Stunning 3D Origami Paper Sculptures by Faith C.

Check out these cute and adorable 3D origami paper sculptures made by Faith C. (@floblarinet), which she posts on Instagram.

Via Laughing Squid

(All images by Faith C. on Instagram)

By Franzified

Tennis Players Try To Control The Ball Via Telekinesis

Lots of factors should be considered when playing tennis. How fast is the ball? How hard should you hit back? Is it a topspin or a backspin?

These are just some of the things that goes into the mind of a tennis player, and all of these should be processed in less than a split second.

Sometimes, however, tennis players suddenly go into the Zone, and they suddenly unlock their telekinetic powers for a short time, making them capable of controlling the ball with their mind. It takes a lot of brain power, however, and a lot of face contortion.

Check out the other photos over at Sad and Useless.


All images via Sad and Useless

By Franzified

Japan’s Dog Mountain Castle Besieged By Cats

(Image Credit: ThorstenS/ Wikimedia Commons)

One of the most interesting things when studying the Japanese language is how easy it is to know the meaning behind the names of the country’s places. Tokyo, for example, literally means “eastern capital.” Yokohama, on the other hand, literally means “wide beach.” Then there’s Inuyama, which means “dog mountain”, where the “Inuyama Castle”, Japan’s oldest castle, can be found.

Unfortunately, the aforementioned castle just got invaded recently by none other than a pair of cats — the dogs’ archenemies — which is very poetic, if you ask me.

Like many samurai strongholds, Inuyama Castle has small openings in its walls for defenders to shoot arrows or fire muskets through. However, such openings are technically two-way in nature, and here we see a cat coming through one from the outside.

[...]

While casualties are generally a forgone conclusion when attacking a fortified position, @rimamofu points out that both cats were actually at the castle with their human owner/general, who had them on a leash, and that neither animal was so wedged into the opening that it couldn’t easily extract itself.


Thankfully, nobody was harmed during the invasion.


(Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

犬山城猫挟まってる pic.twitter.com/Y4dmF33Q4U

— 夏が来た🌞りまま(26) (@rimamofu) June 7, 2020

See more details about this story over at SoraNews 24.

By Franzified

This Zoo Used Stuffed Capybaras In Their Restaurant

Social distancing might be a practice that will most likely be around for a long time. And let’s face it. This will be very difficult to implement in crowded places.

To make things easier for their patrons, the Izu Shaboten Zoo in Shizuoka, Japan, strategically placed stuffed capybaras in their restaurant to ensure that appropriate social distancing is maintained in the place.

...The Izu Zoo (we’ve been dying to write that) was closed as the pandemic swept Japan but recently re-opened on May 16. Several measures were put in place to unsure[sic] visitor safety, such as requiring masks, making hand sanitizer available, and of course using stuffed animal Capybaras to ensure enclosed spaces are never too full.

But why Capybara’s, you might wonder? The Izu Shabonten Zoo is actually a popular Capybara destination. It’s not only home to numerous Capybara-themed events but it’s also credited with inventing the Capybara hot bath.

This is cute and wholesome!

See the adorable photos over at Spoon & Tamago.


(Images Credit: Spoon & Tamago)

Someone Just Illustrated The Viral Monster Story

(Image Credit: jwitless/ Bored Panda)

In 2017, author kittenwiskers released a writing prompt, titled “#Case: 273402 Status: Disastrous,” on Tumblr. It tells a story of Charlotte Dower, a young girl who isn’t afraid of monsters that come to her bed at night, as there is a scarier monster in her life — her own father.

Now, Russian artist Natalya Sorokina illustrates the emotional story and turned it into an impressive comic strip.

Natalya, who goes by the nickname jwitless, said it’s her “first colored comics ever,” which made her feel slightly nervous.

See the full comic strip over at Bored Panda.

(Images Credit: kittenwiskers/ Bored Panda)

By Franzified

Don’t You Animal Again!

“Do not touch.”

“Do not smoke.”

“Do not block the driveway.”

“Do not stand here.”

And

“Do not use; Out of order.”

These are just some of the signs that we see everywhere — on fast food restaurants, on gates, buildings, on train stations, and on public bathrooms. But this sign definitely is one-of-a-kind.

Via Engrish.com

By Franzified

Surprising Bits of Wisdom From 7-Year-Olds

Oftentimes what we witness from 7-year-olds are silly, if not stupid, stuff. But sometimes they can spit out little gems of truth which come out from their little mouth, which have been processed in their little brains — bite-sized truths that catch us off-guard.

Bored Panda compiles 30 tweets where parents are surprised about what goes inside the brains of their 7-year-old sons and daughters. See them all over at the site.

(Image Credit: Pezibear/Pixabay)

(Image Credit: Bored Panda)

(Image Credit: Bored Panda)

(Image Credit: Bored Panda)

How To Give A Good Speech, According to Aristotle

Have you ever had a good idea, but you don’t know how to express it well? Well, fret not, for a book from the ancient past might be your answer.

Despite being thousands of years old, Aristotle’s Rhetoric, which is a book about the art of persuasion, remains relevant up to this day. We might not be aware of it, but we still use the tools that Aristotle has laid down thousands of years ago — tools that could help us present a persuasive argument.


In his definitive work, Rhetoric, Aristotle wrote that a good speaker must have three things under control: the argument (logos), the presentation (ethos), and the audience (pathos). This is just as valid today as in ancient times.

Aristotle and, later, the Romans Cicero and Quintilian, established a complex five-­point plan for writing brilliant speeches, which essentially boils down to this: Good preparation is everything.



Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschäppeler gives us some of the tools from Aristotle’s Rhetoric, which we can apply in creating our speeches.

Check out the full article over at Medium.com.


By Franzified

(Image Credit: Skitterphoto/ Pixabay)

Hidden Illustrations In Swiss Maps

(Image Credit: Amusing Planet)

In order to identify unauthorized publication, mapmakers include small but intentional flaws in their maps. These flaws could be a fake street or a town that does not really exist, and no one can perceive it except for the creator. This kind of practice has been around for centuries. But sometimes, cartographers just do it for fun.

A recently published story at Eye on Design brings to light an unspoken tradition among Swiss cartographers to hide small doodles inside Switzerland’s official maps. There is a barely perceptible spider here, a fish there, a reclining naked woman disguised as a stream, and a marmot blended with the hills. These illicit drawings are cleverly hidden among the contour lines that depict Switzerland’s remote mountainous regions. Being located far from populated areas, they often escape scrutiny for decades.

Unfortunately, when the doodles are discovered, they are immediately removed when the maps are updated, as, according to the national mapping agency of Switzerland, the Swisstopo, “creativity has no place on these maps.”

Via Amusing Planet

By Franzified

Japan’s Mundane Halloween Contest of 2019: How It Looked Like

"Guy who grabbed a cart but did not buy much"

Five years ago, in 2014, a Japanese subculture, called jimi Halloween (地味ハロウィンor “mundane Halloween”), emerged. The said subculture was started by a group of adults at Daily Portal Z who “kind of wanted to participate in the festivities of Halloween, but were too embarrassed to go all out in witch or zombie costumes.” In order for them to still be able to celebrate Halloween without embarrassing themselves, they decided to dress up in mundane costumes instead of extravagant costumes.

     The type of costumes that you have to explain to people and then they say, ooooh I get it.

Reality, indeed, is much more scarier than anything else.

Check out the other pictures at Spoon&Tamago.

"She forgot to take out the trash"

"It's a pain in the butt to drink a hot beverage, specially if you're wearing glasses."

(Images Credit: Spoon&Tamago)

By Franzified

Myths About Grief That You Might Be Believing

Grief and loss still remain as one of the great taboos of society. Think about it. We are reluctant in talking about death. We avoid the subject entirely. We euphemize words that pertain to death. Instead of saying that a person “died”, we say that that person “passed away.”

No one is to be blamed, however, when a person avoids the topic. After all, it is a difficult, awkward, and painful thing to discuss. There’s a downside to not talking about the topic, however — it allows spaces for myths about grief and loss to spread, which would make it harder for us to grieve.

Thankfully, Psychology Today provides us five of the most common myths about grief, alongside actual facts about it.

Take for example the first myth — that “grief is a feeling.”

     One of the most common misconceptions about grief is that it’s a feeling. Given that grief occurs in some of the most painful situations anyone can imagine, we generally associate it with depression. But grief is actually a process composed of many emotions, including expected ones like sadness, as well as more surprising ones like anger, frustration, guilt, or even shock.

     It’s common during grief to experience positive feelings, as well, such as relief that our loved one is out of pain. At times, people also can feel numb, almost like the death hadn’t happened. What’s important to know is that all of these emotions—at least in measured amounts—are normal.


Know more about these myths over at the site.

(Image Credit: vlanka/ Pixabay)

By Franzified