February 2010
79 posts
“David Phillips (born 1964), also called The Pudding Guy, is an American civil...”
– David Phillips (entrepreneur) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (via devins)
“Another example was a maritime custom in which stranded survivors drew lots to...”
– Custom of the Sea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (via maskofash)
Post-coital tristesse →
(via zirkumflex)
Sexual intercourse can sometimes lead to a feeling of melancholy called post-coital tristesse (from Latin post-coital, and French tristesse, literally — “sadness”). This is more common in men than in women.
Lucy Temerlin →
Lucy Temerlin (1964–1987) was a chimpanzee owned by the Institute for Primate Studies in Oklahoma, and raised by Maurice K. Temerlin, Ph.D., a psychotherapist and professor at the University of Oklahoma and his wife, Jane W. Temerlin. Temerlin and his wife raised Lucy as if she were a human child, teaching her to eat with silverware, dress herself, flip through magazines, and sit in a chair at the...
Celebrity Worship Syndrome →
Celebrity worship syndrome (CWS) is an obsessive-addictive disorder in which a person becomes overly involved with the details of a celebrity’s personal life.
caterrachel:
I knew something like this existed. The sad thing is, I know people who have it.
A list of famous people who have undergone... →
(notablog)
List of Dewey Decimal classes →
(via tissie)
098: Prohibited works, forgeries & hoaxes
131: Occult methods for achieving well-being
1 tag
List of Scientology Security Checks →
Whole Track Security Check This long Sec Check, consisting of hundreds of questions, takes stock of the subject’s entire time track, including all their past lives. It includes questions such as:
Did you come to Earth for evil purposes? Have you ever smothered a baby? Have you ever enslaved a population? Have you ever destroyed a culture? Have you ever torn out someone’s tongue?...
List of silent musical compositions →
(via fullmargin)
Roy Sullivan →
Roy Cleveland Sullivan (February 7, 1912 – September 28, 1983) was a U.S. park ranger in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Between 1942 and 1977, Sullivan was hit by lightning on seven different occasions and survived all of them. For this reason, he gained a nickname “Human Lightning Conductor” or “Human Lightning Rod”. Sullivan is recognized by Guinness World Records...
Flirty Fishing →
Flirty Fishing (FFing) is the name of a form of evangelistic religious prostitution practiced from around 1974 to 1987 by female members in the new religious movement, the Children of God, now known as The Family International.
(via cynicalmustache)
Paris Syndrome →
Paris syndrome is a transient psychological disorder encountered by some people visiting or vacationing in Paris, France. Japanese visitors are observed to be especially susceptible.
Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 →
Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116, pronounced “albin,” was a name intended for a Swedish child who was born in 1991. Parents Elisabeth Hallin and Lasse Diding gave their child this name as a protest against the naming law in Sweden. Because the parents failed to register a name by the boy’s fifth birthday, a district court in Halmstad, southern Sweden, fined them 5,000...
Ting Hai effect →
The Ting Hai effect, Adam Cheng effect or Chiu-Koon effect is a peculiar stock market phenomenon. The phenomenon is observed that whenever Hong Kong actor Adam Cheng stars in a new television show, there is a sudden and unexplained drop in the stock market.
Now, whenever a new show starring Adam Cheng is about to be broadcast, some stockbrokers and investors in Hong Kong become wary, even ...
Acoustic Kitty →
Acoustic Kitty was a CIA project launched by the Directorate of Science & Technology in the 1960s attempting to use cats in spy missions. A battery and a microphone were implanted into a cat and an antenna into its tail. Due to problems with distraction, the cat’s sense of hunger had to be addressed in another operation. Surgical and training expenses are thought to have amounted to over...
Crab mentality →
tristn:
Crab mentality, sometimes referred to as crabs in the bucket, describes a way of thinking best described by the phrase “if I can’t have it, neither can you.” The metaphor refers to a pot of crabs. Singly, the crabs could easily escape from the pot, but instead, they grab at each other in a useless “king of the hill” competition which prevents any from escaping and ensures their...
Famous last meal requests →
(via edwardgordon)
Dennis Wayne Bagwell: Medium rare steak with A1 Steak Sauce, fried chicken breasts and thighs, BBQ ribs, French fries, onion rings, bacon, scrambled eggs with onions, fried potatoes with onions, sliced tomatoes, salad with ranch dressing, two hamburgers, peach pie, milk, coffee, and iced tea with real sugar.
Dobie Gillis Williams: Twelve candy bars and some ice cream.
James...
Flynn effect →
The Flynn effect is the increase of the average intelligence quotient (IQ) test scores over generations (IQ gains over time). The effect has also been reported for other cognitions such as semantic and episodic memory. The effect occurs in most parts of the world although at greatly varying rates.
The Flynn effect may have ended in some developed nations starting during the mid 1990s.
List of Common Misconceptions →
(katherinemichael)
In Korea, it is commonly believed that sleeping in a closed room with an electric fan running can be fatal in the summer. According to the Korean government, “In some cases, a fan turned on too long can cause death from suffocation, hypothermia, or fire from overheating.” The Korea Consumer Protection Board issued a consumer safety alert recommending that electric...
Deerfield, Illinois →
In 1979, Deerfield created a “No-Kissing Zone” at the local train station in response to complaints about traffic jams at the station caused by couples taking too long to kiss their goodbyes at the drop-off point.
Deep-fried Mars Bar →
In a study published in The Lancet in December 2004, David Morrison and Mark Petticrew surveyed around 300 Scottish fish and chip shops: 22% sold deep-fried Mars Bars, while an additional 17% of those surveyed had sold them in the past. Of the shops selling deep-fried Mars bars, three-quarters had only been selling them for the past 3 years. Average sales were 23 bars per week, although 10 outlets...
Adolf Hitler's vegetarianism →
According to transcripts dated November 11, 1941 Hitler said, “One may regret living at a period when it’s impossible to form an idea of the shape the world of the future will assume. But there’s one thing I can predict to eaters of meat: the world of the future will be vegetarian.”
In the BBC series “The Nazis: a Warning from History,” an eyewitness account...
Stendhal syndrome →
Stendhal syndrome, Stendhal’s syndrome, Hyperkulturemia, or Florence syndrome, is a psychosomatic illness that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art, usually when the art is particularly beautiful or a large amount of art is in a single place.
The term can also be used to describe a similar reaction to a surfeit...
Islamic toilet etiquette →
While on the toilet, one must remain silent. Talking, answering greetings or greeting others is forbidden. When defecating together, two men cannot converse, nor look at each other’s private parts, and especially not handle each other’s private parts. A man should not touch his private parts with the right hand, only his left. When leaving the toilet, one is advised to leave with the...
top results after stumbling wikipedia for half an...
anniediamond:
Tables of vampire traits
Chekhov’s gun
Fortunately, Unfortunately
Capgras delusion
Catullus 16
Spells in Harry Potter
The Capgras delusion (or Capgras syndrome) is a disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent or other close family member, has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor.
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than... →
roomthily:
bobulate:
The Dunning–Kruger effect:
A cognitive bias in which “people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it”. The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their own ability as above average, much higher than in actuality; by contrast the highly skilled underrate their...
Ilona Staller →
Ilona Staller (complete name Anna Elena Staller, 26 November 1951), also known by her stage name la Cicciolina, is a Hungarian-born Italian politician, porn-star, and singer. She was elected to the Italian parliament in 1987, with 20,000 votes.
While in office, before outset of the Gulf War she offered to have sex with Saddam Hussein if he would release his foreign hostages. She was not reelected...
“The Natural Bears Classification System (NBCS or the bear code) is a set of...”
– The Natural Bears Classification System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (via dkeen)
All-time Olympic Games medal table →
After the 2008 Summer Olympics, 79 of the current 205 [participating nations] had not yet won an Olympic medal.
National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance →
The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) is a non-profit civil-rights organization in the USA dedicated to improving the quality of life for the obese. NAAFA works to eliminate discrimination based on body size and provide fat people with the tools for self-empowerment through public education, advocacy and member support.
Tell me your favorite Wikipedia page here!
Let's trim our hair in accordance with the... →
Let’s trim our hair in accordance with the socialist lifestyle was part of a North Korean government propaganda campaign promulgating grooming and dress standards. It was broadcast on state-run Korean Central Television in the capital of Pyongyang. The television program claimed that hair length can affect human intelligence, in part because of the deprivation to the rest of the body of...
Olympic torch →
The torch ceremony is seen by some as controversial. During one incident in the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, nine Australian students, most notably Barry Larkin, staged a hoax during the relay when the torch entered Sydney. Larkin pretended to be an Olympic athlete, carrying a fake torch made out of a burning pair of underpants and a plum pudding can on the end of a chair leg. He...
Dennō Senshi Porygon →
“Dennō Senshi Porygon” (literally “Computer Soldier Porygon,” although most commonly translated as “Electric Soldier Porygon”) is the thirty-eighth episode of the Pokémon anime’s first season. It was first broadcast in Japan on December 16, 1997, and has since not aired anywhere else. “Dennō Senshi Porygon” aired in Japan on December 16, 1997...