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Twin pandas have a little fun in their own clumsy way at a zoo in Japan. The cuteness is overwhelming! -via A Welsh View

Curious Expeditions has a rundown of several of history’s more interesting duels. For example: Two ladies dueled in 1792 over a comment one made about the other’s true age!

The ladies dueled first with single shot pistols. The duel came within a foot of fatal when Mrs. Elpinstone’s shot went through Lady Braddock’s hat. Despite the calls of their seconds (every principle duelist must have a second, a sort of right hand man - or madame, in this case) to cease and desist, the determined ladies switched to swords. A short round of fencing ensued, and Mrs. Elphinstone was wounded in the arm. Through her pain, she agreed to write a letter of apology. Honor restored, the ladies curtsied and headed home.

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Wu Ying was in her sixties when she fell in love with hip hop music and started dancing. She then organized a group of 30 women in China to learn and perform hip hop dance moves. The youngest is 48, but most are in their 60s. Now Wu is 71 years old, and the group has won numerous awards and will perform at the Olympics in Beijing. Link -via I Am Bored

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Musical artist and composer Dan Fogelberg died this morning from prostate cancer. He was 56 years old.
Link to story. Link to website. -via Fark

Since 1977, LucasFilm has commissioned original art for its company Christmas cards. Many of them, like the 1981 card shown, feature Star Wars characters. This year’s card has a company of pop-up Stormtroopers. See that and more at Slashfilm (warning: contains Ewoks). Link -via Dump Trumpet

Bad Gift Emporium is a flash site that showcases some really poor gift choices. Click on a picture for an explanation and a chance to send an ecard featuring that gift. You can also submit and rate gifts. Link -via Everlasting Blort

Dave Munger at Cognitive Daily ran a little experiment to see how people reacted to the terms “stay at home father” (or mother) versus just plain father and mother. The results are discouraging, but not totally unexpected. Participants in the experiment did not make comparisons; they were presented with a story featuring a character who carried one of the four labels. The graph represents how many hours 1200 respondents estimated that the person they read about worked. Link

Build your own city at MyMiniCity! Select a country, name your town, and then revisit to see it grow. I created Neatorama City, which is supposed to grow as more people visit. Last time I looked, there was a population of two.



Update: Just a couple hours later, the population has soared to 99, unemployment is at a staggering 49%, but there is still no crime.

You can start your own city, too. Link -via Dump Trumpet (who has a new URL)

There are some really scary-looking things hanging out underwater! This Wolf Fish is the least nasty picture I could find in the post The Ten Nastiest Fish of All Time. Not for the squeamish. http://www.anglingmasters.com/10-nasty-fish.asp -via the Presurfer

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In this Nokia Telenor ad, a little girl reads her essay about the future, to the increasing consternation of the adults around her. -via Dark Roasted Blend

Wired presents a gallery of cubicle makeovers from Kelley L. Moore featured in her book Cube Chic. These would really cheer up a drab, dull workspace, but they won’t make up for a lousy benefits package. This one could feed your daydreams about a tropical vacation! Link -via J-Walk Blog

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Stefan Pochmann is a Rubik’s cube champion. In this video, he is solving a Megaminx {wiki}, a 12-sided puzzle with 50 moveable pieces. Link to Pochmann’s website. -via Unique Daily

Make a Christmas ecard with a personalized animated message on your Christmas tree! Check out the one I made for Neatorama. Link (via Dump Trumpet)

There is a Flickr pool for every conceivable subject. Bears in Ill-Fitting Hats is a delightful collection of 47 illustrations of... well, you know. The bear pictured here is a contribution from Neatorama favorite Apelad. Link -via Metafilter

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The only thing cuter than a laughing baby is a laughing baby that gives you the Evil Look. -via Arbroath