From 1728 to 1878, the Socci family of Ponte a Ema, a small town south of Florence, Italy, produced the finest furniture in Europe. Their clients expected the best and got it, including this desk now owned by the Louvre in Paris. It's one of four known examples of this remarkable design.
The whole unit folds away into a small table. Then, when needed, it expands with a built-in chair, writing desk, drawers, and leaves. You can see more photos of it and the other surviving models at Clostermann Antiques.
Imgur member i4got2pinthecrystals took this photo of her dog, who knows that she's not allowed on the bed. But "She thinks if she sits really still, i won't see her." And with good reason! The dog is a trained ninja who can disappear in front of your eyes.
But you don't have to worry. If she wanted you dead, you already would be.
Bella is an 8-month old human. Juma is a 1-month old jaguar. They're friends thanks to Bella's father, Airton Katsuyama. He rescues wild animals in Góias, a state in central Brazil. He's always let his daughters live closely with these rescued animals, including Juma.
On Wednesday, I wrote about the cheese librarian position open at the American Cheese Society. This was the subject of much discussion on librarian Twitter. Some librarians mentioned that there is a wine librarian position open in California, which of course got me very excited.
The job posting is a sight to behold! Calling the American Cheese Society position a cheese librarian was a bit of a stretch since the job title is Content Manager and an MLS degree is preferred, but not mandatory.
But the wine librarian position is a straight up librarian gig of the highest order. The Sonoma County Library in California is a public library system that serves wine country. This Librarian III position is a highly specialized job that focuses on the needs of the winemaking communities in the area:
As a special library within a public library setting, the Wine Library serves wine industry professionals and wine enthusiasts with aplomb. With collections and services in business and technical resources, rare books portraying the global history of wine, oral histories and archival information detailing the history of wine in the North Coast region, as well as a comprehensive trove of resources spanning every related subject from growing grapes to pairing wine with anything you might think of, the Wine Library is an indispensable resource for drinkers, aspiring home winemakers, viticulturists, picking crews, hospitality professionals, and corporate business partners alike.
A branch manager is currently filling in as wine librarian. So he needs help. I am not qualified for this position yet. But I will begin drinking heavily so that I can become qualified as soon as possible.
5 years ago, Joao Pereira de Souza, 71, of Brazil found a penguin lying on the beach near his home near Rio de Janeiro. He was covered with oil and severely malnourished. So de Souza took him home, cleaned his feathers, and nursed him back to health. He named his new penguin friend Dindim.
After Dindim had recovered, de Souza took him back out to the beach to let him go. The penguin swam away. Then, a few months later, he came back! Now Dindim swims about 5,000 miles every year from his habitat on the southern tip of South America to spend time with de Souza. The Daily Mail reports:
He was astonished when, just a few months later, the penguin returned to the island where he recognised Mr de Souza and returned home with him.
Now, Dindim spends eight months of the year with Mr de Souza and spends the rest of his time breeding off the coast of Argentina and Chile. […]
'But he wouldn't leave, he stayed with me for 11 months and then just after he changed his coat with new feathers he disappeared,' recalled the retired builder. 'Everyone said he wouldn't return but he has been coming back to visit me for the past four years.
'He arrives in June and leaves to go home in February and every year he becomes more affectionate as he appears even happier to see me.'
The story goes that in 1382, Princess Anne of Bohemia rode across Europe to meet and marry King Richard II of England. She rode on a special saddle designed to protect her hymen from being ruptured, which might take place if she rode for an extended period of time astride her horse.
This saddle was the side saddle: a chair-like saddle that permits a woman to ride a horse while wearing a long skirt. Some noblewomen developed the concept into a refined and fairly practical design. Ella Morton writes at Atlas Obscura:
In the 16th century, Catherine de' Medici pioneered a more practical, manageable side saddle design. It used a stirrup rather than a footrest, placed the rider facing forward, and secured the right leg with a pommel. This design allowed the rider to control her own horse, and made her less likely to fall off—but was still less stable than riding astride.
Further innovations, such as a second pommel at the top of the left thigh, gave riders additional stability. The practice of riding side saddle peaked during the 1930s. Thereafter, women riders tended to prefer to just wear pants and sit astride their horses on conventional saddles.
Yet, surprisingly, side saddle riding is making a comeback. In the US, the International Side Saddle Organization (ISSO) is among its proponents. It helps guide standards and practices for equestrian competition while riding side saddle:
Side saddle today comes in many guises. Some riders compete in equestrian events that have strict rules regarding dress, behavior, and appearance. If you want to enter a Hunter Class event in the U.S., for instance, the United States Equestrian Federation requires you to adhere to a lengthy list of guidelines. Your gold tie pin must sit horizontally rather than vertically, your coat buttons must be "black bone," and, in accordance with traditional hunting equipment, you need to carry a sandwich case and flask on your person. Not only that, the sandwich case "must contain a sandwich, wrapped, and flask must contain sherry or tea.”
They're both delicious, but only one goes well when sliced in half and covered with cream cheese.
Karen Zach, an artist in Portland and Seattle, likes to make optical illusions by stacking similar forms close together. In addition to these yummy puppies, she's also recently matched labradoodles and fried chicken as well as ducklings and plantains.
In 2014, artist Alex Johnson took a single brown oak tree stump and shaped it into this magnificent chair. It's called the Glenham I. It is a swirl of seemingly moving curls carved into the rigid wood. He unveiled it at the Alde Valley Spring Festival in eastern England. You can see more photos here.
It's a completely consumable drinking vessel. Rocket News 24 reports that Fujiyahonten, a specialty seafood shop in Hokkaido, Japan, offers this unique goblet made entirely of squid meat. It's ideal for drinking warm sake.
Once you're done with your alcohol, then you can heat the cup over an open flame, baking it into a crispy form. Then you can cut it into smaller sections and eat it. Yummy!
Giving your child a pet is a great way to teach him responsibility. The child must become disciplined enough to study how to care for the animal and to consistently provide that care.
Not every child is up to that task. But don't worry. There are always more humans. In fact, there's one planet that almost crawling with them. Of course, those are wild humans. They have different temperaments than those in pet shops.
Ana Enshina, an artist in London, offers vibrant pictures of wildlife with tiny dots. She selects the size and color of each to create vivid drawings that look like they're ready to leap out of an alternate reality. You can see more of her work at her Behance, Etsy, and Instagram pages.
The task of the game of Jenga is to remove blocks from the pile without collapsing the stack. 16-year old George Hirst of Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, UK had the onerous task of removing the only block on the very bottom of the pile. This means that the entire stack would be completely distabilized.
Amazingly, when George pulled out the block, the stack neatly dropped down completely intact! You can read more at the Telegraph (auto-start video).
One of the most popular subfora on reddit is /r/IAmA. Celebrities create threads that begin with "I am X, ask me anything" and invite people to ask them any question. This type of thread is colloquially called an AMA.
You can close your mouth, but your lips, however tighly sealed, are still a gap. It's a different situation for the Hydra viridissima. The hydra's mouth disappears at the cellular level when closed. Ed Yong explains at National Geographic:
In 1987, Richard Campbell from the University of California, Irvine discovered why: a hydra mouth is not a permanent opening. It constantly forms and vanishes. When it closes, a wide ring of cells around the edge of the mouth collapses into a small mound called a hypostome, with a rosette of 6 to 12 cells at its centre. These cells are stapled together by small junctions, so that not even a tiny pore remains between them. In many ways, Campbell wrote, closing the mouth is very much like healing a wound.
This clever girl has poured herself a cup of A&W brand cream soda. It flows out of the bottle as smoothly as well-conditioned hair.
I should try this on my own daughters' hair (while my wife is not at home). But to top this unknown girl's accomplishment, I'll do it with a 2-liter bottle.
