To Bee or Not To Bee

I've made my share of crazy bets but they don't come close to the bets these guys made. A group of beekeepers in New Zealand routinely make odd bets with each other,one time it was $500 (New Zealand dollars) to eat a slug. The latest bet was to sit down on a beehive without the benefit of pants. The first guy to attempt to win the $1,000 bet only lasted 19 seconds out of the 30 seconds required. The next guy to try lasted the 30 seconds and was really pleased about it, saying it was the easiest money he had ever made. Though some bees died because of stinging his bare butt he wanted to assure everyone that a lot of bees die this time of year so no one should be concerned,but cautioned others to not try this at home. No worries! I won't be trying this at home or anywhere else.

Pack Up Your Sh#t!

Once I got over the initial laughter I was somewhat disgusted with the idea of an artist canning his feces,numbering the cans and selling them,but alas a sucker truly is born every minute. Piero Manzoni (a controversial Italian artist) in 1961 stated that if the public wanted something really intimate by an artist that they would buy their shit and proceeded to do just that. Fast forward to 2002 and the death of the "artist" at age 29 from liver disease shortly after completing his "work",the Tate Museum paid $80,000 for 30 grams of his feces at a Sotheby's auction. If by some chance you still don't feel like laughing the final piece should do it...the museum got the money from the government!

Save the Sausage!

Exactly 6 months and 1 day after firefighters in southern England saved a woman's 18 piglets from a barn fire she was able to deliver the sausages she had promised them when they responded to the fire. In a most appropriate manner the piglets the firefighters had saved were brought to them to be enjoyed on the barbecue in the form of sausages. In true form vegetarians heard about the sausage gift and caused some grief for both the farmer and the firefighters,though they were both only doing their jobs,in fact the farmer was going above and beyond the scope of her work with her generosity.

Raising a Stink

A woman in Devon,England took her pet skunk camping with her and (surprise,surprise) Dottie wandered off. As I stated in a recent post it isn't a wise venture to either feed wild animals or keep them as pets,but once that boundary has been crossed not much can be done but to try to accommodate the needs of the animal. She reported Dottie as missing and received reports of several sightings but was never able to actually recapture Dottie. She then turned to a psychic who told her to try near the garden shed. A man responded to a Facebook post and sent a picture of Dottie ,the woman went to the man's yard,near his shed and was reunited with Dottie who promptly sprayed her. You would think if you were going to have a skunk for a pet that you would have their sprayer disabled. She got a bath when she got home as she smelled very earthy...nothing was mentioned about the other smell.

Blinded by the Light

I'm surprised I didn't hear that old Manfred Mann tune on eclipse day but will let that thought drop as to not get too far off subject. Though Mama told him not to look into the eyes of the sun a rapper./hip hop artist named Joey Bada$$ threw caution to the wind and viewed it without eye protection. Never mind that we were all warned that even looking into the sun for as little as 20 seconds could cause damage,some people (I won't mention any other names here) either feel that they are above the rest of the human race or are simply science deniers. Odd how if you claim to deny science that you would still believe it enough to be told the exact times when the eclipse would occur across the country. Joey ended up canceling three shows citing (should be sighting in this instance!) unforeseen circumstances. He has since be spotted wearing dark glasses.

Talking Turkey

Residents of Stamford,NY are being terrorized by a group of wild turkeys. This is a perfect example of what happens when people decide they need to feed the wildlife,the turkeys in this case showed up around 3 years ago and since that time the males have matured and lost all fear of humans because of being fed. Older residents are now afraid to leave their homes,the turkeys chase joggers,mail carriers or anyone else they feel are trespassing in their territory. Animal Control has been called in to hopefully capture and relocate the turkeys,they continue to warn the residents to not feed the turkeys.

It's All in the Details

It only seems like common sense to make sure you're drawing as little attention to yourself as possible if you're doing something illegal,unless of course for some convoluted reason you want to be caught. With that thought in mind it would also not be a good choice to tie a coffin to the roof of your vehicle,but that is exactly what a 39 year old Arkansas man did,but wait it gets better! He led the police on a chase when they tried to stop him and they finally had to deploy road spikes to bring him to a stop. The casket was empty so that wasn't what he was trying to hide,so it was apparently the fictitious license plates that he was hoping would avoid detection,but he also managed to be ticketed for reckless driving and fleeing an officer.

Random Thoughts

A few nights ago as I was falling asleep I was thinking how the recently opened casino in Washington is called Ilani and the Disney property in Hawaii is called Aulani. Since their names sound kind of similar my next thought was why didn't Disney incorporate casinos into their enterprises? I know they claim to be a family oriented business but let's face it they are about making money just like any other business,at any rate I fell asleep imagining a casino designed by Disney.
I got my $10 senior pass for National Parks today and as I was driving home I couldn't help but wonder how many parks would bite the dust with the current president at the helm all in the name of mining or some other nefarious scheme for him and his cronies to make more money,it may end up being a waste of $10.
Last and probably least is if someone with bee sting type lips actually were to get a bee sting on their already puffy lips would their lips end up taking over their whole face?
 

Like Putting Lipstick on a Pig

I'm not a big fan of McDonald's but there are a lot of people who love their Mickey D's. I'm guessing they had their loyal customers in mind when they came out with new packaging for their signature collection. In Japan they introduced their Quarter Pound Jewelry Burgers which in addition to their premium packaging also feature truffle sauce,spicy chorizo and pineapple and sell for $10 US. Japan isn't the only country on the luxury McDonald's circuit,the UK hired a designer (oddly enough named Macdonald) to create a special jewel encrusted box for their signature collection. Only 1,000 were made and will be made available at special events or fans can sign up to win one.

Safety First

I expected some stories to surface in regard to yesterday's eclipse and I wasn't disappointed. Authorities in Florida (of course it was Florida!) arrested a suspected car thief who pulled into a Harbor Freight store in Kissimmee to buy a welding mask so he could view the eclipse. The 22 year old was arrested standing next to the stolen vehicle viewing the event. It seems like he could have timed stealing the car a little better so he could have viewed the eclipse at his leisure,but at least he was safety conscious enough to think of protecting his eyes...of course again if he would have planned better he could have purchased eclipse glasses for $1.99 which is considerably less than a welding helmet.

Epic Re-branding Fail

Before I get started today I would like to point out the similarities between the Confederate flag/statues issues currently causing unrest and all things Nazi related. The Germans DO NOT feature statues of Hitler anywhere or swastika related items even though they are part of their history,but of course I don't expect to change anyone's mind. The re-branding fail is also of a swastika,it seems a t-shirt company thought they could trot it out and sell it as a symbol of peace and love...as many of you might guess it didn't go over too well.

Picking the Prettiest

When a person thinks of a beauty pageant camels are not normally the first thing to come to mind,but in Saudi Arabia they hold an annual beauty pageant for camels. In the US and other countries shows are held to judge domesticated animals against the standard expected of a breed whether dog,cat or what have you. The camel beauty pageant is judged on untouched natural beauty,curly hair,pert ears,long lashes and high, perfectly positioned hump. Around 300,000 animals compete in the pageant for a grand prize of 25 million pounds (around 32 million American dollars),and the winner is also dusted  with saffron (any wonder it's so expensive!).

How Not Why

Time to relax into the weekend and I may have found just story to help you along. A bed and breakfast in Scotland came up with a way to keep their 14 hens safe should they wander off the property,the owner made them bright pink visibility vests and to take it one step further in case the hens really went on the stroll she included the establishments name and phone number so if anyone found one of the wayward hens they could return them. For the bonus the hens supply eggs for the guests. I think if I were the one making the vests I would have went with a different color as the pink not only clashes with the hen's coloring it doesn't seem as visible as maybe a chartreuse would be. I so miss chickens,I think I'm going to see if I can round up people to come feed them for me on the times I take off,the only problem is once they get old I would be too attached to kill and eat them.

Non-Fruit Flavored Fruit

A grocery market in Europe working closely with fruit farmers have developed grapes that taste like cotton candy,plums that taste like bubblegum and peaches that taste like doughnuts. My first question was why? Apparently they feel people enjoy having different flavors in their fruit and they also think it will encourage children to eat more fruit. I think children can learn to enjoy fruit without having it taste like something else but since it isn't GMO I suppose it doesn't much matter what I think. My second question was if they make wine out of these non-fruit flavored fruits does the wine taste like cotton candy,bubblegum and doughnuts? Sounds kind of gross to me,but I'm not much of a wine person anyway.