2005 April « Yummy Wakame

Apr30

PAGING RUBE GOLDBERG

Tim Brender was getting ready to move and “knew he needed to start getting things organized,” said his wife, Lani. The Madison, Wisc., man went to the basement of his rented townhouse to start packing. He moved a table, which knocked over a can of spray paint, which landed on a hammer on the floor. The can was punctured, and it started to spray wildly, shooting paint into the water heater. The paint fumes were ignited by the pilot light, which ignited a cushion, which spread to stored gunpowder. The ensuing inferno destroyed everything in the home. “You couldn’t set up this scenario to happen,” Lani said. (Madison Capital Times) … Fire investigators believed that, since the couple wasn’t insured.

More stories like this from This is True.

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Apr30

Sleep paralysis and night terrors

Bsti breaks down an interesting article explaining sleep paralysis and night terrors which I found extremely interesting.

5 years ago when I was living in a particular house in Midrand, South Africa, I would have them every night. I didn’t have them anywhere else but this house, and it was usually always the same experience.

I’d wake up in the dead of the night with a sudden bang, my eyes burst open, I’m lying flat on my back (quite unusual in itself) and see this huge creature floating over me from head to toe. Its the blackest black you can imagine, blacker than the darkness in my room, I couldn’t see any eyes but I could feel it staring into mine, as close as 5cm away from my nose, just hovering over me. Almost touching me. Of course it absolutely terrified me – I try to move but I’d be completely paralysed. All I could do was open my mouth to a huge scream but nothing came out, just air. I’d keep trying to scream until eventually a strange muffled moan would escape, waking Pieter… who by now knew what’s happening so he’d turn on the light, and I’d be crying… feeling like I’d gone completely mad.

The same disturbance every night. Some nights I’d wake up before it’s over me, see it approaching me by the side of the bed, or just standing in the corner of the room, or floating up on the ceiling in the corner of the room… but most of the time it was lying over me. It’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever had to face, and knowing it would come for me every night. Some nights it would happen more than once, so I’d be too afraid to fall asleep and just lie there with the lights on. I didn’t know what it was. It didn’t feel like it could be an “alien” (that never occurrred to me) and it didn’t feel like it was a projection of myself.

These episodes thankfully stopped as soon as I left that house and it hasn’t happened since.

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Apr30

What a coincidence

“If the density of the universe one second after the Big Bang had been greater by one part in a thousand billion, the universe would have recollapsed after ten years. On the other hand, if the density of the universe at that time had been less by the same amount, the universe would have been essentially empty when it was about ten years old.” ~ Stephen Hawking, Physicist

As seen on Chapel Perilous.
More coincidences…

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Apr30

White shoe

Lost.

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Apr29

Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About

Wow. This couple must have the most incredible sex life. I can’t imagine what else could hold them together…

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Apr29

Gates says…

Gay Rights Law Divided Microsoft

Also, Bill talks about Microsoft’s decision to outsource R&D, innovation, and uses various verbs and nouns!

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Apr29

Extracts from letters sent to councils and housing associations throughout the UK

“I want some repairs done to my cooker as it has backfired and burnt my knob off.”

“I wish to complain that my father hurt his ankle very badly when he put his foot in the hole in his back passage.”

“Their 18 year old son is continually banging his balls against my fence.”

“I wish to report that tiles are missing from the outside toilet roof. I think it was bad wind the other night that blew them off.”

“My lavatory seat is cracked, where do I stand?”

“I am writing on behalf of my sink, which is coming away from thew all.”

“Will you please send someone to mend the garden path. My wife tripped and fell on it yesterday and now she is pregnant. We are getting married in September and we would like it in the garden before we move into the house.”

“The toilet is blocked and we cannot bath the children until it is cleared.”

“Will you please send a man to look at my water, it is a funny colour and not fit to drink.”

“Our lavatory seat is broken in half and is now in three pieces.”

“Would you please send a man to repair my spout. I am an old age pensioner and need it badly.”

“I want to complain about the farmer across the road; every morning at 6am his cock wakes me up and its now getting too much for me.”

“The man next door has a large erection in the back garden, which is unsightly and dangerous.”

“Our kitchen floor is damp. We have two children and would like a third so please send someone round to do something about it.”

“I am a single woman living in a downstairs flat and would you please do something about the noise made by the man I have on top of me every night.”

“Please send a man with the right tool to finish the job and satisfy my wife.”

“I have had the clerk of the works down on the floor six times but I still have no satisfaction.”

“This is to let you know that our lavatory seat is broken and we can’t get BBC2.”

“He’s got this huge tool that vibrates the whole house and I just can’t take it anymore.”

“That is his excuse for dogs mess that I find hard to swallow.”

“My bush is really overgrown round the front and my back passage has fungus growing in it.”

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Apr29

Radical experiments in communal living

This is an absolutely fascinating documentary. Could you imagine living like this? I would have absolutely loved to grow up like this…

WHERE THE WILD KIDS ARE
BBC Radio 4, Documentary
Listen to the archived program

In 1972, six groups of parents embarked on a ten-year experiment that involved them “pooling” their children ? 16 of them. Since none of the children now “belonged” to any of the parents they all took the same surname ? Wild ? and moved between homes on a rota basis. It was the sort of thing people did in the immediate post-hippy years, experimenting with social structures in a bid to come up with Utopia. Gerry Kennedy tracks them all down.

The early 1970s saw numerous experiments in alternative ways of living, but few as intriguing as a group of communes whose members decided that the children would not be raised just by their natural parents, but collectively. To reinforce this, and since none of the children “belonged” to any of the parents they all took the same surname ? Wild ? and moved between homes on a rota basis.

Gerry Kennedy tracks down the Wild kids to see how they turned out.

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Apr29