Theme rooms for the furry friendly

French workers tired of the rat race have been offered the chance to live like a hamster for the night instead. For only 99 euros a night (£88), people in Nantes can cage themselves in the specially-designed hotel.  (video after jump…)

“Whoa dude! Clean your lens or something”
The photos we have this week are guaranteed to hit you from left field. In fact, that’s where we keep all the things we want to hit you with – left field. If you are ever interested in going to left field, just turn around, you’ll find it on your blind [...]

Don’t go bumping these cars!

Here’s an interesting up-cycling story about some boy toys that have found legal ground and even more fun from a bumped up perspective.
“Bumper cars were crazy fun when I was a kid. Even as an adult today, they still look immensely entertaining and I’d probably be on one every weekend if only [...]

Only available to the US Military (and Blackwater employees?), this new shotgun is fully automatic and can shoot a mini-missle.

This photograph shows a female of an as yet un-named boneworm in the genus Osedax, which has been carefully removed from the whale bone in which it was growing.
It sounds like a classic horror story — eyeless, mouthless worms lurk in the dark, settling onto dead animals and sending out green “roots” to devour their [...]

A clear silk film, about one centimeter squared, with six silicon transistors on its
surface about to be implanted into a mouse (Photo: Rogers/Omenetto)

 Tattooing dates back to at least Neolithic times and has experienced a resurgence in popularity in many parts of the world in recent years. Advancements in tattoo pigments and the refinement of [...]

 Designer Marcus Tremonto created a lamp made out of carbon fiber. He selected this material for the Carbon 451 Lamp because it is strong enough to support its own weight but thin enough to present the aesthetic qualities Tremonto wanted:
When asked by art gallery owner Patrick Brillet to design a piece out of Carbon Fiber, [...]

Jeff Brunner offers this scathing critique of the values that the Disney Princesses teach girls. After the jump, you can view a response about what Disney teaches boys  (would be princes).

It was tiny music to the ears, but their cuteness was overwhelming
Each week the photos that come across our desk are both amazing, weird, mysterious, strange, and wonderful. And those are just the photos that people have take of me.  A great photo is an inspiring piece of culture. It has a way of capturing [...]

Hmmm. Not sure if the final score really matters
What started as an interesting alternative to the Super Bowl halftime show has quickly become an official sport.
The Lingerie Football League entertained halftime viewers in 2004, and quickly took off. Now some of the strongest, fastest and sexiest female athletes go head-to-head in the full-contact sport, wearing [...]

New data from rats with head-mounted microscopes shed light on how we put the world together seamlessly while we move around.
By building a tiny microscope small enough to be carried around on a rats` head, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, have found a way to study the complex [...]

The Irish accent has beaten its French counterpart as the world’s sexiest.
Men with an Emerald Isle brogue came top in a poll of 5,000 women worldwide, while the French accent only came fourth, just ahead of Australian.
Italian was second. In third place was the Scottish burr. English was sixth and Swedish was seventh, with Spanish, [...]

New research finds that a quick glance at someone’s facial structure may be enough for us to predict their tendency towards aggression.
Angry words and gestures are not the only way to get a sense of how temperamental a person is. According to new findings in Psychological Science, a quick glance at someone’s facial structure may [...]

Message-sent is often different than message-received
Professing your love (or lust) takes just a few seconds of typing in the age of flirtexting, also famously known as sexting. While ‘XOXO’ stands for hugs and kisses, ‘French’ is the new tongue-incheek for French Kiss and ‘IWSN’ (I want sex now) is the best way to tell your [...]

The world is indeed changing with the acceptance of married priests
The Vatican said Saturday that married Anglican priests will be admitted to the Catholic priesthood on a case-by-case basis as Rome makes it easier for disillusioned conservative Anglicans to convert.
A surprise Vatican decision, announced 10 days earlier to make it easier for Anglicans to become [...]

Darth Vader did not approve of how the conductor of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra was leading a performance of The Imperial March, so he stepped in to do the job himself.
In the links, you’ll find a longer video of this event from CNN.

Baby Tesla’s favorite holiday was always Halloween
The only difference between daytime and night time is sunshine. Well, that and vampires and other creatures of the night that never come out during the daytime because the sunshine will cause their face to melt. Some people would actually look better if they let their face melt, but [...]

A group of rich Germans has launched a petition calling for the government to make wealthy people pay higher taxes. The group say they have more money than they need, and the extra revenue could fund economic and social programmes to aid Germany’s economic recovery.
Germany could raise 100bn euros (£91bn) if the richest people paid [...]

Photo Manipulations are always very interesting to watch because – and that’s what is important – they give a realistic view of an unreal picture. Erik Johansson, a 23-year-old computer engineering student, from sweden has a sense for good ideas for manipulations.
1. First of all we would like to thank you for taking the time [...]

Somehow judgement day feels different when you’re a highly trained cow
The reason why we spend time putting together this weekly assortment of “life beyond the edge” photos is because creativity is inspiring. Ingenuity has a way of unleashing the inner trolls in each of us and replacing them with the kinder, more gentler turbo-gnomes [...]

The secret to your sex life may lie in some exotic new location
If your bedroom boredom has taken a toll on your sex life, all you need is a drastic, yet quick change. How about changing the place in which you are having sex?
Forget the boring kitchen or the bathtubs… think bizarre, out-of-the-box! Try out [...]

A Deliciously Creepy Chocolate Confection

To the cultured folks in the crowd these solid chocolate skulls are an example of both confectionary making and art. They are cast from REAL human skulls and come in a choice of chocolate including Fair Trade 80 per cent cocoa. There is also their bone chocolate – blended Belgian milk [...]

Do YOU have what it takes?

“Do you have a medical condition that necessitates marijuana? Do you have a way with words? If so, Westword wants you to join the ranks as our freelance marijuana-dispensary reviewer.”
The local “burgeoning medical marijuana scene” in Denver, Colorado, is growing and the weekly publication Westword wants to be on the [...]

Sanwei Bookshop in central Beijing
China has excelled in recent years at producing Olympic gold medalists, skilled factory workers and more billionaires than any country other than the United States. But authors are another story. The influence of China’s novelists and other writers has long been stunted by the country’s history of censorship and custom of [...]