.@lolacoaster You Are Dog Now pic.twitter.com/95DGyczKak

— YouAreDogNow (@YouAreDogNow) January 24, 2016

Have you ever wanted to be a dog? What dog would you be? You might find out by submitting a picture to the Twitter account You Are Dog Now.

.@annabmoore You Are Dog Now pic.twitter.com/SivfFuMKlz

— YouAreDogNow (@YouAreDogNow) January 24, 2016

The person or persons behind it will go to great lengths to find a dog image that matches your appearance, expression, position, location, accessories, and whatever else it takes to make you a dog.

.@CiarahValendez You Are Dog Now pic.twitter.com/YtjKQEgCcC

— YouAreDogNow (@YouAreDogNow) January 23, 2016

It can’t be a bot, because the results are too good. And yes, there are celebrities in there, too.

.@icecube You Are Dog Now pic.twitter.com/OCDWaajxZV

— YouAreDogNow (@YouAreDogNow) January 21, 2016

-via Metafilter

The following is an article from Uncle John's Fully Loaded 25th Anniversary Bathroom Reader.

These true stories of accredited canines show that you really can get anything online- even a college degree for your dog.

ASSOCIATES DEGREE

Applicant: Wally.

Story: In 2004 Peter Brancato, a reporter with the Schenectady, New York, television station WRGB, filled out an application for a degree from Almeda University for his dog, Wally. Brancato wrote that Wally "plays with the kids every day" and "teaches them responsibilities, like feeding the dog."

Result: Wally received an associates degree in Childhood Development …and a transcript certifying that he’d completed courses in European culture, algebra, and public speaking. (Ruff!) After WRGB aired the story, Almeda University issued a press release accusing the station of weaving a "smear campaign" against them. The "university," which is still in operation, gives its location as Boise, Idaho,  but its headquarters are actually on the Caribbean island of Nevis.

Update:  In 2008 Wally was featured in a political cartoon showing him with a thought bubble that read, "I graduated with Bill Chesen." Chesen, a candidate for mayor of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, had listed a degree from Alameda University on his resume. Chesen accused his opponent of defamation, but the district attorney took no action. (And Chesen won the election.)

MBA

Applicant: Chester Ludlow, a pug.

(Image credit: Chester Pug Ludlow at Facebook)

Story: GetEducated.com is an organization that monitors online universities. In 2009 the company decided to test one of its subjects, and had "Chester Ludlow" -a pug belonging to one of its employees- apply to Rochville University.

Many of the internet generation look back at the iconic L’eggs package -the egg- nostalgically as a toy discarded by their mothers. The introduction of L’eggs in 1971 was much more than that. It was revolutionary. My first experience with sheer stockings involved a grown-up lesson in garter belts, which brought their own kind of pain, plus it was extremely difficult to find stockings that fit properly. When the stretchy, form-fitting, mass consumer pantyhose were introduced, we cared less for the packaging than the product. Yet the packaging was brilliant, and we’ll never forget it. For that, we can thank graphic designer Roger Ferriter.  

The anecdote describes a flustered Ferriter who, on the morning of his marketing and package design pitch to Hanes, decided his current scheme wasn’t quite creative enough. Ferriter, hoping to be inspired by the product by experiencing it in a new way, tested pantyhose’s compactness by scrunching them up in the palm of his hand. Upon considering the wad of hose in his clenched fist, Ferriter was struck by the idea that the package should resemble an egg, “nature’s perfect package, a symbol of newness and freshness,” which, pun-ily enough, happens to rhyme with “leg.” He added an apostrophe for a “touch of French flair” and this jeu de mots gave rise to one of the most iconic brand logos and package designs to grace grocery shelves in the twentieth century.

It wasn’t only the design, but the marketing behind it that also helped L’eggs become a sensation. Read about the genius that went into L’eggs at Cooper Hewitt. -via Metafilter

Two painting crews show up at the same job, leading to a fight. They have a variety of weapons at their disposal: paint guns, sprayers, rollers, even brushes for hand-to-hand combat. Their available ammo is, of course, paint. Bring it on!

(YouTube link)

The glorious mess will take you back to your paintball days. If only we had such implements of destruction then! And paint someone else paid for! -via Geeks Are Sexy

Her pride knows she is female, but rival prides watching from a distance would assume she is a male lion, because of that distinctive mane. She is a maned lioness, one of five in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. The population may carry a genetic predisposition for females with male characteristics.

(YouTube link)

The video above is an excerpt from the “Stayin’ Alive” episode of the series Natural Born Hustlers. Read more about the maned lioness at National Geographic.  -via Metafilter

Last Saturday, April Hamlin of Elkmont, Alabama, let her hound dog Ludivine out in the backyard. Ludivine snuck out of the yard and wandered around, which is not out of characters for her. She walked about a quarter-mile away where the Trackless Train Trek Half Marathon was about to begin and was petted by some of the runners, including Tim Horvath. When they took off, Ludivine ran with them. And she continued for the entire 13 miles! Ludivine stayed within sight of Horvath through most of the race.

“One time she went over and met another dog next to the course,” Horvath said. “Later on, she went into a field with some mules and cows. Then she’d come back and run around our legs. I wondered if she was going to get tired or go back to wherever her home was.”

But Ludivine kept running despite her distractions and eventually finished just behind Horvath who ran 1:32 for sixth place. Once Ludivine crossed the line, she slowed to a walk. Volunteers, apparently in awe of the spectacle, put a medal around her neck and started taking photos, Horvath said.

Race officials were delighted with Ludivine’s accomplishment. Friends called Hamlin to congratulate her, which was a surprise. Hamlin didn’t even realize Ludivine was gone from the backyard! Read the whole story of Ludivine the marathon dog at Runner’s World. -via Metafilter

(Image credit: WeRunHuntsville/Gregg Gelmis)

Photos captured by photojournalist Justin Skeens on I-75. @WKYT pic.twitter.com/8op4VM4nMu

— CaitlinWKYT (@CaitlinWKYT) January 23, 2016

A foot of snow stranded hundreds of motorists on the interstate in Kentucky Friday night. Local churches opened their doors for those who could get off the highway, and state police and the National Guard reached out to travelers who couldn’t.  

It was definitely winter for the Endless Summer Band, who are on their way from Indianapolis to Johnson City, Tennessee, but found themselves stuck overnight on I-75 near Mt. Vernon. They were at a standstill for 15 hours. To pass the time, they rewrote the lyrics to the song “Stuck in the Middle with You” by Stealer’s Wheel to reflect their situation.

(YouTube link)

You can see a couple other videos they recorded during the jam at Business Insider and follow their progress at Facebook. Oh, they’ve moved a little, but still haven’t made it to Tennessee as of Saturday afternoon. The band is on their second traffic jam in southeastern Kentucky. Yes, that’s where I live, but I’m at home. -Thanks, Brother Bill!

Sarah became one of Neatorama’s favorite animals, as we posted about her several times over the years. One of the cheetahs at the Cincinnati Zoo, Sarah broke the speed record for any land mammal recorded, twice. In 2009, she covered 100 meters in 6.13 seconds. In 2012, she broke her own record by covering the distance in 5.95 seconds. She attained a speed of over 61 miles per hour! She also worked as a Cat Ambassador for the zoo, visiting countless schools and making TV appearances. Sarah was euthanized Wednesday at the Cincinnati Zoo at the age of 15. Cheetahs live an average of eight to twelve years, and Sarah’s quality of life had diminished with old age. Cathryn Hilker, Sarah’s closest human, wrote a eulogy for the cheetah. Here’s a small sample of a beautiful story:

She will be remembered by thousands of school children who heard her loud purr or heard her nails clicking on the table top where she stayed during the program. My memories are imprinted in my heart and mind of a tiny brave little cheetah who grew up and turned into the elegant animal that the mature cheetah is. The claw marks from her tiny little claws when she was a cub remain on my bedspread to this day and the hole she chewed through my zoo jacket and the awkward job I did of sewing it up will remain there for the rest of my life.

Sarah was preceded in death by her canine companion, Lexi.  

(Image credit: Cincinnati Zoo)

The Undercover Boss version of Kylo Ren from Saturday Night Live has proven to be quite popular! So popular that we have t-shirts and action figures of Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in his disguise as “Matt the radar technician.”

(YouTube link)

If you can’t get enough of the character, SNL has graced us with a behind-the-scenes video, featuring rehearsal bloopers and how they did the special effects.  -via Digg
 

Aren’t they just cute as buttons? These twins dressed up in full military regalia for their portrait, complete with striped stockings, lace cuffs, and pointy helmets. Although this is a popular picture, I can’t find out anything about these particular twins, or how old the picture is. Did their family have military uniforms made just for the portrait? Or did they have the uniforms and drums for make-believe play? Was this common for upper-class families? Or were the two boys circus performers? It’s possible; another picture in the collection shows young twin trapeze artists. See 23 Victorian and Edwardian portraits of twins at Vintage Everyday. -via Everlasting Blort

His little girl wanted a tree she could sit inside and read, so radamshome remodeled her room to include a full-size concrete and steel tree! It has a lower-level cubbyhole to sit in, an upper-level platform to sit on, branches and leaves hanging from the ceiling (with dimmable lights), illuminated fairy windows, an interior reading light, birds, nests, butterflies, and more. Not only that, but it’s designed to be strong enough to climb on!

The project took 18 months, mainly because he didn’t work on it constantly and he had to learn skills, like welding, as he went. This is a gift his daughter will never forget.

There are dozens of pictures of the build project and details at imgur. His next project is to build a pirate ship for his son. -via Metafilter

That’s not a UFO hovering over the highway. That’s a chunk of ice! Jeff Cote was driving along in Massachusetts Wednesday with his dashcam on, when a sheet of frozen snow blew off the roof of the vehicle in front of him, and bam! Shattered windshield.

(YouTube link)

That’s frightening. He’s lucky he made it off the road without further carnage. There’s about a foot of snow piled up on all our cars. I don’t look forward to clearing it all off eventually, but we will clear it all off. -via Daily of the Day

When you think about heterochromia in cats, you picture a left eye of a different color from a right eye. This cat has two colors in each eye, the outer half blue and the inner half gold! The effect is heightened by the cat’s slit-shaped pupils. See more heterchromic cats, mostly white cats, at Love Meow. -Thanks, hearsetrax!

(Image credit: raoeang at imgur)

Benjamin Armstrong’s family and friends surprised him and his bride Aaliyah with a haka at their wedding reception in Aukland, New Zealand, last week. Aaliyah was moved to tears by the performance. After Benjamin and one of the bridesmaids joined in, the bride did, too.  

(YouTube link)

Josh Starks gave us a little background in the comments:

This Haka is called Tika Tonu. It is a Maori haka and was written in the Hawkes Bay, New Zealand in 1914 by a chief named Waimarama Puhara. He wrote it for his son and it is about the transition from boy to man.

The lyrics and translation are in the description of another YouTube video. -via Boing Boing

This may or may not be blasphemy to Lord of the Rings enthusiasts, but Austin Gilkeson wrote an opinion piece that declares Aragorn does not have a legitimate right to rule Gondor.  

Aragorn’s claim to Gondor’s throne rests entirely on his being descended — after 3,000 years — from Valandil and Isildur, who were kings of Arnor. The closest real-world parallel to this would be an Italian man claiming descent from Romulus showing up in Ankara and claiming to be King of Turkey, because Romulus was supposedly descended from Prince Aeneas of Troy. Imagine if you found out your ancestor, thirty-seven generations prior, was the brother of an Egyptian pharaoh. Do you know what that would make you, in terms of Egyptian political succession? NOTHING. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

He goes into detail about Aragorn’s ancestors and how they weren’t fit to rule anything. Then again, Aragorn did command the combined army that retook Gondor. During most of our real world history, that was enough to lay claim to rule. Not that successful warlords necessarily made good rulers, but neither does a bloodline. While I won’t argue the point past that, you might want to, along with hundreds of other commenters at The Toast.

(Image credit: J. Longo)