Wilson the meerkat was born at Mablethorpe Seal Sanctuary & Animals Gardens in Mablethorpe, England. He was rejected by his mother as the runt of the litter. What do do? Sanctuary owner Dennis Drew tried hand-rearing the tiny meerkat, but knew he needed help.
But when he overheard staff member Leanne Clark, 22, talk about her pet Chihuahua who was going through a phantom pregnancy Dennis had a bright idea.
He introduced Wilson to Leanne’s dog Kimi – who was lactating as part of her phantom pregnancy – and was amazed when the meerkat fed from her.
Within days Wilson became bigger and stronger and Kimi took over as mother believing the meerkat was her own puppy.
After nearly two months together, the pair have forged an inseparable bond.
The plan is to eventually re-introduce Wilson to his meerkat family. The maternal Kimi may have a future as a foster mother for the sanctuary. Link -via Arbroath
This certainly looks like an ad for the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but it was published about 1305. Discarded Images is a collection of medieval illustrations and manuscript illuminations that cover the entire range of what could be seen and/or imagined in the Middle Ages. Many of the images are NSFW. Continue reading for some funny examples from the site that are SFW. Link -via Metafilter
A new Tumblr blog, The Metropolitan Museum of Butts, is dedicated to the curation of fine art posteriors. It's statement of purpose:
Gay or straight, man or woman... everybody likes butts. And everybody has a butt.
Each butt is identified, like the one above, "Marble statue of a bearded Hercules, Roman, Flavian period, A.D. 68 - 98." So far, only statues and crockery are represented (three pages of them), but maybe the selection will expand to paintings in the future. Site contains art nudes. Link -via Pleated-Jeans
Hey, Jude, don't be afraid! Jude is a very attractive 3-month-old Beagle. He's never seen popcorn before. Is this something to eat? To play with? To be afraid of? He handles the novel experience the best he can! -via Blame It On The Voices
British children of the '90s may recall the character Mr. Blobby from the BBC series Noel's House Party. A couple of theme parks were constructed around Mr. Blobby, but they didn't operate for long. One, in Cricket St. Thomas, Somerset, still exists, but it is closed and decaying. Abandoned Footprints, a member of the 28DaysLater forum, posted photographs of the site taken during an urbex expedition. Link -via Everlasting Blort
Once upon a time, and not all that long ago, the medicine you took had more to do with advertising and wishful thinking than with scientific testing of its effectiveness. The latest miracle cure would be discovered, sweep the country, and then die out when it turned out to not work. But worse, many of the cures could kill you.
“The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off” has to be one of the best Wall Street Journal headlines of all time. The “radium water” in question was called Radithor, and the jaw in question belonged to one Eben Byers: industrialist, socialite, and amateur golf champion.
Radium and radiation were all the rage around the turn of the 20th century. People who went to natural hot springs seemed “invigorated and renewed,” and scientists noted that many of these natural springs were high in naturally-occurring radon. The radon seemed to be to water what oxygen was to air; without it, water was “dead.” Looking to profit off of this discovery, companies first bottled water directly from the springs, and later produced “invigorating” crocks (containing internal radon discs or coatings) to irradiate water. Just fill the crock before you go to sleep, and have healthy, stimulating water all day long!
Things did not work out well for Eben Byers, who drank three bottles of radon water every day. Read about his case and seven other dangerous "cures" at mental_floss. Link
Fluffy is ready for his turn in front of the camera for an all-cat remake of Ghostbusters! If you know who originally took this picture, please let us know. -via Geeks Are Sexy
Update: The cat is named Lulu, and the picture is by Jessica Fine, who says,
I made that costume myself in 30 min as a last minute idea for a costume contest. And she didn't even win! =)
Hey, Jessica, this costume is a real winner in our eyes!
Italian photographer Anthony Pappone attended FESTIMA (Festival International des Masques et des Arts) in Dédougou, Burkina Faso. The week-long festival draws people from Burkina Faso and other West African countries to show off their elaborate traditional masks and costumes.
music and dances are performed throughout the day and the night, there are also clothes made of leaves, fiber feather dresses, white dresses, suits and straw animal skins. The masks belong to the tradition animist and come out at the end of the dry season to ask for rain.
See more gorgeous pictures of festival participants at Pappone's Behance post. Link -via Everlasting Blort
Excuse me if I get a little personal for a minute here -it doesn't happen often. I just now realized that yesterday was the three-year anniversary of the day that Alex announced I'd been promoted to managing editor here at Neatorama, after four years as a contributing author. Since then I've been so busy I didn't realize how long it had been! But the community of Neatoramanauts has made it a pleasure so far. This coming week is full of milestones for me as a mother. My first baby is taking the ACT today, as she is totally focused on getting scholarships for college in another two years. Next week she tries out for color guard, turns sweet 16, and will test for her learner's permit. Where did all the time go? That's much too big of a question to ponder, so let's just focus on what's been happening this past week at Neatorama, starting with our feature articles.
In the What Is It? game, the mystery tool is a traveler, or tire measuring wheel, according to the Dictionary of American Hand Tools it was used to measure the length of flat strap required for making a new wagon tire, further explaned at the What Is It? blog. The first correct answer came from Berhard, who wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! The funniest answer came from Rodney McDonald, who said it is "a moral compass with a handy grip!" That's good enough for a t-shirt, too! Congratulations, and thanks to everyone who played this week.
The comment(s) of the week was this punny little exchange at the How _____ Got to Japan post. Both Stephen Cowell and Alan...yes THAT Alan alluded to their answers without giving their answers.
Over at the Neatorama Facebook page, we've got extra stuff you won't find here at the main site, like this punny mashup of Dr. Seuss and Star Trek. Check it out every day!
And the NeatoShop has been adding new items left and right, like the Zombie Hunter shirts by Chris Murphy. Those of you who shop there regularly can pull up the newest items added here. Don't miss the opportunity to snag the perfect gift, or something for yourself!
The latest propaganda video released by North Korea threatens specific targets in the US: Washington, Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Colorado Springs. Except they don't know where Colorado Springs is.
The only problem is that the video, released by the state-run media organization Uriminzokkiri, misidentifies Colorado Springs’ location by about 1,000 miles. As the voice-over excitedly discusses North Korea’s plan to launch a missile at the home of a number of important military installations, as well as the U.S. Air Force Academy, a dot on a map meant to indicate the city actually appears somewhere over the deep south.
You can hear the narrator mention Colorado Springs at about 1 minute, 20 seconds into the video, as a scary-looking line is shown shooting out from North Korea and landing somewhere in the vicinity of Shreveport, La., a 900-mile drive southeast from the intended target.
Like other recent North Korean videos, the intended effect is probably to solidify internal support. Any actual missile routes from North Korea to the US would be polar. Their KN-08 missiles mentioned in the video are so far untested. See the entire video at the Washington Post. Link -via reddit
Sawyer Hartman made this video starring Mystery Guitar Man in which kitchen sounds are rearranged into a beatbox rhythm. The funky percussion still doesn't distract anyone from the fact that this guy goes all the way downstairs and waits for a coffeemaker to heat up and produce a cup of plain hot water to drink. -via Laughing Squid
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union produced thousands upon thousands of fighter planes like the MiG series. Those planes don't last forever, and eventually each is taken out of active service. What to do with so many retired planes? One thing is to make monuments of them! See, a retired plane is a ready-made sculpture, and a tribute to Soviet power. These fighter plane monuments still stand all over former Warsaw Pact countries, in air fields, military bases, schools, town squares, and even apartment complexes. Urban Ghosts has pictures of 35 such monuments. Link
Simon's Cat and the Kitten are alone in a room with a TV playing. Cat owners can probably guess what happens. This is exactly why flat screens should be mounted on a wall. -via Daily Picks and Flicks
It's 2013 -where's my jetpack? Well, it's right here, in a roundup of real inventions that allow a single person to hover in the air. The reason you don't have one is because you can't afford it -and you'd probably kill yourself playing with one. Tech Graffiti rounded up seven different jetpack designs, each with a story behind it. Link
