Entertaining in a weird way if not a bit gruesome. Japanese bug fights, usually to the death, where the obvious insect choice isn't always the winner. The winner in the clip below between a scorpion and a centipede surprised me.




Click here to watch all 30 fights between various bugs (and a few crustaceans).

In my work before retirement I often did in-home service, and ran across a few vicious dogs. But... thank God, nothing like these.


Gee. I guess it's a good thing that the owner didn't give the dogs doll toys. But chewing through three tires? Toys my ass, that has to take some kind of determination beyond: "I want my toys!"

 
Well no, not a dog, a cat. A big cat. As a matter of fact a damn big cat weighing around 550 pounds, who escaped his owner's cage, then decided to chase cars on highway 23.


Or watch the WISC-TV 3 news video here (no ads).

 
The 25 Most Baffling Toys From Around the World (2 pages).







Child's sled. The strange protrusion is a handle with which the child can hang onto while enjoying winter fun.

Why? What did you think it was?

 
We've all heard big drinking stories. But few can top these!

Via Deans World comments.

Not exactly what a Wisconsin hunter is looking for.



Thanks go to Owen at Boots & Sabers.

Cats I know are pretty smart animals because I have raised many of them, but they all have personal traits and quirks. My last cat (who died a year ago age 19) was white just like the one in this article. Her quirk was that she liked string and small pieces of rope. Not to play with, she would just collect them from the neighborhood and stash them under the porch.

Here is another cat with an interesting quirk nicknamed Macavity, from the poem by T. S. Eliot. Macavity's quirk is that he likes to ride the city bus two or three times a week. Macavity always gets on, then off at the same stops.







What next for Macavity, a limousine to get a nail trim and something better than the fish and chip shop near his debarking stop? Oh and BTW Macavity is listed on Widipedia.

Update: Over at Deans World, in the comments, cardeblu links another cat with an entertaining quirk.

There are times that Google Maps has come up with information that just made me go huh...? Well here is the worst I have seen yet. At one of my daily forums someone posted the googled directions from New York, NY to Paris, France. Of course google maps isn't a completely reasoning piece of software, therefore sometimes the directions can be a bit disconcerting.

At the top of the directions google says:

Drive: 3,800 mi (about 29 days 7 hours) [ or 703 hours ].

Well drive is not quite accurate, as step 23 of the journey says:

"23. Swim across the Atlantic Ocean 3462 mi"  

*blink*

Because I have a lot of time on my hands, here is some useless but possibly interesting math trivia about google maps silly nonsense.

The actual driven miles, 3800-3462 = 348 miles. Lets assume that we break every urban/suburban speed limit and travel the 348 miles in 7 hours which averages just a tad under 50mph (49.7). Improbable but within the realm of possibility if the law doesn't catch us. That leaves us with 696 hours to swim the 3462 miles if we can swim at an average speed of 4.97mph.

Of course impossible even if we could endure the distance. Here is the speed of the worlds two fastest human swimmers. We would have to swim almost as fast as David Holmes Edgar's 5.05 mph, and faster than Mark Spitz at 4.367 mph. And they swam flat out for only 100 meters.

In 1952 a science fiction writer named Phillip St. John wrote a novel titled Rocket Jockey. It was an award winning novel in it's day. It became popular in the child's science fiction arena.
My then brother-in-law to be was given this book by his mother in 1953 and inscribed and signed it.
The book was read a bit by him but in the mid sixties it became a favorite of his daughter, my niece Victoria. She would read it regularly and when there wasn't time she would look at the pictures.
I guess she would fantasize about being an inter galactic explorer or becoming a famous scientist.
Brother-in-law Paul was a policeman in Madison Wisconsin. Having a roving eye and a job that attracted young women, his marriage to my sister was eventually in shambles. They divorced in 1967.
He retired from the police department, remarried, and moved to the Los Angeles area taking the book with him. He died a few years later from cancer.
There was always a rift between wife number two and my sister. My niece and nephews never got any keepsakes relating to their Father.
Victoria wanted a copy of the old Rocket Jockey book as an aid to remember some good times.
She had moved to Colorado and her Mom moved to Overland Park, Kansas.
In the following years she had come across several copies in old book stores and flea markets but were way too expensive. One store was asking for $100 for the ”rare” book. Most were in the $40 plus range.
She was either in nursing school, a new job but always on a very tight budget. She couldn't pay that much.
None the less she was always on the hunt.
She ended up in Reno Nevada working for an oncology department.
My sister had remarried and moved to the West Coast. Her second husband of 18 years passed away. His body was shipped back to his hometown area and was to be buried in Kansas City Missouri.
Victoria took time off and flew in to console her Mom. They laughed, cried, went to lunches and slummed in antique shops.
A neighboring community on the Kansas side of the metro area is called Olathe. There were some good little second hand and antique malls to visit.
They ended up at the Sentimental Journey Antique store. This was a large mall type store with many booths to look at.
Victoria still hunting, went to the book shelves. They were having a half price sale on the old books.
There it was! Rocket Jockey by Phillip St. John on the bottom row. She saw the $8.00 price tag and snatched it up and held it to herself. She was gloating about the bargain she had gotten.
She opened up this copy in good condition. Her eyes glazed over and then welled up with tears and emotion.
On the first page, written in familiar cursive was the inscription “To my son Paul on your birthday in 1953" and was signed by her Grandmother.
The store was in tears that day. I almost am five years later as I write this for you.

Now here is a rabbit with a lot of tenacity. I'm sure rabbits don't eat snakes so I assume this one was probably only trying to chase it out of it's territory.



Notice about half way through the big bird that wanders closer for a better look? Probably wondering if the rabbit has lost it's mind.

Does anyone know if this is normal behavior for rabbits? If you have heard of it before please leave a comment.

   Well I've heard of a lot of things bringing down an airplane but farts?


From WISC-TV 3 Madison, WI

Apparently a deer really, and I mean really wanted salt in a bad way. Enough to chase a seventh grader doing some cross-country practice down and lick him about the head and shoulders.

Via ABC News (video included).

An interesting phenomenon, something that I've never seen or heard of called the "Kaye effect" is apparently quite common with certain liquids like soap. When poured onto a surface, the down-going stream suddenly throw up a jet that swirls, then merges with the incoming stream.

The only reason we don't see it is because generally it's over in an instant. Anyhow, I thought it was pretty neat and will probably be wasting a bottle of dishsoap just to see if I can get a glimpse of it.

Click the link above for more info and a slowed down video clip.

Lore Sjoberg (guy behind Brunching Shuttlecocks) has some Fun Food for the Trivia-Minded. What I really don't care to know is how he knows what hummingbird vomit tastes like.

Yep feral chickens. This is an amusing animal story out of Florida, although probably not so amusing to the residents.

So how do you clean up a wild chicken problem?

• County Animal Control only does domestic animals and pets.
  
• Florida Wildlife Commission says chickens are farm animals.
  
• Live capture failed because wild chickens can fly pretty good.
  
• Traps? Nope, roosters learned to guard against the chickens entering.
  
• Even alcohol in their food to slow them down failed.

High Springs, FL running out of options did finally solve their feral chicken problem... or more accurately exchanged it for irate residents.


This definately could have been better co-ordinated with the residents and I don't blame them for being upset.

Put yourself in this situation, your siting at the breakfast table having your morning coffee. All of a sudden all hell breaks loose and it sounds like a war zone? Frankly, I think that it's a wonder there wasn't any rednecks or edgy war vets returning fire.

This is in the UK but a supermarket chain plans to have cheap formal wedding wear for both bride and groom by Valentine's Day.




From a supermarket? I think I'm going to be ill.

This gives new meaning to the phrase: "Hell hath no fury like a scorned woman." While I can go along with getting even to a point, this is way over the top, not to mention inhumane.

Ken Slaby was devastated when Gail O'Toole broke off there relationship, so naturally he was happy when she called to rekindle their friendship and offered to pick him up—you'll understand why she picked him up below—she later told him she planned these acts since their break up.


Apparently she must have thrown him out naked. Just to see a naked man walking with little baby steps down the highway would be shock enough, but on ..er closer inspection seeing his privates splayed over his body in a permanent but un-natural state would have to be horrifying. I can't begin to imagine the emotional state of the victim.

The hospital had little results with solvents and ended up having to peel the glue off. OUCH! The pain and humiliation is bad enough, and this poor soul may have nightmares for a long time.

And get this stupid remark by the defence attorney.


Routine?! Acts he agreed to?! Should stay in the bedroom?! I know what kind of answer I would get if I asked if I could do all (or any) of these things to my lover. It's just not going to happen with any couple no matter how kinky they are. And would O'toole's attorney say what happened with the Bobbits should have stayed in the bedroom?

Now after the news and local TV reports he will undoubtedly get sympathy as well as testosterone laden jibs from friends and acquaintances. The ten man and two woman jury is expected to reach a decision today.

You can't hardly have an election if no one is running.

A thief with a sense of humor. Of course "Star Wars: Episode Three-Revenge of the Sith," was playing.

This is just too wierd but you can't make this stuff up.

An appeals court said a man can press a claim for emotional distress after learning a former lover had used his sperm to have a baby. But he can't claim theft, the ruling said, because the sperm were hers to keep.

The ruling Wednesday by the Illinois Appellate Court sends Dr. Richard O. Phillips' distress case back to trial court.

Phillips accuses Dr. Sharon Irons of a "calculated, profound personal betrayal" after their affair six years ago, saying she secretly kept semen after they had oral sex, then used it to get pregnant.

He said he didn't find out about the child for nearly two years, when Irons filed a paternity lawsuit. DNA tests confirmed Phillips was the father, the court papers state.

Phillips was ordered to pay about $800 a month in child support, said Irons' attorney, Enrico Mirabelli.

The judges backed the lower court decision to dismiss the fraud and theft claims, agreeing with Irons that she didn't steal the sperm.

"She asserts that when plaintiff 'delivered' his sperm, it was a gift - an absolute and irrevocable transfer of title to property from a donor to a donee," the decision said. "There was no agreement that the original deposit would be returned upon request."

No I don't suppose that any guys would demand to have their sperm returned to them after oral sex, but if they have read this story, then they just might demand that their inamorata" swallow or spit."

Irons' attorney also said "Imagine how a child feels when your father says he feels emotionally damaged by your birth." Well probably about half as bad as the child would feel knowing how his mother got pregnant. Especially later when he grows up and hears the old disparaging saying about where they best part of his fathers sperm went.