"He asked me how many days I’d gone without a shower. I told him four. He said it wasn’t long enough, as some women hadn’t showered in a week."

Elana Pritchard, a Los Angeles-based cartoonist and animator, violated a court order and was sent to jail. Her supervisor at work advised Elana to keep a visual record of her existence there, and she did. Over a period of two months spent in Century Regional Detention Facility (CRDF) in Lynwood and Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles, Pritchard used a pencil and found paper scraps to draw scenes of daily life in the jails. A few of her drawings are shown here, accompanied by her explanations. 

See more glimpses of Elana Pritchard's days in jail here. (Some are NSFW-ish due to profanity.)

Via Design Taxi | Images: Elana Pritchard 

"At CRDF they did what was called "linen exchange" once a week. You got two pairs of clothes, two pairs of socks a few sports bras and about four pairs of underwear. Used underwear."

"Supposedly, if you flushed your toilet several times in a row, the water in the sink would get hotter and you could use it to make tea or coffee."

These cool switchplates are by Green Tree Jewelry. The whimsical designs are made of wooden pieces laser cut to resemble gears and other machine parts. The maker is based in San Diego. I own a pair of their earrings, so I can attest to the wood being cut precisely and finished smoothly.  

Peruse the company's wares at their website and Etsy site, and follow them on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

 
 
 

The photo above, taken by Joshua Thomas, is of a sunrise in Red River, New Mexico. But it's not simply a beautiful photo. A number of optical illusions are captured in the image, namely a 22º halo, a sun pillar, a sun dog, infralateral arc, supralateral arc, helic arcs, sunvex parry arc, upper suncave parry arc and upper tangent arc.

After the photo was posted to Facebook by the National Weather Service in Amarillo, Texas, the National Weather Service in La Crosse, Wisconsin created the graphic below, labeling the phenomena. Visit their post of the graphic here, see this site for additional information, and click on the terms above for definitions. -Via Gizmodo

YouTube Link

This video uses clips of every feature film of revered director Alfred Hitchcock to explore recurring visual elements. The amalgam of stairs, heights, falls, eyes, sleeping and dreaming blended with skillful editing is mesmerizing and recommended to all fans of Hitchcock. -Via Laughing Squid

YouTube Link

CineFix presents this video of facts about Joel and Ethan Coen's 1998 cult film The Big Lebowski. It features a few amusing stories that are as much fun as the movie itself. For instance, a certain trade publication got in touch with the Coen brothers for an interview after the movie's release. See what oddball publication it was, find out what their answer was to the interview request and more. -Via Gizmodo (NSFW article due to a Wikipedia graphic on the use of the F-bomb in film.)

   Images: Alix Rae Photography / Via Facebook

Minnesota residents Brittney and Briggs Fussy were married this past weekend, but they had previous experience walking down the aisle of a church together twenty years prior. When they were three years old, Brittney and Briggs were chosen to be flower girl and ring bearer in the wedding of Briggs' godmother.

After the wedding, the two didn't see each other again until ninth grade, when they shared the same high school government course. Recognizing Briggs' last name, Brittney wondered if it could be the same boy. She brought a picture of them at the wedding to school, and Briggs was shocked when he realized that he had a similar photo on his wall at home. 

Two years later in their junior year of high school, the kids became a young couple, causing their families to be excited about the reunion. In particular, Briggs' godmother was thrilled; as the story goes, she took the credit for being their matchmaker.

Now that the couple is married, the groom's godmother can keep her matchmaker title. See a video news report and read more on the story at Fox 9 News Minneapolis-St. Paul. -Via BuzzFeed. 


   Image: Fox 9 / Via myfoxtwincities.com
Image: Facebook

Cartoonist James Chapman (previously at Neatorama) presents a crash course in telephone etiquette across the globe with this comic “How to Answer the Phone in 10 Languages” for Babbel. Chapman has made the exercise especially inclusive by creating versions for those who speak Spanish, French, Italian, German and Portuguese.

Visit Chapman's website to see new comics that translate everyday actions into different languages every Friday.

Via Laughing Squid | Image: Babbel

Meow Parlour, New York City’s first permanent cat café, is newly open on the Lower East Side. The café is booking customers online, which for the most part will eliminate one issue common to all popular NYC establishments: long lines. Customers can book from 30 minutes to a maximum of five hours at the café.

A sister shop called Meow Parlour Patisserie is around the corner to sell treats and coffee to customers wanting to bring a bite to eat during their stay. Inside Meow Parlour, customers enjoy free wifi and the company of adoptable shelter cats from KittyKind, a local no-kill shelter.  The café was established by Christine Ha, the founder of the Macaron Parlour, and her employee, Emilie LeGrande. 

Learn more or book time at Meow Parlour via their website and see more images at their Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Via Laughing Squid | Images: Meow Parlour

 

People who find themselves acting strangely in opposition to their own hopes for the new year will understand this comic by Grant Snider of Incidental Comics. It takes an awful lot of New Year's You to fight off the Same Old You of the previous year, does it not? 

It would be easy to assume that these surreal captures are Photoshopped, yet they actually represent an unusual aspect of life in Japan, specifically in the city of Nara and on Miyajima Island. In these regions, wild deer were once considered sacred, and presently they are a common sight, even in the most urban of areas. Nara has a population of half a million human residents and 1000+ deer, which are a familiar sight to humans who regularly navigate around them.

This photo series by photographer Yoko Ishii captures the phenomenon in these interesting shots. To learn more, see video of the deer as well as view more photos by Ishii, visit this link.
 

Twisted Sifter's recent photo of the day is actually from January 24 of 2014, taken after an avalanche in Glacier National Park in British Columbia, Canada. The Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks Facebook post from that day entitled "How to Tame Your Avalanche" shows this photo and others illustrating what park staff had to deal with. Not much of a view from the train, is there? Check out their Facebook page as well as the Parks Canada Facebook page for great nature photography in all seasons.

Today via social media, not only is it possible for an individual to make waves in the public image of a small business or large corporation, but an average person can — with one bad decision or incidence of less-than-stellar behavior — negatively impact their life and reputation for the long term.

The book cover pictured above is So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson. Inspired by the author's 2012 online identity theft, after which he confronted the criminals, Ronson takes an indepth look at being publicly shamed on social media in present-day society. According to pre-sale reviews, Ronson's treatment of the topic is both hard-hitting and handled with humor. The book is scheduled to publish and be shipped in March of this year. 

Read about nine more non-fiction titles that will spark conversations in 2015 at Geeks Are Sexy.

In a traditional nuclear family, Daddy is an important figure in all his children's lives, but the bond between father and son is particularly strong. Dad is generally son's first image of masculinity, of a worldviiew that's exclusively male. Sons imprint what is acceptable and respectful behavior for a male and how to interact with the opposite sex. But much of the time, a dad is someone with whom to have fun adventures, whether at or far from home. These photos show dads and sons enjoying each other's company, creating perhaps the most cherished memories dads can provide.  

See the rest of this sweet photo collection here.  


 Image: Alexander

Image: dablju.mk

  Image: imgur.com

A teenage boy who helped a stranger on a train in Cumbria, northwest England, was handsomely rewarded by the man, who claimed to be celebrated street artist Banksy. According to the New York Daily News, fourteen-year-old Ben Azarya met a man on the train who introduced himself as Robin Banks. Azarya explained the encounter:

"He opened his rucksack and had a gas mask and spray paints inside. He got out a piece of paper and had colors marked on it of what he had been trying out and he dropped his colors."

Azarya helped the stranger pick up his paints. The man asked the teenager if he knew who Robin Banks was. When Azarya replied that he did not, the man handed him the artwork, said that it would be worth around $30,000, and bid him farewell by saying, "Have a good life, brother."

Azarya described the notoriously camera shy artist, whose description has heretofore been unknown, as a fortyish, white man with "scruffy clothes" and an old, fluffy hat. Azarya said,

"He had a little jacket that didn't go over his arms and jeans with paint on. He looked really wacky and had blonde hair and blue eyes."

Azarya and his family have been advised to authenticate the print, and if it's found to be authentic, the teen has plans to sell it.

What an exciting encounter, particularly for a young boy! Read more at the NY Daily News.

UPDATE: Alas, a spokesperson for Banksy informed BBC Radio Bristol that the stranger Ben says he encountered on the train was not Banksy. Tough break. For Ben's sake, I was really hoping that story would pan out. 


Images: Cascadenews.co.uk

This toothy bat species, Hypsugo dolichodon, was discovered in 1997, yet because a similar species, Hypsugo pulveratus existed, it wasn't until recently that scientists realized it was a distinct species of bat. Both are native to the rainforests of Vietnam and Lao PDR. Hypsugo dolichodon's fangs are longer and wider. Translation of the name means "the long-toothed pipistrelle."

In an article in Mongabay, lead researcher Tamás Görföl explains how Hypsugo dolichodon's fangs differentiate the eating habits of the animal from that of its close relative: 

"The large canines may be important in grabbing prey. It may allow the bat to catch larger insects or beetles with harder exoskeleton; this may be the result of niche segregation.

This means that evolution may have allowed the new species to go after different prey or utilize different habitat than its close relatives, essentially carving out its own ecological niche."

Read the report from Mongabay here, and read a scientific study of the species here. 

Via i09 | Images: Judith L. Eger