John Scalzi (aolscalzi) links to a story revealing Roto-rooters list of strange things they have pulled out of plumbing, including an Civil War cannon shell, a collection of miniature liquor bottles, and a live cat.
Oh wow, I would LOVE to go and see the World Pyro Olympics:
The World Pyro Olympics is an annual international competition amongst the most prestigious fireworks companies in the world. Nine international participants will showcase the best of classical pyrotechnic displays. On the final eve of the event, the sky will be illuminated by The World Pyro Olympics Fellowship of Fire Pyrotechnic Display -a joint fireworks display from the nine countries and the organizer, La Mancha Pyro Productions.
Five days of fireworks. Wow. Cool. (Too bad it just ended…)
Reuters reports that a pound of rare Indonesian coffee, unique for having passed through the digestive tract of a nocturnal tree-dwelling mammal called a palm civet, costs $175, making it the most expensive coffee in the world and proof that no matter how silly you think people can be, they are actually capable of being even sillier.
MedPage Today reports that Harry Potter is not only a literary sensation, but he may be helping keep muggle kids safe.
That’s the opinion of researchers here, who found that when the latest installments of the Harry Potter books came out, the number of kids showing up in the emergency room with broken bones, sprains, scrapes and bruises went down significantly.
Apparently, kids were just so wild about Harry that they didn’t have time to ride a skateboard down a flight of stairs, or weave a scooter through heavy traffic.
Finally, proving that all you *do* need is love, British millionaire Sharon Tendler married her sweetheart of 15 years, a 35 year old Dolphin named Cindy, in a touching and likely quite damp ceremony in the Israeli resort of Eilat on Thursday.
“I’m the happiest girl on earth,” the bride said as she chocked back tears of emotion. “I made a dream come true, and I am not a pervert,” she stressed.
Best wishes and long life to the happy….couple.
jhayman
Boggling now.
Didn’t Heinlein use that as a “new report” in one of his books. As I recall the consummation of the marriage had, mmm, unfortunate results.
celticdragonfly
I don’t remember if I saw it in Heinlein. But one of the Sharyn McCrumb mystery books used it as a subplot -- one of the weirder early cases that the main character’s lawyer brother got as he started practice. And yes, the consummation was a problem.
jhayman
McCrumb! Yes, I remember now.
It is to the point that Cindy IS a male… (“Going to spend their wedding night bowling”… )
dan_ad_nauseam
Sprague de Camp put a similar story in one of his novels. (A variant, shall we say, of Captain Jack and the Mermaid, except that The End of the Tale is the result.)
hawklady
> Reuters reports that a pound of rare Indonesian coffee, unique
> for having passed through the digestive tract of a nocturnal
> tree-dwelling mammal called a palm civet, costs $175, making
> it the most expensive coffee in the world and proof that no
> matter how silly you think people can be, they are actually
> capable of being even sillier.
Hmmm. I wonder if that’s 100% Kopi Luwak, or a blend. Every now and then the Kopi coffee discussion opens up again on coffee snobs & homeroasting lists. There’s some concern that due to the publicity, there’s higher demand and sellers are trying to stretch the existing tight supply by blending in non-Kopi coffee. Real Kopi Luwak is when the civet eats the ripe/overripe coffee cherry -- the fruit that contains the bean inside. The pulpy fruit is partially digested and fermented, then it’s passed out. Then they collect the scat, remove & clean the beans. The partial fermentation gives it a very different taste.
Last time a friend of mine was working on a bulk purchase of Kopi, it was almost $300/pound. And that price was for greens, aka raw coffee, which loses about 15% of its weight during roasting — so roasted it’s even more expensive.
I’ve had it at a coffee sampling. Bleah. Not “coffee” at all. Couldn’t see paying even $10/pound for it, much less $300+. Generally the folks who enjoy Kopi Luwak also enjoy the monsooned and aged coffees … which I don’t.
Jamaican Blue Mountain is wildly overrated, but that’s another rant for another day.
madfilkentist
Cindy? Same-sex marriage! Eek!
a_blue_moon_cat
Thanks for the links. 🙂