The Star Trek universe covers several centuries, a lot of outer space, and a bunch of TV shows and movies. In that universe, the icon starship Enterprise gets around. It's been crashed and disabled and shot at and retired, but it always bounces back, often as a new (and improved) ship with the same basic design and the same name. The canon as we know it has eleven versions so far, and a new one has been teased for an appearance in the series Star Trek: Discovery. That Enterprise is not included in a ranking of all eleven Enterprises at io9, but only because we don't know enough about it yet. If you're a Star Trek fan, you'll want to go see if your favorite made #1.
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In 2000, an elderly British couple were on vacation in the US and stumbled into a play test session for the Star Wars D20 role playing game. They're up to give it a go, and that's when the magic happened. This video is just Owen K.C. Stephens telling a story to the camera, so you don't have to watch it -open another window and play a mindless game like I do- but you need to listen to him tell this story. You won't regret the time spent. -via Metafilter
If you ever cruise down to the Barra de Navidad marina and lagoon in Jalisco, Mexico, be on the lookout for a French baker peddling fresh bread and other baked treats boat to boat. Who could resist?
Chef Emeric Fiegen opened up shop, with his wife Christine, in this small laidback beach town over 15 years ago after a stint in Montreal. Early each morning, Chef Emeric still personally delivers his many breads, baguettes, croissants, pies, and quiches by boat. Not surprisingly, his pastries sell out by the time he's done making his rounds.
Fiegen also has a shop on land. Check out the menu and see more pictures at Boing Boing.
(Image credit: Andrea Cook)
Look at this backyard bowling lane. It's ingenious, with strings to reset the pins and a sloped gutter to bring the ball back. Then you think about how the strings and pins laying around would interfere with the second ball. How would you ever get an honest spare? But that's really a moot point. The first ball would bounce around against the backboard and knock them all down anyway. And how would the wood hold up against the weather? Not well, if the wooden table on my deck is any indication. But it was the string pinsetter that got the most interest when this picture was posted at reddit. Some folks had never heard of such a thing, while others say it's used at all the bowling alleys where they live. Here's how a string pinsetter works in an indoor alley:
And here's how a robotic pinsetter works, in case you've wondered.
I guess either one beats the old method.
According to the myths and movies vampires cast no reflection in mirrors because they have no soul, making it easy to identify any bloodsuckers hanging around your house.
But this part of the vampire myth has always made me wonder- do vampires see a reflection when they look in the mirror, or do they see an empty frame like normal humans do?
That sucks for them if they can't see their reflection in the mirror because, as this Random Crab comic shows, vampires are hardcore pranksters so mirrors probably factor into a lot of their pranks.
Maybe that's why so many vampires carry parrots around on their shoulders...
-Via Geeks Are Sexy
Star Trek was written for adults from the beginning. In the original TV series, we became accustomed to Captain Kirk finding a love interest on every planet the Enterprise visited. Star Trek: The Next Generation continued that tradition, although it had a wider range of characters involved in such romances. Captain Picard had a past (and sometimes a present) with Dr. Crusher, and Riker and Troi were definitely a thing, although both couples were on-and-off, so the characters were free to look elsewhere. But the series' trysts were often played for comedy, because there is nothing more down-to-earth than crossed signals, unwelcome advances, and unrequited love. For example, Deanna Troi's mother Lwaxana had the hots for Picard which she never bothered to hide, seen in the episode "Manhunt."
The telepathic and always inappropriate Lwaxana Troi returns to the Enterprise in the throes of the Betazoid version of menopause, which sees her sex drive essentially quintupling. Her mate of choice? Captain Picard, who is put off by her blatant come-ons. Lwaxana’s version of hello is using her species’ advanced mind-reading abilities on Picard to expose his “naughty thoughts” in public. En route to the Pacifica conference as the representative for Betazed, she lures him into what is supposed to be an ambassadorial dinner for the crew (to which she only invites the mortified captain).
It gets more awkward from there. Den of Geek has a list of ten ST: TNG episodes featuring hilariously awkward romantic stories for your Valentines Day viewing. In case that's the sort of thing you want for the holiday.
We know Liam Neeson has a particular set of skills. He puts those skills to work as he auditions for a seasonal job as Cupid, the god of love. When he decides you will fall in love, you WILL fall in love. Or else.
If he got the job, there would be plenty of people in the mood for Valentines Day. Or else a massacre. This clip is from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
An old folktale in England concerning cats takes many forms, told in different ways in different areas. Here's one of them.
Johnny Reed had spent a long, cold night digging a grave for a parishioner who had died very suddenly, and he was making his way home gratefully; knowing his wife would have waited up for him and a fire would be burning warmly. He had not walked far when he came to a field gate, through which he could see a number of little lights like flickering fires, dancing in the field. Naturally, he approached the gate to take a closer look, and found himself faced by nine black cats, whose eyes were flashing like little fires. Scared by the sight, he bent to find a stone to throw to frighten the cats away, but his hand was stayed when a cat’s voice called, “Johnny Reed!”. Now, this was the first time Johnny Reed had ever been spoken to by a cat, so he had to pay attention. He asked the cat what he wanted of him? The answer was mysterious; “Tell Dan Ratcliffe that Peggy Poyson’s dead!”. Johnny said he would certainly do so, although he had no idea who either of those people were. But the cats seemed satisfied with his answer because a moment later, they had all run away.
When Johnny Reed arrived home, the first thing he did was ask his wife; “Who’s Dan Ratcliffe? And who’s Peggy Poyson?”. But his wife did not know either of those names. So Johnny told his wife everything that had happened to him that night, while she watched him with wide eyes and their black cat with the one white paw slept quietly by the fire. But perhaps he was only pretending to be asleep, for when Johnny related the message the nine black cats had given him, the black cat with the one white paw suddenly leapt up and shouted: “Peggy Poyson’s dead? Then I must be gone!”. The cat ran through the door and was never seen again.
But what does it mean? One version explicitly says that the old cat king is dead, and the new cat must take its place. In another, the cat runs off to attend the funeral. Or maybe the cat is now able to return to its old home after the death of a sworn enemy. The thing they have in common is that cats have their own names for each other, which are unknown to humans. Read several other versions of the story at #Folklore Thursday. -via Strange Company
(Image credit: Fiver, der Hellseher)
What does your dog do to help around the house? Bark when the mailman comes? Morgan is a 6-year-old Newfoundland who has mastered a variety of useful tasks, including running a snowblower. It's a step up for her, as she was previously clearing snow with a mere shovel.
"She has a number of tricks she does, she can cook hotdogs on fires, she can get beverages out of coolers, she can go in the fridge and get a beer for me ... and she vacuums," said Morgan's owner, Dean Edwards of Sunnybrae, near Salmon Arm, B.C.
Morgan will even close the fridge door behind her and throw away empty cans when you're finished drinking, Edwards says.
Morgan is a championship show dog and a certified therapy dog. She's been in training for various jobs since she was a puppy. Read more about Morgan at CBC News. -via Metafilter
Have you ever gotten into a fight with someone that involved a lot of swinging and yelling but very little physical contact? You were probably quite young and inexperienced in the way of the melee, like a pawn swinging wildly for the sake of someone else's entertainment.
Pawns are forgiven for their lack of fighting skills, but when a big bad bishop steps up and attacks a pawn we expect their quadridirectional combat abilities to prevail.
But, as this Chilikto comic shows us, when a bishop slides up next to a pawn they end up looking like just another pawn in a stalemated game.
-Via Geeks Are Sexy
This image was posted at reddit with the label When Libraries Troll Their Patrons. We've all been there, trying to find a book when we recall neither the title nor the author. Commenters started telling tales about working in book stores or libraries, or getting embarrassed by being that patron with the wonky memory. Librarians and book store workers want to help, and they consider it a challenge to find that one book you can't identify, if they have the time. Then starstarstar42 told his story.
To all bookstore employees that take the time to help... thank you.
35 y.o. me walked into a bookstore after WEEKS searching on the web for the first book my now deceased mom let me pick out on my own. Thing is, 3 y.o. me was really mad at her for some reason that day and I did not want to pick out a stupid book! I cried all the way home because she made me do so.
That night she tucked me in (me, still very mad) and read me that book. I f-----g hated the story. I f-----g hated the mouse that starred in it. I f-----g hated the colors when she showed me the pictures. I f-----g hated that book, period. At the end, my mom kissed me and smiled as she smoothed back my hair. Looking back so many decades later I understand now that her love for me was dancing in her eyes as if to say, "be mad all you want, little man of mine. I can never stop loving you. You are my world".
30 years later and I was stoically mourning my mom's death when, for no reason I can explain, I remembered that book.
I wanted it. I wanted more than anything else in my life to find it. To see the mouse in it again, to hold the cover, to bring that small part, that tiny memory of her, back into my life.
Weeks on Google. All I could remember were hazy faded images of a mouse. I searched "mouse story" on Google. 2.8 million hits. It wasn't in the first 20 pages of 100 hits-per-page results. I kept trying till one night I furiously slammed my fist on my desk and gave up. I had nothing else to go on. I was unnaturally angry and upset at myself that evening; feeling I'd let her down again, as I'd done more than once when she was still around. I barely got any sleep that night.
A week later and I'm driving past a mom & pop bookstore/vinyl record shop. With little hope, I went in and bashfully asked the question that my mind knew was stupid, but had to be said.
"I'm looking for a book. It's about a mouse. I'm so sorry, that's all I remember. Can you help me?" I didn't even tell her why this meant so much to me.
The owner, a nice lady in her 50's, spent an hour helping me. She suddenly turned into a combination of "Monk" and "Sherlock". How old was I now, how old when I read it? Was the book wider than it was tall? What colors in it did I remember? Any other characters that I could remember? Most of the answers to her questions were "I can't remember".
One hour.
She found it. "Scuttle the Stowaway Mouse" by Jean Soule. It had been out of print for decades, but she found a pristine copy of it online, ordered it for me and it got to me 48 hours later. $32 she made on that sale. Not even enough to pay to keep the lights turned on in their shop for a day I bet.
Got home, opened the book, my hands softly running over the cover as if it was my mom's face. I was unashamedly weeping bittersweet tears by the first page. Each word was like a kiss on a mad little 3 y.o. boy's forehead.
I miss my mother with my whole heart.
Thank you, bookstore lady. Thank you beyond words.
Please pass the tissues. -via reddit
Working in an office can be a horrifying experience, and when overworked and underpaid cubicle dwellers face a daily combination of boredom, stress and forced socialization the rat race can drive previously sane people batty.
"I once had a coworker who showed up to our office in a wedding dress. Like, an obvious white wedding dress with a crinoline and beading, the works. When our manager asked why she wore a wedding dress to the office, my coworker replied, 'I was out of clean clothes and didn’t feel like doing laundry.'"
—Lauren Emily, Facebook
"There was a lady who brought her little container of paper clips into the kitchen and washed them."
But workplaces are strange no matter where you work, and unless you work alone you're bound to work with someone who's a bit of a kook.
Still, I've never worked with anyone who brought rotten teeth in a jar to work:
"I stopped asking my coworkers how their weekends were after one had responded with, 'Not good, my husband’s teeth rotted and we had to spend all night at the dentist getting them pulled.' As if that wasn’t bad enough, she proceeded to pull out a pill container, open it, and say, 'They’re so gross. Smell them,' and tried to hand them to me. Nope."
—mcom
Members of the BuzzFeed community were asked to share "the most WTF thing they've ever seen a coworker do on the job", and their responses made me very happy to work from home...so nobody sees the gross stuff I do!:
"I saw a coworker use his fingers to pluck out his beard hair, then bit the hair, and used it to floss his teeth in front of a number of other coworkers!"
Discovering a new batch of memes is like uncovering a treasure trove of visual comedy, only this trove is guarded by a geek who spends way too much time online, breathes Cheeto dust instead of fire and is married to his pillow.
That's right, this treasure trove is full of anime-themed memes, so you can take your online meme-ing power level to well above 9000 and impress your friends with the power of
Now good anime memes don't come along every day, so when you find a stockpile of anime-themed visual tomfoolery you've gotta snatch it all up byte by byte, because a well-crafted anime meme can really make you stand out in a crowd.
Since Valentine's Day is supposed to be all about love, wouldn't it be better to make your loved one something special that comes straight from the heart instead of giving them some store bought crap?
So instead of buying a silly card and some chocolates, make your loved one a sweet treat you can seal with a kiss- a 'pie envelope' that shows the delicious depth of your love.
With this easy to follow recipe created by food blogger Liz Bushong you'll be folding up some heartfelt goodness in no time, sending a message of love no cheesy store bought Valentine's Day card ever could.
Plus it's basically just pie crust, coarse sugar, and pie filling so it's easy to make, and when you're done you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor too!
-Via CountryLiving
Rick and Morty is a brilliant show with some very intelligent minds behind it, and when it comes to storytelling these beautifully twisted minds don't miss a beat.
Aside from intelligently geeky writing they've also made an unwavering commitment to preserve continuity, so those fans who have watched every episode can get some extra laughs out of those "inside" jokes.
Ever notice that Rick never wears a seat belt? That actually symbolizes more than you think (SPOILERS):
You can see it almost every time the two of them get into a vehicles -- Morty straps into a seatbelt, while Rick remains unrestrained. It's a small detail, but one that's been consistent throughout the show's three seasons, no matter who's in the cockpit and who's driving.
The show doesn't slip up. When Rick does wear a seatbelt, it's for a reason.
In season three's "Rest and Ricklaxation," Rick is split into two distinct personalities. All of what Rick would be considered to be "toxic" aspects of himself are sent to a boogery hellworld, where the rottenness congeals into Toxic Rick. Meanwhile, Clean Rick and Clean Morty are left behind to have pleasant if slightly off-center adventures. Since the "toxic" parts of Rick are no longer present, Clean Rick puts on his seatbelt. This is a Rick that has something to live for, and has left his death wish behind.
Rick is only seen wearing a seatbelt in his normal state one time: Just after he transforms back from Pickle Rick.
This is significant because it takes place not long after Rick has a breakthrough in family therapy. Up until that moment, he had avoided the scheduled session by turning himself into a pickle (it really helps if you're caught up on the show). After facing his personal demons head-on, Rick becomes resigned to the idea that he should probably look after himself if he's going to look after his family.
See 10 Times Rick and Morty Paid Incredible Attention to Continuity here
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