storyboard:

Dear Maddie: Stay!

For the last eight months, Idaho photographer Theron Humphrey has been traveling the country documenting awesome strangers as part of a project he calls This Wild Idea. But his companion on the trip, an English Coonhound named Maddie, has become something of a project of her own. Maddie is strangely fond — and meticulously obedient — when it comes to the “stay” command.

Maddie will stay on a tree trunk, on top of a drip coffee maker, inside a giant tractor tire, inside a BBQ pit, balanced across a ledge — it’s like planking, but with Maddie, and many more positions. And so, five months into his trip, Humphrey started documenting Maddie herself under the aptly titled Maddie on Things. We asked Humphrey how he gets Maddie to stay so damn still.

Is Maddie a genius? What’s she like when she’s not balancing on things?

Ha! This question made me laugh because I thought of Maddie sitting at a computer, with a tiny hat on, taking an online IQ test. But I’d say Maddie’s “nose” intelligence is high. She could track most anything.

tommypom:

cinco de mayo is around de la corner!

OK, first of all. God, Tommy Pom, you make me melt.

Second, THIS POST HAS MORE THAN 4,000 NOTES. That is insane.

THIRD: TUMBLR IS HOSTING A PARTY WITH TOMMYPOM NEXT THURSDAY, OPEN TO ALL. DETAILS TO COME.

maddieonthings:

Moab, UT

I love Maddie On Things so much.

"The cat was crushed ‘in piles of Etsy fabrics, boxes of paperwork, trash and other possessions.’"

Apparently Courtney Love is such a hoarder that she accidentally killed Francis Bean’s cat. Her dog died after eating Courtney’s pills. (via the fix)

newsweek:

Friend of Newsweek tumblr Amanda McCall (The Wendy Williams Show) and Parks and Recreation funny-guy Ben Schwartz (Jean-Ralphio!) have new book out this week, Looking on the Bright Side with Baby Animals, which is a follow up to their second book, Asking Awkward Questions with Baby Animals, which followed their first best-seller, Breaking Bad News with Baby Animals, all of which we have long fantasized about plastering all over the office doors of high-level Newsweek executives. Anyway: we asked them to answer some of our burning questions about baby animals, because, well, we think they’re funny. Also, because Amanda once wrote a book called, “Hold My Gold: A White Girl’s Guide to the Hip-Hop.” Please love them.

NWK Tumblr: Do you really think our leg will grow back?
Ben:  Well, that’s the best part of our new book. It prevents you from ever having to ‘think’ about things like that. In fact, it prevents you from having to think about anything at all!

Is there a particular baby animal that’s best for breaking bad news?
Amanda: When we started writing our first book, and even into our second book, we thought all baby animals were equally helpful. But now we know that every baby animal has its own particular skill set.

Ben: For example, kittens are good for relationship problems, while puppies are better for medical emergencies. For crime and other legal matters? Baby bunnies. God, they’re good.

Could your new book help Barack Obama handle the economy?
Ben: If Obama used baby animal postcards instead of talking, every political problem, from the economy to healthcare, would be solved.

Who would i give this book to as a gift?
Amanda: Our books are for everyone. Even Kardashians. In fact, I’m convinced that if this book came out a month earlier, Kim and Kris would still be together.

What’s the most over-rated animal?
Ben: Humans.
Amanda: Well, between us, cute little baby bears can be real divas.

Buy this!

nwkarchivist:

ON THIS DATE IN 1957, LAIKA IS LAUNCHED INTO ORBIT ON SPUTNIK II

A Dog’s Life

The first living creature to become a resident of outer space is strapped on her back in a tiny pressurized and heated cabin.  The Husky in the now-dubbed “Muttnik” is covered with electrodes measuring blood pressure, heartbeat, and body temperature.  She may be able to bark or whine into a miniature microphone and probably is being nourished intravenously by glucose.  Why a dog?  three reasons: (1) A dog does not perspire and so can be more readily confined in a limited-air cubicle, (2) a dog can register measurable emotions, and (3) a dog can be conditioned and trained to undergo severe physical trials.” 

—Newsweek  November 11, 1957

Laika did not survive the trip.

THE SADDEST ARCHIVE POST EVER.