06 December 2021

Divertimento #190


This linkfest empties twelve folders of bookmarked gifs accumulated over the past six months.  
Let me know if you find any faulty links.

Bricklayer finishing a pattern
1975: Australia begins broadcasting television in color
Any readers here old enough to remember flying toasters?
The world's tallest elephant toothpaste volcano (explained at the link)
Low-life thieves steal bonsai trees
A credit card skimmer on a gas station pump
Legos can be formed into a bending structure
Colourized day on a French beach, 1928
Colourized film of an English street, 1901
People don't notice a model is "wearing" only body paint
"Grappler" deployed by police to stop vehicles
Stowing baggage on an airplane
People respond to an armored truck spilling cash on a highway
Too bad the whole world doesn't operate as smoothly as this baggage carousel


Animals
Horses shy away from stripes on the ground
Cormorant harvesting (?remora) from a whale shark
A "glass octopus" from the depths of the Pacific Ocean
Octopus using two tentacles to walk on the seafloor.
There could be an octopus in your room right now and you wouldn't know
Catching piranhas
Marine flatworm vs crab (flatworm wins)
Bumblebees returning home with pollen
Seahorse giving birth
You can't outrun a grizzly bear
Bird nest woven into leaf
Respiratory system of a Brazilian Skipper caterpillar
Seagull steals a sandwich from a store
Water buffalo quite at home in the water
12-year old boy stays calm while being stalked by bear (full video lower on page)
"Fast food" (scallops)
Young leopard has had an encounter with a porcupine
Spice rack in an Australian grocery store
Liquid rabbit
Leucochloridium, a parasitic worm that invades a snail's eyestalks, where it pulsates to imitate a caterpillar. The worm then mind-controls its host out into the open for hungry birds to pluck its eyes out.
Horse on a beach looks awesome
Orca uses fish as bait to catch a bird
"Rolling swarm" of caterpillars moves faster than the individuals do
"Leaf sheep" (slugs) are capable of photosynthesis


Nature and Science
Water ice that bends without breaking
Air currents next to a lane of traffic
Hydrodynamic principle illustrated
Rainy day in Alabama
Beach at Rainbow Island, Iran
Wildebeest crossing a river (no predators in this clip)
Sodalite (from the U.P.) reacts to black light
Archimedes' screw used to lift water
"Snow globe eye" from calcium deposits in the vitreous
Liquefaction of the ground during an earthquake
Carl Sagan explains how Eratosthenes calculated the size of the earth


Impressive or clever
Bending wood in a workshop by steaming it first
IIRC, this was labeled the world's largest firework
Yet another gif of a laser cleaning rust from metal.  There is a subreddit about this.
Examples of video editing
Clearing snow from a roof.  Looks easier than my roof rake.
Dakota fire pit (concise explanation of the technology here) (hat tip to reader Crowboy)
"Magic trick" illustrated
Folding the pages of a book (apparently a type of origami)
Ruler for cutting tiles to fit irregular spaces
Clever way to parcel out feed for cattle
A small quadcopter "personal aircraft"
Wall of ice in Antarctica


Sports and athleticism
The incomparable Michael Jordan
Parkour on a breakwater made of dolosse
Gymnast demonstrating floor skills
Toddler boxing (1933)

Fails and wtf
Red wine cistern leaks at a Sicilian winery
Trapped in a vehicle during urban flooding
Pilot ejects from jet just seconds before crash
London "moped gangs" targeting bicyclists
Los Angeles traffic jam


Humorous or cheerful
Family fun with swinging water balloons
Border collie wants statue to play Frisbee
Excellent prank to pull on a child
Armadillo goes spherical
Elephants react to their favorite caretaker (unmute) (and note the earflapping)


The embedded images are portraits of Czech centenarians by photographer Jan Langer.

17 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 6, 2021 at 2:05 PM

    :-) hurry up with lunch! i can't wait for more! ;-) :-)

    I-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. rockyDecember 6, 2021 at 2:24 PM

    That water balloon game is going to be THE thing next summer!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousDecember 6, 2021 at 3:03 PM

    thanks - i have been longing for one of these for a while!

    I-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. catastrophegirlDecember 7, 2021 at 3:03 AM

    re: the octopus walking - that's a mimic octopus. fascinating species that adapted to live on bare sandy bottoms without hiding places so it hides in plain sight by never looking like an octopus. there are videos/images of it being a sea snake, a lionfish, a flounder, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousDecember 7, 2021 at 7:32 AM

    Toasters! Unfortunately, the folding book pages link is broken.
    Sandra

    ReplyDelete
  6. xoxoxoBruceDecember 7, 2021 at 5:08 PM

    Thank you for an afternoons entertainment.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousDecember 8, 2021 at 2:35 PM

    After watching the "combining two videos" one, I decided the rest are probably fake.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousDecember 8, 2021 at 2:37 PM

    flying toasters appear on the cover of the 1973 album '30 seconds over winterland' by jefferson airplane; they lost the court case:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Seconds_Over_Winterland#Flying_Toasters_lawsuit

    I-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousDecember 8, 2021 at 3:33 PM

    that 'mars sky at night' may be a fake?

    https://10minuteastronomy.wordpress.com/2021/02/23/about-that-fake-mars-night-sky-panorama/

    I-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. CrowboyDecember 8, 2021 at 7:58 PM

    Was curious about the Dakota fire pit:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_pit#Dakota_fire_pit

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MinnesotastanDecember 8, 2021 at 9:56 PM

      Good information, which I've added to the post. Tx, Crowboy.

      Delete
  11. Mendo JimDecember 11, 2021 at 3:41 PM

    I really look forward to these, but find them like potato chips: I have to discipline myself or find both that the time has flown and chores have been left undone and, worse, that I have finished them.
    I am proud to say that I may have more than half to yet watch.
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  12. WatsonScienceDecember 12, 2021 at 12:12 PM

    Mendo Jim- me too! Once my kids are in bed I really look forward to grabbing a hot cup of tea (that I actually get to drink while it's still hot!) and sampling the internet through these link dumps. I inevitably learn something that sends me down the internet rabbit hole, find something to make me laugh or smile, and find something to pass on to a friend. But if I don't discipline myself, I find it's far past my bedtime.

    To our esteemed author and host: Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Peter BearDecember 14, 2021 at 10:38 PM

    I 100% remember flying toasters, and I'm not *that* old!

    ReplyDelete
  14. LeahDecember 16, 2021 at 2:51 PM

    I remember the toasters!! As for the spider following the pointer, looks like a jumping spider. I live on a lake and so I live with a lot of different types of spiders. The jumping spiders are the most intelligent. We have played with several using a laser pointer. They are curious and will follow it around.
    Count me as a huge fan of the GIF dumps as well.

    ReplyDelete