These days it's all too common to see celebrities like Paris Hilton trotting through the mall with their precious little puppies in their purse, but just imagine if they were as crazy as Salvador Dali with his pet ocelot or Lord Byron with his pet bear. For more strange celebrity pets, be sure to check out this great Flavorwire article.

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Last Sunday was the 160^th anniversary of The New York Times. Throughout those years, The Times has created quite a reputation for itself and has even garnered the nickname the “newspaper of record.” These days, the paper is the third most popular in the world, only ranking behind The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, neither of which are location-based like The Times. But how did the paper get to be so well-respected and widely circulated? Read on to learn more about the illustrious “Gray Lady.”

The History Of A Legend

The Times was founded on September 18, 1851 by journalist/politician Henry Jarvis Raymond (that's him above), who eventually became the second chairman of the Republican National Committee, and former banker George Jones(below). Originally the paper went by the name of the New-York Daily Times and was sold for one cent. Rather than just diving into the news of the day, the first edition attempted to explain why the editors created it and what positions the paper would take on issues, stating:

We shall be Conservative, in all cases where we think Conservatism essential to the public good;—and we shall be Radical in everything which may seem to us to require radical treatment and radical reform. We do not believe that everything in Society is either exactly right or exactly wrong;—what is good we desire to preserve and improve;—what is evil, to exterminate, or reform.

Within only a few years, the paper changed its name to The New York Times and in 1858, the paper was doing well enough to move into its own building, making it the first newspaper in New York City to be housed in a building built specifically for its own use. Ten years after its original release, it started adding a Sunday edition. Prior to this time, it was fairly rare for any paper to print on a Sunday, but public demand for news updates about the Civil War caused the change in papers around the country.

Did you know the Star Wars films still haven't made a profit? That's because the studio distributes the film although the distribution branch is considered a separate company. The distributor charges the studio (itself) whatever fees it wants, so even after the film earns billions of dollars, it might still be billions of dollars more away from turning a profit.

And that's just one of the dirty little movie-making secrets the industry doesn't want you to know about. Find out more over at Film School Rejects.

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From Pedobears chasing children to "Stop Hammertime," some graffiti artists have a great sense of humor. Happy Place has a lengthy collection of these reinterpreted signs for your viewing pleasure.

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Plenty of people are irritated with the banking system right now, but you know people are angry when people are willing to pay $25,000 for a painting of a Chase bank burning up:

Tapping into popular sentiment, Alex Schaefer's painting of a Chase bank on fire just sold on eBay for $25,200. Part of what drove up the price was online buzz after police questioned him while he was painting it, asking him if he planned to do what the painting depicted.

While I wouldn't pay that much for one of these paintings, I certainly support the sentiment Mr. Schaefer is expressing.

Link Via Consumerist

I like to imagine that this photo was taken to show that this woman loves her scuba diver husband, but who knows. BuzzFeed has a great collection of hilariously strange vintage photographs including the one above. Half the fun is looking at the pictures and the other half is making excuses for why they were created.

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Ordinarily, car thieves aren't exactly people to look up to, but when one criminal broke into a van in New York and realized it was filled with explosives, he didn't just run away and hide, he didn't even wait to call the police. Instead, he took action and drove the van to an isolated waterfront area and then reported the van -along with how he found out about the explosives.  In honor of his civic-mindedness, police neglected to even file charges against him.

Read about other criminals with hearts of gold over at Cracked.

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Ever since digital cameras and Photoshop have become commonplace in our society, more and more people have decided that they are "professional photographers" despite having no training or experience. You Are Not A Photographer compiles these terrible images in one convenient location. While some of the pictures aren't utterly terrible, others, like the one above, seem to be disasters that someone decided are "artistic."

And in case you're wondering, yes, all of the images come from people who claim to be professionals.

http://youarenotaphotog.tumblr.com

If you've ever wanted to make your own animation without the use of a computer, a zoetrope is a good way to go. And using Legos to make it is just plain fun. You can see it in action here.

Link Via Craftzine

Fake Science is a blog that teaches fiction in the most delightfully silly ways. Visiting the blog will teach you to prevent hangovers by watering down your beer and what your state's speed limit is when it comes to the velocity of a sneeze.

Link Via Laughing Squid

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Living in San Diego, I sometimes take mariachi bands for granted, but this song reminded me just how delightful these groups can be when they cover classic rock songs.

Via Laughing Squid

If parrots can learn words from humans, it's only logical that parrots can teach others how to speak those words. As it turns out, it's been happening so often that many people in Australia claimed to be hearing voices coming from the trees only to eventually discover the words were actually coming from a band of cockatoos that included one previous pet.

Perhaps the most interesting effect of this is that in large Australian cities, the cockatoos keep their vocabulary sharp through frequent interactions with humans. As a result, apparently, if you say hello to a crowd of cockatoos, it’s not unlikely that you’ll get a relatively articulate answer.

I don't know about you guys, but I'd love to have a conversation with a wild cockatoo, even if it is just a step away from taking over human civilization.

Link Via Geekosystem Image Via rggoldie [Flickr]

I do my best to bring you guys the best possible Comic Con costumes every year, but I'm certainly not a professional photographer by any means. Fortunately, Kevin Knightly is and he was able to take a number of characters out of the fray of the convention to get them to pose in appropriate and awesome settings, resulting in some unforgettable cosplay pictures.  Enjoy the full gallery at Flavorwire.

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I don't know about you guys, but I certainly appreciate a good hot dog. That being said, I have a serious aversion to getting price gouged, which is why I find the idea of a $69 hot dog to be simply sickening. If you're into that sort of thing though, or if you love laughing at the stupid things some rich people will pay for, don't miss out on this Cracked article featuring 5 absurdly priced snack foods.

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This amazing origami dinosaur would be cool if it were made from any paper, but the selection of materials by creator Tran Trung Hieu puts it over the edge. You can see more of his great works at the BuzzFeed article linked or at the artist's Flickr page.

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