The hedgehog is the one that's a lighter color than the others. Did you guess correctly? Good! This is Marutaro, an adorable hedgehog who is a internet celebrity thanks to his surpassing cuteness. We've already seen him on Twitter. Now he's on Vine, showing off his modeling skills in 6-second videos.
Some of his fashion choices aren't mainstream, but that's just the fashion world these days.
Marutaro is a big soccer fan and is paying close attention to the World Cup.
He's also an athlete himself, although his approach to bowling is unconventional.
YouTube user thesam101 found a bug walking on a piece of paper, trying to escape. So he drew a line with a pen. The bug couldn't--or wouldn't--cross it and tried to find an alternate path. thesam101 drew more lines, cutting off every route of escape, but giving just a little open area to offer the bug a false hope. Then he trapped the bug once again.
I feel for ya, little guy. We all go through despairing times like this.
How well can you maneuver that wheelchair? You'd better be good, or you're going for a swim.
Annoying, but typical: the designers put the next save point on the far side of this path. If you want to continue the game, you'll have to spend a lot of time falling off this bridge.
According to internet rumor, this photo shows two pages from a Swedish children's book consisting of animal photos. Is the assassin goat urging you to indulge in your darkest desires? No! According to this online dictionary, "get" means goat and "killing" means kid--as in a baby goat. So despite the Swedish proclivity for burning straw goats, you should put the chainsaw back down.
Lately, on Instagram, Niemann has been taking ordinary objects, like fruits and pocket gear, and adding a few watercolor lines to make scenes. His choices are always fitting and funny.
The conductor will ensure that you get into the parking lot at the Estonian National Opera. Drive in on the upstroke. Just hope that the tempo isn't too fast.
Ukai is the Japanese name for a traditional fishing practice used in east Asia. In ukai, the fisherman takes a cormorant bird and ties a loop around its neck. The loop lets the bird breathe and swallow small items. But it stops the bird from swallowing large fish.
The fisherman then pushes or throws the bird into the water. The bird hunts for fish and swallows a few. The fisherman reels in the bird and gets it to spit up its catch.
In Japan, ukai is not practical compared to modern commercial fishing, so it's mostly done in grand spectacles to amuse tourists along the Nagaragawa, Hozu, and Uji Rivers.
Fort McHenry guarded the entrance to the harbor of Baltimore. After the British had burned America's capital city, they set their sights on Baltimore, a wealthy city ripe for looting and the home port of many of the American privateers that had ravaged British shipping.
On September 13, 1814, the British fleet attacked. The city and the fort were under blackout orders to make it harder for the gunners to aim. Only the British rockets and bombs illuminated the night sky. They revealed the 30 by 42-foot flag sewn by Mary Pickersgill, her daughter Caroline, and three other children: Eliza Young, Margaret Young, and Grace Wisher.
Jonathan Ielpi was a New York City firefighter who died in the line of duty in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He was a member of an entire family of firefighters, including his brother and father.
The September 11th Families Association gave Ielpi's sister, Melissa Brengel, an American flag to honor her brother's sacrifice. The flag had flown over the ruins of the World Trade Center in New York City. Last Tuesday, someone stole that flag off her home on Long Island.
On Thursday, that flag re-appeared on her front porch. There was a handwritten note with it that read, "I am so sorry, I had no idea."
The band did not do so out of kindness for passersby in London, but as an act of performance art entitled "Box Sized Die."
The band is named Unfathomable Ruination. Although this would be a poor baby name, it is suitable for a death metal band or an exceptionally large and greasy burrito. The band is collaborating with João Onofre, a Portuguese artist noted for his performance work.
They placed a large, soundproof and airtight box on a sidewalk in London's financial district. Three times a week until August 1, the band members enter the chamber. Assistants seal them in. Then the band plays until it collapses from heat and lack of oxygen, which is typically 14-19 minutes. To ensure that there are repeat performances, the assistants then unlock the door.
Onofre explains that these noisy, stuffy, hidden performances are commentaries on the work of office workers in the area:
According to the artist behind the piece, the box is a symbol of the 'boxy' offices in the area where people work.
Onofre said: 'In this corporate architecture you do not see what is going on inside. The same thing is happening here.'
-via David Thompson, who quips, "Why parents rarely want their children to be artists, part 9."
Tattoos are often permanent reminders of memories and ideas important to people. A good children's book can leave that kind of impression, which is why many people get inked with scenes, characters, and words from favorite books from their childhoods. Alanna Okun of BuzzFeed rounded up 50 tattoos inspired by children's literature. Here are some of my favorites from Okun's list.
Where's Waldo? He knows how to hide, especially if you have long hair. Here's a clever and discreet tattoo by nocturalbodyart.
The enchanting and unearthly Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd has been a popular bedtime story for generations. jillpicklepants selected two lines for it for her legs.
Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon has encouraged millions of children to use their imaginations and write on the walls of their homes. quarlophone's tattoo of Harold's instrument is, appropriately, very realistic.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince inspires wonder in both adults and children. americanmudbloodinlondon selected one of the pilot's own illustrations for her tattoo.
As a father, I love reading Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram to my own daughters. mollylucas1997 acquried this tattoo of Little Nutbrown Hare as a memorial.
Responsible dog owners scoop up their dogs' poops and dispose of them properly so that no one steps in them. At least, that's what you do if you don't have dog poop fairies living in your area or don't hire a professional dog poop cleaning service.
Spain takes the matter of dog sanitation very seriously. One town gathers dog poop and mails it back to its owners.
Yet dogs produce more than just poop. We dog owners should scoop up after our canine friends, but there's little that we can do about urine.
That may change, thanks to inventions now available in the the Spanish town of El Vendrell. The dog in the picture above is standing next to a flushing toilet designed to handle dog excrement. How one would convince a dog to use one is beyond me. Dogs are often pooping connoisseurs who are particular about their defecation locations.
But the device in the foreground looks more promising. It's a urinal. Dogs pee on the pole. The urine drains down into the steel grate and into the sewer system.
Louis Zamperini, 97, passed away after a life filled with extraordinary achievement, resilience, and moral character. He first acquired fame at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where he represented the United States. Although he did not win any medals, he wowed crowds by finishing the final lap in a mile-long race in only 56 seconds.
In September of 1941, he enlisted in the Army and served on the flight crew of a B-24 bomber. That plane crashed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in 1943. Zamperini was along three survivors who spent 47 days on a raft, living off raw fish and captured albatrosses while fighting off continuous shark attacks.
Zamperini and his comrades eventually landed in the Marshall Islands, where they were promptly captured by the Japanese. The Japanese sent Zamperini to a brutal prisoner of war camp where he was tortured by the notorious war criminal Mutsuhiro Watanabe.
Zamperini survived captivity and returned to the United States after the surrender of Japan.
But this was not the end of his involvement with Japan. Zamperini would have every reason to hate his captors and loathe all things Japanese for the rest of his life. But, instead, he forgave them. He even forgave Watanabe and tried to express this in person.
In 1998, Zamperini attended the Winter Olympics in Nagano, which was close to the prison where he was held for two years. He wanted to meet the elderly Watanabe, but he refused.
That was okay, because Zamperini had already ceased to carry the burden of hating Watanabe.
Surrounded by a loving family, Louis Zamperini passed away last Wednesday. His story inspired them and millions of other people across the world. It is the subject of Unbroken, a biography by Laura Hillenbrand. Angelina Jolie is currently turning it into a movie which is scheduled for release at the end of this year.
Eventually, some teenager will see a classic Superman comic in which Clark Kent changes into his costume. "What is that thing? Some transportation device?"
The phone booth in question is in Prairie Grove, Arkansas. It's a curiousity that was recently hit by a car and badly damaged. There's an online campaign to rebuild the antique and return it to active service, where it earns the local phone company a few dollars a year.
