This picture shows a woman with her eyes closed, and her mouth open, seemingly reaching for a kiss from what appears to be a person’s nose, lips, and chin. But when you look closer, it turns out that the person isn’t really a person; rather, it is a hamburger. Really creative of McDonald’s Thailand. SoraNews 24 has this to say:

… it’s quite an ingenious marketing tool. The punchline is well hidden and hard to make out right away, inviting viewers to take the time to figure out how it’s an advertisement for McDonald’s, making them spend more time with it than a typical, boring ad. Then, when they get it, they’ll be craving a cheeseburger as much as a kiss from their sweetie’s lips!

Very clever.

(Image Credit: McDonald’s/ Facebook)

As part of its efforts to develop various autonomous robots that could fill military roles, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, launched a robot competition. The said competition simulated a disaster scenario (a gas leak, specifically) in an unfinished underground power plant located in Elma, Washington.

The winning team came from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a 60 person crew that oversaw a group of 12 robots they'd programmed through an initiative called Collaborative SubTerranean Autonomous Robots (CoSTAR).

The robot group included Spot, the famous four-legged product of Boston Dynamics that was loosely modeled after a dog, as well as flying drones and a group of rolling robots in spherical metal frames.

The robots were tasked with tracking down 20 unique targets, including a warm mannequin simulating a disaster survivor, and a lost cell phone, which they located by tracing its Wi-Fi signal.

More details about the competition over at Daily Mail.

(Image Credit: DARPAtv/ Daily Mail)

(Image Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ Daily Mail)

Fire is the most revolutionary technology that our ancestors discovered in the ancient past. For thousands of years, fire has served as our light in the night, our means to cook food, and as a weapon of war.

Perhaps the most essential skill that we need to learn, outside of the modern life that we have right now, is creating fire with our bare hands. Learning this skill might take some time, but it would surely pay off.

In this video, Bill Schindler, a professor of archaeology and anthropology in Washington College, teaches us how to make fire using two methods.

(Video Credit: WIRED/ YouTube)

The Robert Peary expedition in 1908 is what most people know as the first to reach the North pole, although that itself is in some dispute. It turns out that Peary wasn't even the first to reach the North pole in his own party! Peary recruited Matthew Henson, a young Black man with years of experience in seafaring and wilderness survival, to head the crews of his various adventures, including the 1908 North Pole expedition.   

Henson was promoted to “first man” and field assistant. He was a skilled craftsman, often coming up with life-saving solutions for the team in the harshest of Arctic conditions. On the final stage of the journey toward the North Pole, it was just himself, Peary and four native Inuit assistants, Ootah, Egigingwah, Seegloo, and Ooqueah.

As they approached the “Farthest North” point of any Arctic expedition until 1909, Robert grew more and more weary, suffering from exhaustion and frozen toes, unable to leave their camp, set up five miles from the pole. Henson scouted ahead on Peary’s orders. “I was in the lead that had overshot the mark a couple of miles,” Henson later recalled, “We went back then and I could see that my footprints were the first at the spot.”

Read the story of Matthew Henson, including his famous descendant you may be surprised to learn about, at Messy Messy Chic.

(Image credit: Library of Congress)

Never judge a book by its cover - but see why it's best to hire a professional artist rather than try to roll your own.

Gaming desks and chairs are well-refined and engineered marvels. But among serious esports athletes, there's a need for the focus that only a bed can provide. After all, if the gamer has to move between his bed and his desk on a daily basis, he's wasting energy that could be more productively used elsewhere.

Bauhutte, a Japanese furniture manufacturer, offers a truly amazing catalog of gaming furniture that place video games at the center of human activity. The bed appears to represent the most complete experience. But I think that even it could be improved upon if it came with some sort of built-in toilet so that it was not necessary to pause a game while attending to biological needs.

-via Ian Miles Cheong

Give Takehiro Kishimoto a squash and an X-Acto knife and he will compose a gloriously precise and intricate sculpture. No matter how small the fruit or vegetable is, he can work into its form delicate, ephemeral designs that make it look like they grew naturally.

A Japanese company has invented a way to let us drink potato chips. Forget the tedious (and greasy) way of eating a bag of potato chips, because Zyplus’ Poterapper will let you gulp your chips with ease. The Poterapper doesn’t turn potato chips into an actual liquid form. It gives the user a way to shove potato chips into their mouth with ease, as SoraNews24 detailed: 

At first glance, the Poterapper looks sort of like an adapter for hookng up your washing machine. It’s composed of three parts, top, middle, and bottom pieces, as shown above. Those three parts, though, plus a pair of scissors, are all you need to make the magic happen.

First, cut off a corner of the bag and slide the bottom piece. Then place the middle piece over the bottom piece, with the bag’s material sandwiched between their contact patch, and screw the two pieces together. Finally, screw the top piece, which is a cap, onto the middle piece.

Now that you’ve got your equipment set up, the final step is to turn your chips into drinkable form by pressing and squeezing the bag to break them into smaller pieces that can easily flow through the spout. We suppose you could also toss the bag around the room or dropkick it, but you’ll want to be gentle enough that it doesn’t rip.

image via SoraNews24

Three people snatched a shark from San Antonio Aquarium and wheeled it out in a baby stroller. Police officers initially refused to believe the initial 911 call concerning the ‘sharknapping’, but was convinced that the incident was real later on. The shark is alive and on its way back to aquarium, and one suspect is in custody, as NBC News detailed: 

Security video released Monday shows the sharknappers strolling through the aquarium's hallway pushing the baby carriage along on Saturday before they drove off with the 16-inch shark in a red pickup truck.

The aquarium said the thieves brought their own net with them to snag the shark from an interactive "touch pool" at the tide pool exhibit while an attendant was assisting other visitors.

They then ducked into a filter room and emptied out a bleach bucket, into which they deposited the shark, the aquarium said. They used the bucket to transfer the shark into the stroller and "hurried up the stairs and out to the parking lot," it said.

The aquarium said managers raced to the parking lot and caught up with the suspects — who denied access to both the vehicle and the stroller.

image via NBC News

A green-cheeked parakeet has been given a prosthetic set of wing feathers after hers were cut off by her owner. The parakeet, named Wei Wei, was in agony and unable to fly without falling into the ground after her wing feathers were clipped off. The vets at The Unusual Pet Vets in Brisbane, Australia made the prosthetic wings to help Wei Wei fly again, as Metro UK detailed: 

Dr Catherine Apuli made Wei Wei’s prosthetics out of feathers donated to the clinic which had been cleaned, sterilised and dried. Dr Apuli said: ‘Primary flight feathers – the big feathers at the ends of the wings – which have been traumatized may result in pain, bleeding, unwanted aggressive behaviour and self-induced feather plucking. ‘The imping procedure was performed to prevent further physical injury and to regain flight for optimal mental and physical health.’ Wing clipping is carried out to restrict flight and protect indoor birds from injuring themselves on ceiling fans or by flying into large windows. But the practice is controversial, with experts saying there is no evidence to suggest clipped birds are any safer than those with full wings when kept inside as pets.

image via Metro UK

It seems that the Internet had a new debate to settle. Dui is an adorable fuzzy grey animal. He has a dog’s snout and tongue, but also has cat-like ears. While some coo at his appearance, some are confused and can’t decide Dui’s species. The Internet has created speculations as to what Dui’s species is, as DailyStar details: 

They speculated he may be a cross between a corgi and a Vietnamese breed called Hmong, while others suggested he could be a corgi mixed with a British shorthair cat.

"So like is it a cat, dog, or some new kind of fox that we will keep seeing on the internet... but nobody knows how to get one?" one Reddit user pondered.

Another joked: "Do you want a cat or a dog? YES."

His owners have finally answered the speculation: Dúi is actually a mix of a native Vietnamese dog breed and a short-legged dog breed known as Dingo.

image via DailyStar

Sam Mini, a young cosplayer with a passion for Star Wars, composed this cosplay inspired by the space western The Mandalorian and the classic cartoon character Strawberry Shortcake. Her dog, Pupcake, has become baby Yoda and his blaster is now a handheld cake mixer.

Ed Mis tells me this is what his house looked like when he woke up this morning. He says some of the ice has completely frozen over the top of his neighbor’s house and he’s worried about what will happen when it all melts. ⁦@WGRZ⁩ pic.twitter.com/XVrEomdslq

— Karys Belger (@KarysBelger) February 28, 2020

A winter storm along the coast of Lake Erie left homes at Hoover Beach in Hamburg, New York, encased in ice up to three feet thick! Waves up to 18 feet high sprayed freezing water over the neighborhood.

Homeowners on South shore Drive woke to the ice completely covering their doors and windows. In some cases, their homes were dark because of how thick the ice was.

Ed Mis, resident and homeowner in Hoover Beach, says he's never seen conditions this bad before. The front of his home is completely covered in ice that is likely one to three feet thick.

"I actually had to go out a secondary door and then chisel my way back into the house by breaking the ice," he told 2 On Your Side's Karys Belger.

The ice brought down trees and power lines, too. Officials said they cannot estimate the amount of damage until the ice melts. Read more at WTHR. -via Boing Boing

The Surrey Police displayed faces of wanted criminals on pancakes so that the public can help them locate such notorious individuals. The police force asked the help of totally real crepe artist, Philippe de Pan, to create pancake art of the criminals’ faces. Sky News has the details:

It goes on to clarify de Pan does not actually exist and that they have created the images themselves.

On one of them, the force has added the pun: "We would like to establish if he is a crepe-tomaniac?! (badoom tisch!)."

Several users have responded with their own puns, with one posting: "Take it he stole some dough?" - while another tweeted: "Don't pancake!! We are on to it!!"

One person wrote: "I hope you manage to crepe up on them and apprehend them safely!" to which Surrey Police responded: "Thank you - we'll try to be syruptitious!"

image via Sky News

The internet has given us glimpses of dogs, cats, and birds beating out a rhythm or offering melodic voices for years. German YouTuber Luksan Wunder remixed some of those viral videos into a virtual band for your listening pleasure. It goes into high gear once the husky starts singing. Pretty good for cats, dogs, and a duck! -via Laughing Squid