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Home » General Discussion » Odd Items III Messages in this topic - RSS
7/31/2009 5:34:32 AM
Thomas R
Posts 3572
Two-headed Filipino baby causes surprise/concern

Just felt like a new "Odd Items" thread was needed.

--
"Not for a moment, beautiful aged Walt Whitman, have I failed to see your beard full of butterflies." Federico Garcia Lorca

"I was going down a long hallway, and at the end of it there was a bright light a kind man with a beard reaching his hand out to me, beckoning me, and he looked at me as I got closer.. and said: 'Hey buddy, can you spare some change? I want a cup of coffee!'" Tom Servo
7/31/2009 1:25:54 PM
gdozois
Posts 4314
You have to wonder if something like this is the seed from which stories about two-headed giants, common in some mythologies, were born.

The other day I saw a man walking two grayhounds at the same time, holding them pressed close together on the same leash, and I realized in a flash where the myth of Cerberus had come from.
7/31/2009 2:54:37 PM
RandyBeck
RandyBeck
Posts 1867
Beluga whale 'saves' diver

This type of whale isn't referenced in MOBY-DICK unless it's under another name. It's much smaller than those. So don't anyone start feeling guilty for the whale stew you had last weekend.

That is, unless you're an eskimo, in which case you shouldn't show this to the kids lest they turn into vegetarians.

--
"It is this or that -- all the universe or nothing. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?"
7/31/2009 5:11:20 PM
Marian
Posts 3065
A great idea for movie goers (in both senses of the word) http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=423733>1=28101

--
"Know the truth and the truth shall make you odd."
7/31/2009 5:29:24 PM
GSH
Posts 431
Regarding human/whale cooperation--in this case deadly--there's Old Tom, a killer whale that for years led a pod of killer whales in regular cooperation with human whalers on the hunt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tom_(killer_whale)
7/31/2009 7:53:46 PM
Marian
Posts 3065
The newborn Filipino girls are not a two-headed girl but conjoined twins that unfortunately failed to separate except at the head. There is a pair of twins like that here in the USA. What's fascinating is that they have quite different personalities and are clearly two different girls who happen to share a body. I believe they are now attending college. Fascinating pair. I have enormous admiration for their parents who have clearly done a magnificent job in raising them as normally as possible. Here's a youtube interview with them from last year.
http://www.24timepass.com/blogs/twins-abby-and-brittany-hensel-turn-18.htm

--
"Know the truth and the truth shall make you odd."
8/2/2009 1:45:34 PM
John Thiel
John Thiel
Posts 1980
Referring back to last week's odd item crossword puzzle from the LA Times Syndicate that had "Startling Stories: [ans] pulp magazine" and "Do ---to eat a peach?--eliot" on it, I just looked over the answers this week and the answer to "nautical ladder rung" was "ratline". Okay, liner, that puts you up a notch in my estimation.

--
Surprising Stories has a slush pile.
8/4/2009 1:54:51 PM
GSH
Posts 431
Has this come up in Odd Items before? Mattel toy company is releasing the Mindflex in October. It's a simple game involving a ball balancing on cushion of air, that you navigate through a rotating series of obstacles. Odd thing is, it's strictly hands-off. You control the height of the ball by learning to consciously control your alpha-wave output. There's a controller interface gizmo that you slip over your cranium.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/4126913/Mind-game-where-players-use-brainwaves-to-float-ball-through-hoops-unveiled.html

Not exactly a Krell-level training device, but I'm wondering about unforeseen consequences. Sometime shortly after Christmas 2009, millions of three-year-olds may suddenly develop psychokinetic abilities and take over the planet.
8/4/2009 3:33:13 PM
Tarrys Here Occasionally
Posts 164
Or they may suddenly send the planet careening out of the galaxy with yelps of glee.
8/4/2009 5:25:40 PM
natipal
Posts 665
I had to laugh at this one!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2569807/Spy-car-parking-fines-are-not-legal.html
8/7/2009 8:18:05 PM
GSH
Posts 431
You've just got to love Martian surface anomalies. Here's the latest in the growing list of VPPs (Very Peculiar Photographs). Yeah, it's definitely...odd:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2572537/Mars-monument-proof-of-life.html
8/8/2009 5:29:00 PM
Marian
Posts 3065
A good reason to be obese http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32340014/ns/us_news-weird_news/?GT1=43001

--
"Know the truth and the truth shall make you odd."
8/8/2009 6:41:32 PM
jimbraiden
jimbraiden
Posts 2680
GSH,

I don't know about you but to me that looks very much like a certain monolith...
8/8/2009 8:00:14 PM
GSH
Posts 431
Yes! This is conclusive evidence not only that there were once Martians, but also a Martian film industry!
8/13/2009 12:25:38 AM
Byron Bailey
Byron Bailey
Posts 3582
It's a case too hot for Agatha Christie. It's a case too cold for Sherlock Holmes. It's a case too sensative for James Bond. The Brits need help because they have a taxidermist currently working on the case. I'd recomend Dr. Eszterhazy or Serverian the Torturer. Although their tactics diverge, the two both get good result. Furthermore, since both of them are outsiders, they'd feel no compunction about following the trail all the way to its source even if that source is the very Queen herself.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124991924916619783.html?mod=yhoofront
edited by Byron Bailey on 8/13/2009

--
Yeah, I weigh 800 pounds. All muscle. Really. Well, mostly muscle. Well, the doctor said that I had muscles -- hundreds of them.
8/16/2009 12:24:24 PM
gdozois
Posts 4314
An astounding performance in a medium I never knew existed:

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/tvandradioblog/2009/aug/13/ukranian-sand-artist>
8/16/2009 12:27:13 PM
gdozois
Posts 4314
Try again. If this doesn't come out as a clickable, you'll have to paste it in to your browser. It's worth watching, though,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/tvandradioblog/2009/aug/13/ukranian-sand-artist
8/16/2009 2:16:10 PM
Byron Bailey
Byron Bailey
Posts 3582
Wow.

--
Yeah, I weigh 800 pounds. All muscle. Really. Well, mostly muscle. Well, the doctor said that I had muscles -- hundreds of them.
8/16/2009 2:19:44 PM
gdozois
Posts 4314
When's the last time you saw an AMERICAN IDOL where the judges were all in tears by the end?
8/17/2009 2:42:12 AM
Thomas R
Posts 3572
Powerful stuff! I'm sure it's even more powerful for Ukrainians.

You know I've watched our version of America's Got Talent, but I don't recall see anything like this or even what the British produce. What's wrong with us? Or is that all our really soulful and inspiring people are already recognized?

--
"Not for a moment, beautiful aged Walt Whitman, have I failed to see your beard full of butterflies." Federico Garcia Lorca

"I was going down a long hallway, and at the end of it there was a bright light a kind man with a beard reaching his hand out to me, beckoning me, and he looked at me as I got closer.. and said: 'Hey buddy, can you spare some change? I want a cup of coffee!'" Tom Servo
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