Sometimes it’s too hard to actually get your kitty in a costume. Fortunately, with a simple cardboard box and a marker, you can make your little one the coolest geek kitty in town. Click the link to see the picture even bigger.

Link Via I Can Has Cheezburger

Movies and television shows always show scientists as being stuffy older folks shrouded in white lab coats, but real scientists look much more like the rest of us than they would have you think. That’s why This Is What A Scientist is so great -it shows real scientists living their everyday lives, looking like regular people. What a great way to counter the stereotypes.

Link

Sure, all you gamers out there probably already knew there were a lot of Mega Man titles out there, but when you actually put them all together for one picture, that’s when you realize just how massive the catalog truly is. I’d love to see the same thing done for all the Mario games.

Link Via Kotaku

“We need your help, oh great citizens of the Internet! I’m writing a book with former Disney Imagineer Rolly Crump, and we’re looking for some old photos for it that you may have in your collection. We’re looking for stuff from his time at Disney (such as Adventureland Bazaar in 1963, Tower of Four Winds, The Enchanted Tiki Room in the 60s, It’s A Small World at World’s Fair, The Land in 1980s) and his outside work (like Bear-y Tales at Knott’s Berry Farm, Circus World, and Busch Gardens). Anything that Rolly has brought to life, we’d love to see your photos of it. We will gladly give you credit AND a signed copy of the book if we use your images!”

I know some of you Neatorama readers have been visiting the park for decades, so here’s a good opportunity to take advantage of those old family vacation photos.

Link Via BoingBoing

If you’ve seen the films, then you might not know it, but when the cameras weren’t rolling, Godzilla was actually quite a well-mannered gentleman adored by the women on the set. Just look at this lucky lady being accompanied by this studly ladies man

Link Via The Mary Sue

We tend to think of insects as creepy and crawly, but not so much cute. But there are some bugs that are simply precious…maybe not as much as a puppy or kitty, but definitely cute nonetheless. If you dig on six-legged cutie pies, then don’t miss this great article featuring some of the most photogenic invertebrates around.

Link

Alex Gross takes classic Victorian pictures and then repaints them into portraits of pop culture personalities like Aquaman, Bride of Frankenstein and Godzilla. His work will be exhibited at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in LA next month, so if you’re in town, stop by and support a great geek artist.

Link Via io9

The semi-annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society was held in Austin recently, and many space images were shared. Dr. Phil Plait was not at the meeting, so the other astronomers sent him pictures, which he put into a gallery at Bad Astronomy. Each has a link to more information about the picture. The image shown here is a high-energy gamma-ray map from NASA’s Fermi telescope. Shiny! Link

(Image credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration)

If you’re getting sick of all the Christmas posts today, perhaps this will be a refreshing change of pace. Here is a great collection of adorable critters wearing yarmulkes. Of course, if you’re tired of holiday posts in general, well, this won’t help you much.

Link

Do you see anything strange in the picture above? Here’s a hint, it’s not just a tree… yup, there’s a spider in there too. Don’t miss the rest of the great camouflaged creatures in the gallery over at BuzzFeed.

Link

By now you’ve probably already seen a few pictures of pups from Occupy Wall Street, but if you want to see all the adorable critters, then check out the Awwccupy Wall Street blog, featuring cuties from protests around the globe.

Link Via Laughing Squid

We’ve featured some of photographer Slinkachu’s work here before, but of all his Little People Project creations, the Worst Wurst might just be the most disgusting. That’s because it features tiny people harvesting rat poo and then selling it at a food stand. The photos are great, but you might want to avoid looking at them while eating lunch.

Link Via Laughing Squid

The magic of movies is the fact that we can suspend our disbelief and actually imagine we are wherever the movie takes place, whether in the past or a completely imaginary realm. That’s why these great behind the scenes pictures of famous films are so fun to look at. Enjoy more over at BuzzFeed.

Link

Dr. Phil Plait selects his favorite space pictures every year, but this year he had a lot to sift through. The top 16 pictures taken from the viewpoint of space include volcanoes, hurricanes, earth formations, the moon, eclipses, and spacecraft, including the final space shuttle missions. Astronaut Ron Garan took this photograph of the moon from the International Space Station. See the rest at Bad Astronomy Blog. Link

Buzzfeed compiled a collection of images from the year’s news stories that will remind you how many really big events happened in 2011, from natural disasters to citizen protests to legislation to war. Pictured is a girl in isolation in order to assess her exposure to radiation after Japan’s nuclear facilities were compromised by the March earthquake. Link

The early bird catches the worm, and mother birds are up early to catch the worm, or insect, or other foods that baby birds need. Envitonmental Graffiti has a gallery of baby birds of many species clamoring to be fed. In the picture shown, a reed warbler is feeding a relatively huge baby cuckoo whose mother laid an egg in the warbler’s nest. Link

(Image credit: Per Harald Olsen)

Link

Jen Yates, of the blog Cake Wrecks, published the book Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong in 2009. The response was so great, she and her husband John went to work on a new book. That book, Wreck the Halls is available now. In it, you’ll find hundred of holiday cakes, 232 pages of them, that are doubly sweet: you get to laugh at them, and someone got to eat them. Here’s a sampling for you.

The book begins with just a couple of Halloween cakes, and quickly moves on to Thanksgiving. There’s an entire section of turkey cakes, both the feathered kind and the cooked kind, all looking like something besides turkeys. And some are mashed up with other Thanksgiving traditions.

But I was particularly drawn to this cornucopia.

Maybe because it reminded me of this guy:

In the midst of all this bounty, someone had to ruin the mood. In a high-calorie manner.

The largest number of Cake Wrecks are about Christmas, but there are plenty of other holidays represented, like Super Bowel Sunday.

Better watch what snacks you serve for the Super Bowel. You may have to Go Go Go!

And there’s Hanukah, although this baker wasn’t sure whether to use the nine lights of Hanukah or the seven candles of the non-Hanukah menorah, so he/she compromised and used eight. Then forgot how long a word “Hanukah” is. The book also features a lots of Hanukah cakes with the symbolic five-pointed stars.

Some non-holiday occasions are included, such as this festive going-away party cake.

And this science-fiction themed birthday cake. This is an example of a baker “making do,” although the recipient may have called it “making doo-doo.” Speaking of that, have you ever noticed how cakes that are supposed to have turkeys or reindeer as decorations made of icing tend to end up looking like poo? I didn’t realize that, until so many of them were collected together in the book Wreck the Halls.

Even if there weren’t winter holidays, we would celebrate snowfall. Just be sure to follow the advice of the sage Frank Zappa, and don’t you eat that yellow snow!

But of course, the real fun comes when a baker tries to make a cake look like Santa Claus. It may end up looking more like a Halloween zombie.

Or the ghost of Christmas …something.

I believe this one is supposed to be the Grinch from the Dr. Seuss story.

What is this? I don’t know!

These are just a very few samples from the huge collection of cake in the book Wreck the Halls: Cake Wrecks Gets “Festive”. Oh, there’s lots more. I had no idea there were that many ways to misspell “holidays,” much less “Christmas,” and even “merry.” Wreck the Halls is available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble,  and at a book store near you.

I don’t know about you guys, but I love nighttime photography. While I may not have the skills to do it myself, photographers who are interested in improving their night shots will probably love the video tips over at Shutter Salt. For the rest of us though, the incredible images are enough to enjoy.

Link

Have you ever wondered what Brad and Angelina would look like if they switched faces with each other? Or what Abraham Lincoln would look like if he was actually played by Nic Cage? Well, thanks to the magic of Photoshop, now you can -and the results are hilarious. WebUrbanist has a great collection of Photoshop face swaps along with links to blogs that specialize in that sort of thing. Enjoy.

Link

Pictures of scared guests from the Nightmares Fear Factory have been sweeping the net lately, but how many pictures of scared people can you really look at? Fortunately, some people have been taking to remixing the images and the results are hilarious.

Link

I don’t know about you guys, but I love photos that incorporate long exposure techniques, although I don’t have nearly enough patience to ever try them on my own. That being said, WebUrbanist has an awesome collection of some seriously stunning long exposure images that are definitely worth a click.

Link

This photo shows a replica of Bocydium globulare, the Brazilian Treehopper. It’s a real insect -scout’s honor! See more pictures of this treehopper and other bizarre bugs at Dark Roasted Blend. Link

(Image credit: Alfred Keller for Berlin’s Naturkundemuseum)

I know I post a lot of Disneyland stories, but that’s because the park is just so darn fun. BuzzFeed’s collection of staged Splash Mountain pics are definitely worth a look for those of you who also dig Disneyland -and those of you who just like silly pictures.

Link

Who knew this is the face a pug would make while going down a slide?

This must be animal abuse because no self-respecting animal would willingly make that face when there was a camera present.

Link Via BuzzFeed

If you’re one of those people who think insects aren’t pretty, particularly big ones like the praying mantis, well then, you’d better take a look at this great BuzzFeed article that’s sure to change your mind.

Link

I’ve shared a few BuzzFeed fan art collections before and because they’re just so darn fun I couldn’t help but share another of these galleries with you. This particular gallery features this delightful WolverMickey.

Link

This collage of 200 street portraits, taken by photographer Brandon Stanton, is combined with the song  “Empire State of Mind” to create a love note to the city.

The Humans of New York Project is an effort to create a photographic census of New York City. The project seeks to collect 10,000 street portraits, and plot them geographically on an interactive map.

Stanton has taken over 2,000 portraits so far. Find out more about the project, and read some of the stories of the people behind the portraits, at the Humans of New York website. Link -via Everlasting Blort

I don’t know about you guys, but I absolutely love all those galleries of pictures taken at the perfect moment and this BuzzFeed collection is definitely a good one -particularly in the cat pictures. This kitty looks like he’s performing a gymnastics routine.

Link

From the beaches of Thailand to the deserts of the U.S, for a variety of reasons, some very expensive vacation resorts were deemed a loss, and no longer worth the trouble of upkeep. Years later, the photographs fascinate by illustrating their falls from grace. Environmental Graffiti shows us places that were once luxurioius playgrounds for tourists and celebrities, but are now being reclaimed by nature. Shown is a resort in Famagusta, Cyprus, which was permanently emptied when Turkey invaded in 1974. Link

(Image credit: Julienbzh35)

You might remember my post from a week ago featuring a precious baby dressed as The Doctor, at the time, I had no info on where the image came from. But thanks to your comments, I now know that the WhoBaby actually has her own blog, Flickr account and Twitter account filled with even more adorable pictures. If you want more, there is plenty more to see, so enjoy!

Artist Paul Chiappe has a lot of talent when it comes to making pencil drawings, enough talent that he can actually make his drawings look like blurry vintage photographs. Enjoy more of his impressive works over at Flavorwire.

Link

Ursus Wehrli is an artist and comedian from Switzerland. In his latest picture book, The Art of Clean Up, he meticulously rearranges components of photographs to be neat and tidy and completely meaningless. See more examples at Colossal. Link | Artist’s site -via Metafilter

I don’t know about you guys, but I am fascinated by sand sculptures. It’s just amazing that people put so much time and effort into creating something beautiful but extremely temporary. That’s why these photos from the World Championship of Sand Sculpting are so great -it’s a way to actually make these works of art last forever.

Link

Link Image via Ashley Colassard

Long exposure photography takes a lot of patience and a good eye for positioning, but when you get images like the ones on this BuzzFeed list, the result is most certainly worth the effort. Be sure to click the link to see even more awesome pics like this.

Link

While this picture is already enough for most people to realize this is something no one should ever do,the fact that there is actually a record for most rattlesnakes held in the mouth at one time is just plain wrong. For more bizarre records, check out this great article over at All That is Interesting.

Link

I don’t know about all of you, but I’m a sucker for vintage photos shot in color and these gorgeous WWII images from the Library of Congress are both fascinating and stunning. You can find more of them over at The Atlantic.

Link

If you’ve read Neatorama long enough, you’ve undoubtedly seen plenty of dogs modeling for Etsy listings. Now there’s a blog chronicling the saddest of these poor puppies and it is hilarious. My only complaint, it doesn’t provide links to the actual Etsy pages. What if I want to make my dog this sad?

Link Via BoingBoing

For those of you who like looking at adorable pictures of cuddly things, this BuzzFeed gallery featuring kids with their pets is simply precious. It certainly makes me want to cuddle up with my pup.

Link

National Geographic Traveler magazine has announced the winners of their 2011 photo contest! First place went to the photo shown here, taken by Ben Canales at Crater Lake National Park. Read the story behind the picture, and see ten other amazing winning photos at NatGeo (do not miss the Viewer’s Choice winner). Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!

(Image credit: Ben Canales)

Brighton artist Dan Mountford has quite a gift when it comes to creating double exposed images. Fubiz has a collection of his images for your viewing pleasure, many of which seem to say a whole lot about the people in the photo.

Link

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m a sucker for colorized antique photos and these 40 images of Wales from back in the Victorian Era are simply stunning. They really give you an idea of what life was like at that time and place.

Link

Environmental Graffiti has a great collection of pictures of The Orion Nebula for your viewing pleasure. After viewing them all, I can’t help but think they should take over as the Rorschach Test of the new century. I see an astronaut with bird wings, what about you?

Link

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation has occasionally been called the most important garden in the 21st century and I don’t think that’s an overstatement considering just how eye-catching the mathematically-inspired garden is. Read the story about the park and enjoy more pictures over at Environmental Graffiti.

Link

ZooBorns brings us news and pictures of baby animals born in zoos all over the world. Get the condensed version as Jill Harness culled the cutest pictures from Zooborns in a list at Oddee. The baby red panda shown is from the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Link

With so many boring days sitting around on the base, soldiers are known to relieve the boredom and stress of their jobs by goofing around. Environmental Graffiti has some great photos of these playful occurrences for your viewing pleasure.

Link

We’ve already showed one of these great pictures of basset hounds running, but it’s hard to get enough of these floppy-faced pups. Check out more pics over at BuzzFeed.

Link

I don’t know about you guys, but I get a kick out of these goofy pictures of unintentional faces found in objects. Dark Roasted Blend has a great collection of these guys. If you like them, be sure to check out the whole list on the link.

Link

Sometimes “awesome” people like to hang out together.  And I’m not talking about a member of Aerosmith hanging out with another member of Aerosmith: Sometimes these famous or infamous people are hanging out with other famous or infamous people that you wouldn’t think knew each other. Such as Nancy Reagan and Mr. T. See link for gallery of other awesome pairings.

Link