The famous fat monkeys at an animal park in Osaka, Japan have been discussed at PopFi before. Well, those same pudgy primates are back in the news as those monkeys have dieted successfully! Good for them! The fattest of the monkeys has lost half his body weight, but with any weight loss that dramatic comes […]
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There, I Fixed It: A Guide To Quality Engineering
Posted 6/30/2009 9:05 am by Ron HoganIf there’s one thing I love it’s a good fad website, and the latest in a long line of quality picture sites is There, I Fixed It. There, I Fixed It highlights the best of creative engineering solutions to problems we might face every day. Like, for example, the hot water heater fix you see […]
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Blue For Billy
Posted 6/29/2009 1:02 pm by Ron HoganI have to admit that I’ve got a real soft spot for the work of recently deceased commercial pitchman Billy Mays. Yes, he was loud. Very loud. Yes, he was often pretty grating and when I dozed in front of the TV on Sunday afternoons, his informercials (I called them Screamavision) always woke me up. […]
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The Passing Of A King
Posted 6/26/2009 12:37 pm by Ron HoganLike everyone, the death of Michael Jackson has been a serious shock. Of course, when shocked, my first reaction is to mumble a lot of crass jokes about Boy Scouts and the like, but once it hit me that someone I grew up listening to died? I have to admit, I’m kind of depressed. A […]
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Surreal Photography Via Photoshop
Posted 6/25/2009 10:12 am by Ron HoganI love a good photograph, and I’m infinitely jealous of people who can take good pictures. Even more so, I’m jealous of people who know how to use Photoshop and other image editing software to manipulate photos, because I have a ton of awesome ideas and no real way to make them happen. That’s why […]
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Teenage Baby, Or The Girl Who Does Not Age
Posted 6/24/2009 1:31 pm by Ron HoganWe’ve covered a lot of unusual medical issues here at PopFi, but I’ve never seen anything quite as unusual as the case of Brooke Greenberg. Brooke is a 16-year-old girl, but she’s not your typical 16-year-old girl. She’s only 30 inches long, weighs about 16 pounds, and has the mind of a toddler. Quite […]
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Underground Lair Dedicated To Mad Science
Posted 6/24/2009 11:19 am by Ron HoganResearching dark matter requires quite a bit of labor. Any little flicker or radiation can throw off the readings and make hundreds of hours of experimentation useless. That’s why the city of Homestake, South Dakota, is planning to turn an old goldmine into the world’s deepest laboratory, dedicated to the Large Underground Xenon (or LUX) […]
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Awesome Amputee Tattoos
Posted 6/23/2009 12:38 pm by Ron HoganI imagine it would be horrible to lose a limb in some sort of accident. One of my biggest fears is some kind of horrible industrial accident. Since I work around a bunch of printers and presses and with a bunch of awful machines, that’s always a distinct possibility. However, if that does happen, I […]
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Life-Sized Transformer In California
Posted 6/22/2009 1:04 pm by Ron HoganNo, it’s not a stunt to promote the latest Michael Bay movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It’s just an ordinary man with a lot of time on his hands, a love of the 80’s cartoon Transformers, a crane, and a spare Volkswagen Beetle. He turned a yellow VW bug into a full-scale model of […]
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OMG, 15yo Wins Natl Txtng Chmpnshp!
Posted 6/18/2009 9:11 am by Ron HoganIf your 15-year-old daughter sent 400 texts a day and averaged over 12,000 texts in a month, as a parent you might be concerned. Is all that texting bad for her thumbs? Is she paying attention in school? How do you monitor almost 300 pages of text messages stuffed in the phone bill box? All […]
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The Homeless Sims
Posted 6/17/2009 2:31 pm by Ron HoganOne of the arguments against video games as art is that, generally, video games rarely (if ever) move anyone to tears. I’m not sure what crying has to do with art, but Wonderland linked to a wonderful new blog/webcomic/project that may just finally prove that video games can make you cry. It’s called Alice and […]
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The HMS I Hate Brussels Sprouts
Posted 6/16/2009 2:51 pm by Ron HoganLots of people dislike a lot of weird things. For example, former President George H. W. Bush was notorious for his dislike of broccoli. I love broccoli, but I cannot stand anything other than the mildest, whitest, blandest cheese, and then only on pizza. No cheese on tacos, no cheeseburgers, and definitely no nacho hats. […]
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High School Baseball Is Serious Business
Posted 6/15/2009 12:36 pm by Ron HoganWe’ve all seen videos of baseball managers who flip out, start screaming and kicking dirt and throwing bases, and eventually the umpires will toss them out. They’re a favorite baseball moment of mine, because it’s always very funny when the props come out to play. However, we see those all the time, so there’s nothing […]
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Construction Barrel Monster Terrorizes Raleigh, North Carolina!
Posted 6/12/2009 3:29 pm by Ron HoganWe’ve seen a lot of unusual pranks involving roadside equipment, but nothing quite like this. Anyone can break into a digital road sign and put up a zombie warning, but it takes some serious skill (and serious artistic talent) to turn a pile of those orange striped construction barrels into a leering comic book nightmare. […]
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The Delicious And Stylish Nacho Hat
Posted 6/12/2009 12:50 pm by Ron HoganOne of my favorite episodes of The Simpsons involved Homer and Ned Flanders becoming friends. The two neighbors/enemies (well, Homer hates Ned, not the other way around) bonded by going to a baseball game. While there, Flanders bought Homer food and drinks, caught him a ball, and basically bent over backwards to be polite […]
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The Process Of Procrastination
Posted 6/11/2009 1:56 pm by Ron HoganAs someone who has been through college and who works as something of a paid writer right now, I know all about the process of sitting down at the computer for the purpose of working, only to find that work never gets accomplished. Researching something on the internet or browsing my feed reader quickly turns […]
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Fishing For Explosives
Posted 6/10/2009 12:48 pm by Ron HoganCommercial fisherman Rodney Salomon-Prudo from Madeira Beach, Florida, had a pretty good fishing trip last week. In his 14 days at sea, he brought in over 5000 pounds of grouper. Oh yeah, he also caught a surface-to-air missile. Actually, he caught two, but he only brought one back with him. The one he brought back […]
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Koichi Wakata, The Astronaut Stuntman
Posted 6/09/2009 11:01 am by Ron HoganI can’t think of one person who isn’t fascinated with the concept of weightlessness. Man has always dreamed of flying, and the zero-gravity situation of space makes this humanoid flight possible. However, you don’t really get to ask astronauts to perform stunts for you, unless you’re able to email the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and […]
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The World’s Most Popular Car
Posted 6/08/2009 1:50 pm by Ron HoganIt’s the most popular car in the United States. Since it was introduced in 1979, the hot little red sports car has sold over 10 million units. In 2008, it sold more than the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord combined. It’s also made entirely of plastic, seats one person under 3, and uses Flintstones-style foot […]
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An Interview With George Gaspar, The Toothpick Beard Man
Posted 6/05/2009 9:04 am by Ron HoganA few months ago, I wrote a post about George Gaspar, the guy who put 2,222 toothpicks into his beard. Well, via the magic of the Internet, George got hold of my post and sent me a very nice email back, thanking me for the coverage. Since I’m insatiably curious, I just had to ask […]
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Boston Police Tweet Zombie Attack Denial; Zombies Unamused
Posted 6/04/2009 8:57 am by Ron HoganAre you ready for your daily dose of zombies? The Boston Police Department has a Twitter feed. Apparently, they also have a deadpan sense of humor, as evidenced by their response to Will Cady’s question about a potential zombie outbreak in Massachusetts. Hehehe, I love things like this; when an organization or company I assume […]
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Get Paid To Not Work
Posted 6/03/2009 1:54 pm by Ron HoganWhat would you do if your employer was giving you up to five years off? In a unique way of cutting costs, Spain’s second-largest bank, BBVA, is asking employees just that question. Before you think they’re just handing out furloughs, keep in mind that BBVA is paying its employees not to work. Those who take […]
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Tracking Penguin Poop Paths From Space
Posted 6/02/2009 12:36 pm by Ron HoganIn what is some of the crappiest news I’ve read today, scientists have discovered previously unknown colonies of emperor Penguins in the Antarctic. Before you ask, I don’t think the news is crappy because I hate penguins. I actually like those goofy flightless fish-eaters. The news is crappy because the penguin colonies were discovered via […]
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Eating James Bond
Posted 6/01/2009 12:23 pm by Ron HoganIn what has to be one of the weirdest, creepiest promotional items ever, Del Monte Superfruit Smoothes, a UK ice cream treat confectioner, has released the License to Chill ice pop in honor of National Ice Cream Week in the UK, which starts today and runs through June 7th. What’s so creepy about a popsicle […]
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Air France Flight Becomes Real-Life Version of “Lost”
Posted 6/01/2009 8:58 am by Ron HoganAn airplane full of people disappears near a deserted tropical island. No, it’s not a description of the hit TV show Lost, it is real life. An Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris disappeared overnight last night without a trace. An hour after takeoff, the plane encountered heavy turbulence. Ten minutes […]
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