When Sandy Doucette was driving near his home on a snowy winter road in Canada the other day, he noticed something odd on the road.

"A group of birds were on the road and they flew away as I drove by them, except one," Doucette told The Dodo. "I thought that was very odd."

And so Doucette stopped his car and took a closer look on the bird that was left. The bird didn’t budge as he walked closer to it, and there Doucette discovered why.

"I saw its feet completely encased in at least an inch of frozen ice and snow," he said.

Using his bare hands to brush away and melt the ice, Doucette helped the bird go free.

“There you go! Gotcha! Good deed of the day,” he said as the bird flew away.

(VideoCredit: S D/ YouTube)

Welcome to YM Nursery, a nursery school located in Tottori prefecture. Designed by the team of Taku Hibino, the lead architect of the architectural firm Hibino Sekkei, the school is made to teach students to respect nature, as well as help them develop a deep sense of community. The said architectural firm specializes in the design and construction of learning facilities for early education.

Hibino took some bold steps to overhaul the previous nursery, which was conservative and traditional in its design. Despite being in a location that had both the sea and forests, children were closed off to all of it. In addition, Hibino is a proponent of fostering learning from our 5 senses. Children, probably more than any other time in their lives, absorb information not only from sight but from touch, smell and hearing. This belief goes on to inform each and every one of Hibino’s design decision.

Check out more details about the nursery school over at Spoon & Tamago.

(Image Credit: Spoon & Tamago)

Ze Frank observed the mating dance of the puffin, and instead of just snarking about the more unsavory aspects of the species, as we would expect, he was inspired to write a song. And sing it! Therefore, in this short video, we get anthropomorphized animals who aren't too bright plus double entendres galore, as we do expect from Ze Frank. Plus music!

The TV series Sesame Street broke new ground in 1969 as the first children's television show backed by educational research. It was also a hit with children, and most adults, although there were a few exceptions. Sesame Street had only been on the air a few months when it ran up against the newly formed Mississippi Authority for Educational Television. The five-member board met in January of 1970 to consider the influence of Sesame Street, which featured an integrated cast of both black and white adults and a diverse group of children.  

This appeared to be too much for the Authority, which discussed how lawmakers with control over ETV’s budget—which had just been set at $5,367,441—might find the mixed-race assembly offensive. The panel's participants were all white.

The board pushed the discussion aside until April 17, 1970, when they took an informal poll and decided, by a margin of three votes against two, to prohibit ETV from airing Sesame Street—a show that came free of charge to all public television stations. (The decision affected mainly viewers in and around Jackson, as the station had not yet expanded across the state and was not expected to do so until the fall of 1970.)

As you might guess, when the decision became national news, it reflected more on Mississippi than it did on Sesame Street. Read what happened at Mental Floss.

It is a winter afternoon in the French Alps and the tiny glove shop owned by 69-year-old Jean Strazzeri is bustling with activity. His wife, Odile, is making packages, while his daughter Julie manages sales at the boutique counter. An intern sits at the sewing machine. But why does an old man still continues to make these gloves?

“I could have retired long ago, but I don’t want this profession to die with me,” [Strazzeri] says. “I will stop working the minute someone tells me they can carry the mantle after me.”

Find out more about Jean Strazzeri’s life, and the history of glove-making, over at Atlas Obscura.

(Image Credit: Sukhada Tatke/ Atlas Obscura)

The 2020 Singapore Motor Show took place this past week in the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Center. In the event, auto companies showcased their new models. But there is one car that, I believe, stood out on the motor show, and that car is from Subaru.

While I am not knowledgeable to the specs of the car, it is its name that really catches my eye.

This model is called the Subaru Forester Ultimate Customised Kit Special edition.

Yeah, you be the one to do the acronym.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: laberge/ Twitter)

These are not your ordinary contact lenses. Revealed by California-based tech startup Mojo Vision, these contact lenses utilize augmented reality (AR) to place information inside of the wearer’s eyes. The Mojo lens use 14k pixels-per-inch micro-displays to project statistics like health tracking as well as other data, such as names of places and people.

They also pack wireless radio, image-recognition tech (which it claims will be able to understand the activities you’re engaged in, so as to not disturb you when it’s not wanted), and motion sensors. Mojo calls this eyes-up experience invisible computing, a platform that enables information to be instantaneous, unobtrusive and available hands-free.

The lenses are still in development but the company is currently demonstrating a working prototype of the device and plans an early application of the product designed to help people struggling with low vision through enhanced image overlays. This application of the mojo lens is designed to provide real-time contrast and lighting enhancements as well as zoom functionality.

The future is now.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Mojo Vision/ DesignBoom)

The National Weather Service Miami Bureau issued a falling iguana alert as night time temperatures are expected to dip into the 30-40 degree range.

According to the Weather.com:

While the iguana warning might be slightly tongue-in-cheek, it's no joke. Much like human Floridians, iguanas go into a bit of shock when the state's weather departs from its typical warm, sunny nature. Because iguanas are cold-blooded animals, their metabolism slows way down and they become more and more lethargic as temperatures drop lower than what they are used to. They can become completely immobile when temperatures dip into the 30s and 40s. When that happens while they're up in a tree, the large lizards can come crashing down to the ground.

It is best to leave the immobile iguanas alone. Once the temperature starts rising, they can become feisty as they come out of their cold induced stupor. One Floridian discovered this the hard after he loaded them in a garbage bag and then into his vehicle during a 2018 cold snap.

Falling iguana alerts had also been issued in 2008 (previously on Neatorama) and 2010 (and here).

Image Credit: Twitter-NWS Miami (check out the chuckle inducing comment thread)

Japanese Twitter user @thumb_tani is a master of balance. He'll put coins, glasses, fruits, and other household items on top of each other and they will stay in place!

He's not cheating at all. As you can see in this video, he really can just line up items vertically.

Not surprisingly, he's also an expert juggler. I suspect that there's a lot of overlap between these two skills.

-via Nag on the Lake

Pedro Arizpe of Port Sherry (previously) intends to start telling longer stories in his comics, like this fairy tale that began in December. The suspicion that starts to eat at the king continues through the rest of part one, posted here. Was there magic involved in his whirlwind romance? Does the queen have an ulterior motive? And will the king ever find out? Is this a Disney movie or a Shakespearian tragedy? Arizpe knew the backstory, but he involved his readers in deciding a crucial plot point. They registered their opinions, and the conclusion of the story was posted today.  -via Geeks Are Sexy

Alexander Christofi, a book publishing editor (!), took to Twitter to confess to a ghastly crime: he cuts his books in half through the spine in order to make them physically smaller and therefore easier to carry around and mutilate further in his spare time.

It's just you, Mr. Christofi. I won't even read literary abridgments on principle, let alone physically abbreviate the books.

SparkNotes, which operates a very funny Twitter account that you should follow, had the best response:

-via David Burge, who prefers his books cut diagonally, like sandwiches.

This guy, who deserves to be inducted into the Guys in Action Hall of Fame, roots an ice auger in place and goes for a spin on top. Now I want to move to some frozen hellscape in the north, such as Oklahoma, in order to try this fun wintertime activity!

Content warning: foul language.

-via Debby Witt, who comments that "It's a miracle that our species has survived the invention of the internal-combustion engine." I guess that means that I can take her turn.

An Iranian couple recite poetry together, until they are stopped in traffic and see another couple fighting. Thursday Appointment may make you cry when watching it, and then afterward, you find out that *spoiler*

Joker is a comic book movie that is nominated for eleven Oscars. If you haven't seen it, that might be confusing, but Screen Junkies clears it up with this Honest Trailer. Or maybe not, but it is intriguing. What is clear is that Joaquin Phoenix went the extra mile for his character.

Having a day off work is one of the ways you can sit back and relax away from the stress of your job. It may be a day that you can sleep, play games, or just laze around your home the whole day. If you’re running out of options on your plans for your next day off, maybe these points from The New York Times can give you an idea of what to do the next time you get the chance to take a little free time: 

Embrace laziness

Yes, yes, you’re busy, I’m busy, we’re busy-ing ourselves to exhaustion. But if you have today off, take a conscious stand against all this busyness. Being busy — if we even are busy — is rarely the status indicator we’ve come to believe it is. Nonetheless, the impact is real, and instances of burnout, anxiety disorders and stress-related diseases are on the rise.

Evaluate your career

When was the last time you were completely honest with yourself about your career and whether you’re doing what you want to be doing? If you’re like most people, probably not recently. A full-time worker will spend roughly 80,000 hours at work over the course of her working life, so if you’re in the wrong career that could mean tens of thousands of hours spent devoted to something you don’t even really care about, much less feel is your passion.

Have a family meal

It can be tough to get the whole family together for a meal. Work, school, sports practices and other obligations all seem to get in the way. But studies show that families who dine at home together are happier and healthier.

image via wikimedia commons