Fashion house BB IMP makes a wide variety of unusual shoes fit for ladies and gentlemen who wish to always be in style. Get noticed by wearing shoes that give you Bugs Bunny feet and skeletal feet. Or, for more formal occasions, such as job interviews or weddings, wear shoes that look like they're made of Cheetos or Chucky dolls.
The firm's most recent release are McDonald's-inspired suede slip-ons that look like hamburgers--presumably the Big Mac, specifically. They go on sale this Friday for $110 USD. Cheese will cost extra, or you can add your own.
Learning to hold a decent conversation with someone you don't know all that well takes practice. It's harder than ever when we are still emerging from a few years of pandemic isolation and have spent those years online or on the phone. If I were to put on my Mom hat, I would advise someone to stop thinking about yourself or the impression you're making, because no one cares. Focus on what the other person is saying, show interest, and make them feel like what they are saying is funny, important, or at least worth knowing. They will love you for it, and you'll find out if this person is someone you can get along with. But that doesn't really get into the nuts and bolts of keeping a conversation going. YouTuber brinyheart goes into more detail from the perspective of a young adult who hasn't yet mastered the skills of making conversation. Remember, practice makes perfect! -via The Awesomer
You really don't know how many things other people have said that you've memorized and pull out when the time is right. We often forget who said it, but we remember what was said. Niklas Göke compiled the most famous quotes of all time. They are not ranked, except for the top ten, but are categorized to help you find them or understand them. You'll get the ten biggest quotes from philosophers, military leaders, politicians, religious leaders, scientists, musicians, actors, and business people. There are also quote from songs, movies, and books. And you'll find sections on quotes that are misattributed, those that are truly anonymous, and the quotes we use the most. The title of the article tells us there are 365 quotes, but there are 30 bonus quotes at the end, for a total of 395.
Göke has an extensive introduction explaining the lists, and then gives us a linked table of contents. If you want to jump right into the quotes, start here. Even if you skip around, you can't help but be inspired by what you find. -via Kottke
Gottfried Mind was a 18th-19th-century Swiss artist who specialized in drawing cats and is sometimes referred to as "the Raphael of cats." Mind spent most of his adult life as an employee of Sigmund Freudenberger's studio. He colored Freudenberger's etchings and delivered them to customers. After Freudenberger's death Mind remained with the artist's widow, producing his own artworks. This was because Mind wasn't equipped to run his own life unsupervised.
Mind was diagnosed with various conditions, mostly after his death. He was referred to as a "cretin imbecile," which at the time were scientific terms for intellectual disabilities. "Cretin" in particular referred to disabled children born in the high elevations of the Alps suffering from congenital iodine deficiency syndrome, which is further explained in a previous post. A much later diagnosis calls Mind an autistic savant due to his singular focus on his art. At any rate, he was given the title of "the Swiss cretin" posthumously as well as "the Raphael of cats." His art went on to influence painters of worldwide renoun. Read about Gottfried Mind and see more of his works at The Public Domain Review. -via Nag on the Lake
If you love maps and jigsaw puzzles, Scrambled Maps is right up your alley, so to speak. You'll be given a city map grid, like the one shown above, and your mission is to move the blocks around to make the map correct. I toyed with matching the most colorful geographic features, and after a cup of coffee I realized that I should read those tiny street names, and that made all the difference. The most frustrating part was having to move eight or more blocks together to reorient them, but that wasn't difficult. Yeah, I solved it. Spoiler below.
I believe the finished product today is Santiago, Chile. There will be a different city offered tomorrow. Keir Clarke designed this game as part of a series of map games from TripGeo. You might also want to try the other geography games in the sidebar.
Cat Sith? It looks like we found out where George Lucas got his name for the villains in Star Wars. But the name is really Cat-sìth in Scottish folklore. Just another way that black cats have been shortchanged through history. Cracked gives us a list of myths and legends to prime us up for Halloween, but I think it's a combination of previous lists because the trivia falls into four categories: myths and folklore from around the world, places that are said to be haunted, celebrity supernatural encounters, and facts about Halloween. The folklore is the most interesting, because I learned about some scary creatures I'd never heard of before.
I had to look up an Aitvaras. It sounds like a way to explain away stolen goods in your home. These creatures go by other names in other countries, but the rooster laying an egg is universal, which may lead you to believe the legend started as a prank to make fun of people who don't know that roosters don't lay eggs.
A pineapple will turn yellow if you let it sit for a few days after purchase. You may think that is the fruit ripening, but in reality, it's the fruit actually declining. The host of this video from MinuteFood explains that a pineapple will just get worse as you let it "ripen" on your counter, with disappointing results. And we get an explanation of why. In my experience, I don't recall ever being disappointed in the taste of pineapple, whether it's fresh from the market or old and yellow, but maybe that's just me. Some fruits will further ripen after picking, while others will not, and there's a way to remember which is which, but even then pineapple is an exception that we just need to remember. Now, if we could only tell how long a pineapple has been sitting in the produce bin, we'd be able to judge them better. By the time this video is through, you'll want to make a fruit salad with fresh pineapple. The video is only 6:30; the rest is an ad.
If you are looking for a place to live in Duluth, Minnesota, you might consider buying a historic bank. Built in 1918, this brick bank has been converted into a house but still retains the features of a bank. The lobby is now an open-plan kitchen and living room, the vault is a pantry, and the safe deposit boxes are a liquor cabinet. The mezzanine, double door entry, and water fountain remain.
The real estate listing boasts one bedroom, but I took the virtual tour and saw several offices and storage spaces that could be used for sleeping areas. You'll also have five bathrooms, listed as one full bathroom, one 3/4 bathroom, two 1/2 baths, and one 1/4 bath. As far as I can tell, the 1/4 bath is just a sink room.
Living here would be an exercise in eccentricity. Those huge windows have draperies, but if you don't like the color, it would be quite expensive to replace them. It also comes with a full basement workshop, a carport, and a 17,000-square-foot asphalt parking lot. Yes, the property includes four city lots, so you could build there, or rent out parking. Or throw quite a large party! There are drawbacks to living in a historic bank building, such as a lot of traffic, a bus stop in your front yard, and a lack of close neighbors, but there is a restaurant next door. This can all be yours for only $499,000. And you know it's secure! -via Digg
This happened at a goat farm in the city of Kepez in Turkey's Antalya Province. The livestock manager was puzzled to arrive and find that the goats had not eaten their food. A search through the security footage revealed why. One goat had stuck his head into a feed bag and the bag became stuck on his head. This odd sight terrified the other goats. They ran and made noise, which frightened the goat, because he couldn't see what threat they were bleating about. So he ran, too, trying his best to keep up with the herd. That only made the panic in the pen spiral out of control. This is a sequence that cries out for "Yakety Sax" as a soundtrack.
On the other hand, this masterpiece could be a metaphor for life. We can't see where we are going, and we don't know what to do, but we put in our best efforts and no one helps. In fact, they flee from us. Or is that just me? -via reddit
Sea sponges are a marvel. We once thought they were plants, because they become rooted in place, but they are animals. Sea water flows through them, and they filter out the organic matter to consume and expel clean water. That's a crucial niche in the ocean's ecosystem, which may be why they've flourished for 500 million years. These primitive animals also have superpowers. If they are torn into pieces, each piece can form into its own living sponge, thanks to “totipotent cells” that are kind of like stem cells and can transform into any kind of tissue needed. Sponges also manufacture bioactive compounds for their own protection that have plenty of potential for medicines.
Sponges can live for thousands of years, around 15,000 years for a glass sponge. About the only way to kill them is to take them out of the ocean, which people have been doing for thousands of years. Yet they hang on, diversifying into thousands of forms, filtering ocean water that is increasingly polluted with inorganic matter. Read about the many amazing sea sponges at Messy Nessy Chic.
Exploding head syndrome sounds pretty gruesome, but it's something you may have already experienced and lived to tell the tale. It's when you wake up from sleeping from the sound of a bomb going off in your head. It could be an audible bang or just the sensation of an explosion in your brain, regardless of what you were dreaming about, or even whether you were dreaming at all. It's certainly disorienting for that short time it takes to realize your head is still there. Some people only experience it once in their lives, while others are plagued with recurring explosions. And that one time after you made the mistake of watching the movie Scanners doesn't count, because that's just your dreams reliving the experience.
Scientists say that exploding head syndrome is harmless. That's easy to say, but if you are one of the 6-17% of people who have repeated episodes, it can cause fear, anxiety, and insomnia, which are not conducive to a good night's rest. Read what we know about exploding head syndrome at the Conversation. -via Damn Interesting
The Ocean Photographer of the Year competition from Oceanographic magazine has revealed the 2024 winning photographs. First place and the title of Photographer of the Year goes to Rafael Fernández Caballero of Mexico for the image above of a Bryde’s whale ready to eat a whole school of sardines. He took the picture off Baja California Sur in December. The striking photo rose to the top of the more than 15,000 entries this year.
Second place went to Jade Hoksbergen for this photograph of a northern gannet diving for a meal off the Shetland Islands. Third place was won by Thien Nguyen for a drone photo taken above a fishing boat in Hon Yen, Vietnam.
There were also awards given in the categories of wildlife, fine art, adventure, conservation impact, conservation hope, human connection, young photographer, and ocean portfolio. Click to the right on the image at the top to see category winners from the competition. At Instagram, you can find links to each photographer's gallery. At the contest winners gallery, you can read the stories behind each winning photograph.
The reason that Americans and the British pronounced words differently is because we think we need to identify British spies among us. Sooner or later you realize that's a horrible scheme, when you listen to an interview with the cast of your favorite TV show. Behind the scenes, they are all British! However, pulling off such subterfuge takes talent and training. Laurence Brown has lived in the US for 16 yers and is now an American citizen, but if he ever lost his accent or British pronunciations, we would be disappointed. So let's try another explanation. Americans like to pronounce words the way they are spelled, because that makes sense. But some words are spelled differently in British English, so Americans just take out the letters that aren't needed or don't make sense. Still, Brown has had a great time arguing with his wife over why things are pronounced the way they are, because both sides of the pond are pretty casual when it comes to how we pronounce simple vowels. You say cicada, I say cicada. This video has a one-minute skippable ad at 3:13. -via Laughing Squid
The full moon next Tuesday evening, September 17, is called the harvest moon because it is the full moon closest to the equinox. This year it is also a "supermoon," because it will be closer to earth than it normally is, and will appear slightly bigger. That's not rare this year, as we have four supermoons in a row, but September's is the closest. If those aren't enough reasons to go out and look at the moon Tuesday, there will also be a partial eclipse visible from all of North America.
A lunar eclipse happens when the moon passes through earth's shadow. The large area of visibility compared to a solar eclipse is because the moon is a lot closer to us than the sun is. The moon won't darken, except for a spot where we will see a "bite" taken out of it. This is a great time to gaze at the sky with anyone you know who insists the earth is flat, because the bite will be curved, showing us that the earth is indeed round. Smithsonian has tips for watching the lunar eclipse and the explanation behind it.
Can you imagine Jim Carrey's goofy movie character Ace Ventura in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth? he's all kinds of excited about putting his life in danger to save the realm. The fellowship would be better off kicking him to the curb, but I guess they keep Ventura around for laughs, even though he's obviously screwing things up for them. YouTuber Your_Kryptonite7 used five different movies to make this mashup, which meshes rather well considering the silly premise. -via Geeks Are Sexy
