Do you remember cigarette vending machines? In the age of smoking in America, they proliferated in public venues. But as smoking became less common, the vending machines gradually disappeared.

In 1997, artist Clark Whittington took one and converted it into a vending machine for small pieces of art. He called it the Art-o-Mat.

The project was popular and Whittington, along with other artists, made more. There are now about 200 in service now, mostly in the United States. This one pictured above is in a Whole Foods location in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Art-o-Mats are great ways for artists to promote their work, earning $2.50 per sale. The guidelines are strict, though, as Whittington describes the mechanical requirements of the machines as "unforgiving."

A raccoon broke into a state-run liquor store in Ashland, Virginia, which is just north of Richmond. According to a Facebook post for the animal control authority for Hanover County, the raccoon smashed bottles of alcohol and drank their contents until he passed out on the floor of the restroom.

Animal control officials took him back to a county shelter until he sobered up. After a few hours of sleep, the raccoon woke up apparently uninjured. The human authorities then released the raccoon back into the wild to commit additional poor life choices.

-via @sunnyright | Photos: Hanover County Animal Control and Shelter

UPDATE: 12/4/2025:

I painted the raccoon from liquor store in Virginia. He’s still sleeping it off. pic.twitter.com/aVGbbytHTU

— Travis Chapman (@Travispaints) December 4, 2025

Dave Locke is not just an acrobat; he's an "acrobat conceptor." He's a master athlete and performer with experience in Cirque du Soleil, notably using the cyr wheel and the trampwall (a trampoline arranged vertically rather than horizontally).

How is he a conceptor? Locke is devising original acrobatic activities, such as kicking a sword into a target. Most people (well, Miss Cellania and I) use our hands when wielding swords, but Locke can shoot a sword in preferred directions with sidekicks.

-via Born in Space

Again, sorry about the 67 thing pic.twitter.com/kksi9Dqq56

— Carissa Codel (@CarissaCodelTV) November 25, 2025

Carissa Codel is a professional journalist who began working in that field while still an undergraduate student at Missouri State University. She has thrived professionally, won multiple awards, and is now the anchor for KOLR10 News in Springfield, Missouri.

She attracts a lot of attention for her body of work...and her body. Some of the comments that people leave about her physique are complimentary. Others are not. Codel takes them all in stride and frequently reads them out loud in her level, carefully enunciating, professional newscaster voice.

-via Tara Bull

Sarah Wagner is a gingerbread artist known in Cleveland for recreating landmarks of that city that she calls home. In the past, she's made highly realistic models of the Westside Market, Terminal Tower, and East Fourth Street.

Cleveland magazine reports that, this year, Wagner made a scale model of the central Cleveland Public Library. This was a commission by that institution, which provided Wagner with architectural plans necessary to recreate the headquarters. Baking and assembly took a full month, as well as 25 pounds of flour and 3 pounds of Isomalt, which is the substance used to create the windows. It measures 32 by 38 inches.

The model is now on display at the main library.

-via reddit

Do you recognize the design of this cookie?

It's a reference to a meme illustrating suvivorship bias.

During World War II, the US Navy asked statistician Abraham Wald to suggest where armor should be added to planes based upon a data set consisting of where USN planes had been damaged by enemy fire. Counterinuitively, Wald proposed armoring spots that were rarely damaged.

Why? Because Wald realized that the planes that had been hit there were unable to return to aircraft carriers and bases. By focusing on the planes that had returned to base damaged, the USN engaged in survivorship bias.

Bluesky user Stephanie made shortbread cookies resembling the meme.

-via Super Punch

Fox 4 News in the Dallas/Fort Worth area reports that on November 25, police in Little Elm, Texas received a report of a goat "aggressively snacking" by the side of a road. Without backup, an officer detained the goat. There was some resistance, but the goat eventually complied and sat in the back of the police cruiser while the officer read him his Miranda rights.

The police department asked the owners to come to their station to get their goat before "he eats the report."

Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (no typo; that's his legal name) is most famous for his role in the 1990 Christmas film Home Alone. Recently, he's been on a touring series called A Nostalgic Night with Macaulay Culkin, which includes a screening of the movie and an interview with him.

Variety reports that, during one of these interviews, Culkin shared his idea for a sequel to Home Alone. Culkin, now 45 years old, would play an adult Kevin McCallister who is either divorced or windowed. He is trying to, like the Wet Bandits, break into a home with a vulnerable child:

I’m raising a kid and all that stuff. I’m working really hard and I’m not really paying enough attention and the kid is kind of getting miffed at me and then I get locked out. [Kevin’s son] won’t let me in… and he’s the one setting traps for me.

Would you watch it?

-via Discussing Film | Photo: zuko1312

There are elephant enclosures in various zoos throughout Europe. But the non-profit organization Pangea plans to open an expansive sanctuary for captive elephants that will stretch over 850 acres. That's 200 times larger than the elephant enclosure at the Tierpark zoo in Berlin.

The Resident, an English-language newspaper in Portugal, reports that the site is located in the Alentejo region of southern Portugal. This area is among the most suitable in Europe for elephant habitation.

Construction should finish in December and thirty elephants will arrive in the spring of next year. They will be able to roam freely over the site while still having access to veterinary care.

-via Marginal Revolution | Photo: E-roxo

Tomorrow is the first day of Advent--the countdown to the birth of Jesus in the Western Christian tradition. Advent calendars marking out these individual days are popular. In the past, we've seen Advent calendars inspired by Die Hard, filled with whisky, and one using a Dalek as its shape.

The Czech firm of Podnikovka offers this Advent sausage. Slice off a piece each day in preparation for Christmas.

-via Messy Nessy Chic

The iconic "Hotel California" by the Eagles has been covered in many different genres, including bluegrass, and instruments, such as bagpipes. It remixes well and calls to people from different cultures and generations.

So it is proper that Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox ("Today's hits yesterday") would put the 1977 classic into a prior era. In this case, that's midcentury Cuban jazz. Actor and musician Rogelio Douglas, Jr. performs it. It's beautiful and, as one commenter puts it, authentic:

In a world where everyone and their mother are using AI to do genre-bending covers, PMJ still stands head and shoulders above the rest with real talent and incredible singers and performers.

-via The Awesomer

in my friend’s apartment, there is a subway LED banner with live updates of when the trains by him depart

I NEED ONE IMMEDIATELY pic.twitter.com/Z16zElnx5E

— whizwang (@whizwang) November 14, 2025

When does the next train on the red line depart from the station nearest your home? It might be helpful to have an up to date banner sign within sight so that you always know by just turning your head.

Nook Woodworking in Brooklyn makes this LED sign for, specifically, New York City. It stays synced in real time with your preferred MTA lines. Hopefully, they'll offer it for other cities in the future.

-via Super Punch

Neuropathy in the extremities--a loss of sensation--is an effect of diabetes. When a person with this condition loses sensation in the soles of their feet, they experience increased falling risks. Design Boom reports that the startup company MYNERVA in Zurich, Switzerland is developing socks with electrodes that help people with diabetes experience sensation while walking.

The company has named the device Leia because the visual appearance of the sensors are reminiscent of Princess Leia's hairbuns. The socks, which are controlled with a smartphone app, indicate to the user when they are in contact with the ground.

MYNERVA plans to release the product in the USA in 2027.

Olly Hawes is a British actor with experience on the stage and screen. Years ago, during a student production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Hawes had the titular role. As he writes in The Guardian, he was unprepared for the necessary realism that one of his fellow performers brought to the assassination scene. Due to a mishap, the performer of Brutus stabbed him with a real knife:

There was a sharp piercing feeling. The knife was supposed to have been quietly slipped to me – instead, it had gone into my back. I realised what had happened while acting out my character’s death, and thinking: I have to lie here until the lights go down.

But the show must go on, so Hawes lay still with a blade a mere centimeter from his aorta. When the lights went down, Hawes asked for an ambulance. He left while the play continued with the audience unaware of the accident.

It's unclear who took up the role of Caesar's ghost after Hawes left.

Instagram user June Cleaver's Vintage Closet shared this image of a Thanksgiving dinner-themed Enterprise model. Its five hour mission is to explore strange new dishes, seek out new tastes and new recipies, and to boldly expand the waistline where no stomach has gone before.

I think the design originates with MakerWorld member Fixumdude. Various alterations are available to reflect different preferences in pies, as well as light meat vs. dark meat. He also provides downloadable files and specific 3D printing filament suggestions. Now load up your plate, pour some Aldebaran whiskey,  and get ready to watch the parrises squares game on the viewscreen.

UPDATE 12/3/2025: Geeks Are Sexy was delighted by this design and 3D printed their own. Then they made this song about the toy: