Japanese gamer and live streamer Mutekimaru has a great stunt going, but recently found out how wrong it could go. He has a popular series in which his pet fish play Pokémon. Yes, really. He installed a motion-tracking circuit board on the wall of his aquarium, divided into sections corresponding with keyboard commands. When a fish swims across a sensor, it trips a command of some sort. By activating random commands, the fish slowly play the game. Cool, huh? Maybe not so much. There's danger in automating a live stream, no matter how cool it is, and you should never trust a fish.

Sunday, the fish were playing Pokémon Violet (and live streaming) when the game crashed. They kept swimming, got into the eshop (apparently, the computer was set to bypass the password), went into the wallet, and exposed Mutekimaru's credit card information! The fish bought some items, sent Mutekimaru an email, logged back in and selected a different game, joined a chat group, and generally caused chaos along the lines of a six-year-old on his dad's computer. Turn the closed captions on to get an English narration for the video. You have to wonder how long all this took before Mutekimaru caught on to what had happened, but it is hilarious. Mutekimaru has now suspended his fish play videos.  -via Metafilter

It has been estimated that up to 10% of the Union Army was made up of volunteers below the age of 18 in the Civil War. Boys as young as 14 would sign up by lying about their age. Their parents tried to retrieve them, and the law was on their side, but the army dragged its feet in releasing the young soldiers. After all, they were useful. The 16- and 17-year-olds often distinguished themselves in battle, and the younger boys provided badly needed support services. There could have been as many as 200,000 underage boys serving in the Union Army. On the Confederate side, records are spotty, but estimates of underage soldiers range up to 100,000, which was a bigger percentage of their military than the larger Union Army.

Conscription laws, verification procedures, and enforcement varied on both sides over the course of the war. Both armies were considerate of the tender age of these soldiers, but needed every warm body they could get. While families and the general civilian populace objected against such young men serving, expediency in the war effort won out in most cases. Read about the young teenage soldiers of the Civil War and how they got away with serving at Smithsonian.

Batman is globally popular, but has not always been available in every language. So the knockoffs began, and each culture puts their own spin on the Caped Crusader. Weird Media shows us three of the strangest Batman incarnations in entertainment history. In South Korea, the Golden Bat has superpowers. In Mexico, Batwoman is a wrestler/detective/swimsuit model/superhero. In the Philippines, everyone just decides to become various comic book characters from Gotham City and everyone else buys into it. And sings about it. This video contains a little NSFW language.

And in case you were wondering about it, here is the Spider-Man around the world video mentioned at the beginning in the above video.



-via Boing Boing

The first six days of January bring a local custom in the town of Píllaro, Ecuador, called Diablada de Píllaro. That's when men dressed as the devil parade through city streets, yelling and teasing onlookers, waiting for an opportunity to feed them chili peppers or alcohol. Other characters in this procession are bailarines, representing rich colonial overseers, and capariches, the lower class workers who sweep the streets ahead of them. It's all in fun, but the traditional characters are all acting out the evolving story of how Diablada de Píllaro became what it is now.



The city of Píllaro didn't exist until Spanish colonizers came and exploited workers from the surrounding villages. The rich landowners partied early in January and forced local men to clear the streets. Now those "bouncers" are devils and the surrounding villages send groups to participate in Diablada de Píllaro. The festival isn't all that well known in the rest of Ecuador, but it is becoming a tourist draw for Píllaro. Read more about Diablada de Píllaro and see some awesome pictures at Atlas Obscura.

The Sentinel Chickens are performing their protective duty in New South Wales, Australia, but it's nothing like what a guard dog would do. In fact, it's more like the canary in a coal mine scenario, except for the fact that these chickens send a warning of danger not by dying, but by having their blood drawn once a week to check for specific antibodies. It's an all-around cushy job for a chicken, spending all their time doing important chicken things in a yard and eating, right up until the time they develop permanent antibodies for some mosquito-borne disease. Then the chickens are sent off to who knows where; let's hope it's a free-range egg-producing farm or backyard coop instead of someone's frying pan. After all, they've done their bit to safeguard humanity. The chickens were already unlucky enough to be in a place where they're going to get bitten by mosquitoes constantly. Tom Scott explains the procedure, and you can read more about it at NSW Health.

What do you store in the cabinet over the refrigerator? Redditor phalangeslemon posted this picture that terms this cupboard "literally pointless." That makes sense: the cabinet is too high for most people and the large American refrigerator makes it even more difficult to reach. But people aren't about to let storage space go to waste. In the replies, many explained that this cupboard is for Christmas kitchenware that's only retrieved once a year, like serving platters and cookie cutters. Others described the rarely- or never-used items they stored there, such as picnic supplies or fondue pots. A few tall guys hide their treats or alcohol from the rest of the household over the refrigerator. And some said they have no idea what is up there because they stack cereal boxes on top of the refrigerator, blocking the cabinet doors.

I went to look at my refrigerator cupboard. On the more accessible side, I have things I don't use often, like a hand mixer, rolling pin, meat grinder, and an electric knife that I have only used once because I don't like it and forgot about it. I went to the less accessible side and oh my. It's full of parts and accessories for kitchen gadgets I no longer own. Maybe I should get the ladder and clean it out. Have you checked your inaccessible cabinet lately? What's up there (if you don't mind sharing)?

The Lunar New Year is Sunday, January 22. In China, that will mark the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit. Every year since 1980, China Post has released special commemorative stamps for the occasion, and one of the two designs this year is a blue rabbit with red eyes designed by 99-year-old artist Huang Yongyu (黄永玉). The stamps were officially released on January 5th, in a ceremony that included a mascot character that resembled the blue rabbit.  

The reaction in China has been mixed, according to What's on Weibo. Some on social media see the blue rabbit as monstrous or evil with those red eyes. Others say the eyes are a nod to the surge of COVID-19, indicating that the rabbit has been sick. Many can't decide if it's ugly or cute, so they've dubbed it "ugly-cute." The artwork is completely in line with the style of Huang's other works. Huang himself said that he just wanted to design something that would make people happy. Whether they are happy or not, plenty of people wanted to buy the stamp, which sold out almost immediately and is now a collector's item. You can't argue with a viral internet meme. -via Metafilter

Also: Huang Yongyu was the subject of another controversy in 1974 when his painting of an owl with one eye open was interpreted as critical of China's Cultural Revolution. Owls do sleep with one eye open. Chairman Mao himself defended Huang, and after the Cultural Revolution was over, the artist was exonerated.

The 2022 Miss Universe pageant was held last night in New Orleans. Miss USA, R'bonney Nola Gabriel, is the newly-crowned Miss Universe. She is the first Filipino-American to win Miss USA or Miss Universe. At 28, she is the oldest titleholder in the pageant's history. Congratulations! But the part of the pageant that's the most fun to see is the parade of national costumes. So let's take a look.

Ukraine is SLAYING on stage, along with her beautiful feathered wings. What an inspiration to all. 💙 #MissUniverse pic.twitter.com/bP3LA4gDsx

— Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) January 12, 2023

We've seen Miss Ukraine's costume before, but we didn't know those wings moved!



Miss Netherlands wore a stroopwafel for her national costume. The audience loved it. Click to the right on the image above to see all of the costume.



Miss Iceland wore a beautiful painted ball gown that was not the least bit outrageous, but she should get a special award for having the most awesome name of the pageant: Hrafnhildur Haraldsdóttir.

Hold up! Miss Guatemala's name is Ivana Batchelor. Either that's a stage name or her parents didn't know what it would mean in English. She wore a costume so big it needs a scaffolding.



Miss USA shot for the moon, literally, carrying a moon, stars, and a flag, not to mention red, white, and blue LED lights. She seemed to have a little trouble walking in that costume. But we can let the outrageous costume slide, since she ultimately won the title of Miss Universe.

See a gallery of all 83 contestants in their national costumes at Buzzfeed.

Qin Shi Huang, the founder of the Qin dynasty, ruled over a newly-unified China from 221 to 210 BC. One of his first projects after becoming emperor was to begin construction of his own underground tomb, 30 kilometers outside of the city of Xian. The location of the tomb was discovered in 1974, when farmers unearthed the first hints of the Terracotta Army, consisting of thousands of sculptured soldiers and other attendants guarding the tomb. Most of those have been excavated, but the actual burial place of Qin Shi Huang has never been opened. Why is that?  

There are actually three reasons. The first will remind you of the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Later writings about Qin's tomb warned that it was booby-trapped with automatic archers who would shoot anyone who entered. The second reason, from those same ancient writings, is the mention of "rivers of mercury" that adorn the tomb. There is contemporary evidence that this may be true; the concentration of mercury vapor around the outside of the tomb is much higher than normal. But the third and main reason the tomb has not been opened is that archaeologists do not want to damage the tomb, and are searching for a reliable non-invasive way to look inside. Read about the unopened tomb of Qin Shi Huang at IFL Science. -via Strange Company

(Image credit: Jmhullot)

When children enter a strange and different world in literature, they come across foods they've never heard of, but the characters love it. When they finally get the chance to try it, many of these foods don't hold up to the fantasy. Betsy Bird asked about disappointing foods from children's books and got tons of responses on social media. Now, you have to remember that many children's classics were written during war or other times of privation, before the dishes the reader grew up on were even invented. In 1950, C.S. Lewis convinced a generation that Turkish Delight was delicious enough to betray your family for. It was a letdown for many people to find out that an egg cream contains neither egg nor cream. And liverwurst sandwiches were cited from three different children's classics!

Betty G. Yee – “In A Wrinkle in Time, Meg Murry famously fixed herself a cream cheese and liverwurst sandwich. To this day i have no idea what it might taste like but when i asked for it at a deli restaurant the waiter turned a bit green and steered me to something else.”

Jennifer Ochoa – “Many Judy Blume mentions of liverwurst on rye with mustard….NOT DELICIOUS!!!”

Barney Saltzberg – “Great question. After reading Cricket in Times Square I had to try liverwurst. First and last time.”

Read some of the opinions offered as Bird posts the top ten disappointing foods and drinks that were mentioned in children's literature. You might relate to some of them. -via Metafilter

Check out five videos in the gallery above to meet five women who have a favorite color. Except they've taken that color to new heights, and designed their lives around one color each. Each are delightful in their own way. Continue reading to find out more about them.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards for 2022 from the Natural History Museum were announced in October, all except for one. The voting is open to the public now for the People's Choice award, which will be announced on February 9th.



Voting is open until February 2. Take a look at all 25 images in the running carefully, because you can only vote for one. Clicking on a picture will give you to opportunity to vote for it. See the photographs in a ranked list with some information about each at Bored Panda. Be aware that some images may be disturbing.

The Altai Mountains in northern Asia, where Mongolia meets Siberia, have proven to be a treasure trove of preserved ancient human DNA. The cold and arid conditions mean that DNA can be sequenced from human remains that are thousands of years old. It was in this region that scientists found evidence of a new human species, the Denisovans, in 2010. Sequencing the DNA of many individuals from this region also make clear that it was a kind of crossroads for travelers from many cultures who left their mark by bearing descendants.

The migrations of humans from Asia into North America gave us Native Americans beginning 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. But genetic evidence from Siberia now shows that the migrations went the other way as well. Long after Native American DNA became distinct from earlier Asians, it showed up again in Asia. Three individuals who died around 500 years ago show significant DNA from Native Americans. Geneticists estimate that their American ancestors probably crossed back over around 5,000 years ago. The land bridge across the Bering Strait was gone by then, but they could have crossed by boat. Read about the new genetic discoveries in ancient human lineages that tell stories of human migrations at Smithsonian.

(Image credit: Nadezhda F. Stepanova)

Around 1835, there was a movement to try to reconcile religious beliefs with scientific discoveries. There were also new and growing newspapers that would do anything to boost circulation, while feeling no responsibility for truth or journalistic ethics. In this environment, Richard Adams Locke wrote a series of satirical articles poking fun at those who believed that heavenly bodies would be populated because God wouldn't waste the space, so to speak. The Sun, which Locke worked for, published the articles, but didn't identify that they were satire. And the Great Moon Hoax was launched. Locke was shocked that readers took it seriously, but as we've learned many times since, people will believe what they want to believe. The Sun never bothered to explain that the articles were satire or print a retraction, because the hoax was profitable for them. Who cared if it was fake, as long as it sold newspapers? -via Nag on the Lake

In 1969, David Smith had a case of wanderlust. He was a high school math teacher, and hated his job. So he packed up his wife Jeannie and their baby and ran off with the circus, literally. Smith had been a gymnast in college, and reconnected with an old friend who was a flying trapeze artist. Smith learned how to do it, and then Jeannie joined in, too. The couple made quite a name for themselves in the 1970s with another couple of trapeze artists as The Rock Smith Flyers. But eventually David Smith found himself looking for something else. Inspired by another circus act, he designed and built a cannon to climb into and be shot out of as a human cannonball! Under the name Cannonball Smith, he became the reigning cannonball act in the US.

Along the way, David and Jeannie had six children who all grew up in the circus. The four girls and two boys learned the flying trapeze at early ages, and one by one were shot out of a cannon as they got older. All of them performed the act professionally at least once, with several doing it for years. The third child, David Smith, Jr. is now the premiere human cannonball act, known as The Bullet. Read the story of the human cannonball family at Narratively. -via Damn Interesting