Raw honey doesn't spoil. As long as its sealed away from moisture, you can eat honey that is years, or even thousands of years old in its raw state. Why is this? It has to do with sugar, water content, and bee bellies. Amina Harris of UC Davis explains.

“Bees are magical,” Harris jokes. But there is certainly a special alchemy that goes into honey. Nectar, the first material collected by bees to make honey, is naturally very high in water–anywhere from 60-80 percent, by Harris’ estimate. But through the process of making honey, the bees play a large part in removing much of this moisture by flapping their wings to literally dry out the nectar. On top of behavior, the chemical makeup of a bees stomach also plays a large part in honey’s resilience. Bees have an enzyme in their stomachs called glucose oxidase (PDF). When the bees regurgitate the nectar from their mouths into the combs to make honey, this enzyme mixes with the nectar, breaking it down into two by-products: gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide. “Then,” Harris explains, “hydrogen peroxide is the next thing that goes into work against all these other bad things that could possibly grow.”

It's the hydrogen peroxide that makes honey last longer than molasses or corn syrup, and also what gives honey its medicinal properties. Read more about the magic of honey at Smithsonian. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user Flood G.)

Redditor HoleyBody spotted this beauty at a Home Depot in Milltown, New Jersey. It's a classic Woodie look with modern fuel efficiency. But as some redditors point out, bumpers are built out of steel and rubber for a reason.

More Photos and Comment Thread -via 22 Words

(YouTube link)

A music video by Ryan Barger, with cats dreaming of dinosaurs, fish, flying, driving, space exploration, and being rock stars. Cats dream big! -via Metafilter

Oh, you think that a sponge isn't edible? You're wrong--and he doesn't taste like a Krabby Patty at all. I Draw On My Lunch made this and many other cute meals.

Link

Artist William Gropper created a U.S. map and placed characters from folklore into the appropriate areas. The U.S. Department of State gave these maps out abroad beginning in 1946.

The “folklore” on display in this richly illustrated map is a soup of history, music, myth, and literature. Frankie and Johnny are cheek-by-jowl with a wild-eyed John Brown; General Custer coexists with “Git Along Little Dogies.” Utah is simply host to a group of “Mormons,” in which a bearded man holds up stigmata-marked hands to a small group of wives and children, while a figure labeled “New England Witches” flies over New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

The map actually got Gropper in hot water with Joe McCarthy and he was called to testify about his political associations in 1953, but pled the Fifth. Read more about him, and see an enlargeable version of the map at Slate. Link -via mental_floss

(Video Link)

It was all caught on a Russian dashcam (of course). A driver on a cell phone caused an accident. The victim in the other car was unhurt. As you can see in this video, he reaches into the perpetrator's car, grabs the cell phone and smashes it on the ground.

-via Jalopnik

Phil Haney went to Ray’s and Stark Bar, in the L.A. County Museum of Art, which gained some notoriety lately because they have a 23-page water menu and a "water sommelier" to advise you on which to drink. Haney and his co-workers sat down to read the descriptions and select a few to taste -with prices ranging up to $20 a bottle! Here's an example.

“This water of volcanic origin begins its life in the south of Italy. It takes ten years for the water to pass slowly through the underground rock and uncontaminated depths of this source. As it does, Ferrarelle water encounters the natural gas of an ancient and now extinct volcano gaining its effervescence…”

They ultimately bought five and give us their opinions on each, both in text and video. The bill was filed under business expenses, which is the only way any bar can charge this much for water. Link

If you're having a Halloween party this year, why not up your serving game with some awesome salad tossers with horrific plastic hands on the end. Just be sure you wash the hands really well before you use them with food.

Link

(Video link)

Enjoy short clips of various cats and dogs trying to fit into small spaces. Cats, being liquid, appear to be much better at this than dogs. -via Daily Picks and Flicks

Skull Bracelet

Fall is right around the corner. Have you been picking your brain for ideas on how to quickly spruce up your look? Add a Skull Bracelet from the NeatoShop to your wardrobe. This spooktacular accessory is sure to turn heads. 

The Skull Bracelet is available in: Black, Green, Orange, Purple, and Yellow. Buy them all and make it a devilishly fun set. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Jewelry. 

Link

If you've got basketball shoes worth thousands of dollars, regular ol' Spalding basketball just won't do.

Thankfully, Hermès has just released this: bright blue calfskin basketball priced at a whopping $12,900. From Hollywood Reporter:

The fashion brand, which has turned out footballs and soccer balls in the past, eschewed its signature orange in favor of a California-chic, cool blue for the bull calfskin ball that's made using the same hand-stitched technique as Hermes' coveted Birkin bags.

"It represents the sky, the ocean and all the beautiful pools that are a way of life in L.A. and Southern California," says Robert Chavez, Hermes U.S. CEO, who says that the exceptional quality of the leather as well as the artisanal craftsmanship account for the ball's price.

I want to find out if Oprah managed to buy this ball ...

(Photos: Ryan Pearl, David Jurca)

It's easy to turn clothing inside out, but doing so to a house requires heavy equipment. That's what artist Martin Papcún did to an abandoned house in Cleveland. Fritzie Brown, director of an arts organization, describes it:

Papcún again gained access to an abandoned Cleveland house and then convinced a building contractor, many volunteers, and city officials to allow him to alter the structure so that all of the interior walls were physically on the exterior of the house. Severed floor joists, and interior heating and other structures become erratic ornamental elements and, in combination with occasional bright blue interior paint, make the two-story structure a head-turning surprise in the lower-middle class neighborhood. 

Link -via Junkculture

Either Joseph researched the headhunters who are interviewing for this position very carefully, or the resume is a fake. I tend to think it's fictional. I mean, reallly, would you hire him? Link  -via Geeks Are Sexy

(Video Link)

This horse and dog are the best of friends, even playing keep away and tug-of-war together. These two are just fantastically adorable together.

Via Cute Overload

What do Disney Princesses text their Princes? Miss Macey Mouse shows us a few snapshots of their texts. Whatever you do, don't piss off Belle.

Take a look at more over at her Tumblr blog: Link - via Pleated Jeans

Everyone's beautiful on the inside, but that's probably just what ugly people say. To truly let the beauty out, sometimes you have to go under the knife. So forget boob jobs, liposuction, and tummy tucks - to make yourself *truly* unique, consider these 8 extremely unusual plastic surgeries:

1. Perma-Smile or Mouth Corner Lift

Wanna know how I got these scars?

No, we're not talking about implanting a piece of cheese on your face. Take a look at her lips - notice the perma-smile?

The first entry in this list is inspired by the viral spread of the photo of this lovely young woman who wanted to have a Joker-worthy smile turn her perma-frown upside down into a perma-smile. The surgical procedure is called the "Smile Lipt" mouth corner surgery by AOne plastic surgery clinic in South Korea.

Doctor Kwon Taek Keun of the clinic told ABC News:

"When mouth corners are lifted up, a bright and gentle image is created, and the uplifted mouth corners create a bright and jolly appearance. When corners lift up during a conversation, the person appears sincere and confident.” [...]

"People who come to receive this procedure are people with sagging mouth corners, asymmetrical mouth corners, and people who have no confidence in their smiles. This costs them $2000."

2. Forehead Augmentation

(Yes, this one above is photoshopped, but you can see a real before/after photos here)

Forget breast augmentation - here comes forehead augmentation! If you've got bony protrusion near the eybrows, tilted forehead, flat forehead, hollow forehead or - God forbid - wide forehead, you can get that fixed.

Or you could go the other way. Up to you:

Ain't nothing wrong with her forehead
                               - Liutenant Worf

3. Eyelash Transplant

"Eyelash transplantation does for the eyes what breast augmentation does for the figure," said Doctor Alan J. Bauman as we told you in this 2006 Neatorama post. There is, however, one side effect that to be aware of: transplanted eyelashes continue to grow, so you'd need to routinely trim or curl them.

4. Cankle Lipo

Cankles are the new muffin-tops, and if you've got them, be thankful that there is now a surgical procedure to zap them: the cankle lipo.

But according to this article by Diane Mapes over at NBC News, it may not be such a good idea:

 “The ankle is a tough area,” says Dr. Joel Schlessinger, a board certified dermatologist from Omaha, Neb. “There’s not a lot of fat there but there are a lot of nerves and blood vessels and the lymphatics that allow fluid to drain are somewhat less available in that area. Trauma to them can lead to swelling which leads to a prolonged recovery.” As Schlessinger puts it, “There are so many other areas where tumescent liposuction performs brilliantly. But this isn’t one of them.”

5. Palm Line Surgery

Your palm lines speak of misfortunes? Don't accept your fate! Change it ... with plastic surgery! John told us of the brave new worlds of Palm Line Surgery, where doctors will "reformat" your palm to bring better luck.

6. Earlobe Lift

Love wearing HUGE earrings? No wonder that your earlobes sag and stretch over the years. That's why you need this: earlobe lift. Good Morning America's Lindsey Davis explains this curious beauty trend [Self-starting video clip]

7. Six Pack Surgery

Photo: Dr. John Millard - via CBS News

Why bother working out when you can let a plastic surgeon sculpt your abs? Like we posted before on Neatorama, the six pack abs is possible without all those pesky sit-ups!

8. Toe-besity: Slim Down Your Fat Toes

Don't forget your toes! If you've got fat, stubby toes, there's help. New York-based podiatrist Dr. Oliver Zong talked to Good Morning America about his specialty: slimming down people's fat toes.

"When people first started asking, I said 'What?'" said Zong, who is surgical director at NYC FootCare. "We were mostly doing toe shortenings in the begining."

Now, he said, more and more people are zoning in on the smaller details of their feet, like the width of their toes.

(YouTube link)

A filmmaker built a cat puppet for a movie, then "got drunk and bored." See what happens when you get drunk and bored? Link -via Viral Viral Videos

You can show affection and commitment with someone you love using this necklace made by Etsy seller Amy. All you have to do is figure out who is the Artoo and who is the Threepio in the relationship.

Link -via The Mary Sue

(Image credit: Flickr user Claire Yuki)

1. THE BIG BANG THEORY Explained by a Muffin

IN THE CLASSROOM

Around 13.7 billion years ago, not a single element of the entire known universe existed. There was no space, no matter, no time, no wonderful magazine for knowledge junkies. Then, for an unknown reason, an infinitesimally small point called a singularity started to expand. Boom! That’s the Big Bang. Both blazing hot and unimaginably dense, this tiny point started expanding and cooling, and to this day the universe is still doing both.

The Big Bang theory was first proposed by Belgian physicist Georges Lemaître in 1927. Realizing that objects in space were moving farther apart, Lemaître hypothesized that if everything in the universe is now expanding, it originally must have been smaller. His idea: that it all originated from one intensely hot “primeval atom.” While the notion is generally accepted today, not everyone bought into Lemaître’s theory; the Big Bang gets its name from a sarcastic remark made by Fred Hoyle, an astronomer, science fiction novelist, and Big Bang skeptic.

IN THE KITCHEN

Imagine a muffin tin with one cup half-full of blueberry batter (the singularity). Inside this batter are all the building blocks of a blueberry muffin. As the batter’s temperature changes, it begins expanding, just like the universe started expanding with the temperature change of the Big Bang. The blueberries in the batter are analogous to the planets, stars, and other matter, moving right along with the rest of the muffinverse. But they’re not floating at random inside the batter—they’re moving with it, getting farther apart as the muffin bakes. And that muffin? It represents the entirety of the universe. Beyond the edge of the muffin lies a vast abyss of nothingness. All that exists are blueberries, sugar crystals, and, if the baker got a little creative, a hint of nutmeg.

2. Stirring the Pot with KEYNESIAN ECONOMICS

(Image credit: Flickr user Paul 李加乂 Li)

IN THE CLASSROOM

When the impressively mustachioed economist John Maynard Keynes published The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money in 1936, it was a watershed moment for modern macro-economic thought. The book launched the revolutionary idea that government spending is the best way to stimulate the economy. In Keynes’s now commonly accepted view, money flows in a circle, meaning one person’s spending provides income for another. In a recession, people slow their spending, thereby slowing someone else’s earning. To grease the cycle, Keynes proposed something radically different from other free market economists—he called on the government to inject money into the economy and kickstart the cycle by “priming the pump.” His argument was that the government should solve economic problems rather than waiting for markets to self correct in the long run because, “In the long run, we’re all dead.”

IN THE KITCHEN

A Keynesian cook would be a big fan of risotto, a dish that requires a fair bit of intervention on the part of the cook (the government). Unlike regular rice, which is dumped into a free market pot of boiling water and left to fend for itself, risotto must be regulated. The cook adds ladlefuls of hot stock to a pot, allowing the rice to absorb it. When it begins to dry during a stock recession, he intervenes with another ladleful, refusing to let the free market forces of unregulated Arborio rice dry out and ruin dinner.

3. The Bitter Taste of OFFSIDES

(Image credit: Flickr user OnTask)

IN THE CLASSROOM

Every four years, America briefly cheats on football, baseball, and basketball during the FIFA World Cup. Though we refuse to call soccer by its given name, Americans can’t resist the pull of one of the world’s most viewed sporting events. But that doesn’t mean we understand it. While the no-hands part is simple enough, the “offside” call is another matter.

Basically, offside is all about an offensive player’s position on the field. A player is offside if there aren't two defenders—the goalie is usually one of them—between him and the goal line at the moment the ball is played toward him. (If you draw a line across the field, the player has to be even with the next-to-last defender until the moment when the ball is passed to him.) But as soon as it’s passed, he can race past the defenders to receive it. Being called offside comes with a slight penalty—when a player is whistled, play is stopped, and possession is awarded to the other team. The offside rule exists to make the game more fun—i.e., to make sure players don’t just camp out in front of the goal for an easy score—as well as to confuse those who drop in for quadrennial viewings.

(Image credit: Flickr user Emory Allen)

IN THE KITCHEN

Think of an offside call as that unpleasant taste produced when drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth. It’s a penalty assessed for getting ahead of yourself. You must drink the orange juice (have the ball passed to you) before brushing your teeth (running past the opponent). If you confuse the order of those things, you’re punished with a mouthful of face-distorting flavor (a whistle from the referee). If you do it in the proper order, though, you stand a good chance of scoring some vitamin C. Important to note: Brushing your teeth and holding a glass of OJ is just fine—you can be in the offside position without being called offside. It’s only when you take a sip that it becomes a penalty.

4. A Forkful of STRING THEORY

(Image credit: Flickr user Garrett Coakley)

A Quick Primer on Dimensions

The concept of “zero dimensional” might sound confusing at first. At its most basic, a dimension refers to the minimum number of axes you’d need to identify a particular spot. On a line, you just need one, while in a square you need two. A single point needs zero—there’s only one spot!

Or, in kitchen terms:

0 DIMENSIONAL = a crumb

1 DIMENSIONAL = a toothpick

2 DIMENSIONAL = a sheet of aluminum foil

3 DIMENSIONAL = a loaf of bread

4 DIMENSIONAL (a tesseract) = Tupperware housed inside larger Tupperware
(While a tesseract can’t exactly exist in a three-dimensional plane, its shape is created by three dimensional objects, just like a cube is made of squares and a square is made of lines.)

IN THE CLASSROOM

In Sir Isaac Newton’s day, physicists believed the basic building blocks of all matter looked like tiny, zero-dimensional points (see below). Then, in the 1960s, string theory came along like the Beatles of physics and changed everything. String theory suggests that quarks and electrons, two of the smallest known particles, are actually vibrating strings, some of which are closed loops and some of which are open.

This revolutionary idea allowed physicists to consider all four forces of the universe— gravity (the attractive force of an object’s mass), electromagnetism (the push/pull between electrically charged particles), strong interaction (the glue that binds quarks together), and weak interaction (the force responsible for radioactive decay)—as part of a single theory for the first time. And while it sounds small, the idea has the potential to be big. Some believe that string theory will prove to be the elusive “theory of everything,” a yet-to-be-discovered model that solves all of the mysteries about the forces of the universe and answers the most fundamental questions about where the cosmos came from and why it’s so perfectly tuned to support life.

IN THE KITCHEN

(Image credit: Flickr user Emory Allen)

Prior to string theory, it was assumed that the smallest pieces of matter were like bowls of dry cereal. But string theory sees them more as big bowls of mismatched pasta. Some of the pasta has two distinct end points (spaghetti) and some is in a loop (SpaghettiOs). A forkful contains several of these strings, just as a proton or neutron is made of several quarks. And unlike dry cereal, which makes sense only with milk, spaghetti can tackle a variety of sauces (forces of the universe). If physicists are right about string theory, the movements exhibited by the pasta can help explain the origin of the universe. And if they’re ultimately wrong, well, the idea’s still delicious.

5. The Sticky Business of FINANCIAL DERIVATIVES

(Image credit: Flicker user Nathan Huth)

IN THE CLASSROOM
Of all the instruments of financial doom made famous by the crisis of 2008, none is as notorious as the derivative. Broadly defined, a financial derivative is a contract whose value is tied to something else, like a stock, bond, commodity, or currency. The value of the derivative fluctuates with the price of that underlying asset.

For sellers, one common use of derivatives is to hedge, or insure against an adverse outcome. A simplified example: A farmer might lock in a good price for his corn by selling a futures contract. This contract insulates him from risk, in case the market price for corn crashes.

Derivatives can also be used by buyers as bets on the future price of an asset. Consider a speculator who determines corn prices are about to rise dramatically. He buys a futures contract enabling him to buy corn at a low price. When the market soars, he gets to buy the corn at the cheap price guaranteed by his contract and sell it at a profit. However, there’s risk; if he’s wrong and the market price craters, he has to eat the loss.

IN THE KITCHEN
An agreement to sell your brother a jar of peanut butter is the perfect culinary equivalent of a derivative: The jar’s value is based on what’s going on around it. Say you agree to sell him a jar of Skippy in a week for $1. The value of that agreement will change depending on what else is in the pantry. If it’s time to make the transaction and your mom has just bought bread and raspberry preserves, the peanut butter becomes more desirable and the value of the contract to your brother has increased tremendously. It’s a good thing he locked down the low price when he did. If, on the other hand, the sale date arrives and the only thing in the house is celery, the demand for peanut butter may have gone down. In that case, it’s a good thing you decided to sell when you did!

6. 57 Varieties of EXISTENTIALISM

(Image credit: Flickr user Francois de Halleux)

IN THE CLASSROOM
Though the philosophical groundwork for existentialism was around during the late 19th century, this line of thought didn’t truly come into its own until the mid-1940s. That’s when French philosopher Gabriel Marcel gave the philosophy a name and Jean-Paul Sartre began saying things like, “Existence precedes essence.” Less rigid than many other philosophical strains, existentialism generally holds that the individual is responsible for giving his own life meaning. Existentialists believe that people should live according to their own consciences instead of by a moral, religious, or cultural code. And the ability to live that authentic life is only achievable when the meaninglessness of existence has been accepted.

IN THE KITCHEN
To understand culinary existentialism, you need only look at a popular but forlorn condiment: ketchup. Everyone knows it, but not as itself. To some it’s a tasty dip for fries, to others a meatloaf ingredient, and, to the British, it’s a pizza topping. In order to live a truly existential existence, ketchup must consider its own desires and not those of the dishes it serves. Only then will ketchup approach an authentic existence.

__________________________

The above article by Adam K. Raymond is reprinted with permission from the July-August 2012 issue of mental_floss magazine.

Don't forget to feed your brain by subscribing to the magazine and visiting mental_floss' extremely entertaining website and blog today for more!

You can send more than oil down a pipeline. Enterprising smugglers built and operated a vodka pipeline across the border of two central Asian nations:

It's believed to have carried mostly vodka through an 8 inch-wide tube over a third of a mile under the Chu River, which divides the two countries. The pipeline ended in the city of Tokmok in northern Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyz border guards found the pipeline during a routine search.

"We assume that thousands of liters of alcohol were smuggled," a Tokmok police official told AKIpress. 

Government officials shut down the pipeline.

Link -via Dave Barry | Image: hip flask now on sale at the NeatoShop!

Star Wars Darth Vader Alarm Clock Radio

Do you know someone who could use a little forceful persuasion to get up on time for school? Get them the Star Wars Darth Vader Alarm Clock Radio from the NeatoShop.  The has a realistic Darth Vader figurine holding a light up lightsaber and features fantastic Darth Vader sound effects. The force is strong with this one.  

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Alarm Clocks. 

Link

These gloves won't only keep you warm in the cold winter months, they'll also have you looking utterly adorable and certain to impress any fans of cute critters -which should be everyone on earth. You can get your own pair from Etsy seller muratyusuf.

Link

Among the many popular pinup illustrations of the 20th century, the character called Hilda is one of the most delightful, if rarely seen these days. Created by artist Duane Bryers, Hilda was a woman of dimension. She was pleasingly plump (without the belly that real women have), but more than that, she was pictured in real-life situations, having fun and reacting to surprises, instead of the standard sexy poses and sultry stares of other pinups. Hilda graced American calendars from the 1950s to the 1980s. See more of her at Messy Nessy. No actual nudity, but some images may be NSFW. Link -via Metafilter

You don't have to wait until Halloween to eat candy corn. Sarah has a great take on that classic candy that is perfect for a hot day. Her recipe uses mango nectar, orange soda, honey, whipping cream and, of course, candy corn.

Link -via Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons

(YouTube link)

By now you've heard the news that Ben Affleck has been cast as Batman in the upcoming film tentatively titled Superman vs. Batman. The outcry of protest on the internet was immediate. Jason Inman lays out the case for giving him the benefit of a doubt at this point. Contains NSFW language. I'll reserve judgment on the casting -after all, we heard the same reaction about Heath Ledger as The Joker. And now we're going to have to go through this again. -Thanks, Jason!

It's not a circle skirt and it doesn't have a poodle on a leash, but it is a classic style and does have a dog-like AT-AT on a leash. So while you might not want to rock Engram Clothing's skirt to the nearest sock hop, it would be a great skirt to wear dancing with your favorite geeky guy.

Link

(Video Link)

Don't worry. I'll walk you through the process. First, stick your hand in the shark's mouth.

Wait--where are you going? We've got work to do!

Well, then, we'll just leave it up to Cristina Zenato. She seems to have mastered the skill.

-via Glenn Reynolds

A couple hundred years ago, pottery figurines were used as decoration, souvenirs, collector's items, political statements, and images of news stories. News stories? Yes, before tabloids and TV, potteries in Staffordshire, England, offered figurines that illustrated current events and poked fun at the powerful. Collectors Weekly talked to Myrna Schkolne, author of the upcoming book Staffordshire Figures, 1780 to 1840, who tells how the figurines of the time meant more than we realized.

Collectors Weekly: What forgotten events or characters have you discovered through Staffordshire figurines?

Schkolne: Well, my favorite is a figure showing a tiger or tigress mauling a woman and her baby. That sounds so wrong. The tigress is holding the baby in her mouth and the woman beneath her paws. The figure is titled “Menagerie.” A Staffordshire menagerie is a well-known genre, but this was clearly not a normal menagerie object. The thing drove me nuts. I couldn’t work out the whys and the wherefores. [See image at top.]

Then one night at about 1:00 a.m., I came across an old broadside that led me to the Colindale newspaper archive in the U.K. A small paragraph in the Northumberland Herald for February of 1834 describes how Wombwell’s Menagerie had stopped in a town overnight, and during the night, a tigress and a lion had escaped, and they had killed a woman with a child in her arms. Usually, any sort of menagerie mishap is very well publicized, but I think in this case the owner of the menagerie, George Wombwell, was very quick to open his wallet because if word got about, people wouldn’t have wanted his menagerie in town.

Read about other stories enshrined in pottery, like the changing laws of marriage, sports scandals, tax protests, and a lurid murder trial that would have been all but forgotten if not for surviving figurines. Link

(Image credit: © Myrna Schkolne 2013)

Game of Thrones Is Changing How Children Are Named

Neatorama presents a guest post from Anna Johansson

So, here's a small confession: if I'm lucky enough to have twins, I will name them Fred and George. I'm sure that members of The Hunger Games army of fans will name their daughters Katniss and their sons Peeta or Haymitch.

It's a strange phenomenon, when super fans immortalize their favorite fictional characters by naming their children after them. The recent popular TV show and book series Game of Thrones is no different, and their names are a bit more exotic than Fred or George.

1. Arya

This is a girl's name that's gaining popularity because of the show. It's pronounced "Arh-ee-aa", which has inspired some new parents to spell it "Aria" to avoid confusing people.
In case you live under a rock and don't know the premise of the show, essentially it's a medieval-style tale in which seven noble families are vying for control of their mythical land (think "The Tudors" meets "Lord of the Rings.")

Arya is part of the Stark family. Cute and endearing, she is an archetypal female character who is tomboyish and rejects the idea of marrying for political reasons and not love. She sword fights and is close to her father, who takes her with him when he goes to serve the king.
She's smart and quick-witted, although sometimes not quite as smart as she thinks she is. But she's definitely a better role model for our daughters than Barbie or Disney Princesses.

2. Khaleesi

The fact that this name is also gaining popularity for new American babies has been cause for a little controversy. True fans will argue that "Khaleesi" is actually a title, not a name.

The character, played by Emilia Clarke, is actually named Daenerys Targaryen. Now, the name "Daenerys" might be a little much for a young girl in kindergarten trying to figure out how to spell her name. I'm not sure whether "Khaleesi" is any better, but, who knows?

Anyway, Khaleesi Daenerys is the last in the Targaryen line, and she lives in exile. She spends the series working to reclaim "her" throne, while adhering to a strict moral and ethical code. She's a warrior and, like Arya, sets a pretty good example for our daughters.

3. Theon

This name is gaining popularity for boys, although I'm not sure why. Theon is a character who lives with the Stark family (Arya's parents), and although technically he's more of a "ward" or captive, he is treated well and loved by the father of the family.

That said, he also seems to think he is smarter than he really is; he often acts childish and petulant, and spends much of his time with his attention focused on the ladies. But hey, Theon is a cool name. It's like a better version of Leon.

4. Tyrion

No, this isn't a version of "Tyrone." This character is played by Peter Dinklage. Tyrion is a dwarf (as is the actor, Peter Dinklage) and he's endured taunting and teasing even though he is of noble birth.

A slightly better role model than Theon, Tyrion is smart, kind, and seeks to prove himself as an advisor to his family. He can be a little spoiled and lazy because of his wealth, but he is truly compassionate and seeks to help those who have been cast out as he has.

Fun fact: Peter Dinklage is a vegetarian, so if you are a vegetarian, a Game of Thrones fan, and have a son who needs a name ... I'm just sayin', you could do much worse than Tyrion.

___________________

Anna is a freelance writer and researcher from the Olympia, WA area who loves to obsess about weird topics and then write about them. When she isn't writing, she is outside on her bike and contemplating her eventual trip to graduate school.