Here are some stories you can share for Halloween, or maybe even travel destinations! Web Urbanist has a slide show featuring abandoned places all over the world. Shown here is Balestrino, Italy, a medieval town abandoned because of seismic instability. The next earthquake may destroy it completely! Link -via Digg

In a post about the ten longest limousines in the world, we find this:

The last limousine is actually the longest super stretch limousine in the world. Total length is 100 feet (more than 30 meters). It has 26 tires, room for a lot of passengers, a heated Jacuzzi, sun deck, swimming pool, a few beds and… a helipad!

http://www.limohead.co.uk/top-10-longest-super-stretch-limousines-in-the-world-ever/ -Thanks, Peter Jensen!

After World War II, the Soviet Union jumped into the nuclear arms race with both feet. A plant was built in a secret city named Chelyabinsk-40 to produce plutonium. Between 1948 and 1990, a million residents of the Chelyabinsk Province in Russia found out what happens when radioactive waste is not properly stored or cooled -not that they were told what was happening.

Thirty-nine years of effluent had saturated the lake with nasty isotopes, including an estimated 120 megacuries of long-lived radiation. In contrast, the Chernobyl incident released roughly 100 megacuries of radiation into the environment, but only about 3 megacuries of Strontium-90 and Cesium-137. A delegation who visited Lake Karachay in 1990 measured the radiation at the point where the effluent entered the water, and the needles of their Geiger counters danced at about 600 Röntgens per hour–enough to provide a lethal dose in one hour. They did not linger long.

The Worldwatch Institute calls it the “most polluted spot” in history. Damn Interesting has the story. http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=973

This lamp, named LULL, slowly turns itself off at night, and opens gradually like a flower in the morning while it intensifies to help you greet a new day! It's part of 40 of The Most Creative Lamp Designs Ever from Freshome. Link

Michelle Kempner designed this knit scarf called The Fuzz. Clever, huh? Link -Thanks, Tommy!

Update 2/10/09 - we now have this scarf at the Neatorama Online Store (cheaper, too!): http://shop.neatorama.com/product-info.php?fuzz-crime-scene-scarf-pid206.html

Look at the bill on this hummingbird!

The Sword-billed Hummingbird is the only bird in the world which has a bill that is actually longer than its body. As such it is unable to preen itself and has to use its feet. This is universally acknowledged as one of nature’s stranger, funnier sights. The length of its bill is so it cal feed on plants with long corollas. As you might expect its tongue is also unusually long.

He is part of a collection of beautiful pictures of ten different hummingbird species. Link -Thanks, RJ Evans!

Here's a free pattern that will enable you to knit a roll of toilet paper. After all, who doesn’t need a roll of knitted toilet paper? Link -via Everlasting Blort

Eran Abramson has a roundup of 34 geeky jack-o-lanterns featuring scenes from movies, comics, computer logos, and video games. I particularly liked this Pac-Man tableau. Link -Thanks, Eran!

How's this for a t-shirt to wear while getting your mug shot taken? This guy was caught at a motel in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky during a drug raid.

In June, officers received a tip about drug activity at the USA Motel on Dixie Highway. Police dogs searched the room and found marijuana packaged for sale, scales and cash.

Police arrested 19-year-old Gregory Griggs and charged him with trafficking marijuana. When arrested Griggs was wearing a T-shirt that read "It's not ILLEGAL unless you get CAUGHT".

Griggs pled guilty and will be sentenced on December first. Link -via Fark

(Funny or Die link)
The folks who brought you the Literal Take On Me followed that up with Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears. Smooth! -via beta

Even if you are a cat lover, you'll laugh when you see how well this works. You might feel guilty afterward, but you'll laugh.

Have a cat that won't stay off your counters? I do. I finally got fed up with it enough to do something about it: scare the crap out of him with a motion-detecting blender (while recording the results for my own amusement, of course).

Link -via Cynical-C

This little robot plant stand moves around to find where the sun shines for the plant it holds! Link -Thanks, dave austin!

Are you in college? Do you have a blog? College Scholarships.org is gearing up for third annual Blogging Scholarship giveaway. One blogger will win a $10,000 scholarship. You must enter by writing an essay and get it in by October 30th. Judges will narrow the competition down to ten finalists, who will be voted on by the online community. Link -Thanks, Giovanna Villanueva!

Ew, what's that on your floor?

Do you know the feeling that you do not want to take a look at something, but you still do? The Road Kill carpet is a continues struggle between attraction and repulsion. It’s a warm, soft, cuddly carpet that attracts you to take a nap on it. But at the same time its a repulsive image of a car-flattened, bloody fox.

From Studio OOOMS. Link -Thanks, Jon Jason!

(YouTube link)
Ben Stiller mugs it up in a Japanese drink ad. It's just one of a slew of videos in The Top U.S. Celebrities as seen in Japanese Commercials. Also see Madonna, Harrison Ford, Britney Spears, Anthony Hopkins and many more. Link -Thanks, chris!