Laughing Squid

Claire Wineland, the wonderfully brave, outspoken, inspiring and insightful young woman who had been sharing her first hand experience dealing with cystic fibrosis for most of her life through her YouTube channel, sadly passed away on Sunday, September 2, 2018. Claire had undergone a double lung transplant just the week before, but the stress of...The post Claire Wineland (1997-2018), An Inspiring YouTube Star With Cystic Fibrosis Who Motivated Others to Action appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Gus Johnson illustrates what might happen when you forget that your headphones are still plugged in. Related Laughing Squid PostsHeadPhone, Get Co-Workers Attention If They Have Headphones OnCommon Tech Personality Stereotypes in OfficesEverpurse, A Purse That Charges Your PhoneThe post When You Forget Your Headphones Are Plugged In appeared first on Laughing Squid.

While walking around the 2014 DeLorean Car Show in Dayton, Ohio, actor Christopher Lloyd of Back to the Future appeared to be taken off guard when spot-on Marty McFly impersonator Rob Sims caught his attention. After posing for the requisite photo, Sims began talking to Lloyd in character. The actor enjoyed a good laugh before...The post Marty McFly Look Alike Surprises Christopher Lloyd of ‘Back to the Future’ at 2014 DeLorean Car Show appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The keepers at the Oregon Zoo use a custom made catapult known as the “Cheetahpult” to launch balls far into the enclosure of the resident cheetah ambassadors as a means of providing exercise and enrichment. These beautiful big cats gracefully chase after the launched dark red ball, swoop it up, return it into a bucket...The post Graceful Cheetahs Happily Retrieve Balls Launched Into Their Enclosure by a Custom Made Catapult appeared first on Laughing Squid.

“TINK” is an absolutely wonderful CGI animated short by UK based digital production team Mr. Kaplin that features a Rube Goldberg-esque machine with all the bells and whistles. The film also sports a pleasantly noisy soundtrack by Box of Toys Audio. Like several of their other films, TINK began as an experiment in animation. Tink...The post TINK, A Wonderful CGI Animated Short Featuring a Fabulously Noisy Rube Goldberg Style Machine appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A Russian man named Jon decided that he would stop shaving while he and his wife Eva traveled around the world for an amazing 911 days. When the couple embarked upon the trip in September 2015, Jon’s face was completely bare. This was very much not the case they returned home 2.5 years later. During...The post Timelapse of Man Growing a Massive Beard While He and His Wife Travel 911 Days Around the World appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In November 2017 we wrote about toy maker Kevin Holmes and his amazing handmade 3D zoetrope that features fish with giant teeth endlessly eating other fish along with other wonderful animations. Since that time, Holmes’ company 4-Mation is raising funds through Kickstarter to sell their original app-based modular 3D kit, which includes a frame of...The post An App-Integrated Modular Kit For Building Spinning 3D Zoetropes With Variable Light Frames appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In the first episode of their video series Microworld Unseen, educational channel The Beauty of Science takes an incredible look at the Pseudozizeeria maha (Pale Grass Blue), a rather plain butterfly found mostly in Asia. Yet under a scanning electron microscope, this common butterfly is an creature of exquisite beauty. As a result, you probably...The post The Exquisite Beauty of a Common Butterfly as Viewed Through a Scanning Electron Microscope appeared first on Laughing Squid.

French travelers Eloise & Luc have captured absolutely stunning footage of the mineral rich peaks of the Italian Dolomites during winter. This beautiful mountain range is part of the Southern Limestone Alps and is named for the mineral dolomite, which gives the range its beautiful pale coloring. We discovered the Dolomites during winter. It was...The post Stunning Footage of Winter in the Italian Dolomites appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A post shared by Wire Hon (@wirehon) on Aug 29, 2018 at 8:37am PDT Amateur photographer Wire Hon has created a wonderfully fun illusory series in which he poses his superhero action figures in various dioramic scenes that can include any member of Hon’s family. Once everyone is in place, he uses smartphone camera to...The post Using Forced Perspective on a Smartphone to Make Superhero Action Figures Appear Larger Than Life appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a fascinating clip from his 2018 Aspen Ideas Festival talk, esteemed author, Atlantic contributor and Columbia University Linguistics professor John McWhorter eloquently explains how the term “LOL” has evolved over the years with the constantly advancing tools of communication. Whereas originally the term literally meant “laughing out loud” in its Usenet days, with texting...The post How Evolving Communication Technology Changed the Context of ‘LOL’ Within the Common Lexicon appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Lucas the Spider, the animated arachnid by Joshua Slice, who has proved himself to be quite a talented musician on several instruments, showcased his skills in a rockin’ multi-track video of an original song for which Lucas played each of the instruments. If Lucas can become the world’s most musical spider, then anything is possible!...The post Lucas the Spider Shows Off His Musical Skills by Playing Every Instrument In a Multi-Track Song appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A post shared by Nail Sunny (@nail_sunny) on Aug 20, 2018 at 10:08am PDT Nail Sunny, a well-known salon in Moscow, Russia creates some really fascinating nail art. One intense example of this is a design that shapes and paints a person’s nails so they look like the polished feet of an infant. The effect...The post Intense Fingernail Art That Looks Like Tiny Feet appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In 1999, actor John Turturro (Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski, The Night Of) partnered with search engine Lycos to provide “Beginner’s Guide to the Internet“, a 37 minute educational film about navigating the World Wide Web. While driving to Las Vegas, (Turturro’s character) Sam’s Volkswagen breaks down. He stops in the nearest town to get...The post John Turturro Teaches a Kid About the World Wide Web in ‘Beginners Guide to the Internet’ (1999) appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A post shared by ??????? (@arimurataishi) on Aug 24, 2018 at 1:27am PDT Graphic designer Taishi Arimura has created a brilliantly fun series of Japanese warriors crafted out of instant ramen, soba and udon noodles. The labels from each package are used as ceremonial garb and dinnerware are used as weapons. A post shared by...The post Japanese Warriors Crafted Out of Instant Noodles appeared first on Laughing Squid.

DIY miniaturist Cath of The Square to Spare offers up a really concise and helpful tutorial on making tiny Fender Stratocasters with simple crafting supplies such as popsicle sticks, crafting wire and paint. Particularly impressive is Cath’s technique for painting the sunburst pattern that’s so iconic to this guitar. The second color will be the...The post Wonderfully Realistic Handmade Miniature Fender Electric Guitar Models Made From Popsicle Sticks appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In an adorable clip from the BBC One series Animals Unexpected, a clever racoon named Rascal demonstrates her problem solving skills in real time. Presented with the challenge to open a series of gates to get to a stalk of broccoli at the end, Rascal ably goes about unlocking each gate, including the really difficult...The post Clever Racoon Uses Problem Solving Skills to Open a Series of Gates That Lead to an Awaiting Treat appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Dutch artists Veerle Coppoolse is crafting an absolutely beautiful hand cut 3D paper zoetrope that shows the multi-step metamorphosis of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. Coppoolse came up with this idea while she was recovering from a broken spine due a paragliding accident, brilliantly likening her healing process to that of a forming butterfly....The post A Beautiful Hand Cut Paper Zoetrope That Shows the Full Metamorphosis of a Caterpillar to Butterfly appeared first on Laughing Squid.

LEGO and Bugatti have achieved what was thought to be impossible. Using their LEGO Bugatti Chiron kit as a guide, the engineers at LEGO Technic created an incredible life-size 1:1 replica of the famed luxury sportscar. These engineers, however, were not content to have it just sit still and look pretty (which it does), so...The post An Amazing Drivable 1:1 Life Size Bugatti Chiron Replica Made Entirely From LEGO Technology appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The fast talking doodling music theorist and musician 12tone stepped away from the scale in order to explain how best to use various forms of rhymes (end rhymes, interior rhymes, assonance and consonance) when writing the lyrics of a song. He also stresses the importance of knowing how to properly accent words so that it...The post How to Write Lyrics That Convey Desired Emotional Resonance With the Use of Rhymes and Accents appeared first on Laughing Squid.

San Francisco artist Chris Eckert, who wanted to make a point of increasing surveillance and decreasing privacy of the population, has created “Blink“, an absolutely incredible series of mechanically operating blinking single eyeballs in a row, each equipped with face tracking software to deliberately evoke a disconcerting sense of privacy violation. This series premiered during...The post A Disconcerting Installation Featuring 20 Blinking Kinetic Eyeballs That Track a Person Around a Room appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The Damien Chazelle directed film First Man, adapted from the James R. Hansen biography of the same name, tells the story of Apollo 11, the first manned mission to the moon. Told from the perspective of astronaut Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling), the film recounts the decisions he made both personally and professionally during the decade...The post Ryan Gosling Plays Astronaut Neil Armstrong as He Prepares to Be the ‘First Man’ to Walk on the Moon appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A rather astute dog named Bear noticed that when his ball landed on the backyard trampoline, he was able to run underneath and bounce it along the jumping pad so that it would then roll off onto the ground. This was so much fun that he repeated the process over and again until he was...The post An Astute Dog Figures Out How to Use the Backyard Trampoline to Play a Game of Fetch With Himself appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A post shared by Michael Grider (@mkgrider) on Jul 31, 2018 at 10:25pm PDT Adventure artist Michael Grider has crafted an incredible cocktail accoutrement – swizzle sticks topped off with teeny tiny Tiki torches that burn a real flame while stirring a nice cold drink. These wonderful miniature Polynesian lights have proved so popular that...The post Teeny Tiny Tiki Torch Cocktail Swizzle Sticks appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In the spectacular award-winning animated film short “Fishwitch” by stop motion artist Adrienne Dowling, a rather cranky witch who lives alone on an iceberg accidentally meets a lonely, but cheerful merman who wants nothing more than to be her friend. While the shrew continuously shoos the merman away, she finds herself missing him while he’s...The post Cranky Iceberg Dwelling Witch Gives Her Frozen Heart to a Lonely Merman Who Wants to Be Friends appeared first on Laughing Squid.

While out walking with his young human, an elegant black horse caught the sight of a plastic statue that looked exactly like him, but on a much smaller scale. The horse sidled up to the statue and began sniffing and chuffing as he became more and more infatuated with smaller twin. The horse was so...The post Horse Becomes Infatuated With a Plastic Statue That Looks Just Like a Smaller Version of Him appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A post shared by Pretzel Factory Langhorne (@ppflanghorne) on Oct 25, 2017 at 9:11am PDT Brothers Brian Kean and Shaun Kean, who own the Langhorne, Pennsylvania location of the Philly Pretzel Factory chain, are known for their incredibly detailed art primarily made out of dough and salt. The franchise offers custom pretzels in any shape,...The post Pennsylvania Pretzel Maker Creates Incredibly Detailed Custom 3D Art Out of Salted Dough appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a delphic Ted-Ed lesson written by educator Elizabeth Cox and animated by Gerta Xhelo, narrator Christina Greer talks about “Imposter Syndrome”, a crippling sense self-doubt that plagued even the most successful of people, such as Maya Angelou and Albert Einstein. In 2016, we wrote about the intense feeling of isolation when one succumbs to...The post How the Insecurity of Imposter Syndrome Makes Incredibly Successful People Feel Inferior to Others appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Freelance automotive and product designer Michael David Young has spent the past six years perfecting the design of his incredibly clever “Hammer with Collated Nail Dispenser“. This unique framing hammer, which is 3D printed, quickly and automatically supplies its own nails as it strikes downward on a hard surface. Young shared that he had finally...The post A Clever Hammer That Auto-Dispenses Its Own Nails appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a numenary episode of their incredibly informative whiteboard series for Mental Floss, linguist Arika Okrent and illustrator Sean O’Neill verbally and visually explain how in languages around the world, the words that are used for numbers come from easily accessible anatomical sources. So most cultures didn’t settle on the systems they did because they’re...The post How the Words Used For Numbers in Languages Around the World Often Have Anatomical Roots appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A post shared by The New York Public Library (@nypl) on Aug 24, 2018 at 10:23am PDT Taking inspiration from the wonderful Librairie Mollat photo series for which customers are strategically posed with matching book covers, libraries from around the world have started doing the same. Using the Instagram hashtag #BookfaceFriday, each library shares similar...The post Bookstore and Library Customers Around the World Pose to Visually Complete Book Cover Images appeared first on Laughing Squid.

An incredible heat wave hitting New York City during this last week of August has caused most sentient beings in the area searching for cooler air wherever it can be found. This group includes a giant swarm of 25,000 or so honeybees who descended upon the umbrella of a hot dog vendor’s cart in the...The post A Giant Swarm of Overheated Honey Bees Descend Upon a Times Square Hot Dog Cart Umbrella appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The very talented Italian sculptor Valeriano Fatica expertly carved a watermelon into a deliciously terrifying replica of the famously facially tentacled H.P. Lovecraft creature Cthulhu. Like hisThe post A Deliciously Terrifying Cthulhu Expertly Carved From a Watermelon appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In January 2018, while waiting at Philadelphia International Airport for a flight back to her home in Buffalo, New York, two-time limbo Guinness World Record holder Shemika Campbell amazingly bent herself backwards and did the limbo in the extremely limited space underneath the seats in the waiting area at the gate. First Viral video started...The post World Record Holder Limbos Under an Airport Seat While Waiting For Her Flight Home appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Guy Jones, about whom we’ve written previously, skillfully restored vintage 1934 Movietone footage of a Long Beach, California gathering of 375 couples who were married during the Victorian era, for 50 years or more. Old film of a hootenanny for 375 couples married 50+ years in Long Beach, California on August 12, 1934. These scenes...The post Restored 1934 Footage of a Gathering of 375 Victorian Couples Married for 50 or More Years appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Nora Atkinson, the craft curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum‘s Renwick Gallery, gave an insightful TED talk to a Vancouver audience about the art of Burning Man. Atkinson specifically speaks to the highly interactive and primal nature of the artwork cannot help but be created in the middle of the desert and how that...The post How Burning Man Nurtures the Kind of Interactive Primal Artwork Created Solely For the Sake of Art appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A pair of Australian entrepreneurs have created Cat Camp, a wonderful line of adorably petite, feline sized beds that look just like human tents. These tents are lightweight, easy to put together, appropriate for indoor or light outdoor use and provides kitty with a comfy hiding place along and an ability to still watch what’s...The post Cat Camp, Petite Indoor/Outdoor Tents for Felines appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Musician John D. Boswell, who’s also known as “Melodysheep“, has brilliantly re-imagined the soundtrack from the iconic 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory as a colorful chill-hop video. This beautifully edited remix employs both scenes and music from the film and features the late, great comedian Gene Wilder singing lead. If willy wonka...The post A Beautifully Edited Re-Imagination of ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ as a Chill-Hop Video appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Pacific Northwest based remote control hobbyists Another RC Channel posted absolutely amazing slow motion footage of RC Broncos Trucks that appear completely full sized, expertly navigating over a rocky beach. The skill used in controlling these vehicles along the terrain is quite impressive, as each of the Broncos maneuver the shore with ease, just as...The post Remote Controlled Bronco Trucks That Appear Life Sized Expertly Navigate a Rocky Northwest Beach appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A particularly tenacious Stretch Armstrong action figure resists mightily against the incoming blades of Lauri Vuohensilta‘s “Cubinator” 150 Ton hydraulic dicer. In the end, Armstrong loses the battle, but the toy puts up a good fight in refusing to allow himself to be cubed. Before moving on, Vuohensilta, host of Hydraulic Press Channel, acknowledges Armstrong’s...The post A Tenacious Stretch Armstrong Resists Mightily Against the Incoming Blades of a Hydraulic Dicer appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In an end-of-summer Labor Day-themed Good Mythical Morning, the carnivorous comedy duo Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal of Rhett & Link sample a variety of veggie burgers to determine which one best approximates the taste of meat. They tested the eight top selling veggie burgers available for grocery purchase. This includes Boca Burger, Morningstar Farms,...The post Carnivores Rhett and Link Review Eight Different Veggie Burgers In Time for Labor Day Weekend appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Clare Julia and Si Bennett of Planet Custard and Egg Cup Creative, the team behind videos for such bands as Muse, The Charlatans and Guns N Roses, have created a The Space Song, a wonderfully animated, educational song about the planets of the solar system. The really catchy tune explains the order of how far...The post The Space Song, A Catchy Animated Educational Song About the Planets of the Solar System appeared first on Laughing Squid.

On August 18, 2018, the Canterbury Park, a professional horse racing track and casino in Shakopee Minnesota, held adorable qualifying heats for racing basset hounds to determine whom would be fast enough to compete in the annual Bark in the Park Championships over Labor Day weekend. Each of these long-eared, short-legged canines hilariously raced against...The post Adorably Short-Legged Basset Hounds Hilariously Race Each Other Down a Professional Horse Track appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A resident goat in Mendooran, New South Wales, Australia, decided make his way into the house in the same manner in which other pets gain entrance – by using the doggy door. The well-mannered hircine first politely knocked on the door and then very gracefully managed to get his entire body through the narrow door...The post Well Mannered Goat Politely Knocks Before Coming Into the House Through a Tiny Doggy Door appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A beloved rescued pet fox named Juniper, who is the “Happiest Fox“, emits the most adorable trilling sound while sleeping upside down inside the bottom shelf of a television cabinet. According to her human, this is one of Juniper’s favorite places to sleep, even though her comfy bed sits empty right alongside the shelf. Welcome...The post Snoring Fox Emits Adorable Trilling Sounds While Sleeping Upside Down on a Cabinet Shelf appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In July 2018, we wrote about an overheated puppy named Baloo in Texas who dragged the sprinkler through the doggy door and into the house. Since that time a beautiful white boxer named Winston decided to do the same. Rather than bringing in the sprinkler, however Winston opted for the whole hose. Security footage showed...The post A Mischievous Dog Brings a Running Garden Hose Inside the House Through the Patio Door appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In 1993, Hervé Villechaize, the diminutive star of Fantasy Island granted his last interview just days before his tragic suicide in 1993. The interviewer, filmmaker Sascha Gervasi, was so inspired by that conversation that he used his own notes to co-write the screenplay for and direct the upcoming HBO film My Dinner with Hervé. The...The post Peter Dinklage Plays Hervé Villechaize During His Final Days in the HBO Film ‘My Dinner with Hervé’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Derek Thompson, author of Hitmakers: How to Succeed in an Age of Distraction and senior editor at The Atlantic, explains how a specific combination of repetition and variation create the hook that makes pop music so catchy. He refers to a fascinating study conducted by David Huron, a distinguished professor of music at Ohio State...The post How a Specific Combination of Repetition and Variety Works to Make Pop Songs So Catchy appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Researchers at UC Berkeley have ingeniously discovered a way to transfer expert dance moves to an amateur on video, essentially giving them the talent of the dancer without having to practice. This process re-targets AI data mapped from the video source (the dancer) into an intermediary (stick figure keypoint-based pose) that detects the movements from...The post Expert Dance Moves Transferred to an Amateur Using AI Re-Targeted Source Motion Mapping appeared first on Laughing Squid.

With the sad news about the death of legendary playwright Neil Simon at the age of 91, The New York Times posted a wonderfully touching video tribute that included footage from a 2008 interview. This memorial also cites examples from Simon’s prolific writing career, how he used his own personal history as a guide, how...The post A Wonderfully Touching Video Tribute to the Life of Legendary Playwright Neil Simon (1927-2018) appeared first on Laughing Squid.