While we've seen some creative ways to re-use large, obsolete satellite dishes, this has to be one of the nicest. A couple in Idaho who go by B&E raise chickens, but they are also artists. When they expanded their flock, they decided to build a UFO chicken coop! Two satellite dishes and a trampoline frame later (plus a lot of work), it was ready for the chickens. The coop has windows, surveillance cameras, insulation, ventilation, heaters, and for the alien landing effect, plenty of lights!
The 2011 DC comics film Green lantern was a mistake from the beginning. It barely made back its production budget, much less its promotional budget. The best thing about the film was that it drove its star Ryan Reynolds to Marvel where he became a different kind of superhero -Deadpool. What went wrong? We might get some clues from the trivia behind Green Lantern.
8. Kevin Smith was offered a chance to write this movie.
He wasn’t impressed with the idea and passed on it. If a guy like Kevin Smith passes on a comic book movie it’s not a good endorsement.
7. There was almost a cameo by Superman.
It was going to be something that might have sparked the beginning of the Justice League but it was eventually scrapped.
This is just a plain, everyday garage door, but it looks like two swinging carriage house doors. The secret is the handles and hinges -they are magnets! They won't open the door, but they look nice. There are other ways to paint, paper, and cover the parts of your house that are obviously cheap, outdated, or worn that you'd never think of on your own. Buzzfeed has a list of 35 projects and products that can spruce up your home by hiding the things you can't afford to replace.
Can you scare people in only 15 seconds? Sure! Emma, a video from Daniel Limmer, could have been even shorter, but the set-up is part of its charm. You don't know what's going to happen, and the few seconds leading up to it is all you need to develop a real dread.
This very short film ended up as the first-place winner in the 2017 15 Second Horror Film Challenge. It also won in the category of twist endings. You can learn more about the competition, like how each celebrity judge voted, at Facebook. The contest is now accepting entries for the 2018 competition until October 15. -via Boing Boing
Mathany Green House is a sustainable off-the-grid home in upstate New York. When their well was installed, they sent a GoPro camera down into the newly-drilled well because the driller said there were limestone caves down there. As the rope is fed, you see what the inside of a modern day drilled well looks like. Then all you can think is "How deep is this well?"
It's 120 feet deep. Or maybe more, but that's as far as the camera went down. Most of it is under water. They either reached the bottom, ran out of rope, or gave up when the light was gone. The caves were reported to be at 110 feet, but we can't see anything that far down. Still, the video is mesmerizing as it plunges further and further into the depths. The ride might be a little claustrophobic if you are so inclined, but you can pretend you're traveling through a wormhole into another dimension, if that helps. -via Geekologie
You are most likely to suffer from insomnia if there's an important reason you must get a good night's sleep. There's nothing like a little pressure to ruin your relaxation. Maybe you should go with plan B, but that has its own dangers- a couple of drinks or a sleeping pill might help you fall asleep, but they could also cause you to oversleep in the morning when you have to be at your best. Then that exam, job interview, or flight could be endangered. I have no trouble taking an afternoon nap most days, but if there's something I have to be ready for at a particular time afterward, I know ahead of time that I'll just lay there and watch the clock. This is the latest comic from the Awkward Yeti.
Wildlife ecologist David Steen publishes an annual list of animals that probably went extinct in the past year. Some of them are only locally extinct, and some are extinct in the wild but have examples in zoos or laboratories. The list for 2017 includes bats, skinks, geckos, and the fishing cat.
The Fishing Cat is in big trouble in Southeast Asia. After extensive camera trap surveys in Java failed to turn any up there is a fear that they have gone extinct in all of Indonesia (they persist in low numbers elsewhere).
The fishing cat pictured above lives in a zoo. Read this year's list, and the methodology and philosophy behind the list at Living Alongside Wildlife. -via Mashable
"Don't make me laugh too hard, I might precipitate!"
Last week, we showed you the best local news bloopers of 2017 from News Be Funny. It turns out that they had way more silly footage than people would watch in one video, so here is part two.
This one starts out with a string of unintentional sexual terms, possibly Freudian slips, so you might want to send the kids out of the room. Or else you might have to explain to them why you laughed. -via Tastefully Offensive
Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.
All of us were raised in a generation of cat-and-mouse cartoons. Natural enemies, I guess cats and mice make a great adversarial team, being much more common animated foes than, say, dogs and cats. These classic cartoons have given forth many mouse stereotypes.
First off, cats don't chase mice using brooms to swat them, with both characters running upright on their hind legs. And in spite of these oft-seen stereotypes, most of us still know and realize that most mice do not wear white gloves, or vests, or bow ties. And most mice do not sleep in made-up little matchbooks or hibernate in holes in the wall with perfect semi-circular entrances.
But we've also all seen the cute cartoons of mice chewing away on a big, delicious hunk of cheese. Somehow this one seems to persist, and is still widely believed.
In 2006, Dr. David Holmes, an animal behaviorist in Britain's Manchester Metropolitan University, shocked the world when he announced: "No, mice really don't like cheese."
Cracked staged one of their "photoplasty" contests with the premise of changing a movie's tagline to make the poster more honest and informative about the film. I didn't understand any of them until I saw posters for movies I'd actually seen, and they are funny. That made it abundantly clear how tragically uninformative movie promotions can be. (Well, The Fate of the Furious was funny either way.)
I don't think there's a lot of spoilers here, at least none that make any difference. Check out all 42 entries at Cracked. You'll laugh at the ones you understand, and maybe you'll become curious about what actually happened in those movies you haven't seen.
Scottish physician James Y. Simpson is credited with developing the use of anesthesia in childbirth. It's true that Simpson popularized the use of chloroform for childbirth, which he first used in 1847. Earlier that year, he'd used ether in a difficult delivery. But even before that, Dr. Crawford W. Long was using ether as an anesthetic. In fact, it was on this date in history, December 27, 1845, that Long gave his wife ether to help her through the birth of their second child.
When Long did this, he had already used ether on a friend, writes anesthesiologist Almiro dos Reis Júnior, to remove infected cysts from his neck. Long had experience with the substance from so-called “ether parties” where young people would knock each other out for fun. However, the public was skeptical of knocking people unconscious during surgery, so Long stopped using ether in his clinic. “But Long still believed in the importance of anesthesia and administered ether to his wife during the birth of his second child in 1845 and other subsequent deliveries, thus undoubtedly becoming the pioneer of obstetric analgesia,” writes dos Reis Júnior.
Both ether and chloroform had been used recreationally, and both are dangerous if the amount isn't just right. But the relief from the pain of childbirth caught on rapidly, especially after Queen Victoria gave birth using anesthesia. Read about the early days of anesthesia at Smithsonian.
Condé Nast Traveler asked folks from other countries to show what an American is like. They pulled up some US slang, put on their best American accent, and planted a big smile on their faces, because we're known for that. Taken all together, they seem to have the same stereotype of what an American is like. Did they get that from tourists, or from the movies? I would guess movies. Mean Girls, to be specific.
Matthew Inman used to have a hard time thinking babies were cute. He says so in his latest comic, right there in the first illustration where he shows how he once saw babies. But he found a workaround, and now he can play a trick on his own mind to see anything as cute, if he wants to. Maybe you could do the same. Read Inman's strategy in the full version of the comic at The Oatmeal.
Look how young Anthony Edwards looks in this picture! It's from the 1985 movie Gotcha!, not long after Edwards starred in Revenge of the Nerds and long before ER. In Gotcha!, he played an American college student in Paris who hooks up with a Czechoslovakian spy. He's in love, she's being followed by Soviet spies, and it get complicated. If you recall Gotcha!, you might want to learn more about the movie.
10. The film makers weren’t allowed to enter the border between West and East Germany.
Because of this a replica of the Berlin Wall had to be built close to the West side to get the shot they wanted.
9. Gotcha! is a real game played on college campuses.
It isn’t much different from what’s shown in the movies though it did eventually fade out slightly as the years went on. Some campuses still allow it.
Andrew Jackson's wife died shortly after he won the presidential election of 1828. In her honor, he had a magnolia tree planted on the west side of the White House lawn in 1835. The tree has a storied history, including being featured on the $20 bill for most of the 20th century. A companion tree was later added to the east side of the lawn for symmetry. But the Jackson Magnolia has come to the end of its life after being on display for 182 years. The tree has been ailing for decades. A report from the United States National Arboretum said, in part,
"The overall architecture and structure of the tree is greatly compromised and the tree is completely dependent on the artificial support. Without the extensive cabling system, the tree would have fallen years ago. Presently, and very concerning, the cabling system is failing on the east trunk, as a cable has pulled through the very thin layer of wood that remains. It is difficult to predict when and how many more will fail."
The tree will be cut down sometime this week. RIP, Jackson Magnolia. But it lives on anyway. Shoots from the tree have been secretly nursed at an undisclosed greenhouse, and are now 8-10 feet tall. One of them will be used to replace the historic tree on the White House lawn. Read the full story the Jackson Magnolia at CNN. -via Uproxx
