Rueben Ayala of Brighton, Colorado had completed three years of high school when he was drafted to serve in World War II. He didn't like to talk about the war, and his children didn't know that he didn't graduate from high school until recently. Sixty-six years later, he has that diploma.

"I'm just so honored, so very honored to be here today," he said as he got ready to walk onto the football field of Brighton High School with the rest of the class of 2010.

It is safe to say that Ayala was likely the only graduate of the day with 13 grandkids and 18 great grandkids.

When his name was finally read, it is also safe to say that Ayala was the only member of the class to receive a standing ovation from the entire crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to present to you Mr. Rueben Ayala, 2010 graduate of Brighton High School," the speaker said.

Ayala slowly walked to the front grinning as wide as is humanly possible. His daughter, Susan Meador, wiped away a few tears.

"I really think this is a dream come true to him, something that he waited his entire life for," Meador said.

Ayala graduated with the help of Operation Recognition - Veterans Diploma Project, which helps veterans whose education was interrupted by the war service. Link

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Get a whole lot of those new Dyson Air Multiplier™ fans and a balloon, and you could have a swell time! -via reddit

Urlesque got an interview with Jessica, who you saw in the Daily Affirmation video last week. She is twelve years old now, and was willing to discuss how crazy her life became after the 8-year-old video went viral. Link

A fish with hands? You betcha! There are 14 species of handfish, nine of which have just been named and described for the first time. Handfish were named such because they use their fins to walk around on the floor of the ocean, instead of swimming. Handfish are rare and difficult to study, and scientists believe they may even be toxic to predators. The pink handfish shown here bears a startling resemblance to The Creature from the Black Lagoon. National Geographic has rare photographs of four different kinds of handfish. Link -via Boing Boing

(Image credit: Karen Gowlett-Holmes)

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It's Woodward the tortoise against a rabbit named Lady Bunbun. How the winner is declared can be a point of controversy, but as you will see, the old fable is true. The tortoise keeps a steady pace while the hare barely shows up. -via Buzzfeed

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Russian authorities shut down a seven-kilometer-long bridge over the Volga River in Volgograd last week after it started to wobble. Floodwaters loosened one support, which affected the stability of the entire bridge, which is the longest in Europe Russia. The video is reminiscent of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge just before it collapsed. The Volgograd bridge was completed less than a year ago. Link -via Arbroath

Towel Day is celebrated on the 25th of May every year to honor the memory and works of Douglas Adams {wiki}, the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. From the book:

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value -- you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-tohand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you -- daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

The simplest way to celebrate is to carry your towel with you, which some fans do everyday. The official site has other suggestions, and a schedule of Towel Day events from all over the world. And remember: Don't Panic! Link

(Image credit: Flickr user SiRGt)

Neatorama is proud to be a co-sponsor of the new How Did You Know? contest at mental_floss. You could win prizes from the Neato Shop, mental_floss, Motionbox, or Roku. The contest runs for the rest of the week, but your chances of winning a prize are better if you play every day. The format for this contest is a little different from the previous game, so jump over to mental_floss for all the details, and start playing! Link

A beautiful 1927 colonial-style waterfront home with 5 bedrooms, 3 and a half baths, and a ton of history behind it in Long Island can be yours for as little as $1,150,000. The home has had many owners, some more notorious than others.

The home gained its notoriety when Ronald DeFeos killed six family members while they were sleeping in 1974 and subsequent owners George and Kathleen Lutz claimed to be haunted for 28 days, which were detailed in the book "The Amityville Horror" (on the cover: "This book will scare the hell out of you"—Kansas City Star). However, James Cromarty, who lived in the house after the Lutzes were foreclosed upon, "Nothing weird ever happened, except for people coming by because of the book and the movie."

Link to story. Link to listing. -via YesButNoButYes

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I just found out that Maru, the Japanese Scottish Fold who took the internet by storm, is turning three years old today. That means he was quite young when we first featured him on Neatorama. Here is a compilation video for the occasion. -via I Am Bored

The title of this item was the headline at Fark, and I couldn't think of any better way to say it. The Big Picture blog has photographs of the Gulf oil spill as it reaches the Louisiana shores. Warning: some pictures may be disturbing. Link -via Fark

(Image credit: REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace)

Scientists mapping the ruins of the abandoned Maya city of Caracol in Belize knew they had tackled a big job, uncovering the city from the encroaching jungle. They didn't know how big it really is until modern mapping techniques took a look underneath the forest canopy.

An April 2009 flyover of the Maya city of Caracol used Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) equipment—which bounces laser beams off the ground—to help scientists construct a 3-D map of the settlement in western Belize. The survey revealed previously unknown buildings, roads, and other features in just four days, scientists announced earlier this month at the International Symposium on Archaeometry in Tampa, Florida.

How much bigger is it?

...the project also revealed thousands of new structures, 11 new roads, tens of thousands of agricultural terraces, and even a number of hidden caves throughout a city, which is now known to stretch over 68 square miles (177 square kilometers).

Caracol was burned around A.D. 895, and was completely abandoned by the year 1050. Link -Thanks, Marilyn!

(Image credit: University of Central Florida Caracol Archaeological Project)

Mental_floss presents a sequel to an earlier much-enjoyed quiz about movie and TV characters who went to college. In today's Lunchtime Quiz, you'll be given a television character, then you select which real college he or she was supposed to have attended. Just by guessing, I scored 40%. You will do better! Link

Our own JohnnyCat has a whole series of grievance posts about movies in his blog The Litter Box. The latest is about some annoying television gimmicks that are incorporated into film, like the "switch-off":

This is that annoying behavior that hack script characters engage in, wherein they tune in to some disaster being played out on live television. “Turn on channel 2! You gotta see this!” And after a brief description of a horrible incident, or perhaps even a surprise announcement from a rival character, someone grabs the remote and switches the TV off. As if there’s no inherent interest in that story anymore. Nobody does this, ever.

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Those who sleep with a mask on can now scare the living daylights out of a roommate or bedmate with the Michael Jackson Sleep Mask. Now half price! The mask features a picture of Jackson's eyes, enlarged just enough to be truly creepy. Link -via Rue the Day