While we've posted about quite a few secret societies, the Odd Fellows doesn't appear to be one of them. That's odd, because Neatorama looks for "odd" things to post. This fraternal organization has been around a long time, and embraces the concepts of “Friendship, Love and Truth.” What's odd about that?

In the 18th century, with the beginning of industrialization, it was indeed considered “odd” to commit oneself to the principals of charity and communal welfare. It’s been suggested that founding members might have been branded as odd due to the apparent strangeness of following noble values such as fraternalism, benevolence and charity.

Another theory proposes that the order was formed by individuals who had “odd” careers or exercised unusual trades, and naturally gravitated towards each other socially and professionally, likely evolving from Medieval guilds to form an “odd fellowship”.

Considering the Masons began as a guild of stonemasons, that explanation makes sense. But the history of the Odd Fellows goes back so far that we're not completely sure. Read what we do know about the Odd Fellows, including mysterious skeletons found in their halls, at Messy Nessy Chic.

The Dane County Humane Society in Madison, Wisconsin, named this cat Lady in a Fur Coat, or Lady for short. She suffered from hematomas and chronic infections which led to her ear flaps being removed. Lady kept her sweet demeanor, however. Shelter staff member Ash Collins took pity on the cat and crocheted her a new set of ears. Lady looked so cute in the new bonnet that within a day of posting the pictures on Facebook, she found her new forever family. -via Fark

(Image credit: Dane County Humane Society)

Family day ruined. That’s what Colline Rees, a mum-of-three, said after a beautician left her with “Angry Birds” eyebrows. Apparently, she splashed £3,000 on their week-long family trip to Tenerife. She then went for a beauty treatment the day before she flew out.

The customer says she was left with botched brows which left her way too embarrassed to pose in family holiday snaps.

She was unable to go swimming because she couldn’t get her eyebrows wet when she went on vacation with her husband Julian and their three boys Bailey, Morgan and Ashton.

The horrified mum said: “I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. All my close friends and family were saying I look like something out of the Angry Birds game.”

Colline says that the beautician who usually handles her eyebrows was busy, so instead, she had a young trainee do the job.

(Image Credit: Triangle News/ DailyStar)

Two young men catching a free ride on the back of a Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) bus were captured on video by a traveler.

The video, posted to Twitter, shows the two young men standing on the rear bumper of the moving bus and holding onto the back of the vehicle.

The aforementioned video appeared at around the same time a photo of two men sitting with their legs crossed in the back hatch of an MTA bus in Baltimore. The photo, however, is said to have been tampered with, according to the MTA.

...safety precautions are being put into place to prevent back panels from being opened by unauthorized people.

"The safety of our operators and passengers is the first priority for the Maryland Transit Administration," the MTA said in a statement to WJZ-TV.

I wonder, why did the men do that? Is it on their bucket list?

(Video Credit: WJZ/ YouTube)

Dunkin’, the chain previously known as Dunkin’ Donuts, has tapped in with Snoop Dogg for their product, Beyond Sausage Sandwich. He even appeared in the product’s promotional stunt as an employee for the day. While the Beyond Sausage Sandwich has been offered in stores, Dunkin’ will release a special version of it for their collaboration with the rapper, called Beyond D-O-Double G Sandwich. To know whether the sandwich is worth your money, check The Washington Post’s review of the sandwich. 

image via The Washington Post

Andy Herald and Charlie Capen created a hilarious book for young parents. Titled “The Guide To Baby Sleep Positions”, the book features several illustrations of how babies sleep. Sad and Useless features some of their favorites. Check them out on their site.

Which of these have you experienced as a parent?

Via Laughing Squid

(Image Credit: Sad And Useless)

A photographer posted a photo of himself to Instagram 300 times. Janick Entremont did this to see what the platform’s compression algorithms will do the the image. And as his reupload count increases, the more blurry and pixelated his face looked like once it was posted on the social media platform. Entremont shared that the quality of the picture was lost, as PetaPixel detailed: 

“Quality loss and alienation of the picture are consequences of an algorithmic compression,” Entremont writes. “What will last from your digital data? Not existing faces are created – instead, some that already exist are arranged to fit. Being altered and changing becomes one. Until nothing is the same anymore.”

“For me, the project is relevant on many levels: The handling of our digital data, online or offline, and the flood of images,” Entremont tells PetaPixel. “How improper use of social media changes our well-being and our appearance (regarding trends). Up to the constant surveillance and face recognition as it is common in China.”

image via PetaPixel

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, theorized on the unconscious mind, dreams, and how sex shapes our psyches. He became somewhat of a patron saint to the Surrealist artists of the early 20th century. As such, Freud was the man-crush of a relatively young Salvador Dali.

Before Salvador Dali met Sigmund Freud during the summer of 1938 in London, the great Surrealist artist had tried unsuccessfully on several occasions to meet the revered psychoanalyst at his consulting rooms in Vienna. Dali had lacked the confidence to knock unannounced on Freud’s door and instead had wandered the cobbled strasse holding “long and exhaustive imaginary conversations” with his idol. He had also fantasised about bringing Freud back arm-in-arm to his room at the Hotel Sacher, imagining the great psychoanalyst “clinging to the curtains” while he babbled freely about his dreams, his sexuality, and his fears.

Dali had spent his teens and early twenties reading Freud‘s works on the unconscious, on sexuality and The Interpretation of Dreams. His inability to meet the psychoanalyst in Vienna suggests Dali was in some way terrified of Freud, as if this grand examiner of human behavior was capable of seeing straight through him like a believer might feel when coming face-to-face with God.

The meeting was eventually arranged by a mutual friend. Freud was 81 years old and Dali was starstruck, so the visit was exceedingly awkward. But Dali was inspired to draw Freud -as a snail. Read the story of that meeting at Dangerous Minds.

(Image credit: Library of Congress)

Once Spotify found out through its survey that pet owners play music for their pets, they curated a special playlist for the adorable companions. Spotify created an algorithm that generates a custom playlist depending on your pet’s characteristics, in addition to a special podcast, as Reuters detailed: 

The Swedish audio-streaming business company said it has launched a podcast featuring soothing music, “dog-directed praise”, stories, and messages of affirmation and reassurance narrated by actors to alleviate stress for dogs who are home alone.

Spotify said it found in a survey that one in four pet-owners play music for their pets to listen to for company when they are away from home, with 42% of owners saying their pets have a favorite type of music.

A quarter of pet owners said they have even seen their pets dancing to music.

image screenshot via Spotify

Gus is an English Bulldog that hangs around The Foundation, a fitness center owned by his humans, Alexis and Matt Karstetter. Gus will plop on the treadmill or greet customers as he goes around the center. He is also the official mascot of the center! In addition to his usual rounds, he also joins in on workouts, as Popsugar details: 

"No matter what I'm doing, he is either sitting in between my legs or staring at me sitting next to me (I swear he's judging me or correcting my form in his head lol)," Alexis wrote to POPSUGAR via email. "He LOVES self-propelled treadmills and will start running without any coaxing. He is also slightly obsessed with medicine balls and BOSU balls." If you browse through Gus's Instagram account, which has amassed over 28,000 followers, you'll see that he has a knack for sneaking up into Alexis's space mid-sweat session (one viral video ahead shows him going up under her sweatshirt during a plank hold!).

image via Popsugar

Matt MacMillan recorded the sounds his infant son Ryan made over a year's time, and then edited it into the AC/DC classic "Thunderstruck." The idea is insane, the editing is sublime, and Ryan is precious. -via reddit

You read that correctly. McDonald’s Japan released the “Otona no Cream Pie”, which translates to “Adult Cream Pie” in English. While English speakers have raised their eyebrows at the unintentional (or not, who knows) double meaning of the new pie’s translated name, the Otona no Cream Pie is aimed at more refined adult palates, true to its name. SoraNews24 has the details: 

However, the difference in nuance has been lost in translation now that the word has been combined with “cream pie”, which evokes some X-rated imagery for English speakers.

Whether the double meaning was innocent or intentional, it’s a stroke of marketing genius that has a lot of people interested in the new product. So when the dessert went on sale today, we were one of the first in line to find out what an Adult Cream Pie tastes like.

We have to admit, it sounded odd when we asked for two flavours of “Otona no Cream Pie” at the counter, but staff were all smiles as they packed them up in a McDonald’s-branded brown paper bag for us.

The cream pie comes in Belgian Chocola and Sweet Fromage.

image via SoraNews24

Elite the Vanishing Tray is an object that makes objects placed on it disappear with a gesture from the user. Aldo Deli, the designer of this wonder tray wanted to show a little mystery in simple objects and to show what happens when two objects interact with each other. The trick behind Elite’s vanishing function is a scale. The tray’s system works like a scale, as Designboom detailed: 

the system works just like a scale, however, the object is only housed and not weighed. the movement of the top is further highlighted with the different chromatic finish of the inner surface, which frames the objects inside, so the piece constantly changes configuration. the project includes a tray (h 5 cm, ø 40) and a pocket emptier (h 4 cm, ø 20).

the prototype was made using iron, aluminum and plywood. once the iron elements were laser cut, the external tape and the lower plate were welded. the copper tape was then glued inside with silicone and aluminum tubes have been cut to create guides to the springs and the central pin. to obtain their correct positioning and keep the product light, plywood disks were cut inside, which created the slots for the guides, and subsequently glued to the structure. finally, the vanishing tray was completed with three coats of white paint.

image via Designboom

Dan Hill visited a 24-Hour Fitness gym for a late night workout. Just as he finished swimming laps in the pool after midnight, he was alone in the building and its doors were locked. Shocked at the situation, he turned to Facebook for advice on what to do. While his wife suggested that he find a comfortable place to sleep, he called 911 and reported his emergency, as UPI detailed: 

"So, I called dispatch and the guy pauses for like 10 seconds and says 'You're where?'" Hill told KTVX-TV. "And I said, 'I'm in 24 Hour Fitness, and there's an alarm system here and I don't want to get busted for breaking and entering.'"

Hill took his Facebook friends on a tour of the gym while waiting for police to arrive. Officers showed up to let him out of the building just before 1 a.m.

The manager of the gym said the hours changed in December from 24 hours to 4 a.m.-midnight.

"We clearly did not do a good job of our closing procedures for this club on Saturday night and will reinforce our club procedures so that this incident doesn't occur in the future," the company said in a statement. "We continue to be committed to providing our members and guests with the best possible fitness experience at a great value."

image via Dan Hill

Sora News 24 introduces us to the talented musician and Twitter user @oktj_. She's got two nostrils and she knows how to use them. Just plug in two recorders and she's ready to go. She's so good that she can play two different melodies at the same time. Give her something that she can work with her feet and she can become a quartet.

In this video, @oktj_ plays the popular Japanese song "The One and Only Flower in the World." That's a pun in Japanese because the words for "flower" and "nose" sound alike.