Danish musician and pepper enthusiast Chili Klaus (Claus Pilgaard) talked his friend, singer Michael Caroe, into eating a Dorset Naga ghost chili pepper, which can register a million Scoville units. Then they perform the song "My Way," or try to, while fighting back the tears.
Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew When I bit off more than I could chew But through it all, when there was doubt I ate it up and spit it out I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way
That particular verse is so appropriate, but they didn’t spit it out. The rest of us would have been running to the nearest fire hydrant. -via Buzzfeed
LEGO artist Iain Heath, known to many as Ochre Jelly, built an homage to the classic video game Doom. This creation is 6 feet long and 3 feet wide, and contains over 15,000 LEGO bricks! Heath spent three months on this build, and it shows.
Continue reading for more pictures and a video walk-though of LEGO Doom.
Neuroscientist Dean Burnett once auditioned for a job as host of a show about personality quirks. They asked him if he has any quirks of his own. He felt that if he answered in the negative, they wouldn’t hire him.
So when asked if I had any weird habits or quirks, I said “I don’t like cooking a single jacket potato as I think it looks lonely.”
They really liked this, and wanted to explore it further. It ended with their filming me traipsing around a market, buying two of every vegetable due to my “condition” and talking to people about it (ie just making stuff up).
I’m not proud of this; it felt dangerously close to pretending to have a psychological problem. My “section” never made the final cut, for which I was very grateful, but that’s not the point of the anecdote.
When the director spoke to me, he confessed that he had this problem too. Several of the crew said the same. A producer mentioned speaking to people in the office and yes, it was quite a common anxiety people had.
This would all be fine, if it weren’t for one important fact: I MADE IT UP!
The fact that it was all made up didn’t stop people from confessing that they, too, had this kind of psychological disorder, or "quirk." Was it contagious? Or were people just seeing their past behavior in a new light? Or were they just imagining things? The experience highlights how easy it is to convince people they have a mental disorder, once it has a name. Have you ever experienced Lonely Potato Syndrome? Read more about it at The Guardian. -via Digg
The latest short by Francesco Calabrese (previously at Neatorama) is unsettling, to say the least. It’s set in 1964 suburbia, which is already frightening, but things are not what they should be- you could say things have “shifted.” The Shift stars Molly Quinn from the TV show Castle in a story that’s like a cross between The Stepford Wives and The Twilight Zone. If the wide-screen format makes this too small for you, click the bottom right corner of the video to see it full-screen. -Thanks, Francesco!
No DNA. No fingerprints, No jury. For judges in medieval Europe, every trial was he said, she said. so they sometimes looked for divine intervention to determine guilt or innocence. If you were accused of a crime, you might be asked to prove your innocence through one of these ordeals.
1. GLOWING IRON
An iron rod was heated until it was red-hot and, after an elaborate series of prayers and blessings, the accused carried it a distance of nine feet. His hands were then wrapped and inspected three days later. The logic was that God would protect the innocent and his hands would be healing. If his hands were festering, he was guilty.
2. BOILING WATER
The accused would be asked to plunge his hand into a cauldron of boiling water (that had been blessed by a priest) and pull out a pebble or other object. As with the glowing iron, the accused’s hand would be bound and inspected three days later. If it was healing, he was found innocent; if it was’t, the verdict was guilty.
3. COLD WATER
The accused’s hands and feet were bound and he was tossed into a river or pond. In the early Middle Ages, it was believed that God protected the innocent, so he would float, following the logic of other ordeals. But by the end of the Middle Ages, the reasoning was inverted. The new idea was that, since the water was blessed and thus served as a baptism for the accused, it would reject the guilty, making them float. This left the innocent to sink and hope for a quick rescue.
4. THE CROSS
This ordeal was to settle disputes. Both parties faced the cross and extended their arms to the sides, imitating the shape of the cross. Whoever was the first to tire and put his arms down was in the wrong, since God would give strength to the righteous.
5. THE BLESSED MORSEL
The accused was given Communion in a church before the alter. If he could swallow the blessed bread without choking, he was found innocent.
In the 1800s, stage travel was common. Up to nine passengers shared the coach. Second class passengers rode on top with the luggage. To keep things friendly, Wells Fargo posted rules of etiquette in each of their coaches.
1. Abstinence from liquor is requested, but if you must drink, share the bottle. To do otherwise makes you appear selfish and unneighborly.
2. If ladies are present, gentlemen are urged to forego smoking cigars and pipes as the odor of same is repugnant to the Gentle Sex. Chewing tobacco is permitted but spit WITH the wind, not against it.
3. Gentlemen must refrain from the use of rough language in the presence of ladies and children.
4. Buffalo robes are provided for your comfort during cold weather. Hogging robes will not be tolerated and the offender will be made to ride with the driver.
5. Don’t snore loudly while sleeping or use your fellow passenger’s shoulder for a pillow; he or she may not understand and friction may result.
6. Firearms may be kept on your person for use in emergencies. Do not fire them for pleasure or shoot at wild animals as the sound riles the horses.
7. In the event of runaway horses, remain calm. Leaping from the coach in panic will leave you injured, at the mercy of the elements, hostile Indians and hungry coyotes.
8. Forbidden topics of discussion are stagecoach robberies and Indian uprisings.
9. Gents guilty of unchivalrous behavior toward lady passengers will be put off the stage. It’s a long walk back. A word to the wise is sufficient.
In 1984-85, the National Union of Mineworkers led a labor strike as a protest against the government shutting down coal mines. The Thatcher government sent in police to break up the picket lines, and refused emergency welfare payments to dependents of those on strike. The strikers found an unlikely ally in Britain’s gay and lesbian population, which banded together to raise money for the strikers, to the tune of thousands of pounds. And that’s the subject of the new movie Pride, which is in limited released in the U.S. Despite the serious and sometimes violent subject matter, the film is a comedy, and has excellent reviews.
In an article at The Guardian about how the movie came about, you can see a 23-minute documentary about the events of the film. The filmmakers and the real-life participants that inspired the movie talk about the movie in this video. -via Metafilter, where’ll you’ll find many more links.
Batfans are going to love this! The Piano Guys perform a medley of Batman themes, in chronological order, spanning 50 years. They also have some great visual elements, with different versions of the Batmobile and film sets serving as their backdrop (or is it batdrop?). Don’t be discouraged by the length of the video; the song is only four minutes long. The rest is an ad for their new album. -via Viral Viral Videos
In the US, you see a bear at the window and you 1. shut the window, 2. make sure your kids are inside, and 3. call authorities. In Russia? Hand feed the bear! This bear sure likes the sweet pastries he’s getting, even though with a mere leap or swipe of the paw, he could be eating a sturdy human. Things are different in Russia. Of course, we can assume the men know this bear, but you have to wonder how that came to be. The real question is, what happens when you run out of cookies? -via Daily Picks and Flicks
A father demonstrates why it takes so long to make breakfast when you have twin babies. I can imagine it takes much longer to do anything! One baby takes all your time and attention; two will outnumber you, even if you have two stay-at-home parents. The upside is that eventually they will keep each other occupied. The downside is that they will be plotting against you. -via Tastefully Offensive
Sometimes I come across an intriguing story and decide not to post it here because it doesn’t pass the smell test, meaning it might not be true. Such was the case when Jasmine Tridevil’s story went viral Monday of this week. The massage therapist from Tampa said she spent $20,000 on plastic surgery to have a third breast added, Total Recall-style. She is also trying to put together a reality TV show about her life. Of course she is. The first question everyone had was “What plastic surgeon would do this?” Tridevil said she went through dozens of surgeons before one would agree to give her a third breast, and then only if she promised never to reveal his name (link is NSFW). That’s a big red flag.
During a visit from a local TV news reporter on Tuesday, Tridevil was reticent about showing too much or talking too much. She said it was because she’s saving the details for her reality show. In the same news report, a plastic surgeon speculated that Tridevil may have psychological issues.
Then TMZ got into the act, by digging up anything they could on Jasmine Tridevil. What they found was a report of some luggage stolen from her at Tampa International Airport. Tridevil’s black bag was recovered, and inventoried. Among the items it contained: three breast prostheses. You draw your own conclusions from that.
But wait, there’s more! I decided to post this story at this late date because now there’s a punchline. Like many internet memes, it’s been turned into a Halloween costume! No, theres not enough time to get this to the manufacturers and back for the holiday, but HalloweenCostumes.com did the next best thing: they posted instructions on how you can recreate the costume using their inflatable fake breasts and a few accessories.
The real question is, will anyone remember this by the time Halloween rolls around in five weeks? Or will Jasmine Tridevil’s fifteen minutes be up before then? Who knows, but there is always the possibility that some TV network somewhere will pick up her reality show. -via Uproxx
So, you got a new smartphone! Congratulations. You probably got it because it’s lightweight, sleek, and looks good. The first thing you want to do is protect it from any danger. Meanwhile, my $50 dumb phone can withstand an earthquake because it’s too dumb to die. This is the latest from Doghouse Diaries.
The upcoming video game Assassin’s Creed Unity gets a remake already, with four adorable kittens in the roles of the assassins. The kittens take center stage in the action roles, thanks to clever editing and set design, and probably some feather-shaking just offscreen. -via Tastefully Offensive
A truck driver, hauling a load of frozen chicken, called his employers at Dixie River Freight and demanded a ransom for the cargo. The company declined to pay, so the driver uncoupled the trailer and left it at a truck stop in Missoula, Montana. The truck cab was reported stolen, but the trailer identification was never entered into a national database of stolen vehicles. Three weeks later, the abandoned trailer was reported to Missoula County sheriff’s department. The thawed chicken carcasses were dripping from the trailer and attracting flies.
Now the health department has to figure out a way to get the rotten meat to the landfill. They're working with Dixie River Freight's insurance company. It looks like the best plan now is to wrap and plug up the trailer and take the chicken to the dump in its original casing.
"You want to get rid of that potential for there to be pests flying around, disease vectors, the flies, but in and of itself it's not a hazardous material," explained Shannon Therriault, the environmental health supervisor for the Missoula City-County Health Department.
Crews would rather not unload the chicken, but the trucking company would like to have its trailer back. Whether the truck will be destroyed or unloaded will be up to the insurance company. -via Arbroath
Henry is a 7-year-old border terrier who lives in Prestbury, UK. Earlier this week, he went down a rabbit hole and became stuck, unknown to his owner, Beverley Leonard. When she couldn’t find the dog, Leonard called the local fire department, but after looking for Henry for three days, the animal rescue unit had to abandon the search.
A crew member said that if Henry would just bark they would have much more chance. A distraught Beverley remembered that the one thing Henry did bark at was her doorbell. She raced home, ripped the door bell off her front door, grabbed the amplifier, raced back to the fields and played it into every rabbit hole they could find.
“It must have been just about the last hole in the last field, and we were about to give up, when we heard him,” said Beverley.
