July 2010
103 posts
Cat coat genetics →
June 2010
87 posts
Jumping Frenchmen of Maine →
Jumping Frenchmen of Maine is a rare disorder originally described by George Miller Beard in 1878. It results in an exaggerated “startle” reflex, and was first noted among related French-Canadian lumberjacks in the Moosehead Lake area of Maine.
The “Jumping Frenchmen” seemed to react abnormally to sudden stimuli. Individuals would obey any command given suddenly, even if...
Bibliomania →
Bibliomania is an obsessive–compulsive disorder involving the collecting or hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged. The purchase of multiple copies of the same book and edition and the accumulation of books beyond possible capacity of use or enjoyment are frequent symptoms of bibliomania.
submitted by leebroughall
Jeanne Calment →
Jeanne Louise Calment (21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997) had the longest confirmed human life span in history, living 122 years and 164 days (44,724 days total).
She was reportedly neither athletic, nor fanatical about her health. Calment smoked from the age of 21 (1896), though according to an unspecified source, Calment smoked no more than two cigarettes per day. She ascribed her longevity and...
Etoro tribe →
The Etoro are a tribe in Papua New Guinea. Their territory comprises the southern slopes of Mt. Sisa, along the southern edge of the central mountain range of New Guinea, near the Papuan Plateau. They are well known among anthropologists because of the ritual homosexuality practiced between young boys and men of the tribe.
The Etoro believe that young boys must ingest the semen of their elders to...
Polari →
Polari was a form of cant slang used in Britain by actors, circus and fairground showmen, criminals, prostitutes, and latterly by the gay subculture.
As many gay men worked in theatrical entertainment it was also used amongst the gay subculture, at a time when homosexual acts were illegal, to disguise homosexual activity from hostile outsiders and undercover policemen. It was also used...
Anthropodermic bibliopegy →
Anthropodermic bibliopegy is the practice of binding books in human skin. Though uncommon in modern times, the technique dates back to at least the 17th century.
The libraries of many Ivy League universities include one or more samples of anthropodermic bibliopegy.
Flirty fishing →
Flirty Fishing (FFing) is 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.
The term refers to Matthew 4:19 from the New Testament, in which Jesus tells two fishermen that he will make them “fishers of men.” Cult leader David Berg extrapolated...
Caterpillar Fungus →
The fungus germinates in living organisms, kills and mummifies the insect, and then the cordyceps grows from the body of the insect. It is known in the West as a medicinal mushroom and its use has a long history in Traditional Chinese medicine as well as Traditional Tibetan medicine.
In 2008, one kilogram traded for US$3,000 (lowest quality) to over US$18,000 (best quality, or the largest...
Wojtek (soldier bear) →
In the 1940s, the Polish army bought a bear cub from a small boy, who looked after it by feeding it condensed vodka bottle. As time went on, Wojtek the bear became a mascot of, and officially a member of, the Polish Army. Wojtek died in 1963, presumably from his diet which included honey, syrup, beer and cigarettes.
(submitted by lilolthree-chordme)
Tarrare →
A French showman and soldier, noted for his unusual eating habits, who became the subject of a series of medical experiments to test his eating capacity, in which, among other things, he ate a meal intended for 15 people in a single sitting, ate live cats, snakes, lizards and puppies, and swallowed an eel whole without chewing.
(submitted by bobbwhy)
Grey goo →
In a History Channel broadcast, grey goo is referred to in a futuristic doomsday scenario: “In a common practice, billions of nanobots are released to clean up an oil spill off the coast of Louisiana. However, due to a programming error, the nanobots devour all carbon based objects, instead of just the hydrocarbons of the oil. The nanobots destroy everything, all the while, replicating...
Sedlec Ossuary →
The ossuary is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, many of whom have had their bones artistically arranged to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel.
Paul Is Dead →
“Paul is dead” is an urban legend alleging that Paul McCartney of the English rock band The Beatles died in 1966 and was replaced by a look-alike and sound-alike.
The story was pieced together from the lyrics of multiple Beatles songs:
“He didn’t notice that the lights had changed” (“A Day in the Life”), he crashed into a lamp-post (a car crash sound is...
Cephalophore →
A cephalophore (from the Greek for “head-carrier”) is a saint who is generally depicted carrying his or her own head; in art, this was usually meant to signify that the subject in question had been martyred by beheading. Handling the halo in this circumstance offers a unique challenge for the artist. Some put the halo where the head used to be; others have the saint carrying the halo...
Six degrees of separation →
.. refers to the idea that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, “a friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in six steps or fewer.
Collyer brothers →
Homer Lusk Collyer and Langley Collyer were two American brothers who became famous because of their snobbish nature, filth in their homes, and compulsive hoarding. For decades, neighborhood rumors swirled around the rarely seen, unemployed men and their home at 2078 Fifth Avenue (at the corner of 128th Street), in Manhattan, where they obsessively collected newspapers, books, furniture, musical...
D-IX (drug) →
D-IX was a cocaine-based experimental drug cocktail developed by the Nazis in 1944 for military application. Nazi doctors found that equipment-laden test subjects who had taken the drug could march 55 miles without resting before they collapsed. Each tablet contained 5 mg Oxycodone, 5 mg of Cocaine and 3 mg of Methamphetamine.
List of marathoners who are non-running... →
This is a list of notable people who have completed a marathon.
Supertaster →
A supertaster is a person who experiences the sense of taste with far greater intensity than average. Among individuals of European descent, it is estimated that about 25% of the population are supertasters.
Opposite Day →
At the end of this sentence, it’s Opposite Day. So… please don’t recommend read more wikipedia for the Directory!
List of Star Wars species →
This is a list of sentient species from the fictional universe of Star Wars.
Psychological pricing →
According to a 1997 study published in the Marketing Bulletin, approximately 60% of prices in advertising material ended in the digit 9, 30% ended in the digit 5, 7% ended in the digit 0 and the remaining seven digits combined accounted for only slightly over 3% of prices evaluated.
Lake Agassiz →
Lake Agassiz was an immense glacial lake located in the center of North America. Fed by glacial runoff at the end of the last glacial period, its area was larger than all of the modern Great Lakes combined, and it held more water than contained by all lakes in the world today.
(submitted by fullmoonovertampa)
Siege mentality →
Siege mentality is a shared feeling of victimization and defensiveness. It is a state of mind whereby one believes that one is being constantly attacked, oppressed, or isolated and make one frightened of surrounding people. This can cause a state of being overly fearful leading to a defensive attitude. Although the term evolved from real sieges, today it may refers to persecution feelings by...
List of collective nouns for birds →
A group of birds of any type is generically known collectively as a flock. For a number of individual birds, there exist poetic collective nouns particular to the type of bird.
A flight of doves
A mob of emus
A charm of goldfinches
An unkindness of ravens
Danger music →
Danger music is an experimental form of avant-garde 20th and 21st century classical music. It is based on the concept that some pieces of music can or will harm either the listener or the performer.
For example, Takehisa Kosugi’s composition Music for a Revolution directs the performer to gouge out one of his or her eyes five years from now. Many extreme examples of danger music direct performers...
List of Presidents of the United States by... →
Prince Philip Movement →
The Prince Philip Movement is a cargo cult of the Yaohnanen tribe on the southern island of Tanna in Vanuatu.
The Yaohnanen believe that Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort to Queen Elizabeth II, is a divine being, the pale-skinned son of a mountain spirit. According to ancient tales the son traveled over the seas to a distant land, married a powerful lady and would in time return.
...
Banana equivalent dose →
A banana equivalent dose is a concept occasionally used by nuclear proponents to place in scale the dangers of radiation by comparing exposures to the radiation generated by a common banana.
Bananas are radioactive enough to regularly cause false alarms on radiation sensors used to detect possible illegal smuggling of nuclear material at US ports.
(submitted by castirony)
Bee bearding →
Bee bearding is the practice of wearing several hundred thousand honey bees on one’s face.
The Guinness Book of Records includes a category for “most pounds of bees worn on the body,” which is currently held by American animal trainer Mark Biancaniello. Biancaniello successfully wore 350,000 bees, weighing just over 87 pounds.
In 2009, couple Li Wenhua and Yan Hongxia of...
Net cafe refugee →
A Japanese government study estimated that over 5,400 people are spending at least half of their week staying in net cafes.
Groom of the Stool →
The Groom of the Stool was a male servant in the household of an English monarch who, among other duties, “preside[d] over the office of royal excretion,” that is, he had the task of cleaning the monarch’s anus after defecation.
Red String of Fate →
According to this myth, the gods tie an invisible red string around the ankles of men and women who are destined to be soul mates and will one day marry each other. The two people connected by the red thread are destined lovers, regardless of time, place or circumstances. This magical cord may stretch or tangle, but never break.
Joshua Blahyi →
Joshua Blahyi (born c.1970), also known as General Butt Naked, was originally a tribal priest before becoming a Liberian warlord-turned-preacher. He was a fiercely violent and eccentric leader on the side of Roosevelt Johnson in the First Liberian Civil War in the first half of the 1990s. Blahyi has said he led his troops naked except for shoes and a gun. Apparently, he believed that his...
History of tennis →
Two French kings died from tennis related episodes—Louis X of a severe chill after playing and Charles VIII after being struck with a ball.
Execution by elephant
brrritscold:
Execution by elephant was, for thousands of years, a common method of capital punishment in South and Southeast Asia, and particularly in India. Asian Elephants were used to crush, dismember, or torture captives in public executions. The animals were trained and versatile, both able to kill victims immediately or to torture them slowly over a prolonged period
...