Are you desperate to travel but have no choice other than to do so on a stolen gasoline and bedbug motel budget? Forced to drive Aunt Edna and her hell hound Dinky to Phoenix? Instagram has just the travel itinerary for you. The Sad Topographies Instagram is the TripTik for the Troubled. Close your eyes and point your finger on your monitor. You'll end up with an excursion of ennui every time. Via Laughing Squid
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Staff at the Richmond Zoo quickly took over when two-week-old cheetah Kumbali's mother wasn't producing enough milk for him to thrive. After the keepers' bottle feeding regimen was successful, the cub needed to be socialized. That's when he was introduced to a rescue puppy they named Kago. Kumbali and Kago, now inseparable, have formed a sibling-like bond. Watch this adorable pair romp and play in this footage. Via Uproxx
Photographer and University of Central Arkansas photography professor Donna Pinckley’s series "Sticks and Stones" was inspired by a personal experience. For decades, Pinckley photographed children. On Facebook one day, she saw a picture posted by a girl she had photographed in the past. She later found out that, due to their interracial relationship, the girl and her boyfriend had been subjected to a number of racist comments.
That fact, in combination with Pinckley's thoughts on racist behavior, led her to photograph interracial couples and attach rude comments the couples have had hurled at them. Since the initial portraits of the series, the photographer has expanded the subjects' profiles to include people of all races and minorities. She says,
“I want it to be about racism in all its forms. I want people to at least start to think about it... Most of [the couples] are just not thinking about it. Sometimes they don’t think they’ve had a racist comment made to them and then you start talking to them, and they have; they’ve chosen not to think about it.”
In one of the most touching and inspiring things I've seen in recent memory, by the age if six, Jaden Hayes had lost both of his parents. But what he chose to do afterward is extraordinary. Don't miss this moving clip that explains how the child found a way to lift his spirits in the face of tragedy.
Portrait of Mary Shelley by Richard Rothwell (1800-1868)
This is the season for spooky tales, and one influential piece of writing that inspired many scary stories is Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. The 280-page tome was published anonymously in 1818. Shelley's name was added as author on the second edition, published in 1823, when she was only 25 years old.
At the time surrounding the writing of the book, Shelley had faced tragic events that affected her, and thus her creative endeavors. To quote the linked article,
"Before she started Frankenstein, Mary gave birth to a daughter, Clara, who died six weeks later. (In fact, only one of Mary’s four children lived to adulthood.) Soon after the baby died,she wrote in her journal, “Dream that my little baby came to life again—that it had only been cold & that we rubbed it by the fire & it lived—I awake & find no baby—I think about the little thing all day.” This circumstance, as well as the suicide of her half-sister, must have contributed to the novel."
Read more facts about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at mental_floss.
Image: Rich Dogs of Instagram
Many luxuries that us "common folk" could barely conceive of as options in life are enjoyed by the so-called one percent on a regular basis. For every inconvenience or unpleasant circumstance that rich people could endure, there is an enterprising person marketing that service to them for a hefty price tag.
The linked article lists fourteen such services that the uber wealthy partake in, in order to make their lives easier or more exciting, to make them more attractive, etc. One such business is Hollywood Pet Mom, the brainchild of "canine well being expert" Lexi Beermann. She offers multiple resources including a 24-hour Puppy Nurse program for $8,000 per month or $36,000 for six months. As Puppy Nurse, Beermann lives with the client's pampered pooch in their guesthouse or at her home. Post Puppy Nurse treatment, the dog supposedly emerges trained and perfectly behaved. A $3,700, five-day "boot camp" for problem pups is also part of the program, a service for which some clients have flown their doggies in on private jets.
Holistic concierge vet Dr. Patrick Mahaney makes $525 house calls and offers in-home pet sitting. The doctor once personally obtained and delivered an international health certificate to a billionaire in 24 hours. This enabled the dog to fly to meet its owners and their $300 million yacht in Turks and Caicos.
Read about more luxury services that cater to the super wealthy here.
When two young bears enter the gated area leading to this French bulldog's home, he springs into action. Without hesitation, the Frenchie descends upon the bears like the proverbial Bat Out of Hell. The dog doesn't let up with the scare tactics until both bears are off the premises. Someone give that canine a steak! Via Tastefully Offensive
In August of last year, Neatorama featured a video of a bear walking on two legs through the suburbs of New Jersey. Now it appears as if this celebrated bipedal bear is back in action, having recently been sighted in Oak Ridge, New Jersey. The bear, whom neighborhood residents have dubbed "Pedals," is injured, as he is missing one of his front paws. The animal, who looks quite a bit thinner than the average bear, was seen searching garbage cans in the neighborhood for food. Hopefully Pedals will fatten up before it's time to hole up for the winter. Via Gothamist
Author Stephen King | Image: Pinguino
It would likely take a well written and original horror tale to impress the master of that book genre, Stephen King. The man has been at it so long, he probably has at least considered every possible avenue of horror. The linked article presents a list of eleven books that scared Stephen King, thus having won his scream of approval.
One book on the list is The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood. From its description on Amazon,
"No. 23 has a secret. In this bedsit-riddled south London wreck, lorded over by a lecherous landlord, something waits to be discovered. Yet all six residents have something to hide.
Collette and Cher are on the run; Thomas is a reluctant loner; while a gorgeous Iranian asylum seeker and a 'quiet man' nobody sees try to stay hidden. And watching over them all is Vesta - or so she thinks.
In the dead of night, a terrible accident pushes the neighbours into an uneasy alliance. But one of them is a killer, expertly hiding their pastime, all the while closing in on their next victim...
As a cloying heatwave suffocates the city, events build to an electrifying climax in this dark, original and irresistibly compelling thriller."
Here's what Stephen King says about the book:
"If you read Alex Marwood's The Wicked Girls, her new one—The Killer Next Door—is even better. Scary as hell. Great characters."
Read about ten other books from the horror genre that Stephen King recommends here.
Bentley the bulldog is one talented canine. In this footage, to the tune of Billie Jean by The Gloved One himself, Bentley does a celebratory moonwalk after nabbing his favorite airplane toy.
His doggie dance is good for more than one situation, as well. When his human busts out the house vaccuum, it's proper pup protocol to back up and give it a wide berth. Via Laughing Squid
When I took one of my dogs to obedience school at the Humane Society, one piece of wisdom the instructor imparted was "Remember, dogs don't speak English." It seemed like he was stating the obvious at the time, but soon it became clear how many humans scream English at animals, as if they expect them to understand exactly what they're saying.
I was reminded of that piece of advice as I watched this video of an Alaskan black bear munching on this woman's kayak. Is it wrong that the longer she yelled, the more I began to root for the bear? Yes, I know it's wrong. She had every reason to be scared and worried about being stranded. The woman wrote this about her experience,
"During a solo kayak trip, intended to go from from Ketchikan, Alaska to Petersburg, Alask, a bear attacked my kayak. This incident occurred outside of a US Forest Service cabin in Berg Bay, Wrangell District, Alaska. I had just carried my tent, food, and all my gear into the cabin to dry while I went on a 4 mile hike that begins just behind the cabin. I heard something outside as I ate my lunch, and well, I never got to go on that hike. This video is taken 5 minutes after the attack began, he continued to gnaw on it for another 5 or 10 after the video ends. Shortly after the bear left and I drug the kayak back to the cabin door step. Then I swam to the S/V anchored in the bay. They did not have their radio on and I feared I would be stranded! The German flagged S/v Caledonia took me and my things to Wrangell where I am trying to repair my kayak now."
Via Laughing Squid
Image: Ryuta Ishimoto
What does it take to be selected as an employee of McDonald's? Maybe just being quick on the uptake. Got a snappy comeback to anything? You might just be the golden arches' prime candidate. Glassdoor — a website for company reviews, CEO approval ratings, salary reports and interview questions — was the source for the information compiled in this article that lists twelve "out there" questions asked of candidates during job interviews with the fast food mainstay.
Examples follow; read the rest at the link.
"Can you eat 20 chicken McNuggets in less than 5 minutes?" — Cashier candidate
"If you were a wallflower, what color would you be?" — Burger flipper candidate
"What came first ... the chicken or the chicken nugget?" — Fryer candidate
Samara Morgan of The Ring | Image: DreamWorks SKG
Kids have that sweet, angelic, innocent quality that charms and brings the smiles out in many of us. Unless... they're evil. In fact, it seems that kids are the perfect creepy characters in horror tales, most likely because kids are expected to be the opposite of ugly, threatening, violent or deadly.
This article ranks the creepiest kiddies from the horror film genre. What do you think of their list? Are they missing anyone, or do any kids not belong, in your opinion? I can't say that I agree with Cole from The Sixth Sense. Cole didn't creep me out. In fact, I felt sorry for him throughout the movie.
One of the picks on the list that I can really get behind, however, is Samara from The Ring. I never quite understand why some horror films scare me and others (like the Exorcist) don't, but I do know that, for me, Samara was one big horror movie kid NOTHANKS.
Image: cptnono
When Redditors open the floodgates on any thread full of "worst of" stories, as the old saying goes, "Katie bar the door." In other words, be prepared for reading Redditors' list of their "Most F*cked Up Family Secrets." While it always pays to take the absolute veracity of Reddit stories with a grain of salt, I have to hand it to a couple of these people: if their stories are fake, they may be the next Stephen King. Here are a few of the milder examples:
“I was conceived at a swingers party and nobody in my family (who knows this) is completely sure my dad is my biological father. (How did I find out? Alcohol.)”
“My grandmother got out of her bad relationship by running away with her husband’s brother. So some of my dad’s siblings are half-sibling, half-cousins.”
And the most frightening and shameful:
“My dad has trouble signing into his AOL account.”
Brace yourselves for more of Redditors' most messed up family secrets here.
Via Uproxx
Host Kate Arnell is back with the latest episode of Anglophenia. This time she's talking vegetables. Specifically, British terms for veggies vs. those used in the United States. Coriander. Spring onion. Aubergine. What do those Brit code words mean over here? Check out the video to get your veg education.
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