Author: Michele Debczak

Since the first film premiered in 1995, Toy Story has blown up into one of Pixar’s most beloved franchises. It’s hard to separate Buzz Lightyear from Tim Allen’s deadpan vocal performance today, but if the director had his way, the character would have sounded quite different.

In the video below, shared by The A.V. Club, Billy Crystal can be heard voicing an early version of Buzz in a demo for the movie. Crystal was Toy Story director John Lasseter’s first choice for the role, but the actor didn’t take him up on the offer. In an interview, Crystal would later cite the missed opportunity as “the only regret I have in the business of something I passed on.”

But before Crystal said no to going to infinity and beyond, the studio sampled a clip of his performance from When Harry Met Sally in an animation test. Though audiences never got to see Crystal play a plastic astronaut, he did collaborate with Pixar years later as Mike Wazowski in 2001’s Monsters, Inc.

[h/t The A.V. Club]

The world’s top musicians and athletes can make their crafts seem effortless. But scoring a three-point shot or tearing through a guitar solo isn’t achieved through raw talent alone—such skills take hours to master.

This video from TED-Ed breaks down the science of effective training, starting with the impact it has on our brains. Similar to how exercise builds muscle, repeating the same action over and over strengthens the nerves delivering that message. Nerve fibers, or axons, are insulated with a substance called myelin that reduces energy loss and allows information from the brain to reach muscles more efficiently. Studies have shown that practice can bulk up these tissues, resulting in what some people think of as “muscle memory.”

But not all types of practice are created equal. TED-Ed goes on to suggest some tips for making sure whatever you’re trying to learn sticks. One effective tool is visualization. In a 1996 study, two groups of participants were asked to practice free throws. The first group completed the physical act of throwing a basketball while the second simply visualized going through the motions. The subjects who used their imaginations to practice improved by 23 percent and the physical players improved by 24 percent. So whether you want to master cooking, coding, or a new language, you have the tools to practice your skill no matter where you find yourself.

[h/t TED-Ed]

Today an 89-year-old piece of mold sold for $14,751 at an auction house in London. As The New York Times reports, the sample is part of the original culture used by Alexander Fleming to grow penicillin.

In 1928, the Scottish scientist accidentally discovered the life-saving antibiotic as a result of his slovenly lifestyle. Fleming had a habit of leaving out bacteria-filled petri dishes to fester around his home for weeks. He was disinfecting old dishes one day when he noticed that a spot of fungus had appeared on one of them and had killed the surrounding bacteria. Apparently, the fungus was a rare strain of penicillium that had blown in from an open window and found its way on to the sample.

Part of that original batch was purchased today, March 1, from Lot 92 at Bonhams for a five-figure sum. The back of the sample is signed by Fleming himself with the message, “The mould that first made penicillin.” Other historic mold samples from Fleming’s lab have been gifted to Winston Churchill, Prince Philip, Marlene Dietrich, and Pope Pius XII.

[h/t The New York Times]

Released on their iconic self-titled album (or “Black Album”) in 1991, Metallica’s angsty ballad “Nothing Else Matters” is one of the band’s most popular songs. This jazzy cover from Postmodern Jukebox will make even longtime Metallica fans feel like they’re hearing it for the first time.

Postmodern Jukebox is known for performing modern hits in the style of old-school artists. Their past covers have included a doo-wop version of Miley Cyrus’s “We Can’t Stop,” a 1960s girl group rendition of Ellie Goulding’s “Burn,” and a Great Gatsby-era version of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” Their latest video above features 15-year-old vocalist Caroline Baran performing classic Metallica in the style of the torch songs of the 1940s.

For a reminder of what the original sounds like, check out the 1992 music video below.

[h/t Someecards]

Header/banner images: Kreepin Deth via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 3.0

Masako Wakamiya has found a modern way to celebrate a tradition from her Japanese heritage. At age 81, she devoted herself to learning how to code. Now, after six months of studying and with guidance from her teacher, RocketNews24 reports that Wakamiya has developed her own mobile game.

The app, titled Hinadan, is inspired by the annual Girl’s Day (Hinamatsuri) celebrations in Japan. During the days surrounding the actual holiday on March 3, dolls dressed in traditional clothing from the Heian period (794 to 1185 CE) are showcased in homes that have a young daughter. The order of the figurines is very important; for example, the first row of the stand is always occupied by the emperor and empress dolls.

To play Hinadan, players arrange 12 cartoon dolls into their proper spots on a four-level display. Some knowledge of the Japanese practice is required to win, but if players are not familiar with the holiday, the game gives them the opportunity to learn. The voiceover also provides assistance, if users find themselves struggling.

You can watch Wakamiya run through the game below.

Hinamatsuri displays are set up at the end of February and taken down the day after the official festival on March 3. To observe the event outside of Japan, you can download Hinadan for free from Apple’s app store.

[h/t RocketNews24]

Seniors who dream of spending retirement like they’re living in a Jimmy Buffett song are in luck. As Curbed reports, construction on a Margaritaville-themed senior housing development in Daytona Beach, Florida is currently underway.

Latitude Margaritaville will offer many of the same amenities as a typical Florida retirement complex. Residents of the community’s 6900 homes will have access to a gym, a pool, arts and education programs, a beach shuttle, and a 200,000-square-foot shopping center.

According to the Margaritaville blog, the facility will also channel the brand’s “authentic, ‘no worries,’ tropical vibe.” Indoor and outdoor dining spaces will serve food and drinks from the Margaritaville restaurant chain and a bandshell in the village’s center will host live entertainment. (The blog doesn’t state whether Florida resident Jimmy Buffett will be stopping by for performances.) In total, the development project is expected to cost $1 billion.

Furnished model homes will be ready by early 2018, and the retail space is scheduled to open this fall. Younger Buffett fans looking for their own immersive Margaritaville experience won’t need to venture far outside Daytona Beach to find one. The first phase of Margaritaville Resort Orlando, complete with vacation homes, a wellness center, and a water park, will launch at the end of this year.

[h/t Curbed]

France is known as the unofficial culinary capital of the world to many, and for good reason. French products like brie, cognac, and champagne are enjoyed far beyond the nation’s borders. For a look at where France’s most beloved gourmet exports originated, refer to the early 19th-century map above.

As highlighted on Atlas Obscura, the “Gastronomical Map of France” was created by Jean François Tourcaty in 1809. A scan of the map takes viewers through the country’s most delectable landmarks, from Roquefort, home to the region’s pungent blue cheese, to Dijon, the birthplace of the world-famous mustard. While some places are no longer producing their signature delicacies, many of them are still home to the food and wine they were known for 200 years ago.

The map first appeared in the book Cours Gastronomique, which was written by Charles Louis Cadet de Gassicourt, the possible illegitimate son of Louis XV. The culinary tome was published a decade after the French Revolution, around the same time the fine dining industry was starting to explode in France.

For more unique maps from history, check out Cornell University’s PJ Mode Collection of Persuasive Cartography online.

[h/t Atlas Obscura]

All images: Cornell University // CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Curious to see who your neighbors would have been 100 million years ago? The answer can be found in this interactive map spotted by Popular Mechanics. Compiled using information from the Paleobiology Database, the graphic plots fossils uncovered by paleontologists around the world.

The scientists maintaining the database have cataloged a massive amount of fossil discoveries, and they eventually hope to include every fossil ever found. On the website, 350,442 taxa from seven continents spanning more than 500 million years are already represented.

“[A] major challenge has been in just gathering all the published data in the first place,” Matthew Carrano, a long-time Paleobiology Database contributor and curator of Dinosauria at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History told mental_floss. “There’s no central place to get it, so I’ve spent a lot of time in the library, looking for papers, reading them, and extracting relevant information and putting it into this online database. We won’t know when we’re done until we stop finding new papers and new reports of dinosaur fossils—and 17 years in, that hasn’t happened yet.”

Fortunately, the map makes it simple to sift through all that data. Users can search for a fossil by era, the layer of earth or stratum it was found in, or by specific taxonomy. Zooming in on a certain region displays the location of every fossil discovered in that area. Fossils range from mollusks and arthropods to mammals and tyrannosaurs.

The tool also gives users the option to switch from a modern view of the world to how it looked at any point in the past half-billion years. “It’s extremely comprehensive, but we’re not quite done yet,” Carrano said. “New dinosaurs are being discovered every year, to the tune of a new species every month or two.”

Whether you want to stick to your backyard or explore fossil discoveries around the globe, you can do it all from the Paleobiology Database’s navigator map.

[h/t Popular Mechanics]

The last five minutes of the 89th Academy Awards delivered one of the most shocking moments in Oscar history. For viewers who called it quits before the final trophy was handed out, here’s what happened: Two minutes into the acceptance speeches for La La Land’s Best Picture win, it was revealed that Damien Chazelle’s musical wasn’t the rightful winner after all. Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight was the true Best Picture winner, and the casts and crews of the two films awkwardly switched places on stage in a moment that was stranger than cinematic fiction.

You can watch the scene play out below:

Warren Beatty, who opened the envelope and then handed the card to his fellow presenter, Faye Dunaway, to read, has received a lot of flak for the incident online. But according to Mashable, the London-based accounting and professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is really to blame for the mix-up.

For years, the PwC accountants have managed the Academy Awards ceremony. Last night, officials made the egregious error of handing the envelope containing the Best Actress winner to Beatty instead of the one for Best Picture. The company released a statement, which read:

“We sincerely apologize to ‘Moonlight,’ ‘La La Land,’ Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar® viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture. The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.”

You can witness Beatty’s confusion upon opening the envelope in the video above. After reading Emma Stone’s name listed when he was supposed to be announcing Best Picture, the stumped actor passed the buck to his partner—and Bonnie and Clyde co-star—Dunaway, who saw the words La La Land and read them immediately. So don’t blame the presenters; they were also victims of last night’s epically embarrassing oversight.

[h/t Mashable]

A dollhouse built for Queen Mary in the early 1920s is more luxurious than many life-sized homes. Given to the Queen as a gift for her efforts in World War I, it features running water, electric lights, working elevators, and flushing toilets.

British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens was behind the larger design, but more than 1500 artists and craftsmen fabricated miniatures for the structure. The dollhouse’s library includes original stories handwritten by famous authors of the period. Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle all contributed pieces to the collection. In the wine cellar, 1200 thimblefuls of real booze are kept in miniature bottles. The garage houses a Daimler and a 1923 Silver Ghost limousine.

The dollhouse is also one of the biggest ever made at a 1:12 scale (one inch to one foot). When thanking everyone responsible, Queen Mary called it “the most perfect present that anyone could receive.” You can get a detailed look at the structure, which is now on display at Windsor Castle, in the video below.

[h/t BBC]