Every plantation in Louisiana has a ghost story. A man named De Coucy, the wealthy young owner of the Magnolia Plantation near Opelousas, Louisiana, took as his mistress the granddaughter of renowned Voodoo practitioner Marie Lavon (usually spelled Marie Laveau). Lavon put a curse on De Coucy, swearing his bloodline would die out, although he ignored it. De Coucy eventually married and had three daughters, Louise, Celeste, and Joan, who became quite popular in the high society of St. Landry Parish.  

Madame Lavon's curse was nearly forgotten by the time the oldest daughter, Louise, married a doctor from Mobile by the name of Hunt. Shortly after their honeymoon, the couple attended a ball in Mobile where Louise ran into one of her former suitors. Dr. Hunt, inflamed with jealousy, challenged the young man to a duel. Dr. Hunt was killed.

The following year, Celeste De Coucy married Col. John Forsythe, Jr., who was the son of the famous journalist and editor of the Mobile Register. Like Dr. Hunt, Forsythe proved to be a jealous husband, and he was said to have been quite stern with Celeste, who was perhaps the most carefree of De Coucy's children. Celeste was a natural born flirt and a free spirit, and her name was frequently brought up in local gossip, much to Col. Forsythe's anguish. When it became evident that many of the illicit rumors surrounding Celeste's infidelity turned out to be true, Forsythe committed suicide.

What about Joan? Would her husband suffer a similar fate? That was the most spectacular story of all three young widows, which you can read about at Journal of the Bizarre. -via Strange Company

We already knew that chef Jun Yoshizuki and his wife Rachel have three perfectly spoiled cats: Haku, Poki, and Nagi. You don't know that half of it. Watch him make the cats some perfect sushi, while they watch.

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Jun always makes homemade cat food, even for Poki, the world's most annoying cat. -via Metafilter

We've mentioned that there are "scientific journals" that will publish anything if you pay them. They just skip peer review and publish. It appears that some journals don't even have an editor read the submitted papers. The science blogger Neuroskeptic submitted a research paper about Midi-chlorians, the microscopic entities in the Star Wars prequels that gave a person the powers of the Force. We didn't even buy that in a fictional universe. Neuroskeptic talked to Gizmodo about the project.

“The goal was to see whether journals would publish a manuscript that, while seemingly scientific, was actually a joke,” Neuroskeptic told Gizmodo in an email. “I didn’t want to just submit nonsense (like a computer-generated text), or a bad paper, but rather something that was verifiably based on fiction (i.e. Star Wars).”

Most of the paper’s text comes from copying the Wikipedia page about mitochondria, replacing any instance of “mitochondr-” with “midichlor-,” and then rearranging the words so the paper didn’t look like straight plagiarism. Neuroskeptic even included the text of the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the wise, word-for-word.

The paper was submitted to nine journals, and three published it (although two later pulled it). Read Neuroskeptic's story of the project at Discover. 

The 1994 action thriller Speed has become a classic, not so much for its quality, but for the implausible plot that led to over-the-top special effects and the weird tension it induced in the audience. We knew none of it made sense as we watched it, but we went along for the ride anyway. It turns out those special effects were conceived and produced on the fly.  

4. The bus jump scene wasn’t in the original script. The director added it when he noticed a section of an interstate missing one day.

5. A decked-out bus was also used for the scene where the subway crashes into Hollywood Boulevard. The producers ran out of money and used story boards for this section of the movie’s preview. The audience thought it was great so they found extra funds to finish the subway carriage.

Twenty-three years later, we also recognize the film as the inspiration for a book's worth of memes. Read the rest of the trivia about Speed here.

Filmmaker Jacob Krupnick's project Young Explorers follows children who have barely learned to walk, as their instincts for exploring are kicking in. This isn't easy for urban parents to negotiate.

(vimeo link)

In a recent interview at ICP, Krupnick tells a story to illustrate the disconnect between child's instinct to explore and a parent's instinct to protect them.

While filming my daughter walking around Coney Island, she passed a boy her age who was tied up in one of those child nets, tethered to his mother, unable to experience life outside her reach. Ada, my daughter, marched past him. His look of astonishment read something like: what is that creature? Half an hour later, they met again along the boardwalk. He was still attached to his mum. He looked at Ada tentatively and tenderly offered her a piece of popcorn. In these moments, you come to see how desirable freedom is.

I can relate. While watching Bejla above and Tristan below, I had to keep reminding myself that not only was Krupnick right there filming, but the child's parents are no doubt just out of camera range. At the same time, in the back of my mind I wanted to reach out and hold their little hands.

(vimeo link)

Krupnick has ten episodes in the series filmed, but only two are available on the 'net so far. We look forward to seeing more. -via Metafilter

Look at the legs on this cat! McPokie tells us that this longcat was taken in by his local animal shelter in Australia, where she finished weaning her litter of kittens. Her name is Quenda, and she is estimated to be about two years old.

Contrary to her leg length she is, in addition, ridiculously tiny for an adult kitto.

Also in addition, due to her legs going on forever and ever she had a high of applicants after the shelter posted an appeal for her to be adopted and so she has now found her forever home.

While we are happy that she now has a home, we are also glad the shelter photographed Quenda and her legs, or we'd never believe it. -via reddit

"Dude, where's my car?" Nineteen-year-old Gavin Strickland traveled from Syracuse, New York, to Toronto to see a Metallica concert. He had to park a few miles away from the concert venue, and took a cab to the show. But after the concert, he couldn't recall where the car was. Strickland spent two days searching for the Nissan, but at least he called his parents the next morning. They helped out by posting an ad on Craigslist trying to find the vehicle.

2015 Blue / Green Nissan Versa Sedan was parked within a $8 cab ride (about 2 miles) of the Rogers Center this past weekend. Our doofy son parked the car in an indoor parking garage, in the first floor (slightly lower / basement level) but that garage cannot now be located.... It is near a Starbucks where there is some construction going on. Also nearby is allegedly a strange spiral outdoor sculpture, and possibly a bank- maybe RBC? The car has US Florida license plates, a small Canadian flag affixed to the door frame, and a Bernie Sanders bumper sticker. A lost / missing vehicle report has been filed with the Toronto police. Please respond with photos of the car and specific location instructions to claim the reward.

A parking garage near a Starbucks near construction in Toronto could be anywhere, but Madison Riddolls saw the ad and took it as a challenge. 

“I love puzzles, I love challenges and escape rooms, all that. I read a few clues about where it could be and it honestly excited me,” she told CTV News Toronto on Thursday.

Riddolls found the vehicle Thursday morning, four days after the concert. Gavin, who took a bus home to Syracuse, took another Greyhound back to Toronto to fetch the car. Strangely, this is not the first time he's lost a car at a concert. He once dropped his keys and his car was stolen -and later recovered.  -via The Daily Dot

You've seen this before. First it's "Yes, I'm happy. I'm single. I'm in a good place." Then a few drinks later, they're crying on your shoulder because they are SO lonely. That can be cathartic between good friends who are venting. On a date, it could lead to deciding whether that person is worth a second date. At a party, it could lead to more drinks, then a morning after full of cotton mouth and regret.

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Most people have a set of inhibitions that cause us to think before we speak (or we should). One of alcohol's earliest effects is to loosen up one's inhibitions, which is why it's called a social lubricant. One or two drinks later, the rational face we present to strangers begins to fall away and reveal our emotional side. People become more open, which is what happened when The Cut asked some single folks to talk about love and relationships, before and after cocktails. -via Tastefully Offensive     

The following article is from the book Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges into California.

On August 9, 1961, a group of 11 college students from Los Angeles boarded a train at Union Station. Their destinations: Louisiana and Mississippi. Their goal: to protest racism and segregation.

THE TIMES THEY ARE A' CHANGIN'

The Freedom Riders were people -black and white, generally male and under 30- who traveled on busses into the American South to protest racial inequality and violence. In the 1960s, even though nearly 100 years had passed since the Civil War, the South was still a stronghold of prejudice and segregation supported by Jim Crow laws, a series of state and local laws that discriminated against African Americans and maintained "separate but equal" facilities for whites and blacks. There were segregated water fountains, bathrooms, restaurants, public schools, and public transportation. In the 1950s and '60s, Americans began challenging those laws, maintaining that separate facilities were inherently unequal. There had been a little change already- in 1954, with the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision, the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregated public schools to be illegal. But in the Deep South, racial prejudice, segregation, and violence still reigned.

I guess you can say that Mom is one smart cookie! Her child doesn't even need the note now, and the bully can suffer not only the consequences, but the dread of the suffering to come. This is the latest from Chris Hallbeck at Maximumble.

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Legendary former Air Force pilot Major Brian Shul reminisces about the day he flew the world's fastest jet, the SR-71 Blackbird across the western U.S. and listened in on air traffic control in LA. What unfolded was a classic case of male one-upmanship across the airwaves. Is it a true story? Does it really matter? -Thanks, hearsetrax!

Flying is an elaborate system for getting people from one place to other places around the world that's been in the works for almost a hundred years now. Airports  are a part of that chain, taking in people from the street and from planes, and sorting them into where they need to go, as smoothly as possible. Throw in ticketing, security, and baggage, and you can see how complicated the task can be. But those who design and operate airports have learned a few tricks along the way, in both make things run smoothly and to get you to spend money while you wait. For example,

6. The “golden hour” is key for profit

In airport manager lingo, the time between when a passenger clears security and boards their plane is called “dwell time.” This is when, as the Telegraph puts it, “passengers are at a loose end and most likely to spend.” Especially crucial is the “golden hour,” the first 60 minutes spent beyond security, when passengers are “in a self-indulgent mood.” Display boards listing flight information are there in part to keep you updated on your flight, but also to reassure you that you still have plenty of time to wander and shop. Similarly, some airports are installing “time to gate” signs that display how far you are from your destination. And because 40% of us would prefer to avoid human interaction when we shop, self-service kiosks are becoming more common in airport terminals. According to the Airports Council International, 50% of American airports now have robo-retailers.

7. They’re increasing dwell time

The “golden hour” is great, but two golden hours are even better. “One hour more at an airport is around $7 more spent per passenger,” says Lukaszewicz. Anything that’s automated, from check-in to bag drop, is meant to speed things up. And it works. Research suggests automated check-in kiosks are 25% faster than humans. “A lot of airports, especially in Japan and New Zealand, are now doing this, where you don’t actually get any assistance from any staff member from check-in,” says Lukaszewicz. “You print your own baggage tag. You put it on the bag on the belt. You go through auto-security and immigration where there is no one. At the boarding gate you just touch your barcode and they open a gate and you walk onto the plane without any interaction.” One study found that for every 10 minutes a passenger spends in the security line, they spend 30% less money on retail items. Last year, the TSA announced it would give $15,000 to the person who comes up with the best idea for speeding up security.

Read the other things airports do to manipulate you at Mental Floss.

(Image credit: N i c o l a)

Puzzlewood is a 14-acre section of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. JRR Tolkien was quite charmed by the peaceful, green woods, which inspired his descriptions of the Shire of Middle-earth in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

During the early Victorian period a multitude of stone pathways were laid down.  These are now close to hundred years old themselves and add to the feeling that you are in an ancient place. Many of the trees are much older than the pathways and as you walk through the wood you come across bizarre rock formations, hanging bridges and hidden caves.

Nature has a way of eventually making stone pathways look like a natural part of the scenery, or at least ancient. See many more pictures of this beautiful and inspirational forest at Kuriositas.

(Image credit: Flickr user Trubble)

A guy makes toast and eggs for breakfast, except his ingredients are LEGO bricks. This stop-motion animation was made in the style of PES films, like Fresh Guacamole. Short and sweet, and satisfying.

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This video took BrickBrosProductions three days and 1,500 still images to create. -via Digg

Do you have a drawer full of old phones? Whether they are worn out, obsolete, or just not the latest version, they tend to accumulate because you paid too much to just throw them out. I've only used two cell phones in my life, but have boxes full of what the kids upgraded. There are ways to get some value out of those electronics, by turning them in for store credit or possibly even cash. Lifehacker has details on turning your old devices over to Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and Amazon, and some advice for selling them outright. I would also recommend reading the comments, for the experiences of people who have used these and other methods.

(Image credit: Gizmodo)