[photos] WEIRD wallpaper for your desktop – Part 1

These totally fall in the ‘weird’ category …

Find lots more here - Source

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Get these beauties here - Source

[video] YouTube advertisement has surprising end

What a powerful visual hook!  I’d like to add more but it would spoil the ending…I’ll bet you can’t tell what this captivating commercial is for.

If that’s not enough, look at the jpg ad on their website.

Well?  What are your thoughts about the video and image?  Were you surprised?

(8) Strange funeral customs

Eaten by Vultures

The ancient Zoroastrians believed life was a constant battle between light and dark, good and evil. Their duty was to preserve the natural balance until, as with all eschataological beliefs, the world would end and a new better world would be born in which true believers would live forever in spiritual delight.

However, in the boring material world people die and need to be disposed of. How to do this without upsetting the elements? Well the Zoroastrian way, which still exists in parts of Iran and India, is to perch the naked body onto a ‘dokhma’ (a stone tower) and let it be eaten by vultures. No waste, you see. Apparently in recent years a lack of vultures in India has made this process more difficult.

A very similar custom called sky burial was practised by Buddhists in Tibet who believe the body is nothing more than flesh after death.

Hanging Coffins

In certain regions in China and the Philippines it won’t be just birds you find nesting on cliff faces. Because the ancient tradition of coffin hanging amongst some groups, primarily the Bo people in China, in Sagada on Luzon Island in the Philippines and amongst the Sa’da Toraja people of Indonesia ensured some of the best spots for the deceased. The coffins were lowered down on ropes and fixed between wooden stakes. The practice does not exist today but the coffins are still there with their beautiful sea views.

Eating the Ashes

The Yanomami tribe of the Amazon do not believe in death. Or at least they do not believe in death as a natural state. They believe all death is inflicted from a hostile source, an evil spirit, a shaman of another tribe. To ensure the evil is destroyed the Yanomami cremate the body after death and swallow the ashes, during which there is a lot of screaming and shouting, thumping the earth and singing.

Another form of endocannabalism is practised by the Amahuaca tribe of Peru. They like to crush the bones of their tribe members into a paste, cook and eat. They also take hallucinatory drugs and kill their children. Still if you’re a woman you get to enjoy the company of all your husband’s brothers.

Funeral bundles

In the Andes the Paracas people would shape their dead into the fetal position and wrap them in a bundle with gifts, clothing, food and gold. The funeral bundle was then moved to a nearby burial site, often in a cave and marked with a pole or a cane.

Exploding Ashes

The great thing about ashes is you can scatter them anywhere. Off a cliff, in the sea, on a football pitch, in a computer, even in space. And yes all of these scatterings have happened. To be buried in a computer was the dying wish of one William Alan Watson who is now spending his time inside a SPARCstation. The floppy drive, hard drive and power supply had to be removed to accommodate William but apparently he now rests very peacefully. Condolences were written on Post-it notes and posted through the floppy slot.

One of the first men on Earth to have their ashes exploded in space was Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. In 1997 Gene along with the ashes of writer Timothy Leary and nineteen others were popped into a space capsule and blasted into orbit. Unfortunately after ten years the capsule dropped back to Earth and burnt up in the atmosphere. Still they were ashes not people.

Writer Hunter S Thompson (pictured above) was determined to cause a bang. His final wish after he shot himself through the head was to be the central part of a huge fireworks display. His ashes were exploded from a 150ft cannon during a party at his home in Colorado, all paid for by the actor Johnny Depp. It cost millions apparently.

Novelty Coffins in Ghana

Getting buried in Ghana is fun. Especially if you’re a member of the Ga tribe. The Ga tribe do coffins in a big big way. Basically whatever your job was or your love, interest or hobby is exactly what you are going to be buried in the earth in. So that guy down the road who loved cigarettes and smoked 100 a day and died yesterday at the age of 45 will be buried in a giant cigarette. The man who wore new shoes everyday will enter the ground in a giant shoe. The woman who washed floors is buried in a bucket, the fish man in a fish, the kid who liked coke a Coke bottle. You get the idea? It is simple and it is brilliant and I want to die in Ghana.

The Religions

We need to devote at least three lines to the world’s main religions so here goes:

• Christianity: House, church, coffin, burial, cremation
• Judaism: House, synagogue, burial (as soon as possible after death, same day or next day) seven days of mourning
• Islam: Bathe the body (males wash males, females wash females (except husbands and wives)) ,enshroud body in white sheets (no more than three), funeral prayer, burial, head pointing towards Mecca
• Buddhism: Prayers and cremation
• Hinduism: Funeral before sun goes down on day of death, body laid head pointing south, oil lamp lit next to body and burnt for three days after death, body washed and dressed, body covered with flowers and cremated

Go Green

As the world gets greener so do the funerals. You can now be buried wearing a bio-degradable shroud inside a cardboard or bamboo coffin within an eco-cemetery (a park or natural woodland) with a tree planted on top. No one will know you were ever here.

Source

Gold-silver glitter phrases for emails and websites (I-W)

Here’s the last of the phrases…

Silver-glitter phrases for your emails and websites (A-H)

I made some glitter phrases and thought I’d share them with you.  Just right click, choose ’save image as’ and then use them any way you want!

If you’d like to see more phrases, let me know and I’ll make them!

Gold-glitter phrases for your emails and websites (A-H)

I made some glitter phrases and thought I’d share them with you.  Just right click, choose ’save image as’ and then use them any way you want!

More coming later in another post…

[12 photos] Restored church creates heavenly living quarters

A couple purchased this old church in Kyloe, North Cumberland, England.  They invested lots of money to keep the outside and inside as it was, and restored instead of renovated (3 times more money).

What a heavenly idea!

[photos] 14 Images to help you smile

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Which one gave you the biggest smile?

[photos] Food carvings: Apple butterfly, Banana dolphin, Cauliflower lamb…

I wish I could create things like this…

* * * * *

I know your smiling right now.

Keep it going!

[photos] Staircase to…

Where does this staircase, located at Palace of Congresses in Biel, Switzerland lead to?

Source

 

[video] Weather/cloud experts–please identify

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[crafts/photos] How to make a rose from leaves

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Money DOES grow on trees in Ingleton, North Yorkshire! [photos]

This gives new meaning to the term “financial growth.”

Did your mother ever chastise you with the words ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’ in a possibly fruitless attempt to curb your profligate ways? Well, maybe – just maybe – she was wrong. There are places in England where money apparently does just that.

(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Money_tree.jpg)

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyjakeman/3482999725/)

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackham/240783599/)

The details are found here.

“Fun theory” encourages exercise and trash reduction [video]

How cool is this?

“Piano Stairs” to encourage exercise…

“Deep Garbage Bins” to encourage trash reduction…

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Brilliant!  Brilliant!

Woman survives impalement [news]

Michelle Childers and her husband, Daniel, were taking a recreational drive on a rural road in Idaho on Sept 5 when a spruce tree crashed through the passenger side window of the vehicle.

The twenty-two-year-old said she then felt a “strange” pressure on her neck and shoulder.

“I asked (my husband) ‘what where is it?’ “she told Fox News.

Her husband, twenty-two- year-old Daniel Childers, told her that the tree limb had impaled her.

The branch was more than an inch in diameter and 18 inches long.

However, Mrs Childers said she felt no pain.

The couple drove to the Lochsa Lodge near the Idaho-Montana border to call for help and was flown by helicopter to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Mont.

Childers said the 13-inch tree limb was removed from her neck during a six-hour surgery.

Doctors discovered that the branch had somehow missed her jugular vein and her windpipe. The branch penetrated its way to the back of her left shoulder.

Source

Have you had a similar experience?

Most complicated rail line

One million dollar coin [photos]

 

Can you read this?

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.  The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the first and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.   Amzanig huh?

Man tries to extract a lodged fish bone with a spoon [photo]

A 50-year-old man presented to the emergency department with marked dysphagia, dyspnea, and paroxysmal cough. He had swallowed a spoon while trying to extract a fish bone that was stuck in his throat. The presence and position of the spoon were verified in two radiographs (Panels A and B). With the patient under general anesthesia and with the aid of a laryngoscope, the end of the tablespoon was grabbed with forceps and safely extracted. No fish bone was detected on evaluation with esophagogastroduodenoscopy. The spoon was 19 cm in overall length, and the bowl of the spoon was 6.5 cm by 4 cm by 0.5 cm in its largest dimensions.

Source

Low-Rise: a staple city [photos]

I just love creative, unique things.  You know, things that make you say, “How cool is that!”  Well, artist Peter Root, created one of them…

“Low-Rise is a precarious assemblage of thousands of free-standing stacks of staples densely tessellated to create a city-like mosaic. Like a city, the staples are subject to the elements, on a micro scale. The slightest breath or vibration and the domino effect kicks in.”  Source

Originally found via Presurfer

(11) Prettiest outhouses in Texas [photos]

From a fwd email:

THUNDER BOXES —- all this month (must have been written in January) some of the prettiest outhouses in Texas are on display in downtown San Antonio.
The “Thunderbox Road” art exhibit is going on at the Menger Hotel. There are 12 full-sized “Thunderboxes” or outhouses, painted and decorated In true Texas style.
Sonja Howle with the Thunderbox Road exhibit says:
“It was created to pay tribute and showcase the talent We have in the Hill Country artists.”
In February, the exhibit will be at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. After their tour, the outhouses Will be auctioned off to benefit medical research and The Western Art Museum in Kerrville.

Bleeding billboard reduces accidents [video]

Every time it rains, this billboard ‘bleeds.’

Remarkable image of a ‘pushy’ baby [photo]

I think this is one determined human being who is going to push its way through life!

Click on the source link to see the full size.

Photo link: http://connect.tangle.com/uphoto?PID=359480

Source

Library waives $52,000 fine

Image via Wikipedia

The largest library fine I ever received was for $42 for late fees because I misplaced some video tapes during a move–oh, the shame.  Then I found out about this gentleman…

An Illinois handball coach returned a book that was over 145 years overdue!

“The leather-bound volume was taken from the shelves of the Washington and Lee University library in Lexington, Virginia on 11 June 1864 by a Union soldier when General David Hunter and his army of West Virginia raided the area. Passed down by the soldier, CS Gates, through generations of his family, it eventually came into the possession of Mike Dau, of Lake Forest, Illinois, from one of Gates’s descendents.”

Read the whole story here

CRAZY inventions: hangover bonnets, stainless steel dentures, perfume for rejected women

Max Factor developed this bonnet for actresses wanting to refresh their faces without spoiling their makeup.

This gentleman made his own set of stainless steel dentures!

Source

This “guaranteed” perfume advertisement is for women who feel rejected.  If it didn’t work, the consumer got their money back.  Do you think there were any returns?  I’d sure like to know the ingredients in “Secret Voice” and if they sell it today!

Source

Unusual objects: mailboxes and pool tables [photos]

Here are three unique mailboxes out of 17 shown at the link:

Link

Here are some unique pool tables :

Link

Man inhales seed–grows fir tree in his lungs [news/photo]

Do you remember the TV show Fact or Fiction (I think that was the name of it)?  Well I think this story should have been included in it.

Artyom Sidorkin was complaining of strong chest pains along with coughing up blood.  Doctors found a tumor in one of his lungs and took a biopsy to see if it was cancerous.  They were amazed to find a 5-cm fir tree!  The needles were poking the capillaries.  Physicians suggested the bud was inhaled, which started to grow in his body.

Source

Transparent toasters, rubber umbrellas, time-sensitive bills [products]

If you’re looking for unique products, Inventibles fits the bill.  My favorites:

Transparent toaster

Time-sensitive bills

Rubber Umbrella

Need a unique proposal idea? Order “Martini on the Rock”

Image by chrisjohnbeckett via Flickr

If you’re in need of a unique proposal idea, try the “Martini on the Rock.’  For a mere $10,000 (approximate–depends on the stone) the Algonquin Hotel in New York City will help you propose to your sweetheart.  But you have to place your order three days in advance and meet with the hotel’s jeweler.

The first person to order this drink paid $13,000—and instead of a loose stone, selected a 1.85-carat diamond engagement ring. (His girlfriend said yes.)

But apparently, that is false. Cleopatra set the precdent when she removed one of her pearl earrings and dropped it in a goblet of wine vinegar. Each of the pearls was so large and rare that it was extraordinarily valuable—“the value of 15 countries.” The pearl dissolved in the vinegar, which Cleopatra then drank. Antony conceded defeat—the value of that single drink, let alone the banquet, had indeed been more than any meal in history.

**********

Source

The Algonquin website

Cleopatra’s Wager

Cleopatra on the Web

(10) unique staircases [photos]

I absolutely LOVE staircases; so when I saw these, I just had to share them.  Image credits unknown.

Ski jump toilet stalls [photo]

I would love to relieve myself in one of these stalls!  I just can’t afford the trip to Japan.  For a better effect, make sure to see the full screen picture at the source page.  Even better–right click as use it as desktop wallpaper!!!

Just align your feet on the painted skis on the floor and imagine you are barreling down the mountain bare-assed on a rocket full of feces…The only problem is that you will have to book a flight to Japan to enjoy the benefits. These stalls have been built in various ski resort bathrooms there a part of a promotion for Coca-Cola’s Georgia Max Coffee.

Source