(YouTube link)
Talk about interacting with living history- the Los Angeles Natural History Museum has dinosaurs roaming the hallways! This eerily realistic puppet was created by Erth Visual and Physical, Inc. -via Greg Laden's Blog

This cat's full name is Ugly Bat Boy, and he lives at Exeter Veterinary Hospital in New Hampshire. His owner, veterinarian Stephen Bassett says that he is normal in every way, except that he's ugly. The eight-year-old cat is bald in most places, but has a long flowing "mane" on his chest. Ugly has become a local celebrity. Veterinary employee Christie Hartnett calls him "Dr. Bassett's little wonder cat."

Workers said many people who come into the building can't really believe what they're seeing. But they said despite appearances, Bat Boy has a nice disposition and real inner beauty.

"The impression from clients that come in is he's not real because he just sits so still, and when he does move, he scares them, but they think he's mesmerizing," Hartnett said.

Be warned that if you go to the story and click on the "slideshow" button, the first picture may frighten young children. Link -via Metafilter

Yes! This would make my half-dozen remote controls much easier to use! Come to think of it, we may have just discovered why I don't watch much TV anymore. From the book Designing Interactions by Bill Moggridge. Link -via Divine Caroline

(YouTube link)
This ad from Loewe made me giggle! -via Geeks Are Sexy

The cutest rat you've ever seen is named Bug, and she's quite the internet darling. Bug is owned by 18-year-old photographer Jessica Florence. 3-year-old Bug doesn't mind posing with a variety of props.

'Actually,' says Jessica, 'it's easier to get her in the right position than you'd think. I just wait until it's late at night and she's really sleepy so can't be bothered to scurry away. Then I just follow her round with my camera until I get a good shot.'

Link to story. Link to Bug's Flickr set. -via Unique Daily

(image credit: Jessica Florence)

John from J-Walk Blog was frustrated because his Kindle electronic reader needed to be propped up so he could read while eating. He could've spend $27.95 for a Kindle stand, but his wife handed him a 45-cent metal bookend. With a little bending, he fashioned the perfect stand to hold his Kindle. He also notes that metal bookends now cost almost a dollar. Link

(YouTube link)
Craig Grant spent $100,000 to provide a good home on 30 acres for nearly 500 cats! Caboodle Ranch is 50 miles from Tallahassee, Florida, and features shelters fashioned after small town buildings, nature trails, and underground dens. Grant even retired from his job to devote his time to the cats. Link to story. Link to website. -via Metafilter

Watch this series of slow-motion videos in which 90 small magnets are laid out in a matrix. Then another magnet is dropped on top, which upsets the matrix and causes the magnets to realign, assembling themselves into, um, whatever it is that magnets naturally assemble into.

I know my description is confusing; but take my word, it's pretty cool. Link -via Unique Daily

Thirty states have deals with large banks to deposit unemployment benefits. Many of the banks then issue a prepaid debit card to jobless people. On the surface, it looks like a simple deal. In practice, recipients are finding that accessing their money can cost quite a bit! After the first withdrawal, each transaction carries a fee. The banks make interest off the money that is deposited, and a 1-3% fee from vendors off any transaction made with the cards. The state saves money over writing and mailing checks because the banks will set up the program for free. Banks don't mind because they make plenty off fees charged to benefit recipients.

In Missouri, for instance, 94,883 people claimed unemployment benefits through debit cards from Central Bank. Analysts say a recipient uses a card an average of six to 10 times a month. If each cardholder makes three withdrawals at an out-of-network ATM, at a fee of $1.75, the bank would collect nearly $500,000. If half of the cardholders also dial customer service three times in any given week (the first time is free; after that, it's 25 cents a call), the bank's revenue would jump to more than $521,000. That would yield $6.3 million a year.

Rachel Storch, a Democratic state representative, received a wave of complaints about the fees from autoworkers laid off from a suburban St. Louis Chrysler plant. She recently urged Gov. Jay Nixon to review the state's contract with Central Bank with an eye toward reducing the fees.

"I think the contract is unfair and potentially illegal to unemployment recipients," she said.

The easiest way to avoid fees is to withdraw all funds at once from a debit card account, then deposit the money in your regular checking account. Link -via Cynical-C

(image credit: Free Digital Photos)

Can you hear the sound in the clip at this site? I can't, but that's not surprising. It can generally only be heard by people under the age of 25. Those who can hear it say it's pretty annoying. Some older folks use it to repel teens, but some young people use it for a ring tone. Link -via Digg

Parents may think they are showing their sense of humor when they name their baby, but how would YOU like to go through life with a name like Terry Bull, Paige Turner, Justin Case, Barb Dwyer, or Anna Sasin? Those are some of the names of real people uncovered in Britain.

Retired airman Stan Still, 76, from Cirencester, Gloucestershire, said his name had been "a blooming millstone around my neck my entire life".

"When I was in the RAF my commanding officer used to shout, 'Stan Still, get a move on' and roll about laughing," he said.

"It got hugely boring after a while."

The names were compiled through The Baby Website and through phone directories. There are more names in this story from the BBC. Link -via Buzzfeed

To promote their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame giveaway (in which you can win a trip for two to the induction ceremonies), mental_floss is featuring rock and roll quizzes. Today's Lunchtime Quiz challenges you to identify short clips from songs. Which ones are from Billy Joel, and which are from Elton John? I, of course, scored 100%. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/23021

(vimeo link)
It looks like a portal to another dimension, or maybe a time-travel machine. Multiverse is an art installation in a 200-foot-long tunnel between buildings in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Designed by artist Leo Villareal, it features around 41,000 LED nodes. I see there's a moving sidewalk in the tunnel. I'm afraid if I were so lucky as to see this in person, I might never make it to the next building! Link -via Gizmodo

The 1973 Disney animated film Robin Hood has been translated into languages all over the world, which has to be a difficult job because so much of the story is told through songs. Andy Baio at Waxy has collected over a dozen translations of the opening song "Oo De Lally" for your listening pleasure. The singers are quite talented! My favorite is the Arabic version. Link -via mental_floss

That's a lot of pancakes! 672 of them, to be exact, and a pair of chefs at a Scottish hotel think the stack of pancakes may get them into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Sean McGinlay and Natalie King of Glasgow's Hilton Grosvenor hotel measured their pancake tower at 29.5 inches (75cm) - beating the current title by 0.4in.

The chefs mixed about 100 eggs, more than 17 pints of milk, 11lbs of flour and 6.6lbs of butter for the challenge, a hotel spokeswoman said.

The hotel's general manager Stuart Nelson said: 'It was a bit shaky towards the end but somehow we managed to pull it off.

The current pancake stack record is 29.1 inches, set by a Slovenian team last year. Link -via J-Walk Blog