http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3369609/Teenager-changes-name-to-Captain-Fantastic.html

The record-breaking name, now thought to be the world's longest, was the idea of music graduate George Garratt, 19.

He changed his name by deed poll online for £10 last week.

Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine The Hulk And The Flash Combined said: "I wanted to be unique.

"I decided upon a theme of superheroes."

Captain Fantastic joins a number of people with unusually long names, including Rhoshandiatellyneshiaunneveshenk Koyaanisquatsiuth Williams, a girl born in Texas in 1984.

The teenager, from Glastonbury, Somerset, added that while he thought the new name was "crazy", his grandmother was no longer speaking to him.

Last month in Italy, a couple was banned from naming their son Friday - Venerdi - because the name could expose him to ridicule.

Named after the manservant of Daniel Defoe's famous novel Robinson Crusoe, the court ordered the boy's name be changed to Gregorio, named after the saint's day on which he was born.

In February, a judge in New Zealand made a young girl a ward of court so she could change her name from Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii.

Other banned names include Sex Fruit, Keenan Got Lucy and Yeah Detroit.

In New Zealand again, last year a couple was banned from naming their baby 4Real, so they chose Superman instead.

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/05/31/guatemala-first-volc.html

Above, this photo just posted to the Guatemalan Government's Flickr feed shows a spontaneous sinkhole ("hundimiento") 20 meters deep and 15 wide that appeared today in Zone 2 of Guatemala City, after overwhelming saturation of rains from tropical storm Agatha. Local press reports that it swallowed an entire 3-story building. Not Photoshop, sadly: these happen from time to time during major storms in part because of unstable geology, and in part, bad urban engineering—read more about it in the comments. A break in the over-stressed sewage pipes after the storm was the cause for this one. There are rumors of other sinkholes now forming nearby.

It looks like a sandworm from Dune ate the buildling.

Nice.

That whole looks way too perfect to just be a sink hole, though...

I noticed that too Alan. The walls are way too smooth and its diameter is too consistent through its entire depth. It almost seems too close to a perfect circle to be made by nature. However, we know nothing of the local geology. Maybe perfect sinkholes are the norm down there...

am I the only one who wants to rapell in to see whats at the bottom?

offroadaz wrote:am I the only one who wants to rapell in to see whats at the bottom?

Nope, but methinks all there is is the 3 story building it swallowed and sewage

one more crappy building... who needs it.

how long before this happens to Michael?

Human heads found in Southwest cargo facility

(Reuters) - Officials in Arkansas are investigating a shipment of 40 to 60 human heads found by Southwest Airlines employees at a cargo facility last week in Little Rock, the Pulaski County coroner said on Thursday....

Camper said there were between 40 and 60 heads packed in three containers.....

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65G5VP20100617?type=domesticNews&feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

Coyotes hit by a car at 75mph, embedded in the fender, and dragged for 600 miles - but survives unscathed




I missed this last year:

When a brother and sister struck a coyote at 75mph they assumed they had killed the animal and drove on.

They didn't realize this was the toughest creature ever to survive a hit-and-run.

Eight hours, two fuel stops, and 600 miles later they found the wild animal embedded in their front fender - and very much alive.
Wily coyote: The creature's head can be seen inside the front of the car as rescuers work desperately to free it

'We knew it was bad': Tevyn East, who was in the car when it hit the coyote, bends down to take a look at the fur poking through the fender

Daniel and Tevyn East were driving at night along Interstate 80 near the Nevada-Utah border when they noticed a pack of coyotes near the roadside on October 12.

When one of the animals ran in front of the car, the impact sounded fatal so the siblings thought there no point in stopping.

After the incident around 1am, they continued their 600 mile drive to North San Juan - even stopping for fuel at least twice.

But it was only when they finally reached their destination at 9am did they take time to examine what damage they may have sustained.

At first it looked as though it was going to be quite gruesome.

' saw fur and the body inside the grill,' Tevyn East said. 'I was trying to keep some distance. Our assumption was it was part of the coyote - it didn't register it was the whole animal.'

Daniel East got a broom to try and pry the remains out of the bumper and got the shock of his life.

'It flinched,' Tevyn East said. 'It was a huge surprise - he got a little freaked out.'
The front of the car is completely taken apart as the coyote begins to wriggle free

The coyote had been thoroughly embedded between the front fender and radiator of their Honda Fit car - and had amazingly survived the journey without any broken bones or internal injuries.

'It just had some scrapes on its paw,' Daniel East said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1223087/Pictured-The-coyote-hit-car-75mph-embedded-fender-dragged-600-miles--SURVIVED.html

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jun/22/dear-mr-president-jon-voight/

An open letter from actor Jon Voight to President Obama:

June 22, 2010

President Obama:

You will be the first American president that lied to the Jewish people, and the American people as well, when you said that you would defend Israel, the only Democratic state in the Middle East, against all their enemies. You have done just the opposite. You have propagandized Israel, until they look like they are everyone's enemy — and it has resonated throughout the world. You are putting Israel in harm's way, and you have promoted anti-Semitism throughout the world.

You have brought this to a people who have given the world the Ten Commandments and most laws we live by today. The Jewish people have given the world our greatest scientists and philosophers, and the cures for many diseases, and now you play a very dangerous game so you can look like a true martyr to what you see and say are the underdogs. But the underdogs you defend are murderers and criminals who want Israel eradicated.

You have brought to Arizona a civil war, once again defending the criminals and illegals, creating a meltdown for good, loyal, law-abiding citizens. Your destruction of this country may never be remedied, and we may never recover. I pray to God you stop, and I hope the people in this great country realize your agenda is not for the betterment of mankind, but for the betterment of your politics.

With heartfelt and deep concern for America and Israel,

Jon Voight

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/07/18/Food-bank-mistakenly-gives-out-dog-food/UPI-68411279478355/

Food bank mistakenly gives out dog food

CLEARWATER, Fla., July 18 (UPI) -- A food bank in Clearwater, Fla., distributed a can labeled as a "superfood" that turned out to be a can of dog food, the recipient said.

On Social Security, retired Air Force veteran Frank Viscido made his weekly trip from his home in Largo to the Religious Community Services Food Bank in Clearwater for free food, The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported.

Viscido was given the can labeled, "Senior Holistic Superfood" by a volunteer who noticed he wanted products for better health, the newspaper reported Friday.

"You're a senior. This ought to be good for you," Viscido remembered the man saying.

"Looked good," said the grandfather of four.

The label boasted glucosamine, beta carotene, vitamins and anti-oxidants for "sharp vision, strong Immune System, joint health."

And on the front of the can, "Healthy skin...and coat." "Superfoods every dog needs."

"It's the first time I've ever heard of something like this. We don't take pet food donations," Lisa Matzner, director of development for RCS, which provides food to about 7,000 people every month, said.

Matzner said the can probably wound up in the food bank by a well-meaning donor sweeping the contents of a cupboard into a donation bag, the Times said.

"When I came across this, I thought, 'It's proof,' " Viscido said. "I thought it's comical, it's real funny. What makes a joke funny? It's not logical."

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100720/tts-russia-accident-animals-offbeat-509a08e.html

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Parachuting donkey shocks Russian beachgoers

MOSCOW (AFP) - – Russian beachgoers got a shock when they saw a donkey soaring in the blue skies over the balmy beaches on the Sea of Azov in southern Russia last week, police said on Tuesday.

Attached to a parachute, the animal screamed in fear as it circled over heads of holidaymakers sunbathing on a beach in the Cossack village of Golubitskaya in the Krasnodar region.

A regional police spokeswoman said the donkey ended up in the skies as a result of an impromptu advertising campaign by several Russian entrepreneurs to attract beachgoers to their private beach.

Instead, they attracted the attention of regional police who learned of the flying donkey earlier this week and launched a probe.

"The donkey screamed and children cried," regional police spokeswoman Larisa Tuchkova told AFP. "No-one had the brains to call police."

Instead, she said, people reached for their cameras and bombarded a local newspaper with phone calls.

"It was put up so high into the sky that the children on the beach cried and asked their parents: "Why did they tie a doggy to a parachute?" the newspaper, Taman, said late last week.

"The donkey landed in an atrocious manner: it was dragged several metres along the water, after which the animal was pulled out half-alive onto the shore."

The incident is stunning even for a country where animal cruelty is widespread and came as a shock to the locals, said Taman newspaper's editor, Elena Iovleva.

"This has never happened before," she told AFP.

The footage of the parachuting donkey was aired on national television Tuesday.

K7VZ wrote:http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100720/tts-russia-accident-animals-offbeat-509a08e.html

Wow, I thought the video was them trying to get the donkey out of the harness. Imagine my surprise at the end lol

It gives me hope that some day that I to, a big ass, can fly and make little kids cry

fatbob309 wrote:It gives me hope that some day that I to, a big ass, can fly and make little kids cry

I just did that last week (had my big ass fly to Orlando and the kids cried when I left...)

Anybody find pics or vid of Town Lake dam busting?

Skatchkins wrote:Anybody find pics or vid of Town Lake dam busting?

azcentral had some pics. No vid.

from abc15 site

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It's the World's Strongest, Most Expensive Beer -- Inside a Squirrel

http://www.asylum.com/2010/07/22/its-the-worlds-strongest-most-expensive-beer-inside-a-squi/

Our old buddies BrewDog have done it again. Not content with winning back the "strongest beer in the world" title last February with its Sink the Bismarck!, they've now upped their game with a new brew that is 55 percent alcohol by volume and carries a $765 price tag. It's called The End of History.

Oh, and did we mention that the bottles come in stuffed animals-like stuffed animals that were once alive? The 12 bottles have been made featuring seven dead stoats (a kind of weasel), four squirrels and one rabbit. James Watt, one of the two guys behind BrewDog, put it better than we ever could: "The impact of The End of History is a perfect conceptual marriage between taxidermy, art and craft brewing." Just like we've all been waiting for!

For those interested in the actual beer, it's a blond Belgian ale with touches of nettles and juniper berries -- and in order to achieve the brain-blasting alcohol content, it had to be created using extreme freezing techniques.

Keep reading for another photo and a video about the making of the super-strong beer.

<object width="400" height="225"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=13537656&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=13537656&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/13537656">The End of History</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user2479830">BrewDog</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>