Warning! Mother's day is Sunday, May 12th. Are you prepared!
It's not too late to get your sharp witted, scientifically minded, hardworking, and cookie loving Mom something fabulous to wear from the NeatoShop. We know this is a shirt that she sport more than periodically.
Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great gift ideas. New items arriving weekly.
We specialize in curvy and hard to find sizes. We carry size inclusive apparel from infant size 6 months to adult size 10 XL. We believe that fun and fabulous people come in every size.
Any reasonably intelligent person can provide basic care for your dog while you are away from the home. But for dog walkers with a flair for creative writing, there are additional opportunities. Karin Bruilliard explains in the Washington Post (paywalled, sorry) that many dog owners appreciate and will pay extra for a dog walker who can leave detailed and amusing reports about their dogs' adventures:
In a nation where people lead ever more busy lives and increasingly view their dogs as family members, professional dog walking is flourishing. And along with it is what might be viewed as the unusual art of dog walker communication. Many of today’s walkers do not simply stroll — not if they want to be rehired, anyway. Over text and email, they craft fine-grained, delightful narratives tracing the journey from arrival at the residence to drop-off. They report the number of bathroom stops. They take artistic photos, and lots of them.
“For an hour-long walk, I send six or eight, depending,” said Griffin, 44, who holds a treat in her hand when shooting to ensure her charge is looking at the camera. “Then I give a full report that includes not only peeing and pooping but also kind of general well-being, and if the dog socialized with other dogs.”
[...]
When sending his monthly bill, Moraga said he always includes a handwritten note on custom stationery, telling a dog’s owner “what they’ve done through the month, what they’ve learned, what we’re planning on doing next month.”
Rover requires its walkers to complete a standardized “report card” that includes arrival and drop-off times, route and pit stops. But sections for adding photos and a written account are where “walkers can really shine,” said Jenna White, the company’s director of dog-walking operations. New walkers are shown examples of particularly strong narratives during training, as well as advice on photos, the best of which White said have good lighting and not too much motion. Shots taken at iconic local spots, like doggy senior portraits, are even better, she said.
-via Marginal Revolution
Chris Advansun is the master of a unique craft: telling stories that will put you to sleep.
Advansun calls himself a "sleep writer." Famous actors, including Matthew McConaughey, have recorded his stories into the app Calm.com. These stories are designed to hold your mild interest, but not get your heart racing in excitement. CBC News explains:
Advansun says the key is to get the attention of the listener and then "hold it gently" without ever jostling them awake. He maintains this is a tough balance to achieve … especially since Advansun is trained as a screenwriter (think plot twists, car chases and explosions).
"I certainly didn't set out to write stories that put people to sleep," he jokes. "I have sort of fallen into it, and I adore it. It's not only quite rewarding, it is a great challenge as a writer."
In the interview, Advansun describes what goes into a good bedtime story for adults:
My stories are mainly fictional stories that do have a character who goes on a journey.
The way I think about it is that it's not a riveting, gripping journey with wrenching twists and turns. It is not that kind of story.
I am taking traditional storytelling — where you are building things up, you are building up tension and stakes and conflict and inverting that.
So we start with a bit of a character problem, but it is not terribly dramatic. And I unwind the whole story, so by the end we have soothed the listener off to sleep.
-via Marginal Revolution
Never mind what Marvel and DC are up to! For the hottest, most exciting comics, you need to head over to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Three new thrilling comic books there explain monetary policy, the history of the Federal Reserve System, and banking.
You can download PDF versions from the site. Middle schools and high schools in the USA can also request 35 free print copies. These come with lesson plans, worksheets, and classroom discussion guides.
Instagram member pinksith snapped this photo of a cosplayer at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago this past April. George Lucas has modified his iconic jeans and blue plaid flannel shirt to suit his new role as Jabba's slave.
Yes, you’ve read it right. A pig cafe.
Japan’s first ever Micro Pig Cafe (Mipig) aims to change the perception of the people about pigs. Instead of viewing pigs as livestock, they would like to promote pigs as adorable pets.
Oh my piggies! They are super cute and cuddly.
Check out the awesome pictures and lovely videos at Sora News 24.
(Image Credit: Sora News 24)
Survival of the fittest. This is the law of the jungle. The very same tactic that is used by parasitoid wasps. The wasps zombify spiders and make them weave a special web. Then, the wasps use the web to suspend themselves before they finally kill their spider host.
William Eberhard, staff scientist emeritus at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Marcelo Gonzaga at the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia in Brazil have assembled wide-ranging evidence that 'zombification' involves hacking existing web-spinning mechanisms by hijacking the spider's own molting hormone, ecdysone.
In a new paper published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society they combined a review of all known reports of different wasp species known to zombify different spider species around the world; the results from a molecular study in Brazil; and new observations of Costa Rican spiders to demonstrate several previously unappreciated patterns that suggest that the wasp larvae use ecdysone.
It is really impressive how the wasps induce the spider to modify the design of the web. The net made by the controlled spider is forty times stronger than the conventional one thus becoming a stable home for the pupal cocoon.
(Image Credit: Marcelo O. Gonzaga)
This 4 minute epic production of stop motion and animation features delightful voice over acting and a charming story line. It appears to be a mix between the classic 1980's cartoon genre and anime all done with happy Lego babies. Enjoy!
The late great Queen frontman adored his nine cats. He lavished them with everything that they need. Here are some photos taken of Freddie Mercury with some of his cats. Most of the photos were taken by Peter Freestone and included in Freddie Mercury's memoir.
(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Wine connoisseurs no doubt have an extensive repertoire of knowledge when it comes to wines and they have tasted everything from a chardonnay to a Sauvignon blanc to a Pinot noir.
For an amateur or a casual enthusiast in wines, one might be able to resonate with Sarah Miller's story of the monthly blind wine tasting session she attends.
Unlike experts or people who devote a significant amount of time searching and researching wines, an amateur wouldn't necessarily be able to distinguish perfectly between types of wine or brands, or when they were made. One would probably go with past experience as a point of comparison but unless one has an extensive experience of tasting wine, it won't give much headway.
You look at the wine, you smell the wine, you taste the wine. You go around the table in order and discuss various elements of the wine, related to various sensory observations, which, during those four minutes, you have responded to according to the categories provided for you on this sheet, courtesy of the Court of Master Sommeliers, which is called THE GRID, and which you can see at the top of this piece.
As they pick apart the different sensory perceptions, they would try to identify what type of wine it is, where it was made, and when. In this particular session, they were going through "classic whites". Here's how it went.
(Image credit: Elle Hughes/Unsplash)
Update: Simon is following Theo around like a puppy, Theo is a little nervous as cats can be in new environments pic.twitter.com/NtgVpspTK7
— mac (@kenziecoffman) April 25, 2019
Last week, we had the story of Simon and Theo, two cats who live in apartments opposite each other. They spent their time staring at each other until their respective owners began communicating through window signs. The two cats finally met on Thursday at the apartment Simon shares with Mackenzie Coffman.
Waiting on our group photos but overall....we think it went as well as it can with cats! Only a couple hisses, no fights, and lots of butt-sniffs. Thank u all for following along! pic.twitter.com/u5IxQXPFMr
— mac (@kenziecoffman) April 26, 2019
You can see more pictures and videos in the Twitter thread about the "date." -via Bored Panda
We tend to imagine bees generally having a specific set of color patterns but looking closely, though they exhibit the same colors, the patterns come in varieties.
"There is exceptional diversity in coloration of bumble bees," said Heather Hines, assistant professor of biology and of entomology at Penn State and principal investigator of the study. "Of the roughly 250 species of bumble bees, there are over 400 different color patterns that basically mix and match the same few colors over the different segments of a bee's body."
Evolutionary factors play into the bees' coloration. For example, one may notice that in some species, at the sting end of its body, a red spot could be found which would warn or signal danger for those who see it. The researchers also noted that bees from the same region would usually mimic patterns.
In spite of the great diversity available, color patterns tend to converge toward similarity within a particular geographic region because they serve as an important and effective warning signal. This is an example of Müllerian mimicry, where similar, often vibrant, color patterns are used among multiple species to warn predators of a dangerous feature like toxicity or sharp spines.
In researching these color patterns, the researchers were able to identify a particular region in a gene, called the Abdominal-B which regulates how the colors are expressed.
(Image credit: Krzysztof Niewolny/Unsplash)
Endgame has been released for almost a week now and social media has been abuzz with so much excitement as well as fair warnings from people who haven't watched the film not to spoil them.
In somewhat good fun, one teacher posted a note to his students saying that no discussions about the movie will take place in his class until he and his brother could watch the film.
The note was posted on Twitter, which has since been taken down, but Mashable was able to get the gist of the note here.
(Image credit: Kamilious/Twitter)
