Sometimes blanket with sleeves, no matter how cool, are just not enough. When the weather is freezing cold, you need this: super insulates sleeping bag with legs.
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Death is a topic of conversation that any child would ask their parents about, and many of us would deflect the question out of discomfort. "The kids are just too young to understand" is a common excuse.
But what if your father is a world famous scientist? How would he answer the question about death?
Sasha Sagan, daughter of astronomer Carl Sagan, told us the time when, as a young child, she asked her father about death:
One day when I was still very young, I asked my father about his parents. I knew my maternal grandparents intimately, but I wanted to know why I had never met his parents.
“Because they died,” he said wistfully.
“Will you ever see them again?” I asked.
He considered his answer carefully. Finally, he said that there was nothing he would like more in the world than to see his mother and father again, but that he had no reason — and no evidence — to support the idea of an afterlife, so he couldn’t give in to the temptation.
“Why?”
Then he told me, very tenderly, that it can be dangerous to believe things just because you want them to be true. You can get tricked if you don’t question yourself and others, especially people in a position of authority. He told me that anything that’s truly real can stand up to scrutiny.
As far as I can remember, this is the first time I began to understand the permanence of death. As I veered into a kind of mini existential crisis, my parents comforted me without deviating from their scientific worldview.
Read the rest of the story, including how Sasha would have to deal with her father's death not too long afterwards, over at New York Magazine - via PopSci
See also: 10 Neat Facts About Carl Sagan
Need a fix of chocolate? Robert Cooper of the University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins, has got something for you: a chocolate airplane that you can build into Airfix-style models.
The concept, designed for a project by chocolate company Cadbury, involves chocolate-filled shapes that are cracked from a wafer sheet. Customers can then assemble the models before eating the parts:
According to Deezen:
Cooper's design uses hollow-wafer technology – a wafer shell, made in two halves and formed over a mould. The resulting shapes are stamped out of the sheets and the two halves are brought together and filled with chocolate, which glues them in place.
In addition to the chocolate model airplane, Cooper envisioned other model-style chocolate snacks, including race car, horse, and even a Tyrannosaur rex.
View the full story over at Deezen.
Now this is a shrine we can all get behind! There's a lot of religious places where you can pray to be cured of your ailments, but this one is rather specific. The Kunigami Shrine in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, is dedicated to curing ... hemorrhoids.
According to tradition, those who wash their bums in the nearby river and then ate egg offerings at the Shinto shrine would be cured of hemorrhoids. But cleaning bare butts in the river is now frowned upon, so the shrine offers a "Butt Washing Stone" where people can point their backsides to, chant a few incantations, and be cured forever!
IT Media reports that about seventy people attended a recent festival at the shrine, and that fun was had by all!
via Oddity Central and Kotaku
Demolishing a concrete building is usually done in a messy, brute force kind of way - with wrecking balls or explosives and the ensuing cloud of dust and debris - but if Omer Haciomeroglu has his way, that will be a way of the past.
Haciomeroglu, a student at the Umeå Institute of Design in Sweden, has designed a robot that literally erases concrete walls. The ERO (short for "erosion") robot uses pressurized water to break down concrete. "High-pressure water jets attack the micro cracks on the concrete surface, making it come apart," Haciomeroglu said to Fast Company, "It leaves the metal rebar inside naked and ready for reuse."
The broken down concrete are separated into its components of cement, sand, and aggregate, and packaged into neat bags to be transported to recycling plants - or even sold to someone constructing a new building nearby.
Check out more conceptual designs below:
Why spring for a hearse when you can carry grandma to the funeral (we hope) Little Miss Sunshine-style. This SUV was seen in Florida carrying a casket on its roof, with a hand-scribbled note on its back window saying "Honk for Grandma!"
We wonder if anyone actually honked. Via Huffington Post
For 31 years, redditor Coppin-it-washin-it's parents celebrated their wedding anniversary at a Red Lobster restaurant in Columbia, Missouri. In March, after his dad passed away, his sister decided to keep the tradition alive and took their mom out to the same restaurant for an anniversary meal.
The waitress asked if there was a special occasion, and the sister explained the situation:
The waitress asked if there was a special occasion or if they were just hungry. My sister explained that my parents had been going there every year for their anniversary. The waitress then asked why my dad wasn’t there and they explained how he had passed away in March. She said she was sorry to hear that and then it was just a normal meal like any other after that. Until they got the bill.
via Buzzfeed
Instead of a bill, the widow and her daughter got this note that said:
We are sorry to hear about your husband's passing, but we appreciate you loyalty in spending 31 years of your anniversary with us. For your appreciation your meal is on us! We look forward to spending you're your next anniversary with us!
Sincerely, Red Lobster & your server, Taylor
The image has since been deleted, but Red Lobster confirmed the story. "What Taylor, the server, and Chad, the manager on duty, did demosntrates how our teams live Red Lobster's core values of genuine caring and hospitality each day," spokesperson Erica Ettori told NewsChannel 5. "All of us at Red Lobster are truly proud of the Columbia team and appreciate their commitment to making every guest's dining experience a special one. We also extend our wishes to the family who dined with us and look forward to serving them again next year!"
Facebook Commenters are Steaming MAD at Steven Spielberg
for Killing This "Innocent Animal"
Are you ready for some funny pics? We've just posted a ton of neat funny pictures on our LOLpic blog NeatoPicto. Take a look:
| Duck of Justice | When You See It ... | Kicked Bridesmaid in the Head and Ripped His Pant ... | A Veggie Burger That Contains Real Beef! |
Now Hiring - Must Have a Brain
After Her Mom Died Unexpectedly, This Girl Turned Her Last Words Into a Wonderful Tattoo
Love funny pics? View tons more at NeatoPicto!
via Buzzfeed
Gotham has the bat, but the city of Bangor, Maine, has something that will have criminals ... ahem, "quacking" in their boots. Meet the Duck of Justice, the unofficial mascot of the Bangor Police Department.
"I happen to believe that police officers are a pretty humorous bunch," said Sgt. Tim Cotton to the Associated Press, "I want to read something that at least has some humorous undertones. I wouldn't connect to a page that I didn't want to read." So Sgt. Cotton, who's in charge of the police department's Facebook page, decided to feature a stuffed duck that he rescued out of the trash.
"We've been using Facebook for a few years of course, I just asked if I could do it a bit differently, present us [the police department] a bit differently. I think in general people like to be entertained. I know I do, so if you can combine information with a bit of humor, then why not?" he added to Bangor Daily News.
And so the Duck of Justice or DOJ was born.
Sgt. Cotton used the duck to connect with the public in sometimes humorous, sometimes serious ways. For example:
Officer Larby (what a ham!) and
the DOJ have taken some time for a buckle-up selfie
to remind you to just do it.
The DOJ took off for the races this afternoon and he was whistling "More Than A Feeling" and I can't find my wallet ... he must be feeling lucky!
Good news, everyone: Gen Korean BBQ House is hiring!
Bad news, everyone: You must have a brain to apply. Where's the fun in that?
Spotted over at our pal Pleated Jeans is this funny pic of a "Now Hiring" banner with a caveat "Must Have Brain" for a local restaurant.
Just be glad that you're not sleeping on this bed, because when you see it ...
What? No clue as to what you're supposed to be seeing? Show ClueAs the ads proclaim, Crompton's Beef Farm from Dorset, England, has cracked the marketing challenge of somehow selling meatful meatless veggie burger. "Made with the finest cuts of topside and sirloin from our own herd, Crompton's Veggie Burgers are the only vegetarian burgers on the market made with 100% REAL BEEF! All the TASTE of beef, all the GOODNESS of beef and all the BEEF of beef in a 100% vegetarian burger."
- 100% Beef? Check
- Nut-free? Check
- Suitable for vegans? Check
- Dairy free? Check
What more could you ask?
A Facebook post aiming to publicly shame a recreational hunter posing with his recent kill picked an unfortunate example ... From the post:
Disgraceful photo of recreational hunter happily posing next to a Triceratops he just slaughtered. Please share so the world can name and shame this despicable man.
Problem is: the man is Steven Spielberg, who directed the 1993 dinosaur movie Jurassic Park, sitting next to a Triceratops model. And the fact that Triceratops went extinct 68 million years ago didn't seem to satisfy some of the most ardent Facebook posters.
When it was pointed out that the man was Spielberg, one commenter said "I dont care who he is he should not have shot that animal."
Another Facebook commenter added "I think zoos are the best way to keep these innocent animals safe ... a**holes like this piece of sh*t are going into these beautiful animals HOME and killing them ..." To which we can only say, clever girl.
Via Dangerous Minds and FAIL Blog
The Internet is awash with epic wedding photos, but this one is undoubtedly the most epic wedding picture ever taken. It shows Tfoster7102 jumping high, kicking the bridesmaid in the head, and ripping his pants. Smooth dude, smooth.
One night in February 2011, Taylor's mother died of a heart attack in her sleep. To always remember her by, the 21-year-old college student decided to get a tattoo. She said in her Tumblr:
"It's on my left forearm. It's a note my mom left me the night she died. Here's a side-by-side shot of the two."
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