When cats chase something moving really, really fast they spin around so quickly they look like they might twist themselves into a pretzel just like in the cartoons.
But those spinnin' kitties ain't got nothin' on a cat doing that weird shocked, four-legged springy jump thing they do when they're startled or feeling extra frisky. It's enough to make you cry or wet yourself with laughter!
Case in point- Taylor, the frisky kitty in this video, either loves to play with plastic bags or is absolutely freaked out by them, and either way his crazy leaping made me bust a gut!
Some filmmakers are so stubborn they refuse to let an actor give them any input on the project, and on the flip side some great directors have taken suggestions from their actors to create something great together.
And then there are the "suggestions" made by pissed-off actors demanding things go, which seem to be the most radical and controversial changes you can make. But did they make the movie better? Eh, not really.
Harrison Ford made sure J.J. Abrams killed off Han Solo in The Force Awakens because he has hated the character since Return Of The Jedi, maybe even since the very beginning. I wonder what he had to do to J.J. to get him to agree?
Angelina Jolie made a similar demand while filming Wanted, insisting her character commit suicide in the end after "learning the true nature of her work", which would have been a fine ending if not for the love of money.
Wanted made big bucks at the box office, but her suicide plan had ruined any chance the studio had to make a sequel and cash in on the curving of bullets once again, and Angelina refuses to return their calls re: Wanted to this day...
Rick and Morty is a brilliant show with some very intelligent minds behind it, and when it comes to storytelling these beautifully twisted minds don't miss a beat.
Aside from intelligently geeky writing they've also made an unwavering commitment to preserve continuity, so those fans who have watched every episode can get some extra laughs out of those "inside" jokes.
Ever notice that Rick never wears a seat belt? That actually symbolizes more than you think (SPOILERS):
You can see it almost every time the two of them get into a vehicles -- Morty straps into a seatbelt, while Rick remains unrestrained. It's a small detail, but one that's been consistent throughout the show's three seasons, no matter who's in the cockpit and who's driving.
The show doesn't slip up. When Rick does wear a seatbelt, it's for a reason.
In season three's "Rest and Ricklaxation," Rick is split into two distinct personalities. All of what Rick would be considered to be "toxic" aspects of himself are sent to a boogery hellworld, where the rottenness congeals into Toxic Rick. Meanwhile, Clean Rick and Clean Morty are left behind to have pleasant if slightly off-center adventures. Since the "toxic" parts of Rick are no longer present, Clean Rick puts on his seatbelt. This is a Rick that has something to live for, and has left his death wish behind.
Rick is only seen wearing a seatbelt in his normal state one time: Just after he transforms back from Pickle Rick.
This is significant because it takes place not long after Rick has a breakthrough in family therapy. Up until that moment, he had avoided the scheduled session by turning himself into a pickle (it really helps if you're caught up on the show). After facing his personal demons head-on, Rick becomes resigned to the idea that he should probably look after himself if he's going to look after his family.
Some people have started to use their bicycles more often than their cars, especially if they live in a big city where it's cheaper and easier to get around on a bike, which seems like a great idea.
At the same time bicycles have some major limitations, most notably in terms of towing and carrying capacity, so bikes won't be replacing cars anytime soon.
But if you're a fan of the great outdoors and love to ride your bike then you're one step closer to ditching your car thanks to this lightweight micro camper made by Wide Path Camper of Denmark.
This innovative micro camper folds up for easy transport and unfolds in just a few minutes, it measures 9 feet in length and weighs just 88 lbs., and yet it provides cozy accomodations for two with a dining table that converts into a bed.
Photographers who focus on an urban landmark for a photo series usually choose a landmark that either changes over time or is a hub for human activity, so they don't end up with a bunch of static photos of inanimate objects.
That's one of the reasons why Ukrainian photographer Yevhen Kotenko chose to photograph a nearby park bench for 10 years, well, that and the bench was easy to see and photograph from his kitchen window.
Yevhen began the series as a way to document his neighborhood but ended up learning many things about his neighbors and himself:
“I didn’t give myself any time limits or goals, I just went to the kitchen and looked out the window,” Kotenko told RFE/RL. “Usually there was something to see.” Although Kotenko claimed he has fond memories of the neighborhood he grew up in, “there were a lot of bad things, too, that are better not to think about.”
“The worst thing was seeing people I went to school with drinking on this bench, then crawling home like reptiles. I was scared that if I went outside, I’d become one of them.” Kotenko said the subjects he captured were oblivious of his camera.
But James' micro-homes aren't like the tiny houses that were all the rage a few years back, because he uses concrete water pipes to make his cylindrical homes.
His architecture firm James Law Cybertecture has created this prototype of the OPod "tube home", which measures 8.2 feet in diameter, has 100 square feet of interior space and costs $15k, which is cheap when you consider a 600-square-foot unit in Hong Kong can cost $1.8 million.
But the ultimate selling point of the OPod tube homes is the fact that they can be moved easily and stacked on top of each other, so they can be set up where needed:
Law sees his tube homes as one temporary solution to Hong Kong's housing shortage. The pods could stack in unused urban space like shipyards, between buildings or even under highways. Since the pipes weigh nearly 22 tons, they don't need bolts to stay together when stacked.
Animals with backbones are generally considered much scarier than invertebrates, because savage spined beasts such as big cats, sharks and bears tear into their prey and make a bloody mess.
But invertebrates like the Japanese spider crab, Amazonian giant centipede and giant huntsman spider are terrifying in their own right, and their creepy-crawly nature sends shivers down our spine at the mere sight of them.
The Amazonian giant centipede has some mighty powerful venom, grows to a foot long and has been known to be aggressive towards humans, so you wouldn't want to encounter one in the wild.
Nor would you want a giant huntsman spider setting its sights on you, because those huge, hairy suckers are aggressive, have a 1-foot legspan, and charges at its prey rather than trapping them in webs.
And the Japanese spider crab may be the least aggressive of the bunch, but with a 12-foot legspan and weighing up to 44 pounds seeing a Japanese spider crab coming towards me would definitely fill me with fright!
80s kids who didn't have Kenner's original Millennium Falcon toy often tried to build one out of LEGOs, but they never looked quite right until LEGO released the Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon set in 2007.
However, the Ultimate Falcon set cost $500 when it came out and skyrocketed in price after going out of print, so no matter how bad LEGO fan Mike Marrocco of Bethesda, Maryland wanted the set he couldn't justify paying the price.
Here's how he put his psychedelic reboot Millennium Falcon together:
“The process went something like this,” Marrocco told us via email. “First I found the parts list online and counted up how many of each piece I’d need. Then I went on bricklink.com and bought everything while trying to select the brightest colors I could (cost permitting). I needed to buy from five or six sellers to get everything. Then I sorted all the pieces into containers and started building based off of the official instructions.”
So Marrocco got to work, and after the two months spent tracking all the pieces down, the build itself took him 25 hours.
“I just did my best to buy the cheapest bright colors,” he said. “Some people online have suggested painting it.” (He joked, “That’s out of the question” about that last bit of advice.)
Most of us are fine with the fact that IKEA furniture is made of pine or particle board, especially because you can hack their stuff together in lots of cool new ways and the price is unbeatable.
But writer James L. Sutter made a disillusioning discovery while doing some design hacking on a desk that might put some people off- IKEA's "particle board" furniture is made with cardboard.
I always knew that Ikea furniture was fake wood—particle board with a veneer on top. Fine, whatever. But last night I sawed into my desk and discovered the particle board *itself* is a lie.
James made it clear he didn't really have a problem with the cardboard content in IKEA furniture, he was just surprised to find it in there, and one Twitter user explained why using cardboard in particle board is actually a good thing:
My dad is a structural engineer. That honeycomb structure is actually stronger than particle board (unless you cut it in half.) Its also far more eco friendly. They use the particle board for the parts that need to hold screws.
Once you get past the small talk period with a complete stranger, whether they're an acquaintance co-worker or love interest, it's time to find out more about this person who has piqued your interest.
So you move from the small talk to the icebreaker questions, which help you learn a bit about the person and make both parties feel more at ease in each other's company.
#2: Have you ever met anyone famous?
This question is a fun one, as it taps into the people that your coworkers admire. Folks bond over a mutual love for Jude Law, or have a laugh when a manager shares her story about meeting LeBron James at a gas station.
Skip the boring question, “What are your hobbies?” and ask this instead. You might find that someone is unexpectedly avid butterfly collector (my uncle does this), or enjoys finding a new postcard every time she travels (my mom does this). Regardless, it’s a more unique way to learn about a person’s interest.
#20: How do you like your eggs?
Our customers who ask this question are always shocked by how popular the answers to it are. They discover that colleagues are immensely passionate about scrambled eggs or are sunny-side-up diehards.
Their list is designed for team-building at work but if you ask me these questions work just as well on a date or a new friend, because they get to the heart of a person in a hurry and reveal a lot about their character.
#12: What’s your favorite family tradition?
Cooking Korean dumplings together around the holidays is one of mine. When you ask this question, you get an inside look into your coworkers family’s heritage and the things that bring their family together.
#13: Who had the most influence on you growing up?
A mother, a sports hero, a grandparent, an elementary school teacher… This question is touching to hear the answer to. You’ll gain a sense of respect about who has shaped your coworkers.
To see how the throat of a singer is different than that of someone who doesn't sing you have to watch the singer belt out a tune while inside an MRI machine, so you can see how the vocal tract changes as they sing.
What you’re looking at here are comparative images of the same vowel being sung at the same moment in each vocal style. …take a moment to see for yourself how the anatomical features of the vocal tract that we can see here align differently in each style. How does the tongue position differently? How about the view on the mouth opening? How about the height of the larynx?
Life in the United States seemed quite black and white in the 50s and 60s, as segregation and racial tension turned to violence, the divide between rich and poor widened, and non-conformists were cast as criminals by the media.
Brooklyn gang, NYC, 1959
There was an excitement and energy in the air, and yet everyday life was quieter and far simpler, making for perfectly simple portraits without all the background noise you see nowadays in places like Los Angeles, Chicago or New York City.
New York City, 1962
The static of the digital age was still a long way off, and Magnum Photos agency photographer Bruce Davidson was out shooting warm and wonderful portraits that capture the vibe of the era by focusing on the people at the heart of it all.
Yves Montand, his wife Simone Signoret, Marilyn Monroe and her husband Arthur Miller at the Beverly Hills Hotel, California, 1960
Bruce traveled all over the country shooting pics of all kinds of different people, from famous folks like Marilyn Monroe and Diana Ross to everyday folks experiencing all the joy and pain from the front line.
Man dragged away by his feet during a CORE demonstration, NYC, 1964
The ridiculously funny mashup video HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA (later renamed Fabulous Secret Powers) brought He-Man back into the spotlight for the online community, making him relevant for millennials and increasing his gay icon creds by 9000.
Anyone who has seen the original video knows it's a full-blown earworm that really gets stuck in your head, making it a one-time-only video and a great video to pull out when trolling.
But the live-action remake created by Tommy Gnall back in 2014 can be watched over and over again, plus old Batman and a Power Ranger make an appearance!
Seeing a silverback gorilla in the middle of the road is enough to make any driver hightail it in the opposite direction, because movies have made us believe gorillas hate humans and go on destructive rampages.
But BBC cameraman Gordon Buchanan learned firsthand that gorillas are actually caring and gentle creatures who keep to themselves and don't generally attack humans unless provoked.
In fact, one massive silverback named Chimanuka had proven he had a huge heart when he adopted a young orphan gorilla and tended to it like his own:
The baby, whose name was Marhale, was in dire need of a caregiver—so Chimanuka stepped in. He groomed the little ape and let him follow closely so that he could learn how to find food for himself.
Though other male gorillas have been known to care for young, this was the only recorded example of Chimanuka’s particular subspecies, Bauer’s gorilla, acting this way.
When Gordon spotted Chimanuka in the bushes by the side of a road in the Democratic Republic of Congo he knew Chimanuka had a good reason for showing himself, so the BBC Earth crew stopped traffic to help him out.
And as the massive male silverback lumbered into the road the reason became clear- he was helping his big gorilla family safely cross the road:
Chimanuka had been nervous and tense because he needed to bring his entire family across the road. That included his adopted baby, Marhale; a one-handed ape named Mugaruka; and a few more mama gorillas and their babies.
When the final ape crossed the road, Gordon summed up the scene quite nicely. “The boss,” he said of Chimanuka, “showing us that despite the road running through, this is still his jungle.” Even with human life so close, animal life continued.
Chimanuka is truly a god among gorillas, and somebody needs to get him a reflective vest and crossing guard pole stat!
Finding out your dog eats poop is one of the most disgusting discoveries a dog owner can make, and most owners can't look at their dog in the same light, or let their dog lick their face, after seeing them snacking on a turd.
Some studies say dogs eat poop out of boredom, others say dogs who have an enzyme deficiency, pancreatic sufficiency or parasites are more likely to be a poop eater, but a new study shows there more be a more ancient reason:
Since their poop has a high chance of containing intestinal parasites, wolves poop far from their dens. But if a sick wolf doesn't quite make it out of the den in time, they might do their business too close to home. A healthier wolf might eat this poop, but the parasite eggs wouldn't have hatched within the first day or two of the feces being dropped. Thus, the healthy wolf would carry the risk of infection away from the den, depositing the eggs they had consumed away in their own, subsequent bowel movements at an appropriate distance before the eggs had the chance to hatch into larvae and transmit the parasite to the pack.
Domestic dogs may just be enacting this behavior instinctively—only for them, there isn't as much danger of them picking up a parasite at home.
