Come on and take a freeride

Some hikers prefer to enjoy mountain vistas in nothing but a pair of sensible walking boots. But naked hiking may soon become a costly hobby: A Swiss canton wants to saddle those hiking au naturel with a hefty fine of 200 Swiss Francs (about $170 US).

I do not want to know where he keeps his wallet. (via Information Junk)



Naked hiking, also known as freehiking or naked rambling is just one subset in the whole naturism (nudism) movement. Aside from the expected nude beaches and nudist camps, there is also nude snorkeling, nude diving, canuding (nude canoeing), and freeriding. Freeriding is the practice of nude bicycle riding.

Now I don't know about you, but speaking for myself, even fully clothed my narrow bike seat travels further north up my southbound parts than I care for. Doing it nude... well, let's just say that after a session of nude cycling, I could probably skip my annual colonoscopy and just send my doctor the seat off the old Schwinn.

Technorati tags: nudism, naturism, freehiking, freeriding, naked

Faux Drunk

Some unsung genius discovered that if you slow down the audio of Jeff Goldblum talking, he sounds completely drunk. Don't believe it? Try this one on for size. When you're done laughing, check out the rest of the Top 8 Drunk Jeff Goldblum Videos. (via Very Short List)




As a kid, I faithfully tuned in to the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, which never failed to have me rolling on the living room floor. One of my favorite guests on the dais was the inevitably insensible Foster Brooks. YouTube hosts plenty of clips, and here's one of my favorites: Foster Brooks roasting Sammy Davis, Jr.



Technorati tags: drunk, Goldblum, Foster, Brooks

Winter news

Winter depression: Detroiters discover body frozen in the ice in an abandoned warehouse, continue their hockey game around him.

"He's encased in ice, except his legs, which are sticking out like Popsicle sticks"

(Warning: some of you may have a hard time looking at the picture accompanying the linked story, as it's pretty, uh... grim)



Winter wackiness: Benjamin Daniels of Cody, Wyoming was cited for public intoxication while riding a white horse during a snowstorm. Hey Daniel! Didn't anyone ever tell you? If you wanna ride, don't ride the white horse... (via Timmay!)

(Warning: some of you may have a hard time looking at the picture below that I made reenacting the this knucklehead's story, as it's pretty, uh... dim)


Technorati tags: winter, white horse

The End

The 20 Greatest Movie Endings (maybe) -- What do you think? Did they miss your fave? Vent yer spleen in the comments.

Technorati tags: movies, " , endings

Fab Four, Three, Two, One

To most Beatles fans, choosing between the songs of the Fab 4 is a bit like choosing between children. But, on the JamsBio exclusive, Playing The Beatles Backwards, one intrepid fan dares to rank the original songs of The Beatles and give his reasons why in a worst-to-first countdown. Prepare to hit the message boards to defend your favorites, and follow the countdown all the way to Number 1. (via Cynical-C)


Technorati tags: Beatles, rock, music, list

My bad

Massive list of the most common errors in English.



The top 30 movies with the most mistakes.




Smittens: is that short for stupid mittens?




The 15 dumbest names for Web 2.0 startups.



Fielder's Choice:

Early 80s Hollywood roots-rockers The Kingbees "My Mistake"

or


New Zealand new-wavers Split Enz "My Mistake"

Technorati tags: mistakes, errors, dumbest

Kiss, kiss, bang, bang

8 gun mistakes you see in movies all the time




Yikes




The world's tiniest pistol, manufactured by SwissMiniGun and measuring in with a length of just 5.5 cm (2.16 inches).




The Gustav, a 1344-ton behemoth called Schwerer Gustav (Heavy Gustav) constructed by for the German army in 1941




Pull the trigger on purchasing this tres styliche gun mug.

Technorati tags: guns

Less Is Less

The blog Superuseless Superpowers is making a comprehensive list of the least desirable superhero attributes, such as in-flight flight, which is the power to fly, but only while in the confines of an airplane. (via The Fire Wire)




The 8 Least Impressive Guinness World Records, including the ever-strived-for record of most snails to remain on the face for 10 seconds.



Angelo "Spastic Colon" Gasdrulli and Leo "The Raging Codependent" Pacioni are but two who made the list of The Top 20 Least Impressive Mafia Nicknames.

Technorati tags: superuseless, superpowers, least, impressive

All this useless knowledge

Some choice quizzes culled from from the mental_floss Daily Lunchtime Quiz Archive:


As adjectives go, "small," "medium" and "large" aren't very exciting. So restaurant executives with menu-printing powers have gotten all cutesy and creative with the names of their sizes. Do you know your Grande from your Gulp? Take the quiz.



Of the two statements – one is true, the other absolutely false. Your job is to spot the FALSE statement - the Big Fat Lie! Take the quiz.



On the left, you'll be able to hear sound files of the drum intros to ten late-1960s hit songs, and you'll try match each clip by typing the corresponding number to the song in the right column. Take the quiz.

Technorati tags: quiz

The source of Kraft Mac & Cheese found?

Good news everyone! I managed to get hold of some maggot cheese, which I am sure you've all been craving.

What do you mean, "What's maggot cheese"?

Its called Casu marzu and is an illegal Sardinian cheese that is served riddled with writhing maggots that try to jump into your eyeballs as you eat it! Who wants the first taste?

Casu marzu is considered toxic when the maggots in the cheese have died. Because of this, only cheese in which the maggots are still alive is eaten. When the cheese has fermented enough, it is cut into thin strips and spread on moistened Sardinian flatbread (pane carasau), to be served with a strong red wine. Casu marzu is believed to be an aphrodisiac by local Sardinians. Because the larvae in the cheese can launch themselves for distances up to 15 centimetres (6 in) when disturbed, diners hold their hands above the sandwich to prevent the maggots from leaping into their eyes. Those who do not wish to eat live maggots place the cheese in a sealed paper bag. The maggots, starved for oxygen, writhe and jump in the bag, creating a "pitter-patter" sound. When the sounds subside, the maggots are dead and the cheese can be eaten.

Technorati tags: food, maggot, cheese, disgusting

Making Weddings Safe Again, One Pigeon At A Time

The Top 10 Widely Believed Myths, including the one about how pigeons explode if you feed them uncooked rice.

Technorati tags: myths, debunked

This is your brain on drugs balls

How to hallucinate using ping-pong balls and a radio and other simple ways to hack your cortex.

PS. That guy has enormous nostrils.

Technorati tags: brain, hacking

Freakin' and Flowin'

Guide to Hip-Hop Hand Gestures
This one's called the Ninja Star




They's droppin' science and kickin' burger prep k-nowledge old skool in this dope Wendy's training video. Yeahhhh bo-yyyyyyyyyy!

Technorati tags: rap, hiphop, Wendy's

We go together like doorknobs and pool supplies

Retailers, customer service reps and pretty much anyone that has to deal with that angry, confused and clueless crowd better known as The Public: we feel your pain. At least for the time while reading Not Always Right, a blog of alternatingly hilarious and horrifying tales of When Customers Go Bad.

Now if you're like me, you may have been shocked, shocked I say, to discover that swimming pool supply stores do not, as you no doubt would have assumed, sell doorknobs. Read on...

Technorati tags: customers from hell

Where It's At

3 Maps That Get People All Worked Up




Are these architecture tour maps of downtown Los Angeles really the worst maps ever? Funny article with links to a Flickr set of the heinousness.




Al Franken can draw free hand a near-perfect map of the United States in about 4 minutes.

Technorati tags: maps, Al Franken

The first shameless linkjacking post of the new year

Metalli-kazoo (via The Fire Wire)









Also found at The Fire Wire (who I am really going to have to steal from keep my eye on more often in 2009), and having nothing to do with kazoos, or Metallica, or even kazoo-lica. It's a New York Times piece on The Buzzwords of 2008 by linguist Grant Barrett, who hosts a language-related public radio show "A Way With Words" along with cohost Martha Barnette. The article is great fun, but maybe even more so for the knockout graphical representations for each of the words.

Technorati tags: Metallica, kazoo, buzzwords, language, 2008

101 Neat Binary Things

001: Are you the type of skinflint who cringes at the thought of paying retail for gifts? Are you, to mix fictional character holiday-based metaphors, a Grinch of Ebenezerian proportions? For the cheapskate who has to buy a gift for the geek in their life: the 12 cent perpetual calendar. What the hey... at that price, you could even afford to throw in a box of floppies.

As long as you're over there see also the Binary Birthday Candles. In fact, everything at Evil Mad Scientist is pretty nifty if you ask me.



010: Tired of the unwatched masses constantly asking you for the correct time? Get yourself one of these sweet binary watches. After a couple of "The time? Sure, it's 1011:110101!", you're pretty much guaranteed your geeky privacy.




011: Howtoons is a great comic and blog (though I wish it were updated a little more frequently) for kids showing how to do all kinds of science- and physics-based fun, including how to make a Spitball Version 2.0, a Marshmallow Shooter and many more. The Howtoon for using your fingers and toes to count with binary beyond 1,000 is no longer on the site (I think to encourage you to buy the Howtoons book), but it is available as a free PDF download at Instructables or by clicking the graphic above (registration required, sorry... it's a fairly painless process).



100: From the Not-As-Challenging-As-It-Sounds Dep't:
Binary Sudoku




101: The Binary Game. Fun binary game hosted by Crazygames.com

Technorati tags: binary, Howtoons, geek