a songwriter. If she had never sung a note, she'd be a rich woman for a little tune called "I Will Always Love You." Dolly recorded the song and took it to #1 in 1974 and then again in 1982. And you probably remember how well it did in 1992 when Whitney Houston sang it in the movie The Bodyguard. But when the song was still fresh, she was approached by one Colonel Tom Parker about Elvis Presley recording the song she wrote. Dolly said no.  

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Why did Dolly turn down the offer? According to Wikipedia:

When the 1974 recording of the song was reaching number one on the country charts, Elvis Presley indicated that he wanted to cover the song. Parton was interested until Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told her that it was standard procedure for the songwriter to sign over half of the publishing rights to any song Elvis recorded.[15] Parton refused. She recalls:

I said, 'I'm really sorry,' and I cried all night. I mean, it was like the worst thing. You know, it's like, Oh, my God … Elvis Presley.' And other people were saying, 'You're nuts. It's Elvis Presley.' ...I said, 'I can't do that. Something in my heart says, 'Don't do that. And I just didn't do it... He would have killed it. But anyway, so he didn't. Then when Whitney [Houston's version] came out, I made enough money to buy Graceland.[16]

Mark Levin wrote and performed a little song about the incident, with charming stop-motion animation by Heather Colbert.  -via Metafilter

People can select from hundreds of channels of TV, but only a small fraction of those show cartoons, and the major channels only have one or two animated series at a time. That means you can still peg someone's age by the shared culture they grew up with, as new and different cartoons are offered over the years. For example, Baby Boomers watched Looney Tunes, and Gen X watched He Man and the Master of the Universe. Jill Harness designed a quiz that tests the recognition skills of Millennials in identifying cartoon characters, although anyone is welcome to try it. Yes, some are from animated series aimed at adults, but few older viewers know them. If you are a Millennial and didn't score at least 90%, you haven't been watching enough TV. I did respectably well for a Baby Boomer.

Try the quiz yourself, and find out how cartoon-savvy you are!

Spider-Man doesn't spend all his time fighting crime. Every once in a while, he has to go out and pick up a few things at the store. And if there's a good song playing, he gets the urge to dance!

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YouTuber Ghetto Spider put on a show for other shoppers, who all pulled out their phones because no one would believe this otherwise. -via mille batson‏

Competing under a neutral flag, curlers Anastasia Bryzgalova and Alexander Krushelnitsky win first medal for curling in #Russia history at #Pyeonchang2018 https://t.co/XuhRChMQfZ pic.twitter.com/na4yl1TVfv

— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) February 13, 2018

The Russian Olympic Team was barred from the 2018 Olympic Games because of doping. That doesn't mean there aren't Russian athletes in the games, but each had to register as an independent athlete, and they were not allowed to march under the Russian flag at the opening ceremonies. The IOC had considered letting the athletes unite under the Russian flag at the closing ceremonies, but that idea has been dropped for now. What could have changed their minds? A new doping scandal. After winning a bronze medal, Alexander Krushelnitsky failed a drug test. His sport? Curling. If you are surprised that curling has a doping problem, you aren't the only one.

Alexander Krushelnitsky, who competes in curling, one of the Games’ least physically taxing sports, is suspected of testing positive for meldonium, a banned substance that increases blood flow and improves exercise capacity.

“It’s stupid, but Alexander is not stupid, so I don’t believe it,” Russian women’s curling coach Sergei Belanov said.

He echoed a general bewilderment among curling athletes who could not fathom why anyone would use drugs that aid endurance in a sport that is a kind of chess on ice, needing steady hands and concentration rather than physical fitness.

Krushelnitsky, who won bronze with his wife Anastasia Bryzgalova in mixed-doubles curling in Pyeongchang, has not responded to a request for comment.

Read more on the Olympic curling doping scandal at Reuters. -via Leslie Jones

The 1990 crime comedy Quick Change starred Bill Murray, Geena Davis, Randy Quaid, and Jason Robards. Murray robs a Manhattan bank dressed as a clown, and then deals with multiple difficulties trying to get away from the city. The movie didn't make much money, even though some critics said it was Bill Murray's best role yet. In case that tempts you to dig Quick Change out to watch on home video, you can first learn some trivia about the film.   

10. Bill Murray stated that New Yorkers would really identify with this movie.

He believed that it showed them just how messed up their city could be at times. Strangely this statement was met with more approval than anything.

9. This is the only movie that Murray directed.

After the original director bowed out and no one else could be found he couldn’t make a decision on who to ask so he went ahead and did it himself.

There's more about Quick Change at TVOM.

Dye makers have been in search of materials that would produce rich, vibrant colors throughout history. There was a lot of money to be made! And when a better dye came along, or one that was easier to make, it instantly became all the rage among those who could afford it. Such was the case when Conquistadors brought back cochineal insects, which produce carmine red dye, back from the Aztec empire. Amy Butler Greenfield wrote the book A Perfect Red, and talks about how the Mexican dye took off in Europe.

Dye from the cochineal bug was ten times as potent as St John’s Blood and produced 30 times more dye per ounce than Armenian red, according to Butler. So when European dyers began to experiment with the pigment, they were delighted by its potential. Most importantly, it was the brightest and most saturated red they had ever seen. By the middle of the 16th Century it was being used across Europe, and by the 1570s it had become one of the most profitable trades in Europe – growing from a meagre “50,000 pounds of cochineal in 1557 to over 150,000 pounds in 1574,” writes Butler.

Read about the history of cochineal red dye and a new art exhibit in Mexico City dedicated to the color and its origins at BBC Culture. -via TYWKIWDBI

No one is serving lab-grown meat yet, but scientists are working on it. Would you eat it? It seems "unnatural" to eat an animal that could still be alive, but how is that worse than eating an animal that is dead? We have some time before we really must decide on a personal level, but maybe we should learn about the research going into it.

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Lab grown meat may allow us to enjoy being carnivorous without using up the planet's resources, but overcoming the "ick" factor may be the biggest obstacle. It's enough to make you consider going vegetarian ...until you have a strong craving for a hamburger. -via Digg

A blind date might be surprisingly good, especially if you've been set up by people who know you well. Or it can be a nightmare. Check out a bunch of reader-submitted stories about blind dates gone horribly wrong. The "happy ending" is when you never have to see that person again.

3. The date with a KISS-enthusiast:

"I was set up by a friend with a guy who seemed really nice at first. I soon realized that he was absolutely obsessed with the band KISS. He spoke at length about wanting to be buried in a KISS coffin. I was thrilled when the date was over, right up until the moment he asked if I wanted to go back to his place and test out his KISS condoms. No. No. No. I still shudder every time I hear a KISS song."

—angels4d4906ef4

4. The date with a drug-dealing hustler:

"I was out to dinner with this guy when he suddenly went outside for a smoke break. Whatever, do you — but I looked out the window to see him talking to someone else. It looked a bit odd and ~sketchy~, so when he came back in I asked him who that was. He told me he sells meth as a side job. "

—nelliem4f49128cd

5. The date with a big spender:

"I was set up on a blind date and told to dress nice for dinner. We ended up at Famous Dave’s. He told me I had to choose between the kids menu chicken tenders or the half-rack of ribs because he had a coupon. "

—kateb47a2cf44a

Some stories touch on adult subjects, but none end up with someone in jail or the hospital. Read 16 blind date horror stories at Buzzfeed.

(Image credit: Fileri)

If you ever cruise down to the Barra de Navidad marina and lagoon in Jalisco, Mexico, be on the lookout for a French baker peddling fresh bread and other baked treats boat to boat. Who could resist?

Chef Emeric Fiegen opened up shop, with his wife Christine, in this small laidback beach town over 15 years ago after a stint in Montreal. Early each morning, Chef Emeric still personally delivers his many breads, baguettes, croissants, pies, and quiches by boat. Not surprisingly, his pastries sell out by the time he's done making his rounds.

Fiegen also has a shop on land. Check out the menu and see more pictures at Boing Boing.

(Image credit: Andrea Cook)

He built exactly what he was asked to build, as far as he knows. You can't help but think of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge when you read this comic, can you? This pun story is from Mark Pain at Pain Train Comics. -via Geeks Are Sexy

The following is an article from the book Uncle John's Canoramic Bathroom Reader.

You probably know that the “D.C.” in Washington, D.C., stands for “District of Columbia” and that the district is not part of any state. But do you know why America’s Founding Fathers placed such importance on creating a capital outside of any state? We owe it all to piles of unpaid bills.

EVOLUTION OF THE REVOLUTION

In April 1783, the U.S. Congress (then known as the Continental Congress) gave preliminary approval to the Treaty of Paris, which, if ratified by both England and the United States, would end the Revolutionary War after eight long years of fighting. Final ratification was still a year off, but it was clear that the war was all but over and that the American colonies had won. That was good news for the colonies… but not necessarily for the soldiers who’d done the fighting, because it wasn’t clear that they would ever be paid for their years of service and sacrifice.

The Congress had run up huge debts to finance the war effort, and it had no real means of paying back the money. The Articles of Confederation, which served as the American constitution from 1781 until it was replaced by the U.S. Constitution in 1788, gave Congress the power to declare war and the power to raise an army to fight it. But it didn’t give Congress the power to levy taxes. Without this power, it had no way to raise the money it needed to pay its war debts. The Congress could ask the states to contribute, but it couldn’t compel them to do it. The states had run up huge war debts of their own that had to be repaid.

BEG, BORROW, STEAL

Many soldiers had been paid with IOUs or not at all. Their material needs had often gone unmet as well. During the winter of 1777, for example, nearly a quarter of the 10,000 soldiers camped at Valley Forge died there -not from combat, but from malnutrition, exposure, and disease. “We have this day no less than 2,873 men in camp unfit for duty because they are barefooted and otherwise naked,” General George Washington complained in a letter two days before Christmas in 1777.

FREE… FOR NOW

Soldiers with the means to do so had supported themselves during the war, and when their money ran out, they had amassed debts of their own. Now, having shed their blood to secure America’s liberty, they faced the prospect of losing their own liberty in debtors’ prison as soon as they were discharged from the army. “We have borne all that men can bear,” one group of soldiers wrote in a petition to Congress in early 1783, “our property is expended, our private resources are at an end.”

In response to this and other demands for payment from the soldiers, Congress could offer only vague promises to make good on its obligations to pay them …someday.

When we try to rank movie franchises, we must remember that such a thing did not really exist until recently. Serials from the early 20th century weren't expected to be blockbusters, and after those died out, few movies had sequels before the age of home video. If you go by box office take, you have to keep in mind that the older a movie is, the less expensive the tickets were. Also, there's the problem of defining a franchise. The Spider-Man series is not considered part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe because those movies are from a different studio. The Marvel Cinematic Universe includes both the Avengers movies and Guardians of the Galaxy, even though one takes place on earth and the other in space. Yet X-Men is a different franchise, even though they are also about comic book characters produced by Marvel. Confused yet? Maybe it will be clearer when you see how the top ten movie franchises ranked, in a list at Mental Floss. Or maybe not. The list tells us that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is officially a part of the Batman franchise, but not tell us whether Suicide Squad or Justice League are included.

I've been going to the theater more often now that I can use a $5 senior ticket, but Pillsbury was confronted with the prospect of buying $12 tickets for Black Panther Friday night. What to do? He and a friend decided to try the old 2-for-1 deal by impersonating a tall man in a trench coat.   

We tried getting the two for one special at black panther. The manager was not having it. pic.twitter.com/Ktqsuh7s3m

— Pillsbury (@stevelikescups) February 16, 2018

The ticket seller didn't buy it, but the line of movie patrons got a real show, and the hundreds of thousands of likes and retweets was worth the effort. You can see a longer video here, but you'll have to put it in full-screen mode to see it. -via The Daily Dot

French artist and photographer Francois Beaurain has an extensive collection of hand-painted movie posters from Liberia. These were mainly produced for video clubs in the 1990s, painted on plastic tablecloths, using the image on a VHS box.

Tablecloth was preferred to primed cotton canvas because it was thought more resistant (posters were nailed outside on any kind of support, exposed to the sun and the rain) and cost efficient. It was not an easy task to find the posters as most of the video-clubs have long dumped their piles of posters. Most of the posters found here were found in video clubs, usually under a mattress or nailed on the tin-roof to make the projection room darker.

Most of the paintings were signed by the artist. Some are better likenesses than others, but all are interesting for what they are. See some of these posters at Beaurain's website, and even more of them in a video. -via Everlasting Blort

Look at this backyard bowling lane. It's ingenious, with strings to reset the pins and a sloped gutter to  bring the ball back. Then you think about how the strings and pins laying around would interfere with the second ball. How would you ever get an honest spare? But that's really a moot point. The first ball would bounce around against the backboard and knock them all down anyway. And how would the wood hold up against the weather? Not well, if the wooden table on my deck is any indication. But it was the string pinsetter that got the most interest when this picture was posted at reddit. Some folks had never heard of such a thing, while others say it's used at all the bowling alleys where they live. Here's how a string pinsetter works in an indoor alley:  

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And here's how a robotic pinsetter works, in case you've wondered.

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I guess either one beats the old method.