If you have the money and you’re cool, you have polished granite countertops in your kitchen.
Another interesting new trend: granite can contain high levels of radioactive uranium.
“It’s not that all granite is dangerous . . . but I’ve seen a few [granite countertops] that might heat up your Cheerios a little.” - Stanley Liebert, the quality assurance director at CMT Laboratories.
(via Angie)
(photo by Kirk Aeder)
A New Zealand judge made a 9-year-old child a ward of the court so he could change her name to something normal.
Her given birth name: Talula Does the Hula.
Apparently this case is not unique; previous New Zealand examples include: Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Keenan Got Lucy, Number 16, Bus Shelter, Violence, and (a personal favorite) Sex Fruit.
What happened to naming your kid something normal like Kal-el, Zowie, Piper Maru, Jett, Gaia Romilly, Sage Moonblood, Justice, Christopher Sargent Shriver, Essenz Astral, Hopper, Tatum, Brawley King, Zola Ivy, Frances Bean, Saffron Sarah, Tito Joe, Prince Michael, Alchemy, Phoenix Chi, Fifi-Trixibelle, Pixie, Satchel, Calico, or Guggi Q. Hewson?
(via Angie, via Yahoo! News)
(image from DailyMail)
For Sale in October at Bonhams Auction House:
The item is an ancient Roman marble “acroterion” - a decorative bust from a sarcophagus, tomb, or tombstone. It is expected to fetch £25,000 - £30,000 in the October auction.
*And this is the awesome pompadoured, sequined, lambchoped, fat Elvis.
(via DailyMail, via Susan)
Earlier this month, Iran tested four three missiles to publicly demonstrate its military capabilities mediocre Photoshop skillz.
(images from New York Times Blog)
“Death to Infidels” Bonus Round:
(courtesy of Gorilla Sushi. Thanks Jason!)
(via New York Times Blog, via Zimbio, via Gorilla Sushi)
(photos from Press Enterprise and L.A. Times)
21-year-old Grace Hilario was recently lost for a day in the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California. Among other things, “[s]he said she worried about bears but saw only squirrels and what she described as a monkey, walking and then running through the trees.”
42-year old Moe the chimp had gone missing from a nearby Devore, California wild animal facility earlier this month.
Will we ever learn of the forbidden love they shared in the wilderness?
And who won the smile contest?
(via Susan, L.A. Times, via Press Enterprise)
Guess who’s not going to be vice president? That’s right– South Carolina governor, Mark Sanford. The state of South Carolina should be oh-so proud, with Sanford doing his best Lauren Caitlin Upton impression. Kudos to Keith Olbermann’s Countdown for this brilliant mashup.
This is Troy.
He is 39 years old.
His wife’s name is Paige.
They have three kids.
They live in Alabama.
Troy is a Republican Attorney General.
Troy has been very outspoken against homosexuality.
Paige recently caught Troy having sex with his male assistant in their bedroom.
Way to live the stereotype, Troy.
(via Susan, de la Wonkette)
The Wall Street Journal reports: Hasbro Games is taking its products to Hollywood with the intent of making feature films based on their acclaimed boardgames - such as Monopoly, Ouija, and Candy Land.
Casting Suggestion: Monopoly’s Rich Uncle Pennybags should be played by Wilford Brimley. And yes, this also counts as a Blogadilla Look-Alike.
Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Bonus Round: A Monopoly themed Reebok Reverse Jam Mid, coming out in late August 2008.
(not actual photo)
Yesterday, around 10:40 AM, several residents of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties (California) reported seeing a large ball of fire falling from the sky. No FAA reports of missing aircraft, etc.
If you personally saw this or you have photos, please let us know what you saw.
(via Susan)
Fellow Californians: starting tomorrow, your cellphone conversations are going to be interrupted by driving.
As of July 1st, it will be a state law: your cellphone must be hands-free while driving. And if you’re under 18, no phone for you.
Further information: L.A. Times.
(photos from Fishki and Andrea Harner)
First American president George Washington has a phallic national monument, a post, a state, a Sweat-Hog, and a Denzel named after him.
Current president George W. Bush may soon receive an equally appropriate honor:
The Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is proposing a vote for this November’s ballot - to rename San Francisco’s “Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant” the “George W. Bush Sewage Plant.”
God Bless America.
Though China has five Olympic mascots (”The Fuwa”), several others never made it past the drawing board.
A Blogadilla exclusive: rejected Chinese Olympic mascots.
Maomao - Lil’ Mao Zedong.
Melmel - The Melamine Cat.
I take pleasure in knowing that I’d be shot for doing this if I lived in China.
The pattern of recent disasters in China has had many superstitious people concerned about the Olympic Mascots (the Fuwa) - claiming that each of the five reflects/predicts a particular disaster. According to Reuters, Chinese censors have made efforts to remove posts about the Fuwa superstitions, struggling to keep the air of the upcoming Olympics at a rosy-fresh note.
Recently, the fifth and final Fuwa prophecy has been supposedly fulfilled.
Huanhuan - The Olympic Flame - (“The Bearer of Incendiary Strife”) Starting in March 2008, this Olympic Torch Relay may go down in history as one of the most protested and problematic.
Jingjing - The Giant Panda - (“The Lord of Angry Earth”) The panda patron of Sichuan Province has been associated with the disastrous 7.9 May 12th earthquake that occurred there, which left 69,000 dead and over a million stranded or homeless. The epicenter of the earthquake was near the Wulong Panda Research Center.
Yíngying - The Tibetan Antelope - (“The Creature of Righteous Unrest”) On March 10, 2008 - the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising Day - demonstrations began in China. By March 14th, destructive riots ensued in several regions of China.
Nini - The Swallow/Shayan Kite - (“The Bearer of Unfortunate Wind”) April 28, China Railway Train T195 crashed near the city of Zibo in Shandong Province, killing 72 people and injuring more than 420. The nearby city of Weifang has had a long association with Shayan kites.
Bèibei - The Chinese Sturgeon - (“The Bringer of Torrent and Flood”) Over the last month, flooding in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan Provinces has displaced thousands of people and over 1,000 people are missing or dead.
A West London Burger King franchise is now offering the world’s most expensive burger - known as “The Burger” - for a whopping $200.00 (proceeds go to charity).
Check out the recipe:
Wagyu beef, white truffles, Pata Negra ham, Cristal onion straws, Modena balsamic vinegar, lambs lettuce, pink Himalayan rock salt, organic white wine and shallot infused mayonnaise in an Iranian saffron and white truffle dusted bun.
A nearly six-foot-long Black Headed Python appeared in the toilet of a 10th floor apartment in Darwin, Australia.
The likeliest explanation: it is a pet that escaped through sewer pipes.
The second likeliest explanation: someone pooped a python.
(photographed by Philip Gostelow for The National)
The South China Mall:
1,500 spaces, only ~10 functioning stores.
“. . . the mall entered the world pre-ruined . . . “
(via The National, via BLDG Blog)
According to a recent study by the Dutch Center for Insurance Statistics, traffic accidents and incidents such as fire and theft actually occur slightly less on Friday the 13th (in the Netherlands).
Ironically, there are also less incidents of killing sprees involving the undead in hockey masks.
This month’s issue of Wired magazine ran an article about MegaPhone - turning big-screen billboards into giant game screens, your cellphone becomes a game controller, and all you have to do is call the phone number posted on the screen and you’re playing video games on the side of a building.
Recently, Palo Alto based product engineering firm MindTribe has placed a 65″ plasma screen in a front window with the same idea in mind. You dial the phone number on the screen and you are now playing a version of Tetris while standing in the middle of the sidewalk (and it’s free). Bonus: if you get a high score, your snapshot goes up on their website.
