What's not to love about Hawaii? Well, no place is perfect, but knowing the seamier side of the state is not likely to cause you to cancel your dream vacation.

Gangster's Paradise

Hawaii can proudly claim more scientific observatories and and pineapples than any other state in the union. Somewhat less proudly, it claims more Japanese gangsters, too. Also known as the Yakuza, these mobsters have made the island state a major way station for Asian drugs and American guns being smuggled across borders. But why Hawaii? Besides being relatively close to Japan, the state's diverse ethnic makeup and regular influx of Japanese tourists make it easy for the Yakuza to blend in-at least on the surface. Many Yakuza hide full body tattoos under their high-collar long-sleeve shirts. Some are even missing a finger, which are sometimes cut off and offered as penance to mob bosses. Image credit: Flickr user localjapantimes.

Island of the Lepers

One of Hawaii's most famous historical figures wasn't Hawaiian at all. Flemish missionary Father Damien was one of many European settlers who descended on the sunny island chain in the 19th century and brought with them new technologies, new ways of life, and, of course, new germs. The resulting public health crisis necessitated the creation of a fortress-like leper colony on the island of Molokai, also known as "the colony of death". Damien was the only priest to volunteer for what many considered a suicide mission. He spent 16 years making the colonists as comfortable (and Christian) as possible before he succumbed to the disease himself in 1889. Since then, he's gained quite a reputation. Mahatma Gandhi considered him a personal hero; Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1995; and the Flemish media voted him "Greatest Belgian of All Time" in 2005.

Squeaky Beaches

Enjoy quiet walks on the beach? Don't go to the island of Kauai. There, on Barking Sands Beach, dry sand grains emit an eerie sound when rubbed together or poked with bare feet. Various accounts claim the sand sings, whistles, roars, booms, squeaks, or-as the beach's name suggests-barks like a dog.

Having Your Cook (and Eating Him, Too)

After circumnavigating the globe and logging three epic expeditions to the Pacific, the famously intrepid explorer James Cook seemed to be running out of new things to discover. Perhaps as a result, he also seemed to be losing his mind. According to his crew, Cook's bouts of irrational behavior came to a head when a Hawaiian native stole a pair of blacksmith's tongs. He insisted on chasing the thief ashore, whereupon he picked a fight with local villagers. The Hawaiians quickly gained the upper hand, however, and Cook was killed in the skirmish. When the crew of the H.M.B. Endeavour finally got Cook's body back, his flesh had been roasted from his bones. Had he been eaten? No one knows for sure, but it would seem a fitting end for a man who helped cannibalize (er, colonize) much of the South Pacific.

__________________________

The article above is reprinted from Scatterbrained section of the May- June 2007 issue of mental_floss magazine.

Be sure to visit mental_floss' website and blog for more fun stuff!

Allie at Hyperbole and a Half (the creator of the Alot) has the same feelings we all do, but she expresses them so much better than most of us. In this essay, she looks at the horrible life of a responsible adult and why we would all choose to remain children if it were possible. Some NSFW language. Link -via Metafilter

(YouTube link)

The short version of last week's World Cup game between the US and England features only the best parts -both goals, with instant replays. In LEGO! This video was created by the folks at Lego Fussball, who have Lego versions of many games. English translation by The Guardian. -via Laughing Squid

Although Tetris (Korobeiniki) and the Mario Brothers theme songs are easy to sing along with, I always thought that the majestic theme music for The Legend of Zelda was quite beautiful. NeatoGeek showcases that theme today with eight different interpretations of the music from the video game The Legend of Zelda. Which one is your favorite? Link

(Image credit: Qinni)

(YouTube link)

Using tea candles for pixels, YouTube member brusspup lit and relit for two weeks to create this video game sequence. It's all worth it if you enjoy watching it! -via the Presurfer

Here on land, we undertake great engineering projects to get rid of biological waste from cities and livestock farms. What about the sea, where huge animals produce a lot of it? It turns out that whales have the ability to offset greenhouse gasses with their poop!

Sperm whales in the Southern Ocean release 220,462 tons of carbon when they exhale carbon dioxide at the water's surface, but their poo stimulates the drawdown of 440,925 tons of carbon, according to the research, published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

These ocean giants and certain other marine mammals may therefore be among the most environmentally beneficial animals on the planet.

"If Southern Ocean sperm whales were at their historic levels, meaning their population size before whaling, we would have an extra 2 million tons (2,204,623 tons) of carbon being removed from our atmosphere each and every year," lead author Trisha Lavery Told Discovery News.

Lavery, a marine biologist at Flinders University of South Australia, and her colleagues explained how the cleaning process works.

You can read all about it at Discovery News. Link -via Digg

(Image credit: Flickr user Erwin Winkelman)

On June 16th, 1960 -fifty years ago today- moviegoers were treated to a new Alfred Hitchcock film that would change the idea of horror films forever. It was the release date for Psycho, the psychological thriller that introduced us to Norman Bates and The Bates Motel. The simple act of taking a shower become a frightening experience for those who saw the movie. Open Road Media selected this anniversary date to release an ebook version of the nonfiction masterpiece Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello, which takes a deeper look at Hitchcock's masterpiece.

Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho is a behind-the-scenes look inside the classic suspense shocker—and the creative genius who revolutionized filmmaking.

Author Stephen Rebello explores the creation of one of Hollywood’s most iconic films, from the story of Wisconsin murderer Ed Gein, the real-life inspiration for the character of Norman Bates, to Hitchcock’s groundbreaking achievements in cinematography, sound, editing, and promotion. Filled with insights from the film’s stars, writers, and crewmembers, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho is a riveting and definitive history of a signature Hitchcock cinematic masterpiece.

The ebook (available now) covers every step of the story of Psycho, from the crime that inspired the novel and then the movie, financing, casting, filming, special effects, trivia, to the reception the public gave the film. Read about the many versions of the story Hitchcock rejected and the writers tweaked, the careful planning that allowed shooting to be completed in just a month, and the trademark suspense Hitchcock used to hype the unveiling of the finished product.

Reprinted here with permission is the very first chapter, the story of murderer Ed Gein, which inspired novelist Robert Bloch to write the story that became the movie Psycho.

THE AWFUL TRUTH

There was a young man named Ed
Who would not take a woman to bed
When he wanted to diddle,
He cut out the middle
And hung the rest in a shed.
ANONYMOUS, 1957

In late November 1957, no one would have marked Plainfield as unlike any other hardscrabble, rawboned Wisconsin farm hamlet. That winter was especially raw. Ask any of the friendly townies of third- and fourth-generation German and French stock. In flat, laconic tones, they recite litanies of burst water mains and permafrost; of nights spent hunkering down against slashing winds and rains that blew east along Canada’s border. But that November also saw Plainfield mentioned in newspapers across the country. Remind these dairyland types about that little bit of business and their open faces wall up. They begin to study their shoes or make excuses before they beg off. That month, in 1957, Plainfield police smoked out an oafish fifty-one-year-old, odd-job-and-errands-man named Ed Gein (rhymes with mean) as one of the grisliest mass murderers America ever spawned.

Long before the headlines were to brand Gein as a bogeyman, his rural, God-fearing community of seven hundred had chalked him off as a crank. A perpetually grinning, unmarried recluse, Gein rambled over 160 ruined acres once farmed by his parents and brother. Even locals who never gave a second thought to hiring Gein for errands or baby-sitting had wearied of his harebrained theories. He liked to rag on the whys and wherefores of criminals who fouled up, or yammer endlessly, and pitifully, about women. Plainfield-ers recall his clinical obsession with anatomy and with the sex-change operation of Christine Jorgensen. But there was more to Gein than loony talk. That came home with a vengeance with the discovery of bloodstains on the floor of Bernice Worden’s general store on November 16.

(YouTube link)

Champion skier and author Josh Sundquist {wiki} busts some rhymes about his handy crutches, his expensive prosthesis, and his great parking space. -via Unique Daily

TV survivalist Bear Grylls can live off the land, and just about anything that is even remotely edible. But can you recall exactly what he's eaten on television? Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will test your recall -or did you block out those unpleasant memories? Believe it or not, I scored 90%, even though I haven't watched any of his shows. I'm not psychic; I just have an idea of what would make good television. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/58257

(vimeo link)

Get the insulin ready, this cute is strong with this one. -via Buzzfeed

They are everywhere at the World Cup games in South Africa: vuvuzelas! The plastic horns sound like a swarm of hornets when thousands of people play them at once. The sound can reach up to 140 decibels, which can damage hearing, and hundreds of thousands of vuvuzelas have been sold this year.

The horns, FIFA officials said, were too much a part of the South African tradition to silence them. “It’s a local sound, and I don’t know how it is possible to stop it,” Joseph S. Blatter, FIFA’s president, told reporters. “I always said that when we go to South Africa, it is Africa. It’s not Western Europe. It’s noisy, it’s energy, rhythm, music, dance, drums. This is Africa. We have to adapt a little.”

Read about how the vuvuzela came to be such an integral part of the World Cup games at Smithsonian magazine. Link

(Image credit: Jon Hrusa /epa/Corbis)

Admit it, there have been times when you got up and left a movie theater as the credit started to roll, and days later someone told you the credit roll was the funniest part of the film. You can catch a peek at just those credits in this list of video credit rolls featuring outtakes, additional scenes, or other creative reasons to stick around to the very end. Link

(YouTube link)

Zach Anner came back from a weekend trip surprised to find that his audition for a television contest had over two million votes! So he made a video to express his appreciation. -via reddit

Update: John Mayer posted a response to the above video. Link

This weekend will mark 35 years since the movie Jaws made us all afraid to get in the water. Johnny Cat takes a look back at what a groundbreaking movie it was.

Much like Alfred Hitchcock’s shower scene, this movie made audiences rethink potential sources of Things to Watch Out For. The sophomore effort of one of filmmaking’s living legends, Steven Spielberg, it still ranks as one of the world’s best-loved movies, with a commanding 100% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

My personal favorite element of this classic flick is the way the shark was represented; yes, I loved the acting performances of each and every human character, but the character of the shark upstaged everyone. And that shark’s name is Bruce. It’s hilarious to note that the name was attached to the mechanical shark(s) in honor of Spielberg’s lawyer, also named Bruce.

Bruce wasn't the easiest of actors to work with, either. Link

In 1993, when he was 58 years old, John Basinger (JB) decided he would memorize the 10,565 line poem Paradise Lost by John Milton. By age 74, he could recite books one and two from memory. After seeing JB perform, psychologist John Seamon was fascinated and arranged to test the man's memory.

Seamon and his team asked JB to take part in tests regarding the epic work where they cued him with two lines selected from anywhere in the poem and asked him to recall the following 10 lines. In one part they picked out lines as they went through the books in order, in another they just chose books at random.

He seemed to stumble on a couple of books when they were tackled sequentially, but generally his verbatim recall was generally above 90% and seemed more consistent when the books were picked out randomly. The team also video-taped one of his live performances and found his average accuracy was between 97% and 98%.

JB is no savant; his accomplishments apparently came from hard work and dedication to the task. Link -via Nag on the Lake