The caption on this photograph at Aussie Farmer says “Death by Daddy long legs.” Now, what they call Daddy Long Legs in Australia is a different creature from the fairly harmless insects we call Daddy Long Legs in the U.S. This is a cellar spider, which is sometimes called a Daddy Long Legs in Australia. And it’s captured a brown snake. Farmer Patrick Lees took the picture on his property in Weethalle, New South Wales. He said a group of spiders later gathered around the snake. 

The Australian Museum's arachnology collections manager Graham Milledge said while it was not clear exactly how the snake had died, it was quite possible the spider was responsible.

"The most likely scenario is that the snake got entangled in the spider's web. Usually what happens then is the spider will try to wrap the snake and then they'll bite it," Mr Milledge said.

The Australian Museum lists the daddy-long-legs spider as carnivorous and predatory. The venom is not particularly potent, despite rumours it is one of the world's most poisonous.

It’s pictures like these that get those rumors started, I’d bet. -via Uproxx

(Image credit: Patrick Lees)

I will be the first to admit that my knowledge of toucans is largely based on Toucan Sam from the Fruit Loops commercials and that little plaque in front of their cage at the zoo that tells you where they're from and what they eat.

But despite my ignorance on the subject I don't think I've ever heard of toucans being particularly cuddly birds before I saw this video starring Ripley the toucan, who seems to think he's a lap dog rather than a long billed bird.

(YouTube Link)

Ripley's proud owners love sharing their silly bird with the world via the official Ripley the Toucan Facebook page and of course by sharing videos of Ripley's odd behavior on her YouTube channel.

-Via Cheezburger

Redditor burnmongham and his brother took their kids on an outing. They took pictures, but there wasn’t one with all of them in it. So he took two of the snapshots and stitched them together digitally to include everyone. It took him a month to realize the one little error in the image fusion. How fast can you find the special child?   

Noela Rukundo of Melbourne, Australia, was visiting her native Burundi last year when two men kidnapped her. They had accepted money from Rukundo’s husband Balenga Kalala to murder her, and they called Kalala back in Melbourne to prove they had Rukundo in custody. In doing so, they informed Rukendo her husband had contracted the murder. Two days later, the kidnappers gave Rukundo recorded evidence against her husband and set her free. She flew back to Australia without contacting Kalala. That is, until he was leaving her memorial service a few days later. When Kalala saw his wife, he thought it was a ghost -or hoped so.

It was as they drove away that Noela sprang her surprise.

"I was stood just looking at him. He was scared, he didn't believe it. Then he starts walking towards me, slowly, like he was walking on broken glass.

"He kept talking to himself and when he reached me, he touched me on the shoulder. He jumped.

"He did it again. He jumped. Then he said, 'Noela, is it you?'… Then he start screaming, 'I'm sorry for everything.'"

Kalala was then arrested, and pled guilty after being confronted with the evidence of his murder for hire scheme. In December, Kalala was sentenced to nine years in prison. Read the whole sordid saga at BBC magazine. -via Uproxx

(Image credit: Australian Broadcasting Corp.)

Vimeo Link

This footage illustrates how Thomas Anamun trained his dog Bentley to operate on a cleanliness level above most canines. When Bentley gets to the welcome mat at the entrance of his home, he stops to wipe his paws thoroughly before walking through the doorway. Once the pup decides his job is done, his presence inside the house is celebrated by an unnamed doggie companion of his at the top of the stairs. Good boy, Bentley, and welcome home! Via Tastefully Offensive 

Wouldn’t you love to go see Dr. Lamar, who heals boo-boos with nom-noms? This billboard in Milwaukee grabbed a lot of attention. The website on the billboard is actually for the company that rents out billboards. They just proved how effective nonsense advertising can be! -via reddit

Bill Wurtz compressed the history of Japan into nine minutes. Those nine minutes fly by as momentous changes happen. He saves time by dispensing with things like names and dates, because you wouldn’t remember them anyway. By the time you’re through, you’ll remember just enough to want more.  Contains a small amount of NSFW language.

(YouTube link)

Wurtz simplifies huge events into humorous, rapid-fire exchanges, but there are a couple of times when the narrative just screeches to a halt, because the subject at hand calls for just that. And it works. This is an overall masterpiece. -via reddit

YouTube Link

Meanwhile in Australia, where people with charming accents are about to be killed by All of The Things, a storm is blowing in. In this NSFW-clip-due-to-profanities-shouted-by-two-nearly-lighting-struck dudes, Nick and Daniel are at Sydney's Oyster Bay. They've just spent the majority of ten minutes deciding not to take their boat out because they could "feel the static" of the impending electrical storm. Just then, they get confirmation of their decision by one Mother Nature. Learn more and see additional video at Yahoo 7 News Australia.

Rick Deckard, Han Solo, Jack Ryan, Indiana Jones, Dr. Richard Kimble, President James Marshall… those are only a few of the many roles Harrison Ford made his own in his 40-year movie career (so far). Which movie was the best, or which movie was he best in? Think of your top picks, then check out this list that ranks the best Harrison Ford movies. At least, his best movies so far. I hope he still has more and different roles in him.

As a kid I remember cracking open my father's copy of ZZ Top's 1973 album Tres Hombres, opening the gatefold sleeve to check out that classic pic of the world's most heavy duty Mexican food meal.

The picture was intriguing and raised many questions in my mind- Did ZZ Top eat this epic meal after the picture was taken? How much of that cheese and beer foam ended up stuck in their fabulous beards?

And, most nagging of them all- why does this picture make me so hungry?

(Vimeo Link)

Sadly, those questions remain unanswered, but now thanks to Austin, Texas based chef and ZZ Top fan Thomas Micklethwait we get to see what went in to creating that epic spread, and how the whole thing tastes.

ZZ Top's singer-guitarist Billy Gibbons thought it sounded like a delicious project, saying "It's crazy – absolutely nuts, I stand in awe of what he's accomplished."

-Via Rolling Stone

When Almine Barton bought a normal middle-class house in Newport, Oregon, in 1979, she knew she had to change it to suit her taste. But she left the outside as it was, because she didn’t want a higher property tax assessment. The interior underwent a complete overhaul. She brought in stained glass salvaged from churches in England, imported velvet curtains, antiques, crystal chandeliers, and even a full suit of armor to decorate her home. 

It’s an insanely impressive home, one that Barton crafted especially for herself, relying on construction methods so precise she frequently had to teach the local craftsmen how to perform them.

Some of the craftsmen were even afraid of damaging the raw materials: Barton found the perfect Schumacher fabrics from France for $150 a yard, and had to search for months to find someone willing to mount them to the walls. “They were scared to mess it up because of the costliness of the fabric. The man that hung that wallpaper used to come in drunk every day because he was nervous of messing it up,” she says with a chuckle.

There are a few normal contemporary rooms in the back, hidden behind closed doors. Barton is selling the home now for $399,000. See 47 pictures of the house at Yahoo! Real Estate. Get more details on the property at its listing. -via Fark

Evie has a balloon, and it’s her favorite thing ever! She carries it around with her all the time. Maybe it’s her security balloon!

(YouTube link)

And like any small child with a balloon, she goes into a panic when it gets away from her. There’s a bit of tension in this story, but things work out in the end, and Evie gets her balloon back. -via Tastefully Offensive

Thirty years ago today, January 28, 1986, the world watched as the space shuttle Challenger took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, after several delays, on a mission that included the first Teacher in Space. The flight crew was the most diverse that NASA had ever deployed: two women, an African American, an Asian American, a Jewish American, both scientists and test pilots, military and civilian. The flight lasted 73 seconds, the the shuttle disintegrated as we watched on TV. All seven crew members were lost.

That was the day we were all reminded that while space flight may have become routine, it still wasn’t without risk. Popular Mechanics interviewed more than two dozen people who were involved in the Challenger launch in some way: NASA employees, contractors, astronauts, journalists, family members, investigators, and observers, to assemble an oral history of what happened that day and the aftermath.

See more pictures of the Challenger mission, and the biographies of each astronaut.

(Image credit: NASA)

P.T. Barnum is quoted as saying "Always leave them wanting more"- when you have the audience wrapped around your finger and dying to see what you're going to do next you should bow, say thanks and split.

But this motto can also be applied to performers who are bombing, because if they can do something to win the audience back before exiting the stage the crowd will go wild.

(YouTube Link)

The kid in this video may have just moonwalked his way into the hearts of America, and I've never seen somebody turn the crowd's attitude around so quickly after bombing so badly! Maybe he should try his hand at stand up comedy?

-Via FAIL Blog

What happened here? It doesn’t look good. In fact, it looks like a nightmare of oven cleaning ahead. At least they got a photograph before the whole thing ignited. If you can’t figure out exactly what happened, you’re not alone. People had plenty of strange explanations before they found out. What happened is this: Show Answer

You would never make that mistake, now, would you? -via reddit