No Theme

Handcuffed and shackled, and fighting against strong winds, Jack LaLanne swam 1.5 miles, towing 70 boats with 70 people on it. . . he was 70 years old. LaLanne, called the Godfather of fitness, gave up white flour and white sugar at 15 and has been devoted to healthy living ever since. Among other things, he is responsible for the first"nationally syndicated exercise show on television." A firm believer in healthy living, he avoids steroids, takes a myriad of daily vitamins and even avoids aspirin. LaLanne will be 94 in September.
Source. Source. Source.

In Detroit, this house was foreclosed and sold for $1. It was on the market for 19 days. Once selling for $65,000, the house had be extensively vandalized, had attracted squatters and had racked up $4,000 in back taxes. The house's bank owner payed "$2,500 in sales commission and another $1,000 bonus for closing the $1 sale [and payed] $500 of the buyer's closing costs. . . The agent did say that the buyer agreed to pay the full list price of $1"
Source.


Following Wilhelm Roentgen's discovery of the x-ray, one London company began selling x-ray proof underwear (probably lead-lined).
Source.

Tremayne Durham agreed to plead guilty to murder after Oregon prosecutors took the death penalty off the table, and agreed to his demand to have two special meals. He will immediately receive a meal of "KFC chicken, Popeye's chicken, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, carrot cake and ice cream. " On his sentencing date (also his wedding-date), he will receive a meal of "calzones, lasagna, pizza and ice cream." "Prosecutors said they hated appearing to cater to the whims of a murderer, but eying the expense of a long trial and lengthy appeals, as well as the turmoil for the victim's family, they agreed."
PETA sent a letter protesting the conditions and demanding that Durham only be served vegetarian meals while incarcerated. The final paragraph of the letter reads, "Feeding prisoners corn chowder rather than chicken will go a long way toward ending the cycle of violence. You can help prevent Durham from contributing to any more suffering and death by mandating that he be placed on a healthy, humane vegetarian diet." The letter can be read here.
Source. Source.

For Your listening

In 1625, all of the sopranos in the Sistine Chapel choir were castrati who had been castrated as young boys to achieve a unique singing voice. Castrated before puberty, they would retain their boy soprano voice but sing with the strength and breath capacity of a man. Part of their necessity was the fact that at that time, women could not sing in church choirs, but the men were said to be extremely popular and have the "voice of angels". "During the 17th and 18th centuries in Italy, some 4,000 - 5,000 boys were castrated annually for the purpose of singing alto in the church choirs." By 1640, castrati were used in choirs throughout Italy. The practice was officially banned by Pius X in 1903.
The only audio recordings of a castrati is of Alessandro Moreschi (1858-1922). Critics say Moreschi was past his singing prime wen he made this recording. Because the style of music has changed so much, keep this in mind: "Many of the seemingly imperfect vocal attacks, for example, are in fact, launched from as much as a tenth below the note - in Moreschi's case, this seems to have been a long-standing means of drawing on the particular acoustics of the Sistine Chapel itself."
Here Morschi sings Ave Maria.
Here he sings Domine Salvum Fac.
Source. Source.
Georgia Brown is a Brazilian singer who holds the Guinness World Record for singing the highest recorded note. Her vocal range spans 8 octaves. A word of warning on the audio link. It is, how to put it, all very very high notes. Here. is her song. For a smaller dose of high notes, here is a video where she only sings high at the end.


In 1877, Thomas Edison recorded the first sounds for play back. He recited Mary Had A Little Lamb. Here is the recording which is very clear. Up until recently, Edison was thought to have made the first recording, but an 1860 recording of "Au Clair de la Lune" by French inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville has been found. Scott recorded by "etch[ing] representations of sound waves into paper covered in soot from a burning oil lamp." The distinction is that Scott's recordings were not designed to be played back. Here is the recording. Source.


Florence Foster Jenkins (1868-1944) was famous for being a terrible singer. Despite this, or because of this, she managed immense popularity and was able to draw 5,000 people to a 3,000 ticket Carnegie Concert performance. It is agreed that Jenkins was sincere in her belief in her singing, dismissing laugher as "professional jealousy." Her balls and recitals each had a theme. Between every song, Jenkins would change costumes. Both Enrico Caruso and Cole Porter were admirers. Cole Porter never missed her concerts. "He apparently screamed with laughter all the way through . . . but at the end he was the first one to stand up and scream and shout 'bravo'." While making this recording here, she allegedly only snag the song one time. She told the sound engineer it was perfect so no second try was necessary.
Source. Source. Source.

For more audio, you can visit here, and also here for such recordings as: Einstein explaining E=mc^2, Ted Bundy confessing, King Edward VIII abdicating and Neville Chamberlain's declaration of war.

By the way, I am currently on vaccation. I scheduled this to post automatically. (creepy music) Hope it works correctly.

A very selfish post

All right! All right! I admit it! This is a very very selfish post. This blog has never been about me, but . . . I have finally succumbed to the evil empire of Youtube and have made my first (and most likely last) Youtube video. If you ===>CLICK HERE <===then you can finally be assured that this blog is not written by a seven foot tall bald vampire who has a minor stutter and an major nose hair problem. I would also really appreciate it. Be sure to comment here and there. Thank you.

To keep this post from becoming entirely narcissistic, here is a somewhat short list of things not related to me.

• In the UK, the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) is typically taken around age 16. One GCSE is taken per subject. In response to the English question, "Describe the room you’re sitting in," one student wrote, "f- off." Chief Examiner Peter Buckroyd decided to stick to the scoring guidelines and awarded the student 2 marks out of a possible 27. He commented: "It would be wicked to give it zero, because it does show some very basic skills we are looking for – like conveying some meaning and some spelling. . . . If it had had an exclamation mark it would have got a little bit more because it would have been showing a little bit of skill.” Source.
  
• Japan now has three singing roads. Built by the Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute and designed by Shizuo Shinoda, grooves are cut into the road at specific intervals which produce melodies when vehicles drive over them. "It works like the head of a record player on a vinyl album." Here is an English video explaining the roads, and here is a Japanese video with clips of the roads. The recommended speed is 28 mph (aprx. 45kph). One Japanese blogger advised, "Driving too fast will sound like playing fast forward, while driving around 12mph has a slow-motion effect, making you almost car sick." Source.
• Here are two visual illusions to puzzle over: In the first illusion, both A and B are the same size. In the second illusion, are the two outer prongs rectangles or cylinders?
  

"Dads", balloons, clues and bombs

• 33 year old Daniel Everett (above) was arrested while trying to meet a 14 year old girl (really an undercover agent) with whom he had been having sexually explicit chats on line under the screen name "danmichelle2004." The irony? At the attempted meeting he was wearing the above "World's Greatest Dad" t-shirt. Source. Source.

• 28 year old Lefkos Hajji of London wanted to propose to his girlfriend Leanne in a memorable way. He hid a $12,000 ring inside an helium balloon, planning to give Leanne a pin to pop the balloon when he "popped the question." Unfortunately, after leaving the store, wind tore the balloon out of his hands and he spent the next two hours chasing the balloon in his car. He was unable to get the ring back. After he told his girlfriend, she refused to speak to him until he had bought her a new ring. Source.

• On a more positive note for unusual marriage proposals, Aric Egmont successfully proposed to Jennie Bass through a Boston Globe Sunday crossword. Because both Aric and Jennie were big crossword puzzle enthusiasts, Aric convinced the Boston Globe to design and publish a special puzzle. The clue for number 111 across was, "Generic Proposal." (Jen+Aric=Generic). Aric remembers, "“We get to the ‘Will you marry me?’ clue, and I said, ‘Will you marry me, Jenny?’ I got up, got the ring, and got down on one knee and she screamed, and hugged me. It took her a minute to say yes.” Source.

• In December 2003, the Oliveras family was fed up with a cockroach and rat infestation. In an attempt to solve the problem, they set up 19 "bug bombs" inside their 470-square-foot rental house. As the family walked to their car, a pilot light on a wall heater set off the bug bombs, exploding the house and causing $150,000 worth of damages. One bug bomb is more than enough for a 500-square-foot house. In 2001 an apartment was blown up by 18 bug bombs. As the newspaper noted, however, "several cockroaches survived the blast." Source.
  

Thank you all

I know it has been awhile, but thank you all for being patient with me. I have now biked 500 miles and have legs with bruises, blisters and sunburns to prove it. I just wish I had legs of steel.

• A 5.9 foot (1.8 meter) black-headed python was found inside a 10th floor toilet in a Darwin, Australia apartment. The animal was most likely a runaway pet. Reptile catcher Chris Peberdy said, "When I saw it I was pretty shocked. . . . There is no possible other way it could have got there than through the toilet. I had to give him a wash because he was wet and a bit smelly." Source
• Raymundo Flores, a chef at the Brooklyn restaurant Junior's Restaurant was arrested for stealing lobster tails. He was hiding the tails in his pants and wrapped to his legs with bandages. Source
• Seven young artist from Berlin are living in the Museum of Bat Yam near Tel Aviv with lice in their hair. They are wearing plastic shower caps to prevent spreading the lice to others. Twenty-three year old artist Vincent Grunwald describes it this way: "The idea is that we live in the museum as their guests, and at the same time we are hosting lice on our heads." Some criticize the exhibit and claim it is referencing the Holocaust, but the artists deny this. Source.
• Federal Judge Eduardo Robreno fined HTFC CEO Aaron Wider and his lawyer Joseph R. Ziccardi $29,000 for inappropriate court behavior. Wider used 73 variations of the "F word" in 12 hours. When asked to open a specific file so questions could be asked about it, Wider responded, "I'm taking a break. F-k him. You open up the document. You want me to look at something, you get the document out. Earn your f-ing money, a-hole. Isn't the law wonderful?" Source
• Familiar with Chuck Shepherd's News of the Weird? Here are some excerpts from his list on things that used to be weird, but are now too common for him to publish in his column: " an old, widely-advertised phone-sex number is reassigned to a church/charity . . .political candidate dies but still wins the election . . .family thinks he's dead, but he's not and attends his own funeral . . .shoots himself while supposedly demonstrating gun safety . . . gasoline thieves check quantity in tank by using a match or lighter to peer inside . . . local election ends in tie, settled (by law) by coin flip or draw of cards . . .bank robber hails taxi or municipal bus for getaway . . . criminal on the lam goes on national tv talk show and mentions that he's wanted . . .unlabeled urn with loved one's ashes mistakenly stolen or sold at yard sale . . .judges punish young people by forcing them to listen to [classical or polka or etc.] music . . .elderly citizen trying to convince bureaucrat that, contrary to records, he's not really dead . . .elderly motorist makes wrong turn, gets lost for days." Source

Herring, Einstein, Clinton, Poets and Numbers

• Herrings break wind to communicate and help form nightly protective shoals. Ben Wilson, a marine biologist says, "We know [herring] have excellent hearing but little about what they actually use it for. . . . It turns out that herring make unusual farting sounds at night." The fish gulp air from the surface which they store in their swim bladders. The herring expel the air from an opening next to their anus and produce a high-pitched raspberry sound. Source.
• Yoda's appearance is based on Albert Einstein. Source.
• In his time as president, Bill Clinton only sent two e-mails. One was an e-mail to astronaut John Glenn aboard the space shuttle. The other was not really an e-mail, but a test to see if Clinton "knew how to push the button on an e-mail." His staff sent 39,999,998 e-mails. Source.
• Dr Kaufman,an assistant professor of psychology at California State University, researched 1,987 deaths of writers. He found that, "[o]n average, poets lived 62 years, playwrights 63 years, novelists 66 years, and non-fiction writers lived 68 years. . . . [But} poets produce twice as much of their lifetime output in their 20s as novelists do." Source.
  
• The Piraha of the Amazon only have tree words for numbers: one, two and many. Peter Gordon, the psychologist at Columbia University in New York City, tried the following experiment. ""Gordon . . . sat opposite an individual and laid out a random number of familiar objects, including batteries, sticks and nuts, in a row. The Pirahã were supposed to respond by laying out the same number of objects from their own pile.For one, two and three objects, members of the tribe consistently matched Gordon’s pile correctly. But for four and five and up to ten, they could only match it approximately, deviating more from the correct number as the row got longer. The Pirahã also failed to remember whether a box they had been shown seconds ago had four or five fish drawn on the top. When Gordon’s colleagues tapped on the floor three times, the Pirahã were able to imitate this precisely, but failed to mimic strings of four or five taps." Source.

Art of 2007

At the Tate Modern in London, the Shibboleth 2007 ran from October 2007 to April 2008. It was a 548 feet long crack on the floor which addresses "a long legacy of racism and colonialism that underlies the modern world." Source.
It begins as a crack, but deepens and snakes across the floor of the Turbine Hall. At some points, it is four feet across. In the first four weeks of the exhibit, 15 people were injured.
One incident: "We saw the first poor victim, a young woman who went into it with both feet up to just below her knees. She had to be dragged out by her friends. . . .Unbelievably, as we watched to see whether she was OK, an older woman deliberately stepped on it (she later told us, amazingly, that she thought the crack was painted on the floor) lurched forward and landed on the ground. She had a sore wrist to show for it." Source.
Here is a video of people looking at the exhibit and here is a video of the exhibit from beginning to end.
In 2006, the Tate Modern exhibited five corkscrew slides. The biggest slide was 182 feet long with a drop of 88.5 feet. Four legal claims followed.
Also in 2007, Urs Fischer spent ten days and $250,000 to build a 38 by 30 foot and eight feet deep crater in the Gavin Brown Enterprise Gallery. The crater is surrounded by a fourteen-inch ledge. A sign warns, "THE INSTALLATION IS PHYSICALLY DANGEROUS AND INHERENTLY INVOLVES THE RISK OF SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH." The crater is titled You. Source.

A bit of everything

In Barboursville, West Virginia, when 12-year-old Megan Templeton picked up a seedless watermelon in a bin at Walmart, she was stung by an inch-long scorpion. She is fine. Source.


14-year-old Sam Hawthorne slept walked into the teeth of a dead, souvenir shark on his bedroom wall. The shark teeth embedded themselves into Sam's cheek for 15 minutes, but he survived with only a small scar.
My favorite part is the highly misleading article title: "Shark Attacks Boy in his Bedroom!" and the sentences: " The teenager survived a terrifying ordeal when he was bitten in the face by one of the killer beasts – in his own bedroom. . . . Jaws struck in the middle of the night at the family home." Source
As of posting this, the home-video of a laughing Swedish baby has over 50 million views on Youtube. The video can be seen here.
Michael Agger sorted through 57,840 comments on the video, dividing them into the following categories: armchair pediatricians, drugs, actual analysis, good wisecracks, the horror, sounds like, predictions, sell-out advice, look-at-me, mean, religious and insane.
Michael condenses all 57,840 comments into: "cute, cute, cute, evil, spam, I think the baby is ugly, How can you think that!, cute, cute, I want to have a baby, cute, baby is high, look at my videos, cute, just like my kid, cute, LOL, cute, cute, etc., etc." Source.
P.S. I will be on vacation this week, but I have programed a post for the 30th and the 3rd.

Unrelated topics

Lali was born in Saini Sunpura, India March 11, 2008 with a condition known as craniofacial duplication. This means she has one head but two faces. While her condition often brings serious health complications, doctors say she is doing well. (The most recent article I could find was from April 9th.)
Viewed as a reincarnation of the Hindu goddess Durga, "[u]p to 100 people have been visiting Lali at her home every day to touch her feet out of respect, offer money and receive blessings."
Daulat Ram, the village chief, plans to get governmental money for a temple dedicated to Durga and to assist Lali's family financially.
Lali's father, Vinod Singh says, "At first I was a little bit afraid, but then I accepted whatever God gives. . . . My daughter is fine - like any other child."
To see a video which includes Lali, her parents and villagers, click here.
Source

Mark McGowan is a UK performance artist. Here are some of his works:

• For two weeks, Mark stuck two chips up his nose, strapped 48 sausage to his head and sat in a bath of baked beans in defense of the British breakfast.
• He ate approximately three bites of corgi (the dog breed favored by Queen Elizabeth II) to protest a fox hunt of Prince Phillip.
  
• He crawled through New York on his hands and knees wearing a George Bush mask and a sign on his rear reading, "Kiss my ass."
• He reenacted the Abu Ghraib human pyramid with six teenage girls.
• Dressed as a British soldier, he lay curled up in the Birmingham City Center for one week.
  
• He randomly keyed cars in Glasgow and South East London. 47 cars were keyed in total. Mark said, "I do feel guilty about keying people's cars[. B]ut if I don't do it, someone else will . . . They should feel glad that they've been involved in the creative process."
• To draw attention to the "obesity pandemic," Mark put a 27 pound turkey on his head, walked backwards for eleven miles. Along the way he shouted at obese people.
  
• In July 2005, Mark attempted to leave a tap of cold water running for one year, using 15 million liters of water (aprx. 3,299,539 gallons). Through this he hoped to comment on water waste. Following threats of legal action on the part of Tames Water, the tap was shut off on July 29th.
• From a 2007 interview: "A common misperception of me is that I'm an idiot. Within the art world they definitely think I'm an idiot. I'm not sure if it's a misconception. I am interested in the idea of shame. A teacher told me at school, 'you're an idiot. You're stupid'. I wasn't very good at exams. Part of my art is to be portrayed as an idiot and to be seen as a fool. One of the things about shame is that when you do it in public it has a certain amount of power attached to it and you can use that power."
• Source. Source. Source. Source. Source.

Today on my Google homepage

Yosuke, an African gray parrot in Japan, flew out of his cage and got lost. Yosuke spent a night at a police station were he remained quiet. After a few days with a veterinarian, Yosuke announced he was "Mr. Yosuke Nakamura" and provided his full home address. When returned to his family, the Nakamuras revealed that they had been teaching Yosuke his full name and address for two years. Source.

The Wall Street Burger Shoppe raised the price of its hamburger from $150 to $175. Co-owner Heather Tierney explains it this way, “Wall Street has good days and bad days. We wanted to have the everyday burger (for $4) ... and then something special if you really have a good day on Wall Street." The burger contains "[k]obe beef patty, lots of black truffles, seared foie gras, aged Gruyere cheese, wild mushrooms and flecks of gold leaf on a brioche bun."
While I find this excessive, I did a post called Hungry and Broke which makes this hamburger look like a bargain. One example: a $14,000 diamond-studded tea bag. Source

On May 17th, a political rally was held in Russia. The Moscow Times describes the event as "The first meeting . . . of a 'National Assembly' organized by the Other Russia opposition coalition featur[ing] calls for a strong challenge to the current government." The Moscow Times continues, "A couple of pro-Kremlin Young Russia activists added to the commotion at the event by launching [several] plastic phallus on propellers, which were knocked out of the air by security guards."
To watch a video of the commotion, click here.
Source. Source.

"Should I start trying to match my titles to my posts?" or "It is hard to be creative all the time." or "I pressed enter and posted this too early."

In Detroit, plans are made by architect Steven Flum to convert shipping containers into a $1.8 million, 17 unit condominiums. The units will be between 90 to 180 square meters (approximately 262 to 590 square feet) and will range from $100,000 to $190,000. The containers will be stacked four high and will have balconies, patios, windows, doors, plumbing, heating and stairways. Source.

However, using shipping containers for housing is nothing new. This is an Atelier Workshop’s Port-a-Bach. This house can be rolled into place and folded out to accommodate two adults and two children. Source.

Here is Leger Wanaselja Architecture's two bedroom house overlooking San Francisco. The house uses three containers and a glass atrium. Source.

Adam Kalkin, maker of the quick house, designed this nifty shipping container cafe. Source.

"Global Peace Containers" is a non-profit organization interested in using shipping containers to build housing and facilities in poorer countries or for emergency relief. Here is a school they built in Jamaica and a house they built in Atlanta, Georgia. Source. Source.


And be sure to check out the new blogs I linked to. I realized I was neglecting that part of my blog.
Less Than Half a Nickel - Sergent P's 2 cents. A blog that deserves more readers.
Smiling Through it all - "My random blog about life & death, love & heartache, and the struggle to get my life together."
The Thoughts and Sayings Of Baba Doodlius - Learn why sheep are planting hobbit bones in the jungle.

Careful when flying.

Gokhan Mutlu of New York is suing Jet Blue for more than two million dollars. Mutlu was traveling on a standby voucher. When a flight attendant complained of her jump seat being uncomfortable, the pilot gave Mutlu's seat to her. Mutlu was allowed to sit in her jump seat, but was eventually made by the pilot to sit in the restroom. The pilot insisted that he was in charge of the plane and Mutlu should be "grateful for being on board." Mutlu sat on the restroom toilet for more than three hours. After a bout of turbulence, Mutlu was allowed to return to his original seat. "A JetBlue spokesman declined comment on the lawsuit Monday." Source.

Unrelated, but I was looking at my blog statistics to see what people searched to find me. Someone had found my blog after Google-ing "NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT"
This is the post that explains it. I also am near the top with an un-filtered Google-ing of "nude penguin." I don't want to know, but I bet they were disappointed.

ouch

At Old Man Rock Cafe in Queenstown, New Zealand, Sarah Ferguson was served dishwashing detergent instead of mulled wine. When Ms. Ferguson's lips and mouth began to burn, she spit it out. A cafe worker, Bethany Sim, offered to taste the liquid with similar results, receiving burns and possible scarring. The dishwashing detergent had been delivered to the restaurant in a mulled wine container. The incident occurred last July, but the restaurant faces sentencing next month.
<"Under New Zealand's no-fault accident law, victims do not sue for damages. Instead, treatment costs and income loss are met by the country's Accident Compensation scheme."
Source

Old Al

In 1924, Al Capone was 25 years old. In today's money, Capone had a gross income of $1.27 billion and paid his workers $3,000 a week. Capone's suits cost $60,300, and he spent $603 million on police bribes. Al Capone ruled over 20 brothels, 150 "gambling places" and 161 speakeasies.

Source. In Today's St Louis Post Dispatch "NO Kidding" column, and from this book.

Will the randomness never end?

• Marc Greenbergh created Operation Grow Hair in 1993 to give LA skinheads rounded up by the FBI a "dose of reality." One of the requirements was that they watch Schindler's LIst. Source
• Giovanni Caselli, in around 1863, invented the pantelegraph, the first fax machine. It used electricity, pendulums, batteries, treated paper and wires. It stood six feet tall. By 1868, it was transmitting up to 110 faxes per hour. The Prussian invasion of 1870 stopped the use of the pantelegraph. Source.
• Concerned about declining birth rates, Singapore's Ngee Ann Polytechnic recently launched a course on flirting and relationships. The course is "Understanding Relationships: Love and Sexuality" and is backed by the government. Student Prakash comments: "I think most people who take the course would find it easier to get a girlfriend." Source
  
• In India, officials in central Madhya Pradesh are currently offering fast-tracked gun licenses to men who have vasectomies. Administrative chief Manish Shrivastav remarks: "Over 150 men have got themselves sterilised since we have offered the gun licence preference. I expect another 100 by the end of this month." source

I never knew that!

• In 1939 President Roosevelt changed the date of Thanksgiving. By moving the holiday a week earlier, he hoped to lengthen the Christmas shopping season and boost sales. He announced this in August and created a controversy especially among calender makers and football coaches. Twenty three states celebrated Thanksgiving on the old date, twenty three celebrated on the new date, and Texas and Colorado celebrated both. In 1940, Roosevelt returned Thanksgiving to its original date and Congress passed a law banning any future president from changing the date of Thanksgiving. Source
• September 1914, German troops were close to taking Paris prompting French military officials to send 6,000 troops to the front. To transport the troops, they called on taxis. Six hundred cab drivers left their passengers and lined up for inspection, transporting the troops and saving Paris. Click here to see footage of the taxis in Windows Media Player. Source
• In May 1902 on the island of Martinique, a nearby volcano started to act up near the city of Saint-Pierre. Worried about his party losing power in the upcoming election, the governor of Martinique set up roadblocks to contain the citizens and instructed the newspapers to minimize the danger. Pelee erupted anyway, killing the governor and 30,000 people in less than two minutes. One of the only two survivors was scheduled for execution the next day, and was protected in his underground cell. He later toured with Barnum & Bailey Circus in a copy of the cell. Source: The Greatest Stories Never Told: 100 tales from history to astonish, bewilder, and stupefy by Rick Beyer
• While everyone knows about the Great Chicago Fire, hardly anyone knows about the deadliest fire in US history: the Great Peshtigo Fire. Killing between 1,200 to 2,400 people in northern Wisconsin, it had the misfortune of occurring the same night as the Great Chicago Fire. Source.

an eyeful

• There are Christian Nudist Convocations. In their July retreat in Tennessee, one member said, "[S]ome people get sent to Africa, some people get sent to South America and the Lord was like, 'I want you to go to nudist resorts.' And I'm like, 'Wow, what an assignment.'" Source.
  
• Judge Richard L. Williams ruled that at a nudist camp for youths, each camper must have a parent or guardian present. According to the New York Times, Williams suggested "[a]n eyeful of naked Mom or Dad. . . is a fair price for admission to nudist camp."

Speaking of babies. . .

Stacey Herald, aged 33, recently gave birth to a 18 inch baby girl. Stacey, who has osteogenesis imperfecta, is only 28.5 inches tall. She describes her pregnancy: "If I laid down, I looked like a snail. . .That's how big my belly was. I looked like an Idaho potato with arms and legs.” Source

What an entrance!

In India, most train toilets have holes leading directly onto the tracks. When 33-year-old Bhuri Kalbi used the train bathroom, she unexpectedly gave birth. "My delivery was so sudden," Kalbi says, "I did not even realize that my child had slipped from the hole in the toilet and onto the railway tracks." She fainted for a few minutes, but when she woke up, she told her family and the train was stopped. The baby girl was on the railway track from 1.5 to 2 hours. She was found close to the tracks with her umbilical chord, uninjured but blue from cold. While she is recovering "quite well," she is in intensive care for her two-month premature birth. Source

BBC bits

Thanks to BBC for all of these little tidbits:

• Since its release in 1969, it has been said that the children's book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar has sold one copy every minute. Source
• According to the biography Room Full of Mirrors, Jimi Hendrix pretended to be gay so that he would be discharged from the army. Source
• According to a 2005 British survey, 1 in 6 children think that broccoli is a "baby tree." Source
• At Eton, Georgic is a punishment involving copying hundreds of lines of Latin poetry. Source
• To preserve flavor, rhubarb is best harvested in dim light. Candlelight is good. Source
• In 2007, women in India protested over being asked their "detailed menstrual history" when applying to become a civil servant. Source
• Names considered for the Compact Disck (CD) included "Mini Rack, MiniDisc, and Compact Rack." Source