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Is it dangerous to shower in a thunderstorm? Will you drown if you eat before swimming? Will eating at night make you fat? Will having sex before a game hurt sports performance?
Check out this ABC World News webcast with The New York Times writer Anahad O’Connor on fact checking your mom’s myths: Link
The Wall Street Journal blog has a post about Law Firm Names That Are Funny. For example:
Payne & Fears, Low, Ball & Lynch, Bickers & Bickers, Ball & Weed, Gunn & Hicks, Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen, Ice Miller, Weiner & Cox, Held, Held & Held, Bull & Lifshitz, And the famous MoFo
Many more at the WSJ Law Blog: Link – Thanks John! (Image from &y [Flickr])
MySpace is a place for friends, so it makes somewhat of a distorted-trademark-infringing sense that a coffee shop in Macedonia pirated its name and logo!
However, like Neatorama reader cchevy, who suggested this piece, said there’s "not a lot of users ‘online’ now" in the empty shop! Link – Thanks cchevy!
What is that? It’s a result of a year-long experiment at the WAREHOUSE: a slice of uncooked bacon entombed in a lexan box. (Maybe it’ll last longer if it were encased in glass!)
I can’t believe Carl kept it a whole year, that we’ve posted about it a year ago, and that we’re posting it now! Link – Thanks Carl!
Almost all Chinese restaurants in the USA have this dish, but have you ever wondered: who was General Tso? What has he got to do with chicken? This website will explain:
If you read the biography below (written by a military historian who believes in very, very long sentences), you’ll notice that while Tso was a successful 19th C. Chinese general, chicken is not mentioned even once. It’s pretty clear that General Tso didn’t have the time to invent or even taste the dish named after him. So where did it come from?
My theory: It was invented in the mid-1970′s, in NYC, by one Chef Peng. Chinese food in New York was different in the early ’70s; while there were a quite a few Chinese restaurants around, they were all Cantonese. Bland food, served in a decor straight out of the 1950′s (think: Too much RED).
Around 1974, Hunan and Szechuan food were introduced to the city, and General Tso’s Chicken was an exemplar of the new style. Peng’s, on East 44th Street, was the first restaurant in NYC to serve it, and since the dish (and cuisine) were new, Chef Peng was able to make it a House Specialty, in spite of its commonplace ingredients.
Link – via Miss Cellania
How awesome is this: a telescoping fishing rod that "shrinks" down to just 8 in. (20.3 cm) long! Link
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German artist Richard The tied shopping bags on to subway grates in New York City – as the subway train passes, the air flowing through the grates will inflate the bags, creating an "ephemeral sculpture."
Now, is this art? Link [embedded YouTube]
Why the rooster? According to Scribal Terror:
Iconographically correct, if that’s supposed to be a rooster. From the earliest days, Christians have viewed the rooster as a symbol of the call of Christ, signaling a new dawn for humanity. If you Google "rooster as Christian symbol," however, you will find a number of alternatives to this interpretation, both positive and negative. That is typical of the medieval world view, which saw all things as symbols with multiple meanings that could be viewed "in bono" or "in malo" (for good or for evil).
This eggscellent yin and yang, titled "Eggregation" is made by DPChallenge user scalvert:
It took me a few tries to make this happen: I cut the white shape (and the hole) out of thick paperboard to make a mold. The board wasn’t thick enough, so I pressed white paper tape along the edges. Then I covered the shapes with nonstick cooking spray and held them down on a flat griddle. I poured several egg whites into the mold and turned the griddle on to cook it. Carefully removed the mold using an X-acto knife to help separate the edges and then transferred the white shape to the pan with a spatula. Cooked yolks aren’t particularly attractive, so I cooked the bottom just enough to be able to transfer it (I went through several because they kept breaking). Once arranged in the pan, I hit everything with cooking spray to make it shiny, then used a butane lighter to lightly scorch the top of the egg white in spots so it would really look cooked.
Link – via One Large Prawn
Uli Westphal’s latest artwork is a collection of beautiful photographs of produce – not just any ol’ fruits and veggies you find in your supermarket, these are mutant ones!
Mutatoes
Being a collection of non-standard fruits, roots and vegetables found at Berlin’s farmers markets, the Mutato-Project serves to document and archive these last survivors of biological variety.
Link – via COLOURlovers
My name is James, and I love things that are comically large! Nothing makes my day more than finding a pad of sticky notes that are bigger than they have any right to be, or seeing a story on the news about a woman who won the lottery and got handed a ridiculously large check!
Comically Large Things is a new blog of oversized anything, like this great big ant. If you have a picture of something that’s really big, he’d like to include it. Link -via Metafilter
10 August – 1 September 2007 the Hospital Gallery in London presents Warhol vs. Banksy – “a face to face show of classic drawings and paintings by Andy Warhol set against the infamous graffiti work of Banksy.”
Link – via Urban Retro Lifestyle
“The exciting new Tommy Burst detective set.”
Click play or go to Link [YouTube].
Today’s Bizarro is strangely coincidental with Miss Cellania’s recent post "Tiny Ninjas"! For more Bizarro comic, check out Dan Piraro’s website: Link
Police in Walkerton, Ontario had a surprising encounter with a suspected drunk driver on the holiday weekend when he refused to take a breath test.
A 19-year-old man was sitting in his car with the lights off on a country road in the early hours of the morning and when an officer tried to administer a breath analysis, the suspect drank the fluid from his contact lens case and ate one of his contact lenses. He then attempted to eat portions of his shirt and socks.
When officers tried to remove his clothing, a scuffle broke out and the suspect was subdued with pepper spray. When placed in a holding cell, he put his head in the toilet and refused to provide a breath sample.
He is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 9; his name has not been released.
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Wars can start for all sorts of reasons: to secure trade routes, to capture resources, to eliminate a dangerous rival … but the most interesting wars flare up because of personal insults that lead to family feuds. After all, when a king’s starting his speech with a “yo momma” joke, you know trouble’s on its way. 1. The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships
Once thought to be a myth, the story of the Trojan War is being reevaluated by scholars. In the centuries since, documents discovered in Hittite cities in Asia Minor make references to some of Homer’s characters and the places he mentions. Did the war really start over the theft of Menelaus’ wife? We will probably never know; though control over the lucrative trade routes to the Black Sea probably didn’t hurt the cause. 2. Sister Pact
But the two needed something to seal the deal, and what better than a couple of marriage vows to do the trick? Octavianus wedded Antony’s stepdaughter, and Antony took Octavianus’ sister, Octavia, for better or for worse.
The civil war between the two lasted from 33 to 30 BCE. By the end of it, Octavianus was the undisputed ruler of the Roman world; he changed his name to Augustus and became the first Roman Emperor. Antony, on the other hand, had committed suicide to avoid capture, having learned the hard way that you just don’t mess with a man’s sister. 3. How a Little Bullying Went a Long, Long WayTan Shi Huai was the illegitimate son of a Xianbei (Mongol) mercenary serving the Han dynasty of China. As a result of his low birth, he was considered little better than a slave by his fellow tribesmen. The insults served his way must have stuck in his young craw, particularly given his (as yet unrevealed) ambition, intelligence, and strategic skill. His injured pride may have spurred him on as he gathered a following of malcontents, somehow finagled his way into the supreme overlordship of all Xianbei tribes around 170 CE, and organized a powerful empire north of the Great Wall, even defeating the Huns who had previously ruled the region. Then, in 177, he defeated the Chinese army and threatened the imperial court, though an attack on the capital never materialized because of supply problems. Sadly, however, his empire, which had been held together largely through his own force of will, didn’t survive his death. Still, the guy defeated both the mighty Hans and Huns. All because he was picked on as a kid? Makes you wonder how much more effective our politicians could 4. The Great Islamic Schism
The new caliph, Ali (a Hashemite cousin and a son-in-law of Muhammad), didn’t really help smooth things over when he failed (or refused) to track down and punish the assassins. It’s little wonder then, that the Umayyads saw this as somewhat suspicious, and even worse, kind of insulting to their clan. A five-year war broke out, and eventually ended in a truce, but Ali’s subsequent murder (not exactly truceful) and replacement by the Umayyad leader Muawiyya (whose kinsmen would rule the Islamic world for a century to come) exacerbated the conflict. Ali’s followers, however, have remained faithful to the end. Driven underground, they called themselves Shiat Ali, or “The Party of Ali,” and their spiritual descendents are known today as the Shiites. The rift caused by the fiasco survives to the modern day in Islam’s two largest sects. 5. The Princess Bride (and a Decidedly Less Happy Ending)In 758 CE, Caliph Abdullah al-Mansur, the titular ruler of all Islam, decided to order one of his nobles to take a royal Khazar bride and bring about some peace (the Khazars had fought two brutal wars to stop Islamic expansion into the Caucasus Mountains and Eastern Europe). To carry out this seemingly easy task, al-Mansur piced the military governor of Armenia, Yazid ibn Usayd al-Sulami, for the great marriage mission. Of course, Yazid was happy to comply, and took home a daughter of Khagan Baghatur, the Khazar leader.
Needless to say, Pops got angry, and took his revenge on the Abbasid Caliphate. The Khazars quickly invaded what is now northwestern Iran, plundering and raiding as only nomads can. |
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From mental_floss’ book Forbidden Knowledge: A Wickedly Smart Guide to History’s Naughtiest Bits, published in Neatorama with permission. Be sure to visit mental_floss‘ extremely entertaining website and blog!
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It’s time for another five awesome video clip from VideoSift! All of these clips are picked from just the last 24 hours (from when I prepare this post, that is). Now that’s quality sifting at the ‘Sift!
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The Funniest Cats of the Internet |
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Be Kind Rewind Hilarity ensues. Link |
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James Lipton Recites K-Fed’s "Freestyle" This is for the haters … Link |
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Kim Jong Il Portrait in Blood Here’s a video clip of him drawing a giant picture of the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il with his own blood! |
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Penguin Guy
Link (Astute readers will recall this was on Neatorama a while back) |
For more the web’s most interesting videos, check out: VideoSift.
More Google store insanity! This time, a Google Linen Shop in Venezuela, spotted by Flickr user g3rswin – Thanks Guillermo!
I’ve heard of removing minor scratches on CDs using toothpaste, but apparently, banana will work just as well: Hit play or go to Link [metacafe] – via Videoenlaces, thanks Anna Veltfort!
Neatorama readers had submitted some very funny names for our new Funny Business Name category, but Zantony suggested something else: a creepy van with this strange name: Rapex Contracting Corp. (Maybe it’s French and it’s pronounced ra-pay or something like that …)
Link – via Zantony’s Livejournal Blog, Thanks Zantony!
Every Wednesday, Kris Bordessa of Great Solutions to Team Challenges blog put up a question: what else can an ordinary object, normally associated with just one function, be used for?
For instance, when she asked what else can this lowly bread tab be used for, her readers replied:
Pony Tail barrette for My Little Pony.
Nostril accessory (instead of a piercing).
A restraining device for a very, very tiny perpetrator.
It’s a key ring as well as a tool that replaces divets on a putting green.
And it could be half of a pair of snowshoes for a squirrel.
Kris contends that this sort of thing helps spur kids’ creativity: Link | Homepage – Thanks Kris!
Neatorama has celebrated the Lego many times. Here’s a look at how Lego bricks are made. Today is the company’s 75th birthday!
Parties were due to take place around the world Friday for Danish toy firm Lego as its 5,000 global employees prepared to celebrate the company’s 75th birthday. Master carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen started the company on August 10, 1932 in his studio in the town of Billund in Jutland.
Homer tells the story brilliantly: thousands killed, cities burned and pillaged, and giant equines built out of wood in a country that had barely any trees. And the root cause of the entire affair, as the ancients told it, was a woman: 
After the death of Gaius Julius Caesar, the most important men in Rome were two of his kinsmen, Gaius Octavianus (his great-nephew and adopted heir) and Marcus Antonius (aka Mark Antony). Realizing they could be even stronger with their powers combined, the two united with their good pal Lepidus, and formed a triumvirate that would determine the fate of all Roman territories. 
Once old Mark caught sight of Cleopatra, he wanted a divorce. Meanwhile, this didn’t really help matters between Octavianus and Antony, as the two men had remained rivals through their dealings. But news of the Antony’s divorce helped Octavianus decide he’d had enough. 
Politics in the sixth- and early seventh-century Mecca were dominated by a feud between two clans, the Hashemites and the Umayyads. And though the feud continued into the mid-600s, a generation after Muhammad’s rise to power, things really came to ahead in 656, when the caliph Uthman (an Umayyad) was murdered. 
Things were going very well when the girl somehow died, possibly in childbirth, though the details are vague. Her attendants, however, didn’t need details. They returned home convinced that some Arab faction had poisoned her (not unreasonable, all things considered). 
