The last of the goat kids have arrived at Zoo Krefeld in Germany. The zoo now has eleven juvenile goats—what a handful! Energetic and playful, they're up to all kinds of mischief, like climbing all over mom.
Photo credit: Vera Gorissen / Zoo Krefeld
See more photos after the fold.
A trio of Sand Cats was born in April at the Czech Republic’s Zoo Brno. The genders of the kittens are not yet known. These petite cats weigh less than seven pounds (3.2 kg) as adults.
Photo Credit: Zoo Brno
These cats are native to northern Africa and southwestern Asia. They are the only wild cats living in true deserts, often far from water. Thick fur protects their paws from the hot desert sand. In extreme heat, they duck into burrows dug by foxes or porcupines, but they can also tolerate very cold temperatures.
Sand Cats hunt small rodents, primarily at night. Their hearing is extremely well developed, allowing them to detect prey underground. Studies have shown that Sand Cats travel three to six miles (5-10 km) each night in search of prey.
Though not currently threatened, Sand Cats live in fragile environments and are not legally protected within some countries. They are bred in zoos as part of the European Endangered Species Programme.
Kevespadathe picture looks like he's doing a fart attack
Get full results and post-fight analysis on Glory 16 Denver right here.
Glory 16 Denver is in the books, and it was another exciting show from the world’s #1 kickboxing company. After a series of shows on foreign soil shown in tape delay in the US, it was great to once again be able to watch the action unfold live. Fans who tuned in to Spike were treated to some great action including wild KO’s, and a highly technical world title fight. Here are the fight by fight thoughts:
[Joyous prospector via Shutterstock / Memo Los Angeles]
Priced out of Malibu? Think about buying a Mojave desert ghost town and preparing it for the endtimes, as did one SoCal gold miner who told his story to the New York Times. Caltech-educated prospector/geologist Gerald Freeman had been coming to the desert since the fifties to look for gold; eventually he struck it rich, set up a mine, and bought a place in Malibu. But the distance between his Mojave mining operation and Malibu started to take its toll, and when the town of Nipton went up for sale in 1984, Freeman bought it for $200,000, according to an LA Times piece from a few years ago. (In gold??) The town had once been a booming railroad and mining burg, but by the eighties, it was pretty dusty, and had only one resident, who sold sodas to travelers who were likely lost on their way somewhere else.
Freeman and his wife and son slowly restored the hotel, a cafe, and a store. "The town is popular with roving motorcycle clubs and at one point sold the most lottery tickets in California," said the LA Times. (Shortly thereafter, another lotto spot opened up and stole away 95 percent of the sales.) Freeman's focus since then has been using alternative fuel sources, especially solar power, to help prep the townspeople for the "oncoming reality" of global climate change. because "The more independent we can become of outside resources, the better."
· A Ghost Town, Going Green [NYT]
· Turning his near-ghost town into a clean-tech boomtown [LAT]
There's a new baby Klipspringer at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago! Klipspingers (Afrikaans for 'rock jumper') are dwarf antelopes so tiny that an adult can fit all four of their hooves on a Canadian dollar coin, approximately 36 mm in diameter.
Born March 30, the female Klipspringer calf is the second offspring of mom Triumph and dad Dash, who were recommended as a breeding pair as a part of the Klipspringer Species Survival Program. The female calf joins her sister Arya, who also resides at the zoo.
Photo credit: Todd Rosenberg / Lincoln Park Zoo
See video of the baby Klipspringer:
“The Klipspringer calf is healthy and eating well and, as a result, has almost doubled her weight since birth,” said Curator of Mammals Mark Kamhout. “Currently, the calf is being hand-reared by our animal care staff after the mother was unable to provide adequate care.”
According to Kamhout, there are many factors that go into the decision to hand-rear an animal including medical condition, maternal care and proper habitat. After observation, the zoo’s animal care staff decided hand-rearing the calf was in the best interest of the animal.
“The calf will continue to receive around-the-clock care behind-the-scenes until she is able to fully navigate the vertical elements of her new habitat in Regenstein African Journey,” said Kamhout.
See and read more after the fold.
Klipspringers are dwarf antelope found in central and eastern Africa that reach an average of 24 pounds (about 11 kg). While small, Klipspringers are mighty - and territorial - using scent glands on their faces to mark their territory and horns to fight for their mate.
While the calf remains off exhibit, zoo guests can still visit Klipspringers in Regenstein African Journey daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Kevespada"...I couldn't believe how big she was. And long too ... That's what we like: long and big. That's what I am," [the father] said.
A Massachusetts woman is currently recuperating after giving birth to a baby girl weighing 14 pounds and 8 ounces. All together now: Wince. Somebody get that lady a cocktail and an economy-sized bottle of ibuprofen.
Kevespadaperfection
A Pygmy Hippo has been born at Bristol Zoo Gardens in England! The calf, born in early February, has been named Winnie. She was born to mom Sirana and father Nato, and lives with them on exhibit at the zoo. She spends her time eating, sleeping, and swimming around the exhibit’s heated pool.
Baby hippos are usually born underwater and can swim almost immediately. However, mom still keeps a watchful eye on her calf.
Assistant Curator of Mammals Lynsey Bugg says, “Young hippos tire easily and Sirana will quite often guide her baby into shallow water or bring her out of the pool. Sirana is very protective and doesn’t let her stay in deep water for too long."
Photo credits: Katie Horrocks (1-3); Western Daily Press (4,5)
Pygmy Hippos are much smaller than their big cousins the Common Hippopotamus, measuring just under three feet (.9 m) tall at the shoulder as adults. They are well adapted to aquatic life, with a nose and ears can be closed underwater. Shy and nocturnal, they live in the forests and swamps of West Africa.
In the wild, females usually breed once every two years. A single calf is born after a gestation period of about six months. A calf weighs between 10 to 14 pounds (4.5 and 6.2 kg) and is unable to walk very far at first. The mother conceals it in thick cover and visits to feed it. After three months, the youngster begins to eat vegetation.
The Pygmy Hippo is threatened in the wild, where it is thought less than 2,000 survive. In Liberia, destruction of forests surrounding the Sapo National Park by logging companies is damaging one of the few remaining strongholds for this species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the Pygmy Hippo as Endangered.
Bristol Zoo Gardens is part of an international captive breeding program for the Pygmy Hippo. Buggs says, “The European program is a well-established and very successful program and our male, Nato, is a genetically important animal; by default, so will be his offspring."
Kevespadajo
No doubt you've got a few hundred bucks just burning a hole in your pocket. Luckily, there's an absurd luxury clothing collection to relieve you of your unwanted cash. Feast your eyes on a $340 pair of shoes decorated with poop emojis.
The Getty is a world-class museum, but perhaps that's why it's packed to the gills on the weekends. If you were hoping to actually see the art instead of being pushed past it, you just got a new option. Called "Art Project," this Google feature allows you to navigate some of the best museums across the globe from your computer. You could choose to just look at the hits in detail (over 3,000 of the museums works are spotlighted), or you could select "Museum View" from the Getty's page, and suddenly you're in the museum. (You could also wander the grounds and interior in good ol' Google Street View.) Some of the (more notable?) pieces have a button which you can use to zoom in on the works close enough to see brushstrokes on Van Gogh's Irises or Titian's Venus and Adonis. We wish we'd known about this before the massive 405 overhaul was winding down.
· Art Project: J. Paul Getty Museum [Official site]
· J. Paul Getty Museum [Google Street View]
[Photographs: Erin Jackson]
I tried Peeps for the first time four years ago and couldn't really understand the appeal (besides torturing them in the microwave). Given the choice between a classic Peep and a stale marshmallow that rolled under the couch sometime last Christmas, I would have gone marshmallow every time.
That is, until I tried four exclusive flavors available at Walmart ($1.08 for a pack of 10): Bubble Gum, Sweet Lemonade, Party Cake, and Blue Raspberry—the newest edition to the line. As far as candy coated-marshmallows go, they're all surprisingly delicious, taste exactly as advertised, and for people who want more than just mallow flavor, are a huge improvement over the classic Peeps. There's also a sour watermelon flavor, but the store closest to me was out of stock.
Top: Bubble Gum, Blue Raspberry; Bottom: Sweet Lemonade, Party Cake
The Party Cake Peeps taste like yellow sheet cake with vanilla frosting. Under the green sprinkles and flecks of rainbow sparkles, the marshmallow chicks are even the same tone as the classic cake. This flavor is the most straight-forwardly sweet of the foursome I sampled, but also the least exciting since it's so one-note.
Sweet Lemonade is a good choice if you want something different but not too crazy. A touch of tartness cuts through the otherwise very sugary lemon flavor, bringing some balance, but overall, like the name implies, this Peep still leans heavily towards the sweet side of the flavor spectrum. That being said, I think smushing a Sweet Lemonade Peep between two halves of a strawberry would be pretty excellent.
The Bubblegum Peeps hold nothing back, and taste exactly like full-sugar bubble gum. Even when I circled back through the flavors for a second taste, I was surprised at just how intense the flavor is... especially compared to classic Peeps, which don't taste like much. I was sure it would be my favorite flavor until I tried the Blue Raspberry.
Damn, Peeps. You really nailed it with this flavor. The tart/sweet balance is perfect, the flavor is full-on, and the color is just right. I almost feel bad for beheading all 10 chicks in various ways... and then doing this...
Look at those Peeps. So young, so innocent.
Peeps, meet the microwave
So... dead.
About the author: Erin Jackson is a food writer and photographer who is obsessed with discovering the best eats in San Diego. You can find all of her discoveries on her San Diego food blog EJeats.com. On Twitter, she's @ErinJax
On March 23 of this year, a ragtag group of comedians, actors, and basketball players assembled to do a live table read of Space Jam, the 1996 Michael Jordan–Looney Tunes "classic." The cast included Blake Griffin as Jordan, and Seth Green, Paul Scheer, Nick Kroll, Ben Schwartz, Danielle Fishel, and others, as a variety of talking animals, aliens, and '90s basketball players. Sadly, the whole thing isn't online, but Funny or Die has a delightful ten-minute highlight reel. It's like one of Jason Reitman's LACMA live-readings but a bit more highbrow.
Read more posts by Jesse David Fox
Filed Under: space jam ,blake griffin ,seth green ,paul scheer ,nick kroll ,ben schwartz ,danielle fishel ,stage reading ,movies ,candy
The MIT Media Lab's Social Computing Group has created a really delightful project called You Are Here (via io9): "Every day for the next year, we will make a map of a city in which we have lived. Each of these maps will be an aggregation of thousands of microstories, tracing the narratives of our collective experience." One of their first endeavors is an interactive map with points for every one of the 2,043 bike crashes reported in Los Angeles in 2012, plus data on which streets are the most crash-prone (longer ones, naturally) and Google Street View for each crash area (a lot of nastily-wide intersections).
Olympic, 72 crashes
Venice, 63
Sunset, 55
Van Nuys, 54
Pico, 52
Washington, 49
Vermont, 49
Sherman, 46
Wilshire, 43
Western, 42
· Biking Accidents, Los Angeles [You Are Here]
Kevespada"I don’t know what Paul Newman’s situation is, but I make sauce."
Kelis has a new album out this week and it's streaming over at NPR. Food is not only where she's at musically, but it's where she's at professionally, too — she's got a sauce line called Feast and a show on the Cooking Channel. The New York Times Magazine recently asked her about how those things relate and it went a little like this:
You’re like Paul Newman.
I don’t know what Paul Newman’s situation is, but I make sauce.
That's right.
Stream the full album over at NPR.
Read more posts by Lindsey Weber
Filed Under: music ,kelis ,food ,right-click
Murphy told the Guardian he didn’t notice the animal’s peculiarities the night of its birth late last month. In the light of day, it was clear something different had landed at his farm in County Kildare, Ireland.
For one, the black baby came from a white ewe, but apparently colors can shift between generations of sheep. A few other signs had Murphy thinking a billy goat might have, um, intervened. The animal moved faster than a normal lamb thanks to its long, spindly legs. It also had a pair of goat-like horns atop his head.
On thinking back, Murphy remembered one ambitious goat cavorting with the ewes five months earlier. “On the hill, on the back end of last year, the ewe’s were tippin’ and there was a goat tippin’ ‘em as far as I could see,” he told the Irish Farm Journal.
The pieces fit. Murphy is now asking geneticists to confirm his suspicion that the little black bundle of joy has got some goat.
“He has been a great source of craic for the lads in the pub, we might even have a competition to name him,” Murphy said. “Craic,” if you are wondering, is a Gaelic word for gossip or fun.
Armed with notorious libidos, goats have been known to completely disregard the barrier between species when an unlucky sheep is nearby. Few of those attempts result in living animals.
Rams have a set of 54 chromosomes bundling their DNA and sheep have a full set of 60. The genetic gap means most geeps come out stillborn, but every once in a while the math works out. One healthy hybrid born to a veterinarian in Botswana split the difference with a set of 57 chromosomes. Others geeps have popped out in Chile, Jamaica, Malta and Germany, where Lisa the geep earned coos from around the world.
Many have proposed the name of “shoat” for the rare genetic hybrids, but as luck would have it, that’s already the name for a young pig.
So for now, Murphy is classifying the little guy as a geep until the public can help him land on something more specific.
The post Geep, Geep! Rare Goat-Sheep Hybrid Born on Irish Farm appeared first on Modern Farmer.
· "[A]ny big earthquake will overload the cell phone network," but post-quake, texts are more likely to get through than phone calls because they use less bandwidth.
· The chance of your building collapsing is very small, but that's not the only place you might be when the shaking starts. Have comfy shoes, a first aid kit, water, and a flashlight in your car.
· Though the chance of your building totally falling to pieces is small, there's still a chance: "Your building is only as good as the code that was in place when it was built. That means in general that older buildings perform worse than newer ones. They can be retrofitted but that has never been required - with the one exception of 'unreinforced masonry buildings'. These are the worst possible buildings and the retrofit is only to keep them from killing you."
· The upside to drought? At least we don't have to worry about soil liquefaction too much. (It is as it sounds: If the water pressure underground is too high, the pressure can't escape and temporarily turns the soil into quicksand.) "[W]e have drawn down the water table to such an extent that very few of our soils are water saturated" enough to cause this phenomenon. Whew! Wait, no ... that's terrible.
· Homeowners: Get in touch with a foundation specialist to see what you can do to make your house more structurally sound in preparation for an earthquake. Get a few estimates.
· Renters: You're out of luck because there's no way at present to tell how safe your building is. "One part of my project here at LA is to find a way to get that information to consumers so they can make their own choices about how safe they want their buildings to be." Anyone living in a post-1997 building is as safe as possible; everyone else is on their own. So find a friend who owns and make their home your shelter.
· A gap or drop in the number of earthquakes doesn't necessarily mean that a bigger one is coming, though when the "rate of smaller earthquakes goes up, your chance of a bigger earthquake goes up."
· Because there's no "big subduction zone fault" on LA's coast, the risk of tsunami is relatively small. In that respect, we're luckier than other coastal cities at high-risk for earthquakes.
· "Drop, Cover, Hold On" is still the best thing to mutter comfortingly to yourself (and to actually do) in an earthquake. "[T]he most frequent injury in California is from falling objects or trying to run." The best place to go is wherever you have to move the least to get to. (Under a table is good.)
· After a big earthquake, you've got a whole new host of things to be worried about, like "potentially catastrophic" fires.
· I am Dr. Lucy Jones, USGS Seismologist & Earthquake Adviser for Mayor Garcetti – AMA [Reddit]
By dirty I mean LITERALLY. She looks like she has been dancing in a BBQ pit. This bionic woman is part of an exhibit. I do not know the context of this showpiece, so maybe soot all over her might make sense. The audio at the end is equally as creepy, but I’m sure it’s supposed to be thought provoking. Either way, this animatronic choreographed masterpiece is going to haunt my dreams.
That Eyes Wide Shut mask isn’t helping either.
Sweet dreams, Gigglers!
The post Nightmares From YouTube: Dirty Dancing Fembot appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Michael: Has anyone in this family ever even seen a chicken?
For British Eyes Only - 3x02
submission by underscorex
Peeps are one of the most fun candies you can eat around Easter. The fluffy marshmallows manage to have a good mix of sweet and cute that makes the a favorite for people of all ages. There are a few Peep pans out there, but none will make a Peep as impressive as this 3D Peeps Pan. The pan bakes a giant Peep that is easily 10 times the size of a standard Peep chick, which makes for an impressive centerpiece at Easter or a fun birthday cake for a big Peep fan.
The pan has two pieces that snap together to give it a Peep shape. Batter is added to the lower portion of the pan and the top half is snapped in place, so when the batter rises, it will fill up the unfilled half of the Peep pan. The pan bakes on it side, not upright, and it has a metal projection on the top of the Peep’s head that allows it to sit flat and even in the oven. That said, you might want to place it on a baking tray just so it is easier to maneuver in and out of the oven with potholders on. Once it is baked, you can slather it with frosting and a generous layer of colored sanding sugar to give it a really authentic Peep look.
The pan is backordered on the Wilton site right now, but I have also seen it for sale in craft stores like Michael’s and Joanne, so you might be able to pick one up by searching through their baking section or where they keep their Easter goodies.
Kevespadait wasn't me
Pinterest is the latest victim of hacking, which has resulted in people seeing less creative lifestyle inspiration and a lot more butts.
Peeps are one of the most iconic Easter candies – right up there with hollow chocolate bunnies. The colorful, sugar-coated marshmallows are enjoyed every spring by both young and old. They’re so popular, that they’re soon going to be available year-round and there are all kinds of spin-off products that allow you to enjoy Peeps in other ways. This Wilton Peeps Silicone Mold is one of those products. It’s a silicone baking pan that has 12 cavities in the shapes of Peeps chicks and bunnies, so that you can make your own Peep-themed treats at home.
The mold is both oven and freezer safe, which means that it is very versatile. You can pipe homemade marshmallows into the molds to create your own homemade Peeps that look just like the real thing. You can use them to make little gelatin Peeps, or freeze them into Easter ice cubes. You can also fill them with cupcake batter to bake bunny and chick tea cakes. Whatever you make with the pan, you’ll capture the fun of Peeps and create cute little treats that are perfect for springtime celebrations.
I spotted this pan at Michaels, but it might be available from other cake and craft stores that stock Wilton products. It’s seasonal, so it is one of those things that you need to pick up when you see it – or you might have to wait until next spring for your next chance.
Kevespada"Jesus never tapped out."
A new documentary focusing on the world of "Christian MMA" features top UFC fighters Jon Jones and Benson Henderson in between complaining about men being feminized and a fairly brutal full-contact bout between kids.
Kevespadamameshibaaaa
Sanrio has introduced a new sad sidekick for Hello Kitty and his name is Gudetama. He is an egg yolk, literally, and appears to be the Eeyore of the crew, though his woe-is-me demeanor is probably because he’s just waiting to be eaten.
Everyone's favorite Spring Breakers star/MFA student James Franco was up to some sketchy shit two days ago. Namely, he attempted to pick up a 17-year-old girl via Instagram direct message.
[Image via Hkpuipui99 / Curbed LA flickr pool]
Los Angeles is changing its identity. It's moving away from the car and the single-family house and toward transit and denser living. And now it's even getting dramatically less sprawly. According to a study from Smart Growth America that factored in density, land use mix, robustness of "activity centers" like downtowns, and street accessibility (length of blocks, etc.), the LA metro area is now the twenty-first least sprawly place in the US, and the seventh least sprawly among metropolitan areas with more than one million residents. (The study also reminds us that LA is the second densest place in the US overall, after New York.)
Los Angeles's staggering urban density, coupled with denser housing developments and the efforts to improve transit, all helped make LA the "biggest success story," according to one researcher quoted in The Atlantic Cities. "Los Angeles has actually densified very substantially," says that researcher, and the report specifically calls out the area for its anti-sprawl policies, including a push for light rail and transit-oriented development and giving out density bonuses, which let developers build more densely if they include affordable housing.
In the end, says one urban planner, the reduced sprawl is the result of the demands and tastes of the population, especially "young professionals and empty-nesters," as the LA Times puts it, who value walkability and are willing to pay for it. So people like living in less sprawly places, it turs out, and that of course means they're expensive: "the places that fared best on the sprawl index – which is topped by New York and San Francisco – also tend to have high housing costs."
· A Ranking of the Most Sprawling U.S. Metro Areas, and Why You Should Care [TAC]
· Los Angeles Is Changing In The Two Most Fundamental Ways [Curbed LA]
The former UFC champ tells a Brazilian paper that he's working towards joining the Los Angeles Police Department.
Future UFC Hall of Famer Anderson Silva has revealed a surprising new hobby to the Brazilian press, by way of MMA Fighting's Guilherme Cruz:
"I train every morning, take my kids to school and go to the police school," Silva told Folha de Sao Paulo in Brazil. "I'm studying at the Los Angeles School Police Department. I'm studying to become a police officer."
Silva doesn't plan to put on the uniform and fight against crime, though. According to the UFC star, he wants to honor his uncle, who raised him in Curitiba.
"It's a personal wish, something that will make my uncle happy," he explained. "He thought it was a little weird that I'm not doing this here (in Brazil), but it wasn't the right time. My brothers are police officers, my nephews are police officers. It's a family thing."
So rest assured, even though snapping his lower left leg at UFC 168 is going to keep him out of the Octagon for all of 2014, the Spider is keeping himself busy.
[Photos by Elizabeth Daniels]
After a two-year closure, one of Glendale's loveliest assets, the Brand Library & Art Center, is now ready to begin a new chapter. Located in the Verdugo foothills, the library is housed in a 1904 mansion that was once the home of early Glendale developer Leslie C. Brand and his wife Mary Louise. Dubbed El Miradero, the residence was designed by Leslie Brand's brother-in-law Nathaniel Dryden with a late-Victorian interior and an Indo-Saracenic exterior modeled after the East Indian Pavillion at the 1893 Colombian Exposition in Chicago, which Mr. and Mrs. Brand had attended. The wealthy couple hosted many grand affairs at El Miradero, including 1921's legendary fly-in party, during which the estate's gates were locked and the only way to gain access was to land a private plane on the property's landing strip. Brand, who died in 1925, bequeathed El Miradero to the city, his will stipulating that the property be used exclusively for a public park and library. Following Mary Louise's death in 1945, the residence was converted into a library. It opened in 1956, with an adjacent gallery and 140-seat recital hall added in 1969.
Glendale's City Council approved plans for a restoration of the century-old house and further expansion of the facilities back in 1998, but they were scaled down significantly by subsequent budget crises. Work on the project finally began in 2012, with architecture firm Gruen Associates overseeing the $9.5-million project in partnership with Offenhauser/Mekeel Architects. Updates include seismic bracing, a reconfigured entrance, a new roof, new HVAC, plumbing, and electrical systems, and enhancements to make the site compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Preservation specialists Spectra also played a major role in the rehab, uncovering, restoring, and reproducing original interior aspects that had been lost over time, including ceiling stencils, wall colors, windows, doors, and the home's main fireplace. Fragments of El Miradero's original ceiling murals that had been hidden behind asbestos for decades have been mounted for display in the library's solarium, while a small section of its unreinforced masonry walls can be seen framed between two newly reintroduced windows in one of the reading lounges.
Updates to the Brand's commodious art annex include new gallery walls, a new kitchen suitable for catering large events such as weddings or openings, and a new plaza for outdoor concert/dance performances. Currently on exhibit through May 5 is "Turmoil and Tranquility," featuring works from artists Jill Knox, Gilda Davidian, Razmik Samvelts, Natasha June, and Jon Rajkovich; a schedule of upcoming exhibits, performances, lectures, and screenings can be found here.
· Brand Library & Art Center [Official Site]
This picture (now burning up Reddit's front page) of several members of the Game of Thrones cast straight chillin' is simply fantastic. From left to right: Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne), Indira Varma (Ellaria Sand), Finn Jones (Loras Tyrell), Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister), Conleth Hill (Varys), and Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister). And here are two more pictures from Headey's Instagram feed.
Headey with Charles Dance, who plays her on-screen dad Tywin.
Read more posts by Gilbert Cruz
Filed Under: photos ,game of thrones ,lena headey ,peter dinklage ,off duty ,candy
