Sunday, January 27, 2008

In other news, local boy receives BB gun for Christmas, shoots eye out



Two Indiana boys stick their tongues to frozen flagpoles. Hey, if it was a triple-dog dare, you don't really have any choice in the matter...

Speaking of A Christmas Story, (you do know this was right out of a scene from that movie, don't you?) I like that the Official A Christmas Story website is at www.flickstongue.com, Flick being the kid in the movie who, on a triple-dog dare from his friends, stuck his you-know-what to you-know-where.

As for how they filmed that particular scene, no tongues were in any danger of being frozen; they used a special pole with a hole, and a vacuum was used to make Flick's tongue stick to the hole giving it the appearance of being frozen.

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I Want My '83

I could start out sounding like a grumpy old man by mentioning how MTV used to be cool but totally sucks now, but you can find plenty of that elsewhere. So without editorial comment, I want to share three hours of vintage MTV circa 1983. Ladies and gentlemen, start your time machines.

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Thursday, January 24, 2008

Walk Hard

Jules: I'll just walk the earth.
Vincent: What'cha mean walk the earth?
Jules: You know, walk the earth, meet people... get into adventures. Like Caine from "Kung Fu."
-Jules' post-retirement plan in
Pulp Fiction
What would happen if you just started walking in a straight line in any direction (North, South, Northeast... whatever)? What would you pass through? Tall Eye can show you. (via Information Junk)



You might be surprised (I was anyways) by the path you get on your map. This uses Great Circle Navigation, so unless you are starting out on the Equator, the "straight line" you are walking on looks pretty curved on a regular 2-D map.

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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Two Wheels Good

Crazy-awesome first person bike trail. Those hand-built ramps made out of two-by-sixes or bamboo or popsicle sticks or whatever they were wouldn't exactly inspire confidence, but hey, that's just me...

Feel free to ignore (as I did) the annoying Linkin Park song in the soundtrack. (via Fazed)

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Monday, January 21, 2008

Two arms to hold you

Happy National Hugging Day (January 21).



Juan Mann is the man behind the Free Hugs Campaign, and is featured in this video "All The Same" by Sick Puppies. I've seen this video several times, but each time I have this big stupid grin on my face when I finish watching it.


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Saturday, January 19, 2008

How to be a... Zillionaire!


Zimbabweans will be soon lining their pockets with 10-million-dollar bills.

The central bank announced Thursday it would increase the denomination of the nation's highest bank note more than tenfold to keep pace with the world's highest inflation rate, officially estimated at 25,000 percent annually. Independent financial institutions say real inflation is closer to 150,000 percent.

The new 10-million note is the equivalent of about $4 at the dominant black market exchange rate. (via J-Walk)
Even this pales in comparison to the runaway hyperinflation that struck post-World War I Germany in 1923, where the inflation rate was over 3,000,000% per month, which works out to prices for everything doubling every 49 hours.

Here's a brief look at some examples of German currency during this period and what you could expect your money to fetch. Stories are told of people carrying their money around in wheelbarrows instead of wallets, though in point of fact, suitcases were the preferred method of transport.

German 100,000,000,000 mark note, which,
by November 15, 1923 would buy 2 glasses of beer.
Bread is 80,000,000,000 Mark a loaf.


A German woman feeding a stove with
currency notes, which burn longer than
the amount of firewood they can buy.

FYI: You may not be aware that there is an American and a European system of number naming. They agree up to the millions, but after that, what Americans call a billion, Europeans call a milliard. Wherever possible, I will include the scientific notation or the actual written out number.

And if you think that's as bad as it can get, think again. Hungary during 1945-1946 experienced a stunning rate of inflation of 41,900,000,000,000,000% (almost 4.19 * 1016% ) per month, which works out to prices doubling every 15 hours or so.

The first series of pengo banknotes (Hungary's unit of currency) were printed in 1926 with the following denominations: 5 P, 10 P, 20 P, 50 P, and 100 P. By 1946, notes of 100 quintillion pengo (1 * 1020) were being issued. At some point, there were too many zeroes to fit on the bill, and they had to resort to telling how many milpengo (1,000,000 pengo) or bilpengo (1,000,000 milpengo or 1,000,000,000,000 pengo) the note represented.

A gallery of some of Hungary's currency during this period.


Banknotes not worth the paper they were printed upon.

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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

23 skidoo, 24 skidoo... whatever it takes

In 1968, Otto Preminger directed Skidoo, which featured big-name actors and comedians from the previous generation attempting to "get hip" with those long-haired, sandal-wearin', peace-marchin', free-lovin', acid-droppin', gerund-destroyin' kids of 1968.

How bizarre was this movie? Imagine Jackie Gleason tripping on acid, and Groucho Marx as a drug-dealing syndicate boss who smokes joints instead of cigars, for starters. Another dozen or so fading legends drive their careers into the ground on this one as well. Check out the jaw-dropping trailer below. (thanks to Chris "Vo-dee-oh-doh" H. for the idea)


As Sammy Davis, Jr. says, "This is the gassiest, grooviest, swingin'-est trippiest movie you've ever seen".

Having just typed this, I had the brainstorm to check YouTube and lo and behold, someone has thoughtfully posted Skidoo in its glorious entirety (cut into 10 parts due to YouTube restrictions on the maximum length a video can be). Part 1 of Skidoo to follow:


Parties that are still interested, or just too stoned to know what else to do to pass the time can catch Skidoo, parts 2-10 below.

Skidoo (Part 2 of 10)
Skidoo (Part 3 of 10)
Skidoo (Part 4 of 10)
Skidoo (Part 5 of 10)
Skidoo (Part 6 of 10)
Skidoo (Part 7 of 10)
Skidoo (Part 8 of 10)
Skidoo (Part 9 of 10)
Skidoo (Part 10 of 10)



Speaking of "skidoo", the phrase "23 skidoo" came into popularity in the 1910's-1920's and generally refers to leaving quickly, "getting out while the getting's good".

But why 23? Why "skidoo"? No one seems to have any definite answers, but that hasn't stopped people from coming up with a lot of theories, covering most of the plausibility spectrum from the plausible to the ridiculous. Before you 23 skidoo, read some of the history behind the mystery of this strange phrase.

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Friday, January 11, 2008

(Time)Killer Snowball!


Snowball 2008 is a fiendishly addictive little game where you guide a Killer Snowjuggernautball of Death® down the mountainside, gaining in speed and size as you merrily crush humans, dogs and snowmen alike while avoiding trees and cabins.

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Wednesday, January 09, 2008

A Mighty Wind

It may not be The Spirit, but these preachers definitely have something in them. (via List Of The Day)





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I Went To My Best Friend's Wedding And All I Got Was This Lousy Piece Of Instep


Reporter's wedding cake is a life-size likeness of herself. I wonder if the bride and groom stuffed slices of her face in their faces?




I don't even want to know the story with this wedding cake.

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Thursday, January 03, 2008

Why Vinyl > CD


Flippin' brilliant! Vinyl Sleeve Heads - people posing with vinyl album covers. (via In4mador!)

Here's one I submitted of an albino holding The Beatles' White Album during a snowstorm. Whaddaya think?



Thank you, thank you. I'm here all week.

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Still more menacing than Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze



Uh-huh, yeah, invulnerable... except for that whole part about how most of the planet averages somewhere way north of 32°F. Other than that, though, I'm sure it's a real solid plan there, Frosty. 1957 comic "Invaders From The Ice World". (via Information Junk)

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