You've heard of Sasquatch and Mothman, yet there are other cryptids told of in the hills of Appalachia that may go by various local names, but are referred to collectively as the "white things" (pronounced "white thangs"). What they have in common is that they are big, white, hairy, and will scare the crap out of anyone who sees them. Some are described as humanoid, yet much larger than any human, with horns. Others walk on four legs and have claws. From the accounts of sightings, they rarely do much damage beyond terrifying the observer and fortifying the story.

You may get the idea that the white things are a combination of fear, the power of suggestion, and alcohol or drugs. Or maybe they are albino versions of scary animals that make the mountains their home, such as bears, bobcats, or even deer. Even the occasional stray white cow would be terrifying in a dark forest at night. Someone who is predisposed to fearing the white things they've heard of would become a true believer if they encountered such wildlife, especially if they've had a few. But the stories continue. Read up on sightings of the white things of Appalachia at Mental Floss.

(Image credit: pocolover1957)

The science fiction genre often falls into the escapist direction of storytelling, so it's no surprise that male writers tend to create ideal heroes, villains, and other characters. So the male gaze comes into play. That's not criticism--in fact, I'm a fan at times. There's a female gaze, too, although it is far from a direct equivalent.

This video shows a clip from the improvisational comedy show Make Some Noise. Comedian and actress Caitlin Reilly is tasked with depicting an idealized female character from a male writer. The character keeps us abreast of the true dangers facing the group in what I'm guessing is a Robert A. Heinlein story.

It's that time of year when the producers of various dictionaries let us know about trends in language. The Oxford University Press, who produces the Oxford Dictionary, has decided that "brain rot" is their word of the year for 2024, despite the fact that it's two words. Brain rot means the deterioration of someone's intellect or mental health due to overconsumption of mindless entertainment, mostly on the internet. Oxford noticed that the use of the term has grown by 230% over the past year. The word of the year was determined by an online poll of six finalists presented by Oxford. The term brain rot is not new, however. Henry David Thoreau used it in his 1854 book Walden.

The Oxford Dictionary word of the year is not the last word, though (pun in tended). The Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year for 2024 is "manifest." Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year for 2024 is "demure." And Collins Dictionary’s word of the year is "brat." Maybe we should look these words up in the dictionary.

Images in Clinical Medicine: Phytophotodermatitis https://t.co/KIhf4tnlip#Dermatology pic.twitter.com/lUsLYISpPG

— NEJM (@NEJM) December 2, 2024

A man in Texas sought medical help for a severe rash, actually a burn, on his hands. The burn eventually produced blisters, and it took several months for him to fully heal. He was diagnosed with phytophotodermatitis, a condition in which chemicals from certain plants interact with the skin and makes one extremely vulnerable to sunburn. The man had manually squeezed a bunch of limes and then went to a soccer game without sunscreen. The traces of juice on his hands altered his skin to react with UV light, causing serious sun damage.

The plant chemicals that can do this are called furocoumarins, which exist famously in hogweed, but also in many plants we eat. Read about phytophotodermatitis, and learn which foods can cause it, so you'll know to wash your hands thoroughly after preparing them. And always apply sunscreen before attending outdoor events.

Minnesotastan cites the same study and reposted a case from 2013 with much more explicit pictures of the worst effects of phytophotodermatitis. You've been warned.

This video begins by posing the question: Does earth exist in the Star Wars universe? Of course it does, although you have to dig into Star Wars lore a bit to find the evidence. A broader question is: Where does the Star Wars universe end and where does our familiar world begin? The simple answer is Disney World, but that's not satisfying, either. We are told that the events of Star Wars take place long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, so the light (and/or video signals of some sort) from that galaxy might just now be reaching us here on earth. But that's just one theory.

The Art Of Storytelling explains some of requirements of a shared universe, and how some similarities between that fantasy world and our own can be tolerated while others cannot. The many Star Wars properties range from the quite plausible (Andor) to the ridiculous (The Rise of Skywalker), so you can pick your poison. Egregious errors in Star Wars stories make it difficult to fantasize about the reality of that galaxy so far, far away. For those who like to think that the events of Star Wars could be real, those errors can induce rage. And outside of the political realm, no one feels rage like an avid Star Wars fan. -via Laughing Squid

Due to Japan's shrinking population, some schools are closing permanently. For anime fans like myself, this presents a new opportunity. Would it not be fun to pretend to be a Japanese high school student, just in your favorite anime series?

Mainichi reports that an entertainment company has taken over a closed high school in Kimtsu in the Chiba Prefecture. Tourists get to wear stereotypical uniforms, eat lunches from animes, and attend classes. My suggestion: choose the back right corner of the classroom next to the window so that you become the main character of the series.

-via Spoon & Tamago | Photo: Mainchi

X user Science Girl reminds us of the innovative German techno band Klangphonics. That ensemble seems committed to convincing the world that it's possible to produce techno music with any instrument. In the past, we've seen their performance with a pressure washer. Since that time, they've also experimented with a sewing machine.

Kate Wagner goes to town on a $3.5 million home in New Jersey that can't make up its mind what style it's supposed to be. The 5-bedroom, 6.5-bathroom house was custom-built to evoke opulence, but the finished product looks like a checklist of things the owner wanted from a wide range of architectural history. Many of these details really can't quite be pulled off with modern building techniques. The interior decorating is even worse, as you can see from the image above. Wagner likens living in this house to a constant performance of living. While the rooms are adequately furnished, the very size of those rooms demands subdivision into areas of activity, so that the overall effect is almost institutional, no matter how swanky. She calls one bathroom "the Sistine Chapel of McMansion bathrooms" for the ornate ceiling, pool-sized tub, and seating for spectators. Read a detailed breakdown of how it all went so wrong at McMansion Hell.

Every year, a group of friends in Ventura, California, get together to do a costumed photo shoot to document their facial hair growth during "No Shave November" (previously at Neatorama). The campaign is for cancer awareness, but these guys have made it their own since 2013. Now they have enough images to produce a calendar! The Christmas-themed picture this year kinda seals that deal. You may also note that the sixth friend, who dropped out in 2014 except for his head seen on a pike in 2019, is back for 2024. Redditor C1eve1and101 posted the entire gallery of the annual photos today. You will need to greatly enlarge the pics there to see all the details.

This year, the guys all got tattoos on their thighs commemorating a previous year's photo. Then they got dressed up as Christmas characters: Frosty the Snowman, the Nutcracker, Buddy the elf, Santa Claus, Rudolph, and a candy cane. They also recorded footage of the photo session, which Michael Lubin (the candy cane) edited into a joyous video.

About a month ago, you may have seen a viral video of a dog atop the Great Pyramid of Egypt. It was an amazing moment, and people wondered how the dog got up there and why, and worried about how he could get down. The video left everyone with the wrong impression, but not in the ways that you would expect.

No, the dog atop the pyramid is not faked. His name is Apollo. He is a stray, but Apollo is famous among the locals in Giza for pulling this stunt anytime he pleases. He climbed down from the heights on his own just fine. And it's not the Great Pyramid; it's the Pyramid of Khafre, the second largest pyramid in Giza at 448 feet tall. Also, the paraglider you see in a selfie shot is not the paraglider who took the footage. The man you see added himself before he posted the video to Instagram.

Still, Apollo is a real canine climber. Read his story and the facts behind the viral video at the New York Times. -via Nag on the Lake

I’m all styled up and ready for a goatwalk this sunday 🎉 And as a gentlegoat - the older, the more stylish! My inauguration kicks off on sunday at 4 PM, swedish time! Remember that bags are not allowed in front of the stage. You can watch it live at the link in bio! pic.twitter.com/JwoLOAti5G

— Gävlebocken (@Gavlebocken) November 29, 2024

Every year, the Gävle Goat is inaugurated on the first Sunday of Advent and marks the beginning of the Christmas season for the residents of the Swedish town. The gigantic goat, made of straw, is a representation of the Swedish Yule goat. The first goat was erected in 1966 for the purpose of drawing tourists to Gävle, but it's not so much the goat itself that Gävlebocken is known for, but the constant threat of arson. The 1966 goat was burned down, and that vandalism has become sort of a tradition, no matter how securely it is guarded. Of the 58 goats that have graced Gävle over the years, 42 have been burned down. Last year's goat was not burned, but suffered destruction from jackdaws who pecked at the straw to reach the remnants of wheat until you could see through it.

You can follow the status of the Gävle goat on the live webcam. You can read more about the history of the goat, accounts of its destruction in years past, editorials about the pros and cons of burning it down, and even find videos of the burning goat, in a link-heavy post at Metafilter. That's where I nicked the title of this post.  

Strictly speaking, all mayonnaise is drinkable if you can reduce its viscosity sufficiently by mixing it with whiskey. But the difference here is that this mayonnaise is intended to be drinkable without modification. The British newspaper The Times reports that a Japanese food company is offering a smooth-sipping variation of Japan's favorite condiment.

The convenience store chain Lawson sells this fine chilled beverage which some eccentric people online find to be unpalatable. Sadly, the packaging reveals a tragedy: this drink is just made to resemble mayonnaise in flavor and texture. It's not real mayonnaise yet. But perhaps, as Thomas Aquinas argued that the human ability to conceive of a highest possible form made that form possible, a real mayonnaise drink will soon be within our grasp.

-via Dave Barry

The U.S. Naval Institute posted on X that, in earlier days, ship flagbags sometimes contained a pennant that would express frustration and/or confusion at other vessels. I traced the origin story down to Vice Admiral Milton E. Miles, who described the pennant in his book A Different Kind of War: The Little-Known Story of the Combined Guerrilla Forces Created in China by the U.S. Navy and the Chinese During World War II.

In 1934, Miles was captain of USS Wickes, a destroyer then responsible for being the rearmost ship while in a formation operating off the coast of China. He thus had the opportunity to witness blundering movements of other vessels and wished to communicate his distress. His wife suggested the above design which he then had made and later transferred with him.

Miles had amusing pre-war interactions with a Japanese admiral over the pennant which later led to questions directed to him in Washington, D.C. You can read his story here.

Jim Steinman's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" as sung by Bonnie Tyler is one of the most iconic pop songs of the 80s. It is a mournful ballad about broken love. So it is fitting that a modern version is performed on rubber chickens.

Our musician is Lord Vinheteiro, a Brazilian master of several instruments, including the piano. He's not, though, actually a nobleman--Brazil hasn't recognized peerages since 1889. Lord Vinheteiro is just his stage name.

We love his work here at Neatorama and are pleased to see him expand his repertoire to include this revered orchestral instrument. Watch as he uses ever smaller chickens to move your heart.

-via Laughing Squid

Only a few decades ago, a limousine with a personal driver was a sign of great affluence. Now their status as a socioeconomic signal has greatly diminished. Why? Emily Stewart, a writer for Business Insider, explains.

Limousines began as large, horse-drawn carriages. When cars became more common in the West, some automakers produced extended sedans for wealthy buyers. In later years, limos became symbols of extravagance as builders tried to outdo each other by making their cars longer and equipped with more amenities.

Stewart concludes that limousines fell into decline after the 2008 financial crisis when being conspicuous about one's consumption became gauche. Now limousines have been replaced by large SUVs--to the extent that people would choose limousines over Uber and Lyft.

-via Jalopnik