David Daniels produces animation by the process of stratacut animation. Once you know how it's done, the difficulties of this art will blow your mind. From vimeo:

Strata-cut animation is most commonly a form of clay animation in which a long bread-like "loaf" of clay, internally packed with varying imagery, is sliced into thin sheets, with the animation camera taking a frame of the end of the loaf for each cut, eventually revealing the movement of the internal images within. Wax may be used instead of clay for the loaf, but this can be more difficult to use because it is less malleable.

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Stratacut is created only through an in depth understanding of space-time, because in stratacut, you build your imagery not just in X, Y, and Z space, but also considering time as a dimension, and the most important one. Students who have undertaken the challenge of creating stratacut animation will tell you, it is not for those unwilling to bend their perception of animation, and time in the process.

Next, consider what is involved in designing and building that "internal imagery" in the clay loaf, both in the artistry and timing. Now that you have the process in mind, enjoy some clips of Daniels' work. You will probably recognize some of these, but you'll appreciate them more knowing how they are done.

Victoria Hudgins made a piñata cake, a real cake filled with candy bars and jellybeans! The cake is baked first, and the candies are added to the cooled cake, so there's no danger of melting inside. See how she did it at A Subtle Revelry. This piñata should be cut and served; we don't want anyone whacking it with a stick! Link -via Laughing Squid

(Image credit: Athena Plichta)

Every day, Criggo posts newspaper screenshots that underline the importance of proofreading after the page is set, but so many small papers skip that step for the sake of parsimony or time constraints. However, I bet this story was read carefully by every subscriber. Link -via the Presurfer

Rahmell Pettway of Brooklyn, New York, was so afraid of his girlfriend's wrath after he was gone from home for two weeks that he staged his own kidnapping. He was found by a passer-by between two parked cars, tied up with duct tape. Police responded and sent Pettway to a hospital, but they had suspicions as the roll of duct tape was still attached to his wrists.

He initially “couldn’t recall” what had happened, but later told police two men in a light-blue minivan abducted him on Feb. 19 near Bainbridge Street and Reid Avenue.

He claimed his captors covered his eyes and hauled him to parts unknown before dumping him on Macon Street near Malcolm X Boulevard weeks later.

But authorities grew suspicious of his account, and Pettway soon confessed to the hoax, saying he had gone AWOL for a couple of weeks and was terrified of facing his significant other.

Police did not react kindly to the explanation.

“He’s a total moron,” said one law-enforcement source. “It was a pathetic attempt to pull the wool [over] her eyes.”

Pettway was arrested for filing a false report. Link -via Arbroath

(Image credit: Flickr user woodleywonderworks)

The following is an abridged version of an article from the Annals of Improbable Research

by Sally Shelton, Collections Officer, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institutio

"Frank Buckland had already developed a taste for natural history....He delighted to trap field mice...and used to cook them over a fire of twigs from the neighbouring farmer's fields, until complaints forced him to cook the mice in College." (p. 25)

"Buckland once remarked that Englishmen always connected the idea of food with their researches into natural history." (p. 136)

Frank Buckland (1826-1880), son of the eminent geologist William Buckland, set standards for the sensory appreciation of British wildlife, especially vertebrates, that have seldom been matched and never exceeded. Not content to confine his fascination to the more usual diagnostic characters (appearance, morphology, and the like), Buckland also set himself the challenge of demonstrating, not the mere edibility, but the actual palatability of British and exotic wildlife.

Like Father, Like Son, Like to Lick

William Buckland set the stage for his son's lifelong appreciation of taste as a diagnostic character in natural history. Guests at the Buckland house might be, and were, served anything from mice to ostrich, along the way including hedgehog, puppy, crocodile and snails. According to Burgess, Richard Owen spent a queasy night after a dinner of roast ostrich at the Bucklands', but John Ruskin regretted having missed the toasted mice. William Buckland himself does not appear to have hesitated in the use of the sense of taste in analyzing the natural world. Visiting a cathedral at which spots of saints' blood were said to be always fresh on the floor, never evaporating or vanishing, Dr. Buckland, with the use of his tongue, determined that the "blood" was in fact bats' urine. He mused in print as to whether the common mole or the blue-bottle fly tasted worse. His approach left quite an impression on young Frank.

Wild Life

Jason Heuser has done it again. His latest presidential art features Bill Clinton defending America while straddling an alligator and smoking a cigarette. Notice the lipstick on the collar, the gaping fly, and the saxophone strapped to his back. Oh yeah, Ronald McDonald makes an appearance in the background. This print is available for sale at Heuser's Etsy shop. Link -via The Daily Dot

Previously: Presidents Kennedy, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt.

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This wave features billiard balls swinging from different lengths. They each hypnotically swing in their own little arc, making wonderful waves patterns together to the sounds of Moonlight Sonota.  See a couple more of videos that show what this looks like from the side at mental_floss. Link 

Please paint me dinosaurs drawing people in a dinosaur art class.

Jim will paint it! Make a request, and he'll render it completely in Microsoft paint. However, Jim has a bit of a backlog now that word is getting around, so your suggestion should be particularly funny or challenging to move to the front of the list. The dinosaur above was the first entry on his Tumblr site.

Please paint me Bill Murray catching a bank robber using only his charm while members of the Tokyo police force shield themselves behind him?

You can see the requests have become more challenging and detailed! So far, Jim has painted three pages of silliness. Link

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New York Philharmonic trombonist David Finlayson gave us What The Trombone Sees. Now he shows us what goes on inside the instrument! As anyone who has ever played a brass instrument can tell you, this is shown in slow motion. The lips belong to trombonist Peter Ellefson. -via Improbable Research

This is not a painting, drawing, or Photoshop. DeviantART member Battledress decorated the head of model Michael Foster at the International Make-Up Artist Trade Show (IMATS) in Los Angeles. This is all makeup, with the exception of tape to hold his eye shut and to cover the eyebrow. The goal was to evoke classical medical illustrations. The project does that well! Link -via Laughing Squid

Don't you just love it when there are plenty of people to whom you can pass the buck? You should know by now, the more people you email at once, the slimmer the chance that they'll see it, pay attention to it, or respond to it. From CommitStrip. Link -via Geeks Are Sexy

It had to happen sooner of later: an interactive map of the world's cats. The Cat Map is an effort from the Zoological Society of London to promote the London Zoo’s new Tiger Territory. You can zoom in or out on the world map, and sort cats by age, gender, or color. Bring up information on a particular cat by clicking on a cat icon. I've been comparing the names of British cats to American cats, but I love the Eastern European cat names. Oh yeah, you can upload your cat to be added to the map! Link -via Geekosystem

One hundred years ago today, President Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated. The day before, the National American Woman Suffrage Association staged a parade in Washington, DC in support of voting rights for women. Around 8,000 people marched (almost all women), with 20 floats and nine bands.

Though the parade began late, it appeared to be off to a good start until the route along Pennsylvania Avenue became choked with tens of thousands of spectators -- mostly men in town for the inauguration. Marchers were jostled and ridiculed by many in the crowd. Some were tripped, others assaulted. Policemen appeared to be either indifferent to the struggling paraders, or sympathetic to the mob. Before the day was out, one hundred marchers had been hospitalized.

But the incident got a lot of press for the movement. The Atlantic has a collection of 24 photographs from that day. Link  -via Holy Kaw!

(Images: Library of Congress)

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You're just driving along, singing with your favorite toy perched on the dashboard, when you are waved over by a policeman. This ad for a voice-activated hamster is funny enough without understanding what's being said. Is it just as funny if you do? I don't know if I could be so laid back when a toy starts mocking a cop! You can buy the WoodyOTime toy here, if you can read Russian. -via I Have Seen The Whole Of The Internet

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In a kids-division dance battle, 6-year-old Bgirl Terra owns the crowd at Chelles Battle Pro 2013 on Saturday. Her somewhat older opponent isn't bad, either. -via Viral Viral Videos