Maymo and his little sister Penny (previously at Neatorama) want more than one offering of treats this Halloween. Their safest bet is to make a number of canine costume changes. After all, some treats they receive may be less than delicious. (I'm all for Richard Simmons, but I'd rather have a Snickers than a framed portrait of him.) -Via Laughing Squid
Lisa Marcus's Blog Posts
Laying around can be exhausting. A cat must have the freedom to express his need for additional naps. Publicly, if possible. Timo "the ragdoll cat" (previously at Neatorama) is sleepy enough to represent cat-tired felines everywhere. -Via Laughing Squid
This Louisvile, Kentucky building called the Ouerbacker Mansion, after its coffee magnate owner Samuel Ouerbacker, was built in 1860. The Romanesque structure in the once trendy Russell neighborhood is now boarded up, crumbling and has no intact windows.
After Ouerbacker's death in 1922, Reverend George Clement, a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, purchased the mansion and lived there through the 1930s. Then in a neighborhood that was no longer fashionable, a tax business bought the mansion next, only using the first floor.
By the year 2005, the once palatial home had been abandoned and was in a state of disrepair. The city then took over the house. That year, part of the building collapsed, and the city sunk approximately $100,000 into the structure to stabilize it.
Earlier in 2014, a company called Oracle Design bought the mansion for one dollar. Oracle plans to restore the structure and convert it into apartments. One can see from the pictures that Oracle not only has their work cut out for them, but if they restore the mansion's once grand architectural details, it should make for some beautiful real estate, even when divided.
See more pictures and learn more about the mansion here.
Fail Army's dash cam video fails compilation is short on funny and long on terrifying. It's certainly a reminder not to take your eyes off the road for even a second. Some of these crashes looked so serious, I wondered what kind of shape the driver was in, post crash. The dashcam may have been intact, but the cars definitely weren't. -Via Tastefully Offensive
Once upon a time in the 1980s, there was a British magazine called TV Tops, which wasn't long lived. It's almost impossible to imagine why, when one of the magazine's features was a comic called "The Fantastic Adventures of Adam Ant."
Who could question this part pirate, part new wave pioneer being fodder for the superhero treatment? With a BANG!, a mighty fist in the air and a quick stop for a minor eyeliner touch-up, Adam Ant was a hero in whom everyone could have faith.
TV Tops also featured articles and comic strips based on popular television shows of the time, including Buck Rogers, Fame and Hart to Hart.
See more scans of "The Fantastic Adventures of Adam Ant" at Dangerous Minds.
"Spider like from another world" by Krasimir Matarov
Shortlisted for Photographer of the Year category
The London-based Society of Biology recently announced their top picks for best biology photographs of 2014. The competition is for amateur photographers. The theme for 2014 was "Home, Habitat, and Shelter." Winning photographs were selected from approximately 800 entries.
See all the winning photographs at the Society of Biology site.
-Via i09
"A Shelter Designed by Nature" by Robert Cabagnot
Shortlisted for Photographer of the Year category
"Meal Time" by Boris Barath
Highly commended, Young Photographer of the Year category
This commercial for IKEA Singapore reproduces the scene from Kubrick's The Shining in which Danny rides his Big Wheel through the Overlook Hotel and runs into twin trouble. Don't look now... I think one of the twins needs a shave. -Via Laughing Squid
Banksy recently took on Dutch master of light Johannes Vermeer in this new work near the harbor in Bristol, England. See more shots of Banksy's nod to Girl With a Pearl Earring, called Girl With a Pierced Eardrum, at Juxtapoz.
Look for an upcoming HBO special called "Banksy Does New York" on November 17th.
Burial of Atala / Anne-Louis Girodet (1808)
Artists have experimented with color in myriad ways for centuries. As art evolved, descriptive names for colors were created, often based upon the elements used to mix them. Author Victoria Finlay has a new book to be released on November 1 entitled The Brilliant History of Color in Art. The book provides backstories of how these colors came to be named, as well as how they were made and the artists who frequently used them.
One toxic example is the color "lead white," as seen in Burial of Atala by Girodet, pictured above. Lead white was so named because it was made from lead. It was also used as a cosmetic by upper class, fashionable women in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The lead makeup killed women such as Maria Gunning, the Countess of Coventry, who died in 1760 at age 27.
Lead white was made by stacking containers of vinegar and lead and applying manure to the tops of the containers. After months of this process, the lead acetate converted to lead carbonate, eventually creating flakes of the substance. The color was frequently used in 17th century Dutch portraits.
Read ten more (abbreviated) backstories of beautiful colors in art here. Finlay's book, with the stories in full, can be purchased here.
Englishman William Hope worked as a carpenter until he realized that there were scams to be performed and money to be made in fooling grief-stricken individuals and families who were desperate for a supernatural sign that their deceased loved ones were at peace. By 1905, Hope's career in "spirit photography" was in full swing, as he shot portraits and double exposed the sitters with the "ghosts" of their family members.
Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a fan, and he wrote The Case for Spirit Photography in support of Hope’s duplicitous business. In the end, Hope's trickery was exposed in 1922. I know they're hoky, but there's still something unsettling and creepy about them to me. Read more about Hope and see the rest of this photo collection here.
James Woods and Deborah Harry in Videodrome
Flavorwire assembled a list of their nominations for the fifty weirdest films in existence. While "weird" is subjective, I think it's safe to say that the films they listed would pass the weird test of most people out there.
One of the more mainstream titles is David Cronenberg's Videodrome. Certainly a film I will never forget watching for the first time. Seeing James Woods catch on to the Videodrome secret was shocking, somewhat repulsive and great, all at the same time.
See the list of all 50 films here. Weigh in with your opinions of their selections in comments, if you're so inclined. Do you have any other suggestions?
Image: Criterion
Craig from Mental Floss addresses the question "where did last names comes from" by briefly delving into the ancient history of the surname. Essentially, each region of the world adopted last names at different times, and their ways of choosing them differed.
Fiji - Fiive Dollars
There's nothing like having a wallet full of cash. Yet United States' bills are bland when compared with some of these brightly colored currencies from other countries. Filled with multicolored, detailed images, seeing them almost makes one want to take Washington and Hamilton and trade them in for something a little flashier.
See more examples of beautiful currency from around the world here.
Qatar - Qatar Riyal
China - 100 Renminbi
Hong Kong - Ten Dollars
Bermuda - Two Dollars
Egypt - Egyptiian Pound
You're cooking a meal for the one(s) you love, thus you'd like to serve them and yourself the healthiest versions of delicious foods. One recipe calls for butter. As you do the grocery shopping, you stop and look at all the possible versions of that ingredient. Butter. Margarine. Low-cal and low-fat. Which one is best for you? ASAP Science provides information that can help make the healthiest choice, if we so choose. -Via Science Dump
This footage shows an orphaned baby rhino named Gerjie and his friend Lammie the goat as they romp, bounce and play together in a way that shows their obvious affection for each other. Tragically, Gerjie lost his mother to poachers. The rhino and goat pair live together at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre in Hoedspruit, South Africa. -Via Viral Viral Videos
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