In Japan, an "onsen" is a hot spring; the term is also used to describe the resorts that are built around hot springs. Who would have thought that onsens and capybaras would collide? According to one source, the two ideas were linked when over thirty years ago, a Japanese zookeeper noticed that the rodents were gathered around a puddle of hot water in an effort to warm themselves during the cold winter. The scene evolved and became an attraction.
Izu Shaboten Park has been indulging their capybaras in hot baths for thirty-two years. The bath is complete with citrus to make it a more pleasant sensory experience. At least twenty other Japanese zoos have capybara onsens as well. These events are always held in the winter to keep the animals warm. There's even a Japanese hashtag #カピバラ露天風呂 that, translated, means “capybara outdoor bath.” (If you like capybaras, check out the hashtag link. It's full of wonderful photos!)
They have hot tubs, they have hashtags, Twitter users are creating likenesses of them in bowls of soup — these Japanese capybaras are riding high!
Via Design Taxi | Image: Shabotengroup
Lisa Marcus's Blog Posts
Durk the Friesian horse gets kissy with it when his friend Georgie the Border Terrier stops by the barn for a visit. Georgie looks like he's torn between shaking off the wet of the kisses and getting attention from Durk. Every friendship has a drawback, Georgie. You just have to decide how wet you want to get. -Via Tastefully Offensive
Londoner and Instagrammer Michael Zee, who uses the screen name SymmetryBreakfast, has been beautifully preparing and photographing breakfast for himself and his lucky boyfriend for about a year now. Even if, on some days, the feast is from a restaurant, it still gets the symmetrical treatment. The men certainly don't stick to basics for breakfast, eating meals traditional to countries all over the world. It's enough to inspire me to slice a banana into my Corn Flakes (if I even eat that morning)! Perhaps Michael will invite me over for breakfast some day? Of course, he'd have to let me bring a guest, or the symmetry would go right out the window!
See more delicious and carefully placed breakfasts at SymmetryBreakfast.
-Via Design Taxi | Images Credit: Michael Zee
Crêpes filled with cheese and béchamel, baked and then topped with a fried egg and smoked salt. Orange juice and a caffè latte
Tortilla Española (Spanish omelette) with chorizo and a caffè latte
Baked pumpkin custard with homemade cranberry sauce and whipped coconut cream and gingerbread lattes
Brioche Pain Perdue, summer berries and yogurt, orange juice and caffè latte
What if the tattoo trend had begun years earlier and had affected some of the most iconic faces in media? Instagrammer IndianGiver, also known as Cheyenne Randalls, attempts to answer that question with her interesting portraits of famous people re-imagined with tattoos. Full sleeves, face and neck tattoos, no region of the body is off limits to Randalls' imagination. It's interesting; some of the celebrities pictured who seem least likely to have approved of tattoos, Elvis for instance, look quite interesting with them. What do you think?
See this article or the artists' Instagram account for more photographs from Cheyenne Randalls.
Images Credit: Cheyenne Randalls/IndianGiver
Siobhan Thompson, host of the BBC America series Anglophenia, compiled this humorous look at British Christmas traditions that "never made it to America." Although the fun of Christmas crackers is pretty common in the U.S., at least in my experience. I often see them for sale in stores, and my family has been popping them and putting on the silly hats for years now. What's your take on the British Christmas traditions highlighted in the video? -Via Laughing Squid
This video takes one pretty face and transforms it with a century of hairstyles and makeup trends, from 1910 to 2010. From nudes to frosteds, flapper bob to hippie hair. Which are your favorites? -Via Tastefully Offensive
Canadian Sleepy Skunk is a video editor who puts out an annual trailer compilation of films released that year. Neatorama featured his videos for 2013 and 2012, but in those years he included the trailer for every movie released in those years. Evidently he's switched it up this year to include those he deems the best. From big-budget action to horror and beyond, this six-minute mashup of 197 trailers has a little bit of everything and a lot of eye candy.
View a complete list of the trailers Sleepy Skunk used in the video at his Tumblr.
-Via Tastefully Offensive
I post my fair share of animal videos around here, but of any that especially suit my personallity, it's this compilation of pups young and old who absolutely do not want to get out of bed. Who can blame these doggies, who are usually cuddled up in actual beds with warm blankies and the whole nine? My first reaction is to shut out any person trying to play my alarm clock, so I share the canine pain shown here. -Via Tastefully Offensive
YouTube Link
“Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat?
Drive you into the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?”
No patriarch can guarantee a more rocky Christmas than Clark Griswold. He has a knack for trouble of all kinds. Close encounters with sexy lingerie saleswomen while Christmas b̶l̶o̶u̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ browsing. Sleazy, leisure-suited relatives who need a place to stay. Squirrels... indoors. Twenty-five thousand imported, Italian twinkle lights. A turkey as dry as the Sahara desert. It's always waiting for you On Demand or Netflix when you're duly traumatized by the December crowds and need to look at a comically dysfunctional Christmas to put things in perspective.
I've included some clips from this old holiday favorite; see the rest here. (Warning: NSFW, language.)
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"Looks great! Little full... lotta sap..."
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"It's a bit nipply out -- I mean nippy out! Hahaha! What did I say? Nipple? Ah, there is a nip in the air, though..."
"Floating Christmas tree" | Image: weallwantriches
I took a particular interest in this collection of DIY-Christmas trees because my 11-year-old artificial tree officially died when I tried to erect it this past weekend. The referring, user-submitted post is full of bright, inventive and colorful ideas for Christmas trees made of materials of all types, from plywood to doilies. They are all pleasing to the eye in their own way, and certainly don't lack holiday spirit. In fact, many of them embrace a return to basics and a decrease in consumer overkill. I could even buy a tiny, needle-dropping, misshapen bush rejected at the Christmas tree lot and everything would be fine, right, Charlie Brown?!
See the rest of this DIY Christmas tree collection here.
"Portal Christmas tree" | Image: dashopepper
Doily Christmas tree | Image: ouiouiouistudio
Dress in bridal shop window | Image: Karen Elizabeth
"JPS vs. Banksy"
The following is a Bored Panda user submission:
"My name is Jamie Scanlon and I am the UK-based street artist JPS.
I got into street art in 2009 after visiting Banksy’s excellent museum exhibition which inspired me to face up my problems with drinking and drugs.
I replaced all that buzz with illegally painting, although the greatest part is people liking my work and being able to feel as though I’m giving something back to the world. Here is a selection of some of my works."
Neatorama has featured work by JPS before, but it didn't include the inspirational story he revealed above. See more of Scanlon's posts on his Facebook page, and check out his recent Bored Panda post for more photos of his work.
"Raising the Bar"
"Roll With Trash"
"Notorious"
"Illegal Alien"
Gather 'round for a story of an African royal lineage. In 1987, the reigning king of the Hohoe tribe— a father of a son and grandfather of two boys — died after naming his youngest grandson as his successor. Though the king's youngest grandson had moved to Germany after becoming enamored with the country when he was an exchange student, he was chosen to be the new ruler because his father and older brother, both of whom lived with the tribe, were left handed. It is the belief of the tribe that left-handed people are unclean and dishonest. Thus, the youngest grandchild (German resident, but more importantly, a right-handed individual), was named as the successor of the throne.
That man, Nogbe Ngoryifia Céphas Kosi Bansah, was 39 when he was named successor, and 44 when his coronation was held in 1992. Yet after the coronation, King Bansah of the Hohoe returned to his home in Ludwigshafen (near Frankfurt), Germany, and to his German wife Gabrielle. Expressing to his subjects that he did not believe in traditional methods of governance, King Bansah decided on ruling remotely.
Now age 66, the king relies on Skype, the video conferencing software, to communicate his decisions. News reports say that King Bansah is known to stay up late at night to rule on tribal issues. He makes six visits to his kingdom per year.
I've got to hand it to the king, who was able to have his German cake, eat it and wear an African crown too. But as a left-handed person, I feel for the king's father and older brother. I hope they at least earned the respect of their tribe, in spite of being southpaws.
Via Oddity Central | Image: One Girl One Ghana
"Sith Army Knife" | Image: BillyElNino
After the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released, the excitement for some fans was not to be contained. These fans channeled their enthusiasm in various ways, from fan art to analysis of the trailer, scrutinizing every last shot. In addition, as with many popular images circulating on the Internet, a meme was born. Here are some examples of meme files that have been making the rounds.
See more images of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens meme variety here.
Image (shot taken from animated gif): mundodvd
Image: imgurbannedmebutnowimback
Image: Facebook
Image: Kotay111
The Girl Scouts of America will be offering online and digital cookie sales for the upcoming fundraising season, the sales of which will begin in 40 days. Now us cookie-lovin' fools aren't even required to rise and walk to our front doors to obtain our fix.
The first Digital Cookie program includes online resources for people to find and buy Girl Scout cookies in their area as well as being a vehicle for new Girl Scout troops to participate. If that isn't enough of a sugar mainline, the Girl Scouts also have a Cookie Finder app available for iOS and Android, with which customers can locate cookies for sale in the vicinity of their mouth. Follow this link to learn more.
Image: Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar
In this adorable footage, a mama Golden Retriever named Boon and her boon of nine puppies venture out into a snowy wonderland and find the urge to play irresistible. The seven-week-old puppies are newcomers to snow, but they learn quickly that the white stuff can be a lot of fun. -Via Twisted Sifter