cuties

Polycarp pool, the pool of Innalavia

Have you ever had one of those days when you just can’t win?

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Cuteness is a way of aestheticizing powerlessness.

{ Sianne Ngai/Cabinet | Continue reading }

Oh mon petit chou-chat

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Through three separate experiments a team of scientists from Hiroshima University showed that people showed higher levels of concentration after looking at pictures of puppies or kittens. […]

“This finding suggests that viewing cute images makes participants behave more deliberately and perform tasks with greater time and care,” said the researchers, according to the published paper. […]

The study’s authors write that in the future cute objects could be used as a way to trigger emotions “to induce careful behavioral tendencies in specific situations, such as driving and office work.”

{ WSJ | Continue reading }

[a trumpet and drumroll play as Dumbo hesitantly holds back from running out toward the elephant pyramid]

{ Thanks Jessica }

Straight from heaven up above

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Hippos defecate copious amounts into the rivers and ponds in which they wallow all day and also partake of a charming ritual described by hippo experts as ‘dung showering.’

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{ Harry the baby pygmy hippo. | More: Male pygmy hippos control sex ratio with their sperm. | The Pygmy Hippo is rarely seen because of its secretive, nocturnal habits and consequently not much is known of its ecology. }

previously { Are hippos the most dangerous animal? }

Don’t worry about the why when the what is right in front of you

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And there was the snow country. The night had turned white.

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chou-chat was now looking at jellylova w/ tears overflowing out of his eyes and his tears were invisible, water in water, time in time

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{ The three-spined toadfish is the only fish that cries like a baby. It’s not the only fish that can make a noise, however. | full story }

here’s chou-chat:

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Little trip to heaven on the wings of

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{ Blue-faced golden snub-nosed monkeys }