I know many readers may not like rap and may complain about the selection this week, but like all of these articles, the band was chosen by user requests. If you’ve got a band you want to see tidbits about, just list them in the comments, thanks! Alternatively, if you want to see more rap artists, leave them in the comments too.

• The Notorious B.I.G., a.k.a. Biggie Smalls, was born Christopher George Latore Wallace on May 21, 1972. His father was a small-time Jamaican politician and his mother was a Jamaican pre-school teacher. His father left the family when Biggie was only two and his mother was rarely home, as she had to work two jobs to pay the bills.


• Always a hefty lad, Biggie was nicknamed “Big” by the time he was ten years old. In adulthood, he measured about 6’3” and anywhere from 300 to 380 pounds.


• At his school, he was a great student and won several awards in English programs. This master of the language would later prove crucial in his rapping career.


• Biggie grew up during the peak of the crack epidemic and, like many kids around him, he ended up dealing drugs. Although he was selling crack since he was 12, his mother never knew about it until he grew up. He continued to sell drugs up until first child was born, at which time, his label manager, Sean “Puffy” Combs, insisted he stopped selling for good.


• His high school, George Westinghouse Information Technology High, also had Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes and DMX in attendance. This was the same period that Biggie began rapping. He performed in a few groups, the Old Gold Brothers and the Techniques, and he sang on the streets by himself. By seventeen, he decided to drop out of school.


• Notorious had long had a problem with the law, starting with his 1989 arrest for weapons charges. The next year, he was arrest on a probation violation and a year after that he was arrested for dealing crack. The third time, he spent nine months in jail. Much later in his career, he was arrested in 1996 outside of a New York club for threatening to kill two fans, punching one in the face and smashing the windows of their taxi cab. That same year, he was arrested again for drug and weapons charges. In 1997, he was ordered to pay $41,000 to someone who claimed to have been beaten and robbed by Biggie and his entourage in 1995, but the criminal robbery charges were dropped.


• After his 1991 release from prison, B.I.G. decided to release a demo tape under the alias “Biggie Smalls,” the name of a gangster in the 1975 movie Let’s Do It Again. He later discovered the name was already in use and decided to change it to “The Notorious B.I.G.”


• In 1992, The Source featured Biggie in their “Unsigned Hype” column, dedicated to unsigned rappers brimming with talent. This helped him get the attention of the A&R department of Uptown Records and one of their producers, Puff Daddy. He signed to Uptown, but almost immediately left to join Puffy’s brand new label, Bad Boy Records.


• Biggie’s big break came when he added vocals to a remix to the Mary J. Blige song “Real Love,” which reached #7 on the charts.


• In 1994, Notorious married singer Faith Evans only nine days after meeting her at a photo shoot for Bad Boy Records. Only four days later, he had his first commercial success with the song “Juicy,” which reached #27 on the charts.


• His first full-length album, Ready To Die, was released at a time hip hop was dominated by West Coast artists. The album reached #13 on the charts and was certified four times platinum. Rolling Stone said the album "almost single-handedly... shifted the focus back to East Coast rap".


• By 1996, he was the top-selling male solo artist and rapper on the US pop and R&B charts. He also won the award for Best New Artist, Lyricist of the Year, Live Performer of the Year and Debut Album of the Year at the Source Awards. The Billboard Awards named him Rap Artist of the Year.

• Unfortunately, his success peaked at the same time as the East Coast vs West Coast Rap feud. A former associate of Biggie, Tupac Shakur, accused him of involvement with a November 1994 robbery that left Tupac shot and out of thousands of dollars in jewelry. Notorious said that he was near the scene of the accident, recording an album but was not involved with the crime.


• Tupac soon signed with Death Row Records in L.A. and the two labels became wrapped up in an intense rivalry. Tupac’s song “Hit ‘Em Up” involved claims that he was sleeping with Biggie’s wife and that Biggie stole his style and image. Biggie did not respond to this, saying it wasn't his style to respond.


• During all of this drama, Biggie was trying to record his second album. It took over 18 months to complete, between interruptions from the hip hop wars, legal problems and an injury he sustained during a car accident at the time. The accident resulted in the use of a cane for the rest of his life.


• On Sepember 7, 1996, Tupac was shot and killed in a drive by in Las Vegas. The murder remains unsolved, but reports detailing Biggie’s involvement sprung up immediately. Notorious denied the rumors, saying he was in New York working on his album at the time.


• Lil’ Kim had a working relationship with Biggie for a few years and when he helped direct her 1996 debut album, Hard Core, the two became entangled in a love affair. She became pregnant with Biggie’s child, but had an abortion.


• After the events of 1996 unfolded, Biggie claimed he wanted to focus on obtaining a “peace of mind.” "My mom... my son... my daughter... my family... my friends are what matters to me now," he explained.
  

  Photo Via mcbill [Flickr]



• On March 8, 1997, Biggie flew to L.A. to present Toni Braxton an award at the Soul Train Awards. He was booed by some of the audience who blamed him for the death of Tupac. After the award show, the entire entourage attended a Vibe magazine party at the Petersen Automotive Museum. When the Fire Department closed the party early, the streets became crowded with people leaving. Biggie rode in a GMC Suburban when a black Impala pulled beside his vehicle and the passenger, neatly dressed in a blue suit and bow tie, shot him multiple times with a 9 mm pistol. Biggie was pronounced dead at 1:15 and the murder remains unsolved.


• While many murder suspects include members of the West Coast hip hop family, one of the more popular theories was detailed by Randall Sullivan in his book LAbrynth. Sullivan’s thesis is that both Biggie and Tupac were murdered by Marion “Suge” Knight, co-founder of Death Row Records, and retired LAPD officer David Mack. His book supposes that the hip hop war was trumped up to make the murders easier to cover up. He backs up his assertions with the fact that the LAPD did not fully examine murder links to Death Row Records. This theory is further examined in the documentary Biggie & Tupac by Nick Broomfield.


• Based on the evidence by LAPD officer, Russell Poole, and the book by Sullivan, Biggie’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the LAPD in 2005. Their claim accused the department of having enough evidence to arrest the murder, but failing to do so. The case was declared a mistrial after the judge worried the police were withholding evidence. The family attempted to expand their lawsuit, but failed, this was enough to get the case reopened in July 2006 though. The family filled a second wrongful death suit in April of 2007.


• Of course, the pendulum swings both ways, and Tyruss Himes, a.k.a. Big Syke, was implicated of the murder by tv channel KTTV and XXL magazine and filed a suit against them for defamation. His case was later thrown out of court.


• Fifteen days after the Death of Biggie, his double disc album, Life After Death, was released and hit #1 on the billboard charts. The album was later certified Diamond. The first two singles from this album, “Hypnotize” and “Mo Money Mo Problems,” were both #1’s and Biggie was the first artist to do this after his death. Spin magazine named him Artist of the Year and made “Hypnotize” its Single of the Year in 1997.


• Since his death, Biggie’s vocals have been sampled in songs by many artists, including Ashanti, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Alicia Keys, Usher, Lil Wayne, Nelly and Michael Jackson.


• He was named the greatest rapper of all time by both The Source and Blender magazines. MTV listed him as the third Greatest MC of All Time.


• This year, a biographical film, Notorious, was released by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Producers of the film include Puff Daddy, and Biggie’s mother, Voletta Wallace. The film raised over $42 million worldwide. Unfortunately, the violence of hip hop continues. On opening night, a fan was shot by another film-goer in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Source #1, #2, #3

Pit bulls have a pretty crummy reputation these days. Between the myth of a pit bull’s “locking jaw” and the constant news stories depicting the dogs as ruthless-attackers of innocent children, it’s no wonder that many people have grown afraid of the breed. The fact is these dogs are no more evil than any other breed. Indeed, pit bulls usually score very high on dog temperament testing, they have a passing rate of 84% compared to the average dog score of 77%, and their sweet disposition around children has earned them the nickname of “nanny dog.” Sharky, shown below, is an internet sensation that shows the loving side of the American Pit Bull Terrier.

Video Link

Many famous people, alive and dead, have had the dogs as loving pets, including Mark Twain, Helen Keller, Humphrey Bogart, Jessica Alba, Michael J. Fox and more. One of the most adored dogs in film history, Pete the Pup of Our Gang, was a rescued pit bull terrier. Even most of the notorious Michael Vick dogs have forgotten their ugly pasts and become loving family members.

War Dogs:

There are a number of famous pit bulls that have served as members of the armed forces, and, despite the fact that the army and navy have outlawed pits on base, at least one marines squadron still has a pit bull serving as their mascot. This is nothing new, pit bulls have been serving in the armed forces for hundreds of years. A pup named Jack Brutus (shown at left, photo Via The Smithsonian Institute) served as official mascot of Company K, First Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War. While Jack was merely a mascot and never actually served in the action, other war dogs have.

The most notable of these dogs is Stubby, the most decorated dog in American military history. Stubby was a stray dog that wandered into the U.S. encampment of the WWI 102nd Infantry. He befriended the soldiers and was sent out to France. Stubby served to brighten the men’s spirits while they battled in the trenches. He warned the troop of gas bombs and German attacks in the middle of the night. Stubby once found a hiding German spy and bit him in his pants until U.S. soldiers came to capture him. At one point, Stubby got too close to a grenade and his front leg was injured, later he was gassed.

Photo Via The 102nd Infantry Regimental Museum

After he returned home, he became a celebrity and was made a lifetime member of the American Legion, where he took part in every parade and every convention until his death in 1926. Stubby met Presidents Wilson, Harding and Coolidge. He received a special golden hero dog medal created by the Humane Education Society (later the Humane Society) that was attached to his jacket, sewn by ladies of the rescued town, Chateau Thierry. Other medals he received include the Purple Heart, a New Haven WWI Veterans Medal, 3 Services Stripes and many more.

An interesting side note, some people credit Stubby with creating the halftime show at football games. When his master attended Georgetown University to study law, the pup became the football team’s mascot. Between the two halves, he would play with a football on the field to entertain the crowd.

There are other wars that pit bulls have been noble fighters during wartime, including the war on drugs. Popsicle was found in a freezer on a drug dealer’s porch in New York. He was starving and almost frozen to death. To make matters worse, officers assumed he was used in an illegal dog fighting ring. But Popsicle was destined to do more with his life and was soon enlisted in a drug-dog training school in Virginia. The class was notoriously hard and of 500 dogs admitted the year before, only 4 dogs passed. The Popsicle proved to be smarter than average though, and graduated first in his class.

Within only two months, Popsicle took part in the largest drug bust ever made at the Mexican border. He sniffed out over 3,075 pounds of cocaine from a pineapple truck. He was later featured on Oprah and received a Significant Seizure Award from the U.S. Customs Department. (Image Via James Tourtellotte, [U.S. Customs Website])

Source #1, #2

Rescue dogs:

Pit bulls are notoriously loyal family pets and there are many records of them risking their lives to save their owners. These dogs are great protectors from snakes, and rescuers in a variety of emergencies.

Snake Attacks:
Weela was a rescue dog abandoned in an alleyway at only four weeks old. She was saved by the Watkins family of California. One day when the family’s son was playing in the garden, Wella ran across the yard and knocked him to the ground. Within seconds, Weela was bit in the face by a rattlesnake that was hidden in the garden, saving the boy. The dog made a full recovery and later received the Ken-L Ration’s Dog Hero of the Year Award in 1993 after she helped save 30 people, 29 dogs, 13 horses and 1 cat in a heavy flood. Reader’s Digest included a story about Weela’s heroism, but as is all too common when pit bulls do good deeds, they neglected to include the fact that she was an American Pit Bull Terrier. (Image Via Pitbull Advocate 101)

Dixie Butler had a similar story. On November 11, 1999, Dixie jumped between the her family’s children and a deadly cottonmouth snake. The snake bit Dixie many times in the face and eyes. She, fortunately, survived and went on to receive the Hero Animal of the Year Award and was inducted into the Georgia Animal Hall of Fame.

More recently, Chief, a pit bull pet in the Philippines saved his family from a cobra. On February 12, 2007, Liberata la Victoria and her granddaughter, Maria Victoria Fronteras, were watching tv on the sofa when Chief bolted up and alerted the pair to a cobra 10 feet away. Maria pulled her grandmother into another room, where they waited, hoping the snake would leave the way it came in. After a while, Maria decided to peek out and see if the cobra was gone –unfortunately, it had edged within two feet of her and her grandmother, and opening the door had upset the snake. The cobra exposed its hood and was poised to strike when Maria screamed.

Image Via Marc Sabelita [Dogs In The News]

That’s when Chief ran between the women and the snake, grabbed the cobra by its neck and killed it. Unfortunately, the snake delivered a fatal bite to Chief’s jaw and the dog soon collapsed. As the pup breathed the last time, he continued to wag his tail.

Source #1, #2, #3

Lassies Incarnate:
Marley is a three-year-old pit bull terrier who belongs to a family with the same name. When a fire started up, the babysitter focused on opening a stuck fire exit that was rarely used. When she turned around, she saw Marley pulling the youngest girl in the family from the burning trailer.

Foxy helped saved her 82 year-old master from death. When Joan Maguire slipped on the ice on her doorstep and shattered her hip, she lied there in six degree weather, hoping that her flashlight signals might get her neighbor’s attention. The flashlight didn’t help, but her pit bull, Foxy, did. The pup laid with her to help warm her up, while barking for an hour and a half until help arrived. Officers at the scene agreed that without the dog’s warmth, Joan probably would have frozen to death. (Image Via Long Island Press)

In fair weather, these dogs have served as Lassie, going to get help when someone is in need. That’s just what little Gabby did when she saw her neighbor, Jim Roach, fall from a twelve-foot-high ladder. While Jim lay on the ground unconscious, Gabby licked his face and barked. Soon, she sprang into action and got the attention of her owner, Jeanne Davis, who adopted Gabby after she was pulled from an abusive home.

"She's barking and then she looks at me and runs back," Davis said. "It's kind of like something Lassie would do." Jeanne got the hint and started to follow Gabby, who led her to Jim. As soon as Jeanne approached her neighbor, the dog immediately stopped barking. Upon entry to the hospital, doctors discovered that Jim had multiple injuries, including four broken ribs, a fractured clavicle and bleeding on his brain.

Jim works as a psychology instructor and now tells his students about the kindhearted side of pit bulls that never gets media attention. "They're just a terrier," he said.

As for Jeanne, who was warned by many people not to adopt an abused pit bull, she says, "A lot of people said to put her down, that she's going to do something bad. I'm so proud of my dog."

Source #1, #2, #3,

This is the world's largest hamburger. There is a whopping 80 pounds of meat and 30 pounds of bun. If you'd like to order one yourself from the Denny's it is offered at, it costs $379. If you enjoy strangely oversized things like this, be sure to click on the link for 14 other crazy, humungous objects.

Link

This video displays miniature knitting for the sweaters in Coraline. The detail is amazing. WebUrbanist has a great article about different miniature artworks. They're all really neat, but this knitting is just amazing.

Video Link Via WebUrbanist

This toy seems like one of the most fun toys ever made for noodles. Granted, it may be one of the only noodle toys ever, but how cool is it to eat your noodles from a water slide?

Link

I love this list of 10 gifts for the Obama family's new dog. This one is the best, every first dog needs some fine formal wear for those extravagant evenings with the leaders forgien countries. Some of the other toys and things are just neat.

http://inventorspot.com/articles/bo_26438

20 Reasons I Love Penguins is a blog post detailing exactly that. It has simple reasons why penguins are great, paired with really fantastic images of the birds. For example:

8. They'd make great punk rockers



(Photo credit: Jungleboy)

The whole post is funny and visually stunning. I highly recommend stopping by for a look.

http://www.disaboom.com/Blogs/hopefulnebula/archive/2009/04/06/20-reasons-i-love-penguins.aspx

• The Killers were named after a fictional band that appears in the music video for the New Order song “Crystal.”


• Brandon Flowers was originally in another Las Vegas band called Blush, but was forced to leave the group after he refused to move to Los Angeles with the rest of his group members in 2001.
  
  
  

  Image Via Sally0Cinnamon



• The Killers were started by Brandon Flowers and David Keuning who then recruited Ronnie Vannucci Jr. and Mark Stoermer to join the group.


• The band mostly played small clubs in Las Vegas and quickly garnered the attention of Alex Gilbert, a representative for Warner Bros UK. While his label wasn’t interested in the band, he showed the demo to a friend back in England who worked for a label called Lizard King who signed the band. The label is now named Marrakesh Records.


• The first album from the band, Hot Fuss, was released in 2004 and the record became a triple platinum hit practically overnight. After about half a year, the band was already making cameos on popular American shows like The O.C.. (Photo Via Sleepin' Beauty [Flickr])


• If you’ve heard the line “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier,” you can thank The Killers. They first used that line in their song “All of These Things That I’ve Done,” and was quickly borrowed by Robbie Williams, U2 and Coldplay.


• When the album Sam’s Town came out, Brandon Flowers put his foot in the mouth before the release by promising it would be “one of the best albums of the past twenty years.” It received very mixed reviews by fans and critics alike. Of course, sales were still good.


• In 2007, the band released Sawdust. The first pressing had a demo version of “Move Away,” but it was said to be a mistake by the record label and since then, it was replaced by a different version of the same track.


• Brandon Flowers is a practicing Mormon and the group has stayed tied in with their religious beliefs, including the release of three Christmas songs over the last three years.

Video Link

• Throughout the years, the band has worked with such big-name musicians as Lou Reed, Elton John and Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys.


• There are some minor controversies between the band and other groups on their US label, Island Records. Flowers accused bands such as Fall Out Boy and The Bravery of riding on his group’s coattails. Since then he has apologized.


• The next album the group is coming out with will be all cover tracks, including covers of Tom Waits, Rod Stewart and Genesis.

Source #1, #2, #3

Happy Easter everyone. For your viewing pleasure, here's an ultimately gentle pit bull with sweet little chicks.

Link Via Cute Overload

This is quite the magic trick. This little tiny hamster can make the whole carrot just disappear.

Link Via ICanHasCheezburger

I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve been told that certain members of the ruling classes are weird, but this might be the first time you’ve heard some of these exceptionally strange tales of royal weirdness.

The Cucumber King of Burma

In 931, King Theinhko of Burma ate the cucumbers of a local villager without asking first. The angry farmer murdered Theinhko and then took over the throne as King Nyanng-u Sawrahan. The queen welcomed him, in an effort to prevent political unrest. Nyanng-u was forever after known as ‘The Cucumber King.’ He reigned over Burma for 33 years until he was overthrown.

Nine Months of French Bastards

King Philip Augustus of France was married to his second wife, Ingeborg of Denmark, in 1193. Sadly, Augustus found Ingeborg to be absolutely revolting and filed for a divorce on the grounds that the marriage was not yet consummated. His wife, however, argued that they had consummated the marriage. As a result, Pope Celestine III refused to grant the king a divorce.
Philip was not easily defeated. He ignored the decision and went on to marry Agnes of Marania.

The pope ordered him to return to Ineborg and to make his point, he imposed an interdict on December 12, 1199. During this time, all churches were closed and the pope determined that as long as the king wasn’t sleeping with his wife, his subjects were not allowed to sleep with theirs. As a result, all children born in this period were deemed illegitimate. The interdict continued until September 7, 1200 –resulting in nine months of bastards born in France. Augustus eventually did return to Ineborg, but not until 1213.

A Dead Woman Crowned Queen

Ines de Castro was a loving mistress to Dom Pedro, heir of the Portuguese throne. Unfortunately, the current ruler, King Alfonso, was paranoid that the pair was plotting against him and ordered Ines to be assassinated in 1355.

When Pedro was crowned as king in 1357, his love for Ines had not yet faded. He sought revenge on the assassins and made them suffer through horrendous tortures. That wasn’t enough though, Pedro was still determined that Ines should take her seat beside him as queen. He had her body exhumed, dressed in proper royal attire and the entire candlelit coronation ceremony proceeded as usual. Ines’s body was anointed and crowned, the subjects were made to swear allegiance to her, and the nobles were required to kneel and kiss her cold, two-years-dead hand.

The Ghastly Death of Mary Queen of Scots

If you ever played Bloody Mary in the mirror as a youth, you know that it is quite a terrifying ghost story. While there are many proposed “Marys” that could be referenced in the story, Mary Queen of Scots has a terrifying ghost story thanks to her botched execution.

On February 8, 1587, Mary was led to the execution block. The executioner, likely drunk, failed to knock off her head on the first blow. Instead, he hit the back of her head, at which time, her servants reported that she muttered “Sweet Jesus.” He managed to remove her head on the second blow and he lifted her head up by the auburn hair on her head, right then, her head fell from his hands, revealing that she actually had short gray hair covered by thick wig. Also strange, her lips continued moving for the next fifteen minutes, likely caused by a nerve damaged during the first execution attempt.

As if all this wasn’t enough, Mary’s dog was discovered to be hiding under her skirts. When the pet was pulled out, it insisted on lying between the shoulders and decapitated head of her body. Eventually, Mary’s servants took the dog, but not until it was thoroughly soaked in its dead master’s blood.
Even for the people of the time, jaded from by frequent public executions, Mary’s beheading was full of exceptionally terrifying surprises.

A Strange ‘Divine Right’

Normally a king’s “divine rights” seem to include things like violating virgins and taking food and money, however, in 1627, Charles I decided to declare rights of a much different nature. He ordered all of his subjects to turn in their urine to official collectors once a day in the summer and once every other day in the winter. These collections were to help the country create saltpeter, a component of gunpowder.
Charles also claimed rights to all soil loaded with animal waste. The so-called ‘Saltpeter Men’ were permitted to dig up the floors of stables, slaughterhouses and other areas without permission of the property owners.

Louis The XIV’s Enema Obsession

Photo Via Curious Expeditions [Flickr]

Imagine trying to hold a conversation with someone receiving an enema. Now imagine that someone was King and he was holding court throughout the experience. King Louis XIV was known for performing this type of activity regularly. The enema was a quite popular medical procedure at this time, but few people seemed to love the activity nearly as much as the king who is said to have received over 2,000 enemas throughout his lifetime – many of them in public.

The King of Debt

King Theodore of Corsica wasn’t much of a king. For one thing, he wasn’t nobility by birth, he was merely a soldier who asked to be king in exchange for helping aid the Corsicans in a revolt. When the revolt had proven to be ineffective and a the Genovese government put a price on his head, Theodore started to lose popularity amongst his people. He decided that he would be better off ruling overseas.

Unfortunately, once he left the country, he was never able to return to his kingdom. Eventually, he ended up in debtors prison in Amsterdam, and later, London. He was freed from Holland’s prison easy enough, but the only way he could earn release from the London jail was by giving Corsica to his creditors.

When he died in London in 1756, his epitaph read:

Theodore this moral learned ere dead:
Fate poured its lessons on his living head,
Bestowed a kingdom, and denied him bread.

After his death, an opera was made from his tale in 1784. Additionally, ‘King Theodore of Corsica’ started to be used as a nickname for gin, joining the ranks of ‘Cuckold’s Comfort’ as a slang for the drink.

Madness Doth Not A Kingdom Make

Nouvelle France was a South American territory also called the Kingdom of Araucanìa and Patagonia. The area’s first (and only) king, elected in 1860, was Orelie-Antoine de Tounens, a French lawyer. He supported the local people’s efforts to resist takeover by Chile and Argentina. The people of the area, called Mapuche, thought that Tounens may help aid their cause as he was a skilled European negotiator. He helped the locals draft a constitution and mint coins, but Chile largely ignored him. Tounens tried to convince France to come to his aid and after a short investigation, they determined him to be crazy.

He was arrested by the Chilean government within two years of becoming king. France managed to secure his release from prison by convincing his jailers that he was insane. After his release, he was deported back to France and Tounens then spent the rest of his life trying to take over his kingdom again. In 1869, he made it back to the country, but soon returned to France to gather more money. Tounens attempted to return two more times afterward, but both times he was captured by Chilean authorities and deported. He eventually died in squalor in France in 1878.

His relatives periodically continued to claim their rightful place as ruler of the country, although the most recent heir has renounced the claim. Since the establishment of Nouvelle France, no sovereign state has ever recognized the territory as a legitimate country.

The Long-Lasting Legacy of Nobility

In 1888, Charles-Marie David de Mayrena elected himself Marie the First, King of the Sedang. Marie was an eccentric French adventurer and he arranged his kingdom to rule over a number of small tribes. King Marie declared the official religion of the country to be Roman Catholic although most of its residents were Muslims and he later adopted the Islamic faith himself. He awarded titles of nobility to his supporters during his two-year rule. He attempted to trade his kingdom to the French, English and Belgium governments in exchange for a trading monopoly, but he received little interest. When he tried to return to his kingdom though, the French prevented him from entering any port in Indochina. He died in 1890, and the details of this death remain a mystery –some sources claim it was by duel, others say it was poison and yet other reports argue he was bitten by a snake.

Over 100 years later, the Assembly for the Restoration of the Sedang Nobility was established in Montreal in 1995. This group consisted of descendants of those who bestowed with titles of nobility by King Marie. The organization claims it seeks to “re-establish and promote the social institutions of monarchy and nobility and practice their principles in a world which has largely forgotten them: chivalry, honor, duty, loyalty, respect, enlightenment, tolerance.” At the same time, they are glad to renounce their claims to the territory, admitting it is undisputedly part of Vietnam. Three years later, they changed their name to the Sedang Royalist Assembly. Although genealogists helped the group find an heir of King Marie, the descendant was uninterested in claiming his title. This organization is still around and is headquartered in Montreal.

Technicalities Galore

What happens when your country’s official constitution and other historical documents fail to mention one small town? If that unmentioned village happens to be Seborga (flag shown above), you may end up with an “independent principality” smack dab in the middle of your country. The area, that should be part of Italy, declared its independence in 1967 and elected the head of the flower growing collective, Giorgio Carbone, to be the country’s head of state or “Giorgio I, Prince of Seborga.” Giorgio is officially addressed as “Your Tremendousness” by his followers.

Giorgio and other members of the village claim that Seborga was never incorporated into Italy. Although it was sold to the king of Savoy and Sardinia in 1729, the sale was not registered. On top of that, the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the 1861 Act of Unification and the constitution written in 1946 all fail to mention Seborga. Scholars have proven that regardless, the area is still part of Italy, but Seborgians defy this logic.

The principality mints its own currency, the luigino, currently valued at $6 - meaning if it were recognized as a legitimate legal tender, it would be the most valuable currency in the world. Regardless of the area’s claim to independence, most of the residents follow the laws of Italy, pay taxes and vote in national elections.

In 2006, a woman named Yasmine von Hohenstaufen Anjou Plantagenet, who claims to be heir to Roman Emperor Fredrick II and the rightful ruler of Seborga, tried to return the ‘country’ to Italy. The majority of villagers were notably upset and Prince Giorgio commented “The girl cannot give away something she does not own.”

Sources #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9 All Images come from listed sources unless otherwise noted.

• David Byrne, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth attended art school together in Providence, Rhode Island. It was there that the three formed their first music group called “The Artistics” in 1974. This first band fell apart within a year, but when the three moved to New York City together, they continued to be work on music and even shared an apartment together.


• Chris and Tina were dating at the time and married in 1977. They are still together to this day.


• June 8, 1975 the group played their first show together as the Talking Heads. They opened up for the Ramones and the performance took place at the legendary club CBGBs.

Photo Via jlacpo [Flickr]

• The name “Talking Heads” cam from a friend of Tina’s, who found the name in the TV Guide, where it was used to describe “a head-and-shoulder shot of a person talking as 'all content, no action,'” Weymouth explained, “It fit.”


• A year later, the group added their forth and final member, Jerry Harrison. He previously played with The Modern Lovers.


• Sire Records signed the band in 1977 and group soon released their first single, "Love ? Building on Fire.” Interestingly, their first album, Talking Heads: 77, did not contain this single.


• Many music fans recognize the name Brian Eno as a famous producer that worked with Roxy Music, David Bowie and U2. He also is known for his long relationship with the Talking Heads and David Byrne. He met the group when he began working with them on their second album, More Songs About Buildings and Food. Eno recorded a song in 1977 called “King’s Lead Hat,” which is actually an anagram of “Talking Heads.”


• If you’ve ever used the phrase “This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco,” you have the band’s single “Life During Wartime” to thank.


• In 1980, Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz began working on a separate project, the popular alternative band, Tom Tom Club. At this same time, both David Byrne and Jerry Harrison decided to release solo albums.


• One of the band’s most popular songs “Once in a Lifetime,” was not a hit initially, but grew in popularity due to a very strong and interesting music video. You may recognize the song as the one that says “And you may tell yourself ‘This is not my beautiful house!’ And you may tell yourself ‘This is not my beautiful wife!’” While I couldn't find a quality video version of it, I did find this Muppets version that is strikingly close (and perhaps even more fun):






• The group’s 1983 album Speaking in Tongues was followed up with their last tour, which was captured in the documentary Stop Making Sense. The film is largely regarded as one of the top music documentaries ever created.


• The film True Stories was created by David Byrne and features all of the band members. The group covered all the songs in the film and released them as an album with the same name.


• Radiohead got together in 1985 and decided to name themselves after the Talking Head’s song “Radio Head.”

Photo Via Talking Heads Website [Link]

• Although the Talking Heads stopped working together after their last album, Naked, was released in 1988, it took an additional three years before the band officially announced their break up.
  Within the same year as the band’s end, they did get back together one last time to record a single for the movie Until the End of the World. The video only featured two of the band’s members though.
  In 1996, David refused to get back together for another album, but the other members were interested and they released No Talking, Just Head under the band name The Heads. This record featured guest vocals from Debbie Harry of Blondie, Andy Partridge of XTC, Gordon Gano or Violent Femmes, Michael Hutchence of INXS, Richard Hell and more.


• A tour followed the release of this album and Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde performed vocals during these live performances.


• David Byrne was displeased with the group’s abbreviation of the name “Talking Heads” and opted to sue the group for acting on "a pretty obvious attempt to cash in on the Talking Heads name." (Photo: David Byrne)


• In the years since, David Byrne has continued to work on soundtracks and solo albums, often with the help of Brian Eno. He also works as a visual artist and his work has been displayed in a number of art galleries around the world. Many of his public art installations have been anonymous though.


• In 2005, he began working on a disco opera with Fatboy Slim. It will be based around the life of the former First Lady of the Phillipines, Imelda Marcos.


• Last year, Byrn turned the entire Battery Maritime Building in Manhattan into a giant musical instrument. He hooked the pipes, heaters and other pieces of the structure electronically to a pipe organ.


• Jerry Harrison has become an important producer who has worked with bands such as the Violent Femmes, the Fine Young Cannibals, General Public, Live and No Doubt.


• Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth continued to record as the Tom Tom Club up until last year. Their singles have been sampled by Grandmaster Flash and Mariah Carey.

Photo Via Tom Tom Club Website [http://www.tomtomclub.net/]

• While the Talking Heads did perform together for their 2002 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a reunion remains unlikely. David Byrne says his refusal to reunite comes down to differences in musical tastes and some bad blood between the group members. However, Tina is critical of David and has publicly referred to him as “a man incapable of returning friendship.”

Source #1, #2, #3, #4, #5

These are a great idea and are certain to get children to play with their food -of course, that may not really help get them to eat their veggies. They will be availible on April 10th and are a reasonable $10.

Link

• The Melvins were named after a much-despised Thriftway supervisor of band member Buzz Osborne.
  The group started in the early 80’s by the members who attended school together in Montesano, Washington.


• Throughout the years, the group has had trouble finding and keeping a permanent bass player. As a result, Buzz Ozborne and Dale Crover have been the only consistent members. Least you worry though, the bass players do not spontaneously combust like the drummers in Spinal Tap.


• Many people have heard the group being credited as a huge influence of the Seattle grunge scene, but fewer people know that Kurt Cobain actually tried out to play bass in the group but he failed after forgetting all the songs because he was so nervous.

Image Via abux 77 [Flickr]

• Kurt stayed good friends with the group, particularly drummer Dale Crover, and even worked as a roadie for them at a few shows. Later, he produced and played on two songs on the group’s album Houdini.


• Aside from bands in the grunge scene, The Melvins have influenced a lot of other bands, including Tool, Crowbar, Mastodon, Eyehategod and Boris, the last of which were named after a Melvin’s song.


• Dale Crover helped out Kurt Cobain in 1988, by playing drums for Nirvana on their ten song demo. Later this demo became part of their first album, Bleach. Dale later introduced Kurt to Dave Grohl, who would become the group’s long-term drummer.


• Also in ’88, Osborne and Crover moved to San Francisco. This is when they lost their first bass player, Matt Lukin, who decided to stay in Washington. Matt later formed the band Mudhoney.






• In 1992, The Melvins released three EPs based on the idea of the four Kiss albums each featuring a member of the group. Later in the year, the group tried to release a full-length album called Lysol, but the album had to be renamed Melvins because “Lysol” was trademarked.


• The group was always a big fan of Kiss, so they were honored when Gene Simons played bass with them at Lollapalooza in ’93 and ’94. He also played on the song "Goin’ Blind" with them at a Primus concert in 1993. This track was a Kiss song that The Melvins covered on Houdini.


• Atlantic refused to release the group’s highly experimental album Prick, so they released it under Amphetamine Reptile Records. Because they were still limited to releases under Atlantic, Prick was released with the band’s name in reverse.

Image Via Kent, J [Flickr]

• A picture on the Tool website shows The Melvins in an image covered by lunchmeat that spells out “Melvins say…Tool Sux!”


• In 1999, the group released three new albums and one of the highlights of these albums was a cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” sung by Leif Garrett.


• There was originally going to be a European tour supporting the group's album with Dead Kennedy's singer Jello Biafra, Never Breathe What You Can’t See, but it was canceled due to some problems with bassist-of-the-time, Kevin Rutmanis. Later, Dale Crover and Buzz Osborne admitted that their bassist had “disappeared.” He returned for a short time in 2005, but then officially quit the band.


• In 2006, The Melvins became a four piece by adding a second drummer, Coady Willis, from the band Big Business. Dale Crover said, "we want to do this 'mirror image' type of thing. We've kind of fused our two drum sets together, and we're going to try and do some crazy thing with it."

Source #1 & #2

Dieting. Personally, I suck at it, as do many people throughout the world. But it doesn't mean we don't try. Of course, some of us try to eat less and exercise more and some people jump on the bandwagon of any fad diets, always hoping to find a miracle that leads to quick weight loss with little effort. As a result, there's been quite a few crazy diet ideas in the last few centuries, here are the top ten weirdest diet methods we've ever heard of.

Photo Via Angelsk [Flickr]

The Chewing Diet

The chewing diet was popularized in the Edwardian Era by Horace Fletcher. He believed that chewing allowed food to be properly absorbed into the body. Insufficient chewing would lead to constipation and clog up the digestive tract, said Fletcher. He lost 40 pounds in just four months using the diet he created. Dr. Kellogg was a friend and fan of Fletcher and he required patients at his sanatorium to participate in the chewing diet as well as a variety of other weight loss methods.

To properly implement the chewing diet, a person must chew each bite over 32 times, which takes approximately 30 seconds. After chewing is done, the person then tilts his or her head back and allows the food to trickle down their throat. Anything that is still too big to swallow must be spit out. The desire to eat things likely diminishes after a period on this diet, so it does work as you begin to eat less food.

Possible Side Effects May Include: A sore jaw. Much longer meal times. Annoyed and disgusted friends.

Source

The Tapeworm Diet

If you eat for two and aren’t pregnant, maybe it’s time to get a second mouth in your belly. A tapeworm can sure help eat all of that excess food. Around the turn of the century, these little parasites were sold in a simple pill form claiming to help you shed inches from your waist. It’s uncertain whether these pills actually had live tapeworms or if they were just another “snake oil” product, but what is certain is that people have intentionally used tapeworms as a weight loss method. Jockeys are amongst the many people purported to have used tapeworms as a diet.

Possible Side Effects May Include: Well for one, having a worm inside your stomach, which might cause nausea, headaches, infections and diarrhea. Some people’s organs are blocked by the eggs and this can result in death. There is no evidence that tapeworms actually help people lose much of weight, so the whole experience may be for nothing.

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The Sleeping Beauty Diet

You can’t eat while you sleep. So naturally, if you sedate yourself for days and neglect to eat as a result, this starvation diet may actually work for you. Elvis was a proponent of this weight loss method around the end of his life and the dieting method was also made popular in Valley of the Dolls.

Possible Side Effects May Include: A severe pill hangover can leave you with a headache, nausea and fatigue. Additionally, improper sedation might actually kill you and so might starvation.

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The Vision Diet

If your food looks disgusting, you’re less likely to eat it. While this is certainly true, it’s not enough to make the vision-dieter glasses any less silly. From the testimonials I’ve read, the glasses make you feel relaxed while going on your day to day routine, but they don’t help you lose much weight. Johnny Depp is a big fan of blue glasses, although it’s hard to say if he just likes their look or if he actually feels the effects from the lens color.

Possible Side Effects May Include: Looking like a geek in big blue glasses. Possible vision problems after prolonged exposure to the glasses.

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Washing Away The Pounds

If you’re showering everyday, you might as well lose weight while doing it, right? That’s the theory behind Aoqili diet soaps. These soaps contain seaweed that will penetrate skin and breakdown fat. There seems to be no evidence that this product works though, not even faked testimonials.

Possible Side Effects May Include: Some people have had allergic reactions to the soap’s ingredients.

Source

Ear Stapling

Ear stapling is exactly what its name implies, you pierce the cartilage of your inner ear and it supposedly suppresses your appetite. You can only leave it in for six weeks to three months because once your body gets used to the staple it will lose its effectiveness. While many people claim this weight loss method is highly effective, even its proponents can’t agree why. The most common explanation involves the piercing’s similarity to acupuncture.

Ear stapling is illegal in Florida and other states have regulated the practice to help decrease the number of infections it has caused.

Possible Side Effects May Include: Well, for one, you will have a staple in your ear, which may be a little painful. Secondly, you could get an infection, which could make you severely sick. Also, it is possible to receive nerve damage when the procedure is preformed improperly.

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The Cotton Ball Diet

The cotton ball diet is exactly what it sounds like, you eat cotton balls. Some people eat them dry and others soak them in gelatin first. Obviously the idea is that cotton balls are low in calories but very filling, so you won’t want to eat anything that is fattening. The cotton balls are also high in fiber, which is thought to be good for you –until you realize it’s not the kind of fiber you need in your diet.

Possible Side Effects May Include: Exceptionally boring, dry and disgusting meals. A lack of needed vitamins and other nutrients. Major digestive problems.

Source

The Blood Type Diet

The theory of the blood type diet is that every blood type has a set of foods best suited to it and if you eat according to your blood type, you will lose weight. Supposedly, a person with type A blood should be vegetarian and meditate, while those with type O blood should eliminate grains from their diet and do aerobics.

Possible Side Effects May Include: This diet may seem harmless, but depending on which blood type you have, your recommended diet may center around food that is bad for you. For example, many people are lactose intolerant, but anyone with type B blood is recommended to intake a lot of dairy –this could cause a lot of problems. Additionally, people with type A blood are told to eat a lot of wheat, but if someone has gluten intolerance, this could be dangerous.

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The Hallelujah Diet

Photo Via Wonderlane [Flickr]

The Hallelujah diet requires eating foods specifically mentioned in Genesis Chapter 1, Verse 29. These foods are all-natural, vegan, raw foods. Of course, in Genesis Chapter 9, Verse 3, God lifts these restrictions, but the hallelujah diet overlooks this.

In the diet, only 15% of a person’s daily intake of food is allowed to be cooked. Aside from the basic diet, the plan recommends exercise, rest, sunshine and elimination of stress. It seems pretty natural that anyone exercising, relaxing and eating vegan will be losing weight, regardless of whether God dictated it or not.

Possible Side Effects May Include: Like all vegan diets, a person must be very careful to get their daily intake of protein, vitamins and minerals. Other than that, this diet is mostly healthy, although it may annoy your friends.

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The Caveman Diet

This diet is also called the Paleolithic diet because the focus is based on food available to cavemen during the Paleolithic Era, around 10,000 years ago. This time period was prior to the development of agriculture, so the plants available to these dieters are mostly ones available to gatherers and hunters. Food can be cooked though because it was common practice in that era. Most participants will be limited to lean meat, fish, veggies, fruit, roots and nuts. Grains, dairy, salt, refined sugar, oils and legumes are all strictly prohibited.

Possible Side Effects May Include: Dieters may have a hard time getting their daily calcium intake, but other than that, it is not dangerous. Most restaurants do offer food that would fit into this dietary plan –steaks, salads, etc.

Source