Cats are such peculiar creatures, aren’t they? Independent, no doubt. But they do the strangest things that never need explaining. All in all, most of us can agree that’s what makes them amazing animals. Especially when they do the Brrrr, pffft, purr sound.
But I digress. Here are tumblr’s BEST discussions on cats. And they are puuuurrrrrfect.
After a woman died, a multimillion dollar painting she owned was re-assessed at $0 due to it containing part of a bald eagle. In America, it is illegal to buy or sell them without a permit. The IRS disagreed and put a $65M tax on it. But her heirs cannot sell the painting due to […]
There is at least one person in this world who will be telling the Whole Truth when he brags about his Excel mastery to potential employers…and he is just 17 years old.
An international competition for Excel spreadsheets took place in Anaheim, California, recently. The competition is limited to participants from ages 12 to 22.
The top prize went to John Dumoulin, a 17-year-old from northern Virginia. He’s never worked in an office — he’s in high school, and he works at Chick-fil-A part-time.
John first learned about the competition through an IT class at school. He scored the highest score on the Microsoft Excel 16 certification exam in Virginia, leading him to a national competition and then the international competition, where he won $10,000 in prize money.
John says he was surprised to learn that people actually take these competitions very seriously.
Here is an interview with John:
“Some of the foreign countries, they’ve been training for hours and hours and hours on end,” he said.
“When you first meet the international students, everyone’s friendly, but when they find out you’re competing against them in the same category, they get this fire in their eyes. They want to win.”
“Most of us in an office think that we know how to use Excel. These kids really know,” said Aaron Osmond, general manager of Certiport, the company that runs the competition.
UPDATE: In 2018, the competition had more than 760,000 candidates from around the world. In the final round there were over 152 students from 51 different countries. The format of the competition was varied in that competitors could choose between 2013 or 2016 versions of PowerPoint, Word, or Excel. There were six winners for each category and version.
Here is an interview with the world champion Kevin Dimaculangan. He shares his experience and what his plans are for his future:
Here is a short documentary style video that shows you what people in Malaysia do to qualify for the Excel World Championships. Competitors get 40 minutes. Three tasks. There are only five finalists. And only one winner goes on to represent their country in the Excel World Championships.
Losing a parent is one of the hardest events a person can go through in life. But this opens up a new question for your surviving parent: how soon is it okay to love someone again?
The answer is different for everybody, but the decision to date again can really upset a child.
It takes some folks time to adjust… while others never cozy up to the idea.
These 13 people share their stories… and, well, you’ll see…
1. I mean, this is understandable. But… it’s not your life.
I never thought this day would come, but MAD magazine is coming to an end (more or less). After 67 years of publishing, it will now only be releasing new material once per year. Otherwise, MAD magazine will be reprinting old material.
MAD magazine has a special place in the hearts of many. It’s irreverent and unapologetically political, calling out everything and everyone. Here are five facts you should really know about Mad magazine:
1. “Weird” Al was a guest editor
MAD named “Weird” Al Yankovic as their very first guest editor, which seems like a match made in heaven. He brought in several celebrity contributors, including Patton Oswalt and Seth Green. According to Entertainment Weekly, MAD is responsible for setting him on the “dark, twisted path to becoming who I am today.”
"Weird Al" Yankovic, Steven Van Zandt and more react to news that 'Mad Magazine' will effectively shut down this fall after a 67-year run https://t.co/z5K003xPr8
Yep, this actually happened. Fred Astaire decided to do a dance number on a 1959 TV special made up as Alfred E. Neuman. There are really no words. I’ll just leave the video here:
3. The unknown origin of Alfred E. Neuman
No one really knows where Alfred came from. He was an advertising mascot for several brands in the early 1900s, and he may have his roots in comics as far back as the 1890s. Harvey Kurtzman, founder of MAD, claims he spotted Alfred on a postcard and named him after composer Alfred Neuman.
4. The creator of “Spy vs. Spy” was accused of being a spy
Antonio Prohias, the creator of “Spy vs. Spy,” was born in Cuba and started his cartooning career there. He was an award-winning journalist in Cuba, and once Fidel Castro came to power, his cartoons began criticizing Castro’s policies. This lead the government of Cuba to accuse him of working for the CIA. Prohias resigned from his newspaper job and eventually immigrated to the U.S. He spoke no English, but his daughter helped to translate, and he walked into the MAD magazine offices, showed his work, and was hired on the spot.
One of MAD’s best features was its hilarious satire ads. They took on cigarette makers, shampoo ads and more. To be able to truly skewer advertisers, they decided not to run real ads, making the magazine an expensive proposition (most magazines make their money from ad revenue). MAD finally had to start running ads in 2001, but its satirical ads continued.
In honor of Ringo Starr’s 79th birthday yesterday: A classic Mad Magazine parody -of the Breck shampoo magazine ads of the early to mid 60’s. This was the back cover of the October 1964 issue of MAD. I remember this one well. #Ringo#RingoStarr#beatles#thebeatles#MADMagazinepic.twitter.com/N4lNDnCvql
In the 15th century, Richard Strangways came up with imaginary coats of arms for old kings who had lived before heraldry. For the pre-Christian kings of France he painted a shield with 3 black toads.
