Ever wondered what bears consider worth their hard-earned money? You probably could have guessed this one, but Pleated Jeans has also charted how bats, cats, kangaroos, snails, rabbits, bluejays, anteaters, and more animals are spending their tax refunds. Link to part one. Link to part two.

Billed as "the ultimate stiletto," this pair of shoes is made of gold or platinum (your choice) and encrusted with 2,200 handset diamonds, over 30 karats total. It also features "the exquisite Stamen Fluted Heal" (sic). It also comes with extra soles, so it will never wear out. The price? £100,000. That's $163,500 US. Got that in a size 6E? Link -via J-Walk Blog

U.S. income tax returns must be in the mail by Monday, but most people who did not have to pay more into the system have already filed. Many folks who expect refunds got the money faster by getting refund anticipation loans, or RALs. Mother Jones explains how refund anticipation loans work, by looking how John Hewitt, founder of Jackson-Hewitt, got into the loan business. The RAL was invented by Ross Longfield in 1987.

Ultimately, Longfield persuaded H&R Block to sign up. But no one was as smitten as John Hewitt—who understood that people earning $15,000 or $20,000 or $25,000 a year live in a perpetual state of financial turmoil. Hewitt began opening outposts in the inner cities, Rust Belt towns, depressed rural areas—anywhere the misery index was high. "That was the low-hanging fruit," he says. "Going into lower-income areas and delivering refunds quicker was where the opportunity was."

Customers wanting a RAL paid Jackson Hewitt a $24 application fee, a $25 processing fee, and a $2 electronic-filing fee, plus 4 percent of the loan amount. On a $2,000 refund, that meant $131 in charges—equivalent to an annual interest rate of about 170 percent—not to mention the few hundred bucks you might spend for tax preparation. "Essentially, they're charging people triple-digit interest rates to borrow their own money," says Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center.

A few hundred bucks for tax preparation? Really?

"These businesses are in this neighborhood for one reason: They see they can make a killing here," says Ramon Dalmasi, an accountant with a front-row seat on the growth of the instant tax business. Dalmasi opened a bookkeeping business in the Bronx in 1997 and watched as chain after tax-prep chain popped up on commercial strips in his community. A few years ago, he relocated to Yonkers, an aging suburb just north of New York City, and found the same chains there as well. "They don't see people struggling to put food on the table," he says. "They just see people who can make them millions." Even without a RAL, a working parent who qualifies for the EITC often pays $300 or more at a tax mill. Dalmasi, a CPA who teaches accounting at nearby Lehman College, charges that same client $75 or $100. "Why should I charge anything more than that," he asks, "when it's taking me 20 minutes?"

I have four different types of income from many small sources and a family of six, but my CPA only charges $100. The article points out how the poor are being taken advantage of, but as some have said elsewhere, this type of loan is still preferable to organized crime loans. Link -via Metafilter, where there's a lively discussion on this article.

(Image credit: Joshua Lutz)

See also: Why Do People Fall For Payday Loans?

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We've posted about the tiny Australian Peacock Spider before, but now you can see its amazing mating dance. A couple of minutes into this video, you'll understand how it got its name. Read more about this spider at Catalyst. Link -via The Daily What

Normally I don't go for the run-jump-shoot type video games, but this one is so cute! The idea is that poor Dad goes berserk after a long hard day at the office, and needs to break things. The more chaos you cause, the more points you rack up. And you can even shoot lasers and play guitar! Link -via The Daily What

Maddox created an entire blog as an April Fool joke and filled it with annoying things bloggers do, like taking pictures of meals, apologizing for not posting, and adding tons of sharing buttons to each post. He received a lot of mail from people who took it seriously. Most messages were criticism, but there were people who wrote and said they liked it. Link -via Urlesque

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The Maeklong Market has been in business for decades. When they built a railroad right through it, vendors saw no reason to move, or to even give up space for the train, which comes through eight times every day. The second part of the video shows the Damnoen Saduak floating market in central Thailand. This lush video was produced by Terje Sorgjerd, who also brought us The Aurora.

Previously: Train in a Bangkok Market

Flickr user Mr. Thinktank posted this "invention" for levitating cats.

Cats love anti gravity. I bet you didn't know that. This device was invented by Swedish immigrant Per Karlsson in the early 50s, and a small series was produced in Wellington for a while. But people didn't go for it as much as Karlsson had hoped; maybe because they didn't fancy having the cat hover around too much. In case you're wondering what the little cap with the "antlers" is the cat is wearing on its head, it's the mind reader. The cat steers the machine with her thoughts, because, how else would she.

The picture is part of a marvelous set of photographs in his Flickr set Old Anti Gravity Cruisers of New Zealand. Link -via Everlasting Blort

(Image credit: Flickr user Mr. Thinktank)

It was a profitable but outrageous scheme, set forth in a trial going on now. Prosecutors are charging that David Deng recruited Chinese immigrants to join the "U.S. Army/Military Special Forces Reserve" to help their chances of obtaining U.S. citizenship, and that he charged hundred of dollars from his "soldiers." The U.S. military has no such unit. The group is well known in Asian-American neighborhoods of Los Angeles, where community leaders had no idea they weren't government issue.

Last year, one Chinese-language newspaper reported that an Alhambra taxi driver was arrested near Los Angeles International Airport after producing counterfeit military identification while trying to get out of a traffic stop.

Investigators learned that the recruits were told that the military IDs could be used to avoid getting traffic tickets and to receive certain types of military benefits and discounts, Eimiller said.

Some of the recruits were so convinced that they were part of the U.S. military that they actually visited real Army recruiting centers and tried to pay their monthly dues directly to the U.S. government, Eimiller said. That was another tipoff when investigators began looking into the group.

Local Chinese American leaders on Wednesday said they were shocked that a group that was such a familiar presence in the community is now being accused of being a fraud.

If convicted of all charges, Daniel Deng could face 11 years in prison. Link -via Metafilter

(Image credit: FBI)

How much do you know about armadillos? Asher Kade had never even heard of armadillos before he moved to Texas and confronted many of them. But he dug up a lot of fascinating facts about the ancient animals. For instance, they can walk underwater and hold their breath up to six minutes! But they are endangered because they don't reproduce well, as you'll learn in this article at Environmental Graffiti. Link -via Look At This

(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons user Kolossos)

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Here's the story from the YouTube page:

Sophia breaks into Amy's house in Africa, James Bond style, for the sardines we bought earlier. She's a freaking clawed ninja! (Note her hanging on one paw while trying to open the window with the other before she starts hanging.)

-via Arbroath

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One of the dinosaurs from the show "Walking with Dinosaurs" (previously at Neatorama) visited a school in Bondi, near Sydney, Australia. The kids were, shall we say, excited. Don't miss the foot race! -via reddit

Graham Short managed to engrave three words on the edge of a razor blade. You can only see it at 400x magnification (or by going to the link to see a larger picture). The 64-year-old Short, who admits he is obsessed with miniature engraving, made about 150 attempts before he got the engraving right.

He was only able to work at night, when traffic vibrations are at a minimum, with his right arm bound to the arm of his chair with a luggage strap to minimise unwanted movement. He uses a stethoscope to monitor his heart, attempting a stroke of the letter only between beats, when his body is perfectly still. He swims 10,000 metres a day and can slow his heart rate to 30 beats a minute.

He worked from midnight to 5.30am most nights of the week, for seven months on his razor blade. On a good night he’d manage three minuscule letters.

The Wilkinson’s Sword blade is now available to buy, with a £47,500 price tag.

Link -via J-Walk Blog

(Image credit: Cascade)

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The YoGPoD Podcast guys speculate about how the Teletubbies watch television. -via Buzzfeed

Oh, nothing special, just a duck walking through Beijing showing off its shoes. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/8445313/Pictures-of-the-day-12-April-2011.html?image=5 -via Buzzfeed

(Image credit: China Foto Press/Barcroft Media)