Brett Foxwell is an animator who uses stop-motion, time-lapse, motion graphics and other techniques, and he's always looking for a new method to experiment with. WoodSwimmer was made by photographing cut trees as layers were milled away from the wood. The effect is that of traveling through the wood itself.    

(vimeo link)

“Fascinated with the shapes and textures found in both newly-cut and long-dead pieces of wood, I envisioned a world composed entirely of these forms,” Foxwell told Colossal. “As I began to engage with the material, I conceived a method using a milling machine and an animation camera setup to scan through a wood sample photographically and capture its entire structure. Although a difficult and tedious technique to refine, it yielded gorgeous imagery at once abstract and very real. Between the twisting growth rings, swirling rays, knot holes, termites and rot, I found there is a lot going on inside of wood.”

WoodSwimmer is less than two minutes long, and you will be mesmerized the entire time. It's hard to look away from the ever-shifting wood images. The music is by Bedtimes. Read more about the video at Foxwell's website.

Have you ever been to Ding Dong, Texas? The town was named after a family called Bell. I am not making this up. Bert and Zulis Bell opened a store in the 1930s, and hired a sign painter, C.C. Hoover, to make it attractive.

Up the way a bit, in Florence, was a man by the name of Fred Foster. Fred had a bit of a sense of humor and when he saw Hoover walk into his hardware company, he urged Hoover to take a little creative license with the sign he was painting for the Bells. He told Hoover he should paint two bells on the sign and label them Bert and Zulis. Then, underneath the bells, Hoover should paint the words ‘Ding Dong’. Hoover took Fred’s advice and painted the sign. From then on the community was forever known as Ding Dong. Pretty funny, huh?

You'll learn the origins of other small town names, like Two Egg, Florida, Possum Grape, Arkansas, and George, Washington, in a a list at Buzzfeed.

(Image credit: dont_skip_craig_day)

It's not easy using stairs when you've never done it before. It's even harder when the riser is taller than your legs are long! Puppies are little apprehensive about trying it for the first time, even when they've seen other dogs do it.  

(YouTube link)

Their failures, their persistence, and their eventual success are just too darn cute in this compilations from Mr. FunnyMals. -via Tastefully Offensive

We've discussed the scarcity of Disney mothers a few times, since they are almost always dead before the story even begins. That's because mothers don't normally allow their children to go on dangerous adventures alone, and we don't want to see Mom's heart break when they do. Today is Fathers Day, so what about Disney fathers? The House of Mouse has its own pigeonhole for the dads who remain in our heroes' lives. They are often flawed in their mission to protect their children. They mean well, but they hold on too tightly, ensuring a rebellion that leads to trouble.       

Then you have - to name a few - Bambi’s dad’s austere distance, Triton being borderline racist against humanity, the Sultan fussing over his daughter’s marriage, Moana’s father refusing to let her leave the island - all of these things based on overprotectiveness and a position of command. A lot of Disney dads are essentially the King of Swamp Castle from Monty Python And The Holy Grail, and their offspring Prince Erbert, except that Disney’s own personal idiom is to have both characters go on emotional journeys - the father comes to terms with his loss and overprotective nature, the child gets to see the world but also understand their father’s point of view.

There are more specific examples, which lead us to see how very similar Disney dads are, at Den of Geek.

Babies wake up during the night because they are hungry/wet/lonely, and because it's natural for them to awaken. Buzzfeed talked to Darcia F. Narvaez, professor of psychology at Notre Dame University, and other experts about a human baby's natural sleeping and waking cycle, and found out a lot of interesting things.

Human babies are born earlier in their development than other animals – they need close contact or an "external womb".

"Human babies are born 9 to 18 months early compared to other animals," says Narvaez. "Other animals are able to walk around and start eating – we can't do that. We look like foetuses when we're born and we are.

"So that means you want to keep that baby calm while the brain systems are finishing because they only have 25% of the adult brain-size developed, and a lot of systems haven't set their thresholds and parameters yet. They're expecting good care – like in an external womb or nest. We call it the evolved developmental niche or nest."

A baby waking up at all hours of the night is not abnormal at all. What's really abnormal is the world we've created. We learn to sleep through the night because of scheduling conflicts with work, school, and the other people in our lives. Read about the way nature intended babies to sleep at Buzzfeed. 

(Image redit: Sian Butcher/BuzzFeed)

The moral of the story is: When you are handed a miracle, don't get greedy and ask for too much. This guy just Benjamin Buttoned himself out of existence. Besides, who would ever expect the fountain of youth to be disguised as a regular town square water feature? This comic is from Chris Allison at Toonhole.   -via Geeks Are Sexy

Oiqlele's mother tried to pull a prank on their cat. She assumed the cat can't read, but the joke was on her. That's one smart kitten! Of course, it would have helped if the hole were a bit bigger, because judging from the size of that paw, the cat is a little large for it. She still got a viral photo out of it.

The ad at Childcare UK sounds like a sweet deal. There's a job opening in Scotland for a nanny to two children, who are in school. Housing will be provided, and you even get your own kitchen and four weeks vacation every year. But it pays £50,000 ($64,000) a year, so you know there must be a catch. Yes there is, and it explains why the family has gone through so many nannies already -the house is haunted.   

We have lived in our home for nearly 10 years. We were told it was 'haunted' when we bought it, but kept our minds open and decided to buy the house regardless. 5 nannies have left the role in the last year, each citing supernatural incidents as the reason, including strange noises, broken glass and furniture moving. This has obviously been a period of great upheaval for our children. We haven't personally experienced any supernatural happenings, as they have been reported only while we've been out of the house, but we're happy to pay above the asking rate, and feel it's important to be as up-front as possible to find the right person.

You might want to contact some of those previous nannies before you consider the position. The right person for this job is out there somewhere.

-via io9

This guy takes a few steps off the front porch and makes a hasty decision to retreat. What did he see? What could be so terrifying? 

(YouTube link)

Oh, it's just a herd of a half-dozen skunks, out for their morning run. They probably have the entire neighborhood to themselves when they do that. You'd flee, too- imagine getting in their way and all six of them giving you a shot of their defense mechanisms! -via reddit

The following is an article from the book Uncle John's Weird, Weird World: EPIC.

In 1997, when Roseanne viewers learned the ninth and final season was a fictional account of the family written by Roseanne, they were fuming mad. Why even tell a story if it never happened? More often than not, there’s a real-world explanation for why shows pull this stunt.

SHOW: Dallas (CBS, 1978–91)

DREAM: In the final episode of the seventh season in May 1985, Bobby (Patrick Duffy) is run down by a car and killed. A year later in the eighth season finale, Bobby’s wife Pam (Victoria Principal) wakes to the sound of running water. She goes into the bathroom… and there’s Bobby, alive, taking a shower. His death—along with the entire eighth season—had been one long dream of Pam’s.

REALITY: Bobby was originally killed off because Duffy was bored with the role and wanted to leave the show. But he was also a big ratings draw, and Dallas dipped from #2 to #6 the following year, so producers begged Duffy to come back. Because he couldn’t find any better work, he did. (Never mind that Bobby’s return demolished logic—for example, several characters who left the show during the dream season, and who therefore didn’t really leave, remained gone.)

SHOW: Married…With Children (Fox, 1987–97)

The following is an article from the book Uncle John's Weird, Weird World: EPIC.

Whether five-alarm or just smoke-alarm, there's nothing like a bowl of Texas chili to fill a belly up.

NO BEANS ABOUT IT

If you know beans about chili, allow us to tell you something really important: Texas chili has no beans. Not a one. Maybe in other states you’ll find a bean or two. But in Texas, chili is just a fiery molten stew made of beef, onions, tomatoes, spices, and lots and lots of chili peppers. Everybody has a special recipe, but no true Texan would add a legume to the mix.

CONSIDER THE SAUCE

Chili’s past is a little bit shady since nobody quite knows who invented it or when. Some say it was invented by cattle drivers and trail hands during long cattle drives. Others speculate that chili’s origins go much farther back in time to the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas. Still others give credit to Canary Islanders who started immigrating to the San Antonio region as early as 1723. They were known for concocting tasty dishes using local peppers, meat, onions, and most important of all, cumin.

The following is an article from the book Uncle John's Weird, Weird World: EPIC.

Hollywood has created its share of gore fests—from Friday the 13th (1980), to A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), to Scream (1996). But all bloody, creepy slasher movies owe a large debt to the shock-theater pioneers in France, courtesy of turn-of-the-century Parisians who got their horror up close and personal at the Grand Guignol.

ON SACRED GROUND

The Théâtre du Grand Guignol (pronounced with a hard G, like gross) was a small 280-seat theater founded in 1897 on the slopes of Montmartre in Paris. Over a century later, the Grand Guignol still means one thing: blood. And lots of it. Movie critics today still use the term “Grand Guignol” to describe a sort of over-the-top kind of blood and gore—with good reason. Eye gougings, stabbings, flayings, impalements—all were “performed” in front of a live audience.

The theater was located in a small building that was originally a convent, a setting that lent itself surprisingly well to the sinister. The seats looked like pews, and two leering wooden angels hung over the stage. The stage, only 20 by 20 feet, was so close to the front row, one critic joked that the audience could shake hands with the actors without leaving their seats. With the addition of dim red lighting and the abundance of shadows, the theater oozed the macabre even before the curtains opened.

I can't recall the last time I saw a man wear a necktie in real life. I'm sure some still wear them to the office every day, like senators, but they are in the minority. Few men even wear ties to church anymore. But they remain a symbol of Father's Day, and if your kid presents you with one as a gift, by golly, you'll wear it with pride (at least once). It's the thought that counts, as Liz Climo illustrates with her Father's Day comic at Hi, I'm Liz. Happy Fathers Day!  

Wetlands can be dismal swamps, or they can be beautiful vacation destinations like Venice. But you don't have to go to Italy to experience a wetland that's lovely enough to inspire utter tranquility. France has several lowlands, including the huge Marais Poitevin that encompasses 370 square miles -enough to draw tourists without being crowded. They call it la Venise Verte, or the Green Venice.

A maze of islets intersected by strikingly attractive canals covers a third of the marais, known as the wet marsh. Duckweed often covers the surface of the water which is how the place got its sobriquet. The place oozes peace. If you want tranquility, here you have it. Yet it was not always so.

Many paths were cleared across the land during the Roman period and it was settled by the Picton tribe who also gave their name to the nearby city of Poitiers. Later centuries would see raids by the Vikings, which forced the local population deeper in to the wildest areas of the marsh where they subsisted, living the life of hunter-gatherers in to medieval times. Yet almost each year their huts would be flooded by rising waters.

Marais Poitevin was engineered to be more stable and habitable in the 11th century, and is picture-perfect today. See lots of those pictures at Kuriositas. 

(Image credit: Gilbert Bochenek)

What makes a drive-in restaurant great? The food must be good, of course, but there's also the authenticity and nostalgia factor. It helps if business is good, so drive-ins that have a long tradition in the community will do well on this list. Sure, it's subjective, but aren't all such rankings? The thing I noticed is that most of the 50 best drive-ins aren't in urban areas, in fact, the overwhelming majority are in small towns, where people rely on their vehicles and support local businesses for decades. And the ones in cities often have their own specialized clientele, like the Varsity in Atlanta.

If you’re looking for a chili dog in the ATL, the call of Varsity’s signature "What’ll ya have?" is too hard to resist. When it opened in 1928, Varsity was a small hot dog stand located near Georgia Tech University, perfect for college kids to pop in for a cheap bite. Today, it’s a sprawling restaurant that can accommodate 800 people inside and 600 cars, and the carhops still don paper caps while delivering Frosted Orange milkshakes and slaw dogs to the masses.

Check out the list of the 50 best drive-in restaurants at Mental Floss and let us know your opinion on any you've patronized.  

(Image credit: Flickr user Ken Lund)