Jacqueline Samuel's business, dubbed The Snuggery, is the best place to go for a good cuddle:

Jackie started thinking about a business centered around cuddling at the start of grad school, and says she and her sisters even tried selling hugs on the street for $1 each, making up to $80 per day. And although she hasn’t been able to get certified as a professional cuddler, the University of Rochester graduate has studied the “Cuddle Sutra” and is versed in over 100 non-sexual positions. Still most of the time, she and her clients start out by spooning. Some of her affection-seeking customers (all men) have questioned her about getting some extra attention, but Samuel says most of them respect her boundaries.

Video at the link.

Be sure to let us know in the comments if you think that the NeatoShop should offer this service.

Company Website -via Oddity Central | Photo: The Snuggery

The FP-45 pistol was a small and specialized but potentially terrifying weapon. Technologically, it was simple: it fired just a single .45 caliber bullet down an unrifled barrel. It was so cheap that the United States could afford to manufacture hundreds of thousands of them and airdrop them over Nazi-occupied territory. The plan was that untrained civilians would use them to kill solitary German soldiers:

The pistols would be air dropped by the hundreds of thousands into enemy occupied territory, where it was expected the Germans would never be able to recover all of them. Useless as a battlefield weapon, the issue of providing useful weapons to the enemy was moot. On the other hand... as a weapon of terror in the hands of the resistance, the Liberator might have had extraordinary value. A common civilian, alone with a conquering German soldier, suddenly produces the single shot .45 and drops the man in a surprise attack, afterwards making off with the soldiers weapons. Now the German Army is down one soldier, the resistance has one more battle rifle, and every other German soldier has to wonder.... will he be next?

I say might have had, as the OSS never carried out the plan to any degree. Aside from a few FP-45's finding their way to the Philippine resistance and perhaps China, the Liberators were not deployed as expected. They languished in warehouses, and after the war... almost all were destroyed.

At the link, you can find more pictures and a video of a Liberator being fired.

Link | Photo: Liftarn

DeviantART member Annadill made this holster for his TM Colt Python. He inscribed it with the three apple cutie mark of Applejack. Unlike standard Pythons, this one doesn't fire .357 cartridges, but airsoft pellets. Annadill made it for the Equestria Task Force, his My Little Pony-themed airsoft team.

Link

P.S. A previous MLP post of mine earned a facepalm from gunblogger SayUncle. It was one of my proudest moments as a blogger. I'm aiming for a full facedesk from him now.

The Doctor bunny, Donna bunny and Rose bunny are ready for another adventure. Etsy seller Catherine Boucher crafted these plushes as well as others featuring characters from Game of Thrones and Harry Potter.

Link -via The Mary Sue

One thousand slices of cheese.

Researchers at RocketNews24, who previously invented the Whopper with 1,050 strips of bacon, have once again pushed back the boundaries of burger science:

This time Mr. Sato was considerate enough to call Burger King 3 days ahead and ask if 1000 slices of cheese on a Whopper was a thing that could actually happen. The manager graciously agreed to let him have it his way and 3 days later he went to the store to pick it up.

Like last time, the burger was so epically huge that the staff had to tape together several sheets of wrapping paper in order to completely cover it. They also provided Mr. Sato with a few plastic trays to load the 12kg (25lbs) burger on so he could safely transport it to our office.

Link -via Kotaku

(Video Link)

In Budapest, the capital of Hungary, you can find this lovely book-shaped fountain. With each spray, a page of water turns.

-via Bit Rebels

Why is this woman spinning? Why does the blog RRRRRRRR_GIF consist entirely of pictures of this woman spinning in different settings? I'll bet that it's an art project.

Okay, that may not make sense. Let me try a different approach. Ponder the words of the Immortal Bard, who can shine light into the depths of this mystery:

Well, I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison
And I went to pick her up in the rain
But before I could get to the station in the pick-up truck
She got runned over by a damned old train

You follow what I'm saying?

Link -via Althouse

UPDATE 7/13/12: The ever-resourceful Christopher Jobson has found more information about the group that makes these gifs.

(Video Link)

This is amazing! In a BBC nature documentary, Steve Leonard introduces viewers to some of the animal world's deadliest predators. In this clip, he places a drop of snake venom in a cup of blood. Watch what happens to the blood within seconds.

-via Blame It on the Voices

Jake Palmer, a real estate agent in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, promises that future owners will encounter no paranormal problems in this house. He guarantees it in bold print on the sign in front:

“This house was kind of an ideal spot to try this for a few reasons, partly because of the (young) demographic that it is going to attract, the location and also because the sellers have a really good sense of humour. They were really excited at the idea of trying something new,” Palmer, an agent with Re/Max, told the Star Wednesday.

Other descriptors on the sign in front of the 68-year-old home have included: “Indoor Plumbing; Love Shack, Baby; It’s a Brick, House; No Dandelions; Fog Resistant; Batteries Included.”

Link -via Dave Barry | Photo: Jake Palmer

(YouTube link)


Abbey, a dog owned by YouTube user rsyager, figured that it would be easier to catch cars if she was in a car, too. Alas, Abbey's success rate remains appallingly low. Keep at it!

-via Geekosystem

Have you ever felt your phone vibrate, but the sensation wasn't real? Researchers at Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne call it "phantom vibration." The Atlantic's Robinson Meyer summarized their study in eleven points:

1. Many, many people experience phantom vibrations. 89 percent of the undergrad participants in this current study had felt phantom vibrations. In the two other studies on this in the literature -- a 2007 doctoral thesis, which surveyed the general population, and a 2010 survey of staff at a Massachusetts hospital -- majorities of participants experienced phantom vibrations.

2. They happen pretty often. The survey of undergrads and medical professionals agree: about ten percent experience phantom vibrations every day. 88 percent of the doctors, specifically, felt vibrations between a weekly and monthly basis.

3. If you use your phone more, you're more likely to feel phantom vibrations. The 2007 graduate study found that people who heard phantom rings roughly used twice as many minutes and sent five times as many texts as those who didn't.

Link -via Kottke | Photo: Colin Kloecker

(Video)

What's great about this video is that no question is too simplistic for Dr. Leon Lederman to take seriously. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics, but he's not above helping ordinary people grasp the wonders of the universe.

-via Boing Boing

Redditor renbo draws portraits that consist of one line each. The line doesn't cross itself or end. It's just one long loop. For him/her, it's a meditative act:

it puts my brain in a good place, completely random and i don,t know where i will go next

You can find portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and others at the link.

Link -via reddit

Something's wrong with this pony--my Pinkie sense is tingling. Mari Kasurinen crafted this mad vision of H.R. Giger's alien queen from sculpey and painted it with acrylic.

Link

Here's a great tip from The Garden Pantry. To make a tortilla bowl, just flip a muffin pan over, grease it, then bake tortillas in the open spaces.

By the way: homemade flour tortillas fresh off the griddle are freakin' amazing.

Link -via Paul Overton