Pub Dog

Funny animation about a dog in a pub.



YouTube link

(via b3ta)

The 7 Black Days Of The Week

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We all know Black Friday, the discount-fueled shopping frenzy that follows Thanksgiving.
But there are 'Black' days for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, too. You probably wouldn't want to wake up early to wait in line for any of these.

Star City And The Baikonur Cosmodrome

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Last Tuesday, a Soyuz-FG rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying an International Space Station crew into orbit. Baikonur, Russia's primary space launch facility since the 1950s, is the largest in the world, and supports multiple launches of both manned and unmanned rockets every year.

With the U.S. manned space program currently on hold, Baikonur is now the sole launching point for trips to the ISS. Gathered here is a look at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, some of the cosmonaut training programs in Star City outside of Moscow, and a few recent launches and landings.

Tissue Opera

A collection of real stock photos are set to 'La donna è mobile' from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto.



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11 Incredible Images Of Woodpeckers

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Woodpeckers are the tunneling superstars of the bird world. Lampooned as cartoon characters and often misrepresented, woodpeckers are hardworking, fascinating birds.

Punch Archives

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Punch, a magazine of humour and satire, ran from 1841-2002. A very British institution renowned internationally for its wit and irreverence, it introduced the term 'cartoon' as we know it today. The first edition of Punch was published on July 17th, 1841.

Its founders, wood engraver Ebenezer Landells and writer Henry Mayhew, got the idea for the magazine from a satirical French paper, Le Charivari. The first issue was subtitled 'The London Charivari.' At the Punch Cartoon Library you can take a look at these cartoons.

The Gnome Experiment

If Earth was a perfect sphere of uniform density, then gravity would be consistent. But it's not, which means gravity varies wherever you go. A garden gnome from Germany, nicknamed Kern, travels the world to find out how much he weighs in different places.

So far, Kern has journeyed more than 20,000 miles across 15 countries, by plane, train, ship, bus and car. And as Kern travels, his weight varies, due to a combination of the spin of the Earth and the fact that our planet is not round, but more potato-shaped, according to scientists.

How Many Of These Brand Names Are You Saying Wrong?

How do you pronounce Hermès? Or Stella Artois, Kinerase, Saucony, Adidas, Porsche? A company's name should be a lot of things: unique, catchy, memorable... but what about pronounceable? Be it due to a language barrier or just bad planning on the company's part, many people go around mispronouncing high-profile brand names.

Think you're immune to phonetic slip-ups? Here's a list of some of the most commonly mispronounced brand names.

(thanks Cora)

The Eyes Have It

The Eyes Have It is a game by Yoni Alter. How fast can you find all famous characters in the dark? Beware, a wrong guess and using the flashlight will add seconds to your time.

related post:
Who Is The Most Famous?

The Alps At Night

A collection of time-lapse sequences shot at night last January by Belgian videographer Matthew Vandeputte. He captured the magical night skies of the French Alps from the famous Meribel ski resort.



Vimeo link

(thanks Cora)

10 Landlocked Countries With Navies

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While landlocked countries are obviously unable to develop a sea-going blue-water navy, they may still deploy armed forces on major lakes or rivers. There are a number of reasons a landlocked country may choose to maintain a navy. If a river or lake forms a national border, countries may feel the need to protect and patrol that border with a military force.

In some regions, roads may be unreliable or circuitous, and a river or lake may be the easiest way to move military forces around the country. Sometimes, possession of a body of water may actually be contested - for example, countries around the landlocked Caspian Sea have different views of how ownership should be divided.

Friday Cartoon By Mark Anderson

Meeting Cartoon by Andertoons

Mark Anderson is a professional cartoonist from the Chicago area. His cartoons have been published in Reader's Digest, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Woman's World and the Saturday Evening Post, to mention just a few. Among his clients are GM, General Electric, FedEx, Microsoft, and IBM.

Kenichi Ito Is The World's Fastest Runner On Four Legs

A Japanese monkey enthusiast in suburban Tokyo has been named the world's fastest human runner on four legs after developing a style of running based on the movements of the African Patas monkey. Kenichi Ito has been developing the running style for over a decade.

The record of 18.58 seconds over 100 meters was set by Kenichi Ito at Setagaya Kuritsu Sogo Undojyo, Tokyo, Japan.

A Completely New Way You Buy From Stores

Postmates is already one of the most talked about startups in Silicon Valley, but now it has a brand new app that's going to change the way you purchase goods from stores. It's releasing the Get It Now application, which will let you use Postmates to order just about anything - from food to a MacBook Pro - and have it delivered to you in under an hour.

You give Postmates a credit card number, and it authorizes your account for the cost of whatever you're purchasing and gives a courier the ability to use that cash to buy the good. For now, Get It Now and Postmates are only available in San Francisco.

(via Business Insider)

Why Is Yawning Contagious?

A yawn is a reflex of simultaneous inhalation of air and stretching of the eardrums, followed by exhalation of breath. Yawning is commonly associated with tiredness, stress, overwork, lack of stimulation and boredom, though recent studies show it may be linked to the cooling of the brain. In humans, yawning is often triggered by others yawning and is a typical example of positive feedback.



YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

How Much Are You Worth To Facebook?

Tomorrow, Facebook is expected to go public at a valuation around $100 billion. That's what Facebook is worth to the market. But how much are you worth to Facebook? Take this quiz called the 'Val-You Calculator,' which, based on your answers to seven questions, determines the dollar value you represent as a user. I'm not using Facebook but I'm still worth $2.

Which Birthdays Are Most Common?

NPR data journalist Matt Stiles recently posted this informative infographic of the most common birth dates in the United States. It was constructed using data compiled by Harvery Kennedy School professor of public policy Amitabh Chandra, and later published in the New York Times. Chandra's table relies exclusively on birth date figures from 1973 to 1999.

The most popular birth date is September 16 (I was born on September 13). The least popular date is split between February 29 and December 25.

Introducing The Frogmouth

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It's important that you get to know these adorably expressive birds. Not to be confused with owls, the frogmouth is a nocturnal bird related to the nightjars and native to Southeast Asia and Australia. They are named for their large flattened hooked bills and huge frog-like gape, which they use to capture insects.

Epic Time-Lapse Map Of Europe

Fast forwarding from ca. 1000 AD until 2003 showing Europe's shifting borders, alliances, unions, territories, occupied land etc.



YouTube link

(thanks Cora)

Where Did The Taco Come From?

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Jeffrey M. Pilcher, professor of history at the University of Minnesota, has traveled around the world eating tacos. For the past 20 years, he has investigated the history, politics and evolution of Mexican food, including how Mexican silver miners likely invented the taco, how Mexican Americans in the Southwest reinvented it, and how businessman Glen Bell mass-marketed it to Anglo palates via the crunchy Taco Bell shell.

9 Weapons That Failed Spectacularly (And 1 That Possibly Didn't)

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Ever heard of the Holy Bat Bomb? The $40 Million Sunburn? The Killer Drum Solo? The Puke Ray? As history has shown, sometimes a military investment pays off. And sometimes you end up running from a flaming pig. Here are some weapons that failed spectacularly.

Is Earth Alive?

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Researchers at the University of Maryland have discovered a way to identify and track sulfuric compounds in Earth's marine environment, opening a path to either refute or support a decades-old hypothesis that our planet can be compared to a singular, self-regulating, living organism - a.k.a. the Gaia theory.

Proposed by scientists James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the 70s, the Gaia theory likens Earth to a self-supporting singular life form, similar to a cell. The theory claims that, rather than being merely a stage upon which life exists, life - in all forms - works to actively construct an Earthly environment in which it can thrive.