(Image: CBS)

Do you have doubts about the attractiveness of your own body? Then it may be helpful for you to attend a life drawing class and sketch a nude art model. That's the conclusion of a new study conducted by Dr. Viren Swami of Anglia Ruskin University in the UK. The Daily Telegraph reports:

Anglia Ruskin University asked 138 men and women to take part in life drawing classes and found that happiness with their appearance rose by more than 25 per cent.

Dr. Swami says that's because seeing actual human bodies may set a more realistic point of comparison than photoshopped bodies presented in mass media:

Life drawing sessions may also provide spaces for people to explore relationships with their own bodies and critically appraise media depictions of ‘idealised’ bodies.”

Amongst women, greater attendance at classes was significantly associated with higher body appreciation and a lower drive for thinness and social physique anxiety. For men, greater attendance was significantly associated with higher body appreciation.

In the beginning, he was awed by the meaning and the power of the Force. He used it carefully and reverently.

Then, about 5 years after completing his training, Max Goodrich, without realizing it, began taking his powers for granted. Why not use them to, say, bring the TV remote control to him without getting up off the sofa?

Did he forget his girlfriend's birthday? After a hand wave, so did she--at least long enough for him to run to the store and pick up flowers and chocolate.

What Goodrich didn't realize was that once you turn to the lazy side of the Force, forever will it dominate your destiny.

-via Tastefully Offensive

(Video Link)

Imagining getting access to the soothing cuddliness of a tribble without being eaten out of starbase and home. Then you'd have Tribble the cat. He's an older cat recently adopted from an animal shelter. Tribble's purr sounds like the trilling sound that a tribble from Star Trek makes.

(Image: CBS)

Question for readers: would tribbles be any different in the mirror universe?

-via 22 Words

(Video Link)

Oh, sure, it's simple enough when you travel back in time to, say, kill Hitler. But time travel rapidly becomes a confusing jumble of alternate realities and versions of people who are not always what they seem.

In their song "I Am Alone," the band They Might Be Giants tries to unravel events as a time traveller encounters multiple versions of himself, all of whom are armed and trying to kill specific alternate versions for the good of the world.

Or are they?

-via Laughing Squid

(Photo: Polmard)

The Polmard family of France operates a cattle and beef business that claims to offer the finest beef in the world and that it can will remain fresh for decades.

The family business dates back to 1846. The current operator, Alexandre Polmard, says that his grandfather pioneered a way to freeze beef in such a way that there is no loss of quality over time. The family raises Blonde Aquitaine cattle and keeps them in, by cattle standards, luxurious accommodations. CNN quotes Polmard:

"My family wouldn't dream of raising animals in sheds where they have no space or room to roam," he says.

"Here they are in the open air, living in forests and on parkland. There are shelters they can choose to visit in case it rains or snows. It's really five-star accommodation!"

Polmard says he talks to his animals daily, ensuring their lives are as comfortable and stress-free as possible -- even when it becomes time for them to end.

Increases in a cow's stress levels as it enters an abattoir cause a subsequent spike in levels of glycogen and lactic acid -- and that means a loss of tenderness and, ultimately, flavor.

Polmard is therefore investing a million euros in an abattoir at his farm in which only four cows will be killed per week -- and in a unique setting to keep stress levels to an absolute minimum.

Elite chefs around the world seek out Polmard beef for their restaurants. Chef Fabrice Vulin of Hong Kong presents it in a dinner that costs $700 per person. He has good reason:

As chef Vulin explains, what sets the taste apart is the gentle acidity and a texture like no other -- you barely even need a knife to cut it.

-via Oddity Central

The Postlethwaite family lives in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK. They have 4 hens at home. One of them laid a massive egg weighing 5.9 ounces. When Emma, the mother in the family, cracked it open to fry it, there was another whole egg inside! You can watch the family's adorable reaction in this video.

How did this happen? The Herald Express explains that a chicken ovary may release an egg prematurely, causing it to envelop the previously-released egg cell:

The extremely rare occurence is known as a counter-peristalsis contraction and is caused when the hen is in the process of forming an egg in her oviduct and another oocyte - the ovum or egg cell that becomes the yolk of the egg - is released too soon. 

Usually hens release an egg cell every 18 to 26 hours but sometimes a second one is released by the ovary before the first egg has completed its journey. 

It is thought that a shock or stress then causes a contraction which forces the first egg to reverse its course meaning the two come together and the shell from the second egg creates a giant egg around the first one.

Have you ever encountered an egg within an egg like this one?

-via Nothing to Do with Aborath

(Photo by David Cordingly of "Action off Cartagena, May 28, 1708" by the painter Samuel Scott)

In 1708, during the War of Spanish Succession, the Royal Navy attempted to degrade Spain's ability to wage wars by capturing or sinking the treasure fleets that brought gold, silver, and jewels to Spain from her colonies in the Americas. Admiral Sir Charles Wager led a squadron which attacked one such fleet off the coast of Colombia. During the battle, the Spanish galleon San Jose exploded and sank quickly. All of that precious treasure sank to the bottom of the sea, never to be found.

Until now.

Maritime treasure hunters have referred to the San Jose as the "holy grail" of lost ships. That's with good reason. The President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, recently announced that divers have found the San Jose. It has so much treasure on board that the value may reach $1 billion (USD). The Guardian reports:

Sonar images have revealed bronze cannon made specifically for the ship, arms, ceramics and other artefacts, said the president. The 150ft long ship with a beam of 45ft was armed with 64 guns. Some 600 people went down with the vessel after it exploded when hit by fire from a British warship. The wreck falls within the UN’s definition of an underwater cultural heritage site. Archaeological excavation and scientific tests will continue to ensure it can be properly preserved, said the president.

The American salvage company which discovered the San Jose will keep half of the treasure and the Colombian government the other half, as it lies within Colombian waters.

-via Marilyn Terrell

(Photo: Grape)

It's called nishikigoi no sugatazushi, which translates as "multicolored koi-shaped sushi." It's all the rage in Japan--and you can see why! These forms are both beautiful and tasty. My Modern Met tells us that you can get them for about $6.70 a piece at the Nishikizushi sushi shop in Saiki.

Gordy Yates loves his twin sister Meredith Tuttle. Every year, she gets him a thoughtful birthday present. Yates usually forgets, though. He attributes this to his world-traveling, single, partying lifestyle. Tuttle, in contrast, has settled down as a married mother of two. 

As his way of expressing his affection for his sister, Yates recreated photos that his twin posted on Instagram. Where Tuttle is holding one of her children, Yates substitutes a cat. He explains to Babble that cats are an appropriate alternative:

They both like to eat off of and crawl on the floor, they both like to bite me, they’re both really small, they’re both really hard to control, and I can’t give birth to either of them.

That's all true! You can see more of Yates's matched photos at his blog.

-via Lost at E Minor

Sign me up! I'd like a close-cropped crew cut, please. And make sure that you don't take too much off the ears.

(Video Link)

Alberto Olmedo, a hairstylist, invites you to take a seat in his elite salon in Madrid. Yes, he's getting out a blowtorch and a pair of katanas. Don't fidget while he uses them on you. Olmedo explains why his innovative methods are the best available:

"Hairdressers usually cut one side, and then the other... one side is always a bit different from the other, even if it is only a little bit.

"The only way to do it in an exact mathematical way is to cut both sides simultaneously."

And then he goes in on a woman's hair with two swords.

-via Nothing to Do with Aborath

(Photo: KOIN)

He can use a computer, but prefers his vintage typewriter. The reindeer? He's replaced them with a bicycle. And the red suit is now a knitted sweater that he personally made from locally sourced wool. He still has a beard, but now also has a manbun.

Yes, it's hipster Santa Claus. He visited a mall in Portland, Oregon and greeted children who are now on naughty, nice, and gluten-free lists. You can see a video of him at WISHTV8.

-via Rusty Blazenhoff

At 9 months old, Xena is still a puppy. She wants to play! Alas, her big sister Kiko prefers to nap. As Kiko clings to her dream of a pleasant rest, Xena becomes increasingly assertive in her quest for play.

(Video Link)

-via Tastefully Offensive

Many famous and powerful people used their influence to visit the set of one of the most popular television shows of the 1980s and 90s. In 1991, more than 2 years after he left the White House, Ronald Reagan was among them. 

(Video Link)

Reagan's tour included walking with Gene Roddenberry through a Klingon set and a moment reminiscent of Titian and Emperor Charles V. Like many prominent visitors, Reagan wanted to sit in Captain Picard's chair on the bridge of the Enterprise. But as Patrick Stewart relates in the video above, Reagan took a different approach than most.

Read all about Reagan's visit to the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation at Jalopnik.

(Photo: Spacetime Photography)

Cosplayer Alkali Layke crafted this amazing costume that blends Wonder Woman and Boba Fett. She'll get what she wants from you with her Lasso of Truth. After all, you're no good to her dead.

In an interview about her work, Layke says that this costume is her best work so far:

I created her from top to bottom and I’m so proud of her. So many skills were involved in creating her including pattern making, thermoplastics, foam-smithing, sewing and painting. I can’t wait to show her off at conventions!

-via Nerd Bastards

(Image: MGM)

It hadn't occurred to me before, but yes: the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz is clearly a robot. Like other movie robots, such as Star Trek's Data, he's trying to become more human. Many other cinema robots are practically human already or comfortable in their artificial nature.

This is 1 of 100 movie robots described in an impressive list at Paste magazine. Among them are B-movie monsters, childhood heroes, and other creatures you wouldn't normally think of as robots, but are.

-via Jonah Goldberg