Enjoy a collection of mp3s of Christmas music recorded on wax in the early 20th century. This includes music from the Edison Concert Band and the Edison Mixed Quartet. Eddie Cantor's rendition of The Only Thing I Want for Christmas (Is Just To Keep The Things That I've Got) is especially recommended. Link -via Metafilter
Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
A policeman’s job is never easy, but dumb criminals make it somewhat easier. This list was whittled down from a much longer list of stories of the stupid things lawbreakers did this past year. These are in chronological order instead of rank. The dates are from the news stories; in some cases the crime itself happened earlier. Most of the links have accompanying video.
ROME, GA June 2
A convenience-store thief got away, but the video from the security camera told a strange, strange tale. A man broke into the store overnight, and tried to cover his tracks by burning the place down. He threw charcoal lighter fluid around, but by the time he ignited it, the fumes had permeated the store, and he set himself on fire. While in flames, he grabbed a roll of lottery tickets and fled. At the time of the story, police were looking for a man with facial, neck, and possibly wrist burns.
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL June 8
An employee of the Lucky Buffet noticed a strange sight on arriving at the restaurant. There were legs hanging out of a vent over the grill! 45-year-old Billy Jordan had tried to enter the restaurant the night before by climbing through the ductwork, but became stuck and stayed there for ten hours. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue workers used a rope to pull Jordan back out through the roof, after which he was arrested for burglary.
MILWAUKEE, WI July 27
Three men backed a stolen vehicle through the glass front of a gas station. Their intent was to steal an ATM. But they didn’t realize that ATMs are bolted to the floor. After some thought, they tied a rope around the machine and attched it to the vehicle, but still could not dislodge it. They left empty-handed. The ATM was still in working order the next day.
ASHLAND, KY August 13
Police say Kasey Kazee entered Shamrock Liquors and attempted to rob the store. Employees were astonished that he had disguised his face by wrapping it in duct tape! The store manager chased him out with a baseball bat and an employee held him in the parking lot until police arrived. Police removed the duct tape after taking pictures, and arrested Kazee, who denied any memory of the incident.
See a video report here.
ADLINGTON, ENGLAND September 6
Peter Addison and his friend Mark Ridgeway vandalized the Toc H centre, a children’s campsite building. They smashed crockery, set off fire extinguishers, and drew grafitti on the walls. Part of the grafitti said “Peter Addison was here.” Police found Addison through a computer database. Both teenagers pled guilty and were ordered to pay for the damage.
LITTLE ROCK, AR September 7
21-year-old Langston Robins walked right past a uniformed police officer at the Metropolitan Bank and handed a robbery note to the teller. The unarmed would-be robber was arrested after a foot pursuit. Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings said:
GENEVA, NY September 13
29-year-old Vincent Estrada Junior was pulled over because the car he was driving had been stolen from a parking lot. Estrada explained that he had stolen the car in order to drive to the Geneva City Police Department and turn himself in on a family court warrant! He didn’t make his destination, as police took him to the Ontario County Jail instead, where he was held on car theft charges.
(image credit: Ontario County Sheriff's Office)
WHITLEY BAY, England September 17
Usually, the burglar robs the house while the victim is asleep, but in this story, the roles were reversed. 24-year-old Mark Smith sneaked into Heather Stephenson’s home, crept past her while she was ironing, and rifled through her belongings in the bedroom. Then he fell asleep under her bed. Mrs. Stephenson couldn’t wake him, and police officers had to drag him out from under the bed. Smith’s vodka and valium consumption were to blame. He received an 18-month sentence for burglary.
PITTSBURGH, PA November 9
A man flew into a rage at the Giant Eagle supermarket when employees refused to cash a million-dollar bill. 66-year-old Samuel Porter slammed an electronic machine on the counter and refused to give his name to authorities. He was then taken to the Allegheny County Jail. The largest bill currently in circulation is the $100 dollar bill.
Bonus: It happened again soon afterwards in Georgia!
(image credit: AP)
RALEIGH, NC December 11
There had been a stabbing, and police were on the scene talking to a woman who had been a witness to the crime. 38-year-old Anthony William jumped into the woman’s car and drove away! He was arrested the next day, easily identified by the cops who saw him steal the car.
1. Lottery Thief Sets Himself on Fire
ROME, GA June 2
A convenience-store thief got away, but the video from the security camera told a strange, strange tale. A man broke into the store overnight, and tried to cover his tracks by burning the place down. He threw charcoal lighter fluid around, but by the time he ignited it, the fumes had permeated the store, and he set himself on fire. While in flames, he grabbed a roll of lottery tickets and fled. At the time of the story, police were looking for a man with facial, neck, and possibly wrist burns.
2. Ten Hours Stuck in Restaurant Vent
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL June 8
An employee of the Lucky Buffet noticed a strange sight on arriving at the restaurant. There were legs hanging out of a vent over the grill! 45-year-old Billy Jordan had tried to enter the restaurant the night before by climbing through the ductwork, but became stuck and stayed there for ten hours. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue workers used a rope to pull Jordan back out through the roof, after which he was arrested for burglary.
3. Immovable ATM
MILWAUKEE, WI July 27
Three men backed a stolen vehicle through the glass front of a gas station. Their intent was to steal an ATM. But they didn’t realize that ATMs are bolted to the floor. After some thought, they tied a rope around the machine and attched it to the vehicle, but still could not dislodge it. They left empty-handed. The ATM was still in working order the next day.
4. The Famous Duct Tape Bandit
ASHLAND, KY August 13
Police say Kasey Kazee entered Shamrock Liquors and attempted to rob the store. Employees were astonished that he had disguised his face by wrapping it in duct tape! The store manager chased him out with a baseball bat and an employee held him in the parking lot until police arrived. Police removed the duct tape after taking pictures, and arrested Kazee, who denied any memory of the incident.
See a video report here.
5. The Sign of the Crime
ADLINGTON, ENGLAND September 6
Peter Addison and his friend Mark Ridgeway vandalized the Toc H centre, a children’s campsite building. They smashed crockery, set off fire extinguishers, and drew grafitti on the walls. Part of the grafitti said “Peter Addison was here.” Police found Addison through a computer database. Both teenagers pled guilty and were ordered to pay for the damage.
Inspector Gareth Woods, of Cheshire Police, said: "This crime is up there with the dumbest of all in the criminal league table.
"There are some pretty stupid criminals around, but to leave your own name at the scene of the crime takes the biscuit.”
6. He Didn’t See the Cop
LITTLE ROCK, AR September 7
21-year-old Langston Robins walked right past a uniformed police officer at the Metropolitan Bank and handed a robbery note to the teller. The unarmed would-be robber was arrested after a foot pursuit. Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings said:
"I just don't know why he didn't see a uniformed police officer standing basically right in front of him," Hastings tells the Associated Press. "My guess is he's just not the brightest of people."
7. He Stole a Car to Turn Himself In
GENEVA, NY September 13
29-year-old Vincent Estrada Junior was pulled over because the car he was driving had been stolen from a parking lot. Estrada explained that he had stolen the car in order to drive to the Geneva City Police Department and turn himself in on a family court warrant! He didn’t make his destination, as police took him to the Ontario County Jail instead, where he was held on car theft charges.
(image credit: Ontario County Sheriff's Office)
8. Burglar Falls Asleep Under Victim’s Bed
WHITLEY BAY, England September 17
Usually, the burglar robs the house while the victim is asleep, but in this story, the roles were reversed. 24-year-old Mark Smith sneaked into Heather Stephenson’s home, crept past her while she was ironing, and rifled through her belongings in the bedroom. Then he fell asleep under her bed. Mrs. Stephenson couldn’t wake him, and police officers had to drag him out from under the bed. Smith’s vodka and valium consumption were to blame. He received an 18-month sentence for burglary.
9. Cash My Million-Dollar Bill!
PITTSBURGH, PA November 9
A man flew into a rage at the Giant Eagle supermarket when employees refused to cash a million-dollar bill. 66-year-old Samuel Porter slammed an electronic machine on the counter and refused to give his name to authorities. He was then taken to the Allegheny County Jail. The largest bill currently in circulation is the $100 dollar bill.
Bonus: It happened again soon afterwards in Georgia!
(image credit: AP)
10. Carjacking at a Crime Scene
RALEIGH, NC December 11
There had been a stabbing, and police were on the scene talking to a woman who had been a witness to the crime. 38-year-old Anthony William jumped into the woman’s car and drove away! He was arrested the next day, easily identified by the cops who saw him steal the car.
I watched the video and read the comments at Living the Scientific Life, but I still don’t know how this trick works. Link
Neatorama has posted several stories about animals that produce fluorescent proteins after gene splicing. Now South Korean scientists have produced cloned cats that produce RFP (Red Fluorescent Protein). The cats glow in the dark when exposed to ultraviolet rays! Three such cats were cloned, and two of the Turkish Angoras have survived to adulthood. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=071212210021.3u7d8gpx&show_article=1%E2%84%91=large -via Metafilter
(YouTube link)
The Lindsay Lights in Thornhill, Ontario have been drawing crowds since 2002. Over 80,000 lights, most of them LEDs, blink to musical sequences that are broadcast on FM radio. The lights go on every night at 5PM through January 5th. The Lindsays and their lights have raised over $42,000 for local charities! Link to story. Link to website. -Thanks, Jerrold!
Earlier we posted the most Bizarre Christmas Albums, but those were real albums. Worth1000 has a collection of even worse cases, since they come from the imaginations of the submitters! Link -via J-Walk Blog
Tacky Christmas Yards collects and critiques photographs of homes decorated with Christmas lights. “Violations” include mixing themes, lawn characters of different sizes, unharmonious arrangements, multiple Clauses, and overdone lighting. Several houses in my town would put these to shame, especially the few that put Santa on the roof of the nativity stable. Link -via the Presurfer
(YouTube link)
STS-122 The space shuttle Atlantis will not launch until the new year.
A fuel tank glitch forced mission controllers to delay the launch.
And, fuel sensors weren't the only problem.
The shuttle was also attacked by a giant spider.
I can’t wait to see the comments on this one.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2007 is w00t. The term is the winner of the annual online poll conducted by the dictionary publisher.
Such recognition usually spells the end of the coolness factor for a slang term. The winner of the 2006 poll was “truthiness”. Link -via Fark
Merriam-Webster's president, John Morse, said "w00t" was an ideal choice because it blends whimsy and new technology.
"It shows a really interesting thing that's going on in language. It's a term that's arrived only because we're now communicating electronically with each other," Morse said.
Gamers commonly substitute numbers and symbols for the letters they resemble, Morse says, creating what they call "l33t speak" that's "leet" when spoken, short for "elite" to the rest of the world.
Such recognition usually spells the end of the coolness factor for a slang term. The winner of the 2006 poll was “truthiness”. Link -via Fark
(YouTube link)
This delightful clip from The Muppet Show features Loretta Lyn (who had four children by the time she was 17 years old) doing her 1971 hit "One’s On The Way". I taught this song to my children to help them remember that Topeka is the capital of Kansas. -via Metafilter
Alexis Lemaire is a human calculator. He broke his own record for mental computing at the Science Museum in London by finding the 13th root of a 200-digit random number in 70.2 seconds.
Link -via J-Walk Blog
Jane Wess, curator of mathematics at the London Science Museum said: "He sat down and it was all very quiet - and all of a sudden he amazingly just cracked it.
"It's quite remarkable to see it happen. A very small number of people have this extraordinary ability.
"I believe that it is the highest sum calculated mentally."
Link -via J-Walk Blog
Someday soon, you may be able to buy clothing made of spiderwebs!
The possible applications of spider thread go beyond clothing. The material is biodegradable, and could replace synthetics used in such diverse items as tennis rackets, body armor, and medical sutures. Link -via Arbroath
Researchers at Shinshu University have succeeded in injecting spider genes into silkworms to create a thread that is stronger, softer and more durable than conventional silk. A Japanese manufacturer is already experimenting with the thread, and spider socks, stockings and even fishing lines are expected to appear on the market within a few years.
The possible applications of spider thread go beyond clothing. The material is biodegradable, and could replace synthetics used in such diverse items as tennis rackets, body armor, and medical sutures. Link -via Arbroath
Man, oh man! With all the great facts you guys provided, we had a doozy of a time picking the winners. For the holiday movie/music trivia fact, we narrowed it down to our two favorites: the submissions on It's a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story. When it came down to it, though, we had to give the decision to Kate Hansen for submitting this great fact:
And for the plant-themed day, Thomas surprised us with this great trivia nugget:
We had our fact-checkers look into it and most sources say between 20 and 30 percent so we'll give him credit (and a shirt) for that one. Kate and Thomas, 2 great mental_floss T's will be coming your way. And thank you to everyone else for sharing your smarts with us. Don't forget, Neatorama readers can use the discount code "Neatorama" when you order from mentalfloss.com to get 10% off anything at our store.
When the movie A Christmas Story was being cast, Jack Nicholson was given the script and was very much interested in the role of Mr. Parker, “The Old Man”, according to director, Bob Clark. However, Clark didn’t learn of this until later, and the studio didn’t want to pay Nicholson’s fee anyway, which would have doubled the budget. Regardless, Clark says that Darren McGavin was still the better choice and was born to play the role.
And for the plant-themed day, Thomas surprised us with this great trivia nugget:
The vast majority of our breathable oxygen comes from oceanic plants and single-celled plantlike protists. Only about 20 percent comes from terrestrial plants.
We had our fact-checkers look into it and most sources say between 20 and 30 percent so we'll give him credit (and a shirt) for that one. Kate and Thomas, 2 great mental_floss T's will be coming your way. And thank you to everyone else for sharing your smarts with us. Don't forget, Neatorama readers can use the discount code "Neatorama" when you order from mentalfloss.com to get 10% off anything at our store.
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