Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - June 4, 2025 [TRex]

Good evening Horde. The time has come for mid-week shenanigans of the overnight variety.

This is the Wednesday night ONT.

Truth:

Also truth:

More truth:

Simple, but clever business model:

Music news - anyone have this in their attic?

What happened to this "Back to the Future" guitar? Inside Gibson Guitars' efforts to solve the mystery

Michael J. Fox made history in 1985 when his "Back to the Future" character Marty McFly played Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" on a cherry red Gibson ES-345. That iconic scene influenced musicians from John Mayer to Coldplay's Chris Martin to pick up a guitar.

As the movie celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2025, producers and writers behind the classic film thought it would be fun to bring out the famed guitar.

Unfortunately, nobody knows where it is.

Mark Agnesi, director of brand experience at Gibson Guitars, said that while an official search launched in 2025, he's personally been looking for it since 2009.

Good news for a change!

Milky Way and Andromeda Collision: Why the Cosmic Crash Might Never Happen

New research published in Nature Astronomy challenges long-held beliefs about the fate of the Milky Way and its closest large neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy. For decades, astronomers have predicted a grand collision between these two spiral galaxies in about 4 to 5 billion years, leading to a massive merger and the formation of a new galaxy sometimes called "Milkomeda." However, fresh simulations incorporating the latest astronomical data suggest that the outcome is far less certain. The chance of a merger in the next 10 billion years is now estimated to be about fifty-fifty.

Hmmm...still too possible for my liking.

Perspective (since we're talking about things of the cosmic variety):

Human nature is science too:

Southwest Flight Delayed By Preboarding Miracle: "They Needed Wheelchairs To Board - But Walked Off Just Fine"

Southwest Airlines had to take a delay on a flight from Las Vegas to San Jose on Thursday because of the sheer number of passengers in wheelchairs. At Southwest, customers asking for wheelchair assistance get better seats for free - and then usually walk off the plane and all the way out the terminal themselves on the other end of the journey. They don't all need a wheelchair. They've just cracked the code.

Southwest Airlines has more wheelchair passengers than any other airline.

It makes a tremendous spectacle: the "Jetbridge Jesus" flight where passengers come on with a wheelchair to get the best seats, and miraculously walk without any assistance when the flight is over.

Of course, this will all change in the first half of 2026, because Southwest is moving to assigned seating. Wheelchair passengers may board earlier but it won't get them better seats any longer. Magically solved!

This is also going to mean the end of seat saving. No more claiming 13 seats for your group or using a bag of donuts to claim a whole row of seats, and the ensuing conflict that comes from taking more space than your ticket allows.

Oh, the glamor of modern air travel!

More science news!

Scientists Say They've Discovered a New Color - an "Unprecedented" Hue Only Ever Seen by Five People

Five people have experienced what scientists say is a brand-new color dubbed "olo," thanks to an experiment that involved firing laser pulses into their eyes.

The method allowed them to see a vibrant hue they described as a "blue-green of unprecedented saturation," according to a new paper published in the journal Science Advances last week.

Human retinas typically have three types of cone cells, which are what allow our eyes to detect various wavelengths of light. L cones detect long wavelengths, which we see as red. M cones detect medium wavelengths, which we see as green. And S cones pick up on short wavelengths, which we see as blue.

If the middle-wavelength M cones are activated under natural conditions, either S or L cones will also be activated, since the cones overlap a little in the wavelengths they detect. So, the researchers wondered what would happen if only the M cone was stimulated. To do that, they used a device called Oz, which is equipped with a laser that can stimulate single cone cells.

Five people - four male and one female - participated in the study, and three of them were on the research team. The other two participants were scientists at the University of Washington who didn't know anything about the purpose of the experiment.

If you EVER hear that TRex is volunteering for an experiment to shoot lasers into my eyes but I don't know why, please intervene. My personal policy is to limit access to my rods and cones.

Bottom story of the day. Thought this was a parody when I read initially. Apparently not. But still a joke.

Ex-White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre left Democratic Party, publisher of her book says

In other news, Lizzy Borden is still complaining about being an orphan and OJ is still looking for the real killer.

The Pittsburgh police scanner keeps giving:

This feels like a future Darwin award candidate:

Juice Newton for our big ONT finish:

Written correspondence can be sent to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Are you lurking ?? Come out and play. No, TRex can't do the Macarena with you. Short arms.

posted by Open Blogger at 10:00 PM

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