Monday, April 6, 2009
And in North Korea: A Satellite Development Glitch…
According to North Korea's official media, not only did the country successfully send a communications satellite into orbit, but "it is sending to the Earth the melodies of the immortal revolutionary paeans 'Song of General Kim Il Sung' and 'Song of General Kim Jong Il.’” (CNN, April 6, 2009) That...
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Saturday, April 4, 2009
And in Quebec: Doing Time the Hard Way…
Quebec truly is a distinctive society. According to stats provided to Le Journal de Montreal by Correctional Services Canada, the province leads the country in the number of inmates taking erectile dysfunction drugs, with 152 prisoners in nine federal institutions popping Viagra or Cialis. British...
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Thursday, April 2, 2009
And in China: an 1100-Year-Old Solution...
Paper money originated in China in the year 910 and amazed Marco Polo when he visited three centuries later. He also noted that the emperor, Kublai Khan, seemed to be printing and awful lot of notes, which ultimately wrecked the economy. Due to skyrocketing inflation caused by churning out so much...
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Tuesday, March 31, 2009
And in Japan and Oklahoma: Ending the curse of Colonel Sanders...
In 1985, fans of Osaka ’s Hanshin Tigers celebrated a baseball-league victory by tossing a statue of Colonel Sanders stolen from a local KFC into the river. The colonel was said to resemble their team hero, Randy Bass. But 24 years of hard luck befell the Tigers, and they never won another...
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Monday, March 30, 2009
And in Switzerland: It’s Alive – Treat your Feet to a Living Bath Mat...
A Swiss inventor has devised a living bath mat, composed of three varieties of moss embedded in a foam substrate. Unlike fabric bath mats, which can mildew in bathroom damp, the moss mat actually thrives in the environment and requires no extra watering other than the drops that fall from your body...
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Sunday, March 29, 2009
And in Oklahoma: Dying Man Confesses, Forgets to Die...
After what James Brewer suffered what he thought was a fatal stroke, the Oklahoma man decided he didn’t want to perish with a guilty conscience. So he phoned the police and fessed up to the 1977 slaying of Tennessee resident Jimmy Carroll, a man Brewer suspected was fooling around with his wife....
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Friday, March 27, 2009
And in Japan: A New Bionic Woman...
At a fashion show in Japan, scientists unveiled a female humanoid robot with a very un-human name: HRP-4C. Made of 30 separate motors and covered in silver and black casing, the robot walked around, talked to the audience and took a bow at the end of the performance. The high-tech creation is more...
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Thursday, March 26, 2009
And in Ukraine: The Air-Taxing Mayor...
The Ukrainian Parliament has called for a psychiatric assessment of Kyiv [that’s Kiev to you] Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky after a series of bizarre proposals meant to balance civic books. He wants to tax the air people breathe, and cars driving into cemeteries. He also fired the zoo’s director for...
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009
And in the World’s Oceans: Because of the Recession, Sharks in Distress...
Shark attacks are down by 17 per cent. The sharks are still there, but thanks to a big drop in beach vacations, the number of shark attacks on humans dropped from 71 in 2007 to 59 last year – their lowest level in five years, according to a new study from the University of Florida. (Maclean’s, Mar...
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Monday, March 23, 2009
And in Taiwan: Edible Excretions - Taiwan's Toilet Restaurant…
"There's poop everywhere! Y-u-c-k," says 6-year-old Jordan Lien as he and his family dine at the Modern Toilet, a popular Taiwanese restaurant chain that's expanding into China and other parts of Asia. The boy was looking at the poop-shaped lights and dish covers and the curry on toilet-shaped...
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