Two years before the infamous Kent State shooting, a Civil Rights demonstration on the campus of South Carolina State College, a historically black college in Orangeburg, led to the deaths of Samuel Hammond, Delano Middleton, and Henry Smith, all age 18. Twenty-eight demonstrators were injured. The nine state highway patrolmen who fired into the crowd were exonerated of charges, and the only conviction was that of activist Cleveland Sellers. The incident received scant national attention. How did it come about?    

By the winter of 1968, students at the two colleges set their sights on one particular target: All-Star Bowling Lanes, owned by white proprietor Harry Floyd. Despite the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, Floyd continued to refuse African-Americans service. On February 5, a group of students went to the bowling alley and defiantly sat at the lunch counter until the police were called and the business closed early.

The next day, the students returned and again entered the bowling alley, whereupon 15 of them were arrested. Hearing word of the arrests, hundreds of students poured into a parking lot nearby. Orangeburg police officers and state troopers confronted the growing crowd. Tensions began to diffuse once the arrested students were told they’d be freed, but at just that moment a fire truck arrived, causing new pandemonium. As civil rights activist and university educator Cleveland Sellers wrote in his autobiography, the fire truck suggested to the crowd that the authorities were ramping up their efforts because the powerful hoses had been turned on them during a demonstration in 1963, causing injuries and illness.

Pushed against the front doors of the bowling alley in their panic, the students knocked in a glass pane and were immediately set upon by the police officers, who brutally beat several young women. As the students fled for their respective campuses, several broke shop windows and defaced cars along the way.

The demonstration moved to the campus, and as tensions escalated, the governor called in the National Guard. The shootings occurred on February 8. Read what happened that night and afterward at Smithsonian.

Sneaking bombs into a castle or village would be a wonderful way to surprise and defeat one's enemies. We do that with aerial bombing these days, but in the Middle Ages, it took thinking outside the box.  A 15th-century German book called Feuerwerkbuch (Firework Book) included plans for sending bombs inside fortification by means of cats. The quote in the book is from Franz Helm in 1530.

If you would like to get at a town or castle, seek to obtain a cat from that place. And bind the sack to the back of the cat, ignite it, let it glow well, and thereafter let the cat go, so it runs to the nearest castle or town, and out of fear it thinks to hide itself where it ends up in barn hay or straw it will be ignited.

The illustration leads us to believe that bird bombs were also considered, but that would be an iffy way to deliver bombs, since there's a possibility they would explode in mid-air. The lack of documentation of cat bombs in the historical record gives us no reason to believe that this method was ever successful, nor whether it was even attempted. Attempts that failed were understandably less likely to be recorded. -via Cracked

The more the bats argue about whether they can be heard, the more the guy wonders what he is hearing. He's wondering what kind of murderous filthy critters are up there. He wonders whether they are able to get into his bedroom. He's also wondering if they will get louder when -and if- he ever gets to sleep. The good news for us is that the next time we hear strange noises in the attic, we know it's just the bats arguing about whether we can hear them. This comic is from They Can Talk.

We know Liam Neeson has a particular set of skills. He puts those skills to work as he auditions for a seasonal job as Cupid, the god of love. When he decides you will fall in love, you WILL fall in love. Or else.  

(YouTube link)

If he got the job, there would be plenty of people in the mood for Valentines Day. Or else a massacre. This clip is from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Just a few days ago, redditor tomgremlin donated a kidney to a local teacher that he didn't even know well. While he was recovering, a friend brought him a cake. Look closely at the decorations. I'll help.

Surely you recall Charlie the Unicorn. The scene on the cake is the punchline of the classic viral video. Cool cake. Anyway, tomgremlin said he's doing well, and the reason he looks so good is thanks to painkillers.    

An old folktale in England concerning cats takes many forms, told in different ways in different areas. Here's one of them.

Johnny Reed had spent a long, cold night digging a grave for a parishioner who had died very suddenly, and he was making his way home gratefully; knowing his wife would have waited up for him and a fire would be burning warmly. He had not walked far when he came to a field gate, through which he could see a number of little lights like flickering fires, dancing in the field. Naturally, he approached the gate to take a closer look, and found himself faced by nine black cats, whose eyes were flashing like little fires. Scared by the sight, he bent to find a stone to throw to frighten the cats away, but his hand was stayed when a cat’s voice called, “Johnny Reed!”. Now, this was the first time Johnny Reed had ever been spoken to by a cat, so he had to pay attention. He asked the cat what he wanted of him? The answer was mysterious; “Tell Dan Ratcliffe that Peggy Poyson’s dead!”. Johnny said he would certainly do so, although he had no idea who either of those people were. But the cats seemed satisfied with his answer because a moment later, they had all run away.

When Johnny Reed arrived home, the first thing he did was ask his wife; “Who’s Dan Ratcliffe? And who’s Peggy Poyson?”. But his wife did not know either of those names. So Johnny told his wife everything that had happened to him that night, while she watched him with wide eyes and their black cat with the one white paw slept quietly by the fire. But perhaps he was only pretending to be asleep, for when Johnny related the message the nine black cats had given him, the black cat with the one white paw suddenly leapt up and shouted: “Peggy Poyson’s dead? Then I must be gone!”. The cat ran through the door and was never seen again.

But what does it mean? One version explicitly says that the old cat king is dead, and the new cat must take its place. In another, the cat runs off to attend the funeral. Or maybe the cat is now able to return to its old home after the death of a sworn enemy. The thing they have in common is that cats have their own names for each other, which are unknown to humans. Read several other versions of the story at #Folklore Thursday. -via Strange Company

(Image credit: Fiver, der Hellseher)

A Japanese comedy game show challenges a group of six women to pronounce American English words well enough for a voice recognition system to understand. The system does not understand, but takes its best guess anyway. For example, when a contestant tries to pronounce "rhythm," the device hears "Pizza Hut."

(YouTube link)

The skit is funny, but it also highlight the difference in phonemes used in the two languages. Hirata, the contestant in the short skirt, is a ringer who speaks both languages fluently. The rest did well enough in their English classes to be understood in context, but only by a real person. The championship round is stupid, asking contestants to guess the other's top insecurity. The game was stopped as their guesses heaped more insecurity on each other. -via Digg 

Dazzle your Valentine with brilliance, even if you don't understand it. Windell Oskay and Lenore Edman at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories are offering free downloadable Valentines, as they do every year, with six new and extremely geeky math and physics messages to add to the Valentines they've offered in years past.   

This year’s set features parallel lines, friction, and activation energy:

What could be more romantic than telling someone that the second derivative of your potential energy is at its minimum when you’re around them?

Check out the new Valentines at Evil Mad Scientist. Download all 36 designs here. A word to the wise: you might want to look up what they mean before giving them. -via Geeks Are Sexy

The first six Star Wars movies were notable for their lack of women characters. But the three latest films are quite different, and you can find a lot more women if you look outside the movies. Amy Richau has taken on a year-long project to profile 365 women of the Star Wars universe, one every day in 2018. Unsurprisingly, the very first character featured is Leia Organa. There are 40 profiles so far, from the films, the TV shows, the novels, the comics, the video games, the film crews, actors, and writers. Find out everything from an actor's previous work to a character's trading cards. There will actually be more than 365 when the year is done, since nine of Padmé's handmaidens are bundled into four posts. Today's post is about Toryn Farr, pictured above.

Toryn Farr was a communication officer for the Rebel Alliance in The Empire Strikes Back. You might remember her as the woman who says “Stand by ion control. Fire.” in Hoth.

It turns out Farr (played by actress Brigitte Kahn) is the only woman other than Leia to have a line of dialogue in The Empire Strikes Back.   

Yeah, Toryn Farr got an action figure. Check out all the women profiled so far at the site 365 Days of Star Wars Women. No doubt all the days are planned in advance, so who will be featured on December 31st to wrap up the project? My guess is that it will either be Rey, Carrie Fisher, or Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. I'd go with Rey if I were betting. -via Metafilter

Paqui Chip's Carolina Reaper Chip is so hot that they are sold in packages of one chip. For most people, that's enough, to be chased by a bag of plain chips and a drink. But how hard is it to eat that one chip? Two TV hosts in Philadelphia, Jim Donovan and Rahel Solomon, tried the "one chip challenge" on live TV. Which one will be able to go the longest without taking a drink?

(YouTube link)

Give it up, Jim. Take a drink, you've already lost, no need to torture yourself rather than admit it.  -via Boing Boing

In the movie Solo: A Star Wars Story, we will see a lot more of Lando Calrissian (played by Donald Glover) but he's got his own sidekick who may the breakout character of the film, a droid named L3-37. You might see that as leet (deliberately named that way), but apparently she'll be referred to as L3. The droid belongs to no one, and supposedly built herself. She is a better pilot than Lando.   

“She’s an absolute engine, not just for comedy, but for point of view, and she’s got a very strong personality,” says Jon Kasdan, who said he and his father based her on people they knew. “Much like women in my life and Larry’s life that have just made their will known to us, she isn’t subservient. L3 is subservient to no one, which is a fun kind of droid to write.”

“we gon’ steal this movie right out from homeboy, right?" pic.twitter.com/mpA1lvbZbw

— Evan Narcisse (@EvNarc) February 5, 2018

L3 will be played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge in motion capture and voice. Read more about the driod at Entertainment Weekly.  -via Uproxx

The 1981 film Arthur was about a lovable drunk, back in the days when that was an acceptable basis for a comedy. With the talented Dudley Moore in the title role, it was not only hilarious, but also touching. Critics hailed it as one of the best films of the year, and it has held up surprisingly well, with a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. If you recall Arthur fondly, you'll want to learn some trivia about the movie. 

10. Liza Minnelli got on the wrong bus at one point.

She thought that she was getting on the bus that was being used for the movie but when she figured it out she realized that the whole crew had seen her get on the wrong bus.

9. Dudley Moore apparently based his bad behavior on Peter Cook.

The behavior in question was what led to the falling out between Moore and his former friend Cook. It was used as inspiration for the film.

There's more to know about Arthur at TVOM.

Callie Schenker of Bolivar, Missouri, came home one night last week to find that her neighbor's Corgi had sneaked into her pony's corral. What was he doing there? He was riding horseback! The pony didn't seem to mind, but Schenker knew no one would believe it without video proof.  

The 22-year-old posted the video on Facebook with the message, "I can't make this stuff up!!! So we pull back in our driveway tonight and this is what we see. This is not our dog! But apparently him and Cricket the one-eyed wonder pony are best friends." The video has received 5.3 million views as of Tuesday morning.

Schenker says the Corgi's owners are Mennonites who avoid going online, so they likely don't know their dog is gaining internet fame.

(Facebook link)

You have to wonder if he does that every night. -via Katy Andersen‏

The opening ceremonies for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics are happening right now in South Korea. Their time zone is 14 hours ahead of US Eastern Standard Time and 11 hours ahead of Pacific Time. The ceremonies will be broadcast in full tonight on NBC, but if you're not busy, you can watch a livestream here. Canadians may be able to watch on Twitter. 

#OpeningCeremony #PyeongChang2018 #Olympics begins!!! pic.twitter.com/hFBnsZdnY1

— Olympics (@Olympics) February 9, 2018

Gorgeous #pyeongchang2018 #olympics pic.twitter.com/pekNaInbHr

— Olympics (@Olympics) February 9, 2018

Hello #GER #TLS #DEN #PyeongChang2018 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/nbzSD1Tegw

— Olympics (@Olympics) February 9, 2018

And here's a rundown of NBC's Olympic coverage schedule, strangely posted at CBS Sports.

(Image credit: A. van Amersfoort)

We all have our guilty pleasures. Still, it's a good idea to be up on all the different warning signs of clickbait. Once you are able to recognize them for what they are, the choice to indulge is totally yours. What is crappy content to one person might be just what another person is looking for. Just don't take the stuff you see on the internet too seriously. This is the latest comic from Jeff Lovfers at Don't Hit Save.