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In spring 2023, DaFuq!?Boom! became one of the most-watched YouTube channels in the entire world. Between January and May, it shot from getting 3 million views a month to nearly 3 billion, and cemented one word in the minds of all those hundreds of millions of viewers:

Skibidi.

Plagued by recurring nightmares of hands and heads coming out of toilets, animator Alexey Gerasimov (the creator behind DaFuq!?Boom!) had decided to exorcise them by turning them into short animated clips. In the very first, 11-second Skibidi Toilet video, the viewer swings through what looks like an office building (complete with tiny suited man) and into its bathroom, where a head pops out of the toilet singing a popular TikTok mashup of Timbaland’s “Give It to Me” and Biser King’s “Dom Dom Yes Yes.”

The next few videos were similarly simple, and set the tone for Skibidi Toilet as a lo-fi,...

On Jeopardy!, a contestant can technically know what the right response could be. However, the wrong pronunciation could still cost them the win. This happened on a recent episode of the game show, all concerning a certain dog breed, and fans are upset about it.

A Dog Breed Became A Subject Of Debate For Jeopardy! Fans

On an episode that aired this past Thursday, contestant Will Wallace landed on the Double Jeopardy. The category was “Photographers and their Craft,” with a clue worth $1,600.

The clue read “William Wegman’s claim to fame—whimsical portraits of this dog breed that also starts with ‘W.'” The correct answer was “Weimaraner.”

Will Wallace – YouTube

A painter and a photographer, Wegman is known for featuring his dogs in various costumes. In pop culture, he is also known for his dogs’ appearances on various segments on Sesame Street.

Wallace seemed to be in the ballpark with his answer.

On Thursday’s episode of Jeopardy!, Will Wallace, a game design director from Austin, Texas, returned as a two-day champion with winnings totaling $28,799. He competed against Dan Meyer, a fundraising professional from Chicago, Illinois, and Kiki Jamieson, a nonprofit consultant from Toronto, Ontario. The contestants tackled a variety of categories, including Random Books in Fiction […]

Jeopardy! Thursday October 24, 2024, Recap, Winner and Final Answer...

[Warning: The below contains Major spoilers for the October 24 episode of Jeopardy!] Jeopardy! fans finally have another winning streak on their hands as of Thursday, October 24’s episode, but can Will Wallace do what his fellow Season 41 champs haven’t and make it through the tape day? Wallace, a game design director from Austin, Texas, entered with a two-day total of $28,799. He faced Dan Meyer, a fundraising professional from Chicago, Illinois (rocking some nifty earrings), and Kiki Jamieson, a nonprofit consultant from Toronto, Ontario. Both his challengers got off to strong starts, with Meyer scoring an early lead with the first Daily Double. After 15 clues, Meyer had $3,600 to Jamieson’s $3,400 and Wallace’s $1,600. After the Jeopardy! round, Wallace (having shared he traveled to Vienna solely based on the quality of The Third Man) closed the gap with $5000, Jamieson $5,800 and Meyer $5,400. In Double Jeopardy, Wallace aced the second Daily Double under the “Ballad” category as “Casey Jones” and seized the lead. ...

In early February, Republicans brought an FBI veteran to Capitol Hill whom they hoped would expose a “deep state conspiracy” among Democrats and their accomplices in the intelligence community. The GOP witness was part of a network of “whistleblowers” — funneled to congressional Republicans’ new Weaponization of Government panel by allies of Donald Trump — to reveal covert attacks on the former president and broad, anti-conservative discrimination.

But before the interview was over, it was the GOP witness who was failing to answer difficult questions — and Democratic committee staff doing the asking.

Secretaries get honored once a year, as do mothers, fathers and even people who talk like pirates, so why shouldn't sword swallowers?

That's what sword swallower Dan Meyer thinks.

For the last seven years, Meyer, president of the Sword Swallowers Association International has declared the last Saturday of February to be "World Sword Swallowers Day," a 24-hour period when the world's 200 or so sword swallowers sharpen their skills collectively.

This year, World Sword Swallowers Day is on Feb. 23, and blade gobblers will gather at various places around the world, including 18 of the 32 Ripley's Odditoriums, to perform solo swallowing and a simultaneous swallow at 2:23 p.m. local time.

World Sword Swallowers Day (Story continues below)

Sword swallowing dates back to around 4,000 B.C. Practitioners of this ancient sideshow art face death each time they attempt the feat -- and not just because the blade usually comes within one-eighth of an inch of the heart.

Carolyn Y. Johnson at Boston.com has brought this video to my attention: [video] The video is by former math teacher Dan Meyer, who elaborated at his blog: In fairness, people hate math. Hollywood just turns on the cameras. And he also calls out some of his commenters who note that when Hollywood does portray math in a positive light, it’s always something that geniuses are doing, never ordinary nongenius folks. Do you agree? Does Hollywood have a math problem? If so, is it a separate problem from Hollywood’s general disdain for anything intellectual? (If you have a suggestion for a Qotd, feel free to email me. Responses to this Qotd sent by email will be ignored; please post your responses here.)...