Divertimento

A six-second video claims to show "how to soothe a woman."
 
A remarkable disc golf shot - holing out from 850 feet around a dogleg, for four under par (in this case a 2 on a par-6).  The video begins with a drone flyover of the hole, followed by rear and forward footage of the shot.

An interactive graphic showing the amount of contributions made by the NRA to the current members of Congress.

A hippopotamus is faster than a human both on land and in the water - so your only chance to beat it in a triathlon is on the bicycle.

"Beyond drag." Inside Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to be Girls.

Frustrations of a millenial fisherman.  First the phone goes, then the pole... [gif]

Life Pro Tip:  "If somebody comes to your door selling a home security system and asks if you have one, always say yes."

An advertising history of Bovril (dozens of vintage ads).

"87% of Venezuelans say they do not have money to buy enough food."  "In the last two weeks alone, more than 50 food riots, protests and mass looting have erupted around the country. Scores of businesses have been stripped bare or destroyed."  Discussion thread here.

A firefighter from the 9/11 disaster finally received a funeral this year.  "The Catholic funeral Mass requires the presence of remains of the deceased. This requirement was satisfied, unknowingly, by the chief because he had added his name to the bone marrow registry as a possible donor in 2000, and, in doing so, gave a blood sample for type matching. Approached by the family last year, the New York Blood Center located the vial containing the sample in a facility in Minnesota."

A penguin in Nebraska is 39 years old.

What happens if a Presidential candidate dies?

"A fringe independent candidate for Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District erected a giant “Make America White Again” billboard this week that he claims was inspired by the signature tagline of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump."

An image to send to your anti-vaxxer friends.

How much does a "road-flagger" earn?  "...flaggers in Waukesha County making prevailing wage would earn "$96,646 a year if they worked full time for the full year" -- a figure that includes salary plus benefits." (but they typically do not work year round).


What you won't see about Rio in television coverage of the Olympics.  Or even as the average tourist.

A fleece blanket is essentially a treadmill for snakes.

A stroller collapses to a remarkably small size. [gif]

Wahhabism explained.

Dane County (Wisconsin) tests drunk drivers using fingernail clippings.

A warning not to eat raw cookie dough - because of contaminated flour, not contaminated eggs.  I fondly remember all the raw cookie dough my mother gave me as a kid...

"A Florida man is in big trouble for using a cell phone jammer while driving on the highway."

"It has become increasingly clear that the U.S. Constitution is in dire need of amendment. The purpose of having a government in the first place is to give the country a means to deal with pressing national problems, yet the seemingly permanent deadlock that has gripped our institutions for the past two decades makes it impossible to carry out this essential function. It is time for a change in how we govern ourselves, or rather in how we are currently failing to govern ourselves." (one person's op-ed piece).

Video of a new world record in speed-climbing a wall.  (brief video, obviously)

Why the growth of Antarctic ice does not negate the fact of global warming.

"A new study shows that today’s youth have overthrown the yoke of body-poking wire bras for seamless and activewear alternatives. According to the NPD Group, 41% of millennials say they wore a sports bra in the past seven days (compared to just 21% of older women). "..  Nowadays, however, women expect every part of their bra to be comfortable—"comfort has changed from slightly to completely..."

How does a Muslim conduct a Ramadan fast from dawn to dusk if they live in the Arctic?

gif of a giant water slide.

"...the House committee probe into 2012’s Benghazi attack was especially lengthy.  At two years and four months, it was longer than Congressional probes into 9/11, Watergate, the JFK assassination and Pearl Harbor. "

How to fix a dented car bumper with hot water.

The body of a student campus drug informant was found with a bullet in his head and rocks in his backpack.  "It should be illegal to force small time "criminals" into dangerous situations like that. That's a job for experienced undercover police officers... I have long found it most curious that cops view coercion as wrong and illegal... unless THEY do it."

gif of the incredible astronavigation of the Juno mission - which required getting a slingshot boost from a return to earth flyby.

And we'll end with a naughty face-painting gif.

The embedded images are some of the winners in the American Society for Microbiology's annual agar art competition, via The Guardian (additional examples there).