Check out this large collection of interesting bus stops all over the world, Some have whimsical touches, some are covered with art, some are designed to surprise you, and some are interesting in their decline. The bus stop shown is in Curitiba, Brazil. Passengers pay when entering the bus stop, then go directly from the tube into the bus! http://www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/worlds-most-bizarre-and-intriguing-bus-stops/offbeat-news -Thanks, Jon Jason!

We knew octopuses were intelligent, but this one is telling us something! Otto lives in at the Sea Star Aquarium in Coburg, Germany. The staff was baffled by mysterious short circuits in the night, and posted guards overnight to see what was causing the problem. One the third night, they found out it was all Otto's fault.

"We knew that he was bored as the aquarium is closed for winter, and at two feet, seven inches Otto had discovered he was big enough to swing onto the edge of his tank and shoot out the 2000 Watt spot light above him with a carefully directed jet of water."

Director Elfriede Kummer who witnessed the act said: "We've put the light a bit higher now so he shouldn't be able to reach it. But Otto is constantly craving for attention and always comes up with new stunts so we have realised we will have to keep more careful eye on him - and also perhaps give him a few more toys to play with.

Link -Thanks, Johnny Cat!

Traditional Japanese garments (kimono and kosode robes) had no pockets, so personal belongings were kept in a small container called an inro. This was suspended from the obi (the sash worn around the waist) and kept fastened to it by a miniature sculpture called a netsuke. Most often carved from ivory or wood, netsuke came into use in the early 17th century, and later on were made for ornamental purposes.

See a Flickr set of elaborate and sometimes symbolic netsuke from the Victoria & Albert Museum. Link -Thanks, Mo!

(image credit: mcost)

What's a holiday without a little fun! Mushy Gushy lets you personalize free ecards with your face. Link -Thanks, Javier Perez!

(Vimeo link)
Lego minifigs model designs by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. More information at design:related. http://www.designrelated.com/inspiration/view/Karen/page/1/entry/2762 -via Buzzfeed

"Church" and "brawl" are not words you'd normally think of in the same sentence. However, confrontations between Christian sects are fairly common at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre {wiki} in Jerusalem, where six different denominations claim rights. One confrontation turned to violence this weekend.

Shocked pilgrims looked on as decorations and tapestries were toppled during Sunday's clash.

Dressed in the vestments of the Greek Orthodox and Armenian denominations, rival monks threw punches and anything they could lay their hands on.

The Greeks blamed the Armenians for not recognising their rights inside the holy site, while the Armenians said the Greeks had violated one of their traditional ceremonies.

Israeli policemen scuffle with an Armenian altar boy during a fight at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on 9 November2008
Clashes between Christian sects in the ancient church are not uncommon

An Armenian clergyman said the Greek clergy had tried to place one of their monks inside the Edicule, an ancient structure which is said to encase the tomb of Jesus.

"What is happening here is a violation of status quo. The Greeks have tried so many times to put their monk inside the tomb but they don't have the right to when the Armenians are celebrating the feast," he said.

Link (with video of actual monk violence) -Thanks, JeffFsS!

11-year-old Brenden Foster is dying of Leukemia. He has already surpassed the two weeks doctors estimated he had left. Too weak to leave his bed, Brenden confided his last wish to a crew from a local TV station.

In the last days of his life, it was a homeless camp, namely Nickelsville, that captured the boy's heart.

"I was coming back from one of my clinic appoints and I saw this big thing of homeless people, and then I thought I should just get them something," he said.

Brenden is too ill to leave his bed and feed the homeless. He walked into an emergency room last December and hasn't walked since.

But Brenden's wish will not go unfulfilled. A group planned to gather in his honor on Friday night to make sandwiches and deliver them to the homeless.

http://www.komonews.com/news/34127439.html (with video) -via reddit

Anyone who grew up during the heyday of the View-Master probably wondered how they made those 3D scenes. Florence Thomas was one of the artists responsible for the stereoscopic images. She would sculpt Disney characters from clay and set them in dioramas, then take photographs from two angles to get the stereo effect.

Thomas produced her first reels for View-Master in 1946 --a series of Fairy Tales and Mother Goose rhymes that are still in circulation. According to one source, Thomas "developed special methods of close-up stereo photography and modeling which is now in common use by major motion picture studios" (John Waldsmith, Stereo Views, 1991). She created scenes of such detail and attractiveness that you feel you could step inside and look around a corner at a complete world.

Link -Thanks, John Kankley!

Remember the video of the cat who loved to dive into boxes? His name is Maru. He's a Scottish Fold who lives in Japan, and he has his own blog. Recent pictures and videos are labeled in English as well as Japanese. Link -via Boing Boing

The DVD release of the TV series Little House on the Prairie will be flagged "for adults only" in Finland! Universal Pictures did not want to pay for the Finnish government to inspect each episode to see if they are suitable for children.

Finnish authorities charge 2 euros ($2.57) per minute for assessing the correct age limit on films and television series. Distributors who forego this can only sell their shows with a sticker saying "Banned for under-18s."

"Long series can get quite expensive to check, and some use this exemption in the law to their advantage," said Matti Paloheimo, Director at the Finnish Board of Film Classification.

"Such unchecked material should not be shown to children publicly," he added

Although I loved the books as a child, I think someone would have to pay me, too, to watch all the TV shows. Link -Thanks, CheeseDuck!

Even in historical eras in which people didn't normally bathe, some famous folk stood out from the crowd by leading filthy lives. Yes, Howard Hughs is included. Pictured is king Louis XIV of France, who took maybe two or three baths his entire life, when forced by his doctors. He refused treatment for gangrene, which led to his death. Link -Thanks, Sami!

(YouTube link)
The question is, just how many frogs can one toddler collect in her underpants? -via Arbroath

The list makes me feel old, since I'm not familiar with a lot of the names of wealthy young singers and actors -but my kids know them! Find out who the richest working teenagers are at Socyberty. Pictured is Vanessa Anne Hudgens, star of High School Musical. Link -Thanks, RJ!

Eugene Allen served eight presidents over three decades as White House Butler. He shared a birthday with Gerald Ford, was personally invited to Jack Kennedy's funeral, and sat at a state dinner with the Reagans.

He was there while America's racial history was being remade: the Little Rock school crisis, the 1963 March on Washington, the cities burning, the civil rights bills, the assassinations.

When he started at the White House in 1952, he couldn't even use the public restrooms when he ventured back to his native Virginia. "We had never had anything," Mr Allen, 89, recalls of black America at the time. "I was always hoping things would get better."

Allen retired in 1986. WAtoday has a fascinating account of his years in the White House, a story with a twist that made a Fark forum cry. http://www.watoday.com.au/world/us-election-2008/butler-who-saw-racial-history-being-remade-20081107-5k79.html -via Fark

Monifa is the new baby pygmy hippopotamus at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. The endangered species arrived three weeks ago in a difficult breech birth. Monifa was unable to stand or feed herself, and has been nursed around the clock by zookeepers.

Keepers Renae Zammit and Tracy Roberts spent a fortnight sleeping with and hand-feeding Monifa from a teated syringe until she was nursed to full health.

The infant has now moved into her own pen and is ready to follow the footsteps of her father Timmy, the last pygmy hippo born at Taronga Zoo 23 years ago.

Monifa has now doubled in weight and is drinking from a bowl, content to suckle the thumb of her keepers. A delighted Misss Zammit said Monifa was already showing signs of playfulness.

"She's such an inquisitive little thing and loves bath time, she even turns somersaults in the water," she said.

Link to story (with video). Link to photo gallery. -via Fark

(image credit: Kate Geraghty)