Blog Posts Ponder Variety Likes
Foxes are about the coolest feral animal imaginable. I wish there were more foxes in the world. Less coyotes and more foxes- that's what I say. I can safely conclude my connection to the animal all started with The Fox And the Hound. I am tearing up just thinking about it, poor Tod and poor Copper. Both put into a situation where they are supposed to be enemies but all they want to do is be is the best of friends. Ugh, damn you Disney. How do you still have a hold over me some 20 years later?
-Via The Monica Bird
I feel like I have had this exact conversation a few too many times. A friend of mine was visiting from across the country, staying on our couch for a couple weeks, and I wanted to tell him all about my Los Angeles exploits over the last few months. Unfortunately, he already knew everything- saw my Facebook photos and followed my on my sparsely used Twitter account. The excitement of telling him my stories was lost thanks to Social Media.
Has anyone else experienced this situation?
Image Via Apex Design [Flickr]
While it's easy to think that the fennec fox's giant eyes and massive ears were all part of a genius plan to make them too utterly adorable to resist -the reality is that this utmost cuteness is just a side effect of their many desert-friendly adaptations. You see, living in one of the most extreme environments on earth, the Sahara Desert, isn't easy.
While the fennec fox is the smallest canid in the world, they happen to have the largest ears of all varieties of foxes. These impossibly huge ears aren't just there to make them look cartoonish, and while they are sensitive enough to help the critters hear small prey moving underground, that still isn't their primary function. No, those giant ears are actually designed mainly to help the fennecs dissapate heat from their bodies.
Image Via Chris Stubbs [Wikipedia]
As for their massive eyes, well, those help them see in the dark, as being nocturnal means they can sleep in their dens during the day -thus keeping out of the warm sunlight. The dens are also beneficial as the foxes get most of their water through their food, but their burrows also gather dew overnight, providing them with an additional water source.
Even their fur is specially adapted to help them cope with the extreme weather. At night, it helps keep them warm and during the day, it reflects solar rays and insulates them from heat. Their feet are even covered with fur, which prevents them from scorching on the hot desert sand and makes it easier for them to walk on the sand -kind of like built-in snow shoes.
Image Via cactusbeetroot [Flickr]
While little is known about their survival status in the wild, scientists speculate that they are doing well, given how often they are spotted by visitors to their local habitat. Of course, it probably isn't hurting that they are one of the handful of creatures with an expanding natural environment, as the Sahara continues to grow around 30 miles per year.
Sources: National Geographic and Wikipedia
In an article last week, we read about how Ed Bernays convinced architects and builders to include bookshelves in new homes, in order to sell more books. There's a big difference between including them and designing a home around bookshelves, but some bibliophiles have done just that. See thirteen gorgeous interiors dominated by books and the awesome installations and fixtures to store them in at Flavorwire. Link
Not only would this thing look great for a party, but she even has a smoke machine inside that would make any party atmosphere even more amazing.
A reader wrote to Jen at Cake Wrecks that the bakery at her local supermarket has a new policy prohibiting photography. She heard that it was because the management was afraid the cakes would show up on "that bad cake site." In fact, store employees said it was because their cake designs were copyrighted. That does seem like a logical response; far more logical than hiring professionals or training cake decorators.
Of course this bakery isn't the only chain to ban photos; fact is, most stores now have similar rules. I hear from readers every week who are harassed, shooed away, and even outright kicked out of stores for whipping out their cellphones in the bakery.
Now, far be it from me to criticize rules (even ones I find really, REALLY stupid) but I don't see how harassing your own customers - and ones who often buy your wrecks because Cake Wrecks has made them a world-wide inside joke - is good for business.
Then again, I also thought it would make more sense to train your bakers not to make wrecks instead of trying to prevent people from seeing them, so what do I know?
There are more photographic examples in the post at Cake Wrecks. Link
During his life, French sculptor François-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008) made several metal hippopatamus figures with built-in compartments. This glorious bronze specimen opens to reveal a bar. It was typical of Lalanne's playful approach to art:
He wanted, he once said, to bring the notion of usefulness to sculpture and to demystify art, which he regarded as a funhouse rather than a cathedral.
Obituary -via Wunderkammer | Photo: Claiborne Swanson Frank/Vogue
They call it a cat nap for a reason. If I were the guy sitting in that chair, I wouldn't be moving for a very long time. How could I? Let that kitty nap as long as he needs to.
-Via Unique Daily
We've posted about Carl Warner's Foodscapes before on Neatorama, but the photographer has some new ones on his website that you should see (my favorite is the first one featured above, inspired by Monolith from Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series).
But eat first, because these gorgeous photos will surely make you hungry, mmkay? Link [Flash site, so click on Portfolio and then the second box from the left (Foodscapes)]
With parts from old watches, JM Gershenson-Gates can make scorpions, spiders, birds, skeletons and more. They're little clockwork marvels that pop alive when you're not expecting them.
Link -via Wunderkammer | Artist's Website
Are those my only two options? Damn.
Side note: remember that conversation we had about phone numbers and area codes? Where in the world would these digits be from? I am guessing UK somewhere, but I am not so sure.
-Via I'm Serious. Loljk.
Poor pepper. Hopefully he will, at the very least, be made into something delicious like a stuffed pepper or tasty ketchup - made with a charred red bell pepper reduction, foodies you know what's up.
I have to be real with you guys though, with my first glance at this photo I wanted to laugh menacingly, mocking this fruit. For a split second I thought it was a tomato. I hate tomatoes. I can't explain it really, something to do with the texture, but tomatoes and I just don't get along. When people ask me if I like them, I lie and say I am allergic.
-Via Bits and Pieces
I woke up at 5:00 AM to go hiking with my dog since this whole daylight savings time has thrown my biological clock for a loop. This was my face.
Only kidding, why it's Tard the Grumpy Cat of course! Yes her name is Tard, short for Tardar (Tartar) Sauce. She is quite amusing. The cat belongs to Tabatha Bundesen and was originally posted on Reddit in September by her brother, redditor Cataliades. Also on Youtube.
-Via Tard The Grumpy Cat
The amazing mural works of Australian street artist Shida aren't lacking in style or detail, and they certainly don't look like every other painting slapped on a wall.
Shida excels in the use of color, intricate linework and designing characters that look like delicate monsters, beautiful yet edgy and full of pointy bits.
Link --via Hi Fructose
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