Tresses for Nest-es

Let's hop across the pond and take another delightful visit to the Telegraph's hilariously named "How About That?" section.

The headline states:

THREE BIRDS HAVE MADE NESTS OF BRIAN WILLIAMS' HAIR

No, not THAT Brian Williams (unfortunately). THIS Brian Williams!:



This Brian Williams is a retired teacher whose wife often cuts his hair and then tosses it out into their yard (a little odd, yes, but stay with me).

Well, the curls have been put to use by a goldfinch, a greenfinch and a robin, who have used them to fortify their nests!

Mr. Williams says, "I am going a bit thin on top but there's still some left to help them out." Cute. Just adorable.

The Daily Mail has some more pics too, including one of the actual nests. Don't freak out. It's a little weird.

Sad Gorillas are So Sad

A baby gorilla was recovered from animal traffickers by the Congolese Wildlife Authority after a three month undercover investigation!

According to Virunga National Park in the Congo, the poor little lady was "found concealed under clothes at the bottom of a bag and was suffering from over-heating and dehydration after spending over 6 hours in transit."

The VNP blog has tons of info on the covert op, and even a video of the arrest of the bad guy and recovery of the gorilla:



It's SO sad. She looks so out of it when they first uncover her in the bag. But she's expected to survive, thank goodness. I'll keep you guys posted.

Here's a happier pic of her hammin' it up. "All this fuss about lil' old me?" They haven't given her a name yet but I'm going to call her Lucy. I think she kinda looks like a Lucy.

Nobody Will Ever Be As Awesome As This Person

With their "Best License Plate Ever," accurately dubbed by NYMag.com.

Thanks to Miss Stefania for the tip!

SPROING!

This is Maru, a Scottish Fold cat living in Japan. He LOVES boxes. Watch him try to get into this big box.



He has his own YouTube channel, so there's more where that came from, thank goodness.

"Why'd You Stop?"

Cute lil slow loris.

Fun fact about lorises: The Indonesian name, malu malu, can be translated as "shy one."

!!!

Bad news though, courtesy my buddy Fred, who sent me the vid:

Fred: the one bummer is they're semipoisonous

Slow lorises can produce a toxin which they mix with their saliva and use as protection against enemies. Mothers will lick this toxin onto their offspring before leaving them to search for food. The toxin is produced by glands on the insides of their elbows - the branchial region. The lorises lick or suck it into their mouths and deliver it when they bite. The toxin is not known to be fatal to humans, but causes a painful swelling. If the toxin does not deter a predator, the slow loris will often drop from the branch to the ground and roll into a protective ball.

Actually, they seem pretty clever. I'm liking these lorises.

Cute Things: Simple Sayings Prints

I don't have much to say about these lovely prints. They speak for themselves. (Wocka Wocka Wocka!) Seriously, I want all of them, and they're quite reasonably priced.


Untitled (We are going to make it through this year if it kills us)
by Mike Monteiro on 20x200
8"x10" - Edition of 200, each $20.00
11"x14" - Edition of 500, each $50.00
16"x20" - Edition of 20, each $200.00

Daily Affirmations Print

by SparklePower on Etsy
8" x 10" - $8.00 (!) , custom colors available



Good Luck, I Love You Cut Paper Poster
by BreadandButter on Etsy

16" x 20", framed - $350.00
6.75" x 4.5" letterpress card - $10.00



Work Hard & Be Nice to People Wood Block Print
by Anthony Burrill at Concrete Hermit
20" x 30", approx. $30.00. Shipping (to NY) is approx. $7.

Donuts, Diners, and Dale Cooper

Guys, I recently started watching Twin Peaks, and it's amazing (I know, I'm so far behind. Better late than never, though!) . The show is so moving and scary and funny and all those wonderful things, but I can't stop thinking about the amazing color palette and insane early 90's fashion. The show is just BEGGING to be the inspiration for a fall collection.



(I made this little collage on Polyvore, FYI. Super easy and fun!)

Donna is the best. She just wears these huge baggy sweaters in forest green and bright blue and pale pink. And don't even get me started on Audrey. She was dressing like Peggy from Mad Men before Mad Men even EXISTED. Saddle shoes, people!

Here are a few more choice shots that really show off the peaches, pinks, crimsons, mauves and oranges. I love how there's always one pop of a lighter/brighter color in each shot.






And the visual language of the show is so ripe for graphic design interpretation! Some examples:





Those last two posters from UK graphic designer Lindsay J. Haynes are incredible, right?

And last but not least, the Nike SB "Twin Peaks." You can't see it in this pic, but the inside sole of the shoe is the black-and-white zigzag pattern from the Black Lodge.



Conclusion: Twin Peaks is awesome.

Q.E.D.

BoMG

So he's finally here!

Bo is very cute, but I'm sorry, he's NOT a puppy. He's just not. I wanted a tiny little peanut of a dog the size of a thimble that Obama could carry around in his pocket. Oh well.

Bo's pretty awesome so far though. He seems VERY energetic.

I highly recommend you check out the Presidential Pet Museum, which has loads of info on past presidential pups and ponies.

There's Taft's cow, Pauline Wayne. The last cow at the White House!



Benjamin Harrison's pet goat, Old Whiskers.




Feller, the Unwanted Dog. Harry Truman got him as a present but gave him away to the White House Physician. HOW DO YOU GIVE THIS DOG AWAY??? LOOK AT THAT THING!



Did you know that Calvin Coolidge had three collies, a terrier, an Airedale, a sheepdog, a chow, another chow, a bulldog, a police dog, a bird dog, canaries, a goose, a mockingbird, raccoons, a donkey, and cats? Dignitaries from other countries gave them lion cubs, a wallaby, a pygmy hippo and a bear. WTF, COOLIDGE? Best President ever.

Obamas, get some wallaby babies and maybe you'll be back in my good graces.

Tweenbots? More like WEEPbots.

Because they make me cry so much! Because they bring out the best in people!

NYU student (holla) Kacie Kinzer created the bots as part of a school project. Each bot (like the guy pictured above) has a sign indicating directions (i.e. "Help me get to the southwest corner of Washington Square Park!"). He can only move in a straight line, so he counts on passerby to point him in the right direction.



From Kacie:

"The results were unexpected. Over the course of the following months, throughout numerous missions, the Tweenbots were successful in rolling from their start point to their far-away destination assisted only by strangers. Every time the robot got caught under a park bench, ground futilely against a curb, or became trapped in a pothole, some passerby would always rescue it and send it toward its goal. Never once was a Tweenbot lost or damaged. Often, people would ignore the instructions to aim the Tweenbot in the “right” direction, if that direction meant sending the robot into a perilous situation. One man turned the robot back in the direction from which it had just come, saying out loud to the Tweenbot, "You can’t go that way, it’s toward the road.”

SNIFFFFFF. As I was saying in my Pooh post, inanimate objects can be really special sometimes.

Kacie has more bots on the way. I can't wait!



Thanks to my sis Suzanne for the tip!

Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too

Did you know that Winnie the Pooh- the REAL Winnie the Pooh- is living in New York City?

Winnie, Piglet, Kanga, Eeyore, and Tigger are all on view in their new digs at the New York Public Library in the Children's Room.



That last one is Piglet. Can you believe how cute he is? Oh my lord, he looks like a little potato.

These stuffed animals were gifts from A.A. Milne to his son Christopher Robin, who played with them in the REAL Hundred Acre Woods in England in the early 1920's. The stuffed animals inspired Milne to write the Pooh stories.

ScoutingNY has some lovely photos of the gang in their little case, and a funny anecdote about the well-being of the animals:

In 1998, British Member of Parliament Gwyneth Dunwoody visited the dolls and urged that they be returned to the Britain, saying she “detected sadness.” Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani then announced he had a discussion with Pooh, who apparently told him: “I want everyone in Britain and America to know that we’re very, very happy here in New York City.”

It does look pretty depressing in there. Paint the walls or something, NYPL. Jeez.

Looking at these little guys and thinking of their adventures makes me tear up. Stuffed animals are very powerful.

Example a) the Velveteen Rabbit.



Example b) I am 25 years old and still treat my bear Boofa like he is 100% real. Because he is. Obvs.



Photos of Pooh & Co. from ScoutingNY

You Can Hang Out With This Baby Lamb

Check out this little lady. What a sweet expression! And unlike most cute animals you see on the internet, you can actually go meet her and pet her! Her name is Espresso, and she's at the Central Park Zoo's petting zoo.

She also has two baby bros that were just born, so you can meet those dudes too.

Lambies! Doesn't it feel like spring? Sigh.

The Unsinkable Molly Giraffe

I've been catching up on Zooborns today and there are about a billion things I could post, but this one is so cute it really takes the cake.

Little Molly giraffe was dehydrated and had a low white blood cell count, so the zoo staff had to feed her antibiotics through a catheter in her neck. Which is why she has that ADORABLE BANDAGE.



She's fine now, don't worry.

Fennec HARE

OMG.

People, there is such a thing as a Fennec HARE. This cutie was born at a North Korea Zoo.

He/she reminds me so much of Bean, the bunny Muppet.




Update: Um. So, this thing isn't real. I didn't expect ZOOBORNS to be pulling April Fool's pranks on me. :( Suck it, ZOOBORNS.

Baby Camel

"A one-day-old cub, Jenny, is seen with her 17-year-old mother, Jolan, at the Budapest Zoo Park and Botanic Garden in the Hungarian capital on March 23, 2009. Jenny weighs 35 kilos and was presented to the public for the first time."

Jenny! Also 35 kilos = 77 lbs, which is WAY more than I would have expected. 77 lbs, and she's one day old. CRAZY!

Also I love that look on Jenny's face. Like, "Yeah, I was just born. WHAT?"

Also also, I REALLY like that pigeon in the background trying to hang out with them. "Hi guys! What's up? Nothin' much is up with me, just chillin', so... Anyway..."