Robert Garside was the first man to run all the way round the world.

With almost no money to his name, he started running. His adventures during the trek included being shot at in South Africa, almost shot in Panama, imprisoned in China and nearly mugged in Mexico. On the plus side, he met his wife in Venezuela. The run took him five years but he did manage to do it and got a Guinness World Record title for his efforts.

Garside’s story is just one of 18 Of The Most Insane Journeys In Recent History. You’ll also see the guy who swam the Atlantic, the woman who walked for 30 years to promote peace, and the 19th century woman who rode around the world on a bicycle! Link

On May 19, 1780 the skies grew dark at midday in New England. There had been reports of smoky skies for a few days already, but then it became so dark that animals returned to their sleeping quarters.

It was darkest in northeastern Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine, but it got dusky through most of New England and as far away as New York. At Morristown, New Jersey, Gen. George Washington noted it in his diary.

In the darkest area, people had to take their midday meals by candlelight. A Massachusetts resident noted, "In some places, the darkness was so great that persons could not see to read common print in the open air." In New Hampshire, wrote one person, "A sheet of white paper held within a few inches of the eyes was equally invisible with the blackest velvet."

At Hartford, Col. Abraham Davenport opposed adjourning the Connecticut legislature, thus: "The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause of an adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty."

The source of the blackout was a mystery, although there was always speculation that it came from a faraway forest fire. The definitive answer came only in 2007. Read the entire story at Wired. Link

(image source: The Weather Doctor)

These guys built a boulder using five million Lego bricks, then sent it rolling down a hill in San Francisco chasing a guy dressed as Indiana Jones! The boulder met its match in a car parked along the way. See the video at Gizmodo. Link -via reddit

This is a bit of fun for a minute or two! Control the spider with your mouse. That curious six-legged thing with a dog’s tail and a beak isn’t so easy to control. Link -via Le Web ...et le reste.

(YouTube link)
Soviet dancers backed by “It’s Like That” by Run DMC. -via Digg

If South African runner Oscar Pistorius qualifies for the Olympics, he won’t be the only South African amputee competing in Beijing. Last month, Natalie Du Toit made the Olympic team in the new 10K Open Water Swimming {wiki} event. Du Toit lost the lower half of her left leg seven years ago in a traffic accident. She is the first amputee ever to qualify for the Olympic games.

Unlike Pistorius, Du Toit does not wear a prosthetic leg in races and is therefore free to compete in Beijing. It is akin to competing in a sculling race with one scull or a kayak race with a single-bladed paddle. Her secret? Well, there is no secret, she says, no physical or technical trick to compensate for the loss of a limb. Just hard work and obsessive determination. "There's no real compensation. You just do the hours in the swimming pool, you do the hours of racing and you do the hours of mental preparation. You just go out and give it everything. I don't even think of one leg, two legs. When you're racing in an able-bodied competition you're all equal and you go out there and try your best, and that's what counts.

"Swimming is my passion and something that I love. Going out there in the water, it feels as if there's nothing wrong with me. I go out there and train as hard as anybody else. I have the same dreams, the same goals. It doesn't matter if you look different. You're still the same as everybody else because you have the same dream."

Du Toit narrowly missed qualifying for the Olympic swmming team in 2000, before her amputation. Link to story. Du Toit’s website.

(image credit: Associated Press)

(LiveLeak link)
Don't keep putting off your termite inspection! -via Arbroath

Homemade whiskey is still illegal in all 50 states and most countries, but the craft is making a comeback. This time around, it’s a geek hobby instead of a moneymaking venture, with a focus on quality as opposed to quantity.

"It took me years, but with practice and dedication you can make any spirit every bit as good as a commercial distiller," says Dave Robison, 42, owner of Pioneer Spirits, a single-batch distillery in Chico, California. "You might not be able to reproduce it exactly, but it will be as good as anything you can buy on the top shelf."

Anyone who wants to try distilling is cautioned to do their homework first.

After all, he says, "This ain't stamp collecting."

Wired has an overview of the hobby, with links to sites and forums for home distillers. Link

(image credit: unprose)

Double amputee Oscar Pistorius (featured previously at Neatorama) has won an appeal and will compete to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

The 21-year-old, who runs on specially adapted carbon fibre blades after having his legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old, saw the ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The 400m runner was barred from all competitions involving able-bodied athletes because of claims that the artificial legs he uses give him an unfair advantage.

"Today, I can pursue my dream of competing in the Olympic Games. If it's not for Beijing, it will be for London in 2012," said the South African, nicknamed 'Bladerunner'.

The South African runner still has an uphill battle. His personal best time for the 400 meter is 46.46 seconds. To qualify for the Olympic team, he must beat 45.95 seconds. Link -via YesButNoButYes

There’s a fascinating article explaining the "advantages" of the Cheetah prosthetic limbs Pistorius uses at Cocktail Party Physics (after the first couple of paragraphs). Link

21-year-old William Lopez was ejected from his graduation ceremony Thursday at Yankee Stadium. New York University held its commencement at the ballpark because of construction at Washington Square Park. The students were told to stay off the field, but Lopez couldn’t resist the temptation to run the bases.

"The students had been repeatedly advised . . . that they were strictly prohibited from being on the field," said NYU spokesman John Beckman.

About three-quarters of the way through the ceremony, Lopez, wearing his gown and mortarboard, leaped over the right-field fence onto the field.

He sprinted across the outfield behind second base and made it to third, as many in the crowd, which also included 20,000 guests, cheered him on.

Stadium security and NYPD officers apprehended him before he made it to home plate. Link -via Digg

(image credit: Robert Miller)

Here’s a gadget that will keep a half of a banana fresh.

NANA Saver™ Banana Holder Eliminates waste so you can enjoy half now, and half later. Keeps a sliced banana fresher, longer by reducing exposure to air. Hinged banana shaped body with tiny teeth grip sliced bananas firmly in place and flat plate presses snug against banana face to minimize air contact.

Only $2.98. Personally, I just fold the first half of the banana peel over the exposed fruit, although eating only half a banana is a rare thing at my house. Link -via the Presurfer

Among blogs with very specific subjects, this is one of the most focused. It’s a blog dedicated to the ampersand, the typographical character for “and”.

I like the ampersand. I think it is often the most attractive punctuation mark of them all. This blog is an attempt to give this humble character the respect it deserves. If you would like to submit some ampersand-related content, please let me know.

Link -via Dump Trumpet

In today’s Lunchtime Quiz from mental_floss, you are given a nonsense word (or at least that’s what they seem to be), and you decide whether it’s a character from Dungeons and Dragons or a skin disease. Although I didn’t know the answers, I used the Force and got this score:

Skin Disease or Dungeons and Dragons Character?



Score: 94% (15 out of 16)

I knew you wouldn’t believe me unless I grabbed the code. I found it hard to believe myself! Link

In addition to natural selection, Charles Darwin referred to artificial selection, meaning the process of breeding domestic animals to select for desirable traits. His cousin Sir Francis Galton said this principle could be applied to humans as well. The idea came to be known as “eugenics”. The philosophy was that a society could maintain health and intelligence as a group by disallowing those with undesirable traits to reproduce. Indiana passed the first eugenics law in 1907.

"…it shall be compulsory for each and every institution in the state, entrusted with the care of confirmed criminals, idiots, rapists and imbeciles, to appoint upon its staff, in addition to the regular institutional physician, two (2) skilled surgeons of recognized ability, whose duty it shall be, in conjunction with the chief physician of the institution, to examine the mental and physical condition of such inmates as are recommended by the institutional physician and board of managers. If, in the judgment of this committee of experts and the board of managers, procreation is inadvisable and there is no probability of improvement of the mental condition of the inmate, it shall be lawful for the surgeons to perform such operation for the prevention of procreation as shall be decided safest and most effective."

Other states soon followed. In practice, such laws collided with human rights. Who is qualified to judge what traits are truly undesirable and which persons deserved to be sterilized? Thousands of “undesirables” were sterilized in the US, decades before (and after) the Nazis endorsed the idea. Read the entire story at Damn Interesting. Link

Send ten dollars to the Something Store and they will send you ...something. You don’t know what it will be, but hey, it’s only ten dollars!

It maybe something you need, something you want or something you desire.
Yours may be a cool gadget, rare book, table game, handmade necklace, reverse clock, box of gourmet chocolates, set of shiny shower curtains, popular video game, big-box retailer gift card, the latest version of a software, a set of kitchen knives, a pair of designer jeans, garden tool, kitchen appliance, unique home decor item, electronic equipment, magazine subscription, office supply item, or ...
Your something will most likely be brand new, though it may also be refurbished or antique.

Shipping is free. There is plenty of customer feedback, but you really can’t complain since they make no promises. Link

Long before internet shopping, Wile E. Coyote got all his products via mail order from the ACME Catalog. ACME sold just about anything you’d ever need! You can take a look at the catalog yourself.

ACME is a worldwide leader of many manufactured goods. From its humble beginnings providing corks and flypaper to bug collectors ("Buddy's Bug Hunt/1935") to its heyday in the American Southwest supplying a certain coyote, from Ultimatum Dispatchers to Batman outfits, ACME has set the standard for excellence.
For the first time ever, information and pictures of all ACME products, specialty divisions, and services featured in Warner Bros. cartoons (made by the original studio from 1935 to 1964) are gathered here, in one convenient catalog. For more information about any ACME product, simply click on the thumbnail picture.

Link -via Dump Trumpet

The National Film Board of Canada, in association with the Cannes Short Film Corner and partner YouTube, presents the fourth annual Short Film Online Competition - Cannes 2008.

Between May 9 and May 19, 2008, filmmakers from 40 countries entered the NFB Online Competition when they registered their films with the Cannes Short Film Corner, the meeting place for short films at Cannes.

These 9 films were selected for our Online Competition by short-film expert Danny Lennon, programmer of this year’s Short Film Corner. They represent the best in the world and were culled from over 650 submissions.

Now it’s your turn to choose. The winning short film will be determined by your ratings on a scale of one to five stars. The name of the winner will be announced in Cannes this coming May 21. The winner will receive a HD MINI-DV camera from the NFB and a laptop with an editing suite.

The site has a link to a YouTube playlist, where you can see each and rate them. Link -via Underwire

(YouTube link)
Last year, Neatorama introduced you to Pua the Tamandua. Pua’s owner, TamanduaGirl also has Stewie, seen here eating from a spoon. Stewie can also walk on two legs, and he is a professional painter! Both Pua and Stewie performed in the movie Dr. Doolittle 4 (availble on DVD). Link -via Dark Roasted Blend, where you’ll find more irresistable tamandua pictures.

This photograph, originally from Cute Otters, shows an otter mom proudly displaying her offspring. It was one of many incredibly cute images of different kinds of animal mothers posted at The Pet Blog. Link -via the Presurfer

(image credit: SY Dration/Cute Otters)

Neptune Memorial Reef, three miles off Key Biscayne, Florida offers a final resting place for those who love the sea. Earthly remains are cremated then mixed with cement and laid on the ocean floor, with a memorial plaque.

Artist Kim Brandell, who designed the reef, said he was given no parameters in the reef's designs, which grew as they waited three years for permits. The structures are 90% cement. Some of the sculptural elements are in bronze and steel. It is the same pH balance as the sea, Brandell said.

"I designed it to be a divers' location. I am hoping and planning it be to the most dived location on the planet. I didn't want it to look like Roman or Greek architecture. I wanted it to be contemporary or modern in design."

As a diver swims down the pathways of the reef there will be themed areas, like dancing or sports. "If it's music I might have concrete or metal musical instruments," Brandell said. "Nothing is going to be in words to describe these features. It will be sculptural elements."

The cemetery lies 14 meters below the surface. Link to story. Link to website. -via Arbroath

(image credit: Wilfredo Lee/AP)

Some parts of the earth are more vulnerable to devastation by global warming than others. Tropical (and biologically diverse) regions like the Great Barrier Reef, the Galapagos Islands, and the Virgin Islands may be the first to go, but highly populated areas such as New York, Tokyo, and London are in danger as well. This list details what could happen to sensitive areas if sea levels rise. Pictured is endangered New Orleans after Katrina. Link

62-year-old rocker Neil Young has been honored with his own species, a trapdoor spider named Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi.

An East Carolina University biologist, Jason Bond, discovered a new species of trapdoor spider and opted to call the arachnid after his favorite musician, Canadian Neil Young, naming it Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi.

"There are rather strict rules about how you name new species," Bond said in a statement.

"As long as these rules are followed you can give a new species just about any name you please. With regards to Neil Young, I really enjoy his music and have had a great appreciation of him as an activist for peace and justice."

The new species was found in Alabama in 2007. Link -via Geek Like Me

(image credit: Reuters)

The sport of cheese racing began in 1997 when a group of friends put individually-wrapped cheese slices onto a barbecue grill to see what would happen. To their surprise, the plastic did not melt or burn. But the cheese expanded, turning the objects into inflated pillows! The object of cheese racing is to see whose slice reaches full inflation first. Full details are at the “official homepage of the exciting cutting edge sport known as Cheese Racing.” Link -via the Presurfer

(YouTube link)

I found him on a busy road. He had either fallen out of the nest or had been forced out by dead parents, either way his was in a pretty bad way when I found him. Weak, bewildered, staggering around and on a busy road.

Figured to leave him meant death within hours, and he was just too damn cute for that!

Initially we rehydrated him, and that had a big effect. Then we started feeding him dilute fructose solution... and he loved that. After that we found him a new home at the animal sanctuary.

Beware the cuteness! -via I Am Bored

A new material developed by Arch Therapeutics can stop bleeding almost instantly.

The material consists of naturally occurring amino acids that have been engineered to form peptides that spontaneously cluster together to create long fibers when exposed to salty, aqueous environments, such as those found in the body. The fibers form a mesh that serves as a physical barrier to blood and other fluids.

The first application will be for surgery. When bleeding occurs during an operation, time can be saved by pouring the material on instead of searching through the blood to cauterize vessels. Emergency personnel may also be able to use it for accident and battlefield wounds. The body will break it down eventually, so it doesn’t have to be removed after use. Clinical trials will begin soon. Link -via Engadget

(image credit: Asia Kepka)

A family in Alaska built a safe and sturdy playground for their young children in their backyard. They finished it on Saturday evening, and Sunday morning they snapped pictures from an upstairs window. Follow the link to see more pictures. Link -via Reddit

Today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss is about the strange legal battles over rock and roll music. How well do you remember these? I was surprised to score as well as 63%. Link

78-year-old Dale Davis lost his sight due to macular degeneration 11 years ago. He only has a sliver of peripheral vision left. He fell in love with bowling for a second time after his sister dragged him back to the bowling alley three years ago. Davis once scored as high as 299, before he went blind. This past season, he has averaged a score of 180. IN several games, he had bowled a string of four or five strikes. On May 3rd, Davis found himself with a string of 11 strikes and one frame left.

Century Lanes had pretty much shut down at that point. No one else was bowling. And everyone had left the bar. They all stood behind Lanes 3 and 4, waiting and watching to see whether Davis could bowl the alley's first perfect game in its 24-year history.

A second later, Davis' ball crashed into the pins, unleashing a crackle that echoed through the four-lane alley. He knew all the pins had fallen because of the response of everyone who had been watching.

A perfect 300.

"Everybody starting hugging me, shaking my hand, hitting my hand," Davis said. "It was great."

Link -via J-Walk Blog

(image credit: Dolores Cullen, The Storm Lake Times)

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to discover a secret room in your house that you didn’t know about? It happens, and sometimes it’s not so wonderful. One couple found a room that had been sealed up because of harmful mold! Others are delighted by such a discovery. And if you don’t have one, you can have a secret room added, or build your own! Link -via Dark Roasted Blend

Last Friday evening, the news editor of The Gadsden (Alabama) Times, Greg Bailey heard a noise behind the stove in his house. The whole family heard the noises, which his wife Helen identified as a cat. The noises were there the next morning, so after investigating every other possibility, Helen knocked a hole in the wall. Then another.

She stuck her hand in and felt around, then drew back in horror.

“I grabbed a tail,” she said, as both of us conjured up visions of a very large rat.

Helen reached in one more time ... and drew out, by its back this time, a tiny (as in fitting into the palm of your hand) cream-colored male tabby kitten. It was dirty, flea-bitten, hungry, scared ... and I wished I had a camera handy to record the look on Helen’s face. I knew at that instant we had another member of the family.

They had the kitten checked out by a vet and patched the hole with duct tape.

I was out shopping a couple of hours later, when my cell phone rang. It was Ryan. “Dad, Mom just pulled another cat out of the wall. “Welcome to the family,” I thought.

The kittens, estimated to be around three weeks old, are being fed formula and kitten food. They have been named Boo and Waldo. Helen Bailey says she doesn’t need anything else for Mothers Day. Link -via Fark

(image credit: Gadsden Times/Marc Golden)