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The biggest franchises in the world all started with just one store. Some are so big and have been around so long that few know where the original was! Read how Starbucks, 7-11, and The Gap started out, and plenty of trivia. Did you know Taco Bell was named after its founder? That Arby’s is named for the pronunciation of R.B, but that doesn’t mean roast beef? And the first Whoppers cost 37 cents? Fifteen such chains are featured in this post. Link -Thanks, Freshome!
Good grief! Bill Teer lost something from his front yard. Something large. Very, very large: his prized 450 lb. pumpkin!
Teer thinks a group of three teenagers drove up on Halsey Road and managed to roll the pumpkin into the back of their pickup truck. The reward is now up to $200.
"I think they absolutely planned it," said neighbor Don Simons. Simons pitched in half the reward money. "We hope we catch these people," he said. "There was a prior attack on the pumpkin a year or two ago. Somebody jumped out with a hammer and punched some holes in one of them."
Meanwhile, police are baffled. "Who knows what they want with it or what they did with it," Simons said.
Maybe it’s for a really, really big pumpkin pie! Link
The 2008 Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded last night, and Steve Nadis of the science journal Nature was there to blog about it. Here’s his report on some of the most dubious achievements in science:
7:55 p.m. At last, the first 2008 Ig Nobel Prize is handed out, recognizing the field of nutrition. The award goes to a pair of researchers who showed that manipulating the sound made by eating Pringles crisps can fool people into thinking a stale crisp is perfectly fresh.
8:21 p.m. Dan Ariely of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, accepts the Medicine Prize for research showing that expensive fake medicine works better than cheap fake medicine. Which makes a lot of sense, in a warped way. Twelve years ago, Ariely vowed "to be on this stage". Now that he’s reached "this peak", he says, he’s not sure where to go next — thereby summing up the dilemma of many an Ig Nobel prizewinner.
8:30 p.m. Brent Jordan of the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, tells aspiring young male scientists exactly what they’ve always wanted to hear: "Research scientists can learn a lot from lap dancers." Jordan knows what he’s talking about, as the co-author of a paper exploring how a lap dancer’s ovulatory cycle affects her tip earnings — work deemed good enough to earn him a share of this year’s Economics Prize. One of his co-authors, Geoffrey Miller, dashes the hopes of some enthusiasts by saying he’s not taking on any more research assistants in his lab.
Other winners include the findings that Coke explodes sperms, dog fleas jump farther than cat fleas, and the mathematical proof that hair or a ball of string will inevitably tangle itself in knots.
Link | Ig Nobels official website
Joanne Smith bought an abandoned house in Saginaw, Michigan, on eBay. Her winning bid? $1.75!
"I am going to try and sell it," she told the newspaper. "I don’t have any plans to move to Saginaw."
Smith said she hasn’t seen the property or visited Saginaw, which has been hard-hit by economic troubles in recent years.
There’s a notice on the door of the home saying a foreclosure hearing is pending, the newspaper said. She must pay about $850 in back taxes and yard cleanup costs.
Previously on Neatorama: Foreclosed Home For Sale for Just $1
(Links open in a new browser window/tab)
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Fat Man Defies the Laws of Physics |
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Racer Can't Defy the Call of Nature |
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Awesome Save by ... Wait a Minute! Who?? An assistant (not a player) for De Treffers named Jan Maas decided to um, play a little defense and prevented a goal against his team. His expression (what? what did I do?) later on was priceless! Link |
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The Woman Whisperer What would happen if the man tried to stay a little while longer ... and what happened when a mysterious "woman whisperer" walked in the door? A pretty funny beer ad from Australia: Link |
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Zombie Snake Head - It's Still Alive! Check out this video clip. If you dare: Link |
For more the web's most interesting videos, check out: VideoSift.
I know that we have a lot of regular daily readers here on the blog, but I’ve always wondered how many of you actually have read all of Neatorama. You know, click on the "Next Page" link on the end of the page until you’ve reached the blog’s very first post.
It’s a daunting task – we have over 16,370 posts as of the time I wrote this entry. At Neatorama’s long page of 30 posts, that’s nearly 550 pages full of goodness!
Well, it turned out that at least one of you did. Here’s an email sent to us by Neatorama reader Mitch Wilson of Hungry Hollow Art (That’s Mitch and the missus on there yonder photo):
My name is mitch and stumbled upon your site by accident while reading a story on my yahoo home page, I think it was about hoaxes. Anyhoo, I found your archives on the web and worked my way through all 546 pages. It has taken me a little over 2 months in my spare time to complete, sometimes as much as five or six hours in a sitting. A very addicting site indeed! I am now registered and get updates when you post them, just to see what you dig up next. An awesome site that my two sons and myself have really enjoyed, well except for my sore backside from hours of scanning hypnotizing post in my chair.
Thanks for letting us know and sorry about the backside, Mitch!
PS. What should we call such a schlep anyways? Neatoramaddiction? NeatoramAtoZ?
Have you always wanted to star in your own bodice-ripper romance novel?
Now you can: simply enter some details like heroine and hero’s names and characteristics (like eye color, hair color, etc) at Romance By You, pay your 40 bucks and voilà – your very own romance novel!
For example, here’s Pirates of Desire:
Our heroine is a stunning aristocrat who yearns to be a swashbuckling pirate buccaneer. Until, that is, she and her best friend find themselves captured by our hero, a scoundrel and handsome pirate rogue, with a price on his head.
Our leading lady becomes his willing prisoner of passion… or is it the lure of the sea that holds her heart captive?
My wife actually found this website while looking for children’s book that can be personalized – Link, Thanks sweetpea!
What happened when Homer Simpson tried to vote for Obama in the 2008 US Presidential Election? Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]
(Go away trolls, it’s just a funny clip, mmkay?)
Many kids throw a fit or temper tantrum when they’re upset, but this one went over the line. Waaaay over:
A 7-year-old boy broke into a popular Outback zoo, fed a string of animals to the resident crocodile and bashed several lizards to death with a rock, the zoo’s director said Friday.
The 30-minute rampage, caught on the zoo’s security camera, happened early Wednesday after the boy jumped a security fence at the Alice Springs Reptile Center in central Australia, said zoo director Rex Neindorf.
The child then went on a killing spree, bashing three lizards to death with a rock, including the zoo’s beloved, 20-year-old goanna, which he then fed to "Terry," an 11-foot, 440-pound saltwater crocodile, said Neindorf.
The boy also fed several live animals to Terry by throwing them over the two fences surrounding the crocodile’s enclosure, at one point climbing over the outer fence to get closer to the giant reptile.
In the footage, the boy’s face remains largely blank, Neindorf said, adding: "It was like he was playing a game."
That is one angry kid who needs professional help, pronto: Link – Thanks Tiffany!
Do jewelries move you to the point of tears? Well, thanks to Dutch designer Erik Klarenbeek, now even your eyes can "wear" jewelry:
The bizarre range features a number of adornments which hang on wire from contact lenses.
Users attach a range of accessories, such as crystals and flowers, to the new prescription or dummy lenses and wear them throughout the day.
The jewellery, which measures up to 14mmx33mm, is attached to the contact using medical wire and hangs below the eye.
The crystal accessories glimmer in sunlight and look as if the wearer is crying.
Previously on Neatorama: Eyeball Tattoo
[WIVB-TV: Buffalo, NY - Click for video]
