A Klingon Christmas play? Yes! After a run in St. Paul, A Klingon Christmas Carol is on the marquee at the Greenhouse Theater in Chicago until December 19th. Scrooge, the ghosts, and even Tiny Tim are there, albeit underneath Klingon makeup. The play, produced by the theater company Commedia Beauregard, is presented entirely in the Klingon language. See more pictures and watch a promotional video at Kuriositas. Link

A Livejournal post has an extensive collection of beautiful vintage magazine covers, including many from 19th-century issues of the Italian magazine La Scena Illustrata and the French magazines La Vie Parisienne and Figaro Illustré. Some contain illustrated nudity. The cover shown here is from 1883. Link -via Everlasting Blort

DC Comics published one of the strangest comic books ever, Superman vs. Muhammad Ali in 1978 and reissued it last month. NPR's Glen Weldon interviewed journalist Chris Klimek about the matchup of the century. Here's the setup:

No sooner does reporter Clark Kent stumble across Muhammad Ali shooting hoops in Metropolis' "inner city ghetto" than an despotic alien named Rat'lar appears to talk intergalatic trash. Specifically, Rat'lar is Emperor of the warlike Scrubb race, and he challenges earth's champion to fisticuffs. If said Earth champion loses, Earth will be destroyed. If said champion wins, Earth will be spared.

The question: Who will be Earth's champion? Superman claims the right, but Ali points out — quite rightly — that Superman is a Kryptonian, not an Earthman. Rat'lar isn't having any of this Terran shilly-shallying — he's got minions to yell at, and that fist of his doesn't shake itself, after all — so he orders the two men to decide the issue by duking it out in 24 hours' time.

It gets stranger as it goes. http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/11/16/131353485/float-like-a-snagriff-sting-like-a-fish-snake-superman-vs-muhammad-ali -via mental_floss

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Planes are never this close together, but through the magic of video (no animation, just editing), we see how well choreographed takeoffs and landings are. You can watch a behind-the-scenes look at the making of this video at GE. Link -via The Daily What

Sacrilegious or just silly? Mark Oestreicher collected twenty of the strangest Christmas creches, many comprised of animal figurines depicting the birth of Jesus. This family of penguins struck me as particularly weird. Link -Thanks, Mark!

The coffin that Lee Harvey Oswald was buried in back in 1963 is up for sale at an auction house in California.

The pine coffin is partially water-damaged by the 18 years it spent in the ground before Oswald's body was exhumed in 1981 to lay to rest rumors that a lookalike Soviet agent was buried in his place.

The body -- confirmed as genuinely his -- was reburied in another casket, and the original is only now being offered for sale at auction.

Bids will be taken until December 18th. Link

Dean Booth of Dean's Comic Booth was challenged to create this animation to illustrate this story at J-Walk Blog.

When Ethan cut a paper snowflake that faintly resembled a Storm Trooper, his mother took the idea and ran with it. The result is this Darth Vader snowflake and another with Bobba Fett and a Clone Trooper. Link -Thanks, David!

Hierve el Agua in Oaxaca, Mexico looks like a beautiful waterfall, but it's not moving. Ice? No, this illusion is actually a rock formation, made of minerals left behind by dripping water. The white that makes it look like water is calcium carbonate, just one of many minerals that make up Hierve el Agua, which means "the water boils". Read about how this happened and see many more pictures at Kuriositas. Link

(Image credit: Wikipdia user Lavintzin)

1. The first recorded earthquake was in China in 1177 B.C.E.

2. China is also the birthplace of the seismograph. Built in 132 C.E. by a man named Cheng Heng, it consisted of eight metal dragons holding eight carved balls over eight frog figurines. If an earthquake made the ground vibrate, the dragon facing the quake's source would (naturally) drop a ball into the mouth of its corresponding frog.

3. Of course, it didn't really work.

4. But it did look cool.

(Image credit: Flickr user Muséum de Toulouse)

5. While dragons aren't that good at predicting earthquakes, other animals might be. According to ancient reports, critters in the Greek city of Helice headed for the hills just before a massive quake leveled the city in 373 B.C.E.

6. There's some modern evidence, as well. In 1975, Chinese officials evacuated Haiching days before a massive earthquake, based both on warnings from seismologists and the strange behavior of local pets.

7. Before leaving Alabama, Shawnee leader Tecumseh told a Creek chief, "I ...shall go straight to Detroit. When I arrive there, I will stamp on the ground with my foot, and shake down every house in Tuckhabatchee." Coincidentally (or was it?), he arrived in Detroit on December 16, 1811, the day of the New Madrid earthquake- the largest ever recorded in the contiguous United States.

8. The most violent earthquake ever measured in the world hit Chile in 1960, coming in at a terrifying 9.5 on the Richter scale.

9. The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, was "only" considered a 5 on the Richter scale.

10. In theory, a quake can actually measure 11, or even higher. The formula for the Richter scale has no upper limit.

11. Speaking of Charles Richter, the American scientist was supposedly an avid nudist. Rumors persist that his wife was so distressed by his penchant for hanging out in the buff that she divorced him because of it.

(Image credit: Flickr user dullhunk)

12. One guy not to trust for earthquake predictions? British soldier William Bell. In 1761, right after two earthquakes uncannily hit England exactly 28 days apart, Bell smelled opportunity. He claimed a follow-up quake would be hitting the country four weeks later. Accounts depict Bell runnning through the streets of London ranting about the impending destruction. Amazingly, it worked. Folks were so panicked that hundreds actually slept in boats on the Thames thinking it would be safer than their homes. Luckily, the quake never hit. But Bell quickly lost his street cred and eventually ended up in an insane asylum.

13. In early 2001, FEMA prophetically listed the three most likely disasters to hit America: a terrorist attack on New York (check), a hurricane in New Orleans (check), and a massive earthquake in San Francisco. Nervous yet?

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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!

A man in New Zealand built a very special bed for his son. By day, it's a life-size TARDIS (the time machine from Doctor Who) disguised as a police box. By night, it's a fold-down bed! It has a working police light, pulsing LEDs, and a talking telephone. It's up for sale to the highest bidder. Link -via The Daily What

You've seen in movies how army ants march through and destroy everything in their path. It's a scary scene, but did you know that hundreds of species of birds, insects, and other wildlife follow the ants and benefit from their mayhem?

On the screen – from Indiana Jones to MacGyver – a marching column of army ants is a threat to all life. Even the naturalist William Mann wrote in National Geographic that “Even men flee as the mighty column writhes through the jungle, wiping out all insect and animal life in its path.” But these are bold exaggerations. E.burchelli mainly attacks the denizens of the undergrowth – insects, spiders and other arthropods. While it can kill small back-boned animals, its jaws can’t cut skin or flay flesh. Humans aren’t in any danger, nor are a whole host of creatures that accompany the army on its manoeuvres.

As the army marches, it flushes out thousands of animals from the leaf litter, and this attracts birds. Over 200 species track the ants and pick off the morsels that flee from the army. They almost never touch the ants themselves, except by accident, when a worker happens to be clinging onto another tasty insect.

And that's just the birds. Read about the other hangers-on at Not Exactly Rocket Science. Link

(Image credit: Wikipedia user Mdf)

On December 1, 1955, a 42-year-old secretary named Rosa Parks disobeyed an order from bus driver James Blake to give up her seat so that a white man could have it. Parks was arrested for her actions, which led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

...following standard practice, bus driver Blake noted that the front of the bus was filled with white passengers and there were two or three men standing, and thus moved the "colored" section sign behind Parks and demanded that four black people give up their seats in the middle section so that the white passengers could sit. Years later, in recalling the events of the day, Parks said, "When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night."[16]

By Parks' account, Blake said, "Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats."[17] Three of them complied. Parks said, "The driver wanted us to stand up, the four of us. We didn't move at the beginning, but he says, 'Let me have these seats.' And the other three people moved, but I didn't."[18] The black man sitting next to her gave up his seat. Parks moved, but toward the window seat; she did not get up to move to the newly repositioned colored section.[19] Blake then said, "Why don't you stand up?" Parks responded, "I don't think I should have to stand up." Blake called the police to arrest Parks. When recalling the incident for Eyes on the Prize, a 1987 public television series on the Civil Rights Movement, Parks said, "When he saw me still sitting, he asked if I was going to stand up, and I said, 'No, I'm not.' And he said, 'Well, if you don't stand up, I'm going to have to call the police and have you arrested.' I said, 'You may do that.'"[20]

Parks was arrested and found guilty four days later. She appealed the conviction, but the appeal was not addressed before the law was changed. The bus boycott began on the day of the trial and lasted for 381 days. Montgomery's segregation system for buses was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in November of 1956. Parks rode a bus again -in the front- on December 21, 1956, the day after the order arrived in Montgomery. Link -via Breakfast Links

When businesses learned that a person carrying a sign drew a lot more attention than a static sign, a whole new occupation was born: the sign spinner. Now it seems that at least one business wants to save that expense. Rob Cockerham spotted this automated sign spinner in Sacramento, California. See her in action at Cockeyed.com. Link

This clock would be really neat for a puzzle enthusiast or anyone who wants a one-of-a-kind item on their walls. The clockworks come with five puzzle pieces attached and twelve more that you add in your own design. Link

Atlas Obscura presents their "Wonders of Salt", nine interesting places around the world based on salt: lakes, buildings, mines, plains, manmade sculptures, or natural caves like Kitum Cave in Kenya.

For a very long time, the source of the abrasions on this cave's walls remained a mystery.  Some speculated ancient peoples, possilby Eygptians, were responsible. But no, the carvings in the cave weren't man made at all... elephants had been the culprits all along! The cave is the elephant equivalent of drunk college students raiding their fridge at midnight. Late at night, the Pachiderms go into the cave, get their salt lick on under the cover of darkness, and emerge unseen. Take that, Egyptians!  (Unfortunatly the cave is also the site of the deadly Malburg virus, so, visiting the cave is ill advised.)

Link -via Dark Roasted Blend