A FedEx delivery driver was recorded on a home’s security camera as he experienced a little mishap. The dogs were delighted! They have a thing against delivery men, you know. It’s a good thing that this neighborhood had no traffic that day. -via Tastefully Offensive
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Stop-motion artist PES made an ad for the new citizenM Hotel in New York. These towel swans are just lovely, swimming around on the bed, don't you think? -via Boing Boing
Hayden Sailer is a serious fan of Princess Luna from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. He rides around in style in a classic Oldsmobile decorated with a custom hood ornament that looks like the princess of the night. He made it with a 3D printer using a design that he found on Shapeways, then covered it with chrome paint.
This is one of many Luna crafts that Sailer has made, the most of impressive of which is this elegant light-up cane sword.
Fluttershy is my favorite pony. I'm not alone in that sentiment. Lots of bronies identify with Fluttershy, the gentle pegasus whose Element of Harmony is kindness. My Little Pony tattoos are common. But this one, I think, expresses the basic impulse beneath brony culture. Shakara Tattoo inked it on the arm of DeviantART member Captain Ambivalent. She attributes the line to singer and songwriter Morrissey.
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Now permit me to play devil's advocate here: how does being gentle and kind require strength? I'm having trouble making the logical connection.
Families have singalongs on car trips to pass the time, and don’t you wish you could get something like that going on a bus or plane? Even if you could get people to sing along, they probably wouldn’t sound all that good. But sometimes you just get lucky.
The Australian cast of The Lion King flew from Brisbane to Sydney, and a substantial number of them were in the same section of the same Virgin Australia plane. The other passengers were treated to a live and up-close version of “The Circle of Life.” That would be a flight to remember! It makes you want to grab the nearest baby and show him to the heavens. -via Buzzfeed
An Italian YouTuber combines Coke and Mentos and funnels the reaction into a condom. You’ve seen it before, but he’s adding Nutella, which, I don’t know, is supposed to make it different or something. The reaction is what you’d expect, but his presentation is what makes the video special. Valluan provided a translation:
New, incredible experiment with Coke and Mentos! But we’re gonna try something new today: the energy and vitality of Nutella! And as always, we’re gonna use a condom, but this time it’s gonna be mango-flavored. Let’s start. First thing: let’s take some Nutella and put it on the top of the bottle, creating some kind of Nutella cap that will be fundamental for the Nutella-Coke-Mentos reaction. Good, now we open our condom and we put Mentos in it. Not just one, two or three, but five Mentos, since we found out during previous experiments that 5 is the best quantity of Mentos in terms of maximum reaction. Now we’re going to seal everything with some tape. Perfect: Nutella, Mentos… now we’re gonna let the Mentos drop on top of the Nutella, and that’s enough for… and here’s the reaction! Incredible, guys! Coke and Mentos are reacting… it’s a world record! Look at it! It’s a world record! Look at it! IT'S A MIRACLE!!! WOOOOORLD REEEECOOOOOORD!!! COKE, MENTOS AND NUTELLA WORLD RECOOOORD!!! GOOOOO ITALYYYYYY!!!!!! NUTELLA, GUYS, IT’S THE PERFECT INGREDIENT!! YEEEEEESSSS!!!!
So I still don’t know what Nutella adds to the experiment, but he likes it, almost as much as he likes Italy. The real comedy comes in when you try to add English captions to the video. The audio translation is delightfully clueless. -via reddit
Beco is an elephant at the Columbus Zoo. He is celebrating his fifth birthday this weekend. Watch him play around with a very tough rubber ball -no wonder it’s his favorite toy! Seriously, the manufacturer should use this in an ad touting how tough their sports equipment is. -via Arbroath
You can save money and have a great house if you buy a fixer-upper, but only if you are prepared for the work it needs. Australians Karina and Craig Waters went to France and bought the Chateau de Gudanes, a 300-year-old 94-room neoclassical mansion in which no one had lived for many years. Restoring the chateau to its historic grandeur is a long-term project, which they are documenting on their blog, Chateau de Gudanes. Get an overview of their story and see wonderful photographs of the architectural details at Messy Nessy Chic.
Update 4/1/14 by Alex: More info on this at The Good Life France - Thanks Janine!
Hugh Jackman visited the Matt Edmondson Show on BBC Radio and sang about playing the part of Wolverine. The song is based on “Who Am I” from Les Miserables, with new superhero lyrics. Jackman was a good sport about it, and with a little more practice, could have pulled this off on stage in front of a crowd. -via Viral Viral Videos
No world can be truly hopeless if it contains this photo. It's one of several of unknown provenance circulating the internet. Han Solo rides to the Batcave to pick up Batman for a pleasant afternoon outing. They rest on the back of Swift Wind, the magical horse belonging to She-Ra from She-Ra: Princess of Power. You can see more photos in the series at Nerd Approved.
P.S. Now before I anger any He-Man and the Masters of the Universe fans, let me say this: yes, my headline is probably incorrect. Swift Wind is not, strictly speaking, a flying unicorn. Nor is he a pegasus, let alone an alicorn. He is a horse with magical transformative powers. Unfortunately, I am unaware of any word that adequately describes a horse that transforms into such a creature, rather than one that is naturally-occurring in this form.
(Photo: Firefly Friends)
Debby Elnatan's young son, Rotem, has cerebral palsy. He has very limited mobility. She wanted to find a way to help him experience upright movement, so she invented the Upsee. It's a harness that straps a child to the legs and waist of an adult. Both the child and the adult wear sandals that are joined together and slip over their shoes. With the adult's assistance, the child can step, walk, dance and even kick. Both can keep their hands free while doing so.
Elnatan took the Upsee to Leckey, a child accessory manufacturer in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. On Monday, the company released Upsee for global distribution. You can find a promotional video below.
-via 22 Words
These are the Star Wars behind-the-scenes photos you're looking for.
Ever since the iconic sci-fi series joined Instagram back in December 2013, the Star Wars Instagram has amassed an empire of followers (it stands at about 327K follower right now - it got 50K followers right off the bat with just three pics. What can we say? The Force is strong with this one.)
Since then, they added over 200 posts, so it's time that we take another look at some of the best behind-the-scenes photos posted to the Star Wars Instagram account so far:
A never-before-seen behind-the-scenes image of Natalie Portman as Queen Amidala
Gamorrean Guard feet, found at the Lucasfilm Archives
This prop is used to create the hyperspace-jump effect, with a little help from fancy lighting and camera tricks
Sound designer Ben Burtt petting George Lucas' pet dog Indiana, the inspiration for Chewbacca and the eponym of Indiana Jones
"We named the dog Indiana" is actually true!
Wampa hair sample
This wampa hair sample was sent to costume makers to ensure color continuity
Extras line up for the final scenes of A New Hope
The dog owner on the bus will go "wah, wah, wah" after Dachy the Dachshund gets his revenge. Remember, with this breed of dog, it's death from the ankles down!
Via Neatorama's Facebook page, where you'll find more neat pics like this one - go give us a like, wontcha?
(Photo: Alicia Nijdam)
And I mean literally as in literally and not figuratively (it is now necessary to be clear about that).
This is the library of the National Palace in Mafra, Portugal. It's a beautiful building constructed by and for the now abolished Kings of Portugal. The palace has a library that would make any booklover quiver in joy. The volumes are well-preserved, in part due to the resident bats.
Yes, bats.
The staff permits bats to live in the library. They come out at night and feed on book-eating bugs. Kevin Hartnett writes in The Boston Globe:
In a new book, "The Library: A World History," author James Campbell and photographer Will Pryce survey the world's libraries, from the expansive new National Library of China to the Tripitaka Koreana, which was built in 1251 in South Korea and is one of the oldest intact libraries in the world. The book is full of interesting asides, including the fact about the bats, which live at the Biblioteca Joanina and the Mafra Palace Library in Portugal. In an email, Campbell explained that the bats, which are less than inch long, roost during the day behind "elaborate rococo bookcases" and come out at night to hunt insects which otherwise would feast on the libraries' books. The price of this natural insect control is paid in scat: The bats, Campbell writes, "leave a thin layer of droppings over everything. So each morning the floors have to be thoroughly cleaned...and the furniture has to be covered at night."
It totally makes sense. Remember that Batgirl was a librarian.
(Image: American Library Association)
-via Carmen Jade
Emotionally speaking, Skeletor has been a wreck. And it's not just the foreclosure and the divorce. Those are symptoms of larger problems. But to his credit, he's getting help with counseling and a top-notch life coach.
The blog Health Thyself, Skeletor is filled with his own affirmations. These are his ways of getting over the deep insecurities that have plagued his relationships since he was a child.
How well is this process working for Skeletor? Pretty well. You can read about his transformation in this interview of Skeletor and his life coach, S. Elizabeth, at Geekquality.
-via Nag on the Lake
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