It was an accident. Gye Gardner of the Northern Territory of Australia keeps his phone headset in his ear all day. Recently the truck driver hit his head against the boom of his truck and broke the earpiece. Gardner repaired it with superglue. Then his boss called him. Without thinking, Gardner put the piece in his ear to answer the call and drove about five minutes before he realized what he had done. The glue had dried, and the headset was firmly glued to his ear.

"Usually it's in my ear all day anyway - friends suggested to leave it in there and just plug my ear into the powerpoint at night to charge it. But I did get a little worried and thought 'This is not good, this is really not good at all'."

Mr Gardner told the Northern Territory News it crossed his mind to use his pocket knife to remove the unwanted gear from his ear.

"I realised I didn't want to see myself going to a doctor to put my ear back on after I chopped it off.

"So I used a spoon."

Some skin came off along with the earpiece. Link -via Arbroath

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This guy has a small car, for a good reason. The car is 1.49 meters wide. The garage is 1.55 meters wide. You don't have to understand Flemish to know what this video is about. Note how he manages to get out of the car! -via Cynical-C

In the February issue, National Geographic magazine takes a in-depth look at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), who still practice plural marriage. Pictured is the family of Joe Jessop, who has five wives, 46 children, and 239 grandchildren.

Members of the faith describe the life that the Jessops and other founding families have built as idyllic, one in which old-fashioned devotion and neighborly cooperation are emphasized and children are raised in a wholesome environment free of television and junk food and social pressures. Critics, on the other hand, see the FLDS as an isolated cult whose members, worn down by rigid social control, display a disturbing fealty to one man, the prophet Warren Jeffs—who has claimed to be God's mouthpiece on Earth.

To spend time in Hildale and Colorado City is to come away with a more nuanced view. That view is revealed gradually, however, due to the insular nature of the community. Many of the oversize homes are tucked behind high walls, both to give children a safe place to play and to shield families from gawking Gentiles, as non-Mormons are known. Most residents avoid contact with strangers. National Geographic was given access to the community only on the approval of the church leadership, in consultation with the imprisoned Warren Jeffs.

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(image credit: Stephanie Sinclair)

(YouTube link)

Ross Butter has a fine grasp of an odd idea. His explanation: "I got in touch with my inner child. He made me do this." -via Buzzfeed

How well do you know your world leaders, or NFL placekickers? You'd think this Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss would be easy, but you may need some real luck to identify these twelve names. I didn't know any of them! So I scored 50%, just like the odds said I would. Link

Chris' "permanent roommate" packs his lunch with notes that are kind of like a smile for an appetizer.

Anyway, when we have leftover dinner, the permanent roommate packs us both a lunch. Since they look identical, she started leaving a Post-It note so I would know which lunch was mine. At first they just said Chris but I guess she got bored with just writing my name. She started writing funny messages. I saved my favorites.

http://chrisilluminati.com/?p=1490 -via reddit

Archaeologists have recently found a temple underneath the city of Alexandria, Egypt dedicated to the cat goddess Bastet. It contains around 600 statues of cats!

Egyptian archaeologists who found the temple say it was built by Queen Berenike II, wife of Greek King Ptolemy III, who ruled Egypt from 246 to 221 B.C.

Cats were important house pets in ancient Egypt and were often depicted in private tombs. In some cases, cats were mummified in the same way as humans and buried at temples.

The statue pictured is made of limestone. Link

(image credit: Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities)

Vinegar and milk, together in one commercially-available drink in Japan. Only those who can read the Japanese label will see that it also contains grapefruit juice. Link -via Arbroath

You see here only a small portion of a much larger graphic showing a timeline, or maybe a family tree, of famous LOLcats we all know and love. Happycat, who was the first to ask for a cheeseburger, is at the top and lots of his progeny are at the bottom. Link -via Gorilla Mask

As they say, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." With this calendar, you get an apple every day of the month and it helps you keep up with the days as well. The Serviceplan advertising agency of Munich, Germany created the apple calendar for AOK health insurance. Every month, fill it with 28, 30, or 31 apples and adjust the numbered calendar behind the transparent tube. Then eat one apple each day and see the calendar advance. Too bad the calendars aren't for sale, but you may see them in AOK branch offices. http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/2010/01/aok-apple-calendar/ -via bookofjoe

The Late Night Wars have given us plenty to read about, but this sort of thing has been going on for decades. You probably don't know the story of the biggest network talk show bomb ever, The Jerry Lewis Show. It only lasted for thirteen episodes and would have been cut sooner if the network hadn't been contractually obligated to air thirteen shows.

"I'd like to say welcome to all you nice..." before being lambasted with screeching feedback. "I realize two hours is an unusual amount of time but I want to answer the big question ... after all let's face it, movies are a lot longer than two hours, you know. Have you ever heard anyone say 'What can Liz and Dick do for two hours?'" Lewis tapped the boom mike and said, "This is on isn't it, sweetheart?" The mugging, the schmaltzy song, the unbelievable feedback and the 'Is this thing on' murmur made it feel like the world's most overwrought screenplay. But it was the real deal. See for yourself here. Jerry continued with a nervous monologue, "Next week, September the 28th, God willing we're still on, September the 28th, I will operate on my own appendix." Three and a half minutes into the highly anticipated production and Jerry was already predicting his own demise.

The article has links to several episodes. Link -via Metafilter

McDonalds in Japan is selling a series of hamburgers called Big America. There are burgers named for Texas, California, New York, and Hawaii and they look really big. Too bad we don't have them in America! Link

Long-time country music fans know that a "Nudie suit" is a stage outfit festooned with rhinestones like Porter Wagoner and Hank Williams, Sr. used to wear. Nudie Cohn is the man who designed these suits for more musical artists than you knew, not to mention cars and other props of show business life. The Selvedge Yard has a look at Cohn and his creations, with lots of pictures. Pictured is Cohn with Gram Parsons in a Nudie suit. Link -via Everlasting Blort

(College Humor link)

It's not "Yum yum yum", it's "Nom nom nom"! This kitten will tell you all about it. -via Unique Daily