This has been an odd year, and the fact that there have been three occurrences of the infamous Friday the 13th makes it even weirder. Enjoy today while it lasts, because there won’t be another year with this many Friday the 13ths until 2015 (and we all know the world ends in 2012). The other […]
Read »Unusual Stuff
Working In McCuba
Posted 11/13/2009 8:46 am by Ron HoganSo you’ve always wanted to work in a beautiful island environment while also shoveling hot fries, flipping grilled burgers, and slinging Shamrock Shakes? I don’t blame you. You get to live by the beach and work for a name you already know and trust, but you don’t have to strain your brain too much. While […]
Read »Teen Suspended For Bengals-Themed Hairstyle
Posted 11/13/2009 8:00 am by Ron HoganAll Dustin Reader wanted to do was show support for his favorite professional football team. Is that so bad? Well, when you’re an eighth-grade student in Hamilton, Ohio, and you decide to shave your head in an imitation of the Bengals logo, then yes, it is bad. Thanks to his wild hair style, Dustin is […]
Read »Cleared Of Crime Thanks To Facebook Update
Posted 11/13/2009 7:30 am by Ron HoganLife can be tough in New York’s Farragut Houses housing project. For example, recently there was a pair of robberies in the project and 19-year-old Rodney Bradford was arrested and held for 12 days on suspicion of being the stick-up man. Even though his mother and father both claimed he was at his father’s place […]
Read »The Dangerous Nasrallah Fish
Posted 11/12/2009 3:45 pm by Ron HoganOf the many weird and dangerous creatures of the sea, there’s one that’s particularly dangerous. Residing off the Mediterranean coast of Israel, the otherwise inoffensive fish is an ocean-going vacuum. Not only does it eat everything it can fit in its mouth, it’s also poisonous enough to paralyze or even kill a man. It’s called […]
Read »Wedding Ring, Marriage Rescued From Dump
Posted 11/12/2009 1:30 pm by Ron HoganAngelo and Bridget Pericolo recently celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. Of course, their celebration nearly got derailed when Angelo accidentally threw out their wedding rings. Bridget put the rings in a cup for whatever reason, and Angelo tossed the cup into the trash on his way out the door for work. Little did he know […]
Read »1.5 Pounds Of Nails Removed From Man’s Stomach
Posted 11/12/2009 12:15 pm by Ron HoganRequelme Abanto, a 26-year-old construction worker from Cajamarca, Peru, has an unusual claim to fame. “They call me the hardware store,” he was quoted as saying. Why is he the hardware store? Well, apparently he’s been eating coins, scrap metal, nails, and copper wire for the past several months. When his unusual hunger for metal […]
Read »Motherboard Mona Lisa’s Circuitry Smile
Posted 11/12/2009 9:46 am by Ron HoganDisplayed in the lobby of computer motherboard manufacturer ASUS’s world headquarters in Taiwan is a very unusual piece of silicon-enhanced art. No, not silicone; silicon! You know, the kind that is used to make all our computer chips and consumer electronics? ASUS engineers scrounged up a bunch of old motherboards (easy to do in a […]
Read »World’s Most Expensive Bottles Of Beer
Posted 11/12/2009 8:45 am by Ron HoganAt £700 a bottle, Vieille Bon Secours is quite the expensive adult beverage. While the beer is pretty steep in terms of cost, it is a 12-liter bottle and it is 8 percent alcohol by volume, which makes it 16 proof. For a beer, that’s pretty strong, and since it’s in a huge […]
Read »Shark Performs Impromptu C-Section
Posted 11/11/2009 3:00 pm by Ron HoganVisitors to Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World, a popular aquarium and animal park in Auckland, New Zealand, got to witness a gristly miracle. A shark was bitten on the side by another shark. To the surprise of horrified visitors, baby sharks started to emerge from the gaping wound in the female’s side. Apparently, nobody kenw […]
Read »Meep Is Not Allowed
Posted 11/11/2009 1:52 pm by Ron HoganAttention students at Danvers High School in Danvers, Massachusetts. When you go to school you are entering a “No Meeping” zone. Anyone caught saying the word (or making the sound) meep, as made famous by the Road Runner and The Muppet Show’s Beaker, risks getting suspended. Danvers High principal Thomas Murry has banned meeping on […]
Read »The Vatican’s Search For Alien Life
Posted 11/11/2009 12:46 pm by Ron HoganScience fiction blog io9 called it, “Life imitates V,” and in a way they’re totally right. On the ABC sci-fi show V (which I’ve watched and that I believe to be an excellent show), there’s an ongoing subplot concerning a priest, Father Jack Landry, and how the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church responds to […]
Read »Indian Villagers Imprison God-Turtle
Posted 11/11/2009 11:45 am by Ron HoganIndian villagers are leaving garlands of flowers, offerings of rice and fruit, and saying prayers at a temple in Kendrapara, India. Within the temple is a turtle upon whose back is supposed to be markings signifying him (or her) as an incarnation of Lord Jagannath, one of the more popular of the many Hindu deities. […]
Read »Military ID Spares Man Mugging
Posted 11/11/2009 9:00 am by Ron HoganIn the spirit of Veterans Day, even common criminals are getting in on the act and showing respect for our armed forces. For example, in Milwaukee, Wisconson, four men pointed a gun at a man and forced him to the ground. Once he was down, they took his keys, cell phone, wallet, and even a […]
Read »Placenta Teddy Bears And Afterbirth Pills
Posted 11/11/2009 7:00 am by Ron HoganChildbirth is a wonder. A sticky, bloody wonder. The process of the creation of life is an awesomely powerful experience, which is why some women are compelled to have lots of kids. It’s also really gross, even in the best of circumstances. However, you haven’t seen gross until you’ve seen Alex Green’s placenta teddy bear. […]
Read »Google Gives The Gift Of Free Holiday Wifi
Posted 11/11/2009 6:30 am by Ron HoganThe holiday travel season is fast approaching, and fortunately there’s someone looking out for the little guy. That would be the big guy. Google, the Internet search giant, is doing a little public good this winter by providing free high-speed wireless Internet access at 47 airports nationwide! Check to see if your […]
Read »World’s Shortest Mother Expecting Third Child
Posted 11/10/2009 11:15 am by Ron HoganStacey Herald suffers from the debilitating medical condition osteogenesis imperfecta. Basically, it means that she has brittle bones, weakened lungs, and failed to grow and thrive as a normal-sized person might. In Stacey’s case, she stopped growing at about 2 feet, 4 inches tall. Giving birth should be impossible for someone her size. Just don’t […]
Read »Police Dog Attacks The Wrong Man
Posted 11/10/2009 9:30 am by Ron HoganTim Crossan, a 39-year-old from Eugene, Oregon, was only trying to protect his family. Someone had broken into his home. Given his mother and young children were in the home, he had to do something to make sure they were safe, so he fought with the intruder while someone called the police. Of course, when […]
Read »Trapped On An Iceberg With Polar Bears
Posted 11/10/2009 9:00 am by Ron HoganThey say that the most dangerous place in the world is between a mother bear and her cubs. I’d imagine it’s not much better to be trapped on an iceberg as it drifts out to sea. Well, an unlucky teenage hunter found that out the hard way after he found himself trapped on an iceberg […]
Read »Semper Fi, Marines
Posted 11/10/2009 8:30 am by Ron HoganI discussed it last year, but it’s the birthday of the United States Marine Corps. In this case, birthday number 234. Happy birthday, Marines. In honor of the Corps and all the friends I have who have served the United States with honor and distinction, I present the following incredible video.
The United States Marine Corps […]
Read »Vegetable-Phobic Vicki
Posted 11/10/2009 7:00 am by Ron HoganVicki Larrieux, a 22-year-old woman from Portsmouth, England, has a very unusual fear. It’s not clowns or horses or the outdoors. Those are all fairly normal. Vicki is a lachanophobic, which means that she’s afraid of vegetables.
As it turns out, it’s not just an excuse for kids to avoid eating their greens. Vicki, when exposed […]
James Cameron’s Avatar Is The Most Expensive Movie Ever
Posted 11/09/2009 2:34 pm by Ron HoganIs it possible that a movie about blue cat-like alien things is the most expensive movie ever made? Well, the movie in question, Avatar, has a stated production budget of $237 million, which is quite a lot even when compared to other budget-busting blockbusters. However, that’s not the most expensive movie. But when you start […]
Read »Survival Town, USA
Posted 11/09/2009 2:00 pm by Ron HoganFor most people, the scene in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull where he finds himself wandering through a nuclear bomb test is the worst (or second worst) part of the movie. For them, it’s a strain of the suspension of disbelief that he’d crawl into a lead-lined fridge and survive a […]
Read »Dolphins Vs Porpoise: Turf War
Posted 11/09/2009 1:30 pm by Ron HoganIt’s one of the weirdest things I’ve ever read about, and I’ve read about a lot of weird stuff since I’ve started at PopFi. When you think of dolphins, you think of Flipper, right? They’re cute, they save humans from sharks, guide whales to safety, they’re smart and friendly, and will do tricks for fish. […]
Read »World’s Longest California Roll
Posted 11/09/2009 8:00 am by Ron HoganTo honor the 50th anniversary of the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Japanese Studies, the university’s Japanese Graduate & Researchers Society had a pretty unusual idea. They decided to get together, dress like ninjas using dime-store costumes, and make the world’s largest California roll. With a little help from the Alaska Seafood Marketing […]
Read »Miss England In Beauty Queen Brawl
Posted 11/06/2009 12:15 pm by Ron HoganRachel Christie is quite an accomplished young woman. Or she was, anyway. At age 21, not only is she in training for the 2012 London Olympics as a heptathlete, she also found some time on her days off to become the first black winner of the Miss England competition. However, while she might still represent […]
Read »Women’s Soccer Is Surprisingly Violent
Posted 11/06/2009 11:45 am by Ron HoganThere’s an old adage that describes soccer (football) as a gentleman’s game played by ruffians and rugby as a ruffian’s game played by gentlemen. That’s never more true than when the gentlemen playing the game are ladies. Take, for example, the supremely thuggish antics of Elizabeth Lambert, a 21-year-old defender on the New Mexico Lobos […]
Read »2009 Toy Hall Of Fame Inductions
Posted 11/06/2009 9:17 am by Ron HoganThe 2009 inductees for the National Toy Hall of Fame have been announced, and this year’s class of honorees is the direct opposite of last year’s class. Where the 2008 version required a lot of imagination to wring the most fun out of them, 2009’s hall of fame class requires a lot less thinking and […]
Read »“Magic Mountain” Military Bunker
Posted 11/06/2009 8:57 am by Ron HoganIt’s one of the most remarkable buildings of its kind in the world. Built in 1989 and opened months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Cold War-era nuclear bomb shelter known around Alconbury Royal Air Force base as “Magic Mountain” is one of the most impressively damage-resistant structures in the world. Due to […]
Read »Cop Turned Raconteur’s Alligator Attack Story
Posted 11/06/2009 7:00 am by Ron HoganAfter 13 years on the police force, Terry Ashe has seen and experienced a lot of crazy things. However, he hasn’t lost his sense of humor, or his ability to tell an appropriately lurid tale. When his police cruiser was bitten by an angry alligator (apparently this is a common problem in Florida), he could’ve […]
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