A few years ago, French TikToker Cyrilschr (who is no longer at that account) played with Orbeez, beads made of sodium polyacrylate, a superabsorbent polymer that soaks up water. The beads can expand to many times their size when exposed to water, so Cyrilschr bought enough Orbeez to fill his bathtub. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and made a fun video. But then what? How do you get rid of them? He thought it would be a simple matter of letting them go down the drain. But they aren't liquid, and they clogged the drains. The follow up TikTok videos told a horror story as he panicked over the growing problem of Orbeez in the sewer. It's both funny and horrifying.
The original videos are narrated in a combination of French and German, and this compilation has been edited down and English captions added, which are NSFW. You'll have to toggle the CC button to turn them on. Boing Boing has the full compilation of videos, but the captions are not available in English.
Justin.herzog
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The Horror of the Never-ending Orbeez
It’s 2023. We don’t have to keep doing this.
Welcome to Garbage Weekend. It’s the internet garbage you know and love, but in a format that’s easier to read while you try and decide if you have the energy required to actually enjoy a three-day weekend.
PLATFORMS
Power users don’t care if they share fake stuff. This piece looking at a recent study on online misinformation was…
FedEx Truck Delivers Scare to Preschool
A FedEx truck crashed into a preschool building in north Arlington this afternoon.
The accident happened on the 5000 block of N. Little Falls Road, in the Rock Spring neighborhood. The truck driver somehow lost control, sideswiped a minivan, jumped the curb and ran head-first into the Rock Spring Cooperative Preschool.
The building was unoccupied at the time and no one — including the driver — was hurt, according to Arlington County Fire Department spokeswoman Lt. Sarah-Maria Marchegiani.
A building inspector has been called to the scene to inspect the damage to the structure.
Photos courtesy ACFD, Jason Gropper
Couple, Married for 66 Years, Died Hours Apart in "Final Act of Love"
Harold Knapke met his wife Ruth in third grade, began their romance during World War II and married soon afterwards. The couple died on the same day, just hours apart, after 66 years of marriage. Their children called their deaths "final act of love":
[The couple's daughter Margaret] said Ruth contracted a rare infection shortly before her death and it was clear she was not going to recover. When Margaret and her siblings told her father the news, she recalled, he took it calmly but they saw a "shift" in him.
Just a few days later, Margaret and one of her sisters noticed that their father appeared to be very ill, she said.
"My sister said, 'It's almost like he's trying to catch up to Mom.'"
Three days later, Harold died, at 7:30 a.m.
"I think he realized what was happening and wanted to pave the way for her," the couple's son, Ted Knapke, said.
After their father died, the Knapke children surrounded their mother -- who was not lucid -- and told her, "Dad's up there waiting. They got the card game going and it's time you got up there. Don't stick around for us," Ted Knapke said.
Ruth Knapke died that night, at 6:30 p.m.
Harold was 91 and Ruth was 89.
Allie Malloy of CNN has the touching story - Thanks Tiffany!
The Renovations That Up Your Home's Value (and the Ones That Don't)
Is digging up the backyard to put in a pool worth it? What about upgrading a tired-looking kitchen with gleaming marble countertops? And what about installing high-tech speakers—throughout the house? If you’re planning to renovate your home, you may already be asking yourself these questions. But when it comes to increasing your home’s appraisal value, the answer to them isn’t always a resounding yes.
Wundermap for iPad Adds New Layers for Fires, Hurricanes, and More
iOS: The folks at Weather Underground (your favorite weather site), just updated Wundermap for iPad with an array of new features and layers perfect for people who love sifting through community-sourced weather data and people who just want accurate, up-to-date forecasts worldwide.
Wundermap 2.0 is iPad only, and it makes use of that large screen by offering you a wealth of layers you can overlay on a top-down map so you can see current weather conditions, historical trends, and data from Weather Underground's massive network of community run and operated weather stations around the globe. You can even select a layer of just weather stations, so you can see what the community is up to. Alternatively, if you're worried about hurricanes and other tropical storms, switch to the new hurricane view to see what's going on out on the water. The fire and fire risk layers can show you where there are active wildfires and whether your region is in danger for one.
The app auto-detects your location to give you relevant weather information, but you'll find you can drag the map all over the world and get accurate forecasts and data. You'll even see data from islands, offshore platforms, and other weather probes out to sea if you start looking around the waters just offshore. The new version is free and available now in the iTunes App Store.
Wundermap for iPad (Free) | iTunes App Store via TUAW
