These museums are far from average.

The Museum of Bad Art: "[O]ur mission: to bring the worst of art to the widest of audiences."

• The caption for the picture above is: "The flesh tones bring to mind the top shelf liqueurs of a border bistro. With an astonishing emphasis on facial bone structure, the artist flirts with caricature and captures features of Mamma's face which remind us of a Presidential candidate. The upright marionettish pose of the babe hints that the early bond between mother and child is as formal as it is familiar. Good old fashioned parental respect is at the center of this celebration of color and contour."

The Cockroach Hall of Fame Museum in Texas: "A museum of cockroaches that everyone can love."

• The museum has life Madagascar hissing cockroaches and "cockroaches that have been dressed in costumes to portray various themes." Below is Liberoachi.

You may not want to read on if you are squeamish.


The Mutter Museum by the College of Physicians of Philadelphia: "Disturbingly Informative"

• Grover Cleavland's secret tumor
• John Wilkes Booth's thorax
• The "Soap Lady" who died of Yellow fever in the 19th century and whose body has turned into soap.
• The nine-foot colon of a man who only had a bowel movement once a month. A picture can be seen here.
  
• A collection of 2,000 objects that were swallowed and removed without surgery by Dr, Jackson.

The Icelandic Phallological Museum

• "[P]robably the only museum in the world to contain a collection of phallic specimens belonging to all the various types of mammal found in a single country."

The Vrolik Museum in Amsterdam: "over two thousand specimens of humans, mammals, and other vertebrates"

• "Since 1994, 150 specimens of congenital malformations have also been on display."
• congenital malformation: "physical defect present in a baby at birth[.]"
• From what I understand, the babies are in formaldehyde jars.

China

For some context:

• In July 2007, China's population was 1,321,851,888. With a world population of approximately 6.6 billion, one out of every five people on earth lives in China. In 1950, China's population was 563 million, but had grown to one billion in the early 1980s. For a stable population, the national fertility rate must be 2.1; China's is 1.7. China's population is expected to peak in 2030. India has a much faster rate of growth and is expected to surpass China's population in 2040. Source.
• For a live counter of Chinese population, go here.
  

All of these statistics come from the May 2008 edition of the National Geographic magazine. Because it is hard to paraphrase statistics, they are all selected quotes.

• 119 baby boys are born for every 100 girls.
  
• The number of unmarried young Men-called bare branches-is predicted to be 30 million by 2020.
• China's one-child policy created a generation of only children numbering 90 million.
• Beijing enforces a one-dog policy that prohibits pets more than 14 inches high.
• China is expected to overtake the U.S. as the world's largest economy in ten years.
• Urban Chinese earn more than three times as much as those in rural areas[.]
• Authorities have added 171 new pop culture references to China's national language registry.
• Percent of the world's umbrellas made in China: 70
• Percent of the world's buttons made in China: 60
• Percent of U.S. shoes made in China: 72
• Percent of U.S. kitchen appliances made in China: 50
• Percent of U.S. artificial Christmas lights made in China: 85
  
• Percent of US toys made in China: 50
• Percent of Chinese goods sent to the U.S. that end up on Wal-Mart's shelves: 9
• Percent of the U.S. toys recalled in the U.S. in 2007[:] 100
• Number of months a Chinese factory worker would need to work to earn the money to earn the cost of a Thomas the Tank Engine train set: 6

More facts gleaned from the articles and paraphrased.

• "Wang" is the family name of 93 million Chinese.
  

• Sheng Qi, a Chinese artist, cut off his own finger in protest of the 1989 events of Tiananmen Square. (Picture above.) Visit his website.
  

Oops. I also forgot to add Minimal Ramblings of an Incoherent Mind :"A little home on the Internet where the quiet voices inside of my head can escape to be shared with the world. The loud voices, on the other hand, are silenced and stuffed into the basement to be punished for all eternity."

School is Over!!!

Nischal Narayanam completed his bachelors degree at 10 and his master degree at 12. In November 2007, he was "the youngest PhD student and . . . on his way to become the youngest doctorate."
When he was 11, Nischal broke the Guiness Book record and memorized 225 random objects in 12.07 minutes. Nischal was also able to relate each random object to its number.
He recalls practicing, “You need intense concentration for sitting at least three to four hours without looking at external things. But I enjoyed it every time I practised.”
Nischal's teacher, Jayasimha Ravirala, set the 2005 record by memorizing 200 random objects. He says, "There is nothing like good or bad memory, it is just a matter of training to tap its potential."
Nischal has written six math books.
Source.
Source
Source

Musician Giovanni Maria Pala believes there is a hidden musical score in Leonardo de Vinci's Last Supper and has written La Musica Celata (The Hidden Music) describing his find. Here, you can hear the music that emerged from the painting.
Because the apostles were in groups of three, the music is played in 3/4 time. Pala says, ""I marked the pieces of bread on the table and the Apostle's hands as music notes. Then I drew a pentagram over the scene between the tablecloth and Jesus' face. I couldn't believe my ears when I played the music. It sounded really solemn, almost like a requiem."
When Pala drew lines between the notes, the Hebrew sentence, "with Him consecration and glory" appeared.
Source: A video showing an interview and the pictures of the music, pentagram and Hebrew sentence.
Source

randomness is underrated

• According to Ken Parkin, author of Anthology of British Tongue Twisters, the most difficult tongue-twister in the English language is: "The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick." Source
• In a recent study, 40 of 43 rats consistently chose saccharin-water over cocaine. In a similar test, cocaine-addicted rats preferred saccharin after 10 days. Sugar substituted for saccharin produced the same results. Yet more proof on the addictive power of sugar. Source
• 48-year-old Wim Hof, the "tantric master," stood in ice up to his neck for 72 minutes. In 2004, he immersed his entire body in ice for 68 minutes. Hof says he uses tantric meditation to control his body temperature. Source
• With only two weeks left to serve in prison, a 19-year-old German woman escaped from prison. When her friend, a 17-year-old inmate, was released, she hid in her suitcase. Mr. Weilmann comments: "The girl simply walked out of the building with her friend concealed in her luggage." They were not caught. Source
  

I've been tagged by Rusin Roundup for the big bang meme. For the rules, go here. I tag anyone who wants to participate.
1-Attitude, the Ultimate Power 2-Juliana's Site 3-Rusin Roundup 4-Grow Rich Along With Me 5-Comedy Plus 6-lynda's loft 7-Amel's Realm 8-MAX 9-Speedcat Hollydale 10-Mariuca 11-Complain Complain Complain 12-Mariuca's Perfume Gallery 13-Life Is A Roller Coaster 14-Sugar Queen's Dream 15-First Time Dad 16-Life 17-My Life 18-The Painted Veil 19-My Thoughts 20-DatCurious.com 21-Little Aussie Cynic 22-A Nice Place in the Sun 23-DatMoney.com 24-Odd Facts

And thanks again to Rusin Roundup for this award.


I would like to pass this award on to R.E.H for commenting on all my posts this month.

Guilt over blog-neglect is a great motivator

• Meet Louis, the 6-foot Octopus. He was given his Mr. Potato Head toy for Christmas, and loves it so much that he "turns aggressive when aquarium staff try to remove it from his tank." Source.
• The Spanish town of Pulpi made a really big salad in September 2007. Dimensions: 20 cooks, over 3 hours prep time, 59 by 15.7 ft container, 14,740 pounds of vegetables. The salad was served free-of-charge in Pulpi's restaurants. Source
• Jody Powell and Kenneth Donnell won tickets to a Hannah Montana concert by keeping one hand on a 12-foot, 400 pound statute of Hannah for 6 days. They received catered meals and were allowed one 12 minute break every 3 hours. There were 20 contestants who participated. Winner-Powell says: "It's like a dream come true." Source

Tierd of e-bay?

Are you tired of too-short auctions on eBay? You should visit item 237479800 listed by Skippy. It is set to expire on December 31 2030 and will have been auctioned for just short of 31 years.

Title: OPS TEST ITEM, DO NOT BID, DO NOT CANCEL 1

Description: Yup. It says DO NOT BID. That means do

Some of Skippy's feedback include:

Skippy! I saw you naked!

Thanks for the social life Skippy! It works great! I even have a girlfriend! A+!

Sorry Skippy, I skipped the payment. I'm not paying $19.95 for a night w/ you

Thank you: http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/long259.html

eeek!

• Sally Mae Wallace of Mississippi holds the honor for the world's longest tapeworm. All 37 feet of it was pulled out of her mouth. Said Sally: "“About after 20 feet of that thing had come out of my mouth. I just knew I had the record. I was really filled with joy.” http://www.ripleys.com/core/answers/?p=362#comment-55


• Glen Keizer of Australia endured a straight 42 hours and 10 minutes tattoo session. http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/long63.html


• The longest movie title: "Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Alien, Flesh Eating, Hellbound, Zombified Living Dead Part 2: In Shocking 2-D." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0230575/combined