The Qvale Mangusta Is the Italian Exotic Car You've Never Heard Of

The Qvale Mangusta is a sports car produced in limited numbers in Italy by the automaker Qvale between 2000 and 2002. During development and very early production, it was badged as the De Tomaso Biguá.

After this, other early production cars were badged as the De Tomaso Mangusta De Tomaso became disassociated from the project and all subsequent cars received Qvale nameplates.



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(thanks Cora)

10 Bizarre Recently Discovered Animal Species

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Modern human beings have lived on Earth for about 200,000 years. In that time, we've been almost everywhere - on land, in the sea, and on (and under) the water. You'd think we'd pretty much seen it all.

However, that's not the case. Nature is full of surprises. As these 10 bizarre, newly discovered animal species indicate, such discoveries also increase, alter, and sometimes contradict our understanding of biodiversity, ecological relationships, and evolution itself.

Way To Much Fun!

(via Bad Newspaper)

Greenies Canine Dental Chews

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Vases Constructed From Hundreds Of Pencils

image credit Vimeo)

Amalgamated is a new series of vessels by studio markunpoika constructed from assembled pencils. Taking advantage of the pencil's unique hexagon shape, the pencils are first tightly glued together at each facet to form a solid block. The final pieces are then carved on a machine lathe to reveal the insides of each pencil.

11 Unusual Footraces

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11 offbeat races, which go the extra mile to stand out.

Wintertime In Kinderdijk

Kinderdijk is a village in the Netherlands, situated in a polder in the Alblasserwaard at the confluence of the Lek and Noord rivers. To drain the polder, a system of 19 windmills was built around 1740. This group of mills is the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands. The windmills of Kinderdijk are one of the best-known Dutch tourist sites.



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(thanks Cora)

Soviet Army Monument's Many Makeovers

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The Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia, Bulgaria is quite large as military memorials go. Built in 1954, the monument is centered by a 120-ft-tall stone plinth supporting a statue of a Soviet soldier surrounded by admiring Bulgarian women.

The monument also features large bronze sculptural compositions on all four sides at ground level. The Monument has become a colorful canvas for protesters, much to the chagrin of Russian politicians.

The Terra Nova Expedition

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The Terra Nova Expedition was an expedition to Antarctica which took place between 1910 and 1913. It was led by Robert Falcon Scott and had various scientific and geographical objectives.

He also wanted to be the first to reach the geographic South Pole.
. He and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, where they found that the Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had preceded them by 34 days. Scott's entire party died on the return journey from the pole.

This Farm Of The Future Uses No Soil And 95% Less Water

AeroFarms in Newark, New Jersey grows a variety of leafy salad greens using a process called 'aeroponics,' which relies on air and mist. AeroFarms claims it uses 95% less water than a traditional farm thanks to its specially designed root misting system.

And it is now building out a new 70,000 square foot facility in a former steel mill. Once completed, it's expected to grow 2 million pounds of greens per year, making it the largest indoor vertical farm in the world.



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(thanks Cora)

Benjamin Bowden's Spacelander

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It was 1946, and Benjamin Bowden had a spark of inspiration. Just by sitting down in my office and thinking about it, I said to myself I should select a product that had not been made before, he stated. As a result, he designed and assembled a bike that he called the Classic, later changing it to the more appropriate name, the Spacelander.

10 Times The Praetorian Guard Changed The History Of Rome

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The Praetorian Guard is one of the most famous military units in history. They were known as elite Roman soldiers, sworn to protect the emperor for hundreds of years. They were feared by the people and even by the emperors themselves, who often went to great lengths to gain the praetorians' favor.

The Praetorian Guard grew too powerful and, on more than one occasion, exerted its influence in ways that forever changed the history of the Roman Empire - and, indirectly, the world.

The Magnificent Victoria Falls

A bunch of morning flights over the incredible Victoria Falls.



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(thanks Cora)

100-Year-Old Dutch Movement Shaped Web Design Today

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2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of a Dutch art movement that has had a worldwide impact: De Stijl. Right up to the present day, De Stijl has influenced art, architecture, and product design. But the impact of De Stijl is particularly apparent in contemporary design - more specifically, in digital design.

In 1917, Dutch painter Theo van Doesburg founded the magazine De Stijl. Even though the magazine never sold more than 300 copies, its impact on the art movement within the Netherlands was considerable. Their approach was to achieve maximum simplicity and abstraction in painting, product design, and architecture.

11 Times The Doomsday Clock Time Has Been Adjusted

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If you haven't heard of the Doomsday Clock, here's a brief and terrifying synopsis for you: It was created in 1947 at the University of Chicago as an easy analogy to show people how close we are to armageddon at any given moment. 'Midnight' on the clock represents doomsday, and, obviously, the closer the hands are to midnight, the closer we are to total annihilation.

On January 26, 2917 the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists announced that the Doomsday Clock would be set ahead 30 seconds. We now stand at 2 minutes and 30 seconds to midnight. It's the closest we've come to midnight since the 1950s.

The Little-Known Patterns On British Streets

Get to know everything about tactile paving, about design, about accessibility, and about those bumpy bits that you stand on when you're crossing a British street.



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Flying Cretaceous Monster Ate Dinosaurs For Breakfast

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It's been said that azhdarchid pterosaurs, which can only be described as bird-reptile-dinosaur-esque-things, were the largest flying animals. These giant beasts - which roamed the Earth during the Cretaceous period roughly 66.5 million years ago - were reptiles but not actually dinosaurs. Despite being winged, they weren't birds, either.

2,000-Year-Old Maya Superhighways Discovered In The Jungle Of Guatemala

image credit: Dennis Jarvis

Few ancient civilizations have left us evidence of the roads they built to maintain effective communication and transportation within their sphere of influence. Until recently, the model for effective road creation and maintenance was ancient Rome.

However, the recent discovery of a system of superhighways that once connected pyramidal complexes in Guatemala, means that the Maya civilization may now rival the Romans. The finding was made last month by researchers of the Mirador Basin (Archaeological) Project.

Dawn Of Fire

Sunrise on Hawaii's Kilauea volcano reveals new growth struggling to survive in an otherworldly landscape.



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(thanks Cora)

Advertisement Posters Of Russian Automobiles From The 1950s And '60s

The automotive industry in the Soviet Union spanned the history of the state from 1929 to 1991. It started with the establishment of large car manufacturing plants and reorganisation of the AMO Factory in Moscow in the late 1920s–early 1930s, and continued until the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991.

Before its disintegration, the Soviet Union produced 2.1-2.3 million units per year of all types, and was the sixth largest automotive producer, ranking ninth place in cars, third in trucks, and first in buses.

An Interactive Map Of New York's Earliest Skyscrapers

Between 1874 and 1900, Manhattan went from zero skyscrapers to over 250. The Skyscraper Museum's online interactive for their current exhibition Ten & Taller: 1874-1900 visualizes this 19th-century boom through a map, timeline, and photographic grid.

(via Nag on the Lake)

Thousands Of Sharks Visit A Sea Mount

In the Pacific, a tiny island 300 miles away from the shore hides a giant mountain beneath the waves that forms a home for thousands of plankton feeding fish.

These fish attract Tuna, and the Tuna attract thousands of Sharks. Watch this video to learn more about this fascinating food chain, and hear some weird but true facts about the visiting Hammerhead Sharks.



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(thanks Cora)

The Secret History Of The First Cat In Space

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On October 18th, 1963, the Centre national d'études in France was set to send a small cat named Félix into space. After lagging behind its Soviet and American competitors, France was eager to stake its claim in the space race - with cats, for some reason. But on launch day, the mischievous little beast went missing - and an accidental heroine stepped in to take his place. Her name was Félicette.

On October 24th, 1963, Félicette jetted 130 miles above Earth on a liquid-fueled French Véronique AG1 rocket, soaring high above the Algerian Sahara Desert. She returned just fifteen minutes later, already a decorated heroine for her nation.

(via Neatorama)

Never Without My Dentures

Four pensioners in a nursing home are watching their favorite soap opera when the Evil Nurse confiscates the TV remote.



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(thanks Cora

The 'Almost Human' Gorilla Who Drank Tea And Went To School

John Daniel was no ordinary gorilla. For starters, he was called John Daniel. And he had his own bedroom, drank tea and cider, and could purportedly do his own washing up. Villagers in Uley adopted the lowland gorilla after he was captured in Gabon by French.

In 1917, he was spotted for sale in a London department store by Uley resident Maj Rupert Penny. Penny's sister, Alyce Cunningham, raised John as a human boy in the village and used to send John on regular walks with the children of Uley junior school, according to Groom.

Free Straw

(via Bad Menu)

10 Horrifying Stories Of Hoarders Who Died In Their Stuff

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No matter how many episodes of the various hoarding shows they air, it's still tough to believe that anyone really lives that way. And yet there are thousands of people in America nearly trapped inside homes that are overflowing with trash.

It's disturbing, sad and frightening. And when things get really out of control, the end result is devastating. People literally die in these homes, crushed or hidden beneath their stuff and sometimes found only weeks later when the stench of their decomposing bodies alerts authorities that something horrifying has happened.

13 Things You Didn't Know About The Dick Van Dyke Show

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On October 3, 1961, a new CBS sitcom hit the airwaves. The Dick Van Dyke Show centered around the adventures of an easygoing comedy writer named Rob Petrie (played by Van Dyke), his beautiful wife Laura (a young actress named Mary Tyler Moore), and his two comedy co-writers Sally Rogers (Rose Marie) and Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam).

For Approval

Video made by Creative Studio Mainframe from Manchester.



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End The Misery Today

(via Bad Newspaper)

There Is One Animal That Seems To Survive Without Oxygen

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It is microscopic, looks a bit like a jellyfish, and survives in a place that would kill every other known animal species. In 2010, at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, a research team found evidence of an animal able to live its entire life without oxygen.

The tiny Mediterranean animals belong to a group called the loriciferans. Loriciferans are about the size of a large amoeba. They live in muddy sediments at the bottom of the seas. But supposedly, that mud should contain some oxygen to allow the animals to breathe. The mud in the L'Atalante basin at the bottom of the Mediterranean does not.

(thanks Paul-René)

There Used To Be 4 Billion American Chestnut Trees, But They All Disappeared

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American chestnut trees once blanketed the east coast, with an estimated 4 billion trees spreading in dense canopies from Maine to Mississippi and Florida. These huge and ancient trees were awe-inspiring, the redwoods of the east coast, but with an extra perk - the nuts were edible.

Chestnuts were roasted, ground into flour for cakes and bread, and stewed into puddings. The leaves of the trees were boiled down into medicinal treatments by Native Americans. Finding a mature American chestnut in the wild is so rare today that discoveries are reported in the national press.

The Maleo - The Bird That Can Fly The Moment It Hatches

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Beneath the red hot sand of an Indonesian island something stirs. A large egg is hatching and soon the newborn creature will dig its way out to the surface and take its first gulps of fresh air.

Yet no parent watches over it. This sounds as if it should be a young turtle, thrusting its flippers sideways as it makes its desperate lurch towards the ocean. It is not, however. This is a bird. More remarkable still is that when it emerges the chick will already be able to fly.

The Unlikely Origins Of '60s Disposable Dresses

In 1966, the Scott Paper Company tried a novel promotion for its new line of household paper goods - in return for two proofs-of-purchase along with $1.25, customers could receive a disposable dress. Scott’s 'Paper Caper' dresses wildly exceeded expectations, and by the year's end, the company had received nearly half a million orders.

Within months, many other manufacturers wanted a piece of the paper-dress market. But by 1969, the trend was dead. Collectores Weekly spoke with writer and curator Jonathan Walford about the paper dress phenomenon and the reasons for its quick demise.

(thanks Hunter)

Rob Higgs' Amazing Corkscrew

Mr Higgs' corkscrew cannot be held in the hand and the only similarity it shares with its namesake is that it does remove corks from bottles. Weighing in at half a tonne, this incredible beauty of 382 moving parts is cast in bronze and is a glorious sight to behold when set in ponderous, whirring, clanking motion.



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(thanks Cora)

Humanoid Beer-And-Pizza-Fetching Robot Is Charmingly Retro

Delivery robots are starting to hit the streets, but few do it with as much joie de vivre as a new device called the Fundroid. The gender-neutral beer-and-pizza-fetching robot debuted at the Software For Artists event in Brooklyn, New York.

Fundroid made its way to a nearby pizza store and bodega to order, pay for and deliver food and beverages to the guests at nonprofit foundation Pioneer Works, which hosted the event.

1,000-Year-Old Windmills Still In Use Today

These amazing windmills are among the oldest in the world. Located in the Iranian town of Nashtifan, initially named Nish Toofan, the windmills have withstood winds of up to 74 miles an hour. With the design thought to have been created in eastern Persia between 500-900 A.D., they have been in use for several centuries.



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Wolf-Sized Otters Prowled The World Six Million Years Ago

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Paleontologists working in China have uncovered the fossilized remains of a previously unknown species of ancient otter. Weighing 110 pounds, these fearsome predators were among the largest otters to have ever lived.

The otter family dates back over 18 million years, but not much is known about these semi-aquatic creatures owing to the poor fossil record.

(via Neatorama)

The Greatest Innovations In Formula One

Real Engineering explores some of the greatest technical innovations that came from the world of Formula 1 racing.



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10 Facts About Ancient Egyptian Animals That Will Blow Your Mind

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Egypt was one of the first great civilizations on earth. They lived at the dawn of history, in a time that was very different from the world we live in today.

One of those differences was their gods. The Egyptian gods had the heads of animals. That might seem like a tiny detail, but it changed the way they lived in more ways than you might imagine. In homage to their gods, the Egyptians treated animals with a reverence that we don't share.

Dog With The Longest Tail

You have to watch out when Keon the Irish wolfhound starts wagging his tail because it is a huge 76.8 cm (30.2 in) long. Guinness World Records recently visited Keon and his family in Westerlo, Belgium, to present the extraordinary canine with an official certificate.



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The Countries With The Most Volcanoes

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One might be forgiven for thinking there is only a smattering of volcanoes across our planet. It is only ever the big ones that become household names - Etna, Vesuvius, Krakatoa, Eyjafjallajökull.

According to the Natural History's Global Volcanism Program, there are some 1,509 volcanoes on the planet to have erupted at some point in the last 11,500 years, otherwise known as the Holocene period, the current geological epoch and one used to define today's volcanic population.

25 Animals That Scientists Want To Bring Back From Extinction

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Over the millennia, animals have gone extinct on Earth for many different reasons. Sometimes it's because of a dramatic climate shift. Other times it was because of human intervention.

Advances in science, specifically biotechnology, could enable scientists to bring some of these animals 'back' from extinction, and there are a few already on the list.

It's Time To Even It Up

Oxfam video that looks at the shocking difference in wealth around the world - with the excesses of the super rich eating gold covered ice cream contrasted with those who live in poverty.

Eight billionaires own the same wealth as the poorest half of the world. The extreme gap between rich and poor is holding back the fight to end global poverty.



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(thanks Lee)

National Tulip Day In Amsterdam

Crowds line up to pick free tulips on Dam Square on National Tulip Day 2017. Tulips are free and come with bulbs and all.



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(thanks Cora)

The Garden Herb Guide

Nothing adds to the flavour and richness of a dish like the right combination of herbs and many of these herbs can be grown right in your garden. But what herbs should you grow and when should you use them? The Greenhouse People have taken a look at some of the most commonly used herbs and examined their growing time and flavour, as well as which dishes they suit so you can take your cuisine to the next level.

And for those of you pondering if now is the time to set up a garden brimming with herbs then let this infographic be all the persuasion you need to realise the dream!

(thanks Daniel)

Why Can't You Use Your Cell Phone On An Airplane?

Every air traveler knows to turn their devices to 'airplane mode' during flight. Is it myth or fact that wireless signals affect airplanes?



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(via Neatorama

Periodic Table Of Beer

An interactive created by Sunglass Warehouse. They scientifically mapped out the 96 tastiest beers in this Periodic Tavel of Beer. Hover over each square to see the full beer name. Click on a square to finf more details, like brewery name and location.

Remember

(via Bad Newspaper)

The Golden Sahara II By Jim Street

The Golden Sahara II was a custom car made by Jim Street. Here it is seen on a June 25, 1962 broadcast of I've Got a Secret.



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(via Nag on the Lake)

The House Made Of Newspapers

image credit: Danielle Walquist Lynch

If you go to Rockport in Massachusetts, the United States, take some time to drive down Pigeon Hill Street and look out for a sign that says 'Paper House.' The paper house began in 1922 when Elis Stenman, a mechanical engineer, began building a small summer home.

The walls of the Paper House are made up of layers upon layers of old newspapers, glued together until they are about an inch thick, then finished off with a nice coat of varnish. Everything inside the paper house is also made of paper.

10 Secrets Of The Silk Road

Stretching over 10,000 kilometers, the Silk Road extended from the Mediterranean in the west to India in the south, and China in the east. It was formally established in the third century as the principal route linking the East and West.

However, there are accounts of trade along this trail going back much further. Constant flow of goods, technologies, and ideas blurred the lines between Silk Road civilizations and ushered in the modern world.

Short Vacation

Dear readers. For the first in time in 16 years, I am going to take a short vacation, meaning there will be no post for a couple of days.

I'll be back on Monday, 23 January. See you then!

How To Make 2,000-Year-Old-Bread

In AD 79, a baker put his loaf of bread into the oven. Nearly 2,000 years later it was found during excavations in Herculaneum.

The British Museum asked London chef Giorgio Locatelli to recreate the recipe as part of his culinary investigations for the cinema production 'Pompeii Live from the British Museum.'



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The Best Kitchen Gadget Of The 1600s Was A Small, Short-Legged Dog

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In the hot, smoky kitchens of 17th-century Europe, you'd find a lot of things you'd never see in kitchens today; a large open fire, an iron roasting spit, and oh - a giant contraption holding a small, live, constantly running dog.

For hundreds of years the now-extinct turnspit dog was specially bred just to turn a roasting mechanism for meat. And weirdly, this animal was a high-tech fixture for the professional and home cook from the 16th century until the mid-1800s.

10 Secrets Of The Louvre

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For many people all over the world, a visit to the Louvre is a major bucket list item during a trip to Paris. The most-visited museum in the world is also one of the largest and one of the richest in artistic treasures.

The museum employs 2,290 staff members, including 65 curators and 145 conservationists.
The Louvre even has its own squad of 48 firefighters on call 24 hours a day.

How An Igloo Keeps You Warm

If you ever find yourself stranded in the snowy Arctic, you're gonna need to know how to build an igloo. But how can building a house made of ice keep you warm?



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The Fastest Ship In The World

The Francisco is the world's first high-speed ferry that uses liquefied natural gas as primary fuel. The ship can carry 1,000 passengers and 150 cars while surpassing 58 knots.



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Top 10 Biggest Thefts In The History Of Entertainment

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Sometimes, it seems as though there are few original ideas left in entertainment. When every new property just seems like a remixed, reworked, rehashed version of something else, it can be helpful to remember that artists have borrowed ideas from others since time immemorial.

Having said that, there's a line between borrowing and outright larceny. Pablo Picasso said that good artists copy and great artists steal. If that is true, then these are the stories of the greatest artists in history.

Snow Cleaning In Russia

Snow trucks, cleaning the road in Russia.



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19 Stunning Staircases Transformed By Artists Around The World

image credit: Steve Boland

Street art is best known as murals that cover entire walls - and sometimes even the buildings themselves. When painted, public stair art is a stunning and unexpected canvas for portraits, geometric patterns, and intricate mosaics. Here are 18 of the most stunning steps from around the world.

10 Recently Discovered Secret Caches

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Secret documents, CIA weapons, Enigma machines, treasure, and a vast fortune in art are only some of the secret caches investigators and explorers have uncovered in the United States, Spain, Libya, and Germany.

Other such caches, of survival supplies, explosives, tools, correspondence, and even missiles, have been found in Australia, Syria, and elsewhere. These 10 recently discovered secret caches remind us of the marvelous, mysterious, and dangerous world in which we make our home.

Life Accordion To Donald Trump

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Guirec Soudée Explores Greenland For One Year On His Sailboat

Guirec Soudée is a French sailor who is circumnavigating the world on board of his sailboat Scorpio 9 together with his pet chicken Monique. In his latest video you can watch his Greenland experience.



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(thanks Cora)

Dog Afraid Of Car Rides? Here's How To Get Your Dog Comfortable With Riding In The Car

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When a dog is having a hard time with car rides it is an issue from the dog's past. Somewhere the dog decided that car rides are bad. The dog's point-of-view is that the car ride is a horrible thing.

Since there are times when you simply have to get your dog into the car, you should work on these issues sooner - rather than later. Here are the steps for getting your dog comfortable with car rides.

Ruby Seadragon First Glimpse In The Wild

Researchers at Scripps Oceanography and the Western Australian Museum capture on video the first-ever field sighting of the newly discovered third species of seadragon. As they observed two Ruby Seadragons on video, the scientists uncovered new details about their anatomy, habitat, and behavior.



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10 Secrets Of The Sarcophagi

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The word 'sarcophagus' derives from the Greek word for 'flesh-eater.' These stone burial boxes were employed for millennia in ancient Egypt, the Hellenistic world, and the Roman Empire. Their use even continued into the Christian era, when they became a medium for religious iconography.

These upper-class coffins are typically ornately adorned - not only with depictions of the deceased but images of their hopes, dreams, and fears. These images often reflect societal and spiritual ideals, along with cross-cultural stylistic influences.

Subtle

(via Bad Menu)

Boeing Moves Massive Airplane Parts

See how Boeing's Long Load Crew moves spars and stringers over 30 meters long for the Boeing 777, 767, and 747. The steer car is attached to the back of a long truck that hauls large structural components for wings about 70 miles (113 kilometers) from Boeing's Fabrication facility in Frederickson, Wash. to its factory in Everett.



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(thanks Cora)

Picasso's Self-Portraits From 15 Years Old To 90 Year Old

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. He is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of assemblage, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore.

Picasso was exceptionally prolific throughout his lifetime. The total number of artworks he produced has been estimated at 50,000. Of those thousands of paintings were a number of self-portraits through the years that often reflected the various periods of his artistic career.

The Frankincense Trees Of Wadi Dawkah

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For more than 5,000 years, the Arabs have traded two highly prized fragrances - frankincense and myrrh - obtained from trees that grow exclusively in the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula.

The dried, aromatic sap was transported by caravan across the Sinai desert to Egypt, via the so called 'incense route,' from where they were loaded onto ships and sailed to far away destinations across the Mediterranean Sea.

Pirate Parts

Late at night on a pirate ship. A lonely captain wanders the ship deck while mourning the loss of his fallen crew. However, the night takes an unexpected turn when the pirate finds himself face to face with mischievous ghosts.



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(thanks Cora)

Orion, The Man Who Would Be Elvis

image credit YouTube)

By the time he was a teenager, it was clear that Jimmy Ellis had two talents: singing, and inadvertently sounding almost exactly like Elvis Presley.

He wasn't Elvis, but he wanted to be... and a lot of people even thought he might be. Here is the bizarre story of Jimmy Ellis, or, as he was also known, Orion.

10+ Oddly Shaped Fruits And Vegetables

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Hilariously misshapen fruit and vegetables can take the form of animals, or seem to be doing things that humans do, or feel. Yet what gives these fruits and vegetables their quirky shapes?

The answer is simple. It's science! There's a fair few reasons why a fruit or vegetable can grow into an odd shape, but the main reason is damage to its scar tissue. If during its early growth it receives scarring, it can halt growth and cause a deformity.

Perfect Road Paving

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Bristol Sports Bar Pulls Off Amazing Trick Shot

Staff at Bristol's Allstars Sports Bar pull off an amazing trick shot. A golf ball is initially putted down some steps setting off an incredible sequence of events involving multiple pool tables, cues and balls. The shot, which lasts over two minutes, finishes with a golf ball being putted.



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(thanks Cora)

Martha Matilda Harper, The Greatest Businesswoman You've Never Heard Of

image credit Library of Congress)

Nearly 30 years before Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden launched their beauty brands, a former servant girl from Canada created the American hair salon industry, designed the first reclining salon chair, and went on to establish retail franchising as we know it today. Along the way Martha Harper empowered thousands of young women and amassed a fortune.

(via Miss Cellania

How Far Does A Sneeze Travel?

It's flu and cold season, and everyone is trying not to get sick. A flu shot may help you to avoid the worst. But no matter how much you try to protect yourself, it seems someone nearby is sneezing dangerously close to you. How far away do you need to be to stay safe from a sneeze?



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(thanks Adam)

15 Interesting Facts About 'American Gothic' You Might Not Know

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No American artwork has been parodied more than Grant Wood's American Gothic. The story behind the painting is that he was driving around the town of Eldon Iowa and saw an old farmhouse that had a fancy window in it, and he thought it was a bit silly to have a fancy window on such a plain house. So he paid his sister and his dentist to pose as a farmer and his daughter.

While this deceptively simple portrait has clearly captured the imagination of the nation, the story behind its creation and rise to fame makes it all the more compelling.

What?

(via Bad Newspaper)

Chaud Lapin

A snake, a boar, and a hare get into a hairy situation.



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(thanks Cora

The Gibbs Farm: A Wonderland Of Sculptures

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Gibbs Farm is an open-air sculpture park located in Kaipara Harbour, north of Auckland, New Zealand. It contains the largest collection of large-scale outdoor sculptures in New Zealand.

It is the private art collection of New Zealand businessman Alan Gibbs, however, it is open to the public on select days throughout the year, usually once per month, on a bookings-essential basis.