Year: 2009

Categories
Lists Mindlessness

Offbeat Valentine’s Gifts

Valentine’s Day, once a tribute to a Roman Catholic martyr, has been perverted by florists and candy companies. That’s my excuse for not buying the missus anything on February 14th. It’s worked in the past, and I’m sticking to it.

Fun fact: Did you know that until 1969, the Catholic Church formally recognized eleven Valentine’s Days?

If you’re one of the unlucky millions that have to buy something, here are a couple of non-traditional gift ideas:

Heart Butcher Knives

Created by Bloodbath McGrath comes personalized heart butcher knives. For those moments when a severed heart reminds you of your lover.

Edible Candy G-String and Bra

A great way to end a Valentine’s Day meal, the Edible Candy G-String and Bra contains 30 fruit-flavored candy pieces, and has just 60 calories. Great if you’re watching your weight and if don’t care about the hygiene issues that may arise from eating sweets out your lover’s vajayjay.

8-Bit Dynamic Life Shirt

The idea behind the 8-Bit Dynamic Life Shirt is that you wear one and you give one to your lover. When you both are in range, the pixelated hearts start glowing to full charge. The hearts will dip to two and a half when you both are out of range. Geeky, but cute nonetheless.

World’s Largest Inflatable Heart

Nothing says “I Love You” more than with an outrageously large inflatable heart.

Click out to Oddee for more unusual Valentine’s gifts.

Categories
Animal Kingdom Mindlessness

Obama’s Policy on Cats

– via Cracked.com.

Categories
Cautionary Tales

Cape Town May Call Last Rounds at 9pm

My psychiatrist says I should stay away from the sauce as it heightens my delusions of grandeur. As the king of the whole world I decided not to listen to his obviously incorrect diagnosis.

The Cape Town city council is trying to pass an act through parliament that will prevent bars, restaurants, and hotels in residential areas from serving drinks past 9pm. This is in the drive to stamp out illegal shebeens, but has implications for anyone thinking of throwing a party and in need of a significant quantity of alcohol. Such a person would first have cough up R250 to apply for a temporary liquor license a month in advance, and if successful will have hand over a further R350 or R500 depending whether it’s a “temporary” or “special events” license.

Cape Town is also proposing new booze regulations restricting bars and nightclubs in the city centre from selling alcohol past 2am.

Gavin Winder, co-owner of the Mercury Lounge in Long Street, said : “We only get going after midnight . And we have to shut down at two? That’s when the party starts.”

I’m pretty sorted  – binge drinking was my #1 subject at school ;)

Read the full article at The Times – via Slackers.

Categories
Cautionary Tales History Useful/Useless Info

Flipping the Bird: A Quick History

The middle finger happens to be our oldest and the most common of insulting gestures. Before you and I were liberally handing out the highway digit on our nation’s roads, the Romans and medieval Europeans were merrily using the digitus impudicus or digitus infamis (indecent or infamous digit). Roman emperor and sexual pervert Caligula often handed out his middle finger to be kissed by his enemies. It was all fun and games until he got stabbed in the neck by one of his enemies.

Before the Romans, an Athenian comedian by the name of Aristophanes provided the earliest literary reference to the gesture – he created a feisty character who gave Socrates the finger. There is only so much philosophy one can take before it gets irritating.

Along with the Romans and Athenians, the Arabs and Russians contributed to the universal appeal of the middle finger. Adding spice to the mix, the Arabian sign consisted of an outstretched hand, palm down, with all fingers splayed except the middle, which sticks downwards. And the Russian version bends the middle finger of one hand back with the forefinger of the other in a gesture they call “looking under the cat’s tail.”

Read the full article at Mental Floss.

Categories
Cautionary Tales Lists

The 30 Greatest Conspiracy Theories

It’s in our nature to question the happenings around us. Why just the other day, I was questioning the ethics of the Simba chip company for piping more air into their chip packets than actual chips. I’m sure it’s a conspiracy, and I’d stop buying Simba chips if my bodily functions didn’t depend on them. In any case, from the Pearl Harbour bombings, to JFK’s assassination, to the NASA moon landing, every major event our of our time has a conspiracy theory attached to it.

Join the Telegraph as their examine the 30 greatest conspiracies. It’s in two parts – PART 1 | PART 2 – via Look At This.

Categories
Mindlessness

Helping Master Photographers

Adam of Adam Thinks says the master photographers of our time weren’t all that great, and with the use of Photoshop he can help them out.

He ‘fixes’ some of the most famous photos producing some very amusing results.

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams – Fixed

Alfred Eisenstaedt

Alfred Eisenstaedt – Fixed

A few more at Adam Thinks – via Haha.nu.

Categories
Arty Photoworthy

Photoworthy: Isla Mujeres, Mexico

This amazing photo was taken by flickr user Patrick Smith whilst on vacation in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing:

On the first day of my trip, the sun had set to the left of end of the pier, but I knew that over the next few days, the sun would move a little to the right each day. (In landscape photography it pays to know how the natural world works, just as a bird photographer must know the habits of the birds to get the best shots.) On the last day of my trip, the sun set right at the end of the pier. I was ready and had an image in my head of what I hoped I could capture. Fortunately the sun dropped below the clouds at the last minute and became visible right as the sun set. I had taken photographs on the previous evenings just in case this evening turned out to be cloudy just to be on the safe side.

So, I was lucky to be on vacation during this time, but the rest was planning!

– Found on Reddit.

Categories
Arty Awesomeness Entertainment Video Clips

Onitsuka Tiger: The Zodiac Race

The Zodiac Race is a cute animated short to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Onitsuka Tiger. Part of the year long “Cycle of Life” campaign, the Zodiac Race explains how the animals came to be in order for the zodiac calendar.

You can download the high video (121 MB) from Panda Panther – via freshness.

Categories
Arty Cautionary Tales Weirdness

The Lonely World of Dmitry Maximov

By combining illustration and photography, Russian artist Dmitry Maximov places his cute whimsical monsters into different landscapes of a human-like world. These bulbous characters often look lonely as if the landscapes seems unwilling or unable to take notice of them.

More of Maximov’s micro worlds after the jump.

Continue reading “The Lonely World of Dmitry Maximov”

Categories
Lists Mindlessness

Desert Island Hotties: The Top 10 “LOST” Babes

Being stuck on a deserted island without hot chicks is like going to the strip club and finding out all the dancers are your cousins. It’s also like buying Penthouse Magazine to actually read the articles. Thankfully LOST provides some great eye candy to go along with the obtuse storyline.

Join Manofest as he counts down the Top 10 LOST babes of all time.

I don’t completely agree with this list. A noticeable omission is Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet) who happens to be my favourite because she radiates kindness and warmth wherever she goes.

Let us know who your top LOST hottie is.