This hilarious video footage shows 12-year-old yellow Lab Allie helping herself to anything and everything edible that she can get her paws on once her human leaves the house. Unfortunately for Allie, it was a setup. The humans of the house knew she was stealing food, but couldn't quite figure out how she was doing it. Hence, the video cam. Next time disable the camera first, Allie. I have no doubt that's not an accomplishment beyond your level of intelligence and problem solving ability. -Via Tastefully Offensive
Lisa Marcus's Blog Posts
Chris Garcia (l) and Temar Boggs (r)
Sometimes news items that make us feel positive about humanity are scarce. Particularly when current events are rife with upsetting situations, it's good to read about people who take great pains, sometimes even endangering their own lives, to help their fellow human beings. The following is one such story.
Temar Boggs and Chris Garcia, at the time 15 and 13 respectively, were at an apartment complex helping their friend move a couch one summer day in 2013 when they saw police cars outside. The policemen told the teens that they were looking for a lttle girl who had been abducted from her front yard earlier that day. Officers and citizens had been searching for 5-year-old Jocelyn Rojas for two hours without success.
At that time, Boggs, Garcia and five other friends, who didn't know Jocelyn, decided to look for her. At first the teens were on foot, but later, Boggs and Garcia began riding bikes to look in the surrounding neighborhoods. After almost an hour, Boggs, who had biked ahead of Garcia, saw a man driving suspiciously in the neighborhood. Boggs noticed that the man turned his car around when a group of policemen were up ahead. Boggs pedaled closer to the car, at which time Garcia caught up with him. The teens could see a little girl in the car. When the driver noticed he was seen, he panicked, stopping the car and pushing little Jocelyn out the door. She had already been assaulted after having been taken to an ice cream shop.
Boggs grabbed the little girl, who ran to him after her trauma. He rode with her on his bike for a while until deciding that wasn't safe. The young man dropped the bike and ran with the girl to find the authorities. Jocelyn clung to Temar, fearful because of her horrible experience. After delivering her safely to authorities, the teens were modest about being referred to as heroes, saying they just did what any person would do.
Boggs said in an interview,
"I had the gut feeling that I was going to find the little girl... It was like fate, it was like meant for me and Chris to be there. If we wouldn't have left (to look for the girl) who knows what would have happened to the little girl?"
The child's abductor, 73-year-old Harold Leroy Herr, was eventually caught. The kidnapper reportedly said "You're pretty, I think I'll keep you" when he grabbed her from in front of her home. Boggs and Garcia may have saved her life that day.
Read about other selfless, courageous people and their heroic acts here.
Image: Lancaster Online
Cast of The Addams Family
These 1964 photos are of auditions for the television series The Addams Family, which ran from 1964-1966. John Astin, who played patriarch Gomez Addams, was cast before the other characters, as a number of these photos show Astin reading lines with the actresses auditioning for the part of his wife, Morticia. Eventually, actress Carolyn Jones was chosen to play Morticia. Perhaps the other hopefuls should have spoken French to him?
A bit of trivia: according to the IMDb, the Addams were the first television family to have a home computer, which was a UNIVAC. See more photos from The Addams Family auditions here.
Images: Life
Actress auditioning for the part of Morticia
Wednesday Addams hopefuls; Lisa Loring (l) was eventually cast
Pugsley Adddams wannabes; Ken Weatherwax (r) was cast
New York-based illustrator PJ McQuade has been featured previously at Neatorama, the last time for his cool Star Wars Christmas cards. McQuade has expanded the line for this season, which now includes Star Trek, Breaking Bad, Doctor Who, Alien, and Game of Thrones-themed ornaments and cards. The illustrations are fun — the artist adds festive clothing to the characters — and very likely to please fans of the franchises. Have a look at McQuade's offerings in his Etsy shop.
Biologist Forrest Galante was free-diving for lobsters off the coast of Anacapa Island, California when he found the grand daddy of all lobsters, a Paciific spiny lobster weighing 11.5 pounds and estimated to be 60-70 years old. Galante intended to release the creature back into the wild, but before he did, he gave the ample arthropod a little sightseeing land tour. Galante took him home to meet his family, including his dog, who came snout to shell with him. The lobster had a stay at the Santa Barbara sea center for a bit. Eventually, Galante took the lobster to the middle of a marine reserve, where he would be free to breed, safe from fisherman. Once released, the big guy swam off, and all was well.
Images: Barcroft TV
Norway-born, London-based fashion photographer Sølve Sundsbø shot this striking series of models patterned with shadowy stripes and polka dots. Borrowing from one of the telltale lighting methods in noir film, Sundsbø marks his beautiful subjects with light and shadow. The result is bold and commanding.
See more of Sundsbø's work at his website.
In what stage of sleep to you dream? During how much of your sleep time are you dreaming, on average? Do older people need less sleep? What's the best course of action when you're unable to sleep? Mental Floss discusses these matters and more in this interesting video. -Via Laughing Squid
This adorable footage shot by Brooke Conti shows her dog Jackson napping on the couch having a bad dream. Jackson's housemate Laika jumps up to put an end to any distress Jackson might have been feeling, throwing in a hug for good measure. Follow the adventures of Jackson and Laika on Instagram. --Via Tastefully Offensive
Bad Santa is one of those "love it or hate it" comedies. It's raunchy. Much of it is in bad taste and is full of profanity. It's not your grandma's Christmas movie (unless, of course, you have a Bad Grandma). The film, about a drunken burglar who plays Santa at malls in order to have access to rob them later, is played by Hollywood non-conformist Billy Bob Thornton. While it's easy to envision Thornton imbibing a drink or two to get himself in character, that wasn't the case. Actually, day in and day out, Thornton was completely tanked. He told Film4,
“I’ve traditionally played really extreme characters and even in a comedy, if you’re going to play a guy like this, you can’t be sort of drunk, you know? And I wasn’t sort of drunk. You have to go completely into it.”
Read more facts about Bad Santa here. I'm going to see about making some sandwiches.
Image: Columbia Pictures
Image: Allison G., Logansport, Indiana
The online community of the Ellen DeGeneres show asked readers to send in their 'so horrible they're great' baby pictures. Here are some of the funny shots they ended up with. Bad baby photos are the most understandable (and probably most likely) of the awkward photos category. After all, if a baby wants to make a certain face or pose, there's not much anyone can do about that. However, when it comes to awkward engagement and family photos, the phenomenon is a lot harder to understand.
The photos collected by the Ellen show are in slideshow format and that link is here. If you'd rather not click through a slideshow, see this collection, which borrowed many of the shots from the Ellen post.
Image: Kathi S., North Canton, Ohio
Image: Hafdís S., Hafnarfjöröur, Iceland
The photos shown here are of Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort in Huzhou, China. At a total building cost of $1.5 billion, each of its 27 floors cost $55 million to construct. The logistics of building such a structure in a lake, as well as the shape of the building added to the expense. The hotel features, among other things, a full spa, hot springs and indoor and outdoor pools.
Read about the world's eight other most expensive buildings here.
Images: Starwood Hotels
Brown paper with glitter accent | Image: The House That Lars Built | Tutorial here
Whether you're an artistic person, you like to repurpose materials or you have a gift for someone special, a nice way to present a present is with homemade wrapping paper, bows and accents. This list of DIY ideas is interesting, and if the end results share one thing in common, it's that they say to the gift recipient "you mean a lot to me."
See more homemade wrapping paper, bow and accent ideas here.
Black paper and white paint pens imitate a chalkboard | Image: Going Home to Roost | Tutorial here
Christmas light gift paper made with finger paints | Image: Splash of Something
Image: Giacomo Bianchi
It has been said that, to worship, one doesn't have to be inside a church. Indeed, depending on the individuals and their worldviews, spirituality and even traditional prayer can be practiced anywhere they feel comfortable. What setting is more glorious than nature? Italian artist Giuliano Mauri’s Cattedrale Vegetale (translated as Tree Cathedral) is a wonderful example of natural resplendence. An outdoor setting so sublime it could be described as heavenly, the framework is at the foot of Mount Arera in the northern Italian region of Lombardy.
Mauri's structural framework, as pictured here, will eventually decompose and be secured by hornbeam trees planted in the center of the frames. If you visit the link in the previous sentence, you can see mature European hornbeam trees, which have full, wide canopies. Once matured in Mauri's structure, the trees will grow together to form the vaulted ceiling as seen in gothic cathedrals. Mauri died in 2009, a year before the framework was complete. Part of his legacy is this remarkable structure, sure to provide happiness and spiritual connections to many for years to come.
Visit giulianomauri.com to learn more. See more beautiful photos here.
Image: Il Giardino Sfumato
Image: Marco Rosato
Images: Aldo Fedele (l), Arte Sella (r)
Yikes, it's "Specialman"
The writer of the referring article called this list of bad knockoff toys "the stuff of nightmares" and headlined it "Disturbing Toy Ripoffs Guaranteed to Ruin Your Kid's Christmas." While I imagine that any kid who desires the authentic version of these playthings for Christmas would likely be disappointed to receive these bad knockoffs, it's pretty difficult for me to take the situation seriously while I'm laughing.
See all 37 bad toy ripoffs here. It's an amusing collection. Commenting with bad toy knockoff humor is strictly forbidden. (And by that, I mean it's highly encouraged.)
Giddy up, it's "Demondonkey" (Don't look, John Farrier) | Source: iheartchaos.com
Try to hold it (your excitement): It's the WiWi | Source: tumblr.com
Whatcha got there, kid? "It's my New Style Ninja Tortoise!" | Source: arwrath.com
This year marked a change in the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest. For the first time in its 47-year history, the winner was determined in part by a vote via the Internet. Announced yesterday, the winner was Beth Royals of Richmond, Virginia. Royals was awarded the grand prize of one million dollars.
In November, 100 competitors were selected to submit recipes in four possible categories: Simply Sweet Treats, Savory Snacks and Sides, Amazing Doable Dinners and Weekend Breakfast Wows. One winner was chosen in every category, and those were the four finalists. Royals' prizewinning recipe, a photo of which is shown above, was from the category Simply Sweet Treats. Her recipe is called "Peanutty Pie Crust Clusters" and is listed below.
Ingredients
1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on box
1 bag (12 oz) white vanilla baking chips (2 cups)
1 tablespoon Crisco Baking Sticks Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
1 tablespoon Jif Creamy Peanut Butter
1 cup salted cocktail peanuts
⅔ cup toffee bits
Instructions
Heat oven to 450°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with wax paper.
Unroll pie crust on work surface. With pizza cutter or knife, cut into 16 rows by 16 rows to make small squares. Arrange squares in single layer on large ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove squares from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 5 minutes.
In large microwavable bowl, microwave baking chips, shortening and peanut butter uncovered on High 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring once, until chips can be stirred smooth. Add pie crust squares, peanuts and toffee bits; stir gently until evenly coated. Immediately drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto lined cookie sheets. (If mixture gets too thick, microwave on High 15 seconds; stir.) Refrigerate about 15 minutes or until set. Store covered.
The three recipe runners up were Cuban-style sandwich pockets, chocolate doughnut poppers (pictured below) and creamy corn-filled sweet peppers. Get those recipes here.
Chocolate doughnut poppers
Images: Pillsbury.com
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