Neatorama

Sammi Jo Stohler had a problem: her zebra Zach kept jumping out of his field, so much that she had an eight-foot fence built. So she turned his habit into an asset by training Zach to show off his jumps! Stohler took Zach in after his former owner had trouble with him.

“As I was training horses, I kept hearing, ‘You can’t train zebras, they’re untrainable.’ I said, ‘Why?’ To say something is untrainable implies that it can’t learn, and we all know that if they couldn’t learn, they’d all be extinct. They have to be able to learn and adapt. Obviously, the burden lies on the trainer to be able to train them,” Stohler said.

She got her first zebra about 10 years ago. “He was a dream to work with, and I’ve been hooked ever since. They’re very intelligent. When you teach them something, you don’t have to do a lot of review,” she said. “You train them something, put them away for a few months, then bring them back out, and it’s exactly as if you didn’t stop. A lot of horses need review over and over again before they’re consistent.”

Stohler has two zebras, Zack and Charlie, on her farm in Willis, Texas, as well as a zorse (a zebra-horse cross) and a zonkey (a zebra-donkey cross). She rides Zack frequently, especially on trail rides, and drives Charlie. Her exotic animal rehabilitation skills have led her to work with birds of prey, antelope, deer, elk, camels and badgers.

Stohler intends for Zach to jump in demonstrations, but not in competition. Link -via Arbroath

(Image credit: Kimberly Hahn-Orlaska)

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It's not a romantic comedy until a beautiful woman takes a headlong plunge, which is not only a hint at comedy, but is often a way to set her up to meet someone who will turn out to be the man of her dreams. This goes so fast- is Romancing the Stone in there? That was the greatest fall of all. From Nerve. Link -via The High Definite

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When Hollywood movies are renamed for overseas audiences, the results can be literal or inexplicable, and sometimes remarkably apt. For example, Knocked Up was released in China as One Night Big Belly, which makes perfect sense. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me became Austin Powers: The Spy Who Behaved Very Nicely Around Me in Malaysia, which sounds like a scheme to get past censors. But what do you make of Dragnet, which was shown in Germany as Floppy Coppers Don't Bite? Link -via Gorilla Mask

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Warning: this is nothing like what you'd expect from the title. Performance artist Jillian Mayer is determined to scar her own descendants for life. -via The Daily What

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Belle does look into that mirror an awful lot, doesn't she? Artist Chris Hill noticed now nicely the princesses seem to match up with the Seven Deadly Sins. Ariel as Greed? Nailed it. His non-Disney Rapunzel is awesome as well.

http://creativegreed.com/inspiration/disney-character-7-deadly-sins.html via Flavorwire

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Daniel Kish had both eyes removed at the age of 13 months after being diagnosed with retinoblastoma, an aggressive form of cancer. He didn't let that slow him down. Though blind he can mountain bike, navigate the wilderness alone and recognize a building as far away as 1,000 feet. Kish is president of a nonprofit organization called World Access for the Blind. World Access offers training on how to interact with one’s environment, using echolocation as a primary tool. Kish hears echos and interprets their meaning to visualize objects, similar to the way bats, beluga whales and dolphins "see" objects.

He can hear the variation between a wall and a bush and a chain-link fence. Bounce a tennis ball off a wall, Kish says, then off a bush. Different response. So too with sound. Given a bit of time, he can echolocate something as small as a golf ball. Sometimes, in a parking garage, he can echolocate the exit faster than a sighted person can find it.

Link - Via Book of Joe

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Etsy seller 27thstreetpress has the right idea. When you're introduced to someone, just pull out this book and write down his/her name and contact information for future reference.

Link via Copyranter

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Do you miss the feel of a manual typewriter? The USB Typewriter presents itself as "a new and groundbreaking innovation in the field of obsolescence". This appeals to my retro gene.

The modification is easy to install, it involves no messy wiring, and does not change the outward appearance of the typewriter (except for the usb adapter itself, which is mounted in the rear of the machine).

Love your beautiful hard copy and share your professional soft copy!

Link

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Fate threw them together. He was 2%, she was whole. This video was commissioned by Friends of the Earth, a UK organization pushing for more recycling. Link -via Laughing Squid

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Genius & InsaniTea Tea Bags - $11.95

Are you looking for a way to take the edge off of your crazy day? You need the Genius & InsaniTea Tea Bags from the NeatoShop. Go ahead and talk to your new little imaginary soaking friends. You are not insane. You are just having a good time: Link

Be sure to check out all the genius Food & Drinks available at the NeatoShop.

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Why is it harder and harder for people to remember things as they get older? Is it because their brain is full?

Not so, according to a Johns Hopkins neuroscientist:

According to a Johns Hopkins neuroscientist, however, the real trouble is that our aging brains are unable to process this information as "new" because the brain pathways leading to the hippocampus -- the area of the brain that stores memories -- become degraded over time. As a result, our brains cannot accurately "file" new information (like where we left the car that particular morning), and confusion results.
"Our research uses brain imaging techniques that investigate both the brain's functional and structural integrity to demonstrate that age is associated with a reduction in the hippocampus's ability to do its job, and this is related to the reduced input it is getting from the rest of the brain," said Michael Yassa, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences in Johns Hopkins' Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. "As we get older, we are much more susceptible to 'interference' from older memories than we are when we are younger."
In other words, when faced with an experience similar to what it has encountered before, such as parking the car, our brain tends to recall old information it already has stored instead of filing new information and being able to retrieve that. The result? You can't find your car immediately and find yourself wandering the parking lot.
"Maybe this is also why we tend to reminisce so much more as we get older: because it is easier to recall old memories than make new ones," Yassa speculated.

So when you see me repost things that have been on Neatorama before, this may just be the reason: Link

Photo: Shutterstock

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William Chua or Xiaobaosg is a Singaporean artist who described himself as a "kidult illustrator", but the first word that came to my mind was "phenomenal." Here's his series called Panda Revolution, where he put a cute panda in vintage propaganda posters.

My Modern Met has a gallery of his artwork: Link | If you like his work, you can buy 'em here.

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What's funnier than a fart joke on the Internet? Fart news on the Internet, of course!

Here's a story of how two 13-year-old boys got into a bus-load of trouble when they cut the cheese on the bus:

Administrators ruled that the flatulence was in violation of the school's code of conduct, but if you ask Nichols' parents, the decision reeks of poor judgement.
"It's very laughable, that's what it is," said Anthony's father, James Nichols. He said he spoke with the school's vice principal, Daniel Senu-Oke, who "suggested my son should hold his gas on this hour-long bus ride."
For a concerned parent, however, that answer just doesn't cut it.
"When it happens, it just happens," he said. "It's not intentional."
But perhaps it is. According to the bus driver and school officials, the 13-year-old Nichols and his partner in crime are repeat offenders with a history of passing gas on the school bus.

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Previously on Neatorama: Anti-Farting Law in Malawi

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