Photo: Suzan and Kelly Jones

Conceptual artist Kasey McMahon (whose works CompuBeaver and Text-o-Possum have been featured on Neatorama before) sent us her latest creation: the Birdcage Dress (yes, it's a fully functional wearable brass bird cage - notice the birdies?)

http://www.yourpsychogirlfriend.com/birdcage/index.html - Thanks Kasey!

This is pretty cool: National Geographic Channel has a fantastic feature titled Waking the Baby Mammoth, about the discovery of a well-preserved body of a baby woolly mammoth:

Only a handful have ever been found before. But none like her. Her name is Lyuba. A 1-month-old baby mammoth, she walked the tundra about 40,000 years ago and then died mysteriously. Discovered by a reindeer herder, she miraculously re-appeared on a riverbank in northwestern Siberia in 2007. She is the most perfectly preserved woolly mammoth ever discovered. And she has mesmerized the scientific world with her arrival - creating headlines across the globe.

Link | More Videos - Thanks Minjae!

Previously on Neatorama: Scientists Took CT Scans of a Baby Mammoth

When the pilot of the twin-engine Beech aircraft passed out and died mid-flight, passenger Doug White of Archibald, Louisiana, took over the plane and landed it safely:

"We've had situations where passengers land airplanes before, but this is the first time I actually heard a controller actually tell the passenger to push this button and turn this knob," said Steve Wallace, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers in Miami. "It's a heck of an Easter story."

Wallace was working in the Miami air traffic control center when his air controllers couldn't reach the plane's pilot at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Miami center deals with planes at high altitude - 10,000 or more feet - in South Florida.

"We tried a couple times and didn't hear anything," Wallace said. "Then all of a sudden, we hear a passenger say, 'This is November 55 Niner Delta Whisky and my pilot is passed out. We need help now.'"

Link - Thanks Sharyn!

There's no question that in today's tough economic climate, many worthy causes are facing trouble.

After it was broken into by a drunk man, the country's only cage-free, no-kill animal shelter, The Saint Francis Animal Rescue Center, has gone into tailspin and needs your help:

Now, with almost no volunteers and two staff members, the shelter might have to consider permanently closing its bashed-in doors.

"It's just been horrible," said shelter director Charlene Rodriguez. "My assistant and I have been using our own funds, and I don't mean trust funds, but as in paycheck to paycheck.

"It's been extremely difficult."

http://www.zootoo.com/petnews/nationsonlycagefreenokillshelt-1302 - Thanks Jill!

According to Amy Lieberman of ZooToo Pet News, you can donate to the Saint Francis Animal Rescue Center through their paypal email of StFrancisAnimalRescue@yahoo.com.

When 2-year-old toddler Nathaniel wandered away from his home, his mother Ashley Teafatiller and fellow searchers frantically looked for him ... thankfully the story has a happy ending, and an unlikely hero: Nathaniel's puppy Stanley who kept him warm (and probably alive) during the cold night:

About 150 searchers spread out look for Nathaniel, who had managed to walk more than a mile away from his home, Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield said.

By 11 p.m., a Toldeo firefighter with a portable infrared scanner spotted a heat signal that turned out to be the boy.

"They think Stanley is what kept him going because it was obviously really cold last night," said Teafatiller. Nathaniel was found laying on the cold ground with Stanley snuggled next to him. During his adventure, the boy stripped off his pants and diaper and was found in only a t-shirt and socks.

Link - Thanks Tiffany!

My, my, my - it has been a month since we last had a Caption Monkey contest on Neatorama! Thankfully, our pal Adam Koford reminded me of my lapse (sorry, guys) and even provided the image (and prize) for today's game.

Funniest caption (as judged by the esteemed Mr. Koford himself) will win the original Laugh-Out-Loud Cat panel above, with the winning caption inked in. Contest rules are simple: Place your caption in the comment section below - one caption per comment, but you can enter as many as you can think of.

For inspiration, be sure to visit Adam's blog. Good luck!

A few years ago, Drew Oliver got a Eureka moment. He was reading a memoir by scientist Richard Feynman. In it, the physicist wrote about being amazed looking at a water droplet through a microscope to see a microbe swimming about. This gave Drew a multimillion dollar business idea: a line of plushy germs for the scientifically-minded.

With the help of his brother, Drew launched Giant Microbes, which makes dozens of cute plush dolls of germs that cause some of life's most miserable diseases like ebola, HIV, flesh eating bacteria, ... and yes, even STDs!

We've recently gotten our shipments of Giant Microbes, so if there's someone close to your heart that could use a little herpes, mad cow, or even the black plague, here's your chance: http://shop.neatorama.com/store.php?giant-microbes-plush-toys-pg1-cid85.html

Doctors operating on 28-year-old Artyom Sidorkin was expecting to find a tumor in one of his lungs, but they got a big, green surprise during the surgery:

Doctors x-rayed his chest and found a tumor in one of the lungs. Suspecting cancer, they made a decision to perform biopsy, but when they cut the tissue, they were amazed to see green needles in the cut.

“I blinked three times, and thought I was seeing things. Then I called the assistant to have a look,” says Vladimir Kamashev, doctor at the Udmurtian Cancer Center.

The five-centimeter branch was removed from the patient’s body. [...]

It is obvious that a five-centimeter branch is too large to be inhaled or swallowed, doctors say. They suggest that the patient might have inhaled a small bud, which then started to grow inside his body.

http://www.mosnews.com/weird/2009/04/13/firtree/ (Photo: Komsomolskaya Pravda)

If you've ever damaged your stuff because you packed it wrong, take heart: even Charles Darwin made the same error.

When a volunteer was cataloging a collection at University of Cambridge's Zoology Museum, she ran across a curious egg with writings on it:

... Lowe and Curator of Ornithology Dr Mike Brooke, traced the specimen's origin in the notebook of Professor Alfred Newton, a friend of Darwin's and Professor of Zoology in the latter 19th Century.

Prof Newton had written: "One egg, received through Frank Darwin, having been sent to me by his father who said he got it at Maldonado (Uruguay) and that it belonged to the Common Tinamou of those parts.

"The great man put it into too small a box and hence its unhappy state."

Link

Previously on Neatorama: 10 Fun Facts About Charles Darwin

The country's faltering economy? Piracy at high seas? Concerns about terrorism? Nay, the biggest story in Washington DC these past couple of days revolve around a dog. But not just any dog: he's Bo, the cute Obama dog!

The identity of the first puppy -- the one that the Washington press corps has been yelping about for months, the one President Obama has seemed to delight in dropping hints about -- leaked out Saturday.

The little guy is a six-month-old Portuguese water dog given to the Obama girls as a gift by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Malia and Sasha named it Bo. [...]

A secret get-acquainted session with the family occurred at the White House a few weeks ago. The visit, known around the White House as "The Meeting," was a surprise for the girls. Bo charmed the first family, a source who was there said. He sat when the girls sat, stood when the girls stood. He made no toilet errors and did not gnaw on the furniture. Bo has, after all, been receiving lessons in good behavior from the Kennedys' dog trainers. These lessons have been taking place at a secret, undisclosed location outside Washington.

Link (Photo: Pete Souza / White House)

Insurance fraud is not new, but this one is unusual: "necro-phonies" Faye Shilling and Jane Crump will be arraigned on charges of staging fake funerals for fake people to defraud insurance companies!

When staging the funerals, Shilling, a phlebotomist, and Crump, an employee at a now-defunct Long Beach mortuary, allegedly filled caskets with various materials to make it appear they contained actual corpses, documents show.

After the funerals, the women and their associates filed bogus documents with the county saying the remains had been cremated and scattered at sea, prosecutors said.

The insurance policies were worth $50,000 to $450,000, and the women had already collected on some as large as $250,000, officials said.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Women-Accused-of-Faking-Funerals-for-Undead-Fake-People.html

Can't ... resist ... posting ... about these Star Trek groaners compiled by our very own Miss C:

Question: How many ears does Picard have?
Answer: Three. A right ear. A left ear. And a final front ear.

Question: What did the blonde Klingon say?
Answer: "It was a good day to dye."

Question: What is Thomas Riker's dating philosophy?
Answer: "If at first you don't succeed, try Troi again."

More here: Link | If you like that, you should visit the Shaggy Dog Story Archive

Forget those cutesy bento boxes! Here's Ichi the Killer bento box by Sakurako Kitsa:

This is my obent-ode to Ichi the Killer, one of the most awesome, extreme movies in the history of ever. My rendition didn't do Tadanobu Asano the slightest bit of justice (you try making him out of turkey and mustard), but I think it came out okay.

This is from the very memorable part of the movie where he inhales deeply on his cigarette and blows the smoke out the slits in his cheeks.

Link - via Rue the Day

John Hawkins of Right Wing News blog wrote about 50 things that every 18-year-old should know. I wish I knew these two when I was younger, it would've saved me a lot of grief:

When men have a problem and they tell you about it, they want to know how to fix it. When women have a problem and they tell you about it, they just want you to listen.

If you get into a business deal with someone who goes to unusual lengths to convince you of how honest or Christian they are, watch your wallet and make sure you have an iron clad contract. They "doth protest too much."

http://rightwingnews.com/mt331/2009/04/50_things_every_18yearold_shou.php - via The Zeray Gazette

What else would you add to the list?