Each morning, like clockwork, they board the subway, off to begin their daily routine amidst the hustle and bustle of the city.

But these aren’t just any daily commuters. These are stray dogs who live in the outskirts of Moscow Russia and commute on the underground trains to and from the city centre in search of food scraps.

Then after a hard day scavenging and begging on the streets, they hop back on the train and return to the suburbs where they spend the night.

Experts studying the dogs, who usually choose the quietest carriages at the front and back of the train, say they even work together to make sure they get off at the right stop – after learning to judge the length of time they need to spend on the train.

Scientists believe this phenomenon began after the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s, and Russia’s new capitalists moved industrial complexes from the city centre to the suburbs.

Dr Andrei Poiarkov, of the Moscow Ecology and Evolution Institute, said: “These complexes were used by homeless dogs as shelters, so the dogs had to move together with their houses. Because the best scavenging for food is in the city centre, the dogs had to learn how to travel on the subway – to get to the centre in the morning, then back home in the evening, just like people.”

Dr Poiarkov told how the dogs like to play during their daily commute. He said: “They jump on the train seconds before the doors shut, risking their tails getting jammed. They do it for fun. And sometimes they fall asleep and get off at the wrong stop.”

The dogs have also amazingly learned to use traffic lights to cross the road safely, said Dr Poiarkov. And they use cunning tactics to obtain tasty morsels of shawarma, a kebab-like snack popular in Moscow.

With children the dogs “play cute” by putting their heads on youngsters’ knees and staring pleadingly into their eyes to win sympathy – and scraps.

Dr Poiarkov added: “Dogs are surprisingly good psychologists.”

(Source: myencephalonjourneys)

noonereadstheurl:

I honestly can’t blame David Karp for wanting to sell this website

You can only be called “daddy” by white middle-class teenaged girls so many times before something just snaps

edwardspoonhands:

First, I love Tumblr and want to keep loving it. And yes, it is immediately terrifying to hear that Yahoo (which, from a lot of our perspectives, is a laughably backwards and culturally irrelevant company) is going to own Tumblr. I sympathize. 

But there are a number of circumstances in which this will not be a disaster. Let’s think:

WHY TO NOT BE TERRIFIED

1. David Karp is being kept on as CEO for at least 4 years. Karp’s policies made Tumblr what it is.
2. Tumblr is only as good as we (its creators) are. The idea that the cultural identity and creations we’ve fostered here have become worth a billion dollars is both inspiring and worrisome. But nevertheless, since we hold the value, we hold the power. 
3. Tumblr is being kept as a separate company. This is what Google did with YouTube and significant changes were very slow to come to YouTube (though they eventually came, and are still coming). My guess is there will be no significant changes to Tumblr for at least 12 months.
4. They’re buying it to become more culturally relevant. They know that controlling the platform will reduce or even remove that relevance, so they would be idiots to do it.

WHEN TO ABANDON SHIP

1. If Tumblr requires an account somehow linked to Yahoo.
2. If David Karp steps down, no matter what the reasons are.
3. If you have to pay to reach all of your followers (FACEBOOK!)
4. If Yahoo begins censoring legal images and videos.
5. If your dashboard becomes three columns by default.
6. If more than 10% of the dashboard is taken up by advertising.

ADVICE TO YAHOO! PEOPLE

1. Don’t do any of the above things or we will leave and you will own a billion dollar hole in the internet.
2. Drop the exclamation point for chrissake…it’s gaudy and grammatically confusing.

Yes, I do wish that Tumblr (being a more interesting kind of company) could have found a more interesting kind of exit for its founders and investors than the old standby of selling to a floundering company trying to revitalize itself. But I think Yahoo and Marissa Mayer are intelligent enough to not totally fuck it up. Here’s hoping.

 - Hank

You know, when you have kids and you love them and you’re proud of them you just want to kiss them on the mouth sometimes.

(Source: jessidays)

bikinimybottom:

if jay z ever freaks out and murders his entire family all i know is that the headlines better read ‘jay z goes cray z’

mermaidsandmisandry:

things i dont need in my life:

• wasps
• those stringy things on the banana
• commercials on youtube

starrynights-:

shouldertappingghosts:

If I was a famous author I would publish a book with ten different endings which all went to print with varying degrees of rarity, but not tell the fans about it so that I could watch their confusion as they disagree over how the story ended. Then when they figured it out I would ‘come clean’, telling them that I had released eleven alternate endings and watch them panic again as they all try to find the last ending.

are you satan

(Source: quinessential)

thorhead:

thorhead:

I wonder if the young girls playing on the trampoline next door know that

1. I can see them
2. I can hear them singing You Can’t Stop The Beat from Hairspray
3. they are really bad singers and
4. I can probably get a YouTube-worthy video of them from my current position

gUYS I PUT ON MY COUSINS HOCKEY MASK AND STOOD AT THE WINDOW AND YELLED “STOP YOUR INFERNAL SINGSONG I’M TRYING TO MURDER HERE” AND THEY SCREAMED AND TRIED TO RUN AWAY AND ONE FELL OVER AND STARTED CRYING

(Source: thordoftherings)

snowmiserr:

one time I was working at Dolly Parton’s water park as a photographer in the lazy river, and taking pictures and what not and I look up and see this very familiar black man floating in a tube toward me. 
and it is Akon.  So I’m like ‘hey Akon would you like a picture with your family today?’ He is all like ‘no thank you sweetie’ and I was all “well you have a good day, Akon” 
he said you too and floated on.  

(Source: landofbluesmoke)

undeadlife:

If you actually think physical attractiveness is important in a relationship, you are not shallow. To make a good relationship last you have to be physically and mentally attracted to the person. I am tired of seeing people being called shallow simply because they are looking for someone attractive to them, mentally and physically.

You are shallow when physical attractiveness is the only thing that keeps you two together.

(Source: spacedoutforever)

ballataperlamiapiccolaiena:

So cute :3

(Source: gorgeoustattoo)