(YouTube link)
OK now, how many grammar mistakes can you spot in this video? I am always on my kids' backs about running their words together or using words like "tooken." However, I've also learned that if you go on the internet and tell people they are doing something wrong (or "incorrectly," as this should be), you'd better do it perfectly or you're going to be raked over the coals! -via Geeks Are Sexy
Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
Police responded to a report of a man trying to break into a house in Bloomington, Illinois last weekend. It was determined that 21-year-old Christopher Kunder was trying to get into his own house to surprise his mother who didn't know he was on leave from military service in Afghanistan. The problem was that his mother was not home.
When Sternickle arrived, Officer Martin led her to the police car to identify the "suspect" in the back seat. A joyful reunion followed. http://www.pantagraph.com/app/blogs/main/?p=5426
(Image credit: Officer Fred Martin/Bloomington Police)
“Hey!” said Christopher, “could you call my mom, tell her there’s an emergency and she needs to come home immediately?”
Officer Martin said, no, he couldn’t do that.
He is a police officer, after all.
Instead, he asked for Christopher’s mom’s phone number and called with nothing but the truth.
“Mrs. Martha Sternickle?”
“Uh, huh.”
“This is Officer Martin of Bloomington Police. We’ve had a report of somebody trying to enter your home. It was unsuccessful but you might want to come home to make sure there’s no problem.”
When Sternickle arrived, Officer Martin led her to the police car to identify the "suspect" in the back seat. A joyful reunion followed. http://www.pantagraph.com/app/blogs/main/?p=5426
(Image credit: Officer Fred Martin/Bloomington Police)
Remember the Star Trek casket? It appears to be no longer available, but the same company is ready to launch the sale of Star Trek Urns for fans who choose to be cremated when they reach the final frontier. Eternal Image also has bronze Trek medallions which can be attached to urns or headstones. http://www.eternalimage.net/Star-Trek-Products.html -via AOL News
Richard Lorenc never knew his biological mother, and began searching for her at age 33. The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services provided him with a name six weeks later: Lorenc's mother is 62-year-old Vivian Wheeler.
Wheeler is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the woman with the longest beard -11 inches! Lorenc was reunited with his mother, and learned the story of how they were separated all those years ago. Wheeler is considering leaving her home of Bakersfield, California to live closer to her son in Kansas. Link
It also informed him that both his mother and his maternal grandmother had hypertrichosis, known as werewolf syndrome. Each had facial hair, even as children. The letter further stated that his mother was born a hermaphrodite, with both male and female reproductive organs.
Wheeler's facial fuzz had appeared at birth with an inch and a half of light hair covering her cheeks and chin. She says her mother wanted a daughter, and doctors were instructed to remove the male parts.
Wheeler claimed her father was humiliated by his bearded little girl, but it didn't prevent him from capitalizing on her condition. She began working in sideshows at an early age, earning money to send home to her family.
Wheeler is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the woman with the longest beard -11 inches! Lorenc was reunited with his mother, and learned the story of how they were separated all those years ago. Wheeler is considering leaving her home of Bakersfield, California to live closer to her son in Kansas. Link
Scientists have unearthed the fossilized remains of a prehistoric bird with a wingspan of 17 feet! The Latin name given to the new species, Pelagornis chilensis means “huge pseudoteeth” because it had bony tooth-like projections.
The bird flew over South America between 10 and 5 million years ago, which means it may have been seen by our hominid ancestors. Link
Previously: Argentavis magnificens
The enormous wingspan gave P. chilensis certain advantages, like the ability to travel long distances and reach areas of the open ocean thick with potential prey. The researchers think it feasted on fish and squid, and may have trolled its hunting grounds with its lower beak skimming the water until its teeth could clamp down on a wriggling meal. But lead researcher Gerald Mayr says that a 17-foot wingspan is probably close to the maximum for a flying bird.
The bird flew over South America between 10 and 5 million years ago, which means it may have been seen by our hominid ancestors. Link
Previously: Argentavis magnificens
(YouTube link)
If it's cute and it's viral, Parry Grip will write a song about it. Here he lends his talents to the Boar-riding Monkey at the Fukuchiyama Zoo in Kyoto, Japan. -via Laughing Squid
Previously at Neatorama: The Nom Nom Song and He's a Cat Flushing a Toilet.
How many kinds of burritos are there? Korean burritos, s'more burritos, sushi burritos, cactus burritos, and even the Halloween burrito you see here, containing black beans and pumpkin. See 15 very different burritos in this roundup. Which looks best to you? http://blog.koldcast.tv/2010/koldcast-news/15-most-inventive-burritos-known-to-man/ -Thanks, David!
Canadian radio actor Billie Mae Richards passed away Friday at her home near Toronto. She was 88. But Ms. Richards' voice will live on in the Christmas classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Link -via Breakfast Links
"Kids won't believe it when my grandchildren tell them that their grandmother is really Rudolph," Richards said in a 2005 interview with Filmfax magazine. She was credited as "Billy Richards" to mask the fact that she was a woman.
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," based on the eponymous 1949 song, premiered in 1964 and CBS airs it to this day around the holidays.
"What better legacy can you leave than a show that everybody loves?" Richards told NPR in 2004.
Link -via Breakfast Links
A tiny British cow has been named the world's smallest cow by the Guinness Book of World records. The cow lives in West Yorkshire, England and measures just 33 inches tall.
The 11-year-old cow is named Swallow and her owner, Caroline Ryder, said she would spend Thursday either grazing with her herd or listening to BBC radio in her cowshed.In the photo, Swallow is the little black object to the right of a normal size bull. Link -via Fark
Swallow is a Dexter cow, a breed known for its diminutive stature, but is small even by Dexter standards.
She already has nine regular-sized calves and is pregnant with her 10th. Guinness said her youngest calf has already grown larger than she is.
WebUrbanist has a roundup of artistic, retro, futuristic, and whimsical ceiling fans that come in shapes and configurations you may have never seen. I would love to have one of these Victorian design fans for the stairwell in my 105-year-old house! Link
Jane Goodall has studied chimpanzees in Africa since 1960. She arrived in Tanganyika with no training but a lot of enthusiasm for the work ahead. Fifty years later, she is still working for the benefit of the chimpanzees she loves. National Geographic has an extensive retrospective of her life and work in the new issue, with plenty of photographs as well. Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!
In addition, NatGeo has digitized and archived all the articles they've done on Jane Goodall and her work since 1960. Link
(Image credit: Hugo Van Lawick/National Geographic)
It's time to stay on that couch and make something of your life! Just follow these step-by-step instructions, and you'll be slacking your way to financial freedom in no time.
Get a Boss' Salary for an Intern's Work, like Edward McSweegan
1. GET A PLUM JOB
After earning a PhD and working his way up the corporate ladder, microbiologist Edward McSweegan was promoted to managing Lyme disease research grants for the National Institute of Health (NIH). But the job came with plenty of politics.
2. UPSET THE WRONG PEOPLE
When advocacy groups claimed that a "chronic" form of Lyme disease existed and that it required lifelong antibiotic treatments, McSweegan, like many public health experts, disagreed. He just wasn't diplomatic about it. In 1995, he publicly called one of the groups "wacko", much to NIH's chagrin.
3. END UP WITH NOTHING BUT FREE TIME
The statement earned McSweegan a two-week suspension. It did not, however, earn him a pink slip. Instead, his bosses took away the work he had been doing and never gave him anything to replace it with. For seven years, the scientist effectively became a gofer-fetching coffee and forwarding emails. The only thing that didn't change: his salary. That entire time, McSweegan continued to rake in $100,000 a year.
SLACKER WARNING! Don't publicize your plight
If you're sick of coasting and want to find real work in your inbox, do as McSweegan did. In 2003, the bored scientist finally snapped. He took his story to the media, where he publicly asked his bosses for something to do besides write mystery novels on taxpayer time. That year, McSweegan was finally given new grants to administer-a job he still does to this day.
Get Paid Long After You've Left Your Job, like Bobby Bonilla
1. BE REALLY GOOD AT SPORT
This is the tricky part. First, become a heavily-recruited, all-star baseball player like Bobby Bonilla.
2. NOW, DO YOUR JOB POORLY
In 1992, Bonilla became the highest-paid player in baseball when the New York Mets signed him to a $29 million, five-year contract. It wasn't the best idea. For the next three years, the Mets had a dismal record, and Bonilla became the poster child for their ineptitude. Of course, his behavior didn't help. He once called the press box during a game to complain about a call the umpire had just made against him. Another time, he offered a critical journalist "a tour of the Bronx"-as a threat. In 1995, the Mets traded him away.
3. IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, FAIL AGAIN
Four years later, the Mets made the baffling decision to rehire Bonilla, who proceeded to follow up his disastrous early-1990s stint with an equally tragic end to the decade. This time, it only took the Mets one year to oust him. The catch? According to Bonilla's contract, the team stilled owed him $5.9 million.
4. WAIT FOR SOMEBODY ELSE TO MAKE A BAD DECISION
Rather than pay Bonilla off or allow him to keep playing, the Mets made a convoluted deal. Bonilla would leave the team, and his salary would be deferred for ten years. In exchange, he'd earn 8 percent interest annually-bringing the total sum to nearly $30 million, which he'll get in annual payments of $1.19 million from 2011 until 2035. What were the Mets thinking? Hard to say. Pundits speculate that the team was simply short on cash. Delaying the payout allowed management to free up funds, meaning they could recruit players they actually wanted.
Earn Someone Else's Subsidies, like Suburban "Farmers"
1. BUY THE RIGHT HOUSE
Actually, that's pretty much it. Federal farm subsidies are paid out to help keep farmers in business. The intention is to stabilize farmers' income to counteract erratic weather and fluctuations on commodity prices. Unfortunately, the subsidies are notoriously mismanaged. In 2006, the Washington Post investigated the lax attitude surrounding the allocations of these funds. Surprisingly, the most egregious offenders were suburban McMansion dwellers. Reporters found that the cash payouts remained tied to the land-long after that land stopped being used for farming. The journalists also found realtors and developers advertising the subsidies as a selling point on lots and houses. In 2005, one area of Texas brought in $37 million in rice farm subsidies-most of it going to either non-farmers or farmers who no longer grew rice at all.
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The above article by Maggie Koerth-Baker is reprinted with permission from the Scatterbrained section of the September-October 2010 issue of mental_floss magazine.Be sure to visit mental_floss' entertaining website and blog for more fun stuff!
StoryCorps interviewed retired NYC firefighter John Vigiano about his two sons, one a policeman, the other a firefighter, who both died on September 11, 2001. The audio is less than three minutes. Link -via mental_floss' newsletter
This ad appeared in 1952. I don't know how many of these units they actually sold, but I've had a few apartments that would have worked better with all the appliances set into a five-square-foot space. It would also have been nice to have a couple of clones to do the work. Link -via J-Walk Blog
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