A small but terrifying new species of leech roams the Amazon basin. Tyrannobdella rex seeks out animal orifices to enter and attach itself inside, in order to suck the victim's blood. The case of a 9-year-old girl in Peru with a leech in her nasal cavity brought the creature to the attention of doctors and researchers. Three years later, earlier cases have been confirmed and a report has been published in the journal PLoS ONE.

"We named it Tyrannobdella rex because of its enormous teeth," said researcher Mark Siddall, curator in the division of invertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Although its teeth only reach up to 130 microns high — a little more than the width of a human hair — "that's at least five times as high as that of other leeches," Siddall said. "And every one of the people who were found with these in the clinical cases had a frontal headache. Their teeth are big, and these things hurt."

Link -via Unique Daily

(image credit: Anna J. Phillips et al., PLoS ONE)

This website is an ongoing tournament to rank the most awesome things ever. Play along and choose from two things at a time to raise or lower their rankings. You can also check the current top rankings, which are pictured here. Those may be different tomorrow, depending on participation. You can also suggest awesome things to add to the competition! Link (warning: sound) -Thanks, Victor!

Cake Wrecks has a roundup of tragic cakes specifically for school events: back to school, the last day of school, graduation, teacher training, or in the case of the cake pictured, a special lesson in history (I think). Did I spell all those words right? I wouldn't want these cakes to rub off on me! Link

Hanako-san is a girl ghost who haunts school toilets. The urban legend goes back decades. No one knows for sure how the story got started, but artists and pop culture outlets are happy to feed the fear.

It is not uncommon for schools to have a toilet permanently occupied by the mysterious girl, who is known in Japanese as Toire no Hanako-san (lit. “Hanako of the toilet”). She is often found in the third stall in the restroom on the third floor — usually the girls’ room — but this can vary from school to school. Details about her physical appearance also vary, but she is usually described as having bobbed hair and wearing a red skirt.

Hanako-san’s behavior also varies according to location, but in most cases, she remains holed up in the bathroom until an adventurous student dares to provoke her. Hanako-san can be conjured up by knocking on the door to her stall (usually three times), calling her name, and asking a particular question. The most common question is simply “Are you there, Hanako-san?” If Hanako-san is indeed present, she says in a faint voice, “Yes, I’m here.” Some stories claim that anyone courageous enough to open the door at this point is greeted by a little girl in a red skirt and then pulled into the toilet.

See more possibly disturbing pictures of Hanako-san at Pink Tentacle. This story is part of a series on Japanese urban legends. Link

When the dorkiest guy in a collection of pictures is Mick Jagger, you know you're in for a treat. Pictured is Clark Gable. Link -via Everlasting Blort

Allie notices bad grammar and lazy typing. One common mistake we see a lot is to make the words "a lot" into one word, but Allie takes this particular mistake in stride. So that we may all enjoy the joke, she illustrated the Alot.

The Alot is an imaginary creature that I made up to help me deal with my compulsive need to correct other people's grammar.  It kind of looks like a cross between a bear, a yak and a pug, and it has provided hours of entertainment for me in a situation where I'd normally be left feeling angry and disillusioned with the world.

See the Alot in many different situations at Hyperbole and a Half. Link -via Buzzfeed

Robby Rose of Garland, Texas, was caught padding his catch in a fishing tournament when a one-pound lead weight was found in the small fish he caught. Since the prize in the tournament was a bass boat, he was charged with attempted felony theft.

"We took this case very seriously," said Rockwall County Criminal District Attorney Kenda Culpepper. "As far as we were concerned, the case was about a $55,000 bass boat, not a ten-pound fish."

Rose pleaded guilty yesterday to the charge, and received five years probation and 15 days in jail. Even worse -- he has to give up his fishing license while on probation.

"Cheating is cheating," said lead prosecutor Alex Imgrund, "and neither the fishing community, nor this office, will tolerate it."

The fish pictured is not the fish from the story. Link -via Digg

(image credit: Tim-N-Crystal-Connectic ut Outdoors)

A couple of months ago, we told you about Ken Bannister selling the entire inventory of the International Banana Club Museum. The collection found buyers, Fred Garbutt and his mother, Virginia. They paid an undisclosed amount for the museum, which they will house next door to Garbutt's liquor store North Shore, California. In an interview at Gawker, Garbutt tells how he came to buy the bananas.

The last week of March, I happened to be down at my mom's house working on my daughter's car. She called me up and said, 'Hey go on my computer and check out this guy. He's selling this banana museum on eBay'" I went on there and was like, Yeah, we ought to buy that and put it down at our liquor store. We've tried to think for the longest time of ways to bring in customers off the highway. So I thought we ought to put that down at the store—that'll bring people in. Paint the store yellow.

Garbutt explained how he plans to expand the museum and promote it with a BMW (Banana Museum Wagon). The Banana Museum will reopen in 2011. Link -via Arbroath

(YouTube link)

Check out some clever words to describe the way kids exasperate their parents. My kids have outgrown most of these phases, but I remember them well! Link

Iggy and his owner have discovered that the iPad was apparently developed for the convenience of cats. Unlike conventional laptops, it doesn't have to be opened. The touch screen does not require opposable thumbs to use. Many programs do not require typing. There's no mouse to tempt or distract. And the screen can lay flat on a surface. Purrrrfect! Watch Iggy use the iPad in this video. Link (embedded YouTube clip)

Rope has always been, well, rope. The ancient Egyptians made their ropes essentially the same way we make ours today. This is because the optimum configuration of tension and turns makes a strong rope that won't stretch or twist. A recent study by Jakob Bohr and Kasper Olsen at the Technical University of Denmark gives us some of the math involved in making a good rope.

Let's take the example of a three strand rope. To achieve the zero twist configuration, the strands have to be laid down at an angle of 42.5 degrees relative to the horizontal in the image above. This always produces a rope that is 68 per cent the length of the strands.

The work also explains why ropes are best made with the strands under tension. The force causes the pitch angle to be less than ideal so that when the force is relaxed the rope 'relaxes' into the zero twist configuration, which cannot be further stretched under tension.

Our ancestors may or may not have known the exact math, but they knew how to make a good rope. Link -via TYWKIWDBI

Here's a combination of memes I don't think we've seen before: Star Wars and bacon.

The Bacon AT-AT was actually what I wanted to build before, but didn't have enough time, so it seemed like the natural choice. The Bacon AT-AT stands 3 ft tall and is made with over 40 lbs of bacon. The body was made from foam, then the bacon was attached. This beast took 21 non-stop hours to build. If you've ever once thought to cook 40 lbs of bacon in your kitchen in one sitting, I can now personally advise against it.

Link -via The Zeray Gazette

StacyBee's baby is due next month, and she made a custom book out of felt and other decorations just for her. Each page has a letter of Lydia's name, illustrated with things that begin with that letter. Is this adorable, or what? Link

My kids love bath bombs, but they are usually shaped like a plain ball. That situation has been rectified, and you can pre-order bath bombs that look like bombs! This might help to get reluctant little boys into the bathtub. http://www.spinninghat.com/product/bath-bombs -via Geek Alerts

You've just dropped food on the floor. Should you eat It? This handy flow chart will help you decide, but if you subscribe to the 10 second, 20 second, or 30 second rule, you'll have to read fast! Link -via Rue the Day