New Year’s Eve

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Mapping Emotions On The Body

Close your eyes and imagine the last time you fell in love. Maybe you were walking next to your sweetheart in a park or staring into each other's eyes over a latte. Where did you feel the love? Perhaps you got "butterflies in your stomach" or you're heart raced with excitement. When a team of scientists in Finland asked people to map out where they felt different emotions on their bodies, it found that the results were surprisingly consistent, even across cultures.

 

It’s almost time…

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2013 was a horrorshow

"Yes: 2013 was a horrorshow. The news became a Stephen King short-story collection accidentally being adapted into live events in real time. Even unpleasantly extreme news stories that would normally stand out as the most appalling thing you'd ever heard about were quickly replaced by something even worse. Remember when that footage of a Syrian rebel commander eating a dead man's heart turned up and we assumed we'd collectively experienced a new low for humankind, one that would never be forgotten? Admit it: you'd discarded it completely until I mentioned it just there, and even then you had to squint with your mind's eye to remember what the hell I was going on about. That's the sort of year it was. This was the news, every day: bombings, massacres, murders, celebrity child abuse and high-profile deaths. One after the other. After a while you just thought: no. No. Anything but this. So your brain shut down and started whistling. No wonder The Great British Bake Off's so popular."

 By Charlie Brooker /continue

 

I’m Wishing For One Thing…

…a bunch of carrots, naturally!

 

The Year in Crazy

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Memes and viral videos of 2013

Chris Hadfield has played his cover of David Bowie's Space Oddity on BBC News

The history of the internet - when someone comes to write it - will no doubt look back on 2013 as the year marketers and advertisers finally worked out the internet's secret sauce, the sure-fire way of getting something shared far and wide on the internet, without the need to fill the pockets of television executives. The BBC reached out to Grumpy Cat to see what she made of all this. 

 

No Rides Today

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Sunday morning chillin'

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New Year's resolutions

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

 

Centuries Before China's 'Great Wall,' There Was Another

The Great Wall of China, built more than 2,000 years ago, stands as one of the monumental feats of ancient engineering. Stretching thousands of miles, it protected the newly unified country from foreign invaders. But before the Great Wall, warring Chinese dynasties built many other walls for protection. American archaeologist Gary Feinman recently began surveying one of the biggest.

 

2013's losses

The life works of Nelson Mandela (b. 1918) and Mikhail Kalashnikov (b. 1919) transcend nations and spanned decades. Clay Bennett honors Mandela for choosing reconciliation over retribution, while Arend Van Dam noted that the inexpensive and robust AK47 assault rifle did some of its deadliest work on the African continent.

NPR Double Take 

 

Burnt Trees, Yellowstone

Photograph by Chaoying Zhao 

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Shy Sea Lion

 "The Midriff Islands in the Sea of Cortez are home to large colonies of sea lions. Typically they are quite playful in the water and like to interact with divers, but I spotted this little pup on the rocks sunning itself. I was attempting an over/under shot split below and above the water. After several attempts of going in and out of the water and adjusting my settings, I noticed the sea lion was curious enough to stick his head under the water and see what I was doing. It was one of those rare moments in nature where you feel you actually connect to the marine life."
Ron Watkins


 

A new study probed the surprising diet of threatened alpine pikas.

As the planet continues to warm, conservation biologists worry about the future of species that depend on the cold, such as the furry pikas that live in mountainous areas of North America, Europe, and Asia. But American pikas (Ochotona princeps) may be able to survive a warming planet thanks to a most unusual food source. A new study found that pikas living at lower elevations seem to thrive in part by eating nutrient-poor mosses, which suggests that these animals may be able to adapt their behavior to a warming planet.

 

The Cthulhu Christmas Tree

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Nutella Cinnamon Rolls

These Nutella cinnamon rolls by Gimme Some Oven take something good and make it into something amazing by adding a little magic chocolate and hazelnut flavors. My mouth is watering just
 looking at them.

 

Congrats, U Guys!

Juno the Beluga Whale decides to photobomb a wedding photo at the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut in mid-December. via 

 

Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus lost at airport

Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus walk hand in hand as they ask for directions from a worker inside the Hancock International Airport as they were flying out of the airport instead of using a sleigh and reindeer in Syracuse, USA. via 

Tiger Paintings

This portrait of a tiger in the snow by Eric Wilson is not quite what it first seems. 

 It is in fact a very realistic painting. 

 

Ready to hit the holiday sales, gentlemen?

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Let battle begin

Shoppers have been braving long queues and cold temperatures in a hunt for Boxing Day bargains today as the post-Christmas sales begin.

 

Boxing Day

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Merry Christmas Everyone!

Photo by Bruno Konjević 

 ”Kapulica & Lanterns” event in Zagreb December 23, 2013.

 The event, organized by contemporary artist Kresimir Tadija Kapulica as part of the ArtOmat Fair ahead of Christmas, involves people releasing about a thousand lanterns to symbolize sending own wishes to the universe.

Have a great Christmas and I hope that Santa  brings  everything you want .

 

Rats! Is Santa Here Yet?

No little dudes, that’s not ’til Wednesday. He won’t forget you!