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.

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.

Molasses

On January 15, 1919, the North End of Boston was flooded by 2 million gallons of molasses when a tank burst open. The 35 mph wave of molasses was two stories high, killing 21 and injuring 150. There were 3,000 witnesses who testified in the 6-year lawsuit against Boston. The smell of molasses remained for decades. It took over 87,000 man hours to clean up the aftermath (picture above).
"Molasses, waist deep, covered the street and swirled and bubbled about the wreckage. Here and there struggled a form — whether it was animal or human being was impossible to tell. Only an upheaval, a thrashing about in the sticky mass, showed where any life was.... Horses died like so many flies on sticky fly-paper. The more they struggled, the deeper in the mess they were ensnared. Human beings — men and women — suffered likewise."

Source: article by Edwards Park from Nov 1983 Smithsonian, "Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919," and here.

• Readers of my early blog may recognize this post from Oct 2007. I have re-posted this after being asked (and complying) to remove a source-link and remove a picture by two unrelated people. They said that I was "stealing bandwidth" and "playing havock with [their] visitor stats." Can someone please explain this to me?

Nicetown

• In 1996, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) turned their attention to the town of Fishkill. Because they believed it evoked "violent imagery of dead fish," they wanted its name changed to Fishsave. However, the town declined, pointing out that in the original Dutch, "Fishkill" is "Fish stream."
• In 2003, PETA offered $15,000 of vegetarian patties to the town of Hamburg, NY, if they changed their name to Veggieburg. PETA's reason: "The town's name conjures up visions of unhealthy patties of ground-up dead cows. . . I hope they get a little chuckle about it, and then I hope they think about it. . . Our offer is serious as a heart attack." Hamburg declined the offer.

Source

Square-y

Square watermelons were invented in 2001 by a Japanese farmer concerned about consumers not being able to fit the fruit into their fridge. There is no genetic changes in the watermelon, they are simply grown inside a box, and assume the box's shape. The square watermelons end up in the exact dimensions to fit comfortably into a Japanese refrigerator. In Japan they cost a bit more, however, at about $82, three times that of a normal watermelon. Recently, Tesco in the UK (a kind of UK WalMart) has started selling these for around £5, importing them from Brazil. And also recently, an agriculture and applied biotechnology student from Vietnam has produced square watermelons for the lunar New Year. During this time, watermelons are offered to ancestors. The ideal offering is a regular watermelon paired with a square one, as a square represents the earth and a circle represents the sun.
Source. Source.

don't play with your food

Apparently, there is a First Viennese Vegetable Orchestra. They play about 20-30 concerts a year and have 11 musicians, 1 video person and 1 sound technician. And yes, all of their instruments are made out of actual vegetables: "carrot flutes, pumpkin basses, leek violins, leek-zucchini-vibrators, cucumberophones and celery bongos." After the end of each performance, the vegetables are made into a soup and served to the audience.

Here is a video of a performance. Here is an audio clip. And here are pictures of their instruments.

cheese!

This is casu marzu cheese from Sardinia. It has maggots and burns in the mouth. When the maggots eat the cheese, they release an enzyme that putrefies the cheese's fat. If you choose to eat the cheese with the maggots, convention tells you to cover your eyes so no maggots will jump into them. If you choose to eat the cheese without the maggots, put the cheese in a paper bag and wait for the sounds of the suffocating maggots to stop. Although in Sardinia the cheese is technically banned, it is readily available on the black market and its ban is rarely enforced. It is typically eaten with bread and red wine.
A Wikipedia article about it is here.

Pizza out of this world!

In 1998, Pizza Hut tried to put their logo on the moon. Their plan was to use a high-powered laser beam to project their logo onto the moon. They even went so far as to hire a team of specialists and experts . However, the experts squelched the project when they announced that the ad would have to be as big as Texas to be seen on earth, and that laser technology was not up to the task. Undaunted, Pizza hut switched course and paid around a million dollars to have a 30 foot tall logo put on the side of a Russian rocket. On the same note, in 1996 Pepsi gave 5 million dollars to the Russian space program to have them float a Pepsi can replica outside the Mir space station.
An article is here, and I read about it in the book "The World's Worst. A guide to the most disgustingly hideous, inept, and dangerous people, place, and things on earth."

Skinny sandwich

In Greenville, Maine, The Black Frog has a skinny-dipping offer. If a customer skinny-dips in the local lake (pictured above), owner Leigh Turner gives them a free prime rib sandwich on a baguette roll. After a customer complaint, Turner briefly considered dropping the offer but did not. Turener says he gets two or three takers a week, and the skinny-dips usually happen at night. The customer drops their clothes on the dock behind the restaurant, runs off the dock and surfaces to a towel. The restaurant's very unique menu can be seen here.

Eating on a toliet

At the Modern Toilet in Taipei, dinners sit on toilet-chairs, eat from mini toilet-bowls and wipe their hands and mouths on toilet paper. The restaurant is not for the squeamish. Plastic feces adorn the rooms and the drink list mentions urine, feces and blood. Boasts manager Yang Chung-chi: ""When you see the food, it does look like feces."
Pictures here.
Article here.

Potatoes!

Apparently, there is a Mashed Potato Wrestling Federation. Their events are held in Barnesville, Minnesota and Clark, South Dakota. In this competition, the wrestlers combat in a giant tub of mashed potatoes. Eric Hanson comments: "After they are all done getting [the mashed potatoes] out of their crevices, it will be fed to cows."
The undefeated reigning world champion Steve-O Gratin justifies the choice of mashed potatoes: "We'd go to Japan, we'd wrestle in sushi. We go to Boston, it's clam chowder."
And lest you think that this sport is not tough, Yukon Golden Boy shares his strategy: "Well I do a little thing called the mashed potato where I pick up a handful, and I pick up another handful, and I put it in the guy's ears, and I shake his head. Generally that works my opponent into submission."Afrodisiac also shares a strategy, - "My Afro prevent[s] all potatoes from actually entering near my scalp.
The competition is also tough. Rowdy Rowdy Potato, who wears a superman outfit, laments: "I'm un-undefeated....I've never won."
"You can never train enough for mashed potato wrestling," warns Steve-O-Gratin.
Many interesting videos of mashed potato wrestling posted on the official MPWF blog.

Liquid Ham

The Seattle-based Jones Soda Co. takes pride in the taste of its flavors being accurate. This may not always be a good thing. While they do sell traditional soda flavors, they also offer some odd soda packs.

Thanksgiving pack: Green Pea, Sweet Potato, Dinner Roll, Turkey and Gravy, and Antacid

Seattle Seahawks pack: Perspiration, Dirt, Sports Cream, Sweet Victory and Natural Field Turf

Hanukkah pack: Latke, Apple Sauce, Chocolate Coins and Jelly Doughnut

Christmas Pack: Christmas Ham, Christmas Tree, Egg Nog and Sugar Plum

And best yet, because their Hanukkah and Christmas packs are both zero-calories and certified kosher, you can drink a no-calorie kosher Ham for Christmas this year.

http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/266965.html

pass the salt

What is better than 500 people socializing over a black-tie, three-course gourmet lunch? Doing it underwater. The catch: each course was a single bite wrapped in a waterproof coating of jelly. As Adam Lusher commented: "This dealt with the food, but just left the small matters of breathing, swallowing and staying on your seat."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/23/ndining123.xml

She did what?

This year, The Sweetest Day winner was Anne Gemkow of Chicago. She won a brand new Jeep Liberty by licking chocolate of a Jeep grill and finding keys among 25,000 pieces of chocolate.

Her take: "I never thought my sweet tooth would actually come in handy."

To see a video of contestants licking chocolate of Jeeps: http://www.jeep.com/en/pr/sweetestday/

http://www.trucktrend.com/features/news/2007/163_news071023_jeep_sweetest_day_challenge/index.html

Hungry and Broke

Are you hungry and have money to spend? Why not have a look at my specialized menu of most expensive food?

Drinks:

• $1,500 cocktail. http://www.pocketchangenyc.com/NewsLetter.asp?nid=21
• If you can't afford that, try the $50 cocktail with 23K liquid gold. http://nymag.com/listings/bar/world_bar/
• Or a $165 Truffletini in a 3ft tall glass with truffle shavings. http://nymag.com/daily/food/2006/11/ok_so_the_new_contendor.html
• Or If you don't like alcohol, indulge with the $14,000 diamond-studded tea bag. http://www.luxist.com/2005/02/25/worlds-most-expensive-tea-bag/

Food:

• A $1,000 omelet with $995 of caviar. http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/normas/
• A $200 baked potato topped with truffle shavings. http://www.nysun.com/article/40836
• $120 hamburger. http://www.thisnext.com/item/5839CC68/DB-Burger-120-from-DB-Bistro
• Try the $1,000 pizza topped with eight ounces of four different kinds of Petrossian caviar, lobster, salmon and wasabi. Be sure to give them 24 hours notice. http://www.slashfood.com/2007/03/15/1000-pizza-in-nyc/

Dessert:

• $1,000 ice cream sundae served with an 18K gold spoon and topped with edible 23K gold. http://www.boingboing.net/2006/02/14/worlds-most-expensiv.html
• A $20,000,000 wedding cake studded with diamonds. http://linkdonkey.blogspot.com/2006/10/expensive-cakes.html
• A $1,500,000 box of gourmet chocolates and jewelry. http://www.lakeforestconfections.com/Store/LeChocolat.aspx

And not to put a damper on the party, but this month (Oct 2007), a 52 year old man living in urban Japan starved to death. His last words in his journal: "3 a.m. This human being hasn’t eaten in 10 days but is still alive. I want to eat rice. I want to eat a rice ball.”

• cost of a rice ball in Japan- $1 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/world/asia/12japan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin