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According to a City of Urbana (IL) website, in 1933
When Illinois [closed] its banks in the depths of the Great Depression,
the Urbana Association of Commerce [issued] "Urbana money," which [was] used
for a month and [kept] the local economy alive.
Apparently local merchants guaranteed that when the banks reopened, the "Urbana" money could be exchanged for the real thing. My daughter learned about this in school. As she says, the money was orange and "looked like Monopoly money."
Image from DepressionScrip.com, a site chock-full of the wonderfully cheesy funny-money that kept many a community afloat during those dark days, with thanks to Jonathan for the research.
A slideshow lining up the Democratic and Republican Presidential candidates with their respective Muppet identities, set to the tune of the Muppet theme music. 1 minutes, 5 seconds long.
Via Ironic Catholic
This has got to be one of the funniest advertisement trailer I’ve seen in a while. Notice of the baby’s facial expressions. Hilarious!
Link: Wilkinson.com
The Royal Thai Police have released this sketch of a suspected bank robber. With a sketch like that, it shouldn’t take too long before he or she gets caught.
According to a report on the newsclip.be Japanese language Thai news site, this sketch is based on the recollections of eyewitnesses, who say the suspect wore a motorcycle helmet at the time of the robbery.
Here is a huge list of some of the world’s largest and strangest tanks ever built. You’ll need to scroll down a bit to see them all.
Link: Ramugita (deleted – shame on this blog for copying)
Original Links: Part 1 and Part 2 at Dark Roasted Blend
This is really neat. I tried it myself (takes a while the first time) and the more you use it the better it gets due to the paper being folded often. The kids just love it.
Link: Superpunch
A bizarre story told in pictures.
Link -via The Presurfer
This six-gill shark (Hexanchus) was filmed during a submersible dive off the northeast coast of Molokai at a depth of 1000m (3280ft). The 2 red laser dots are 6 inches apart, resulting in a length of about 18 ft for the shark. Great ecstatic live commentary by University of Hawaii Oceanography Professor Jeff Drazen!
Via Deep Sea News
Behold the coolest LEGO creation you’ll see today: the insanely cool head of Predator space hunter by Brickshelf user MisterZumbi. The details are amazing: check out the dribble of green blood …
Link – via the always inspiring The Brothers Brick blog
Theodore Roosevelt was the only U.S. President sworn in without a Bible.
Ansley Wilcox, who owned the Wilcox Mansion where Roosevelt was inaugurated, wrote: "According to my best recollection no Bible was used, but President Roosevelt was sworn in with uplifted hand." (The Presidents and Their Wives)
Franklin Pierce was the only president who affirmed the oath of office, and was not sworn in at all. (More Presidential Inauguration Trivia here: Link)
To ConceptArt Forum user chewie, the cracks in the pavement and discolorations in the concrete are but background to this fantastic series of urban artwork Skelewags [under construction, but it's promising] Now, if all graffiti can be this creative!
Previously on Neatorama: Storm Drain Street Art
Christian Gehrke of I Spy … blog is an American living in rural Ireland.
As such, he has a unique perspective on how things are in the land of Éire that Irish people may not see:
1. Farmers rule the road and they know it. Whether it be with a very slow tractor or heard of sheep and cattle, they do what they like, when they like and don’t care if you need to get to work.
2. Worrying sheep is against the law. I really don’t know what worrying a sheep consists of but they take it seriously in these parts. Don’t blow your horn or you might worry something or someone.
6. Say no to Craic. Yes we have Crack here too but it means gossip and everyone wants to know what the “criac” is. If you do ANYTHING out of the ordinary everyone will know about it. Gossip is king in these parts.
8. Bureaucracy is king. The Irish love their forms and boy do they use them. To do anything you must fill out at least 10 forms and jump through a minimum of 3 hoops.
To give you an example. We recycle and it means dropping off our recycling ourselves. This I can live with but before we can go to the drop off point we must first buy stamps. The number of stamps depends on how much you have to recycle, usually one stamp per “car” load. These stamps must be bought at a local gas station or shop not the recycling center. If one shop has run out you must find one that still has some left. If you buy too many stamps you’ve wasted money and if you don’t buy enough you will be forced to go back and buy more before you can drop off your stuff. This is enough to put anyone off doing it all together.
It’s amazing that they’ll make recycling actually hard to do! Link
Original photo: The Sweet Escape Photos by Jill Greenberg
The Photoshop Roadmap has a, excellent list of 70 Horror, Blood and Gore Photoshop Effects and Brushes. Included is this tutorial on how to Vampirize Gwen Stefani in 5 easy steps.
Link: Photoshop Roadmap’s 70 Tips | How to Vampirize Gwen Stefani – by The Art of Darkness
You don’t need any excuse to eat cake, just get one that says "Happy Day!" Found at The Sledgehammer – Version 2.0
"Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing."
– William James, American psychologist and philosopher (1842 – 1910)
via Tombo’s Blog
