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This spring, Dave Heeley will take up the Seven Magnificent Marathons challenge and run marathons on seven continents in seven days. April 7th through the 13th, Dave and his running partner Malcolm Carr will run in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, Santiago, Los Angeles, Sydney, Dubai, Tunis, and London. Heeley is in it for his favorite cause, The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. Oh yeah, Dave is blind. If he accomplishes his goal, he will be the first blind runner ever to complete seven marathons in seven days. Link -via Grow-A-Brain
Clearly this will be the hot toy for Christmas 2008. Here’s Magpul Industries official site, which is worth the trip for a fun desktop wallpaper. Via StrategyPage.
Previously: Maxblaster Flashlight.
What is Puddleblog, you ask? Puddleblog chronicles the epic journey of one puddle, bracing for an uncertain future.
It’s a blog. You know, for a puddle. Specifically, the puddle that graces the corner of Jay and Plymouth, a couple blocks east of the Manhattan Bridge. Maybe if this thing catches on we can think about including other qualified puddles.
And the puddle has run dry just today. Link -via the Presurfer
We read the latest research on our favorite foods, and the findings are often contradictory over time. First, this is good for you, then it’s bad for you, then good again. The truth is, most foods are fine in moderation. This article gives both the good and the bad news about some of your favorites: chocolate, coffee, eggs, beer, and more. Link -via Digg
Hooray! Here is this week’s collaboration with What it it? blog: can you guess what this gruesome claw-like object is for?
Place your guess in the comment section. Please post no URL, let others play … No prize this week, so you’re playing for fun and bragging rights only.
For more clues, see: What is it? Blog. Good luck!
Update 3/14/08 0 – the answer is:
A coal lifting device, used when adding coal to a fire, it protects the hand from flames and also from contact with the coal, patented in 1896, number 567,087.
| The following is an article from Uncle John’s Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader
To a driving instructor in Scotland: “How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them through the test?” To a Nigerian diplomat in traditional Nigerian garb: “You look as if you’re ready for bed.” On seeing a fuse box filled with wires, during a visit to an electronics company: “This looks like it was put in by an Indian.” To a chubby 13-year-old boy at a space exploration exhibit, pointing to a space capsule: “You’ll have to lose weight if you want to go in that.” To a smoke-detector activist who lost two of her children in a house fire: “My smoke alarm is a damn nuisance. Every time I run my bath, the steam sets it off and I’ve got firefighters at my door.” To members of the British Deaf Association, while pointing to a loudspeaker playing Caribbean music: “No wonder you are deaf.” To a tourist, during a state visit to Hungary: “You can’t have been here long, you’ve not potbelly.” Speaking to British students studying in China: “If you stay here much longer, you’ll all be slitty-eyed.” On the “key problem” facing Brazil: “Brazilians live there.” On his daughter Princess Anne: “If it doesn’t fart or eat hay, she isn’t interested.” On seeing a picture once owned by England’s King Charles I in the Louvre in Paris: “So I said to the Queen, ‘Shall we take it back?’” |
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The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John’s Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader.
Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. If you like Neatorama, you’ll love the Bathroom Reader Institute’s books – go ahead and check ‘em out!
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Illustration: Matthew Hurst
Last year, Discover magazine has a very neat post on how Matthew Hurst of Data Mining figured out what blog linked to whom and made this nifty "map of the blogosphere":
The blogosphere is the most explosive social network you’ll never see. Recent studies suggest that nearly 60 million blogs exist online, and about 175,000 more crop up daily (that’s about 2 every second). Even though the vast majority of blogs are either abandoned or isolated, many bloggers like to link to other Web sites. These links allow analysts to track trends in blogs and identify the most popular topics of data exchange. Social media expert Matthew Hurst recently collected link data for six weeks and produced this plot of the most active and interconnected parts of the blogosphere.
Some interesting observations:
2 THE GOSSIP OF GADGET HOUNDS
The bright spot here represents the popular site Boingboing, a “Directory of Wonderful Things” that links to oddly compelling online news from the fringes of the real world but mostly offers gossip about gadgets and all things high-tech.3 SHOW ME YOUR FRIENDS
This isolated, close-knit online community of bloggers uses LiveJournal, an online host that primarily serves as a social networking site. This blogging island is just barely in touch with the rest of the blogworld.4 I’LL SHOW YOU MINE. . .
This blue blob represents a balanced sociopolitical discourse. The prevalence of blue in this area shows that most of these links are reciprocal, suggesting a sort of metadialogue between bloggers who hurl headlines at one another. The brightest light belongs to syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin.
Link | More Blogosphere maps at Matthew Hurst’s blog
H. Ross Perot Jr. (yes, the son of Ross Perot) piloted the first ever helicopter round the world flight.
On September 1, 1982, H. Ross Perot Jr. and Jay Coburn left Fort Worth, Texas, on a Bell 206 L-1 Long Ranger II and returned 28 days later. They flew on average of eight and a half hours a day, refueled 56 times and flew over 26 countries. (Source)
These are Skywalker Tallbikes, 12-foot-tall bikes built by Brad Graham. Jesus Diaz of Gizmodo asked him the obvious question: how in the world do you get on top of one to ride it?
JD: OK, and now the really OMFG part: how the heck do you ride this thing?
BG: The bike is very easy to ride if you trust it. Climbing the ladder while it is in motion takes some time to get used to, but after a few tries, I was able to get to the top with a coffee in one hand. Many people tried SkyWalker, and had no problem at all riding it.
Link (with photo gallery)
I am totally mesmerized by Hartwig Braun’s "Arty Globe" illustrations of the world’s largest metropolises. This one above is New York, but there are also Berlin, London, Paris ….
Check it out: Link – via Drawn!
Mickey Feio blog is a Brazilian blog dedicated to showcasing ugly Mickeys. For no reason at all.
It mostly has Mickey Mouse, but Mickey Rooney made it a couple of times…. This one to the left is by Alair Souza.
Link – via Information Nation
The town of Nogales is split down the middle of the US/Mexico border (Arizona in the US and Sonora on the Mexican side). Think or Thwim blog has a neat compilation of photos of Nogales in 1898, when you can simply cross the border anywhere, and 2008 (with a 15-foot tall fence and border patrol agents every 50 yards.)
Link – via Incoming Signals
"Men who have pierced ear are better prepared for marriage – they’ve experienced pain and bought jewellery."
– Rita Rudner, comedian
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Ever heard of Prince Philip? He’s the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II of England. About the only time he makes headline is when he, as one newspaper puts it, “uses his royal status to insult and belittle people.” His public gaffes are so frequent that they’ve earned him the title “The Duke of Hazard.” (Photo: NASA/Paul E. Alers [
