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Awooo!

Perfect wolf cloud pic.twitter.com/4yIZgYmjht

— I_love_nature (@i_iove_nature) July 22, 2018

Bug buddy

Fossils found from the Triassic Period 190 million years ago indicate that the giant weta of New Zealand is an insect species that’s older than some dinosaurs. Certain arthropod-happy New Zealanders keep them as pets. Wetas have ears on their knees. Some are as heavy as two sparrows or three mice. And they love eating carrots! I don’t think they play fetch. But they might bring you your slippers in the morning!

Happy Fourth of July!

Fourth of July is a holiday traditionally celebrated with fireworks. And fireworks come in many forms. Colorful explosions of flowers. Vibrant crayon drawings. And corn!

This is glass gem corn, a heritage variety cultivated by Oklahoma farmer Carl “White Eagle” Barnes.

Photo and story found at Seedbroadcast

Seed-keeper Carl was half-Cherokee, half Scottish-Irish, and in the course of growing older corn varieties he was able to isolate and cultivate ancestral types that had been lost to various Native tribes after their relocation to the Oklahoma territory in the 1880s. Carl’s philosophy: “The Seed Remembers.”

I stand in a radiant Glory

My roots in the heart of Mother Earth

My crown in the clouds of Father Sky

The Four Winds encircle me in spirals of Love

One going up, then down

One going down, then up

They meet in the Center of Complete Perfection—

The Human Stalk of Corn

—Carl Barnes

Out with the bang!

Ugly beauty

The prize for World’s Ugliest Dog 2018 has been awarded at the hotly-contested competition at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma, California.

So…who was the winner of this prestigious prize?

Was it Himisaboo, from Oregon, seen here parading unattractively?

No.

Could the winner be Wild Thang, from Los Angeles, putting her worst face forward?

No.

The winner of World’s Ugliest Dog 2018 is unbeatable, unsightly Zsa Zsa from Minnesota!

Zsa Zsa is not expected to spend her $1,500 prize money on beauty treatments.

Happy Father’s Day!

Thanks, Dad, for all you’ve put up with. You’re the best!

When every action has a fun reaction

Kinetic artist Joseph Herscher is the creative genius behind YouTube’s Joseph’s Machines. His amazing chain-reaction devices are sometimes referred to as Rube Goldberg machines. Rube Goldberg was an American cartoonist who drew complicated gadgets that performed simple tasks. Behold the diagram for Rube Goldberg’s Self-Operating Napkin!

And here’s Joseph Herscher’s tooth-brushing technique.

More work=less fun is true in most cases.

Not with Joseph’s Machines!

Check out more of them on YouTube.

The write stuff

Nine-year-old Edbert Aquino, of Fairview, New Jersey has won the Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest.

He is the third-grader with the best penmanship in the country.

I would like Edbert to write my name!

Poster jokester

Comic author Jeff Wysaski sneaked some new information into the Los Angeles Zoo recently. I bet even the animals were smiling at these fun “facts”!

Jeff then brought the smiles to a Los Angeles animal shelter to help kitties get a forever home.

Jeff’s project Obvious Plant is dedicated to putting humorous posters, brochures, and products in places where they are sure to tickle funny bones. In need of a chuckle or two? Follow Obvious Plant on Instagram! And check out Jeff at pleated-jeans.com.