Laughing Squid
a daily dose of unique and curious things
In-Flight Magazine and Catalog ‘SkyMall’ to Relaunch With a New Entertainment-Focused Direction
In a post on LinkedIn, new owner Scott Jordan has announced his plans to relaunch the recently bankrupted in-flight magazine and catalog SkyMall with a new entertainment-focused…
A NASA Time-Lapse Video Compressing Five Years of the Sun’s Rotation Into Less Than Three Minutes
NASA‘s heliophysics division recently celebrated the five-year anniversary of the Solar Dynamics Observatory with a time-lapse video that compresses five years of the Sun’s rotation into less…
‘This American Life’ Helps a Woman Say ‘I Love You’ for the First Time to Her Boyfriend of Eight Years
This American Life and filmmaker Bianca Giaever are collaborating on Videos 4 U, a new video series in which Giaever finds people who have something…
Surprisingly Powerful Edits of the Television Shows ‘Dr. Phil’ and ‘Judge Judy’ With the Dialogue Removed
Bill Smith beautifully edited an episode of the talk show Dr. Phil to remove all dialogue among the participants. In the episode, a family confronts…
A Series of Common Misconceptions From Television Shows
In a recent episode of the Mental Floss series Misconceptions, host Elliott Morgan tunes out some common misconceptions from television. Crime shows seem to make up the…
Prayer Nuts, Small 16th Century Wooden Spheres That Conceal Incredibly Ornate Carvings
Prayer nuts are small spherical wooden objects that can be opened to reveal remarkably ornate relief carvings of biblical events. Prayer nuts served as a…
Slow-Motion Video of a ‘Chicken Laying Egg’ Firework Shooting Out Spinning Fireballs and Blowing Up a Balloon Egg
Taras Kulakov (a.k.a. “Crazy Russian Hacker“) of Slow Mo Lab (previously) has created a slow-motion video of a “Chicken Laying Egg” firework shooting out spinning…
‘It’s Okay To Be Smart’ Counts the Number of Heartbeats the Average Human Experiences in a Lifetime
It’s Okay To Be Smart (previously) host Joe Hanson celebrates Valentine’s Day by explaining how many heartbeats animals and humans experience over the course of…
The Science Behind the Familiar Sweet Smell of Roses
On a special Valentine’s Day edition of the American Chemical Society series Reactions (previously), host Dr. Raychelle Burks gets to the bottom of the science…
Two Cats Adorably Demonstrate the Many Different Ways They Say ‘I Love You’ to Their Human
Cats Cole and Marmalade (previously) adorably demonstrate the many different ways they say “I love you” using their human Chris Poole as their subject. Cats…