Product names don't necessarily reflect the truth of the products. Ever heard of Corinthian Leather? Think New Jersey, not Corinth, Greece. How about Häagen Dazs? Nothing Scandinavian about it. Read on to find out how a product's name can deceive you ...
Sounds Like: Fancy leather from some exotic place in Europe - specifically, the Greek city of Corinth. The phrase "rich Corinthian leather" was made famous by actor Ricardo Montalban, in ads for Chrysler's luxury Cardoba in the 1970s. (The seats were covered with it.)
The Truth: There's no such thing as Corinthian leather. The term was made up by Chrysler's ad agency. The leather reportedly came from New Jersey.
HÄAGEN DAZS
Sounds Like: An imported Scandinavian product.
The Truth: It was created by Ruben Mattus, a Polish immigrant who sold ice cream in New York City, who used what the New York Times called the "Vichyssoise Strategy":
Vichyssoise is a native New Yorker. Created at the Ritz Carlton in 1917, it masqueraded as a French soup and enjoyed enormous success. When Mattus created his ice cream, he used the same tactic ... He was not the first to think Americans would be willing to pay more for a better product. But he was the first to understand that they would be more likely to do so if they thought it was foreign. So he made up a ridiculous, impossible to pronounce name, [and] printed a map of Scandinavia on the carton.
The ice cream was actually made in Teaneck, New Jersey.
The Truth: There isn't. Family secret: One of Uncle John's relatives was involved with test-marketing the product several decades ago. When John asked him about it, he laughed, "Our research shows people think that if it says 'pudding' on the label, it's better quality or better for you. They're wrong. It's really the same."
Anyway, we suppose that's why they still sell it with "pudding" on the label.
PACIFIC RIDGE PALE ALE
Sounds Like: A small independent brewer in Northern California. The flyer says:
Brewmasters Gery Eckman [and] Mitch Steele ... always wanted to brew a special ale in Northern California just for California beer drinkers ... so they created Pacific Ridge Pale Ale. It's produced in limited quantities, using fresh Cascade hops from the Pacific Northwest, two-row and caramel malts and a special ale yeast for a rich copper color ... Handcrafted only at the Fairfield brewhouse.
The Truth: In tiny letters on the bottle, it says: "Specialty Brewing group of Anheuser-Busch, Inc., Fairfield, California."
Sounds Like: The drink was sweetened with nothing but Sweet'N Low.
The Truth: As Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo write in The Misfortune 500, "MBC Beverage, Inc.", which licensed the Sweet'N Low name ... discovered that consumers wanted the natural sweetener NutraSweet rather than the artificial saccharine of Sweet'N Low. So they sweetened Sweet'N Low soda with NutraSweet, a Sweet'N Low competitor."
DAVE'S CIGARETTES
Sounds Like: "A folksy brand of cigarette, produced by a down-to-earth, tractor-driving guy named Dave for ordinary people who work hard and make an honest living." According to humorist Dave Barry, here's the story sent to the media when the cigarettes were introduced in 1996:
Down in Concord, N.C., there's a guy named Dave. He lives in the heart of tobacco farmland. Dave enjoys lots of land, plenty of freedom and his yellow '57 pickup truck. Dave was fed up with cheap, fast-burning smokes. Instead of just getting made, he did something about it ... Dave's Tobacco Company was born.
The Truth: Dave's was a creation of America's biggest cigarette corporation, Philip Morris, whose ad agency unapologetically called the story a "piece of fictional imagery."
The Bathroom Reader Institute handpicked the most eye-opening, rib-tickling, and mind-boggling articles from everything they have written over the last ten years and carefully crammed them into 576 pages of the book.
Mercury thiocyanide {wiki} is the chemical once used in the fireworks called “snakes”. Burning it produces poisonous mercury vapors. So don’t try this at home! -via the Presurfer
Research on the “geography of personality” finds that certain regions of the US correlate with certain personality traits. Some of these traits feed into stereotypes; others don’t.
Even after controlling for variables such as race, income and education levels, a state’s dominant personality turns out to be strongly linked to certain outcomes. Amiable states, like Minnesota, tend to be lower in crime. Dutiful states — an eclectic bunch that includes New Mexico, North Carolina and Utah — produce a disproportionate share of mathematicians. States that rank high in openness to new ideas are quite creative, as measured by per-capita patent production. But they’re also high-crime and a bit aloof. Apparently, Californians don’t much like socializing, the research suggests.
The study did not control for how long a person lived in their current state. It also did not find out why personality traits congregate the way they do. Is it something about the region itself, or the genes of the people born there? Can you “catch” certain traits by moving to a new state? My home state of Kentucky is only ranked high for neuroticism. The Wall Street Journal article includes an interactive map where you can look up your state’s personality traits. Link-Thanks, christophe!
Travel through the Gobi desert in Mongolia, and you might have an opportunity to stay at the Three Camel Lodge. You will stay in one of thirty gers (tents) made of felt and wood, and pay only around $300 a night. This is one of 10 Seriously Unusual & Outlandishly Weird Asian Hotels. Link-Thanks, Andy!
OK, either this is the most dedicated radio announcer in Greece or I’m being taken for a ride and this is a viral marketing video. I would love to have our Greek speaking audience translate what must be a very important announcement that this guy would just keep reading it on air while the fire behind him spreads.
The Idaho Vandals Cheerleaders, before and after the costume change. The volleyball jersey is a temporary uniform till the newer, more modest uniforms are ready. Photos: Larry Johnson / GoVandals.net
After spectators complained that the cheerleaders of the University of Idaho’s Vandals football team have been flashing a little more than school spirit, the football team dumped the cheerleader uniforms because … they’re too skimpy!
After the football team dumped the school logo from the buttocks of their new pants, the university in Moscow got complaints that new two-piece cheerleader uniforms were too skimpy.
"A number of fans were concerned that the uniforms were inappropriate," said Bruce Pitman, dean of students. "To be fair, there were a number of fans who liked them."
The outfits that drew controversy, halter tops and short black skirts with white trim, were similar to what an NFL cheerleader might wear, Pitman said.
A mysterious artist dubbed the "Pic-glasso" by residents of Stourbridge, England, has been taking empty milk bottles from doorsteps and then returning them with elaborate etched pictures!
The artist, dubbed "Pic-glasso" by locals around Stourbridge, West Mids, scratches out frescos of farmyard scenes and animals.
Now some are so keen to find out the identity of the artist they are staying up all night.
When I went to Cal, I used to shop at the Berkeley Bowl (whenever I could find parking). So it’s a pleasant surprise to find the quirky market featured in the Los Angeles Times.
Here’s what John M. Glionna wrote about the place where nuts roam the aisles as well as sit on the shelves:
Outside, petitioners seeking signatures for ballot measures have come to blows with opinionated residents. In the tiny parking lot, nicknamed the Berkeley Brawl, frustrated motorists have been known to ram one another’s cars. At the checkout, people have thrown punches and unripened avocados at suspected line-cutters.
When one shopper was told she couldn’t return a bag of granola, she showily dumped its contents on the floor. Culyon Garrison, who works at the customer-service desk, recently had a loaf of bread thrown at him.
The produce emporium — one of the nation’s most renowned retailers of exotic fruits and vegetables — creates its own bad behavior. Kamikaze shoppers crash down crowded aisles without eye contact or apology for fender-benders. So many customers weren’t waiting to pay before digging in that management imposed the ultimate deterrent: Those caught sampling without buying will be banned for life — no reprieves, no excuses. (Not even "I forgot to take my medication.")
Hidden in the rugged hills of Arnhem, Australia, are stunning Aboriginal rock carvings that depict the history of Aboriginal contact with outsiders - from sailing ships to 19th-century steamships and even a World War II battleship!
Alongside exquisite rock art more than 15,000 years old are paintings that capture some of the 19th and 20th centuries’ most important technological innovations - a biplane, bicycle, car and rifle - as well as portraits of church ministers, sea captains and traders.
Caroline Hayes, 63, befriended a homeless pig she named Bruce and even nursed it back to health. And what did she get for her troubles? The pig held her hostage for food!
Ms Hayes had even nursed Bruce back from ill health, putting cream onto his infected eye. “When I first saw it, it had 15 ticks in its eyes which I actually took out with tweezers," she told Times Online.
But by 4am (AEST) on Monday their friendship had soured when Bruce – a white boar pig weighing approximately 175 pounds (80kg) – began ramming Ms Hayes’s bedroom door, grunting loudly and demanding to be fed. He became so aggressive that the pensioner could not leave her bedroom in order to go to the outside toilet.
“He was head-butting the door really hard, and snorting really loudly,” Ms Hayes said.
“But I really needed to go to the toilet so I opened the door and he pushed me so hard I fell over. So I picked up a broom handle to kind of push him away, and he snapped it in half.”
Just 24 hours after 22-year-old Matti Saari was questioned by police after he posted a disturbing YouTube video and released because he had the proper gun license, he went to a school and opened fire on students:
Saari uploaded disturbing footage onto YouTube of himself practising at a firing range and turning to the camera to proclaim: ‘You will die next.’
Worried police interviewed the second-year domestic science student about the clips - but, because he had an appropriate gun license, did not take him into custody.
Just one day later he stormed into an exam hall and opened fire with an automatic weapon before killing himself.
If you liked Olle Hemmendorff’s kitchen floor, you’ll love this! Charlie Kratzer of Lexington, Kentucky wanted something a little snazzier than bare cream-colored walls in his basement rec room. So he went to work with Sharpies and Magic Markers and doodled his masterpiece.
There are fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, Winston Churchill lounging with George Bernard Shaw — and the TV squirrel Rocky and his less adroit moose pal Bullwinkle.
Says Kratzer of his cartoon of a cartoon: “You appreciate the cleverness more as an adult.”
There’s Georges Seurat’s Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. There is Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, and the Cornell Law School, of which Kratzer is an alumnus. There is Kratzer’s dad. There is the harlequin pattern — alluded to in culinary culture today by the Panera bread bag — and a fake fireplace facing a real one.
There are both The Walrus and the Carpenter (from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There), and William Shakespeare. The Marx Brothers peer around a corner. A flip-top garbage can is transformed via marker art into Star Wars’ plucky little beeper R2D2.
The Herald-Leader has a 360 degree panorama of the finished basement. Link -via reddit
Neatorama posted the story of Wendy the Service Cat in January. She is the companion of disabled veteran Jeffrey Ward. Here is a sad update to the story: Saturday night, Wendy didn’t come home from a bathroom break. Ward found her injured in front of a nearby building.
X-rays showed both pelvic bones were broken - injuries veterinarian John Bevan says are consistent with being kicked or stepped on.
Surgery was performed Monday and a second is scheduled for Tuesday.
“We did a plate and about six screws on the left side, tomorrow we’ll repair it with a screw and a pin,” said Dr. Bevan.
Ward says he can’t allow himself think of the person who did this to Wendy.
“The very thing that helps me cope with confrontation is now the one thing someone’s taken away,” said Ward.
Dr. Bevan says that Wendy should recover with a couple of month’s therapy, but may be left with arthritis. There will be a fundraiser for medical expenses Wednesday at the Third Base bar and grill in Austin, Texas. Link-Thanks, Kimi!
Update: I heard back from the Central Texas Veterinary Specialty Hospital. They told me that Wendy’s medical bill has been paid in full, thanks to generous donors. If you want to donate to other animals who need care, you can contact them through their website.
Wayne Martin Belger makes his own pinhole cameras. Each camera is its own work of art! Cameras are designed to photograph different subjects, and often incorporate the subject in the materials. Some can seem gruesome, containing blood, bone, or other biological relics. This camera is named Sons of Abraham (9/11) and is made from
…a solid block 6061 T6 Aircraft Aluminium inlayed with a piece of the Bible from 1860, a piece of the Koran from1960 and a piece of the Torah from 1880. The jagged piece of metal in the front of the camera with the pinhole in it was once part of a support beam holding up the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
The Crown Estate of England has made arrangements to purchase the world’s largest wind turbine.
It’s a 7.5-megawatt monster to be built by Clipper Windpower of Carpinteria, Calif. Now the Royal Turbine is getting even bigger: Clipper has revealed to Fortune that Her Majesty’s windmill has been supersized to ten megawatts, producing five times the power generated by typical big turbines currently in commercial operation. The giant’s wingspan stretches the length of two soccer fields. At 574 feet, the turbine soars over Big Ben and roughly equals 111 Queen Elizabeths (the actual queen) plus one corgi stacked on top of one another.
The turbine is expected to be anchored offshore and put into use in 2012, when it will have the capability to power 3,700 homes. Link -Thanks, bob!
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Sounds Like: An imported Scandinavian product.
Sounds Like: A small independent brewer in Northern California. The flyer says:
Sounds Like: "A folksy brand of cigarette, produced by a down-to-earth, tractor-driving guy named Dave for ordinary people who work hard and make an honest living." According to humorist Dave Barry, here's the story sent to the media when the cigarettes were introduced in 1996:
Research on the “geography of personality” finds that certain regions of the US correlate with certain personality traits. Some of these traits feed into stereotypes; others don’t. 
When I went to Cal, I used to shop at the Berkeley Bowl (whenever I could find parking). So it’s a pleasant surprise to find the quirky market featured in the Los Angeles Times. 
When Buffy the chicken lost all of her feathers, staff at the animal rescue center knitted her a sweater to keep warm!
Caroline Hayes, 63, befriended a homeless pig she named Bruce and even nursed it back to health. And what did she get for her troubles? The pig held her hostage for food!
Just 24 hours after 22-year-old Matti Saari was questioned by police after he posted a disturbing YouTube video and released because he had the proper gun license, he went to a school and opened fire on students:
Neatorama posted the story of 
The Crown Estate of England has made arrangements to purchase the world’s largest wind turbine. 
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