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Cute Animal Friday: Ring-tailed Lemur
by Amanda Arnold | August 26, 2011
This is what lemurs do.
Typically in mobs. Very, very angry mobs. Just kidding. Here’s the deal: It gets cold at night in the Madagascar forest, and a lemur needs to warm up before he or she starts foraging for breakfast. So the ring-tailed lemur, who, incidentally, can purr, meow, howl and bark, goes out to an open space in the forest with his or her mob of lemur buddies and sits like this …
A rich guy in Abu Dhabi has been dabbling in geoglyphs.
Billionaire oil sheikh Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan employed A LOT of people to dig the shape of his first name out of the sand on Al Futaisi Island, which he owns. There are two long miles between ‘H’ and ‘D,’ and the letters are a half a mile from bottom to top.
You’ll also notice that the Caps Lock was on.
On Friday, Chicago’s newest tourist attraction was unveiled on the Magnificent Mile — a 26-foot-tall, aluminum and steel sculpture of Marilyn Monroe. The sculpture, created by artist Seward Johnson, captures a familiar Marilyn moment: She stands over a subway grate, and a gust of wind from the speeding train below whips up her pearly-white skirt, revealing her legs.
Only this sculpture reveals a whole lot more.
I always thought “travel” was just, like, when you go somewhere.
But not everybody thinks every kind of “going somewhere” is worthy of the word. For example, travel writer Paul Theroux thinks you can’t even call travel “travel” unless, during the trip, you “endure a kind of alienation and panic.”
The property was slated to be a parking garage [sigh], but construction workers accidentally excavated something so much more delightful: Roman ruins [wahoo!].
So, the city of Seville, Spain, nixed the garage project and staged a grand design competition — for a structure that would shade and protect the ruins, as well as attract locals and tourists to a plaza in this somewhat down-and-out area of the city.
I know what you’re thinking: Ouch.
But no worries. Unlike the jellyfish that lurk along your nearest coastline, the golden jellyfish of Jellyfish Lake in Palau don’t sting. So, snorkeling with them is pain-free.
Just look at this guy, swimming with the jellyfish to the tune of Radiohead …
I just started reading “Travels With Charlie,” by John Steinbeck, which begins with the words: “When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch.”
Turns out, of course, that maturity doesn’t cure this itch.
Underwater Statue of a Couch Potato
by Amanda Arnold | March 9, 2011
Artist Jason DeCaires Taylor has added a few new installations to his underwater museum off the coast of Mexico. Here’s my favorite of the new folks: a man watching TV and eating a hamburger and fries.
You’re probably thinking: “Dude, put a shirt on.” But no worries; in a few months his body will be cloaked in tiny microscopic sea organisms that like to attach to stony surfaces.
Tone Deaf Whale Cruises Seas Alone
by Amanda Arnold | February 23, 2011
Oh my goodness. A whale has stolen my heart.
Poor little enormous mammal is swimming the seas alone because his voice sounds weird.
Scientists who tracked the whale between 1992 and 2004 say the whale sings at the basso profundo frequency, or “just above the lowest note on a tuba.”
Turkmenistan’s Burning Crater is No Mirage
by Amanda Arnold | February 3, 2011
There’s a fiery crater in Turkmenistan, and I think you should go see it.
Here’s the deal: About 35 years ago, when the area was run by the Soviets, some geologists were drilling for natural gas and struck upon a huge underground cavern filled with the stuff. To “burn off some excess gas,” they decided to set the cavern on fire, according to TreeHugger. Not the best idea: The crater has been aflame since the 1970s.
Recent Postings by Category
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Stuff to Blow Your Mind
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Stuff You Should Know
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The Stuff of Genius
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PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 43: Drag Queens: You Better Work!
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- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 41: Celebrity Couples
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
Stuff to Change the World
- Who will own the Arctic?
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Stuff You Missed in History Class
- Butch Cassidy: Should we read between the lines?
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