Weird Shorts – 4

Talk about a mammoth appetite, when most of the world’s large mammals went extinct roughly 10,000 years ago, the vast majority of the vanished species were herbivores. This of course meant that they were no longer around to eat the plants they otherwise would have, and - according to Christophers Doughty and Field from Oxford and Stanford Universities respectively – this freed up an extra 1.4 trillion kilos of food, roughly 2.5% of the net product of all Earth’s dry land. However, the researchers add, this excess had been ‘used up’ by burgeoning human numbers by around 1700 and today we consume six times as much as the Pleistocene critters ever did while simultaneously driving down land productivity by 10% (Nature)(PDF).

That’s not to say that our massive consumption doesn’t have it’s upside, As Vangelis Kapatos of Manhattan discovered when he attempted suicide by jumping from his ninth floor flat, only to survive when his fall was broken by a pile of uncollected garbage. Mr. Kapatos’ timing, from his perspective, couldn’t have been worse, the unusually large garbage pile was due to collections being suspended because of snow. They were due to resume the day after his impromptu dumpster dive (Today Online).

Mind you, we’re not the only animals prone to excess. After finding the bodies of dozens of starlings near the city of Constanta in Romania, locals were concerned that the cause might be bird flu, instead post-mortems of the birds have revealed that they in fact died of alcohol poisoning, having ‘drunk’ themselves to death on the discarded leftovers of the local winemaking industry. A least they died happy (BBC News).

Better than dying happy, though, is living happy, and the secret of that, says the UK’s Office for National Statistics, is having a job. But it’s not the pay but the job security that counts, say the government statisticians, which ironically are facing staff cuts themselves due to the economic downturn. Other key happiness factors, according to the preliminary report, are good personal health and a decent family life. What will we do without these people (Telegraph)?



More in extended >>

Posted By: Dumbfounded - Thu Jan 13, 2011 - Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Creatures, Armageddon and Apocalypses, Babies, Crime, Death, Human Marvels, Inebriation and Intoxicants, Religion, Sexuality, Weird Names, Body Fluids, Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents

Dr Kill and Mr Chance

Film "Rockn'Toll", "Béton désarmé" from Fabrice Mathieu on Vimeo.

This is for all of us who can't wait any longer for the ROGER RABBIT sequel.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 18, 2010 - Comments (7)
Category: Death, Humor, Cartoons

Xmas Gifts

Two special books for that WU-vie in your life.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 14, 2010 - Comments (5)
Category: Death, Sexuality, Books

Grape Escape

A major contributor to youth violence, no doubt, and consequently banned forever! But it would be fun to be able to still buy this today, on Black Friday.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Nov 26, 2010 - Comments (7)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Death, Games, Children, 1990s

The Devil Bat

Here's your Halloween treat! Just a little over an hour of Bela Lugosi and his gigundo flying rodent of death! Enjoy!

Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 30, 2010 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Death, Horror, Humor, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, 1940s

Dolphin Invasion!

Remember the episode of The Simpsons where dolphins learned to walk on their tails and invaded the land? It's coming true, as you can see from the second picture in this post. Read the horrifying details here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 25, 2010 - Comments (9)
Category: Animals, Death, Horror, War

More Dangerous Than Dynamite!

Petroleum and tidiness: a bad combo.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Oct 15, 2010 - Comments (2)
Category: Death, Destruction, Disasters, Domestic

Guns Don’t Kill People

But I can't say the same for these doctors.



Guns, Doctors and all around weirdness in one place!

Posted By: Nethie - Wed Sep 15, 2010 - Comments (5)
Category: Death, Entertainment, Guns, Hospitals, Humor, Medicine, Video, Violence, Goofs and Screw-ups

What A Way To Go

In December of 2007, Craig Taylor took shelter under an awning during a storm. The awning collapsed and killed the unfortunate Mr. Taylor. Tragic, sure. But weird? Well death by awning probably isn't common, but what makes this instance unique is what made the awning collapse in the first place... pigeon poo. Australian authorities have opened an inquest to determine what exactly caused Mr. Taylor to be crushed and are focusing on the amount of pigeon's droppings that had built up on the awning. And you thought pigeons only liked statues!

Posted By: Nethie - Sat Sep 04, 2010 - Comments (4)
Category: Accidents, Animals, Death, Excrement, More Things To Worry About, Australia

Next up on World’s Deadliest Jobs - Mushroom Hunters

While it might seem quaint to walk through the woods to find and pick mushrooms, apparently it can be quite deadly. Authorities in northern Italy say that at least 18 people have died recently while hunting for the tasty fungi. Avid seekers are growing careless and ignoring safety procedures because the weather for the month of August has lead to a surge in mushroom growth. Most of those who have died fell off the slippery mountain slopes. Now, I realize that truffles can be worth more per ounce than gold, but I don't think it's worth a person's life.

Posted By: Nethie - Mon Aug 30, 2010 - Comments (8)
Category: Accidents, Death, Jobs and Occupations, Nature, Europe