Documentarian HD1080ide captured great footage of Amphib 2026, the annual European gathering of Les Amis de l’Amphibie in Berlin, featuring the world’s largest group of road-legal amphibious vehicles. The lineup included Amphicars, Volkswagen Schwimmwagen, an Amphicruiser, and custom-built vehicles that were driven into and cruised such waterways as Lake Wannsee and Lake Schwielowsee near Potsdam over several days in August 2026.

From August 1st to 8th, 2026, the world’s largest amphibious car meeting took place in Berlin. Among the partly extremely rare vehicles were numerous Amphicars, Schwimmwagen, Ford GPA (Seep), three Amphi-Ranger, an Amphicruiser, four DUKW and several custom-built vehicles.

The meet moves to a different European country each year, and every vehicle must be registered and able to both drive and swim.

The 2027 gathering is slated to take place in London. Amphibious vehicles have a history there, as seen in 1965 footage of an amphibious water scooter riding on the River Thames.

via The Awesomer

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Someone at Meep Meepleton’s World of Fun in Madison, Wisconsin, amusingly played a vintage Hasbro Big Mouth Singers toy keyboard in time with the classic Beastie Boys track “Brass Monkey”, making the toy’s characters’ heads pop up whenever it was their time to sing.

Not bad for a 50 year old toy and my piano skills are rusty.

Meep Meepleton’s World of Fun is a vintage and modern toy store on Williamson Street that also sells collectibles and records.

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Talented British pianist David Bennett analyzed the specific chords and keys that made Queen‘s classic song “We Are the Champions” sound so triumphant.

Queen had a real knack of writing songs that bottled feelings, and a perfect example is We Are The Champions. This song literally sounds like a victory!

Bennett notes that the song starts with darker minor chords, then shifts to major chords, and finally to a five-chord progression that builds confidence before a significant key change, up a whole step from E-flat to F, evoking a true sense of victory.

It’s not just the lyrics that make us feel like champions when we listen to this piece of music, but it’s the music as well. The music evokes those feelings, those emotions of going against hardship, of overcoming challenges, and ultimately emerging victorious.

David Bennett also points out that the studio version never resolves, ending on a mysterious C minor 11 chord like a cliffhanger, though the live version finally gives the story its ending.

Other Videos by David Bennett

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Jelle Bakker of Jelle’s Marble Runs presented a spooky Halloween-themed competition in which eight marbles had to navigate a perilous, haunted-castle course with traps, moving obstacles, and ominous creatures, such as giant spiders. As in previous races, the marbles competed in a series of elimination rounds to see which one could safely navigate the course and claim the Halloween championship title.

8 marbles must roll through a spooktacular course full of tricky traps over 8 rounds. From round 4 onwards, the marble with the fewest points gets gobbled up by the giant spiders. Who will have the guts to make it to the final round? Don’t lose your marbles, and don’t get caught in the web!

Commentator Greg Woods calls the action in a suitably spooky voice, naming each trap along the way, from the “Skull Swinger” and the “Boo Basher” to a gang of evil snails known as “Scary Gary”.

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French guitarist Illona Bolou performed a gorgeous percussive fingerstyle cover of Nirvana‘s “Heart-Shaped Box” on her acoustic guitar.

Bolou taught herself fingerstyle guitar starting in 2009, inspired by players like South Korean guitarist Sungha Jung, and she has a series of incredible fingerstyle covers of Nirvana and other artists, including “Feel Good Inc.” by Gorillaz and “Can’t Stop” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

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In a comedic yet highly informative episode of his True Facts series, narrator Ze Frank explored the unusual ways different cephalopods procreate. In his usual forthright style, Frank examined the mating rituals of the cuttlefish, squid, and octopus, citing studies on how each group has its own unique manner of reproduction.

True Facts: The Bizarre Ways Cephalopods Make Bebes

Frank also listed two dozen scientific papers in the episode’s description, including a study published in Science that found a male octopus’s specialized mating arm can sense progesterone from a female by touch.

He also posts classroom-friendly versions of the series on his TrueFactsEducational YouTube channel, though he admitted this episode would be a challenge.

Other Ze Frank ‘True Facts’ Episodes About Cephalopods

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Art director Ben Cuevas of Aesthetic All Over explored how Halloween aesthetics, including witches, pumpkins, black cats, and skeletons, have evolved over the last century.

From vintage Halloween to nostalgic childhood memories and contemporary Halloween aesthetics, we’ll discover how the same witches, ghosts, pumpkins, and black cats have taken on new iterations across generations.

Cuevas also traced the shift from whimsical early 20th-century postcards and paper goods, to postwar plastic masks and blow molds, to today’s highly curated social media displays. He breaks that history into three eras: Vintage Halloween (roughly the 1890s to the 1940s), Nostalgic Halloween (the 1950s through the 1990s), and Aesthetic Halloween (the 2000s to today).

Along the way, we’ll look at how commercialization, suburbanization, pop culture, and social media have transformed the way we celebrate Halloween…

Cuevas, a self-described Halloween fanatic, is also an artist known for his knit sculptures, including the anatomical knit hoods we featured back in 2012.

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The lemurs at the Oregon Zoo enjoyed Halloween jack-o’-lanterns with tasty grapes hidden at the bottom. The zoo also placed a camera inside a pumpkin to capture the persistence and joy on their adorable little faces as they discovered the yummy treats inside.

Lemurs have special teeth, called a toothcomb, used for grooming and eating small fruits.

The jack-o’-lantern crew includes both ring-tailed and red-ruffed lemurs, two endangered species native to Madagascar.

Halloween at the Oregon Zoo

The Zoo’s Lemurs Have Also Enjoyed a Popsicle Party

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As part of their annual Halloween tradition, the talented Spanish band Broken Peach performed an eerie cover of Michael Jackson‘s “Thriller” blended with Rockwell‘s “Somebody’s Watching Me”. The song concluded with a badass rendition of Rammstein‘s “Du hast”. The costumes and choreography were also spookily on point, making the performers seem undead.

Broken Peach – Thriller (Halloween Special)

The band, based in Galicia, Spain, has released a new Halloween special every year since 2015. They also released the mashup as a single.

Previous Broken Peach Halloween Mashups

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Prolific video editor Bill McClintock created “Ghostmashers”, a massive Halloween mashup that cleverly layers Ray Parker Jr.‘s classic Ghostbusters theme with eleven other 1980s hits.

McClintock wondered whether anything could possibly get more ’80s than this.

Music featured in this mashup: Ray Parker Jr. – Ghostbusters (1984)

The Fabulous Thunderbirds – Tuff Enuff (1986)

Rockwell – Somebody’s Watching Me (1983)

Eddie Money – Shakin’ (1982)

ZZ Top – Sleeping Bag (1985)

David Bowie ft. Stevie Ray Vaughan – Let’s Dance (1983)

Danzig – Mother (1988)

Aretha Franklin – Who’s Zoomin’ Who? (1985)

Oingo Boingo – Weird Science (1985)

Yello – Oh Yeah (1985)

Huey Lewis and the News – I Want a New Drug (1983)

Van Halen – Where Have All the Good Times Gone! (1982)

McClintock also shares mashups that didn’t make the cut, along with videos that were removed from YouTube, with his supporters on Patreon.

Other Massive Mashups by Bill McClintock

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Talented and tuxedoed musician Lord Vinheteiro performed a very active cover of the classic Van Halen song “Jump” on the strategic array of rubber chickens that he uses to play other delightful covers.

Jump – Van Halen on Rubber Chickens

When he’s not squeezing rubber poultry, Vinheteiro teaches piano and keyboard through his online Lord Music Academy.

Other Rubber Chicken Covers

How to Tune Rubber Chickens

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A beautiful Asian elephant named Samudra was given a giant pumpkin to squash during the Oregon Zoo‘s 28th annual Squishing of the Squash. The 18-year-old Samudra took it all in stride, ably squishing that 500-pound squash, which was filled with yummy lettuce, apples and sweet potatoes. His adorable 20-month-old little sister, Tula-Tu, was given a tiny pumpkin for her to squash.

It was elephant vs. pumpkin in an epic showdown today during the Oregon Zoo’s 28th annual Squishing of the Squash.

The big squish comes before Samudra moves to the Saint Louis Zoo in 2027.

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The narrator of Honkology explained why doomscrolling is so addictive through a very tired animated goose who likes to procrastinate because of his constant need to be online, even though it’s not all that enjoyable anymore.

Why you can’t stop scrolling: the bottomless feed, the slot machine in your pocket, the red dot, autoplay, the doom in doomscrolling, and revenge bedtime procrastination.

He also offered helpful suggestions for breaking that mentally toxic cycle, like turning the phone’s screen gray, which one study found saves 38 minutes of screen time a day, along with a simple action and a very logical phrase.

Final goose wisdom. The app isn’t going to stop Goose. It doesn’t get paid when Goose stops. Put the phone on the other side of the room. Goose’s neck is long, but not that long. You don’t have to finish the internet.

Why Every App Gets Worse on Purpose

In a follow-up video, the goose explains why apps lure users in with free bread before squeezing them, a cycle that Cory Doctorow named and the goose calls “en-honk-ification.”

Why Facts Don’t Change Minds

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Events creator Alona, the girlfromjerseycity, captured the sight of an adorable Angine de Poitrine tribute costume appropriately named “Angine de Pawtrine” that featured a tiny canine on drums at the 36th Annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade. Their costumes were certainly on point, with lots of polka dots everywhere.

This tribute to Angine de Pawtrine brought polka dots and a tiny canine drummer to the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade.

36th Annual Costume Contest Winners

Previous Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parades

Angine de Poitrine

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Clever cartoonist Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal created “Grimothy”, a giant, evil version of Jimothy, the viral Seattle raccoon with an unusually short, round body. This spooky Halloween display, which has menacing teeth, glowing eyes, skulls, and lanterns, is prominently featured in his brother’s front yard.

Behold: Grimothy is here, the Jim Reaper, Dark Lord and Father of Jimothy.
Located on Bainbridge island at my brother’s house…

The Neighbors Aren’t Too Thrilled With the Display

The neighbors are saying it’s too big but I think I could have gone bigger

View on Threads

It all began as a simple police sketch of Jimothy that Inman drew back in July.

via Neatorama

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Two-time world champion downhill skater Diego Poncelet, who previously reached 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) in the Swiss Alps, traveled the world with Red Bull to reach his personal goal of 150 km/h (93.21 mph). He found the perfect road in Quebec, a steep stretch with a maximum gradient of 18%, and tackled its challenges with new aerodynamic equipment, reaching an amazing 151.83 km/h (94.34 mph).

Two time downhill skateboard world champion Diego Poncelet sets a new world record for the fastest speed on a skateboard. Fulfilling a lifelong dream, he travels the world to find the best road for the attempt, and leaves no stone unturned in his pursuit of speed.

Poncelet’s amazing accomplishment also set a new Guinness World Record, breaking the previous mark of 146.73 km/h (91.17 mph) set on the same road in 2017 by his late friend Peter Connolly, whose memory Poncelet honors in the video.

The fastest skateboard speed downhill (standing) is 151.83 km/h (94.34 mph) and was achieved by Diego Poncelet Sanchez-Cuenca (Spain), at Les Éboulements in Quebec, Canada, on 22 September 2026.

Poncelet’s Earlier 100 km/h Run

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Dr. Emily Zarka of the PBS series Monstrum examined why ghosts are historically depicted wearing white sheets. The familiar look originated with burial shrouds used for centuries, while Victorian notions of public decency helped explain why ghosts were depicted wearing clothes.

Victorian-era illustrator George Cruikshank once mused that it would be strange for an intangible spirit to wear physical clothes, but on the other hand, depicting ghosts in the nude would be shamefully indecent.

This ghostly wardrobe caught on and eventually lost its frightening edge, thanks in part to cartoons like Disney’s Lonesome Ghosts and characters like Casper the Friendly Ghost.

In the early 20th century, the floating white sheet had become one of the most recognizable ways to depict a ghost. And then pop culture started making it a lot less scary.

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Urban field musician Benjamin Mjönes creates catchy beats by remixing various bird calls. The footage, originally captured by nature photographer Navarre Marshall, features birds such as the Canada goose, American robin, blue jay, and song sparrow.

Making beats out of birds

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When a 72-pound beagle named Autumn caught foster mom Tricia’s eye, she sent a video to her husband Dave, who thought the beautiful girl was AI-enhanced. Autumn’s original human, who had passed away, had dementia, which may have contributed to Autumn’s overfeeding.

When Tricia first sent her husband a video of Autumn, he genuinely thought the 72-pound beagle was AI.

Tricia, a volunteer with Triangle Beagle Rescue in Raleigh-Chapel Hill, North Carolina, took Autumn and helped her lose a great deal of weight with a deliberate plan to keep her comfortable.

Because Autumn weighed 72 lbs, it was very risky for her legs and back to take long walks. So, Trisha and her husband created a routine where they would go on short walks throughout the day. 

Eventually, Autumn lost enough weight to undergo surgery for a torn ligament. After recovering, she reached a healthy weight and was adopted by a loving family.

Today, Autumn is living her best life with her forever family. And you never believe she’s the same dog that Trisha and Dave met just a few months ago.

Autumn now weighs 36 pounds, having shed half her original weight of 72 pounds.

I am 36 pounds!!!!! I have been settling in to the good life with couches …I love my new home 

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Hyperland is a prescient 1990 BBC television documentary written by and starring Douglas Adams, about a non-linear dream featuring a software agent named Tom, played by fellow Doctor Who alum Tom Baker, that foreshadows the World Wide Web and modern AI assistants.

In this dream, Tom guides Adams through an interactive space full of linked text, sound, pictures, and movies represented by animated icons, reminiscent of Apple’s HyperCard software of the time.

Quietly tucked away in the BBC2 schedules of autumn 1990 was this ahead-of-its-time gem, written by Douglas Adams – technnology lover, Python writer, occasional Pink Floyd guitarist and creator of the iconic Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series of books and radio/TV programmes.

With Tom as a guide, Adams explored the evolution of interactive media, from interconnected information-storage systems like Vannevar Bush’s Memex to modern multimedia experiments with internet pioneers. Remarkably, Hyperland aired in September 1990, months before Tim Berners-Lee had the first World Wide Web server running at CERN.

Pop-up ‘micons’ (moving icons) conveniently link to interviews with leading technologists of the era (among them Ted Nelson, Robert Winter, Robert Abel, Kristina Hooper, Fabrice Forin and Steve Gano). Some of this stuff has dated badly – few visions of the future get everything right! – but the programme is nevertheless of considerable historical importance.

MrMartinPipe, who uploaded the video, notes that this version of Hyperland is missing footage due to a copyright claim, but points to a version on the Internet Archive that they say is complete.

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The post ‘Hyperland’ — A Prescient 1990 BBC Documentary by Douglas Adams That Kind of Predicts the Web was originally published on Laughing Squid.