Meet the Bear Dog. Bear dogs, extinct by about 9 million years, have the body of a bear but the mouth of a dog. These fascinating animals did something that even modern domesticated dogs don't do (usually) - they got along with cats.

Led by the University of Michigan and the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, a team of paleontologists has analyzed the tooth enamel of two species of saber-toothed cats and a bear dog unearthed in geological pits near Madrid.

The researchers found that the cat species—a leopard-sized Promegantereon ogygia and a much larger, lion-sized Machairodus aphanistus—lived together in a woodland area. They likely hunted the same prey—horses and wild boar. In this habitat, the small saber-toothed cats could have used tree cover to avoid encountering the larger ones. The bear dog hunted antelope in a more open area that overlapped the cats' territory, but was slightly separated.

"These three animals were sympatric—they inhabited the same geographic area at the same time. What they did to coexist was to avoid each other and partition the resources," said Soledad Domingo, a postdoctoral fellow at the U-M Museum of Paleontology and the first author of a paper on the findings published in the Nov. 7 edition of Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

You can read more about their findings here.

-Via Cutting Edge News

Rise Up Lights, Rise Up Lights, Rise up Lights. Oh man, I have always been terrible at fake foreign accents - no longer. People are probably looking at me funny in the office today because I keep walking around saying this and laughing to myself. Oh well, they'll get it eventually. This has to be one of my favorite things I have seen on the internet lately. By lately, I mean today / the extent of my short term memory - which is comparable to that of a goldfish's. From redditor Damino80, I demand more!

Reminds me of "beer can" thing that was going around the internet not too long ago. Say "beer can" with a British accent and you've now said "bacon" in a Jamaican accent.

-Via Bits and Pieces

They call it a cat nap for a reason. If I were the guy sitting in that chair, I wouldn't be moving for a very long time. How could I? Let that kitty nap as long as he needs to.

-Via Unique Daily

Morley is a street artist, similar in that regard to Hanksy, from Los Angeles - where I currently happen to live. If Hanksy is all about the puns, Morley is all about the writing. He is a pretty good one if you ask me.

For the last thirteen or so years of my young life (I'm 30 if anyone's counting) I've been preoccupied with the notion that my value on planet earth was defined by my career (or lack thereof). Similarly that my career defined who I was a person- that when introduced to someone I might as well have said "Hi, my name is Clerk at Blockbuster. It's nice to meet you Genius at Apple Store". 

You can read more about the piece at his website. Does your job define you? Does it give you a justified existence? It's a tough question, if you ask me. While work does give many people drive and some sense of purpose, it shouldn't be what you use as justification for your life. But that is if you ask me.

Sidenote: His website is filled with great things like his list of 50 Wonderful Things. The list is populated with things like "when your turn signal rhythm matches with the signal of the car in front of you" and "the rare occasions when Tom & Jerry set aside their differences and team up against a common foe."

-Via I Am Morley

Wholly Giant Tentacle Monster, this thing is awesome! Better yet you can build it yourself, thanks to Instructable user flaming_pele! I will have to keep this in mind for next Halloween. Great touch with the nightmare manhole cover.

-Via Laughing Squid

Man R2-D2 is on fire lately. Seriously though, this rave-bot has some good moves. Here is the video of ZOE in action, also more photos here. Made by Podpad Studios. They have also made a Dalek, so yeah. There is that.

-Via Obvious Winner

I bet I know someone who had a bad day. That guy, he had a bad day.

-Via Daily Picks and Flicks

There is a time, every few months, that is filled with magic. A time of incredible excitement, of jolly, and of mesmerizing personality. My friends, Top Chef is back!

Season 10 starts off with just as much promise as any past season. The judges are back (even young Uni-Monster Hugh Acheson), the location is set (Seattle) and Padma is looking beautiful as always - I love you Padma. 

Let's recap episode one! Warning - Spoilers beyond this point.

Are those my only two options? Damn.

Side note: remember that conversation we had about phone numbers and area codes? Where in the world would these digits be from? I am guessing UK somewhere, but I am not so sure.

-Via I'm Serious. Loljk.

The legend goes, Ernest Hemingway once won a bet by writing a six word short story that was so good, it could make people cry. While this is a thought provoking bit of writing that has been floating around the internet for a while, there is no telling if it was ever really written by Hemingway. Snopes concludes that it is undeterminable whether this is actually him.

Still impressive flash fiction though.

-Via Amanda patterson

The website Quartz has come up with some interesting numbers in using dog expenditures as economic indicators.

Today, four countries—Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico—rank in the world’s top 10 for household penetration. The average home in those countries is more likely to have a pooch than not have one. Brazil tops the list in absolute terms, with nearly 36 million pups—more dogs than Canada has people.

Being a dog owner and an American you would think I find solace in the fact that the US doesn't rank too high on the list. Well you have to remember this is only small dogs.

Dog ownership, like cocaine use, can be seen as an economic indicator. Higher incomes mean people can actually afford to have pets—not to mention feed them pricey kibbles, send them to groomers and kennels, buy them toys, and flaunt them in dog shows. For that reason, the US remains a paragon of dog-doting, with the world’s biggest pet pooch population, in both absolute and per capita terms.

A paragon of dog-doting. Huh. Where does your country stack up? Check out their post on weekly food spending as well.

-Via The Daily Beast

A man in Seattle posted something very strange on the Craigslist Personals section. It wasn't a risque photo or any exclusively sexual request, he wanted blood. To drink. Because he's a vampire. Well blood and sex, this is still Craigslist guys.

"Greetings to everyone who is reading this," he begins, "I am unable to give my name for obvious reason, but all you do need to know is that I am a vampire... ...I am in need of a blood donor for my personal use. Being a donor is not all fun and games, mixed with mysticism and sex; but it can be if that is what we wish... ...I am looking for either men or women, but I would prefer men since I lean more towards them in terms of blood and sex... ...It would also be great if you were either AB- or O-, for those are the blood types that I am used to... ...This would be an intimate, one-on-one, experience. I use a wide range of techniques, in case you would care for something other than myself biting you."

-Via Orange

What? That is not a real puppy. That's too small to be a real puppy. Reference here (0:20 mark).

Maybe before you get to be a K-9 unit you have to be a Puppy-Unit. Can you imagine what the training is like? Killer kill! Yo, Killer kill! He stops criminals with his cuteness alone, I assume.

-Via Daily Picks and Flicks

Don't call I find you. I can't tell if that is a threat or a promise from a good Samaritan. They will clean your house whether you want them to or not!

-Via Presurfer

Poor pepper. Hopefully he will, at the very least, be made into something delicious like a stuffed pepper or tasty ketchup - made with a charred red bell pepper reduction, foodies you know what's up.

I have to be real with you guys though, with my first glance at this photo I wanted to laugh menacingly, mocking this fruit. For a split second I thought it was a tomato. I hate tomatoes. I can't explain it really, something to do with the texture, but tomatoes and I just don't get along. When people ask me if I like them, I lie and say I am allergic.

-Via Bits and Pieces