This coming Friday, May 26, will be the 50th anniversary of the release of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Atlantic takes a close look at one of its most memorable songs, "A Day in the Life." It's no sing-along, but more of an anthem that reflects the many changes the Beatles had gone through since finding fame in the early '60s. For example, John Lennon makes himself into an observer of life from inside a bubble instead of a participant.  

That’s how he was writing, beachcombing inspiration from headlines and news briefs in the January 17 Daily Mail, which he had open at his piano (for this song); from a circus poster hanging in his home (“Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite”); from a cereal advertisement (“Good Morning Good Morning”); from his child’s drawing (“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”). In the song, the young man whose death gets noticed in the newspaper references an acquaintance of the Beatles, a Guinness beer company heir named Tara Browne, who crashed his Lotus sports car at high speed. Lennon reimagines Browne into the half-recognizable, presumably upper-class man who has it made and then throws it all away. What does it say that one crowd is transfixed by a privileged stranger’s grisly demise, but another crowd rejects a film about the achievement of a generation, the world war won? Only the singer of the song is willing to go back there, and only because he’s read the book.

There are many layers to the song, deconstructed in an article at the Atlantic. -via Metafilter

(Image credit: Maclen Music)

Brandon and Veronica Phillips are expecting a baby soon. The problem is that Brandon is deployed far away, so Veronica took one of his Air Force shirts to her maternity photoshoot to wear in order to incorporate him into the pictures. Photographer Jennifer McMahon of Jennifer Ariel Photography was touched, and found a way to get Brandon into this picture -with Photoshop! McMahon said,  

This mommy was so sweet, and her story touched my heart. Her husband is thousands of miles away serving our country. He is missing his beautiful wife's pregnancy, and will be missing the birth of his baby. Thank you to our military for sacrificing for our country.

See more pictures from the photoshoot at Buzzfeed.

(Image credit: Jennifer Ariel Photography)

Prom season in #Vancouver pic.twitter.com/pgLUqdkgjd

— Adam Scotti (@AdamScotti) May 20, 2017

It's prom season, and a group of students from the Catholic boy's school Vancouver College were taking photographs by the Stanley Park seawall in Vancouver with their dates before the dance Friday. A jogger went by, providing quite a contrast with the group in formal dress. But this jogger was Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau! When the teenagers yelled at him to stop for a minute, he posed for a picture with the group.

UPDATED: Justin Trudeau jogs by unsuspecting teens, stops for 'memorable' graduation photo https://t.co/xqXKYO7UWF pic.twitter.com/p0n2yvzeL7

— CTV Vancouver (@CTVVancouver) May 21, 2017

It's not every day you get a prom picture with the leader of your country. -via Uproxx

Dane Christianson (ChraneD) posted this gif to reddit's shitty robots forum with the title How to properly ask out the Queen of Shitty Robots. Of course, he's referring to Simone Giertz, whose ridiculous robots we've posted a few times. Gertz was rendered speechless for a nanosecond, then said,

Which everyone considers a win among engineers.

The following is an article from Uncle John's Unstoppable Bathroom Reader.

(Image credit: Bybbisch94, Christian Gebhardt)

If you've ever heard of the Nazca lines, you have this woman to thank for preserving them for posterity. And if you've ever doubted that one person can make a difference, think again…

HELP WANTED

In 1932, a 20-year-old German woman named Maria Reiche answered a newspaper ad and landed a job in Peru, tutoring the sons of the German consul. After that, she bounced from job to job and eventually found work translating documents for an archaeologist named Julio Tello.

One day she happened to overhear a conversation between Tello and another archaeologist, Toribio Mejia. Mejia described some mysterious lines he'd seen in a patch of desert about 250 miles south of the capital of Lima, near the small town of Nazca. He tried to interest Tello in the lines, but Tello dismissed them as unimportant. Reiche wasn't so sure. She decided to go to Nazca and have a look for herself.

MYSTERIOUS LINES

(Image credit: PIERRE ANDRE LECLERCQ)

Gazing across the desert floor, Reiche was amazed at what she saw: More than 1,000 lines crisscrossing 200 square miles of desert, some as narrow as footpaths, others more than 15 feet wide. Many ran almost perfectly straight for miles across the desert, deviating as little as four yards in a mile.

In the 21st century, we are so used to computers being able to create an image of anything that we forget what a hassle that used to be. For 2D logos, that meant drawing, paste-ups, and photography. For film, it was more complicated because you wanted a 3D effect, or at least some hint or possibility of movement. Co.Design put together several videos and discussions of how TV logos were made of actual physical objects created to brand the channel, then filmed to give them an identity that everyone would recognize. See how the logos of RTF, BBC, and HBO were created.

Neatorama has featured many articles about patent medicine, snake oil, quackery, and dangerous cure-alls from the past. Those stories make us feel thankful to be living in the present, where modern medicine is working miracles. In 1881, the Dutch society Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij (VtdK), translated as The Society Against Quackery, formed to fight the unscientific hucksterism that promised cures for a small fee. All these years later, the society is still doing that work!

The VtdK formed around the same time that modern medicine began to be professionalized in the late 1800s. According to a history on the Society’s website, the Dutch Society for the Advancement of Medicine, which was founded in 1849, was having trouble policing the unlicensed and unqualified medical practitioners of the day. In an effort to raise awareness of the growing number of quacks operating in the Netherlands, they published a pamphlet in 1878 detailing how to identify a quack, and what to do about them. From this initial bit of literature, the Society Against Quackery was born.

But the more things change, the more they stay the same. The society its still in business, still fighting bad medicine! Read about their history, their work, and what they are doing today, at Atlas Obscura.   

(Image credit: Flickr user Arallyn!)

Toy Story 4 is planned for 2019. That's 24 years after the first movie. You have to wonder how long they can keep it up. This comic from Berkeley Mews gives us an idea of how the story might be ultimately wrapped up. Too bad it's an animated horror film. -via Geeks Are Sexy

When Hugh Jackman was first cast as the X-Men character Wolverine, he went to work researching the animal. But he did that research on wolves.  

“I didn’t even know there was a wolverine. I literally, embarrassingly did about two weeks of research on wolves. I was rehearsing for three weeks and I was shooting, so I was kind of on my own. I remember going past an IMAX in Toronto, and there was an IMAX documentary about wolves, and so I thought, ‘I’ll go and see that,'” Jackman said Wednesday.

When they stared shooting 2000’s “X-Men,” director Bryan Singer noticed something wasn’t right with Jackman’s performance.

“He said, ‘Are you sort of walking funny, what’s going on?’ And I said, ‘I’ve been doing this thing with wolves,’ and he goes, ‘You know you’re not a wolf, right?'” Jackman recalled.

Singer found out that Jackman didn't know wolverines existed as their own species. A trip to a zoo was in order. To be fair, there are no wolverines in Australia. That was 17 years ago; we can assume that Jackman knows all about wolverines now. Read the entire story at Page Six. -via The A.V. Club

Mason the feral cat was ill, injured, and infected when he was taken in by Tinykittens feral TNR program (previously at Neatorama). Because of his condition, he was placed in a home instead of being returned to the feral colony. Mason is only semi-tamed; he still won't let anyone pet him.  

(YouTube link)

But he has adopted a litter of kittens placed in the same foster home. They make him happy. There are several more videos of Grandpa Mason and his kittens at Tiny Tuxies.  -via reddit

More than ten years ago, we posted a story about 7' 9" Bao Xishun saving the lives of dophins by sticking his long arm down their throats to retrieve plastic they'd swallowed. It turns out there's precedent for this type of heroism. In 1978, Marine World called in Clifford Ray of the Golden State Warriors, famous for his long arms, in to save a dolphin that had swallowed a bolt! Read about the incident, and see a video, at Weird Universe.

The process of getting kids to read was addressed by Lunarbaboon the other day. Grant Snider takes it a bit further and plots out the way we relate to reading throughout our lives. This comic is from Snider's Incidental Comics. You can get this comic in print or poster form; it would be a great gift for a teacher or librarian.

Twenty years ago, the movie Titanic hit theaters, and suddenly the love anthem "My Heart Will Go On" was the most requested song at radio stations. That explains why I don't like it, as you can only take so many of those calls, and I didn't see the movie until years later. But you may be surprised that Celine Dion didn't care for the song much, either. Titanic director James Cameron didn't want to use it. The thought of it made Kate Winslet want to throw up. Even the song's co-producer thought it was dreary. But everyone else loved it.

“My Heart Will Go On” didn’t just take off -- it became synonymous with Cameron’s ­blockbuster movie, and a signature for Dion. Written by ­composer James Horner (who died in a 2015 plane crash at age 61) and lyricist Will Jennings, “My Heart Will Go On” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Feb. 28, 1998, buoying the Titanic soundtrack’s 16-week run atop the Billboard 200. The song also appeared on Dion’s late-1997 disc Let’s Talk About Love, and together, the two albums sold more than 60 million copies, according to Sony Music.

How did that song get so big? Or even get into the movie? Billboard presents an oral history of "My Heart Will Go On" featuring the recollections of Celine Dion, co-producer Simon Franglen, and various people from the Titanic production. -via Digg

When Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicated in 2013, her son Willem-Alexander became king. Few people knew until this week that he was a pilot, and has continued flying Fokker 70 planes for KLM after he ascended the throne. Willem-Alexander has been a co-pilot on KLM flights twice a month for 21 years, yet passengers had no idea who was in the cockpit.  

Willem-Alexander once said that if he had not been born in a palace, his dream would have been to fly a big passenger plane such as a Boeing 747, so it is no surprise that he intends to retrain for the updated plane.

He told De Telegraaf that he never used his name when addressing passengers and was rarely recognised in uniform and wearing his KLM cap. However, he admitted that some passengers had recognised his voice.

"The advantage is that I can always say that I warmly welcome passengers on behalf of the captain and crew," he said. "Then I don't have to give my name."

He maintains his flying schedule in order to keep his pilot's license. Read more about the king's second job at BBC News.

It looks like a watermelon, but it's really raisin bread! This bread recipe combines kneading the dough with mixing in your colors. It even has stripes!

(YouTube link)

May Lynn shows us how it's done. She's done this before; your mileage may vary. The ingredients list can be copied from the YouTube page. -via Nag on the Lake