14 Hot Designer Cat Beds Where Rich Cats Sleep

Does this photograph remind you of anything in your home? Me either. But designs like this are really inspiring. The artists who created the cat beds featured here use their talents to pay tribute to the natural elegance and variable nature of the cat. Even if they are out of your price range, they're not too expensive to admire!



World-renowned furniture designer, Elizabeth Paige Smith, takes her cat furniture seriously. The Prrrounge, like her other cat beds, is a sleeper and a scratching surface, made of triple-walled corrugated cardboard. Her designs are right at home in any modern or rustic environment and are all environmentally friendly.





Another seductive sculptured cat bed from Ms. Smith's shop. If I were to purchase one of her works, it would be difficult to decide on which one.



The best-known kitty bed of Elizabeth Paige Smith is the Kittypod, for which her studio is named. The Kittypod incorporates the corrugated cardboard scratching surface and other parts are made mostly of recycled wood materials. The big bowl accommodates all size cats and, of course, provides a scratching surface for them also.



Another very instinctive cat furniture designer, Kattbank, here works with glass to create a purr-fect place for kitty to hide and still be seen. This masterpiece, by J. Parker of esque, complements another glass sculpture rom Kattbank I featured in an earlier column (see Vaso by Kattbank at Where Rich Cats Poop). Because Solo is custom made and hand blown, sizes are approximate: Length: 22-25 inch. Width: 11-16 inch. Height: 9-12 inch



Glass artist A..Kovel of esque designed this rich glass cat bed for Kattbank. The Ciambella bed has a walnut stand and measures approximately 19-22 inch diameter by 6-8 inch height



Another environment saver, corrugated cardboard is the material used to create the Cat Cacoon sculpture by One Form Design. This cat bed is multi-functional, providing a resting place, a scratching surface, a toy and an interesting sculpture (especially if there's fur sticking out of the holes)



Gloria Baumann of Kittie Krafts,makes everything she sells for cats. And the furniture designs are exact replicas of human furniture. She will make her Kliners, Kouches, Loveseats and Klounges for you with your own material, if you wish, so that they match your own furniture. Doesn't the Kliner look just like a human recliner? Purr-fect for your cat to stretch out and watch the Planet's Funniest Animals



The Klounge Kittie Krafts has many couch and chair designs, but do take a look at Ms. Baumann's custom work .



Love That Cat carries neat cat sofas in different styles and fabrics that allow you to match your interior design and your cat's personality. The fancy sofa above comes in four styles and fabrics

Transparent Frog

The see through skin of an inch-long glass frog her eggs.Native to Venezula,the frogs lay eggs in bushes and trees overhanging streams.Tadpoles hatch,then tumble into the current to be swept away.

Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer

1. Get to the point.

Don’t waste your reader’s time with too much back-story, long intros or longer anecdotes about your life. Reduce the noise. Reduce the babbling. In On Writing King gets to his points quickly. Get to your point quickly too before your reader loses patience and moves on.

2. Write a draft. Then let it rest.

King recommends that you crank out a first draft and then put it in your drawer to let it rest. Now, how long you let your text rest may vary. King puts his manuscripts away for several months before rereading and start the editing process.

I often let a post rest for a day or two before I start editing (as I´m sure many other bloggers do from time to time too).

This enables you to get out of the mindset you had when you wrote the draft and get a more detached and clear perspective on the text. It then becomes easier to edit, add and cut in a sometimes kinda ruthless way. The result is most often a better text.

3. Cut down your text.

When you revisit your text it´s time to kill your darlings and remove all the superfluous words and sentences. Removing will declutter your text and often get your message through with more clarity and a bigger emotional punch.

Don´t remove too much text though or you may achieve the opposite effects instead. King got the advice to cut down his texts by 10 percent from an old rejection-letter and has followed this advice for decades. While editing my blog I´ve found that 10 percent seems to be a pretty good figure not just for mammoth-sized books.

4. Be relatable and honest.

King has an honest voice in his fiction and in his memoir. He tells it like it is and makes us relate to him and his characters. Since King´s fiction often is of an odd kind with strange plots that seldom happen to normal people I think one of his strengths as a writer is being able to write relatable content anyway.

One of the keys to doing that is to have an honest voice and honest characters with both bad and good sides to them. People we can relate to with all of their faults, passions, fears, weaknesses and good moments. King´s characters seem human. That creates a strong connection to the reader who starts caring about the characters.

Another key to being honest and relatable is keeping a conversational style. Keeping it simple and using language that isn’t unnecessarily complicated. Using the words that first come to mind.

5. Don´t care too much what others may think.

King admits to being needy about the emotional feedback he gets when he lets his wife read a new story for the first time. He gets a kick out of hearing her laugh so she cries or just cry because something in manuscript really touched her. But he has also gotten tons of mail over the years from people who confuse his sometimes nasty characters with the writer. Or just thinks he should wind up in hell. And King hasn´t always been a favourite among literary critics either.

But from what I gather he just sits down at his desk and keeps writing every morning anyway. If you listen too much to your critics you won´t get much done. Your writing will probably become worse and less fun. And criticism is often not even about you anyway.

6. Read a lot.

When you read you always pick up things. Sometimes it might be reminders about what you know you should be doing while you write. Sometimes it’s some cool idea or just the world and atmosphere the writer is painting. Sometimes it’s something totally new that makes your jaw drop. That one is my favourite. And sometimes you learn what you should avoid doing. There are almost always lessons you can learn.

If you want to be a better writer you need to read a lot to get fresh input, broaden your horizons and deepen your knowledge. And to evolve you need to mix yourself up with new influences and see what happens.

How do you find time to read more? You can cut down on other evening activities like watching TV-shows you don´t care for that much anyway. Or, as King suggests, you can bring a book to waiting rooms, treadmills or toilets. I like to plug in an audiobook while I´m on the bus or walking somewhere.

7. Write a lot.

I’ve saved the most important tip for last. To become a better writer you probably – and not so surprisingly - need to write more.

Many of the best in different fields – Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods - have gone beyond normal limits of practise. And so they reap extraordinary results.

But what do you do when you don´t feel like writing? Waiting for inspiration can become a long wait.

One good way to get around this is to find an effective solution to reduce procrastination. You may have to try a few before you find one that works for you. Another way is well, just to do it. And if you just get going your emotions changes a lot of the time and any initial resistance becomes fun and enthusiasm instead.


Many of these tips can be useful no matter if you are a blogger, writing reports at work/in school or quietly spending your nights secretly working on that great novel that will astonish the world.

Awesome human-shaped fleece flower root

The root, attached to a Chinese fleece flower,plant - favourite dietary supplement in Asia, shows a naked man and woman in all their glory with even the most intimate details in all the right places.

It appears just as it was when the plant was pulled from the ground, according to the man who spotted it on a vegetable stall in a town in China's eastern Shandong province.

The man, named Fan, was so taken with his find he is said to have paid 600 yuan, more than £40, to buy it.

Curious visitors now travel from miles around to see the foot-long veggie couple on display at his home.

Minas Tirith Matchstick Model

Patrick Acton is an artist from Iowa who uses wooden matchsticks to create his incredible works of art. His works has been featured on ABC’s Extreme, Makeouver, Home Edition, Home and Garden TV as well as magazines such as Highlights for Children, Reminisce, AAA Travel Wood, The Iowan and others. This is one of his upcoming project which is to be completed by 2009 where a model of Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings will be built.

Rare Two Headed Snake

This is a rare two headed snake found by a farmer in a village in Alicante, Spain. The snake seems to be able to use both of its heads at the same time and Spanish scientists are still studying if the snake has two separate digestive tracts and if a head dominate the other. The chances of a two headed snake surviving in the wild is very slim as both would often fight over which head will swallow the prey as well as difficulty in deciding which direction to go.

Street Dentists in India and China

Duck family holding up traffic

Animal Comedy Club, in Full Swing

You'll see the cute, the ugly and the hilarious ones - all pictures taken in that special moment when animal expressions are the most natural and full of meaning. Also watch for the unique interactions between animals, and animals with humans - often source for a pure comedy gold.
Traditionally, we start with cutest ones

This is Dik-dik, a small antelope that lives in the Southern and Eastern Africa. The other cutie-pie: small fennec fox -

DO YOU EAT CHOCOLATE?

We were raised on chocolate as kids and even into adulthood. I will never eat it again. I hope from now on you will throw yours away whenever you are given any . It seems as though nothing is safe to eat anymore.

This is what happens when you eat chocolate! This is a warning, send this to everyone you care about.It could happen to you.

Introducing the 12-Foot Tallbike

In a clear effort to electrocute himself with powerlines or just cut his head with a traffic light, someone has created a 12-foot-tall bicycle from scratch. Called the SkyWalker TallBike, these bikes are not for the faint of heart.
SkyWalker is a radical two wheeler that allows the bicycle hacking adrenaline junkie to surf the skies while at the same time amusing or confusing the slack-jawed onlookers below. Sure, tallbikes are nothing new, and have been around since the 1800’s, but SkyWalker takes things to new heights by allowing the rider to climb up and down the frame while the bike is in motion.

Hail Control Gun

A single hail storm can destroy the year’s harvest. For over 25 years, this gun has been used by vine and fruit growers in France, Spain, Austria and Belgium for one purpose: control nature.
The guns functioning is argued by scientists (it is difficult to prove its results) but already 150 years ago farmers in the Alps used primitive manually controlled versions that worked on carbide. So if it could not make the hail disappear, at least the bang would scare some crows.

With this gun, every five seconds ionizing (high energy) shock waves go up in the air. These reach very fast the high atmosphere, up to 15000m, at -50°C, where the hail is created. A part of the waves will be reverberated by the clouds and the tropopause. These strike against the climbing waves. As a result their speed and energy is enhanced and they transport a large ionizing potential (ionizing means sweeping away electrons). Because the waves move constantly up and down, a mixture of polarities is created in the cloud. They can no longer take on water drops or vapour. They fall down and, during their fall, range over the disturbance area that is created by the shock waves. Consequently, the stones are smashed. Eventually, the hail falls down on the ground in the form of rain or wet snow.

The machine costs approximately 40.000 Euros, which is rather pricy for a scarecrow…

Top 10 Badass Swords

The Sword of Omens



Kicking off the list at number 10 we have The Sword of Omens. Any child of the 80’s should remember this cartoon series. More mighty than anyone else of his age, young Lion-O was only 12 years old when he and his Thunderian teammates sought refuge on Third Earth while their home planet of Thunderia was being destroyed.

Upon arrival, Lion-O and his allies fought against the tyrannical Mumm-Ra and his hordes of evil fiends who sought to not only destroy The Thundercats, but also obtain great power from The Eye of Thundera, the jewel inlayed within the hilt of The Sword of Omens, which is the source of The Thundercats’ own power.

The Bride’s Hattori Hanzo Sword



This particular sword is artistically used by one of the most ass kicking females to ever grace the silver screen within the past several years. After being betrayed and nearly beaten to death by her would-be cohorts, The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, and then having a bullet put through her head by Bill himself; The Bride is left inside of a chapel to die.

Why not? After all, who could possibly survive a point blank gunshot to the head? The Bride that’s who!

She very slowly recovers and eventually seeks the guidance of a couple of highly secretive and skilled individuals, one of whom is the infamous Sonny Chiba whose character is the long since retired Japanese sword-crafting legend Hattori Hanzo. One month is spent crafting her katana. After Hattori’s long and arduous task is completed The Bride is both justifiably relentless and unstoppable in seeking vengeance against those who wronged her.

Conan’s Atlantean Sword



As a young boy Conan witnessed his entire village get pillaged and destroyed by the evil warlord Thulsa Doom. After his mother and father are murdered Conan, being one of the few survivors of Doom’s pillage, is sold into slavery. During this time he grows in both age and in strength eventually being put in the rings of the gladiators to fight for the entertainment of others. He is a formidable opponent and wins fight after fight until his slave owner decides to send him out east to hone his skills as a fighter by learning to fight with a sword. Then one day he is simply set free.

During his journey away from slavery he stumbles upon an old tomb deep within the side of a mountain. Buried there is an Atlantean king sitting on a throne with his royal garments adorning him and a mighty sword at his side. Conan takes the sword and decides to find the warlords who destroyed his village and murdered his family.

Excalibur



Not only is this sword very well known in the movie arena, it is also included in countless pieces of classic literature. Given to King Arthur by The Lady of the Lake, Excalibur is the true sword of swords and can only be obtained by the true of heart. In many versions of the story the sword is imbued with magical powers which aid King Arthur in his battles.

A lot of confusion between Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone has arisen through time. From the information I have gathered the two stories mention separate swords though there is still some debate about that. Regardless of how you came to know the famous name of Excalibur, you must admit that it is a fine piece of legendary weaponry. So the next time you are walking near a lake look for The Lady. She just might have something to give to you.

The Hessian



The classic 1820 story of The Legend of Sleep Hollow by Washington Irving was again adapted to film in 1999. As the story goes, Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate and put a stop to the Headless Horseman who has been terrorizing the town. Riding upon a black horse, The Headless Horseman stalks his seemingly random victims at night and uses an ominous looking double edged sword to remove the heads of those unfortunate souls. The motives behind the murders are eventually unraveled as Crane’s investigation continues. The real twist for me is that Christopher Walken is The Headless Horseman.

The Beastmaster Sword



This movie is one of my personal favorites and the sword Dar uses is equally impressive. There is an evil priest Maax who has revealed to him a prophecy concerning the birth of a child who will eventually kill him years later. Maax is determined to put a stop to this at once and sends one of his evil minions out to find this unborn child, brand it with a sign of their evil deity then and sacrifice it. As fate would have it the baby is saved by a man who lives in the village of Emur. This is where Dar grows to be a strong young man.

Eventually Dar realizes that by being branded with the sign he was given the ability to psychically communicate with animals and this power will come in handy after his entire village and all of its inhabitants are slaughtered by the wicked Jun Horde. It seems that Maax has been looking for Dar all these years and his search has led him to the village of Emur.

Dar survives the attack and as the last living member of the Emurite clan he seeks vengeance and uses his adoptive father’s mighty sword along with his psychic power to fulfill his destiny and make the prophecy become a reality.

Sting



Sting is the perfect sword for someone who is as small as a hobbit. In the hands of a normal sized human it would simply be an elaborate elfish dagger. Not so for the hobbit. Sting is the perfect short sword for Frodo and it also has magical properties and can detect the presence of orcs by glowing blue at the blade. Exceptionally sharp, the sword is engraved with the Sindarian phrase “Maegnas aen estar nin dagnir in yngyl im” which means “Maegnas is my name and I am the spider’s bane.”

It came into hobbit hands when Frodo’s adoptive uncle Bilbo Baggins stole Sting from a band of orcs and used it to fight with. The name Sting was given to the sword after Bilbo’s encounter with a bunch of huge arachnids. Bilbo used it many times over the years until Frodo required a weapon for himself as he set out on the quest to destroy The Ring of Sauron.

He-Man’s Power Sword



I grew up watching this cartoon series as a child so I had to throw this one on here. Looking back I now realize all of the sexual innuendoes within the series. As the regular average Prince Adam no one really cares about him, but when he takes the power sword out, points it in the air and shouts “By the power of Grey Skull…I have the power!” he is magically transformed into He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe, capable of any feat. No one ever figures out that they are one in the same person despite looking identical.

Although his sword is mighty and magical, he rarely uses it. Instead he uses his immeasurable strength and wit to overcome his foes and constantly defeat Skeletor. If you are a die-hard He-Man fan still to this day then read below.

Inigo Montoya’s Rapier



Inigo is a straight shooting Spaniard and the child of a sword-craftsman. Whilst learning the craft, Inigo’s father was approached by a unique man of nobility who requested a very custom and equally costly rapier; a jeweled rapier that would befit a six fingered man.

After the extensive completion of this sword, the six fingered man refused to pay the agreed amount for the rapier and subsequently murders young Inigo’s father right in front of him. The six fingered man left Inigo alive, but not before he gave him two scars, one across each cheek.

Romantic and steadfast, Inigo, in his life-quest to avenge his father’s tragic and unwarranted death, would eventually track down the six fingered man and slay him with the very same rapier.

The Sword of William Wallace



The character of William Wallace was magnificently portrayed by Mel Gibson in this epic film. I remember watching the movie for the first time and my jaw dropped when I saw that massive sword strapped to his back as he rode his horse around his fellow countrymen in preparation for battle. Although the film is a classic a lot of the actual facts about the real life William Wallace have been lost.

It is known that Wallace was a fighter against the oppressive English rule during the 1200’s, but the huge sword used in the movie by Gibson was most likely never actually used by the real William Wallace. The real William Wallace’s sword is on display in Stirling, Scotland at The National Wallace Monument and it looks nothing like what is seen in the movie. That doesn’t stop this huge two handed sword from being an awesome weapon though!

The Lightsaber



Come on now! You didn’t really think that I would leave this awesome weapon off the list did you? While the blade is not made of metal like the other 10 this weapon could not be ignored.

When one thinks of Star Wars the lightsaber should spring immediately to mind. Luke had one, Vader had one, Yoda had one; the one single weapon that you need after you choose to pursue a life working with the power of the force is a lightsaber, no matter what side of the force you choose.

Plant has stench of death, may prove

A tropical plant that smells of death is causing a bit of a stink, after blooming for the first time at a visitor attraction.

The Amorphophallus Konjac - better known as the Voodoo Lily - gives off a smell similar to rotting meat to attract flies to pollenate it.

Staff at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, in Carmarthenshire, hope the plant's strong aroma will entice curious visitors rather than putting them off.

A spokesman for the garden said: 'Hopefully, people will come along and give it a whiff. It's one of nature's gifts.
Our gardener in charge of the tropical house says it will be stinking the house out by the end of the day and we're hoping the smell will last until the weekend so as many people as possible can experience it.'

The three-and-a-half foot high plant goes by many names, including Devil's Tongue and Elephant Yam, although Voodoo Lily is the most popular.

A native to warm subtropical to tropical eastern Asia, the plant was given a home in the garden just under a year ago.