Laughing Squid

Half as Interesting explains in fascinating detail about the Republic of Indian Stream, a very short-lived country that sat between New Hampshire and Quebec and was the result of a limnological dispute. The 1783 Treaty of Paris determined the border between the United States and Canada to be “the northwesternmost head of the Connecticut River“....The post A Tiny Country That Once Existed For Three Years Between U.S. and Canada Due to Border Disputes appeared first on Laughing Squid.

University of California Davis students Andrew Choi, Gabriela Gomes, Jacklyn Tran, Stephanie Thai and Joel Humes were challenged to make something with just a shoestring budget of $600 and two motors. Putting their mechanical minds together, this engineering group came up with a clever robot with the singular purpose of tying shoelaces, bunny ear-style. via...The post UC Davis Engineering Students on a Shoestring Budget Build a Clever Robot That Can Tie Shoes appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a postern episode of their incredibly insightful and fascinating animations, the ever-philosophical design house Kurzgesagt posits the efficacy of the concept of wormholes. The narrator specifically explains what a wormhole is, from what theories it came, how they differ from black holes, how string theory could play a role and a fantastic supposition of...The post How to Break the Space Time Continuum With an Atmospheric Wormhole Made From Scratch appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In an opinion piece for the New York Times, filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky, the daughter of deaf parents and mother of a deaf son, sat in conversation with 14 young, deaf people who were suddenly able to hear with the help of cochlear implants and other technologies. While each of these subjects had different experiences...The post Deaf People Explain the Precious Balance of Using Technology to Hear While Maintaining Their Identity appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A pet sheep named Bacon who lives on a Marlborough, New Zealand farm with his human Vanessa Anderson and family discovered a trampoline out in the backyard and decided to try it out. Bacon first sniffed out the surface and then gleefully reared up for a full body bounce. Bacon repeated the process over and...The post A Playful Sheep Gleefully Bounces and Down Upon a Backyard Trampoline on a New Zealand Farm appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The classic 1982 Toto song “Africa” has been getting a great deal of attention as of late. Aside from being declared the “internet’s favorite song“, it has also been the subject of a clever Twitter campaign to get Weezer to cover the song and even Weird Al Yankovic got involved. Completely separate from that, British...The post British Singer Blesses the Rains in Scandinavia in a Hilarious Black Metal Cover of the Toto Song ‘Africa’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a gently consoling animation, the consistently insightful School of Life, explains how victims of shaming are more likely to turn that shame on themselves. They essentially allow their own self-worth and self-esteem to be lowered by those who shame them, instead of turning it back on their cruel tormentors who more than likely, carry...The post Why Victims of Shaming Blame Themselves Rather Than Holding Their Cruel Tormentors Accountable appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a brilliantly detailed analysis, the knowledgeable music essayist Polyphonic takes a deep dive into the way in which the late, great Leonard Cohen wrote love songs, using four songs from different eras by way of explanation. The first of which is “Suzanne“, a burning love song to a dear friend. The next is “Famous...The post How Leonard Cohen Employed Biblical Metaphors to Truly Convey the Beauty, Power and Pain of Love appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A post shared by HuskMitNavn (@huskmitnavn1) on Jul 24, 2018 at 9:07am PDT Danish artist HuskMitNavn (Remember My Name), who’s work we’ve written about in the past, creates absolutely brilliant drawings that jump right off the page. To achieve such a remarkable amount of depth and dimension to the work, the artist uses creative paper...The post Brilliant 3D Drawings That Jump Right Off the Page With Creative Paper Folding, Tearing and Stacking appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The Vaser Valley Railway is a narrow passageway through forest of the Carpathian Mountains in rural Mamures County in northern Romania. Much of the railway has eroded over the years, but one tourism service has been gaining popularity amongst visitors to the area. Several minivans have been converted into railcars that easily go up and...The post Converted Minivan Rides the Rails Through Vaser Valley in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In 2005, Janet Adamowicz had let her adorable 4 year old tabby named Boo outdoors and then never heard from her again. Brokenhearted, Adamowicz looked long and hard for Boo, placing ads in the paper and plastering posters on lampposts with Boo’s likeness. Adamowicz had all but given up hope, when after 13 years, she...The post An Elderly Cat Returns Home to Her Beloved Human Over 13 Years After Mysteriously Going Missing appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The LuxAI QTrobot is a wonderful humanoid robot that socially interacts with children who have different forms of autism. The QT is emotionally expressive and offers support with its dramatic facial expressions and overt body language. QT also teaches the children new skills with gentle patience and positive reinforcement. Expressive and engaging robot designed for...The post QTrobot, An Emotionally Expressive Robot That Socially Engages With Children Who Have Autism appeared first on Laughing Squid.

That narrator of a fascinating episode of the animated Infographics Show explains the complexity of the human body, focusing specifically on what occurs within every sixty seconds of every day. Actions such as breathing, heart beat, brain function, blinking and DNA are among those autonomic functions that happen every minute. The human body is an...The post A Fascinating List of Autonomic Functions That Occur Within Human Bodies Every 60 Seconds appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In the film Play, former Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl narrates a short clip about “Join the Band“, a youth-oriented music camp that stresses the importance of creativity in a young person’s life. Wanting to challenge himself in the same way that these kids were doing for themselves, Grohl decided to...The post Foo Fighters Dave Grohl Plays Every Instrument on a Live 23 Minute Multi-Track Original Instrumental appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A post shared by Ozzy and Darcy (@ozzyanddarcy) on Aug 5, 2018 at 8:19am PDT A very cute Siamese/tabby mix named Ozzy has a thing for peaches. He loves the way they smell, the feel of their velvety skin and the comfort the stone fruit provides when he snuggles amongst them. At one point, Ozzy’s...The post A Cute Cat Loves Snuggling With Fresh Peaches appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In March 2018, the legendary Carol Kaye, who was an original member of the Wrecking Crew, helped to develop Phil Spector‘s “Wall of Sound” and an incredibly prolific session musician, sat down with the Dutch NTR station Top 2000 a gogo to talk about her career. The forthcoming Kaye shared how she took up the...The post Original Wrecking Crew Member Carol Kaye Talks to Dutch TV About Her Most Iconic Guitar/Bass Licks appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Just a couple of months after Weezer premiered their version of the Toto classic “Africa” aka “the internet’s favorite song” at the behest of a teenage fan with a clever Twitter campaign, the band decided to play it again to an excited audience at The Forum in Los Angeles, California. To make the song all...The post ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Joins Weezer Onstage in Los Angeles for the Much Requested Toto Song ‘Africa’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Doodling music theorist and musician 12tone wandered into the classic Guns N’ Roses heavy ballad “Sweet Child O’ Mine” is a song that is constantly on the search for a real resolution. This is not to say that the song meanders, but in the traditional sense, nothing resolves. Instead, the melody uses such techniques as...The post How the Guns N’ Roses Song ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ Is a Melody In Search of Real Resolution appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A post shared by Alexander Khokhlov (@alexanderkhokhlovcom) on Jun 27, 2018 at 1:22pm PDT In the second installment of his wonderful photo portrait series entitled “The Dog Show“, photographer Alexander Khokhlov has once again captured the amazing human-like expressiveness and qualities in the faces of adorable dogs with big personalities from all over the world....The post The Human-Like Expressiveness of Dogs Captured in the Second Part of ‘The Dog Show’ Photo Series appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a rather amusing advert for the language learning site Babbel, an earnest extraterrestrial grows a bit frustrated when he attempts to communicate his basic needs but is unable to be understood by the well-meaning people of Earth. Despite the communication difficulty, he decides to stay for a while. He finds out about Babbel and...The post A Frustrated Alien Tries to Communicate in a World Where No One Understands His Language appeared first on Laughing Squid.

For years we’ve been writing about Dutch artist Theo Jansen and his Strandbeests, incredible wind-powered walking sculptures, and those inspired by them. Over the years, the kinetic sculpture has undergone changes, but in 2018, Jansen debuted a the “UMINAMI, a slimmed down, sleeker version of his previous Strandbeest designs with redesigned joints. UMINAMI, the new...The post Theo Jansen Debuts His Newly Slimmed Down Wind Powered Walking Strandbeest For 2018 appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Louisville tattoo artist Roy Rowlett has created a brilliant interactive Rick and Morty green screen tattoo upon which moving images can be played, such as the animated series itself. The caption of the tattoo hilariously reads, “It’s called a green screen Morty“, a clever play on the “Rickmancing the Stone” episode in which Summer condescendingly...The post A Brilliant Interactive ‘Rick and Morty’ Green Screen Tattoo That Comes Alive With Moving Images appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In 2014, Wildlife Rehab posted an absolutely adorable video of a passel of young opossums who were loudly enjoying a final snack of yummy bananas before being released back into the wild. The group had been orphaned at young ages, but were determined healthy enough for release after some rehabilitation. Raised at a wildlife rehabilitation...The post Orphaned Opossums Loudly Munch on a Bunch of Bananas Before Being Released Into the Wild appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The New Yorker paid a visit to Declan Kiely, the Director of Exhibitions at the New York Public Library about the wonderful Berg Collection, which houses all sorts of historically significant realia that once belonged to famous American authors. A lock of Walt Whitman’s hair, Jack Kerouac’s boots, and Virginia Woolf’s cane are just a...The post New York Public Library Has a Wonderful Collection of Historic Everyday Items Belonging to Authors appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Ducks Eatery in New York City has brilliantly created a truly unique delectably mouthwatering way to serve watermelon. They first strip the fruit of all its rind and skin, marinate it in the same preparations used for their smoked ham and smoked it until it has the look, smell and feel of real smoked meat,...The post A Delectably Mouthwatering Smoked Watermelon That Looks, Smells and Slices Like Smoked Meat appeared first on Laughing Squid.

History buff Rusty of Rusty’s History Zone posted absolutely stunning drone footage flying over the ruins of ancient Pompeii. This quick clip offers an incredible view into the historical immensity of this particular site, which is, according to Rusty “becoming one of the largest archaeology sites in the world”. via reddit Incredible Aerial Footage Shot...The post Stunning Drone Footage Taken Flying Over the Ancient Ruins of Pompeii appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a surprisingly touching video essay, artist Zane Whitener nostalgically recalled how the rise of horror for children affected and shaped his childhood while growing up in the 1990s. Using a montage of various scary films, shows and animations, Whitener explains the most important lesson that he learned from watching horror as a kid. …Most...The post How Horror Shows and Films of the 1990s Taught Kids About Empowerment in a Way They Understood appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Paul Barton, an artist and musician living in Thailand who has played a green piano with an elephant named Peter and played a beautiful Bach concerto for a blind elephant named Lam Duan, performed a moving version of the third movement of the Claude Debussy suite “Clair de Lune” for Ampan, a sweet, gentle 80...The post Pianist Plays a Moving Version of Debussy ‘Clair de Lune’ for a Beautiful Eighty Year Old Elephant appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A post shared by Thomas Dambo (@thomasdambo) on Jul 24, 2018 at 11:46pm PDT We’ve previously posted about the very talented Thomas Dambo who in 2015 created gorgeous giant hulking sculptures in several countries and filled a Copenhagen forest with six towering giants. In 2018 Dambo back with a new series of six giant wooden...The post Six Towering Wooden Sculptures of Moody Trolls Hide Inside 1,700 Acres of a Chicago Arboretum appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Engineers in the Humanoids and Human Centered Mechatronics Lab at the Italian Institute of Technology, in partnership with the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme, have created the remarkable Centauro, a very sturdy search and rescue robot that has four legs and a truly anthropomorphic body that can lift heavy items, poke holes in fences and...The post The Centauro, A Sturdy Search and Rescue Robot With an Anthropomorphic Body That Can Cut Wood appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A post shared by Lucy Sparrow (@sewyoursoul) on Aug 3, 2018 at 10:14pm PDT In 2014, artist Lucy Sparrow created the The Cornershop, a pop-up store that stocked felt replicas of items that are typically found in an English grocery store. Since that time, Sparrow has brought her soft, handmade wares across the pond to...The post The Sparrow Mart, A Los Angeles Pop Up Shop Filled With Felt Versions of 31,000 Supermarket Items appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A post shared by Scott Beale (@scottbeale) on Jul 26, 2018 at 12:11pm PDT Recently while driving through Delaware, Lori and I visited the legengary Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, DE. They have a wonderful tasting room and a really great outdoor space that features the incredible Steampunk Tree House as the centerpiece. The 40′...The post Steampunk Tree House at Dogfish Head Brewery appeared first on Laughing Squid.

There’s Waldo is a very clever robot that is able to search through many illustrated faces to find the often elusive Waldo of the classic game “Where’s Waldo“, indicating the location with a pointed robotic finger. The robot then sends a picture to a trained machine to verify the location of iconic red-striped shirt wearer....The post There’s Waldo, A Clever Robot Specifically Designed to Answer the Age Old Question of ‘Where’s Waldo’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Photographers, videographers and spectators along the course react to the incredible speed of the motorcycles racing during the Isle of Mann TT in a hilarious compilation created by BAZ Channel. The most common reaction was that of astonishment and fear, as this race is known as the fastest race in the world. There were a...The post Amusing Compilation of Photographers Reacting to the Incredible Speed of Isle of Man TT Motorcycles appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Great Big Story visited with the incredibly talented choreographer and master ballet dancer Ivan Liška to talk about dance during the Bauhaus Movement during early-mid 20th Century Germany. They specifically focused on the highly distinctive, costumed geometric style of the “Triadic Ballet” developed by Oskar Schlemmer in 1922. The Bauhaus Movement produced more than just...The post The Incredible Costumed Geometry of the 1922 Bauhaus Era ‘Triadic Ballet’ by Oskar Schemmler appeared first on Laughing Squid.

While a diamond wholesaler was doing a bit of work at their desk, a rather refined ant with expensive taste came over and casually grabbed a loose gem to steal. The refined insect masterfully rolled the diamond away, but every so often, would check behind to make sure that no one was watching. An ant...The post A Refined Ant With Expensive Taste Attempts to Steal a Loose Diamond From Wholesaler’s Desk appeared first on Laughing Squid.

An Amish man in Colon, Michigan named Timothy Hochstedler decided to get in on the ride sharing bandwagon with his own interpretation of companies like Uber and Lyft, but with a horse and buggy rather than a car. Calling it “Amish Uber”, Hochstedler offers door-to-door rides for just $5 and unique rolling view of the...The post Michigan Man Starts an Amish Version of Uber With an On-Call Horse and Buggy Ride Sharing Service appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The incredibly creative Wackids, who usually play with toy instruments, played a truly unique cover of the White Stripes song “Seven Nation Army” on electronicThe post A Unique Cover of the White Stripes Song ‘Seven Nation Army’ Played Through Electronic Barbie Dolls appeared first on Laughing Squid.

French musician Mathieu Terrade performed a flawlessly somber cover of the iconic Queen song “Bohemian Rhapsody” on a Harpejji G16. Terrade’s rendition of the song has garnered quite a number of views on YouTube. 2 Millions of views for “Bohemian Rhapsody”!!! We previously wrote about this wonderfully unique tapping instrument that employs the principles of...The post Talented Harpejji Player Performs a Somber Cover of the Iconic Queen Song ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

While speaking at a 2016 TEDxQueensSU event, hypnotist and filmmaker Albert Nerenberg offered an amusing presentation that tested whether or not the highly controversial subject of hypnotism is actually real. As a novel way to prove his point, Nerenberg put out several suggestions to the audience and then asked them to raise their hands in...The post TEDx Presenter Hypnotizes the Audience to Test Whether or Not the Power of Suggestion Works appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Swiss photographer Raphaël Sandoz captured an incredible timelapse of the gorgeous downhill ride on Gelmer Funicular, a cable-traction train that begins high up in the Swiss Alps near Gelmer Lake, runs along the Grimsel Pass until it terminates in the valley town of Handegg, Guttannen. timelapse of the ride back down from the gelmersee with...The post Amazing Timelapse of an Incredibly Steep Downhill Ride on a Cable Train From High in the Swiss Alps appeared first on Laughing Squid.

DIY craftsman Levsha shared a video showing his step-by-step process for building a beautiful micro sized chess set set out of shiny brass and precious wood. Every tiny chess piece is a perfect miniature version of those within a standard set. …It’s a little souvenir for friends. To make these chess pieces you will need...The post Skilled DIY Craftsman Shares How to Make a Beautiful Micro Chess Set Out of Brass and Wood appeared first on Laughing Squid.

While magician Ah Gan was demonstrates a series of tricks on video, his rather humorless friend repeatedly revealed the secrets behind said tricks in complete silence, without a flicker of emotion crossing his pokerface. Chinese magician A Gan enjoys showing off his tricks through his live-streaming channel, but not when his buddy is messing around...The post A Magician’s Tricks Are Repeatedly Spoiled by a Silent Humorless Friend Who Reveals His Secrets appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Motion and graphic designer Florent Porta has created “Les Machines Impossibles“, a series of five short films that brilliantly imagine what goes on with the internal mechanisms inside larger, more complex machines. The films were made in 2017 at the request of the Centre Pompidou Museum for their children’s web series “Mon Œill. The subjects...The post Brilliantly Imaginative Short Films That Explain the Internal Mechanisms Inside Complex Machines appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In an aquatic episode of The New York Times series ScienceTake from 2015, host James Gorman shares some very interesting information using research from David Scheel, Peter Godfrey-Smith and Matthew Lawrence. The three men studied the eight-armed cephalopods of Tasmania, Australia, Gorman explained the clever ways in which the solitary creatures use their bodies to...The post The Clever Ways in Which Solitary Octopuses Use Their Bodies To Communicate With Each Other appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The Revolving Internet is a fun, slightly dizzying site created by Constant Dullaart that rotates the Google search page in slow moving constant turns around the computer screen. Even though it’s moving, the search field is fully functional to allow the person at the keyboard to type in any URL they see fit. All web...The post ‘The Revolving Internet’ Rotates the Google Search Page In Slow Moving Circles Around the Screen appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Filmmaker Emile Rafael sat down with renowned architect Frank Gehry in front of his iconic namesake Spruce Street building in Manhattan to talk about his visionary art. Gehry was more than happy to share his passion for architecture that imbues a strong sense of movement and fluidity as seen in his beautiful fish shaped building...The post Renowned Architect Frank Gehry Shares His Passion For Giving His Buildings a Sense of Movement appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A very informative video by Food Insider/The Science Channel shows the fascinating process by which rainbow colored candy sprinkles are made, what they are made of, how they get to be certain colors and how they are packaged. They also gave a short history about where sprinkles originated. Rainbow cake sprinkles have been around since...The post How Rainbow Colored Candy Sprinkles Are Made appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In the animated “Detective Simmons” by StoryCorps, the amazing oral history project that provides recording booths for people to tell their own life stories, a wonderful tribute is paid to an honorable man who knew when and how to stand up for what was right. The commentary was provided by his beloved daughter and grandson,...The post Police Detective Is Fondly Remembered by Daughter and Grandson for Standing Up for What’s Right appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Doodling music theorist and musician 12tone took a deep dive into the classic song “Message in a Bottle” by The Police. He astutely focuses on the song’s use of quintal harmonies, power chords and the wandering passage the music takes before it find the root (E Major) while noting how this sense of melodic meandering...The post How Meandering Quintal Harmonies Give the Song ‘Message In a Bottle’ a Sense of Being Lost at Sea appeared first on Laughing Squid.