Musician Paul Fey performed a magnificent cover of “He’s a Pirate” from The Pirates of the Caribbean on the world’s largest pipe organ at the legendary Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

Im playing “He’s a Pirate” from Pirates of the Caribbean on the legendary Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall Organ — the largest pipe organ in the world.

This incredible organ set the Guinness World Record for the largest and loudest instrument in the world. According to Fey, it was a truly unique experience.

This was one of the most overwhelming organ experiences I’ve ever had: an enormous console, thousands of pipes, endless colors, and a sound that feels almost unreal in the huge hall. Hearing this famous film theme on such a gigantic instrument was truly unforgettable.

Fey also gave a wonderful tour of the pipe organ, which proved quite fun to him.

The organ at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City features 7 Manuals, way too many stops and is so much fun to play. Join me on a short tour of this instrument showcasing the softest and loudest stops of the organ on the program I’ve played there for a noon recital.

via The Awesomer

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Sam Denby of Half as Interesting explored which nonstop domestic flights are the longest, noting that his requirements were that neither immigration nor customs nor passport would be required upon arrival.

The world’s pretty big, and countries are kind of small, at least if you put them next to each other. So that’s why it’s kind of neat when domestic flights are really long, right? Because usually long flights are international, but these aren’t. They’re domestic. 

He first examined routes from France to other French provinces; however, differing immigration customs made some of these flights a bit less domestic. With that said, Denby declared that the longest nonstope domestic flight was from Boston to Honolulu.

So, what’s the world’s longest domestic flight that actually feels like a domestic flight? No immigration, no customs, no passport. Well, that title goes back to the Boston-to-Honolulu nonstop. …Hawaii is, of course, a fully fledged US state, making it a completely seamless domestic flight experience. Passengers from Boston to Honolulu go through the exact same checks as those from Boston to Baltimore. 

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Craven Moorhaus and Zak Koonce, the prolific team behind Auralnauts, cleverly reimagined scenes from Star Wars IV: A New Hope with Darth Vader battling his perceived enemies using a cassette deck built into his chest.

The Empire’s most feared enforcer has a new secret weapon. It’s a Maxell UR-90.

This seemingly harmless weapon allowed Vader to interrupt people at will, respond to questions wordlessly, and play his own musical soundtrack, including his “The Imperial March” theme, wherever he went.

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All Things Birdie listed several fun facts about the mourning dove, which is a close relative of the pigeon, yet has unique anatomy and specialized cooing mechanisms that produce their distinct call.

As the earth defrosts from winter’s chill, the sound of the mourning dove’s coo heralds the coming of spring and the promise of warmer days. Their call is sometimes mistaken for an owl’s hooting, due to its hollow-like resonance. They are easy to find and observe, as they tend to hang out in the same habitats as humans.

The narrator also discusses their seed-heavy diet, unique drinking habits, role as prolific breeders across various habitats, and ability to produce crop milk.

Both males and females share equally in incubating the eggs and taking care of the young…both parents feed their chicks crop milk for the first three to five days of Lifecrop milk is secreted by the cells in the wall of the crop and is rich in fats and protein afterward, softer foods like regurgitated seeds are introduced.

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Filmmaker Carlos Andrés Reyes created “Pareidolia”, a wonderful short film in which a man wakes up and sees faces in everything while getting ready for work. With each incident of pareidolia, the man tries to put a smile on his face, but it doesn’t really stick. That is, until he sees one thing that really gives him joy.

This one minute film uses pareidolia as a tool to convey the importance of human connection and the role that memories can play in uplifting our mood and perception of the world around us.

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During the Slaithwaite Christmas Festival in 2022, the Senior Team at Clifton Hand-Bell Ringers performed a hand-bell cover of the classic bluegrass song “Dueling Banjos”, an instrumental tune most famously known for a pivotal scene in the classic 1972 John Boorman movie Deliverance.

CHBR Senior Team, perform Dueling Banjos at Slaithwaite Christmas Festival 17th December 2022

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Actress Caroline Klidonas made a surprisingly convincing parody space movie where she played every role and used every available trope. Amazingly, Klidonas accomplished this with only what she had and without ever leaving the apartment.

Can this crew save their doomed mission…without sacrificing each other? A parody of a Sci-Fi Space Drama created ONLY with what I have in and around my apartment.

via Tom Scott

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Historic footage company British Pathé shared a fascinating report from Queen Mary’s College in London, where members of the engineering department demonstrated their cutting-edge “useful” robotic prototypes for 1968. These robots included a walking machine for those without limbs, a “Mole Miner” for digging on the Moon, a centipede robot for covering large distances in challenging environments such as swamps or zero-gravity, and a step-climbing carriage that assists with climbing.

Useful Robots (1968)

via The Awesomer

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A Shot created two very clever compilations that highlight the numerous cinematic parallels used in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Scenes from both of these Vince Gilligan series are directly matched to scenes from other movies and television shows that use the same words, the same set design, and/or the same actor physicality.

Thanks Chip Beale!

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Musician NIC C skillfully samples classic television theme songs and remixes them into brand new, highly danceable beats. Included in his repertoire are the theme songs from such classic series as Three’s Company, The X-Files, The Brady Bunch, Hey Arnold, He-Man and The Masters of the Universe, Batman: The Animated Series, and Painting With Bob Ross.

via The Awesomer

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Simple Things – Surprising Histories looks the difference between cocoa and cacao, noting that it depends on how the beans are treated at harvest. Cocoa requires treatments such as roasting and Dutch processing (akalai), whereas cacao is treated far more gently.

Cacao and cocoa both come from the exact same fruit, but their journeys from tree to tastebud take two very different paths.

The narrator also explored the ancient Aztec origins of seeds from the Theobroma cacao tree, the disruption of trade by European interests, and how the word cacao became cocoa, ultimately making the two very different from one another.

Both cacao and cocoa start out as the seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree. The scientific name literally translates to “food of the gods” in Greek. For thousands of years, civilizations like the Mayans and Olmec revered this plant. They called it cacao, a word that survived centuries. …Over time, European traders gradually transformed the word cacao into cocoa. Whether through shifts in pronunciation, spelling adaptations, or mixing with other indigenous words, the new spelling eventually stuck.

The Bittersweet History of Chocolate

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A playful TED-Ed lesson by Totem Creative explored the ancient history of children’s toys, noting that while many were specific to their time and cultural context, several have remained timeless and universal. This includes dolls, whistles, and board games.

Archaeologists have found material, visual, and written evidence for toys across the ancient world. In 3000 BCE Anatolia, miniature toy carriages raced through the dirt. In the Indus Valley a thousand years later, a toddler giggled at the sound of their terracotta whistle.

The most historically popular toy, however, is the humble ball.

Thousands of years ago, children in ancient Egypt, China, Greece, and Mesoamerica kicked and threw balls made of everything from leather and linen to papyrus and palm fiber. The rules for most of their games have been lost to time, however some kids may have imitated adult games we know more about.

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Nerdstalgic looked at the intricate production techniques and choreography behind the mind-blowing six-minute single-shot from the first season of True Detective. The scene, from the episode “Who Goes There?”, follows Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and his hostage through a maze of indoor and outdoor obstacles after an undercover operation goes wrong.

True Detective Season 1 pulled off one of the most ambitious tracking shots ever attempted on TV. A six-minute continuous take following Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle through a collapsing undercover operation as absolute chaos erupts around him.

The narrator also examines how this seamless sequence pushed the boundaries of television storytelling by balancing intense technical precision with character development while working within a limited filming area.

Part of what makes The True Detective shot so ambitious is that it spans an entire neighborhood. Production didn’t have time to build a set, so instead they found a location and built the scene around what they had. …The camera moves through streets, houses, yards, fences, and bushes. Every door rest opens. Every corner he [Rust] turns and every character he encounters has to be choreographed in advance.

The One Shot in ‘True Detective’ Season One

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The Process explores the complex engineering and manufacturing history of the official FIFA World Cup tournament balls, noting how the 2026 Adidas Trionda includes an internal AI sensor to help track the game in real time.

The 2026 World Cup ball is not just a ball anymore. Inside it is a sensor that tracks movement hundreds of times per second, helping AI systems judge offside calls, deflections, and game-changing moments.

These tournament balls are made at the Forward Sports factory in Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan, even though the country does not actually participate in the World Cup. This is where four panels, one containing a sensor, are expertly thermally bonded together to make the perfect ball for such an iconic game

We reveal how the World Cup ball is made, why Pakistan’s city of Sialkot produces most of the world’s soccer balls, how Adidas moved from stitched panels to thermal bonding, and why fewer panels can change the way a ball flies.

Cutting Open Historic World Cup Balls

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Emily Zhang of Rabbit Hole explored the history of Lorem Ipsum, specifically noting how a nonsensical pseudo-Latin phrase became a standard placeholder of print and digital texts across many industries.

What Lorem ipsum actually is is a far stranger series of decisions that lived beyond anyone’s expectations to become the most famous nonsense text in the world. And, an unsolved mystery.

Zhang visited the foremost expert of Lorem Ipsum, Professor Richard McClintock of Hampden-Sydney College, in Virginia. McClintock he explained how he came across this term in a magazine as a student, how he discovered that this text wasn’t really Latin but rather a jumbled variation of text from the first book of De finibus bonorum et malorum (“On the Ends of Good and Evil”) by Marcus Tullius Cicero, and how he sought to set it right.

I actually never set out to become the world expert on this subject. I just wanted things to be right. And this is all kind of happened around me

McClintock further explained that Lorem Ipsum as placeholder text wasn’t really around before the 20th century, despite the narrative of the phrase originating in the 16th century.

There was no way to do dummy text in those days because it was all lead type. A page of type would probably take the better part of half an hour to set. It would be a waste of time to set up dummy text,

via Tom Scott

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A senior beagle named Delilah, who was rescued from an animal testing cage, felt sunlight on her face for the very first time in her life.

Delila was confined to a cage that is about 2x 3 ft. It’s all wire. I think the only time they’re probably exposed to the sunlight is when they get transferred to laboratories.

Her newly adopted human, Casey, who worked with Big Dog Rescue to rescue thousands of beagles from the cruel environment of Rigland Farms in Wisconsin, explained that Delilah had a really tough life inside the lab.

I didn’t know anything about animal testing, and I volunteered to help Big Dog Ranch with the Ridgeland Farm Rescue in Wisconsin.  It’s a beagle laboratory breeding facility. And that’s how I met Delilah …When I brought her home, she didn’t even know how to chew. …. She was definitely used for breeding. She just had a litter of puppies. They’re docile, and they’re very trusting animals, and they forgive. That’s why they use them.

With her horrific past behind her, Delilah is now in a safe place where she can be loved.

When I went to help rescue the beagles from Ridglan Farms, I never imagined one of them would steal my heart. All week, I kept telling myself I wasn’t bringing one home.
But I also made a promise to myself: if one of them truly chose me, I would say yes.Delilah did. When I first held her, she closed her eyes and melted into me. At that moment, I knew she was meant to be part of our family.

Beagle Rescues From Ridglan Farms

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Filmmaker Andrew Muir of The Art of Storytelling examined the moral complexity of the highly conflicted Gollum by comparing his portrayal in J.R.R. Tolkien‘s original writings with that in Peter Jackson‘s subsequent film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings.

Of all the many strange and fascinating characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien, I’ve often felt that the most morally complex character is Gollum. On the one hand, he’s a villain scheming to take back the ring and ultimately betraying his only friend. On the other hand, he’s a victim, more a casualty of evil than its source. 

Muir further explores how character portrayals and narrative shifts shaped the audience’s perception of this pitiable figure and questions what Tolkien intended Gollum to convey.

Tolkien’s writing doesn’t reduce to simplistic answers. But if we look at Gollum’s story in the grand scheme of the tale, then I think we can tease out a general moral outlook and that is that evil is self-defeating. …The dominion of evil rots and decays any landscape that it touches, and so on. Evil is unstable. It cannot last because it already contains the seeds of its own destruction.

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Aynsley Grealis, a fabric artist in Toronto, creates whimsically themed crocheted handbags that look like other items, such as the famous New York City pizza rat. Also included are avocado toast and other edible items, Valentine’s Day hearts, dirty ashtrays, poodles, and even poufy birthcake Barbies. Grealis said that she turned to crocheting during a very challenging time in world history.

Originally finding my passion in painting, but turning to crochet during the 2020 lockdown. Crochet became my primary source of comfort during such an unstable and unpredictable time. time.  through my crochet pieces I want to convey this comfort in a playful and childlike way, where theres no limit to imagination and colour!

Grealis has also released a book of crochet designs titled Mad Hatter: Crazy, Colorful Crochet Designs to Hook and Show Off.

In Mad Hatter, her first book, Grealis shares her designs and patterns (unpublished until now) to teach readers how to make three simple bases (a balaclava, a pull-on hat, and a handbag) and then how to decorate each by incorporating layers of whimsical appliques. 

via Neatorama

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Video essayist Evan Puschak of The Nerdwriter explored Stellan Skarsgård‘s sublime performance as Luthen Rael in Andor, noting how the rhythmic cadence and the use of silence in his pivotal speech to a frightened Lonni Jung (Robert Emms) played a major role in revealing what the character has lost while trying to convince Lonni to keep fighting.

For the first time in their relationship, Luthen is revealing his face to Lonnie, a risk, and more importantly, a sacrifice to achieve a greater goal. This monologue is, of course, about sacrifice, but it is also a sacrifice. A sacrifice of anonymity, protection, and a little bit of control.

Throughout this monologue, Skarsgård portrays complex internal conflict through nonverbal performance, demonstrating how deliberate pauses build dramatic weight and emotional intensity. Luthen is the first to blame himself and his personality traits for ending up in this dark place. He also projects his self-blame onto Lonni through a rhetorical trick.

What’s interesting here and very human is that right after Luthen condemns himself, he walks it back by suggesting that his actions were predetermined by innate personality traits. Luthen didn’t choose a path. His anger, his ego, etc. set him on a path. In psychology, this is sometimes called characterological attribution. And even though it can still be a form of self-blame, it’s alsoa way to shift blame away from personal agency, a way to avoid responsibility. The fact of the matter is that Luthen always has a choice, just like Lonnie does. But the speech isn’t just confession. It’s a veiled piece of rhetoric, too.

Luthen’s Full Monologue

What do you sacrifice?

Calm. Kindness. Kinship. Love. I’ve given up all chance at inner peace. I’ve made my mind a sunless space. I share my dreams with ghosts. I wake up every day to an equation I wrote 15 years ago from which there’s only one conclusion: I’m damned for what I do. My anger, my ego, my unwillingness to yield, my eagerness to fight, they’ve set me on a path from which there is no escape. I yearned to be a savior against injustice without contemplating the cost, and by the time I looked down, there was no longer any ground beneath my feet. What is my sacrifice? I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else’s future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I’ll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude.

So what do I sacrifice?

Everything!

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The incredibly talented guitarists of 40 Fingers performed for a mad Medieval king in the music video for their truly explosive acoustic cover of AC/DC‘s “Thunderstruck”. The king must have enjoyed what he was hearing, as he did not call for their heads.

Thunderstruck by AC/DC like you’ve never heard it before!

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