Did you know that the sphinx is just one of several hairless cat breeds? There are four, count 'em, four hairless breeds in this list of ten from Environmental Graffiti. Shown here is the Elf cat, a new breed created by Karen Nelson and Kristen Leedom, that reminds one of a certain Jedi master. Link
(Image credit © Kristen Leedom)
Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
After 46 years building his grocery store into a successful three-store chain, 70-year-old Joe Lueken of Bemidji, Minnesota is ready to retire. What to do with the stores? He could have sold them, but he already had plenty of money. He has four sons, but they have other careers away from Minnesota.
Lueken said he had multiple offers to sell to large independent chains and might have gotten more money that way. But he and his family believe that selling to workers will be better for them, the business and this north-central Minnesota city of 13,000 people.
"My employees are largely responsible for any success I've had, and they deserve to get some of the benefits of that," Lueken said earlier this week. "You can't always take. You also have to give back."
Employees say Lueken's decision, which won't require them to pay anything for their shares in the business, multiplied the high esteem they already held for their boss.
"He's rockin' awesome," said Svare, 41, who started at Lueken's in 2009 and worked up to front-end manager.
"He chose to protect his people," she said. "Being owners will make us care more about our work. It gives you something to call your own and gives you a more comfortable retirement to look forward to."
The new CEO of Lueken's Village Foods, Brent Sicard, started out as a janitor and worked his way up over 14 years. Read more about Lueken at the StarTribune. Link -via Metafilter
(Image source: Leukens Facebook page)
Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, is pregnant with a child who will be in a direct line to inherit the throne of England. The news is not all good, as the Duchess has been hospitalized for treatment of hyperemesis gravidarum, or severe and debilitating morning sickness. The New York Times spoke with Dr. Marlena Fejzo, an obstetrics researcher and former H.G. sufferer, about the condition.
Q. What is hyperemesis gravidarum?
A. It’s severe, debilitating nausea and vomiting in pregnancy that generally leads to more than 5 percent weight loss and requires fluid treatment. Sometimes, in more extreme cases, it requires nutritional supplements.
Q. Are there treatments?
A. Doctors try to give IV and anti-nausea medication at first. About 20 percent of the women who contact the Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation require tube feeding. It’s very serious. They have to have a tube inserted above their heart. Blood tests have to be done every day, or every other day, and the bag of nutrients has to be monitored to make sure it’s personalized for the woman’s needs. But I don’t think Kate Middleton (based on news reports) has it that bad. She’s just gone in for the IV fluids.
Fejzo also tells us about the prevalence, prognosis, and possible complications of H.G. Link -via Metafilter, where you'll find more links.
A gang of dwarvestake Bilbo out for a night on the town before his epic adventure. Yes, even Gandalf is there! They are partying to the tune of "Shots" by LFMAO. -via Viral Viral Videos
The clothing comopany Juicy Couture put cats in their holiday ad. Read about the cat's fashion photo shoot for the making of this as at Buzzfeed. Link
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is set to hit theaters on December 14th. Some audience members at advance screenings are reporting nausea, migraine headaches, and general queasiness after watching it. The film was shot at 48 frames per second, twice the normal rate, to achieve an unprecedented feeling of reality. But that can backfire.
When you watch a film, explains Adrian Bejan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Duke University, your eye combines "long and fast horizontal sweeps with short and slower vertical movements to process the picture." But this faster camera speed "requires the eye to sweep up and down faster than usual in close-ups to absorb unparalleled detail on a big screen," causing a significant amount of cognitive and eye strain. This technique "works for the big snowy mountains, but in close-ups the picture strobes," said one moviegoer. "I left loving the movie but feeling sick." Another audience member was more blunt: "My eyes cannot take everything in, it's dizzying," he said. "Now I have a migraine."
Read more about it at The Week. Link
Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.
Many great composers, like many great actors and many great painters, have a signature work. And so it is with the Beatles. Although, strangely, two of the three prolific Beatle composers have as their "signature" song a non-Beatles tune. Paul McCartney, of course, achieved his greatest heights as a composer with his 1965 Beatles classic "Yesterday." Not so with George Harrison, who penned "My Sweet Lord" in 1969, right after leaving the band. Likewise, John Lennon wrote his most famous and beloved song two years after the Beatles split up, in 1971.
"Imagine," besides the above, is also, unlike Paul's and George's songs, hotly debated as to its true meaning. To its millions of fans, "Imagine" is a lovely anthem of peace, freedom, harmony, and a oneness of all mankind. To its many detractors, it is communistic, socialistic, anti-religion, and anti-American.
Interestingly, John Lennon, a huge egomaniac, was to admit taking full credit for the song when, in truth, his wife Yoko Ono was its co-composer. According to John, "The lyric, the concept, came from Yoko. But in those days I was more selfish, more macho, and omitted to mention her contribution. But it was right out of her Grapefruit book -there's a whole pile of pieces about imagine this and imagine that." Lennon was referring to Ono's 1964 book of poetry, and more specifically, a poem within called "Cloud Piece." "Cloud Piece" contains phrases like "Imagine the sky crying" and "Imagine you're a cloud." Lennon, in fact, had the lyrics of "Cloud Piece" printed on the back of the Imagine album upon its release.
"Imagine" was originally released as a single in America on October 11, 1971, peaking at #3 on the charts. It came out in the U.K. four years later, on October 25, 1975, topping out at the #6 spot on the British charts. It hit #1 in Canada and was to be Lennon's only #1 song in Australia.
Like so many great Beatles songs, ardent fans will often argue over the true meaning of "Imagine." Always the most political of the Beatles, Lennon once confessed to being "an instinctive socialist." He also once stated that "Imagine" was "virtually a communist manifesto, even though I'm not a communist and do not belong to any movement."
Homemade marshmallows are the bomb. If you've made them already, you might want to branch out into odd flavored marshmallows, like this recipe that flavors them with legal distillery moonshine. Smooth! They could go into the s'more shown, which also feature homemade graham crackers. The recipe is from Caitlin Freeman of Blue Bottle Coffee. Link -via Laughing Squid
If you were a cat, this would seem like the ultimate wonderful place to curl up -on a pile of plush toys, with a glass barrier keeping those humans away. -via The Daily What
Dante the African grey parrot learned a special song for the season! -Thanks, Glen!
When you take a family portrait for your Christmas cards, stop and think about how much they look like every other personalized Christmas card your friends will receive. Unless it's funny. If your funny card turns out goofy, dumb, adorable, or cringeworthy, at least it will be memorable. My brother, the graphic artist, sent out cards with their first child's sonogram on it, altered a bit so she was wearing a tiny red Santa hat. That was 15 years ago, and she is still properly embarrassed about it. Check out a whole slew of other strange and memorable ideas for family Christmas cards at Pleated-Jeans. Link
John D. Boswell (also known as melody sheep, who gave us the Symphony of Science videos) autotuned and remixed Levar Burton in Reading Rainbow for PBS Digital Studios. I never saw the show, but I hear it gets younger folks all nostalgic. And how do you think that makes me feel, that I'm too old to be nostalgic about something? -via Flavorwire
Talk about Christmas spirit! These cocktails and toddies are named The Grinch, The Sugar Cookie Shot, Candy Cane Shooters, The Gingerbread Martini, Bourbon Apple Crisp Shooters, and Boozy Hot Chocolate. They sound like sinfully sweet holiday desserts, but they all definitely contain alcohol. Guess which one is pictured here! Links to each recipe are in the titles at Foodbeast. Link -via Fark
Email This Post to a Friend