Walnuts are one hard nut to crack, so people use a hammer, rock or mallet to crack them open and get at the delicious meat inside, and when they find a good nutcracker they stick with it.

A villager from Shaanxi province, China thought the "mallet" his friend gave him in the early 80s was the perfect walnut cracking device, until he saw it on a government flyer- and found out it was actually a hand grenade.

Finding out his mallet was actually a Chinese Type 67 defensive hand grenade came as quite a shock to the man, who quickly gave it to the local police so he wouldn't get in trouble.

But he would have been even more shocked had it gone off in his hand while he was bashing walnuts!

-Via Popular Mechanics

Ever since we got electrical power, there have been weight-loss gadgets that depend on vibration. They don't work; you can't vibrate fat away. That doesn't mean these gadgets can't be fun. Two little boys found one out for demonstration in a store and decided to try it out. One was overcome with the ridiculousness of it all. The other discovered what vibrating will do to your voice. Then the first kid found that so funny that he literally ROFLed.  -via Digg 

When a 4-year-old goes missing it's crucial to find the child within the first 48 hours, because they know from experience that a young child would have a hard time surviving outdoors that long without help.

So when little Karina Chikitova wandered into a forest in Siberia and got lost her family panicked, and when the hundreds of people searching for her had yet to locate her a week later they began to give up hope.

But Karina was lucky because her dog Kyrachaan had gone with her, and Kyrachaan was able to help Karina stay warm at night and defend her from wolves and bears in the forest until help arrived.

Eleven days after her disappearance Kyrachaan showed up in the village and pointed rescuers in the right direction, and four miles from the village in the tall grass they found Karina. 

Karina had survived by eating berries, and had a few scrapes and bug bites but no major injuries, and the first thing she said when she saw Kyrachaan again- "Why did you leave me?"

Read Dog Protects Girl Lost In Forest For 11 Days here

Poor Ampersand. The character was born with an identity crisis. All he ever wanted to do was join things together. Grant Snider of Incidental Comics created this story, which appeared in the Southampton Review. You can buy a print of this, or any of his comics, at his shop.

See also: More comics by Grant Snider.

Social media sites like Facebook trick us into sharing our opinions by asking us what's on our mind, but share your real thoughts and you'll quickly realize one thing- your so-called FB "friends" don't want to hear how you really feel.

And even if you don't express yourself they'll judge you for oversharing photos, posting too many memes, and don't even get me started on stating a political opinion that someone might disagree with...

This comic strip from The Awkward Yeti is right- social media sucks!

-Via Geeks Are Sexy

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.

In the early months of 1957, Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) had just had one of his biggest successes as an author. The Cat in the Hat, his previous work, was a huge seller, and now it was time for a follow-up Dr. Seuss book.

Geisel began work on How the Grinch Stole Christmas sometime early in the year. He wrote the book quickly, it was finished in a few weeks. "It was the easiest book of my career to write," he recalled, "except for its conclusion."

"I got hung up on how to get the Grinch out of the mess. I got into a situation where I sounded like a second-rate preacher or some bible thumper... Finally in desperation... without making any statement whatever, I showed the Grinch and the Whos together at the table, and made a pun on the Grinch carving "roast beast"… I had gone through thousands of religious choices, and then after three months, it came out like that."

The book now complete, Geisel sent the draft to Random House in mid-May of 1957. Seuss's wife, Helen Geisel, had been having ongoing medical problems and had suffered a small stroke in April of 1957. Nonetheless, she acted as the book's unofficial editor, as she was with previous Dr. Seuss books. How the Grinch Stole Christmas was dedicated to Theodor "Teddy" Owens, the one-year-old son of Geisel's niece, Peggy Owens.

Here's a story about a high school student who may have found a kindred soul, but doesn't know who it is and time is running out because it's the end of the school year. What can you do? Also, there's something going on in this story that might surprise you, a twist ending, as it were.

(YouTube link)

Watch the video before you go read an article about this story at Adweek. I don't want to give too much away here. -via Metafilter

Exes are often embittered by the breakup, and therefore hate their ex's new partner by proxy, but when kids are involved couples try to put aside their bitterness for the sake of the children.

Divorced mom Audrey Nicole isn't bitter about her breakup, nor does she want to knock her ex's new girl- she wants to show her appreciation for how nice the other woman is to her daughter.

(Image Link)

Audrey posted this heartfelt letter to her ex's new girlfriend on Facebook's Love What Matters Page along with the photo below, to express how grateful she is that the new gf is so sweet to her daughter Riley.

This story should inspire exes who don't get along to consider how their hatred might affect the kids caught in the middle, and always remember the new person in your ex's life will be spending time with your kids- so try to keep your cool!

-Via Bored Panda

It's a windy day. The garbage can blew away, and mom and dad sent their son to get it and bring it home. But it's still windy, so that's not an easy job. But he keeps at it, no matter how difficult his task is made.

(YouTube link)

Sisyphus was condemned to roll a rock up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, for eternity. I hope this child is not still out there trying to bring the garbage can home. -via Metafilter

Laws were seemingly made to be broken, and since new laws still can't effectively be relayed to all citizens every time they go into effect people often break laws without knowing it.

For example- If you live in California and you've received one of those annoying "singing" birthday cards you've probably committed the crime of throwing it away, because it's considered E-Waste.

Every year folks in Topeka, Kansas commit the crime of having a snowball fight, and yet the entire state remains at large.

And if you're thinking about selling your stuff on eBay without giving a cut of the proceeds to the IRS you're thinking like a criminal.

See 19 Laws You've Probably Broken Without Realizing It here

Movie stars fill up a bus. Sandra Bullock is driving, Dustin Hoffman takes both the back seat and another seat, and John Candy leads the singing.

(YouTube link)

While the editing is seamless in this short video by Steve Ramsden, it does not end well. -via Tastefully Offensive  

The new blog McMansion Hell takes a deep look at the large single-family homes built between 1980 and the real estate crash of 2008 (although they are still being built). They filled subdivisions with expensive-looking but poorly-designed houses. The huge common rooms were perfect for socializing, but were placed in neighborhoods in a way that discouraged socializing. They incorporated trendy features that don’t work over the long haul. And they look affluent, although I just learned that they are often constructed poorly compared with older homes.

The blog features deconstructions of specific homes, question and answer posts, and a few that get to the heart of what’s wrong with McMansions, like an explainer on their architectural design, a post on attached garages that dominate the house, and a closer look at the front door. No matter how you feel about McMansions, you’ll learn some fascinating things about architecture. -via Metafilter

This video is rude and crude and may be slightly NSFW if your boss is a prude. The truck nuts are about the worst of it, and the word “asshole.” But it’s funny and has a more or less happy ending. It’s the story of Coleman Sweeney. Maybe you know someone like him.

(YouTube link)

The description on the YouTube page says,

After all the arguments, lack of tips and constantly sending back food I finally learned the name of my worst customer, Coleman Sweeney. And I'll never forget it.

This gritty saga of misery and redemption is brought to you by Donate Life. -via reddit

If you're a fan of all the fantastic sci-fi and other genre movies that came out in the 1980s then you will really enjoy the new Netflix series Stranger Things.

Here's the official blurb, so as not to spoil the series for you:

This thrilling Netflix-original drama stars award-winning actress Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, who lives in a small Indiana town in 1983 -- inspired by a time when tales of science fiction captivated audiences. When Joyce's 12-year-old son, Will, goes missing, she launches a terrifying investigation into his disappearance with local authorities. As they search for answers, they unravel a series of extraordinary mysteries involving secret government experiments, unnerving supernatural forces, and a very unusual little girl.

If you haven't seen the show yet you may not want to watch this supercut of references to movies from the 70s and 80s found in Stranger Things because it contains spoilers.

But make sure you come back after you've watched the show!

References to 70-80's movies in Stranger Things from Ulysse Thevenon on Vimeo.

French journalist Ulysse Thevenon edited this side-by-side comparison supercut together for our edification, and even though the references were obvious it only added to the overall vibe of the show in my opinion.

-Via Laughing Squid

In 1932, Louise Thompson noticed that a small spider had gotten into her alarm clock. That wasn’t all that surprising, but she noticed that the spider was trying to spin a web between the hour hand and the minute hand, which was an impossible task because they moved and tore the web. But the spider persisted in its mission. Thompson and her husband kept an eye on the clock for days, thinking the spider would eventually give up, but she didn’t. Word got around, the media was interested, and the next thing you know, the spider was a celebrity. The clock was taken to the University of Akron for study. People all over the world were following the saga of the little spider, and John A. Twamley of Rochester, New York, wrote a poem in its honor.

    In the city known as Akron,
    In the state of O-hio,
    On a clock face there's a spider
    Spinning web threads to and fro.

    Back and forth he keeps on going
    From clock hand unto clock hand,
    And why his threads should keep abreaking
    He of course can't understand...

    When we men meet with reverses
    We should keep this thought in stock:
    That 'til death we should keep striving
    Like the spider in the clock

The Akron Humane Society wanted the spider to be freed, while scientists said it would die outside in the Ohio winter. Read the whole story of the little spider who became a media sensation at About. -via Nag on the Lake