I always tell the girls, never take it seriously, if ya never take it seriosuly, ya never get hurt, ya never get hurt, ya always have fun, and if you ever get lonely, just go to the record store and visit your friends.

Narwhals: Jousting for Superiority

For a brief period during the summer weeks the sea ice around arctic inlets melts, leaving the ocean waters dotted with floating icebergs. Great chunks of ice drift serenely through freezing waters, and arctic birds stand watch ready to pluck their prey from the icy depths. This is the perfect time to view one of the ocean’s most elusive spectacles: male Narwhals – the unicorns of the sea – jousting for superiority…

(read more: Brainz.org)

Watch a bunch of surfers rescue a great white shark pup that became stranded near Venice Pier after getting snagged on a fishing line.

RIP: Heidi, the cross-eyed opossum who gained fame and fortune in her native Germany because of her crossed eyes, was put to sleep by her handlers at Leipzig Zoo. She was three-and-a-half.

The zoo said its hand was forced by Heidi’s chronic illnesses, specifically arthritis, which zoo director Jörg Junhold attributed to old age. Opossums aren’t generally expected to live longer than four years.

Heidi was born in May 2008. She resided in Denmark’s Odense Zoo before being transferred to Leipzig, where she was unveiled to the public in December 2010.

When the cookie package says “DO NOT EAT RAW COOKIE DOUGH”:

Famous photographs in history turn into Lego by Balakov

Trying to forget about something is rarely a useful strategy. Sometimes, the more we try to forget, the more we remember. For example, if I tell you that whatever you do – do not think about Pink Elephants, chances are that this did not work. Why? Because in order not to think about it, you must first conjure up a rosy colored pachyderm, and then try to erase the image. This is a task of elephantine proportions!

The fact is that every time we command ourselves to ‘just forget about it’, the more we remind ourselves. Thus the only viable strategy left is to forgive, which leaves your memory intact (preserving whatever important life lessons you have gleaned), but allows for the hurt and bitterness to dissipate.

The rat race of modern life combined with our future-mindedness keeps us from appreciating the present moment. So savor the present. A study finds that those who routinely savor, who anticipate positive events and relish them in the moment, are happier and more satisfied with life.

Straight up, you will probably cry.

“I’ve been thinking about you constantly since I left, wondering why the journey I’m on seemed to have led through you. I know my journey’s not over yet, and that life is a winding path, but I can only hope it somehow circles back to the place I belong. That’s how I think of it now. I belong with you.”

—	Nicholas Sparks

Don’t take it off your mirror until the her0inchic challenge is over!

A study shows that people who write gratitude letters and send them feel significantly happier for several weeks afterward. So go ahead and complete the #2 challenge! Gratitude improves your satisfaction with life because it revivifies your good memories and colors how you interpret them. On top of this, those who are grateful are less at risk for negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, or envy. Whenever you feel particularly mistreated by life, consider the ramifications of losing one of your senses, or the function of some part of your body. Remember the last time you were ill, or had a toothache, or headache, and appreciate just how wonderful normal is.

Barack Obama signs the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell into law.

Lest we forget the ongoing political violence in Syria, the story of Zainab and Mohammed Alhusni brings us back to reality. Last week, a gruesome video surfaced reportedly showing the decapitated and mutilated body of 18-year-old Zainab Alhusni. (Note: Despite my typical lack of hesitation to post graphic videos on this blog, I will not post this video. You can find it easily enough if you look.) The Alhusni family was dealt two large losses in one day: discovering the bodies of their daughter Zainab and son Mohammed.

CNN’s Salma Abdelaziz wrote a detailed piece Monday on the brother and sister and human rights group Amnesty International also released information last week on their deaths.

According to a family neighbor, Mohammed Alhusni was a well-known activist whom Syrian authorities tried to find for several months. The family left their neighborhood on July 25 after their home was raided several times. Two days later, Zainab went missing.

Authorities reportedly called the family and wanted to exchange Zainab for her brother Mohammed. The family refused, not knowing if Zainab was alive.

After joining a demonstration on September 10, Mohammed was killed, allegedly tortured to death and with gunshot wounds to his chest and mouth, according to his brother. When the family went to pick up his body at the hospital, they made an unsettling discovery. Warning: graphic detail.

The family went to collect Mohammed’s body from a hospital when doctors told them another unclaimed body with the label “Zainab Alhusni” had been kept in the morgue’s freezer for some time.

When the family received the body, her head and arms had been chopped off. Chunks of her flesh were charred, appearing in places to have been melted or burned down to the bone.

Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, responded to the news of her death: “If it is confirmed that Zainab was in custody when she died, this would be one of the most disturbing cases of a death in detention we have seen so far.”

Read more at CNN.

 

Harper, an 11-week-old pit bull born with a debilitating disorder commonly known as “swimmer puppy disorder,” was found in a trash bag and brought to a shelter to be euthanized.

Dogs with pectus excavatum can’t walk and aren’t expected to survive, but Harper was lucky enough to find shelter regular Erica Daniel, who took the puppy home and, with a little TLC, slowly helped Harper learn to stand on her own four paws.

Daniel admits falling in love with Harper was not what she had in mind — “I’d planned on taking her home that night,” she told NBC’s Today, “letting her sleep in bed with us, and having her humanely euthanized in the morning” — but felt she couldn’t just give up, especially after seeing Harper’s determination to walk around on her own.

“The whole world was against her, but she’s such a fighter,” says Daniel. “She’s a blessing. She’s awesome.”

The Beinecke Library at Yale.

I wonder how many books, or better yet, how many words are gathered there in that tower.

Someone please tell the New York Times that, at $199 vs. the iPad’s $499, the Kindle Fire’s price won’t so much “undercut” as it will “chop everything off below the iPad’s nipples.”

SERIOUSLY WATCH THIS.

this was quite possibly the very best news cast I have ever seen, in my entire life.

Meanwhile, the “99 percent” wrapped up the 11th day of their Wall Street “occupation” with some “star power” in the form of Susan Sarandon, who lent her support to the cause.

I’ll just leave this right here…

Libya: Use Forensic Experts to Exhume Prison Grave

Unprofessional Exhumations Can Destroy Evidence of 1996 Abu Salim Killings

“December may be the loneliest month, April the cruelest, but May is the peak time for suicide. No one knows why, but I can guess: You’ve made it through another winter, but your world is no warmer.”

—	Roxanne Roberts The Grieving Never Ends

Peter Coulson puts such an effective high fashion spin on this shoot that you might not, at first glance, realise the clothing comes from Gallery Serpentine – purveyors of corsetry and alternative couture. But that’s Coulson’s specialty: mixing fashion with fetish. Actual fetish, not just the latest Louis Vuitton patent leather cap interpretation. Model Alicia has the right mix of soft beauty and hard piercings, all brought out strikingly by Coulson’s strong black and white photography style.

It’s not necessarily about dressing on trend; but then if the mood is right not all fashion shoots have to be.

Photographer: Peter Coulson 
Model: Alicia @ London Models
Hair & Make-up: Natascha Verkaik
Designer: Gallery Serpentine
Assistant: Kelly Defina

Don’t be a part of this. Break the effect.

 

Projector Ring