The 1987 Robin Williams movie Good Morning Vietnam was loosely based on the story of Adrian Cronauer, a radio deejay in Saigon. The project was started in 1979, but delayed for almost a decade because America wasn't yet ready for a comedy about the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, Robin Williams became involved and ran with the project. The finished movie was less Cronauer and more Williams, but it was a big hit. Cronauer was ready to supply a sequel, also based on his life.

The real-life Adrian Cronauer – who Levinson had kept Williams apart from until the film had been shot – still had much story to tell. As such the follow-up film would have followed him as a journalist, this time at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. It would have been set in 1968, and the proposed title was Good Morning, Chicago. The political setting was particularly interesting, given that Adrian Cronauer has described himself as “a lifelong card-carrying Republican” who campaigned for the likes of George W. Bush.

Furthermore, the 1968 convention saw a clash between 10,000 anti-war demonstrators and 23,000 police and national guardsman. Violent clashes ensued, including an infamous police assault in front of the Hilton hotel, on August 28th, 1968. At the convention itself, serving vice-President Hubert Humphrey was endorsed as the Democratic candidate for President, and he would lose the eventual election to Richard Nixon.

It was against the background of the event that Good Morning, Chicago was to be set.

Read more about the sequel that never was at Den of Geek.

Some pubs (and homes) in the past had a ceramic joke available to mess with their guests. Puzzle jugs had plenty of holes in them between the bottom and the spout to interfere with pouring. It was a game to see who could figure out how to pour from them without spilling the drink -which could be quite funny to watch after everyone already had a few drinks.

The puzzle jug was particularly popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, though the concept dates back centuries earlier. Some cite a 14th-century vessel from Exeter in England as the earliest example, but that one lacks the characteristic features typical of a puzzle jug. Puzzle jugs became super-popular by the 1650s, according to Aronson, but weren’t the first example of ceramics used for gaming purposes. One predecessor was the “fuddling cup,” popular in the 16th to 18th centuries. As literary historian Juliet Fleming wrote in Graffiti and the Writing Arts of Early Modern England, a fuddling cup or mug is “a group of individually thrown pots with interconnecting bodies, whereby liquor poured into one cup could slowly disappear and reappear in another,” a “toy machine” meant not for a practical purpose, but to entertain.

But how does a puzzle jug actually work? Find the explanation at Atlas Obscura. 

(Image credit: Flickr user virtusincertus)

The 1994 film The Chase was about exactly that. Charlie Sheen plays a man convicted of a bank robbery he didn't commit, who panics and leads police on a nationwide chase -in a stolen car with a hostage (Kristy Swanson). Yeah, it's a comedy. A subplot concerns media coverage of the chase, in which news outlets lose all perspective trying to get a scoop on the unfolding drama. The movie was critically panned, but was a modest box office success. There are other things you don't know about The Chase.

4. Henry Rollins plays a part in the movie and is credited for the song when the end credits roll.

He plays Officer Dobbs and he’s credited for the song Shine at the end.

3. This was shown at the Dublin film festival.

Unfortunately it was shown as part of a classics retrospective and not as it was supposed to be.

Read more about The Chase at TVOM.

You remember in grade school when there was supposed to be a dress-up day, and you were terrified you'd be the only one dressing up? These guys did that to their friend Darren. They told him they were all going to go out on the town dressed as Smurfs, then they didn't dress up. Watch as they go pick up Darren.

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The joke's on them in the end. You know that Darren, dressed as Smurfette and apparently okay with it, got all the attention that night and all the respect from the internet after the video was posted. He's the one we would all rather hang with. Besides, British commenters assured us that these guys are going to a darts tournament, where half the spectators will be dressed in ridiculous costumes. -via reddit

Wes Anderson's upcoming film Isle of Dogs is a stop-motion animation story of dogs living on an island in a future dystopian Japan. That may sound depressing, but this clip shows that it's got its humorous moments. Notice the symmetry that all Wes Anderson films display.

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Isle of Dogs features the voices of Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson, and a whole slew of celebrity cameos. The movie will debut at the Berlin Film Festival next weekend and hit theaters on March 23. -via Nag the Lake

(Image credit: John Patrick Thomas)

How one mysterious medical case helped map the brain.

On April 11, 1861, Dr. Pierre Paul Broca examined a man in the surgical wing of the Bicêtre hospital near Paris. The 51-year-old patient had gangrene all along his right leg, his entire right side was paralyzed, and he was nearly blind. When Broca asked about the origin of the man’s illness, the patient answered, “tan, tan,” with a wave of his left hand. It was the only thing he could say. Strangely, though, his mouth, tongue, and voice box were in working order. His hearing was good, and he understood what other people were saying.

The man’s name was Louis Victor Leborgne, but everyone called him Tan. He had been admitted to the hospital at age 30 after losing the ability to speak. Ten years later, he also started to lose the ability to use the limbs on his right side. This led to the gangrene, which landed him in Broca’s care.

Kids think they are so smart. But you can't blame them for thinking that -they are smarter than they were yesterday, and they have no concept of how much more they have to learn. Parents, on the other hand, have been there, done that, and it takes years for children to understand how that works. But then every once in a while, they hand us a zinger that hits close to home.

I was doing an activity with my 5-year-old and then told him I had to go back to work and he said “Okay, go touch your letters daddy.” which is such an amazing burn. “Must be exhausting touching that keyboard all day. Did you hit all the letters yet? You’ve had all day.”

— Chris Hallbeck (@ChrisHallbeck) February 7, 2018

The next step, in this highly-connected world, is to create a holiday named Hawklin's Day, which will be a universal day off school. This is the latest comic from Chris Hallbeck at Maximumble.

Where we're going, we don't need roads! This is the final selfie from Starman, the mannequin in the red Tesla launched yesterday and deployed by the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The massive Tesla battery could only power a livestream from space for 12 hours. Now Starman and his ride are headed into asteroid territory. 

The car was supposed to be put on a path around the Sun that would take the vehicle out to the distance of Mars’ orbit. But the rocket carrying the car seems to have overshot that trajectory and has put the Tesla in an orbit that extends out into the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

There are no predictions yet on how long the car will last in space. That all depends on what it might collide with. -via reddit

(Image credit: Elon Musk)

Some question force you to employ your sense of logic, ethics, and/or ability to see a topic from all sides. These questions range from the metaphysical (What is the meaning of life?) to the practical (Is a hot dog a sandwich?) to ridiculous scenarios and even questions that might hit home and help you to better know yourself. The new book Questions for Deep Thinkers: 200+ of the Most Challenging Questions You (Probably) Never Thought to Ask by Henry Kraemer and Brandon Marcus contains 250 such questions, with a philosophical and humorous look at both sides of each conundrum. Enjoy this sneak peek at the book.   

Social Sciences for Deep Thinkers

Deep thinkers need social sciences to survive. The deeper you climb inside your own head, the harder it becomes to do social things, such as going outside in the daytime, making eye contact with your personal magician, or ordering food without pointing to your open mouth. Luckily, you have this chapter to guide you through the mysteries of social life. You just might uncover the secrets behind human behavior as you ponder the questions found here, such as the benefits of solid food versus baby food and whether or not you should feel awkward when you think about former child stars aging into attractive adults. Open your mind to the sweet science of society and become the best psycho-socio-economist on your block!

Is it more acceptable for a human being to eat a dolphin or for a pig to eat a human?

Erin Hudson of Afton, Iowa, grabbed her camera when someone spotted a cow eating the family's mail right out of the mailbox! That's not something you see every day. Or any day, for that matter. Video contains NSFW language.

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The cow acted like she knew she'd done something that wasn't permitted, but she did not want to give up that sweet tasty junk mail! -via Tastefully Offensive

Dishwashers are amazing appliances, even if they never did anything besides washing dishes. But the possibilities for other things are endless. You can use them to wash things that aren't dishes. You can cook in them. You can heat things in them. And when it stops working entirely, there are many ways to re-use its parts. And some of the hacks in this list are completely unexpected.  

16. RIPEN AVOCADOS.

A restaurant worker on Metafilter spilled the beans on his employer's trick for force-ripening avocados: Throw them on the top rack of the dishwasher for a cycle.

21. BUILD A HAND-CRANK GENERATOR.

If your dishwasher dies but the motor is still serviceable, it may just help you survive the zombie apocalypse—or, more likely, help you charge your electronics while you're camping. If you're handy, making the motor into a pretty powerful little generator like this is a snap.

Now, if you are considering cooking in a dishwasher, you should check out which recipes work and which do not. Find those and all the dishwasher hacks in a list at Mental Floss. 

(Image credit: Flickr user Sandor Weisz)

The new trailer for Deadpool 2 is out, but the joke is that some post-production work has yet to be completed, specifically concerning Cable's arm. So Deadpool has to take matters into his own hands to get the trailer completed. Contains NSFW language.  

(YouTube link)

The blurb from 20th Century Fox tells us more about the upcoming film.

After surviving a near fatal bovine attack, a disfigured cafeteria chef (Wade Wilson) struggles to fulfill his dream of becoming Mayberry’s hottest bartender while also learning to cope with his lost sense of taste. Searching to regain his spice for life, as well as a flux capacitor, Wade must battle ninjas, the yakuza, and a pack of sexually aggressive canines, as he journeys around the world to discover the importance of family, friendship, and flavor – finding a new taste for adventure and earning the coveted coffee mug title of World’s Best Lover.

Deadpool 2 will be in theaters May 18. -via io9

The more you look at this photograph, the more details stand out. There are 17 men, all engaged in some activity: pointing a gun, boxing, cutting hair, playing a musical instrument, reading a paper, enjoying whiskey, or staring at the photographer. That photographer was Fred Tyree, who took the picture in 1906 in Patarau, New Zealand. The men were workers at the Prouse and Saunders Flaxmill, where they harvested flax six days a week, and posed for the picture on a Sunday. Charles Anderson was intrigued by the photo and dug up what he could find about how it came about. He pieced together the lives the flax mill workers and the long, arduous journey Tyree took to Patarau.

That night he would rest at a tiny settlement manned by workers of Prouse and Saunders. Perhaps, Hindmarsh went on, Tyree would have joined in on the Saturday evening festivities, pleased to make it in time for the workers’ one day off a week the following day. Tyree would have drank beer with them, ingratiated himself so by the following day they were more than eager to indulge the photographer in a staged image.

Sunday morning would have been spent setting the scene beside one of the camp huts. A pirate flag was hoisted as a backdrop, bundles of flax carefully placed. Tyree would have choreographed every detail before finally climbing under the hood of his camera. Those 17 men posed in rock-still formation – one reading a newspaper, two pretending to box, another pointing a rifle at a stuffed kiwi, the cook standing proud in his whitest apron while a boxer drained a bottle. Some men bore tools, others washed clothes, three men played musical instruments.

Then, it was done.

Read the story of the most badass photograph ever taken in New Zealand at The Spinoff. -via Metafilter

The 2002 film We Were Soldiers was based on the true story of the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang in Vietnam. The Americans were new to the country, and a US battalion, led by Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore (played by Mel Gibson) is drawn into a trap that leads to an extended bloody battle. While some details of the story were changed for the film, the result is a movie that captured the realism of the Vietnam War better than those that came before. If you've seen We Were Soldiers, you'll want to find out some of the offscreen trivia about the movie.  

10. One of the original soldiers that survived perished in the 9/11 attack.

Lieutenant Rick Rescorla was the head of security for Morgan Stanley. He died while making sure that all the company’s employees were evacuated from the building.

9. There were Vietnamese actors in the film that had been in the North Vietnamese army.

The feelings this movie brought back had to have been extremely intense, not to mention it must have brought up a lot of memories.

There's more to learn about We Were Soldiers at TVOM.

Elon Musk had a big day on Tuesday. His company SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy rocket, which deployed his personal red Tesla into orbit around the sun. How's he going to get home? Ah, yeah, just call Tesla and have someone bring him another. Or maybe he can strap a couple of his flamethrowers to his back and use them as a rocket pack. Or take a rocket; they've got a few extra laying around at SpaceX. This comic is from Ice Cream Sandwich Comics. -via reddit