hlntv.com

Berndnaut Smilde can control the weather. The Dutch artist can turn a clear sky cloudy — indoors. In his latest project, he’s installed real Nimbus clouds in empty gallery spaces in Amsterdam.

Smilde’s godlike powers come from simple science — he carefully regulates the temperature and humidity of the space, ensuring that conditions are perfect. Then, he sprays a short burst from a fog machine to create a cottony cloud suspended in the middle of the room for just an instant before it collapses.

“I’m interested in the ephemeral aspect of the work,” Smilde said in an e-mail. “It’s there for a brief moment and then the cloud falls apart. It’s about the potential of the idea, but in the end it will never function.”

Smilde’s clouds dissipate so quickly that they exist mainly in photographs. He chooses surreal spaces, such as empty churches or galleries, as his setting. One photo, taken in a room with bright blue walls, is evocative of the painter Rene Magritte’s azure skies and puffy clouds.

“I wanted to make a very clear image, an almost cliché and cartoon like visualisation of having bad luck,” writes Smilde in his artist’s statement.

However, the rare audience that got to see Smilde’s work in person — captured on video for a Dutch Web site, was all smiles.

washingtonpost.com

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip -- There is an afterlife for animals at the Khan Younis zoo in the impoverished Gaza Strip.

Animals who die in the dilapidated park return to be displayed as stuffed creatures, giving visitors the unusual zoo experience of petting a lion, tiger or crocodile. But because taxidermy in the largely isolated Palestinian territory is not advanced and expertise and materials are in short supply, the experience can be grim.



Flies swarm around some of the 10 animals that have been embalmed so far. The makeshift cages housing the exhibits - fashioned from fencing salvaged from Jewish settlements that Israel dismantled in 2005 - are littered with empty soda cans and other trash.

An emaciated-looking stuffed lion, its coat patchy and mangy, lies on an exhibit cobbled together from crates and shipping pallets. A monkey had missing limbs. A porcupine had a hole in its head.



The zoo's 65 live animals, which include ostriches, monkeys, turtles, deer, a llama, a lion and a tiger, don't fare much better. During a recent visit, children poked chocolate, potato chips and bread through the wire. There's no zookeeper on the premises. Gaza has no government body that oversees zoos, and medical treatment is done by consulting over the phone with zoo veterinarians in Egypt.

Still, the zoo is one of the few places of entertainment here in Khan Younis, a city of 200,000 people at the southern end of the Gaza Strip. It's one of five zoos in the Gaza Strip, a densely populated coastal enclave of 1.7 million people ruled by Islamic Hamas militants.

Owner Mohammed Awaida said he opened the "South Forest Park" in 2007, only to lose a number of animals during Israel's military offensive against Hamas that began in December 2008. During the three-week offensive, launched in response to rocket attacks on Israel, Awaida said he could not reach the zoo, and many animals died of neglect and starvation.

Read more at heraldonline.com

The world needs more luxurious gaming furniture and less of those gaudy leather gamer chairs with built-in speakers.

Gaming decor goes to the next level with this coffee table that actually works as a fully functional Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) controller. Talented woodworker Charles Lushear sells the massive controller table on Etsy for $3,500 (plus shipping). The exotic item's 42 inches long, 18.25 inches wide, and 18 inches high, and you might want to seek permission from your significant other before purchasing it.

We truly admire how accurate the table appears compared with the original NES controller. Lushear assembled the coffee table with "maple, mahogany, and walnut with dovetail joinery and mid-century modern legs," according to the description. The glass top removes easily for gameplay, and it features a retractable cord so nobody trips up after a marathon Mario session.

news.cnet.com

Oui Oui Paree! You'll fall in love with this romantic city more and more the longer you stay to explore its sights and take in the French culture. Paris simply has a certain je ne sais quoi - that special something that you can't quite put your finger on, but whatever it is, it makes you want to linger in Paris for as long as possible.

#1 Open Double Decker Bus Tour


A bus tour is a MUST for all first time visitors to Paris. Do it your first day to get oriented to the city and to decide which things you'd like to go back and see on subsequent vacation days. I highly recommend the L'Open Tour which is an open deck tour so you can get an unobstructed view of the city. You can buy either a one or two day pass which allows you unlimited bus access to their 4 tour routes over the given time period. It is great because you can tour at your own pace hopping on and off as you desire. When you purchase tickets they supply a cheap set of headphones that can be plugged into jacks near the seats throughout the bus. The headphones carry commentaries about the various Paris sites along the tour routes in 8 different languages (French, English, Spanish, Japanese, German, Russian, Chinese and Italian basket). The buses drive by just about all of the major sites in Paris including Montemarte, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe and 50 other sites.

#2 Top of the Eiffel Tower


What would Paris be without the Eiffel Tower? Taking a ride on an elevator to one of the viewing platforms at the top of the tower is a must do for anyone visiting Paris. This iron icon was built in 1889 for a World's Fair that marked the 100 year celebration of the French Revolution. It was named after its builder, Gustave Eiffel.

Over 6 million people visit the Eiffel tower every year. Ticket booths at the base of the tower sell tickets for access to either the stairs or the elevator (lift) up and the three platforms at the top of the tower. The views from the highest platform are breathtaking. You can descend back down from the 2nd platform either via the lift or 340 steps. For specific ticket information and hours of operation, visit the Official Eiffel Tower Website.

#3 Sunset River Cruise on the Seine


What better way to see the City of Lights (La Ville-lumière), than by cruising down the Seine River as the sun is setting over the Eiffel Tower and all the other sites of Paris?

Bateaux Parisien offers a Night Sightseeing cruise that departs right across the street from the Eiffel Tower and lasts approximately one hour. They cruise from the Eiffel past many of the major sights along the river to a bit past the Notre Dame Cathedral where they turn around and return to the departure point. This is the most affordable sunset cruise option, but there are also other dinner cruises available. For more information, visit the Bateaux Parisiens website.

#4 Notre Dame Cathedral


One of the most enduring symbols of Paris, the Notre Dame Cathedral sits on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité (one of the natural islands in the Seine River). Begun in 1163 and finished in 1345, this cathedral is a sight to behold with its French Gothic Architecture. It features flying buttresses, portals surrounded by ornate carvings and many gargoyles on the roof.

Taking a walk around the entire cathedral, touring the interior, and walking up the 387 steps to the top of the towers should be on the list of things to do for every Parisian tourist. The climb to the top of the towers can be exhausting, but is well worth the effort to get a panoramic view of the area and see all those famous gargoyles up close (enter through a separate door to the left of the facade as you face it). For detailed information about touring the Cathedral, visit their official website.

#5 Champs Elysees & Arc de Triomphe


Taking a walk down the city's most famous avenue (the Champs Elysees) to Napoleon's most notable legacy to Paris (the Arc de Triomphe) is a grand walk for anyone visiting the city. Unfortunately, the cobblestones and click clacks of horse drawn fairy tale carriages have been replaced by screeching cars and a line of chain restaurants along the Champs Elysees. Nevertheless, this famous street which extends from the Jardin de Tuileries to the Arc de Triomphe is worth a walk. The colossal arch itself was planned by Napoleon to commemorate all of his military successes (the names of generals are carved in the top and inside of the arch) and was completed in 1836. The arch stands a whopping 164 feet tall and holds the tomb of France's unknown soldier from WWI. You can access the arch via an underground passage and then climb to the platform via 284 steps or take a lift (and a few steps too).

#6 Sainte Chapelle Church


Near the Notre Dame Cathedral on the Île de la Cité island is a little Gothic gem known as Sainte Chapelle (Holy Church). Consisting of a plain lower chapel for servants and an ornate stained glass laden upper chapel (reserved for the king and court member), Sainte Chapelle was built around 1248. Nearly two-thirds of the stained-glass windows are authentic because they were removed during WWII. Much of the rest of the chapel had to be reconstructed due to damage during the French Revolution and WWII. Nevertheless, it is a stunning display of Gothic Architecture. For more information, visit the National Monuments Center's Website.

#7 Les Invalides (Napoleon's Tomb)


Les Invalides (built in 1679) is a complex of buildings that house the military museums and monuments, a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans. The must see attraction at Les Invalides is the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte who died in 1821. A huge marble sarcophagus sits directly under the ornate, hand-painted chapel dome (designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and painted by Charles de La Fosse). Other members of Napoleon's family and many of France's war heroes are also buried here. For more information, visit Invalides.org.

#8 Musee d'Orsay


Art lovers, especially those that are fans of impressionist paintings and marble sculptures, will go weak in the knees at the mention of the Musee d'Orsay. Housed in a former railway station, the museum holds French art dating from 1848 to 1915 with an extensive collection of paintings from Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Manet, Degas and so many more. The interior of the museum in and of itself is a work of art with breathtaking views from one end of the renovated Belle Epoque train station to the other. For more information about their collections, events, and visitor hours, go to the Orsay Museum's website.

#9 The Louvre


The Louvre and its pyramid are synonymous with Paris. It opened to the public way back in 1793. The world's largest art museum holds some of the greatest works mankind has seen - from Da Vinci's Mona Lisa to the Venus de Milo to the Winged Victory. The problem is that the museum is so big that it can take several hours to make your way through the maze of corridors just to see those few pieces of artwork. The Louvre displays well over 35,000 pieces of artwork in eight curatorial departments (antiquities, sculptures, paintings, decorative arts, etc) so even if you spent a solid week at the museum, you still wouldn't see everything. The key is to have a game plan. Most people go for the highlight tour and when you purchase tickets, you'll receive a visitors map with the major treasures pointed out. Just get your bearings and enjoy. For more detailed information, visit the Louvre's Official Website.

#10 Montmarte & Sacre Coeur Basilica


Montmarte is an 130 meter tall hill in the north of Paris and is the highest point in the city. Atop the hill is the famous Sacré-Coeur Basilica whose white domes can be seen from many vantage points in the city. The basilica features both Romanesque and Byzantine architecture and was consecrated in 1919. The interior is large, but a bit on the gloomy side. You can climb to the top of the dome for breathtaking views of Paris. Visit Wikipedia for more information about the Basilica.

You might think your partner has a beautiful smile but if you want to win her heart, compliment her on being thin.

The best way to please a woman is to mention her weight loss, research has revealed.

According to the study of 2,000 men and women, ladies love it best when their men say they look thinner than normal.

A spokesman for Dental Care Plus Implant Centres, which conducted the study, said: 'Women are complex creatures, and men would be mistaken to think they couldn’t go wrong with a compliment.

'Women appear to love any compliments which suggest they are beautiful, and have good features - such as fantastic natural teeth, lips, hair or legs.

'In particular they want to appear thin to everyone around them, so commenting on weight loss is a sure fire way to score brownie points.

'But you could get into hot water for saying that someone looks like they have eaten well, or that they look quite broad around the shoulder.'

The study suggests women like it when men say a dress or colour really suits them, and a third simply love to be told they look gorgeous.

n contrast, men get into trouble if they make mention of weight gain - and a quarter of women take great insult to being told they look like their mum or dad.

Other back-handed compliments include ‘you’re not as stupid as you look’ and ‘you don’t look as bad as I thought you would’.

Incredibly, only half of women actually take compliments well - and four in 10 prefer to have them from a partner than anyone else.

Unfortunately for men, 36 per cent of girls have ended up in a mood because they misunderstood something which was supposed to be admiration.

The spokesman for Dental Care Plus Implant Centres continues: 'The study suggests women only get one compliment from their partners each day - and it is easy to understand why.

'Most men probably live in fear of getting it wrong, and so don’t bother trying to be nice.

'Men just need to think more about how to deliver a compliment, so that it doesn’t get misunderstood.

'For example women would love to hear that they have beautiful natural looking teeth, or an awesome smile, but might not be so keen for people to acknowledge obvious dental work or teeth whitening.'

But the survey shows a whopping 87 per cent of men reckon they do regularly compliment their partners - offering up to three every day.

And when it comes to what men like to see on a woman, the biggest turn off for 38 per cent is food stuck in between in their teeth.

A further 37 per cent don’t like women to over-do it on the fake tan, while 37 per cent hate girls to wear too much make up.

A quarter of men polled don’t like gapped teeth as sported by celebrities such as Madonna and Vanessa Paradis.

Top Ten Nicest Compliments
1. You look like you’ve lost weight
2. You have a nice smile
3. You smell nice
4. Nice hair
5. That dress really suits you
6. That colour really suits you
7. Love what you’re wearing
8. Your eyes are pretty
9. You look slim
10. You look gorgeous

Top Ten Worst Compliments
1. You look tired
2. You look under the weather
3. You look well
4. You have put some weight on
5. You look just like your dad / mum
6. You don’t look as bad as I thought
7. You’re not as stupid as you look
8. You look less tired today
9. You have very large features
10. You’re quite broad aren’t you

Full article at dailymail.co.uk

Some unfortunate citizens are so absorbed in their little screens, or so oblivious to their surroundings, that their multitasking attempts result in calamity and/or hilarity.

1. The man who nearly ran into a bear
Vaz Terdandenyan of La Crescenta, Calif., was walking down the street, texting away, when he came within a snout's distance of a black bear on the loose. "Luckily, the man managed to look up from his LOLs and JKs and emojicons just in time to OMG and run away," says Neetzan Zimmerman at Gawker. The bear was eventually captured by wildlife authorities and returned to his natural habitat.

2. The woman who walked off a pier
Bonnie Miller was enjoying a nice stroll on a pier in Benton Harbor, Mich., while she sent a few texts, when she suddenly found herself in the river that links up with Lake Michigan. The pier was a good six feet above the water, so her husband dived in to help her. A helpful stranger also came to Miller's rescue. They were all eventually joined by the police, the fire department, and the U.S. Coast Guard, which finally hauled the trio up onto the pier.

3. The woman who fell onto the train tracks
A Washington, D.C., woman was riding an escalator down to the subway, texting, when she reached the bottom and kept walking, still texting, until she fell off the platform onto the tracks. Jonathan Dende, a 23-year-old visiting the capital from Pennsylvania, jumped down to help her, not realizing that they were both only feet away from the 750-volt electrified third rail. But they both managed to get back on the platform before a train arrived. Dende commiserated with the woman, telling her "he fell down some stairs while texting once," says Sherri Ly at MyFoxDC.com. But it turns out "he made the story up" just to make her feel better.

4. The woman who fell into the mall fountain
In easily the most famous walking-while-texting fiasco, Cathy Cruz Marrerro of Reading, Mass., was walking through the mall one day, texting, when she abruptly slipped headlong into a fountain. "I could see the pennies and nickels at the bottom of the fountain and then I was in it," she told the Reading Eagle. Dubbed the "Fountain Lady," Marrero said she was considering suing mall security for failing to help her. They can be heard laughing on the footage of the security video, which was quickly disseminated across the internet.

5. The woman who fell down the stairs
A news crew in Canada was filming a report that caught a woman walking in the background, texting, heedless of the short flight of steps in her path. Ouch!

6. The teenager who fell down a manhole
Alexa Longueira of Staten Island, N.Y., was walking down the street, texting, when "in classic Looney Toons style, she disappeared into an open manhole cover," says Warren Riddle at Switched. The 15-year-old fell into the hole just moments after workers had gone to fetch some cones to mark it off. She reportedly plunged five feet before "landing in a pile of muck." Luckily she emerged relatively unscathed.

If you've ever tried to wake up early in the morning, but ended up just hitting the snooze button till it was too late, Ramos is for you.

Ramos Alarm Clock, possibly the most demanding (and therefore effective) alarm clocks available today. It looks gentle enough, with its lovely hardwood exterior, in a variety of finishes, but “set it and forget it” wont work here. Once it goes off, you’ll know what I mean. In order to disarm this alarm you must first memorize the specially generated code and enter it onto a panel, ideally located somewhere far away from the coziness of your soft, warm bed.

The developer, Paul Sammut, made this clock a Kickstater Project, an interesting concept in an of itself, by which developers require the support of interested parties, or backers in order to fufill orders, or complete projects.

Anyway, this clock, and its independent wireless touch panel will definitely prevent you from just hitting the snooze bar until your flight to who knows where is on the tarmac and ready for takeoff.

The Ramos Alarm is available in a few different versions, including custom handmade units, with the basic design starting at around 150 bucks. Check out kickstarter.com for more information on the Ramos clock, or to better understand the mission of the kickstarter program.

coolest-gadgets.com

This year, there are several professions that are making their inaugural appearance on our Jobs Rated Top 10 Best Jobs list. Human Resources Manager , Financial Planner , Occupational Therapist and Online Advertising Manager are all rated as a Top 10 Best Job for the first time due to a combination of high incomes, great environments, good job growth and relatively low unemployment rates.

With the increase in digital computing demands and healthcare needs, it makes sense that most of the professions on our Best Jobs list this year are related to the fields of math, science and healthcare.

1. Software Engineer
Researches, designs, develops and maintains software systems along with hardware development for medical, scientific, and industrial purposes.
Overall Score: 176.00
Income: $88,142.00

2. Actuary
Interprets statistics to determine probabilities of accidents, sickness, and death, and loss of property from theft and natural disasters.
Overall Score: 226.00
Income: $88,202.00

3. Human Resources Manager
Plans, directs, and/or coordinates all human resource activities and staff of an organization.
Overall Score: 281.00
Income: $99,102.00

4. Dental Hygienist
Assists dentists in diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of a group or private dental practice.
Overall Score: 289.00
Income: $68,109.00

5. Financial Planner
Related to careers in portfolio management, the financial planner offers a broad range of services aimed at assisting individuals in managing and planning their financial future.
Overall Score: 300.00
Income: $104,161.00

6. Audiologist
Diagnoses and treats hearing problems by attempting to discover the range, nature, and degree of hearing function.
Overall Score: 311.00
Income: $67,137.00

7. Occupational Therapist
Develops individualized programs of activity for mentally, physically, developmentally and emotionally impaired persons, to aid them in achieving self-reliance.
Overall Score: 318.00
Income: $72,110.00

8. Online Advertising Manager
Plans, directs, or coordinates advertising policies, campaigns and programs online.
Overall Score: 343.00
Income: $87,255.00

9. Computer Systems Analyst
Plans and develops computer systems for businesses and scientific institutions.
Overall Score: 370.00
Income: $78,148.00

10. Mathematician
Applies mathematical theories and formulas to teach or solve problems in a business, educational, or industrial climate.
Overall Score: 392.00
Income: $99,191.00

Read the full article at careercast
Also see: The 10 Worst Jobs of 2012

Vaginas are not meant to be storage units. They are not meant to be purses. They are not meant to be secret hiding places. You are not supposed to put unsterilized foreign objects in them. Most of us understand these rules. But you'd be surprised. Some women cannot be stopped from violating the terms and conditions of their vaginas.

Vodka Bottle Filled With Urine
What do you do when you are on probation and need to pass a urine test, but aren't clean? You hide a small vodka bottle with someone else's urine in your vagina! At least, this was Mischelle Lindy Salzgeber's solution to her problem. The jig was up when the bottle was discovered during a routine body scan. Oh, and too bad the urine she borrowed to pass as her own tested positive for drugs anyway.

Heroin … And So Much More
Pennsylvania woman Karin Mackaliunas wins the award for most stuff stored in a vagina EVER. During a routine strip search, authorities discovered 54 bags of heroin, 31 empty heroin bags, eight prescription pills, and $51.22 in cash and change in her vagina.

Prosthetic Eye
Dr. Melissa Barton sees a lot of odd stuff as an ER doctor. But the oddest she ever saw (pun intended) was a woman who had placed a prosthetic eyeball in her vagina for "safe keeping." Why, you ask? Oh, she was preparing to have a fight with her neighbors and she told Dr. Barton that glass eyes "are pretty expensive and hard to replace."

Donny Osmond Poster
Of all the inconceivable phallic objects a desperately horny person could shove up in their vagina, a rolled-up Donny Osmond poster is not the first thing that comes to mind. A U.K. woman featured on the BBC3 show called “Bizarre ER” did just that. Doctors discovered a rolled-up poster of Donny Osmond shoved inside her vagina.

Knife
Two Florida women got in a drug-fueled fight over some prescription pills. Once arrested, police found one had a knife and a bottle of prescription pills hidden in her belly fat rolls. Wait … there's more. A thorough cavity search revealed a second knife ... hidden in her vagina.

Cell Phone
The only thing about stealing a cell phone and hiding it in your vadge is that when it rings, other people are going to hear it. That's what happened to Ruxandra Gardian, the Romanian woman whose vagina rang. Once authorities discerned where the ringing was coming from, the owner declined to take it back.

Credit Card
Another Florida woman, another strange object hidden in a vagina. Ann Marie Hernandez made a sizable Home Depot haul with a fraudulent credit card. When she was done with her shopping spree, she loaded the goods into her car and the credit card into her vagina.

Crack Pipe
Arlina Romero also had a stolen credit card on her person when cops caught her leaving a flop house. Instead of hiding the credit card in her vagina like Ann Hernandez, she put it in her pocket. There was something else hidden in her vagina. A crack pipe.

Snails – or more accurately, their guts and slime – have become the latest fad in skin care. Hailed for its active ingredients, snail extract is popping up in beauty lines across South America and skin care mecca South Korea. Both low- and high-end companies have taken to the sticky ingredients, which debuted on the market in the mid ’90s and range from seemingly tame to slightly bizarre (BB Cream features “mucus from red ginseng-fed snails”).

“I spotted it while on holiday in Korea and noticed it was flying off the shelves,” said Paris B, 35, a beauty blogger for Mywomenstuff.com. “Although gross-sounding, the [Tony Moly Intense Repair Live Snail] cream seemed to be beneficial … and it did seem to make my skin feel softer and finer.”

What’s so appetizing about slime? In 2006, Chilean farmers reportedly noticed visibly smoother skin after handling snails they were breeding for the French food market. Packed with glycolic acid and elastin, a snail’s secretion protects its own skin from cuts, bacteria, and powerful UV rays, making mother nature’s gooeyness a prime source for proteins that eliminate dead cells and regenerate skin.

It’s a treatment that that has been used as far back as ancient Greece: Hippocrates reportedly prescribed a mixture of sour milk and crushed snails for skin inflammations. These days, it’s marketed as an acne treatment, spot and scar remover, and burn healer.

“It’s a 100 percent pure and natural product that allows them to replace the typical chemical skin creams,” said spokesman Christian Plaut of Andes Nature, which sells a popular snail cream in South America. “Consumers must usually buy several creams separately to get the same benefits.”

To produce their coveted slime, snails are exposed to “safe mechanical stress,” in which they’re stimulated repeatedly during a life cycle. The obtained slime is then filtered numerous times until it’s finally packaged for human consumption. Companies such as Labcconte USA use their own snail farms to guarantee secretion purity, and return the slowpokes to their hatcheries after the extraction process.

Not that slime is the only way to ensure a smooth face. “Lots of species, including humans, secrete mucus rich in hyaluronic acids ... but that doesn't mean you'd put phlegm on your face,” said dermatologist Dr. Bobby Buka, who instead recommends non-mollusk products such as First Aid Beauty's 5-in-1 face cream for similar results.

Buka says there are no placebo-controlled trials demonstrating the efficacy of snail slime or mucus in skin rejuvenation, but sees no harm in slathering on some slime. “I generally don't dissuade patients who swear by snail-derivative products, but it's definitely not my first choice if you've got $20 to spend on your skin.”

An interactive poster created by researcher Keidai Ogawa at Japan's Keio University does more than stare back at you — the woman onscreen romantically leans in for a kiss when you approach.

Ogawa's technology uses ultrasound sensors to detect the distance between a subject and the digital projection onscreen. As you move in for a smooch, the woman closes her eyes and gets ready for some action; when you back away after an innocent peck, she giggles and blushes.

Ogawa came up with the idea after he grew tired of the lifeless posters of pop idols lining his bedroom walls. But a kiss isn't enough for him. Ogawa says he wants to make it a more sensory experience, by adding such things as the smell of a woman's shampoo, or the sound of someone whispering, "I love you." The affection-seeking researcher is also working on an iPad app.

(Watch a demo below.)

Tired of the rat race? Feeling like life has you caged in? If so, stay away—far away—from La Villa Hamster. At this unusual hotel in the city of Nantes in western France guests overnight in a sort of oversized rodent cage.

Staying in La Villa Hamster’s sole room can be a bit of a hairy experience. Its rodent-centric features include:

• a metal water spigot activating by pushing a giant lever with your foot;

• a choice of beds: either sleep on a giant haystack or a traditional mattress reachable by a ladder and then a vertical tubular crawl space;

• a bathroom with a giant vat of wood chips (though, blessedly, there’s also a human toilet);

• a giant troth for a sink;

and, of course . . .

• a working human-sized hamster wheel!

For those looking to take their rodent experience to another level—or for couples who have a particular predilection that we really, really don’t want to know about—Villa guests have use of his and her hamster masks during their stay. Wear them and you may be overcome with the urge to pace back and forth along the wall, or to jump in fright whenever some one taps on the window.



To complete that feeling of being a lab animal, a stay at La Villa Hamster is perfectly paired with some time finding your way through the giant human maze at Château & Jardins de Villandry. But Spot Cool Stuff has a gnawing feeling that the experience of La Villa Hamster would get stale after more than night, especially when you are paying €150 (USD$199.74) for the privilege.

Those looking for an even more primitive overnight experience take note: the proprietors of La Villa Hamster has another hotel in the works—an underground apartment that mimics the experience of being a fetus in a womb. When we learned that this property will not be accepting guests for at least another year we could utter only one in response: Rats!

via travel.spotcoolstuff.com

A new report from Rent.com, has narrowed down the 10 best cities in the country for newlyweds.

The online rental housing listing site took a number of variables into consideration when identifying the top cities for newlyweds -- including cost of living, mean annual income and the unemployment rate, among other factors.

The website also surveyed couples about what it was like to combine households after getting hitched, and found that among the 1,000 cohabiting adults polled, 75 percent felt their overall quality of life had improved since moving in with their significant other.

#10 Baltimore
Baltimore, Maryland was chosen for its hospitality.

#9 Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C was chosen for its centrality in the nation and job availability.

#8 Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona was chosen for its foodie, family and hiking culture.

#7 Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota was chosen for its bike-friendliness.

#6 Denver
Denver, Colorado was chosen for its craft beer culture and spirit of adventure.

#5 Houston
Houston, Texas was chosen for its rich cultural offerings (including museums, galleries and farmer's markets).

#4 Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri was chosen for its plethora of historical sites and affordability.

#3 Dallas
Dallas, Texas was chosen for its lively sports community.

#2 Raleigh/Durham
Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina was for its affordability and friendliness to young families.

#1 Austin
Austin, Texas was chosen primarily for its vibrant arts scene.