This Business Built A Little Vegan Burrito Restaurant Just For Squirrels

There’s a lot of squirrels in Lexington, Kentucky. So many that it’s tempting to try and tune them out. But that isn’t right. Squirrels are our buddies. And just like bored pandas deserve to have their own magazines, squirrels deserve more adventurous dining options. So this business made them a little burrito restaurant.

SquirrelsSquirrelsSquirrels Burritos is the culinary collaboration of GirlsGirlsGirls Burritos, the locally-owned spot for exceptional Tex-Mex fare made by people who care, and Cornett, a Lexington ad agency with a knack for fun attention-grabbing work.

The rodent-centric establishment is a stunning scale replica of the GirlsGirlsgGirls storefront. It boasts a luxurious patio space with miniature picnic tables for al fresco dining and a vegan-friendly menu with signature items like The TrashSquirrel Burrito (organic almond butter and pepitas).

Local news was invited to cover the story for a grand opening and a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Then, of course, appreciative squirrels were treated to some little squirrel burritos. 

More info: Instagram | foodandwine.com | Facebook

The Miniature Model

Twinsies

A side-by-side comparison of the original girlsgirlsgirls burritos location in Lexington, Kentucky, and the new, squirrelified version.

The Restaurant Even Has A Cute Logo

Image credits: girlsgirlsgirlsburritos

From the post on Instagram:
“Yo Lexington! Everyone’s invited to the grand opening of our second location– SquirrelsSquirrelsSquirrels Burritos–the world’s first and only restaurant designed exclusively for SQUIRRELS! We’ve got little squirrel picnic tables! Vegan squirrel burritos! It’s ALL SQUIRREL ALL THE TIME at SquirrelsSquirrelsSquirrels! Join us tomorrow behind the UK Fine Arts Building at 3 p.m. to cut the ribbon and hang out while we fatten up some fluffy tree rats for the winter!”

Making Lil’ Squirrel Burritos

Wade Hancock and Sara Wood rolling up some delectable vegan squirrel burritos with almond butter and pepitas.

The Ribbon Cutting

Cutting the ribbon to much fanfare on the University of Kentucky campus.

The Spread

Burritos, quesadillas, and an assortment of fine local beverages for our squirrelly friends’ enjoyment.

The First Guest

Our first customer went straight for the quesadillas. A wise choice.

This little squirrelly business is booming.

Yelp reviews aren’t in yet, but they seemed to dig it.

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Hiha Studio breaks up linear apartment with curved corridor

A curved corridor with full-height doors slices through Hiha Studio's renovation of this ground floor home near Barcelona.

Local architects Hiha Studio renovated the space, which previously had no outdoor space and suffered from a lack of light and ventilation, for the house's owners.

Built in 1925 and refurbished into a two-bedroom home in the 1960s, the long and narrow 80-square-metre dwelling is sandwiched between two other buildings on a residential street in the municipality of Montcada i Reixac, just to the north of Barcelona.

The neighbourhood is made up of similar single-storey houses built in the first quarter of the 20th century. Typically, the ground floor houses are built on rectangular plots measuring four to five metres in width and 10 to 15 metres in length with a patio at the back of the house.

In keeping with the local housing typology, the renovated apartment's facade is defined by three narrow rectangular apertures – two windows and a door. The simple windows are partly covered by a grid of decorative terracotta bricks.

The hollow bricks, which are typical of the area and can be seen on the neighbouring buildings, provide a degree of privacy and shade within the apartment. The grid pattern is echoed across the apartment's dark grey door.

Inside, a long curved corridor guides guests from the entrance through to an open-plan kitchen and living area that looks out onto a rear patio.

The apartment's other rooms are distributed along the curved corridor with a bedroom at the front of the apartment followed by an office and a bathroom in the centre. A small patio in the centre of the apartment provides natural light into the bathroom and office.

The rooms all have a slightly lower ceiling than the corridor, a design feature that is intended to highlight the curve and the transition from the open corridor to these more private and intimate spaces. These rooms are accessed through tall doors that skim the lowered ceiling.

Hiha Studio explained that when opened, the doors' large, frameless design makes the space appear larger and more seamless, as if it were "a continuous space".

Where the curved wall stops and the corridor opens out into the living area, the curve of the wall is continued as a lowered ceiling that cuts diagonally across the room.

The curved wall along the corridor and all of the walls below the lowered curved ceiling in the living area are painted light grey, which the architects said was done in an attempt "to prolong the continuity and the weight of the curve".

The architecture studio said that this curved form is designed to break up the "linear and monotonous" layout which is typical of this type of dwelling. They said it also creates "an optimal light situation", allowing daylight to filter along the corridor from the patio.

"Usually all the projects [in this housing typology] resolve this issue with a long corridor and we didn’t want it, we wanted to avoid the linear visuals," said Bernat Ardèvol, who runs the Hiha Studio alongside architects Jona Oliva and Genís Plassa.

"We thought in the movement and sensation that everyone have when gets into Richard Serra work's. And also this never ending internal corridors of the Colosseum."

Tthe architects chose to use terracotta-coloured porcelain tiles to create a dialogue between the inside and outside of the building.

These ceramic elements are designed to sit in contrast to the apartment's white walls and neutral carpentry and furniture. In the kitchen, a Corinto stone is used as a backsplash.

The architects installed a series of simple tubular LED wall lights called Linestra lights that were commonly used in the 1970s and 1980s in Catalonia.

"We usually use the same light in our projects," Ardèvol explained. "We like it because it is elegant and goes unnoticed. We usually use it as a position light, just to have the minimum light to recognise the space/room. We don't like to impose the lighting, we prefer that the client can decide what light and lamps they wants as a secondary lighting."

Earlier this year, the Barcelona-based studio removed floors and inserted lofty voids to create a light-filled family home in a northeastern Spanish village.

Photography is by Pol Viladoms.

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This Bridal Shop Stuns People By Demonstrating Inclusivity With Their Window Display Featuring A Wheelchair

2019 was the year we celebrated inclusivity and, hopefully, 2020 will continue this trend and extend it further. Last summer, Bored Panda wrote about a clothing brand including models with various disabilities and chronic illnesses in their ad campaign, and more and more marketing campaigns are also including models that don’t look like they’ve stepped out of a Victoria’s Secret catalogs.

We still have a long way to go when it comes to body positivity, but brands certainly have made a lot of progress by targeting their products to a wider audience. Recently, one bridal shop in the United Kingdom has also made headlines for featuring a mannequin in a wheelchair in their window display.

More info: Instagram | Twitter

One bridal shop in Portishead, UK included a mannequin in a wheelchair in their window display

Image credits: thewhitecollection

The store, The White Collection, probably did not expect to get so much attention. Following the now-viral tweet of Beth Wilson, who brought the world’s attention to the store’s Instagram page, the representatives wrote on their account: “It has been a very full-on but incredible couple of days here at TWC. When setting up this window display, we didn’t even think to share on our social media pages or ‘put it out there’ but it seems to have done just that all by itself! We would like to thank everyone for your kind comments about our window- we have been surrounded by so much love and positivity, which is what this industry is all about, right?! If this window has done anything, it’s shown us how much of an impact having a wheelchair user in the window has caused, and hopefully, as time goes by, things like this will not cause so much of a big response, because there will be a lot more of it around. We didn’t think that our window would get this much attention, but what it really has done is it has opened up a (worldwide!) discussion about inclusivity in this industry, which can only be a good thing!”

A UK-based artist was strolling down the street when she came across the window display

Image credits: doodlebeth

“The new wedding shop in town has a wheelchair-using mannequin and it shouldn’t be exciting but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen disability portrayed in a shop window,” Beth wrote in her tweet.

Wheelchair users joined in, expressing the sadness that this type of inclusivity didn’t exist earlier

Image credits: Sarah_Rose4

“The inclusivity here is amazing, but also sad I’m so shocked by it,” one Twitter user said. “It should just be the norm, but it is exciting, especially as a wedding shop I feel, as I have never seen disability represented either in mainstream media or ‘high street’ shops in the wedding industry,” another woman wrote.

Image credits: DGLaity

Someone pointed out that it wasn’t the first time they saw a mannequin in a wheelchair on a display

Image credits: Abba_Wabbaz

Apparently, the mannequin dressed up in a suit was displayed in one of the stores in Tokyo. “I was so excited I texted my boyfriend,” the person who shared the photo said.

Responding to the thread, wheelchair users shared their own wedding photos

Image credits: CIssyvoo

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Image credits: TheSmiths1986

“Bought Jimmy Choo shoes to highlight wheelchair users love shoes too!” one woman wrote. “I have a far bigger collection of shoes now than ever before – I can go cross country in 6” stilettos these days. Being a wheelie has its advantages,” another Twitter user responded.

Here’s what other folks on Twitter thought

Image credits: bosyber

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Image credits: Kelly_QPR

“Goes to show that diversity only boosts sales,” one woman pointed out. “I once saw on TV a shop that had mannequins with wheelchairs and crutches. Never seen any such thing in real life. Good to see other places doing it too,” someone wrote. What do you think? Should other stores follow suit? Have you ever seen a mannequin with a disability in a window display? Let us know in the comments!

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This Instagram Account Features A Dog Holding Protest Signs That All Good Boys And Girls Would Care About (12 Pics)

If there’s one thing that’s more adorable than a dog, it’s a canine with something to say. Meet ‘Dog With Sign’—a cute pupper with a protest sign in its mouth with hilarious doggo-related phrases.

We’ve got a real treat for you (pun not intended): some of the very best and funniest pictures from the ‘Dog With Sign’ Instagram account. Get ready to enjoy some chuckle-worthy content and remember to upvote your fave pics of the good boy. And be sure to drop us a comment (or two!) about which protest signs you loved most.

Oh, and when you’re done with this list, check out Bored Panda’s previous ‘Dude With Sign’ article and see if you can spot any similarities to the ‘Dog With Sign’ account.

More info: Instagram

#1

Image credits: dogwithsign

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We finally got a probable answer to a question that we all must have thought about at least once in our lives: what would dogs complain about if only they could voice their opinions? Well, the owner of the ‘Dog With Sign’ doggo has a pretty good idea.

From not trusting the mailman, to cutting treats into smaller treats, the owner seems to know what a doggo’s perspective in life is like. And we absolutely love the Instagram account’s tagline “If you don’t sit for something, you’ll never get the treat.” The more you think about it, the deeper it seems.

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So far, ‘Dog With Sign’ seems to be doing well on social media. At the time of writing, the Instagram account has more than 8,600 followers already, even though there are only 12 photos posted within the last few weeks. Quality over quantity seems to be the slogan.

If you’ve wondered why dogs seem to hate the mailman, it all comes down to canine nature. See, they were originally domesticated to warn about intruders and protect against them. They’re just doing what’s in their nature.

Among other things, most doggos dislike hugs. I know, I was shocked when I learned that, too. It’s best to see how your dog reacts to you hugging it. Watch its body language. If it turns out your pet’s not a big fan of hugs, just let it cuddle up to you the way it wants.

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Image credits: dogwithsign

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Lorenzo Spreafico's 3D-printed prosthetic arm provides tactile feedback for low cost

Design student Lorenzo Spreafico has invented a prosthetic arm that could bring tactile feedback to people who can't currently afford it.

Spreafico designed the T1 prosthesis as his final year project in the Product Design bachelors at the University of Leeds in the UK.

The 3D-printed plastic arm incorporates vibro-tactile feedback, relaying information about how firmly a person is gripping or touching an object via vibrations to their skin.

Spreafico was motivated to design the product after noticing that little progress had been made in bringing the experience of touch to prostheses.

"I realised there was a huge gap in prosthetics development: although we are making extremely advanced technology to simulate human movement and dexterity, there is much less work being done when it comes to simulating human touch," he told Dezeen.

The touch-based technologies he observed were either nonviable for commercial use or were destined to be prohibitively expensive.

"Even when this technology will decrease in price and be more affordable for users, it's still very likely to be part of a final product which costs from £30,000 to £100,000, if not more (which are the current prices of most prosthetic limbs)," he continued.

"That's when I got the idea for T1: I wanted to realise a functional prosthetic arm, develop a simple tactile feedback system to be implemented into it, and make the whole product extremely affordable."

The estimated retail price for the T1 is £3,000, which Spreafico said would make it one of the most affordable myoelectric prosthetic arms available.

He chose to focus on pressure simulation in order to keep the device low-cost. In reality, he said, the somatosensory system is incredibly complex and can detect changes in temperature, shear, humidity, texture and more, and trying to replicate all of these dimensions would soon lead to a much more expensive device.

The T1 is relatively simple. Pressure sensors on the fingertips connect to vibrating disc motors in the wearer's stump to alert them to the level of force they're applying to an object.

The user can regulate the level of vibration they experience via a knob, or turn the feature off completely if they're in a situation where they want to avoid constant buzzing. They can select from three grip modes – open hand, pinch grip or precision grip.

And because the brain is so plastic, it soon learns to interpret the vibration adeptly, especially because Spreafico honed the prototype to make sure the pressure sensing and feedback are perfectly in sync.

Although the design student only had time for limited user testing of the final prototype within the scope of his university project, he met with initially positive reactions and hopes to continue to develop T1.

He believes that the inclusion of even this basic level of tactile feedback could be transformative for lower-arm amputees.

"The lack of tactile feedback in prosthetic arms creates an extremely unrealistic user experience," he said. "It reduces accuracy in the control of movement and grip, making it harder for users to perform delicate actions with precision, and making it harder to adapt their grip strength to different activities."

"Moreover, its lack reduces proprioception (the sense of self-movement and body position), and lowers the feeling of embodiment of the prosthetic arm. All of these aspects are the reasons why the lack of tactile feedback is one of the main factors that make rejection rates of upper limb prosthetic arms so high."

Another factor keeping the cost of T1 low is manufacture. Spreafico designed the arm as one single component so it comes out of the 3D printer fully assembled.

Spreafico is now studying for his Masters in the Innovation Design Engineering programme at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College in London.

Another recent student-designed prosthetic device came from Desiree Riny, whose ultra-low-cost DIY system is intended for people who live without access to professional care.

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