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As discussed in a previous post many eons ago (which I now can't locate thanks to Firefox!!!) the competition for the weirdest book titles, as run by he Bookseller Magazine, has been hard at work as ever to appoint their 2009 winner.
Having brought books to the public eye such as 'How to Avoid Huge Ships', 'Bombproof Your Horse' and ''If You Want Closure In Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs', the shortlist for this year's Oddest Book Title of the Year included:
• 'Baboon Metaphysics' by Dorothy L Cheney and Robert M Seyfarth.
• 'Curbside Consultation of the Colon' by Brooks D Cash.
• 'The Large Sieve and its Applications' by Emmanuel Kowalski.
• 'Strip and Knit with Style' by Mark Hordyszynski.
• 'Techniques for Corrosion Monitoring' by Lietai Yang.
• 'The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais' by Professor Philip M. Parker.
Titles which didn't make the cut include 'Excrement in the Late Middle Ages', 'Tiles of the Unexpected: A Study of Six Miles of Geometric Tile Patterns on the London Underground', and 'All Dogs Have ADHD.'
The eventual winner of this year's prize - 'The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais' by Professor Philip M. Parker.
Upon the launching of a newly completed ship, a bottle of champagne is usually smashed over the bow to christen it. The origins of this are a little unclear and can vary slightly from culture to culture, but for the most part it is believed that blood or wine, depending on the particular culture, was originally used as a sacrifice to the gods of the sea to allow for a smooth passage.
Over time this became wine by those who originally used blood, and the wine was poured first into a silver chalice, from which a sip was taken before spilling the wine over the ship and casting the chalice into the sea.
After 1689, William the III of Britain, in an effort to cut costs, ordered the Royal Navy to break a bottle of liquor against the ship's side instead.
During the early 1800's, the Prince Regent set in place the custom of choosing a woman to perform the ceremony. The bottle was then to be held by the neck and thrown against the ship, however the rules had to change again after one particular bottle missed the ship and hit a spectator.
As for how the wine turned into champagne, champagne has always been associated with birth and celebration, while also having no religious association.
With the announcement of Michael Jackson's death, I thought everyone was quick with the new jokes, (in fact some sites have gone down with the amount of traffic online today) but not as quick it turns out, as people are to begin selling off their Michael Jackson memorabilia on Ebay.
In fact I counted up to 15 pages newly listed from today before I stopped - the list is seemingly endless. (What colour will his ghost be by the way???)
Tickets for the concert that will never happen are also still up for sale and to ridiculous extremes such as number 330339900705 which is now well into the millions. Legitimate or not? You be the judge, but who's to say what will or won't be collectible in the future.
May your obituary be written in weasel's piss.
May the lamb of God stir his hoof through the roof of heaven and kick you in the arse down to hell.
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According to the World Carrot Museum, (yes, it really does exist!), carrots are the second-most popular vegetable after potato, and the most popular in the UK.
Originally carrots were found in a variety of colours including purple, white, black, yellow and red. Orange carrots did not appear until later on in the 1500's when the Dutch Royal House of Orange was in power and the Dutch decided therefore to breed an orange carrot by using a mutant yellow carrot seed from North Africa. Beta carotene, found in orange carrots is converted in the human body to vitamin A.
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This is an actual letter from an Austin, Texas woman sent to the American company Proctor and Gamble regarding their feminine products. She really gets rolling after the first paragraph. It's PC Magazine's 2007 editors' choice for best webmail-award-winning letter.
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Lorena Ochoa, currently World No.1 female golfer.
The origins of golf can be a little murky as some researchers claim they have discovered references to a form of golf from Egyptian hieroglyphics, while in China, Chui Wan ("chui" = striking and "wan" = small ball) a game of driving a ball with a stick into holes in the ground, was first mentioned in records from the 11th century.
The Dutch game also seemed to have an early version played with a stick and leather ball, while the Scottish game of 'goulf' was mentioned in two ancient laws prohibiting its play.
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Many people think that Hollywood is situated in California because of all of the glorious sunshine associated with the area, but the real reason behind the placement of Hollywood is a little more sly than most would think.
While it is true that it takes a lot of light to produce good films, especially in the early days of the industry, it actually had much more to do with patent infringement.
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In Japan, every village has a shrine dedicated to broken sewing needles. Yes, that's right, broken sewing needles! The name for this shrine is Hari Kuyo.
This is done in the belief that a sewing needle which has performed its task well over its entire life and in the service of others, has 'died' whilst in active service. Broken needles are therefore laid to rest on a soft bed of tofu.
Yesterday while setting up the lesson on lamingtons, I began thinking back to my younger days and the tune of "Football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars."
I couldn't remember what is what for exactly as I was pretty young at the time, but thanks to the wondrous combination of the Internet and YouTube, I was able to refresh my memory. It was the jingle used to sell GM Holdens during the 70's (showing my age now aren't I!), and it's stuck with me ever since.
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Comments (1)
Comment by MelissaA
on Why are there no ad's?!?!
Fun Facts
When I use Safari (which I don't really like) it's fine.
Weird thing is, it's never had a problem with Firefox before....
I wonder if that's why my ad payments have dropped significantly - I know a lot of people do use Firefox?
Thanks for your help with it.