Juergen Horn of the travel project For 91 Days took a little time over the holidays to reflect on the four years he and Mike Powell have been traveling the world, staying in each city for only three months. That’s long enough to really get a good taste of the place, but short enough to feel like a whirlwind traveler after a few years. In that time, they’ve seen a lot of museums around the globe, so Horn put together a top ten list of the strangest and most memorable of them, like the Wallace Bordello Museum in Idaho:

So when the ladies of this brothel found out that the FBI is about to raid them, they went running! They ran out, slammed the door behind them. So everything you see inside the museum is exactly how it looked like when they left. Except for the mannequins. My favorite was the price list hanging up in the kitchen.

There are links to more about each museum. They include the Phallological Museum in Iceland, the Studio Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, and the MUSA Under Water Museum in Mexico, among others. Read about them all at Random Good Stuff.

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I’ve always thought that changing oil every 3,000 miles was just propaganda from oil companies, but I’d be a little nervous about going 7 to 10 thousand miles between oil changes. Honestly, I never changed my oil for my first twenty years of driving, because every car I owned leaked so much that I was constantly adding new oil anyway. Then for the second twenty years of car ownership, I’ve relied on others for car maintenance, so when I suggested putting water in the battery the other day, my husband laughed. Apparently, we don’t do that anymore. In this week’s Misconceptions video from mental_floss, we learn some other things you’ve heard about cars and driving that aren’t necessarily so. -via mental_floss

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Bethan Ellerton is spinning balls of flaming steel wool. The sequence is running backwards so that the sparks seem to be flying at her instead of away from her. Don’t try this at home; she’s a professional. Richie Johnstonline filmed this sequence as an ad for Cascade Juggling, a juggling and circus equipment supplier. Johnstonline says,

All necessary safety precautions where taken to prevent the risk of a fire. We only shot after heavy rain (Cumbria gets alot of rain) and had a team of people standing by off camera. The steel wool we used burns out really quickly which made the risk of a fire extremely minimal.

-via Laughing Squid

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad.  These mysteries are from The Little Giant® Book of Whodunits by Hy Conrad and Matt LaFleur. Can you solve the mystery before you read the solution?

Colonel Rollo's tour of the provinces was a necessary evil and the military dictator took every precaution to ensure his own safety. There had already been two assassination attempts this year, and he didn't want to try for three.

When the colonel's train pulled into the Gorganzuela station, the town officials were waiting to greet him. But the door to his windowless, bullet-proof carriage remained shut. Nervously, the mayor knocked. He heard some stumbling sounds from inside and finally the train door slid open.

Captain Corkran stumbled out. The dictator's second in command was usually a resplendent sight in his broad hat, bandana, and American cowboy boots. Now he looked weak and silly. 'Assassination," he coughed.

The mayor looked in and saw the lifeless body of Colonel Rollo dressed in his robe and slippers. A purple ring around his lifeless neck testified to murder by strangulation, probably with a long, strong, thin cord.

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad.  These mysteries are from The Little Giant® Book of Whodunits by Hy Conrad and Matt LaFleur. Can you solve the mystery before you read the solution?

(Image credit: Flickr user Simon Laroche)

In the dead of winter, the citizens of Mountebank, Minnesota, grabbed at any excuse for a party, especially when it was hosted by Ama Wheeler, the richest woman in town. As usual, this one was rowdy and crowded and a huge success—until about 12:30 A.M. That's when Ama noticed that her prized Ming vase was missing from the entry-hall table.

When the police arrived, they found all the revelers herded into the living room, with Ama standing guard like an angry sheepdog. The house was searched. Then the house perimeter. Then the guests' cars. No vase.

"You're going to have to take their statements," Ama told the police chief. "I don't suppose it will do much good. At a party like this, people can barely remember their own movements, much less keep track of others'."

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad.  These mysteries are from The Little Giant® Book of Whodunits by Hy Conrad and Matt LaFleur. Can you solve the mystery before you read the solution?

(Image credit: Flickr user Omar Robert Hamilton)

Phil Moretti hated it when tourists got murdered. It reflected badly on New York City, on Kennedy Airport, and especially on him, chief of airport security. Somehow it didn't seem as bad when the victim was local.

In this case it was a businessman on a flight from Chicago. He had barely gotten off the plane. At 3:42 p.m., a passerby found him stabbed to death in the men's room just a few feet from his arrival gate. The body had been robbed. No jewelry. And although the wallet and credit cards had been left behind, there was no cash.

Three suspicious characters had been seen loitering by the gates. Barely 15 minutes passed from the time of the body's discovery before all three were brought in for questioning.

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad.  These mysteries are from The Little Giant® Book of Whodunits by Hy Conrad and Matt LaFleur. Can you solve the mystery before you read the solution?

(Image credit: Flickr user David, Bergin, Emmett and Elliott)

"The car alarm often goes off in hot, humid weather," Elliot Zypher told the inspector from the burglary division. "When it went off last night, I had no idea the car was actually being robbed. This has always been such a safe area."

The detective looked around at the large houses and well-tended lawns and had to agree. "Do you usually leave expensive necklaces out in the car?"

"That was my fault, inspector," answered Elliot's sister, Zelda. "I had just brought the necklace back from the jeweler. We were halfway through dinner when I remembered where it was. Neither Elliot nor I had the energy to go get it. I went right from dinner up to my room. With the windows closed and the air conditioning on, I could barely hear the horn start blaring. I assumed it was the usual false alarm."

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad.  These mysteries are from The Little Giant® Book of Whodunits by Hy Conrad and Matt LaFleur. Can you solve the mystery before you read the solution?

(Image credit: Flickr user Sean)

It was the day before Valentine's Day and the police in the small college town were unprepared for any crime beyond the amorous escapades of a few undergraduates.

Late that afternoon a patrol car canvassed Oakview, a small off-campus apartment building. The officers found the body of Gilly Tarpin, a homeless drifter. He was a nondescript man of normal build, lying in the shelter of an open garage bay. The officers made an inventory of Gilly's possessions: a wristwatch (looking new, except for a vertical crease on the leather band inside the clasp), a box of chocolates (with half the contents eaten), and a crumpled pre-printed note saying "Be My Valentine."

The authorities assumed it was a natural death, caused by exposure to the February chill. But then the mandatory autopsy came back. There was poison in the homeless man's system. An identical poison was found in the remaining candies.

The police interviewed three Oakview residents, hoping for some clue as to why anyone would poison a homeless drifter.

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad.  These mysteries are from The Little Giant® Book of Whodunits by Hy Conrad and Matt LaFleur. Can you solve the mystery before you read the solution?

The Valentine's Day party was a tradition. Each year Henry and Bitsy Vandercleef invited their friends into their Park Avenue home. After a sumptuous dinner, the couples retired to the drawing room. The men drank port, the women drank champagne, and each couple exchanged love tokens.

This year George Epson outdid himself, presenting his wife with a ruby necklace. The women sighed enviously while the men mentally added up the cost and wondered how their wives would react to their own less extravagant gifts.

When Henry's turn came, he told Bitsy to close her eyes and led her over to the windows. When Bitsy opened her eyes, she saw the billboard and gasped. "To Bitsy, the most beautiful woman in my world. Love, Henry."

"You don't know how much trouble it was getting a billboard put up on Park Avenue," Henry said. The women sighed again while the men mentally added and wondered.

George Epson was the first to notice the missing necklace. "Stolen," he gasped, holding up the empty jewel box. "Nobody leave the room."

Everyone assured everyone else that there couldn't possibly be a thief among them. Not them. The necklace must have fallen out or been mislaid.

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad.  These mysteries are from The Little Giant® Book of Whodunits by Hy Conrad and Matt LaFleur. Can you solve the mystery before you read the solution?

(Image credit: Flickr user Jaroslaw Kulik)

Vince McCormick was a big, angry slug of a man just a month shy of retirement. On Super Bowl Sunday, his two sons, Vince Junior and Sonny, came over as usual to watch the game.

As kick-off time approached, the boys were in the kitchen, helping their mother prepare the snacks. Junior heated up nachos in the microwave while Sonny poured the bags of potato chips and pretzels into bowls. Marie McCormick was mixing the ice and ginger ale and rye together in tall glasses.

"Make sure mine is strong enough," came her husband's growl from the living room.

Junior saw the bruise on his mother's arm. "Did he do that to you?" he asked. Marie didn't answer.

"What'll you do when he retires and hangs around all day?" Sonny asked. "It'll only get worse."

"No one in our family gets divorced," Marie said firmly.

The BBC ran the Island Blogging project in northern Scotland from 2003 to 2010. One blogger, calumannabel, posted a challenge for more contributions of news and everyday life in 2005, asking the question Is there life on Harris? He got a lost of wonderful responses. Here is a small sampling.

"We are in Rodil today with a new bacon slicer aboard. It is a good drying day. Is this the sort of stuff you're after? Yours in hope Woolie Jumper MacDonald MA RAC"

WJ MacDonald from Chop till you Drop Mobile Butchers

"One of the Christmas lights has gone off on the tree. We are wondering if it is the generator that's failing? Is this the sort of stuff you're looking for. Oh and the cat's had three kittens in the loom house so no weaving today."

Donnie Gaul from Amminnuisparetyre

"We have two wheelie bins in our kitchen, one in our living room,and mum and dad use one each as beside cabinets upstairs. We have flap and a hen flap in our front door and lots of earwigs in the airing cupboard. The butcher has a new bacon slicer. It is faster than his last one. Before that he used to cut it with a knife. His wife is called Maggie Mary Is this the sort of thing you're looking for?"

Forrest Gunn from Tractor park Toys r Us Rodil

"My mother has gone to town today shopping. The batteries in my torch are flat as I left it on all night. The dog is scratching a lot. Mum is bringing some stuff back from Stornoway. That will be the dog's Christmas box my dad says. It cannot be fun being a border collie. My dad says it's got the fleas from the cat and he wants to know if this is the sort of thing you're looking for?"

The Macadams Family from 3bTir Na Nog Terrace Tarbert

"Dear Mrs Chipperfield, We wouls be happy to help you with your canine problem and furnish you with some trimmings for the Christmas dinner at the same time. You may have hear my husband has a fancy new bacon slicer which can in fact cope with many different meats. Is this the sort of thing you're looking for?"

Mrs WJ Mac Donald from The Butchers Wife

After a while, the stories get ever more ridiculous in a game of one-upmanship.

"My mum has been trying to make some exceedingly good biscuits to take to the Dating Festival at Ness. She is going to trade my dad in for something newer. She says the way to a man's heart is through his stomach though it didn't work with Dad. She has made some oaty biscuuits with jam in them. She calls them An T'Ob Nobs. Is this the sort of biscuit you're looking for?"

allan john kipling from Leverburgh

"My mother is next door cooking breakfast for Maggie Mhor whose fingers are bandaged after she cut them opening a can of sardines. That's the beauty of local produce - no one ever cut themselves on a can of porridge or a tin of lamb. My dad syas its a pity that it wasn't Maggie Mhor's throat that was cut. He's fed up of her watching him with her binoculars as he staggers back from the bochan. Is this the sort of local tittle tattle you are searching for?"

Richard Harris from Macarthur Park Rodil

There’s over a hundred more comments, and they just get better as they go. Harris is part of one of the Outer Hebrides. You can read more about the Island Blogging project and find more delightful blog posts linked at Metafilter.

(Image credit: Andrewrpalmer/Orionist)

The year 2015 means, among other things, that Martin Scorsese’s film Goodfellas is turning 25 years old. The movie was based on the life of mob informant Henry Hill and his relation to the Lucchese crime family. In this trivia list, you’ll learn how closely the movie followed the actual people portrayed.

11. Some of the real criminals portrayed were actually toned down for the film.

According to Henry Hill, despite combining characters and slightly altering plot points and timelines, Goodfellas was about 95 percent accurate. Perhaps some of that remaining five percent has to do with the on-screen portrayals of Paul Vario, the one-time head of the Lucchese crime family, and Jimmy Burke, architect of the Lufthansa heist.

Vario (Paul Cicero in the film) was far from the relatively coolheaded powerbroker Paul Sorvino portrayed. A federal prosecutor called Vario, who served jail time for rape and had a notoriously unhinged temper, "one of the most violent and dangerous career criminals in the city of New York.” And while Robert De Niro’s Jimmy Conway comes across as cunning and conniving with a brutal streak, the real Jimmy “The Gent” Burke was, according to Hill, a “homicidal maniac,” brutally violent and responsible for at least 50 to 60 murders.

15. During filming, the lines between the movie and the mob world were occasionally blurred.

Louis Eppolito, a police detective who had a bit part as a wiseguy in Goodfellas, was later convicted for carrying out hits for the Lucchese crime family, which is, of course, the family chronicled in the movie. According to screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, there was an open call for real wiseguys, and Scorsese “must have hired like half a dozen guys, maybe more, out of the joint.” And Tony Sirico, who had a bit part as a wiseguy in Goodfellas but is best known for playing Paulie Gualtieri on The Sopranos, had a longer crime resume (28 arrests) than acting resume (27 credits) when the movie was released in 1990.

And there’s a lot more behind-the-scenes tidbits about Goodfellas in the list at mental_floss, including Henry Hill’s life after the movie, who else was considered for the roles, and a few video clips, too.   

Tuesday, a picture of dog in Scotland went viral. He had been tied to a railing at Ayr station, and was found with a small suitcase containing his belongings: a food dish, a pillow, a dog toy, and some dog food. The dog, a mixed breed resembling a shar-pei, was taken to the SSPCA. Officials there found a microchip, but the last record said the dog named Kai had been sold on the internet site Gumtree in 2013, but not to whom.

Today, the Daily Record identified the woman who left the dog at the station as Fin Rayner. Rayner said she met a man to buy a dog through Gumtree, but the dog was not as advertised and the man fled with a £150 deposit, leaving her with Kai. Rayner does not believe she did anything wrong by leaving the dog at the station. Meanwhile, the SSPCA has received many calls from people who want Kai. -via Fark

The entire purpose of having photo identification cards is to have a record of what someone looks like, so it defeats the purpose to alter them. High school student love_a_good_ood is a senior at an all-girls school. They were issued ID cards with their school picture on them at the beginning of the year. For the second semester, seniors were issued a new card -with pictures that were changed. 

I have a round face that I have grown to love and now I get my photo back with a different face. The new photo no longer even looks like me but rather a prettier twin sister. When we go and have our photos taken we are flat out told that our skin will be retouched to hide blemishes. We are not told, however, that more drastic changes are made.

Going to an all girls school we are constantly reminded about positive body image and accepting ourselves for who we are. Having these changes made to make me appear thinner makes me wonder how must our school practices what they preach.

You can see an overlay for comparison here. Photographers in the comments commenter said that some school picture companies now do this automatically. But the point of school pictures is to serve as a record of what the student looked like at that age! Removing zits is one thing, but making a student look like someone else is taking it a bit too far, don’t you think?  -via Uproxx

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You’ve heard the phrase “Nice guys finish last” all your life. It turns out the phrase was coined by someone who was looking for an excuse to be not-so-nice. Science says otherwise, as we learn in this video from AsapSCIENCE. Yes, scientists have actually done experiments that translate to this. Wise folks have always known that no matter what your accomplishments are or how much wealth you accumulate, you will ultimately be judged on how you treat others. -via Viral Viral Videos