Laughing Squid
a daily dose of unique and curious things
How a Missing Oxford Comma in Maine Employment Law Cost a Portland Dairy Over $5,000,000 in Overtime
In 2014, Oakhurst Dairy in Portland, Maine was named a defendant in a class-action lawsuit brought by their drivers, who claimed that they were due…
Jimi Hendrix Talks to Dick Cavett in 1969 About His Electric Church and How He Prefers Music to Politics
In a really wonderful clip from a 1969 appearance on the Dick Cavett Show, a brilliantly attired, shy Jimi Hendrix talked about his idea for…
A Marvelous Set of Optical Illusion Playing Cards
Illusion d’Optique is a marvelous set of playing cards that feature incredible optical illusions and hypnotic holographic designs that change color with movement. These cards…
Movement Act, A Hypnotic Star-Shaped Juggling Machine With 16 Crisscrossing Balls That Never Collide
Japanese juggling graduate student Shun Onozawa has created “Movement Act” an incredibly hypnotic, rhythmic juggling machine that simultaneously keeps 16 constantly crisscrossing balls in perpetual…
Talking Gargoyle at the Denver Airport Hilariously Engages With Skeptical Travelers and Curious Children
The Denver International Airport has always been very candid about the conspiracies and rumors surrounding the questionable adornments of unusual murals, statues and of course,…
A Smaller, Lighter Version of the MIT Four-Legged Cheetah Robot That Can Do Backflips on Command
Scientists from the Biomimetic Robotics Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created the Mini Cheetah, a smaller 20 pound version of their hurdle…
Embr Wave, An Ingenious Wristband That Automatically Regulates Skin Temperature
The Embr Wave is an ingenious wristband developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists that automatically regulates skin temperature, like a personal thermostat. This…
How a Specific Scene in ‘Silence of the Lambs’ Was Structured to Reveal a Lot About Each Character
Michael Tucker of Lessons From a Screenplay takes a look at a scene from the iconic film Silence of the Lambs to show how it…
Why the One Who Wins the ‘Game of Thrones’ Will Be the One to Write ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ For the Ages
In a somewhat prescient video essay that was first posted in 2016, Sage Hyden of the series Just Write poses the very interesting question as…
The Restless Beauty Within Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Art
In a colorful TED-Ed lesson written by Jordana Moore Saggese and animated by Héloïse Dorsan Rachet, narrator Dr. Christina Greer tells of legendary Brooklyn artist…