ManBabies

Here are some of the most popular entries from the ManBabies website.  Funny, sweet, creepy, or just plain weird?  You decide…

(Thanks to Charlie for the submission!)

Selleck Waterfall Sandwich

Just what it says. Visit the Selleck Waterfall Sandwich website for more, including animated sandwiches and a random high-speed car. Be sure you scroll down far enough to hear the theme song…and be warned, it will stick in your head.

(Thanks to Nick for the submission!)

Awkward family holiday card photos

Some of my favorites from the Awkward Family Photos website (click a thumbnail to see the full photo in all its glory, then use your “Back” button to return to this page):

Hippo and tortoise

This true story has been going around the Internet for years, but it still makes me smile. More proof that differences don’t have to matter.

NAIROBI (AFP) – A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa, officials said. The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean, then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him. “It is incredible.. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a ‘mother’,” ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park, told AFP. “After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately , it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together,” the ecologist added. “The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother,” Kahumbu added. “The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years,” he explained.

(Thanks to Betty for the submission!)

Perspective photos

Some cool perspective photos from the Russian photo/video site, Interesno.dn.ua (click a thumbnail to see a larger image, then use your “Back” button to return to this page):

(Thanks to Tina for the submission!)

Toothpick cities

Artist Stan Munro (although he prefers “architectural historian”) builds entire cities out of toothpicks and a whole lotta glue. According to the Telegraph article:

He has built structures out of toothpicks since his school days when he was asked to build a 6-inch tall structure that could hold an egg.

His was so strong it could hold his desk.

Here are some of my favorites, or check out the entire gallery:

What are you so afraid of?

For me, it was drowning.  Well, swimming, actually.  Despite growing up in Florida, I’ve never been a strong swimmer.  And it’s a fear that’s kept me from participating in so many fun times with friends and family–they go swim in waterfall pools, I stay on the rocks.  Need a day-improver?  Need to conquer that fear.

For me, it took the idea of a friend and the final nudge of my wonderful husband to give me wings (or, in this case, fins).  So I signed up for a triathlon.  No Ironman, just super-sprint distances (still pretty challenging if you’ve never done it before)…but obviously it starts with a swim.  Yes, over the past six weeks, as part of my triathlon training, I’ve relearned to swim–actually, we figured that I’ve probably swam more in the past six weeks than I have in my entire life.  And not only have I not drowned, I’m kinda loving it!

Which is a really long way to say that a great day-improver comes from doing something you never in a million years thought you would or could do.  In mid-October I’ll hopefully post that I’ve just finished my first triathlon.  In the meantime, however, I’m celebrating all firsts–like swimming in a waterfall pool with my husband and our two great friends, Eric and Chrissy, up in the North Carolina mountains.  That first picture up above is the actual waterfall…here’s the proof that I actually plunged myself into the freezing depths and SWAM in it with people I love:

So what are YOU so afraid of, and what’s it holding you back from?  Time to take a little step out of your comfort zone and experience something new.  It’s the ultimate day-improver, not just for the day you do it, but for all the days after!

(Thanks to Eric for finding the path down to the pool, to Chrissy for braving the cold with me, and as always to Paul for knowing I could do it…next step, triathlon!)

Kiss someone’s forehead today!

I hereby declare today (and for that matter, every day) International Kiss Someone’s Forehead Day. As you can see, it’ll make you BOTH feel better!

(Thanks to Nick for the submission!)

Paced breathing

Stressed?  Recent studies have shown that you can calm yourself down (and quickly lower your blood pressure) using special breathing techniques.  “Paced breathing” basically guides you into a regular, slower-than-normal rhythym using audio tones, visual cues, and/or biofeedback devices.  The technique is being used successfully with diabetes patients; however, everyone can benefit from it.

Ready to try?  Watch the videos below, breathing in on the high tones and out on the low tones.  The basic blue circle is a little more hypnotic, the other one features lots of pretty pictures.  You can experiment to see which you prefer…

Kurushio Sea aquarium in HD

Remember those VHS videos of fish you’d pop into your VCR when you wanted to relax? Here’s the 2009 version, with a beautiful soundtrack–”Please Don’t Go” by Barcelona.  Filmed in HD  at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, world’s second largest aquarium and site of the first successful manta ray birth in captivity (they call them “cubs”).  Sooooo relaxing…