Photo: Moogieland [Flickr]
Moogie of Moogie & Pap blog made some cupcakes for a clubhouse poolside party to celebrate the end of summer. The cupcakes look positively yummy ... in a morbid sort of way!
In addition to all the Jimmy Buffet music you could stand, they had a Shark Art Contest. Well, I'm a baker, so of course I had to make mine out of flour and sugar. And it just so happened that I saw these adorable sharks in my newest cookbook... Hello, Cupcake!
Link - Thanks don't post my name!
Talking 'bout sharks, last year a Malaysian fisherman reeled in a shark with webbed feet:
Mary Looi, 48, said she only realised the shark was different when she wanted to cook tomyam fish for lunch for her family.
“It was only when I was about to cut the shark the day after I received it that I found two webbed feet sticking out from the lower part of the body. [...]
Looi said she dared not cook the fish after consulting her husband Gooi Man Kaw, 57, who told her that according to Chinese belief, eating fish with unusual features could bring disaster or ill luck.
“Immediately, I returned the fish to the fisherman that night at about 10pm. “He threw it back into the sea,” said Looi.
Link - via Ugly Overload
Photo: Robert B. Haas
Just how awesome is this: National Geographic photographer Robert B. Haas captured this aerial photo of a flock of flamingo birds shaped like a giant flamingo!
Link to the larger pic - Thanks Marilyn!
This YouTube clip of Nintendo Wii's Wario Land video game starts out just like any other YouTube clip ... but it sure doesn't end that way!
Wait for it .... wait for it ... http://www.youtube.com/experiencewii
We've all thought about it while flying, "what if the pilot and copilot are somehow knocked out and it's up to us to land the plane?" (Well, it's the plot of many a movies anyhow!)
The Art of Manliness has the how to guide that may just one day save your life. Here's the complete guide to emergency airplane landings:
When you first arrive in the cockpit take the left seat if possible, this is generally where the Captain or Aircraft Commander sits and often has easier access to some of the instruments you’ll need to fly. However, the majority of dual seat aircraft can be flown from either side.
As soon as you sit down take a deep breath and look outside to see if the aircraft is in a dive (you see more ground in the windscreen than sky), climb, turn, etc. If it appears to be straight and level then don’t touch the flight controls, the autopilot is most likely on and there’s no need to interfere. If, however, the airplane is racing towards the ground or in a steep turn, then you need to use the stick or yoke (pilot speak for steering wheel) to bring it back to wings level flight. Just like in the video games, you pull back on the yoke to make it climb, push forward to make it descend, and turn it right or left to turn.
I'm sure all those hours playing Flight Sim would be well worth it: Link
(Photo: hartlandmartin [Flickr])
Bill Dan is an artist from San Francisco, California, who has a truly amazing knack of balancing rocks. His "rock garden" creations look impossible, yet as this YouTube video shows, Bill made it look so darned easy!
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - see also: Bill Dan's blog The Rocker | Rock On, Rock ON! The Rock Balancing Art of Bill Dan
Psst, guys! Are you having trouble attracting ladies? Debrett, a publisher considered by many to be the last word on traditional British etiquette, may have just what you need: an all-in-one guide to romance from what kind of underwear to choose to what flowers to avoid buying.
The Debrett's Guide for the Modern Gentleman gives you everything from what to say and how to say it, to making your move.
Never mind equal opportunities, old-fashioned chivalry is still alive and well and much appreciated by the fairer sex when making that all important first move.
Holding the door and being prepared to pay for the meal are a given. Giving up your seat isn't necessary for those looking for love - unless you are trying to attract a pregnant or elderly lady. Be warned though; be absolutely certain the woman is pregnant before shooting up out of your seat. These things can easily backfire.
Conversation should be a fine balance between talking and listening, and avoid talking about the three principal passions killers: money, illness or death.
First date rules include drinks or lunch, that way having to avoid wasting an evening if you hate each other. Try to compliment her and come the end, if all's gone well, try to kiss her. Don't try to get her into bed (unless that's what she wants).
The Idaho Vandals Cheerleaders, before and after the costume change. The volleyball jersey is a temporary uniform till the newer, more modest uniforms are ready. Photos: Larry Johnson / GoVandals.net
After spectators complained that the cheerleaders of the University of Idaho's Vandals football team have been flashing a little more than school spirit, the football team dumped the cheerleader uniforms because ... they're too skimpy!
After the football team dumped the school logo from the buttocks of their new pants, the university in Moscow got complaints that new two-piece cheerleader uniforms were too skimpy.
"A number of fans were concerned that the uniforms were inappropriate," said Bruce Pitman, dean of students. "To be fair, there were a number of fans who liked them."
The outfits that drew controversy, halter tops and short black skirts with white trim, were similar to what an NFL cheerleader might wear, Pitman said.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/ncaa/09/23/idaho.cheerleaders.ap/index.html - via FanIQ, Thanks Tiffany!
Photo: CATERS NEWS
A mysterious artist dubbed the "Pic-glasso" by residents of Stourbridge, England, has been taking empty milk bottles from doorsteps and then returning them with elaborate etched pictures!
The artist, dubbed "Pic-glasso" by locals around Stourbridge, West Mids, scratches out frescos of farmyard scenes and animals.
Now some are so keen to find out the identity of the artist they are staying up all night.
Link - Thanks Marilyn Terrell!
When I went to Cal, I used to shop at the Berkeley Bowl (whenever I could find parking). So it's a pleasant surprise to find the quirky market featured in the Los Angeles Times.
Here's what John M. Glionna wrote about the place where nuts roam the aisles as well as sit on the shelves:
Outside, petitioners seeking signatures for ballot measures have come to blows with opinionated residents. In the tiny parking lot, nicknamed the Berkeley Brawl, frustrated motorists have been known to ram one another's cars. At the checkout, people have thrown punches and unripened avocados at suspected line-cutters.
When one shopper was told she couldn't return a bag of granola, she showily dumped its contents on the floor. Culyon Garrison, who works at the customer-service desk, recently had a loaf of bread thrown at him.
The produce emporium -- one of the nation's most renowned retailers of exotic fruits and vegetables -- creates its own bad behavior. Kamikaze shoppers crash down crowded aisles without eye contact or apology for fender-benders. So many customers weren't waiting to pay before digging in that management imposed the ultimate deterrent: Those caught sampling without buying will be banned for life -- no reprieves, no excuses. (Not even "I forgot to take my medication.")
(Photo: Randi Lynn Beach / LA Times)
Photo: Rick Stevens
Hidden in the rugged hills of Arnhem, Australia, are stunning Aboriginal rock carvings that depict the history of Aboriginal contact with outsiders - from sailing ships to 19th-century steamships and even a World War II battleship!
Alongside exquisite rock art more than 15,000 years old are paintings that capture some of the 19th and 20th centuries' most important technological innovations - a biplane, bicycle, car and rifle - as well as portraits of church ministers, sea captains and traders.
When Buffy the chicken lost all of her feathers, staff at the animal rescue center knitted her a sweater to keep warm!
Deputy manager Emma Phillips has become Buffy's "foster mum" and keeps the hen in a luxury nestbox at the centre's chicken shed.
She said: "Sadly, we occasionally find hens in this state when we rescue them and when Buffy arrived she looked like she was oven-ready
"But now she's bold enough to peck and scratch about and tries to join the other chickens sunbathing in the sunshine wearing her little jumper.
Link (with video clip of the sweater-ed chicken)
Previously on Neatorama: Chickens Suit
Caroline Hayes, 63, befriended a homeless pig she named Bruce and even nursed it back to health. And what did she get for her troubles? The pig held her hostage for food!
Ms Hayes had even nursed Bruce back from ill health, putting cream onto his infected eye. “When I first saw it, it had 15 ticks in its eyes which I actually took out with tweezers," she told Times Online.
But by 4am (AEST) on Monday their friendship had soured when Bruce – a white boar pig weighing approximately 175 pounds (80kg) – began ramming Ms Hayes’s bedroom door, grunting loudly and demanding to be fed. He became so aggressive that the pensioner could not leave her bedroom in order to go to the outside toilet.
“He was head-butting the door really hard, and snorting really loudly,” Ms Hayes said.
“But I really needed to go to the toilet so I opened the door and he pushed me so hard I fell over. So I picked up a broom handle to kind of push him away, and he snapped it in half.”
Link: The Times article | BBC article (Photo: Emma Sykes / ABC)
Just 24 hours after 22-year-old Matti Saari was questioned by police after he posted a disturbing YouTube video and released because he had the proper gun license, he went to a school and opened fire on students:
Saari uploaded disturbing footage onto YouTube of himself practising at a firing range and turning to the camera to proclaim: ‘You will die next.’
Worried police interviewed the second-year domestic science student about the clips - but, because he had an appropriate gun license, did not take him into custody.
Just one day later he stormed into an exam hall and opened fire with an automatic weapon before killing himself.
When a man turned down her request for money, saying "get a job," a panhandler decided to get her gun out instead and shot the man!
A bus stop panhandler shot a man who turned down her request for money, Sacramento police said. The woman was later identified as Audrey Jackson, 47.
Several people turned Jackson down, police said, and she shot the last man who did so. There was some sort of conversation between the man and Jackson, Sgt. Matt Young said. A witness told KCRA 3 that the man first told Jackson "no," and then said, "get a job." The 54-year-old victim was shot once in the stomach and taken to the UC Davis Medical Center for surgery.
http://www.kcra.com/news/17533330/detail.html?taf=sac# - Thanks Tiffany!
