Thomas Edison had some great inventions, the most notable being the modern light bulb, but he had some wacky ones as well. Take this 1889 Edison Talking Doll (right) or the electric pen (below). Not quite the hits he might have expected.
TV and travel writer Bob Harris tries the Fish Spa in the Singapore airport, letting hundreds of flesh-eating Doctor Fish swarm his feet to chew off the dead skin cells. This is just wrong!
On shooting Wall Street while drunk: "I'd begun drinking all the time. We shot in New York City, so I'd be out to the bars every night till 3 or 4 a.m., then try to show up for a 6 a.m. call to stand toe-to-toe with Michael Douglas and handle 50% of a scene. How could that work? Yet there I was, the guy that struck gold, looking around at dawn to find that the only one still partying was me."
"As kids we're not taught how to deal with success; we're taught how to deal with failure. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. If at first you succeed, then what?"
"I was with one at a time with the other four watching. It was a little uncomfortable, actually. I wouldn't recommend five at once. There's just not enough guy to go around."
"I've always been pretty old-fashioned. I'm kind of a missionary guy."
College student Corey Fauver filmed his beard growing over the course of more than a year. He took a photo per day and edited them into a video sequence from stubble to ZZ Top and back again. Yes, it's worth watching.
Mr. non-profit Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has applied to have his name trademarked. The trademark application covers these services: "Public speaking services; news reporter services; journalism; publication of texts other than publicity texts; education services; entertainment services." Well I guess given his growing legal bills for his sexual assault case and the target on his back drawn by most of the world's countries, it's hard to blame him.Hey, he's just following in the footsteps of Sarah Palin who filedto trademark her name – and her daughter Bristol's.
This almost sounds like a joke, but in a first person account by Dafna Linzer on ProPublica about her experience writing the citizenship exam, it appears you are required to give the wrong answers to pass the test. Linzer is a Canadian and did manage to pass. Here are some excerpts from her account:
"Take Question 36. It asks applicants to name two members of the president's Cabinet. Among the correct answers is "Vice President." The vice president is a cabinet-level officer but he's not a Cabinet member. Cabinet members are unelected heads of executive departments [4], such as the Defense Department, or the State Department."
This out of Surprise, Arizona: The name of the town should be warning enough. Teacher Tarah Ausburn has enough bumper stickers on her Prius to paper the Vatican. It seems parents at the Imagine Prep High School took exception to some of the stickers and Ausburn was turfed. Or maybe not. Parents say she was fired over other issues and the school refuses to talk. The sticker that seems to have really upset parents is this one: "Have you drugged your kid today?" Kinda cute I thought!
A small fraction of the population is face blind - known as prosopagnosia . They cannot recognize faces — sometimes even the faces of their parents, spouses, and children. It can be congenital or happen as the result of an injury. Recently well known neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks made the surprising disclosure that he has prosopagnosia. Hey, so do I. Watch this CBC video segment from The Hour and find out more. Get more info and take the test yourself here.
In an interview with the Today Show, Charlie Sheen tells a somewhat startled Jeff Rossen that he wants $3 million an episode to return to the popular show Two an a Half Men. He is reportedly making $1.8 million per episode now, making him one of the highest paid actors in TV Land. .
Rosen asked Sheen, "You want a raise?" Rossen asked.
Sheen: "Yeah, look what they put me through ... I'm tired of pretending I'm not special ... you can't process me with a normal brain."
This is just too bizarre. Former Canadian defence minister Paul Hellyer – and by former I mean 1963 – believes aliens have been making contact with humans for years and have been warning us about the environment. He says humans have always fired on alien craft rather than attempt to approach their inhabitants and understand them.
In a speech (see video below) , Hellyer said: "Decades ago, visitors from other planets warned us about where we were headed and offered to help. But instead we, or at least some of us, interpreted their visits as a threat, and decided to shoot first and ask questions after."
Thomas Edison had some great inventions, the most notable being the modern light bulb, but he had some wacky ones as well. Take this 1889 Edison Talking Doll (right) or the electric pen (below). Not quite the hits he might have expected.
