Weird Worm » Podcast Feed
By Unknown
To listen to an audio podcast, mouse over the title and click Play. Open iTunes to download and subscribe to podcasts.
| Name | Description | Released | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
12 of Your Most Common Dreams…and What They Mean | Dreams represent more than just random fragments strung together from our waking lives. At least we’d like to think they mean more. Searching for the significance behind our dreams has led many of us to buy overpriced dream dictionaries, hunt down online interpretations and even venture into the dreaded troll underworld known as “Yahoo Answers”. The more daring among us may even check out the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. According to Freud, dreams are fundamentally about wish-fulfillment and are often sexual in some way. With that in mind, we’re betting that dream you had about riding a giant banana through the Lincoln Tunnel takes on a whole new meaning. Freud would have had a field day with this one. Anyway, we here at Weirdworm have decided to take a look at twelve of your most common dreams. We’ll be offering different explanations as to what they may represent. Because dreams are particularly open to interpretation we decided to go with a traditional analysis as well as a unique view on the subject. For the latter we chose to ask someone who knows “a little bit about everything”, our very own – “Frankie the Maintenance Guy”. He’s our office’s janitorial warrior. Frankie is always around to clean up anything from the smallest spill to the ridiculous amounts of dried raccoon feces stuck to the ceiling of our boardroom. This is how Frankie looks on a good day. Frankie hit a lotto number back in 1978 thanks to a dream he had which involved the scoreboard of a Yankees game (he won $50.00 bucks). We’ll be referring to Frankie’s take on the subject as our “in-house expert opinion”. Let’s get started… 12. Teeth Falling Out (...)Read the rest of 12 of Your Most Common Dreams…and What They Mean (2,094 words) (...)Read the rest of 12 of Your Most Common Dreams…and What They Mean (2,094 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 5/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
2 |
5 of the Most Popular Nerd Arguments | If you clicked this link then chances are you’re in fact a fellow nerd. We’d like to thank you ahead of time for pulling yourself away from World of Warcraft and blessing us with your presence. So what was it that grabbed your attention? Was it the geeky pics in the article’s banner or just the word “nerd” alone that brought you here? In any case, here are five of the most popular nerd arguments you’ll find anywhere… though mostly in the dorkiest corners of the internet. If we happen to miss your favorite nerd argument don’t get your Spiderman undies in a twist, there will be more where this came from. For now lets get started with the classics… 5. George Lucas Raped My Childhood! (...)Read the rest of 5 of the Most Popular Nerd Arguments (1,565 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 of the Most Popular Nerd Arguments (1,565 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 4/29/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
3 |
Good, Bad and Morally Ambigous: The Low-Down on 9 Movie Dragons | When you stop and take a moment to think about dragons, chances are you have a very specific image in your mind of what this mythological creature looks and acts like, depending on whatever your formative dragon experience was. So you might find it weird that a dragon can actually be a lot of different things to different people. A lot of the differences in dragon representations are cultural; for example, Westerners trend more towards a dragons-are-evil mythos, while others, especially the Chinese, revere dragons as bringers of luck. Dragons have also changed over time; we’ve somewhat overcome our stereotypical dragon sensibilities in favor of the more modern notion of seeing dragons as ‘people,’ or at least assigning some sort of human or uber-human characteristics to them. Below is a handy guide to the panoply of dragons in movies that might, perhaps help you learn how your ideas of what a dragon is came to be, and whether or not those ideas are terribly wrong. The entries are listed roughly in chronological order, so you can see the evolution of dragon representations over time. 1. Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty (1959) Could be a good dragon. We don't want to judge on this picture alone. (...)Read the rest of Good, Bad and Morally Ambigous: The Low-Down on 9 Movie Dragons (1,468 words) (...)Read the rest of Good, Bad and Morally Ambigous: The Low-Down on 9 Movie Dragons (1,468 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us | 3/20/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
4 |
5 Fictional Jobs That Seem Awesome, But Actually Suck | Let’s face it; most people have really crappy jobs. For every jet fighter pilot breaking the sound barrier and blowing up terrorists, you have 100 guys who make minimum wage shoveling horse manure onto a cornfield. That’s why we sit in our cubicle reading comedy articles on the Internet instead of working, and why I’m employed. So, I thank you for having a crappy job so I can have an awesome one. Stop being jealous and get back to work, slacker! But finish the article first, there’s no point in being uncivilized. Another thing people do when trying to avoid the crushing reality of your garbage man existence is to fantasize about the job you’d rather have. What roadkill removal worker wouldn’t dream of being a Jedi Knight? What sewage plant cleaner doesn’t secretly imagine he’s carrying a six shooter instead of a powerwasher, shooting Nazis instead of cleaning up poop? However, here is a list of five jobs that may seem like a barrel full of awesome, but in reality, you’d be better off straddling a desk. 1. The Crew of the Black Pearl (Pirates of the Caribbean franchise) There are many obvious benefits to being a pirate. You get to wear awesome clothes, carry a sword, drink rum, pleasure many, many women, plunder ships, and generally live the glamorous life of an outlaw. Serving on the most awesome pirate ship of all time, the Black Pearl, would seem even more awesome. The Pearl is always at the center of the action, whipping the tar out of Royal Navy, EITC, and Fish People prudes, and is commanded by the most dynamic and cool characters of the Caribbean, like Hector Barbossa, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, and of course, Jack Sparrow. That’s “Captain” Jack Sparrow, thank you. (...)Read the rest of 5 Fictional Jobs That Seem Awesome, But Actually Suck (2,474 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Fictional Jobs That Seem Awesome, But Actually Suck (2,474 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 2/28/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
5 |
4 Actors Who Shouldn’t Have Come Back For the Threequel | The 3rd movie in a series is what turns a set of movies into a movie franchise, and signifies the ultimate attempt to squeeze every last drop of profit without having to come up with any original ideas. There are some threequels that are well thought out, and brilliantly accentuate a franchise, leaving an indelible legacy on Hollywood history. But for every one of those, there are a dozen threequels that are disastrous, and cases of actors going back to the well one too many times are far too common in Hollywood. Here are 4 actors who should have found a new direction to take their careers in, instead of losing a lot of rep coming out for just one more round, and getting clobbered by Mr. T. A President T. message to Danny Glover: “If I ever see Lethal Weapon 5 in theaters, I will beat you Rocky style.” 1. Eddie Murphy, Beverly Hills Cop 3 The problem with Eddie Murphy is that he’s hilarious for a couple of hours at a time, but when subjected to his antics longer than that, you start to fight an overwhelming urge to slap him lightly across both cheeks with the sharp end of a claw hammer. The original Beverly Hills Cop is a classic movie that helped launch the production career of Jerry Bruckheimer, for which all fans of action movies are eternally grateful. Thank you Eddie Murphy, thank you so very, very much. The suspension of disbelief started to get excessive with the release of Beverly Hills Cop 2. We were supposed to belief that a Detroit cop would make yet another trip to Los Angeles, to make all the LAPD detectives look like rubes and bust up another crime ring? Alright, fine. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice? Ain’t gonna happen. There is no way they could possibly expect us to believe that Axel Foley would find it necessary to go back to LA again, rig… Dammit. Now we’ve just gone into movie premise b******t territory. Detective Foley pursues a crime ring cleverly hidden inside a chain of amusement parks. Because nothing goes better together than Bugs Bunny and crack cocaine. The third movie was missing some of the original actors, Jerry Bruckheimer was not involved in any way with the movie, and Eddie Murphy deliberately tried to play the straight man role in a franchise literally built on Eddie being funny. Eddie Murphy is incapable of playing in a dramatic role, it’s not in his nature. And that’s fine. Plenty of actors are incapable of playing certain roles. For example, Arnold Schwarzeneggar is incapable of playing a comedic role. But that didn’t stop them from trying. The simple fact is that Eddie was depressed because he recently discovered he couldn’t act like Denzel, and was coming off a string of unsuccessful films, and phoned in the performance. The result? Crappy movie. Plus, listen to this song. See if you can go more than 30 seconds without trying to puncture your eardrums with a nail file. 2. Mel Gibson, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome There are many things to make fun of with regards to Mel Gibson; he’s an internet funnyman’s wet dream. But today, we will not pick on him for his crazy racist ways, but rather for his overinsistence on playing the Lone Ranger in post apocalyptic Australia. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we’re talking about Mad Max. He’s gonna eat your babies. The Mad Max trilogy degenerates as the franchise wound on, becoming more and more crazy as the movies progressed. We get to watch as Max murdered crazy villain after crazy villain, usually by running them over with a truck. Lord Humongous and the Gay Stripper Gang featured prominently. But as far as pure bizarre goes, nothing can compete with the third film in the series, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. It is clear that Mel is reaching from the beginning, when he is shown at the helm of a Conestoga Wagon with all terrain tires driven by camels, and is then promptly attacked by a dive bomber who knocks him off his perch and steals his stuff. He is then confronted by Bartertow | 2/19/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
6 |
Five Very Lucky People | There’s no way to prove that luck as we know it exists. Most people believe it out of superstition or firsthand experience with improbable odds. With experiences like the following, it becomes much harder to disprove. 1. Frane Selak If you’ve ever wondered where action movies get their increasingly bizarre scenarios from, look no further than the life of Frane Selak, a Croatian man who’s escaped more vehicle accidents than most people are willing to put up with. This again? Oh, come on! Selak’s history of WTF begins in the sixties when he was riding on a train that derailed into a river. This being January, the list of terrible things that could happen as a result of a train diving into a river were greatly increased. Selak wasn’t among the seventeen dead, having escaped with a broken arm. A year later, Selak (who had presumably sworn off of trains) was taking a flight on a commercial airliner when the cabin doors were blown off. Selak was blown away with nineteen other people. He was the only one to have survived, landing on a haystack and avoiding other injuries. A year after that, Salek tried his hand at buses and promptly found himself in a freezing river again. After being stuck by a bus and escaping a car explosion twice, Frane hit some good luck that didn’t involve near death in 2004 when he won the Croatian Million Dollar lottery. 2. Timothy Dexter To make it in the business world nowadays you need some sort of education, a sense of direction and some sort of knowledge of the business world itself. Timothy Dexter, a 1700’s eccentric, defied this logic in every possible way. He couldn’t even spell properly but somehow became one of the most successful business men in New England. Raised as a farmhand, a young Dexter picked up his trade seemingly on a whim and immediately found good fortune despite being publicly known as a poorly educated hick. His contemporaries were known to give him bad advice with the intention of ruining him financially. One such tip was importing warming pans to the West Indies, an area noted for its warmth. A captain on his ship sold them as ladles to a growing molasses company, turning a large profit. It was then suggested that he sell wool mittens to the same people, who in turn bought them all and sold them to Siberia. After being convinced to sell coal to Newport, he arrived just in time for a miner’s strike, making a small fortune. His entire career was made off of such success and it most likely wouldn’t have happened if people weren’t trying to undermine his non-integrity all the time. Haters gonna hate. At the age of fifty he published his memoir A Pickle for the Knowing Ones or Plain Truth in a Homespun Dress. Initially he gave the book away for free but soon found a publishing house that ran eight editions. Oddly enough, the book contains absolutely no punctuation within the text. 3. Jason and Jenny Cairns-Lawrence People usually only get to directly experience a terrorist attack once in their lifetime. That is because terrorist attacks have the tendency to kill lots of people. However, Jason and Jenny Cairns-Lawrence are not among them. In fact, they’ve witnessed major acts of terrorism first hand three times without being harmed themselves. Their feel-good story begins with a trip to New York City on September 11th, making them witnesses to the worst terrorist attack in American history. Four years later the duo was in London when bombs were detonated across the city’s transit system, killing fifty people. Rounding out this horrible trilogy, the couple happened to be vacationing in Mumbai when the city was under siege by terrorists. Their travel agent would later be revealed to be Satan himself. “Why yes, I hear Darfur is quite lovely this time of year.” Despite bearing witness to three of the worst events of their lifetime, the two keep a fairly optimistic view about it despite the fact that they we[...] | 1/9/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
7 |
5 Most Badass Ways Humans Have Defeated Animals | Some men fight crocodiles for a living. But, most don’t. Most people just sit at home and watch other people on TV kill snakes, bears, crocodiles, and stingrays (ooh, sorry). But, there are a select few who will go out of their way to kill something when they aren’t paid to do it. These people are the standard to which all others are held when declaring one’s badassery. 5. Von Pardue vs. Pit Bull How Scary Is It? The pit bull is a type of dog (Canis lupus familiaris) that is well known for its rage. There are tons of myths surrounding the pit bull, but most of them are false. They can’t lock their jaws, they will let go if they are told to, they aren’t bloodthirsty monsters, and they don’t have jaws that dish out two thousand pounds of force. Nonetheless… you should be afraid of them. They are really determined, and their jaw strength is 235 pounds of force, which is really impressive. And so, when they bite something that they don’t want to let go of, they won’t lock their jaw, but they will make sure you don’t open it by biting really hard. Gary Busey, a close relative of the Pit Bull, about to bite a cameraman. (...)Read the rest of 5 Most Badass Ways Humans Have Defeated Animals (1,700 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Most Badass Ways Humans Have Defeated Animals (1,700 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 12/11/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
8 |
6 Ways To Store Your Personal Identification | In this day and age of near Big-Brother levels of surveillance (and we’re not just talking about that terrible excuse for a television show here), you pretty much have to have some way of identifying yourselves to the authorities in a pinch. Whether you’re smuggling illegals across the border, visiting your hidden Swiss money stash or just trying to get into a bar, someone, somewhere is going to want to know exactly who you are. Because we haven’t quite committed to switching over to tattooed barcodes or thumb-print scans (yet), we have to stick with little bits of paper with various types of information on them. The downside is that they are much easier to lose and/or fake; the upside is that it hurts a lot less if someone tries to steal your identity. And it’s a lot simpler if you ever run into a situation where “losing” your identity is your only choice. All of this means, of course, that you have to find some way of storing these little bits of paper. Which leads to an interesting conundrum: which will you chose? Which suits your personality best? When the heck are they going to stop messing around and universalize the thumbprint scan technology? 1. In Your Pocket Occasionally, cash works as well as or better than regular forms of identification. (...)Read the rest of 6 Ways To Store Your Personal Identification (1,071 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Ways To Store Your Personal Identification (1,071 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 12/10/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
9 |
4 Strange Coincidences in U.S. History | History is riddled with strange coincidences. The history of the United States in particular has its fair share of “what the hell” moments one might not expect. Some are merely just that: coincidences. Others helped shape the course of history. If you haven’t studied the history of the United States then you may have missed these moments. The following list focuses on those relating to Presidents. 1. A Booth Saves A Lincoln On April 14th, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theater by crazy man John Wilkes Booth. His dying words were “Shit son, I’ve been shot,” and are often immortalized by rappers in a similar situation. “Fo shizzle.” (...)Read the rest of 4 Strange Coincidences in U.S. History (917 words) (...)Read the rest of 4 Strange Coincidences in U.S. History (917 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 12/5/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
10 |
The Best Fictional Bands Ever | Rock ‘n roll is awesome, and fiction is pretty badass, too. As such, it only makes sense that when the two of them combine, the badassery that results is comparable to Sylvester Stallone beating up Megatron. With his bare hands, on top of a volcano. With, like, Playboy Bunnies in the background. All exaggerated descriptions of masculine interests aside, fictional bands are a novelty for many of us, a slightly clever way of celebrating our love of pop culture and shared childhood memories. You know those hipster kids who think they are cool because they like a band that no one else has heard of? Doesn’t matter, because you are infinitely cooler for liking a band that doesn’t exist. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the more memorable musical groups that never were. 1. The Beets Hailing from Liverpool, The Beets are a trio of rock and rollers whose world-shaking musical creations are familiar to anyone who grew up in America during the 90s and owned a TV. Thanks to Nickelodeon’s dominance over our collective childhood, we all remember laughing at the antics of the Rugrats, pretending (unsuccessfully) not to be scared by episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and, perhaps most importantly of all, coming of age with Doug, the animated chronicles of an awkward and self-conscious kid in the suburban town of Bluffington. (...)Read the rest of The Best Fictional Bands Ever (1,046 words) (...)Read the rest of The Best Fictional Bands Ever (1,046 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 12/4/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
11 |
5 Ridiculous Cases of Movie Director Egotism | It shouldn’t really come as a shock that some movie directors have gigantic egos. Or, in some cases, Titanic egos. After all, these are some of the most powerful men and women in Hollywood. They control hundreds of millions of dollars and get to boss around some of the biggest stars in the world. Also, if they pull off a successful film, people fawn all over them and tell them again and again how brilliant they are. Now some of these people don’t let the accolades go to their heads. Take Steven Spielberg, who by all accounts let’s his Oscar collect dust while he’s busy being totally awesome. Another great example is Sam Raimi, who by all accounts is as humble and down to earth as can be. Of course, on the other hand, there are guys like these… 1. M. Night Shyamalan M. Early Morning is also president of the obviously-made-up-Hollywood-name-club. (...)Read the rest of 5 Ridiculous Cases of Movie Director Egotism (1,246 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Ridiculous Cases of Movie Director Egotism (1,246 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us | 11/12/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
12 |
6 Scientists Killed by Their Inventions | When exploring a new field of science it’s almost expected that some tragedies will occur because of the very ignorance the scientific community is struggling to conquer. Although tragic, it’s perfectly understandable that Marie Curie, the discoverer of radioactive materials, was unaware of the dangers of radiation and handled radium and polonium without proper protective gear. However, there are some inventors who should have known better, had all the warning necessary, yet still proceeded to get themselves killed by their own creations. These highly mockable people include… 1. al-Jawhari and Franz Reichelt – The guys who wanted to be Icarus Wow, wax wings. Better wait by the mailbox for your Nobel. (...)Read the rest of 6 Scientists Killed by Their Inventions (1,583 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Scientists Killed by Their Inventions (1,583 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us | 11/10/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
13 |
The 6 Most Absurd Origins of an Ancient God | The Gods of Old were all-powerful, spiteful, and most of all, nymphomaniacs. Most of the deities in any polytheistic religion boil down to one god ing another god and then making a baby god. Then the daddy god s the daughter god and more gods appear. The cycle repeats. Eventually, there are so many gods that there is even a god of m**********n. But that is beside the point. What’s important is, they loved conceiving children and then giving birth in a normal way. Or did they? Some gods were born or conceived in the most retarded fashions imaginable. It makes you wonder, just what kind of crack were the ancients on? 6. Second Generation of Frost Giants Mythology of Origin: Norse The Myth: This myth begins in the same way that most creation myths begin – there is nothing in the beginning, and then there is a creature. In this case, the creature is sleeping. The world’s first creature, according to Nordic mythology, was named Ymir, the founder of the race of frost giants. His children, an unnamed son, an unnamed daughter, and a third, six-headed monstrosity of a frost giant, named Þrúðgelmir (pronounced… Wharglebarglefargle? No, it really isn’t; Thruhd-gel-mere), were born in bizarre ways. His unnamed son and unnamed daughter were born from the armpits of this astounding beast: one from the left and the other from the right (implied). This is likely where an entire race of frozen denizens of the underworld were created. (...)Read the rest of The 6 Most Absurd Origins of an Ancient God (1,423 words) (...)Read the rest of The 6 Most Absurd Origins of an Ancient God (1,423 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 10/22/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
14 |
5 Terrible Sleeping Disorders That Anyone Could Have | We believe it was Nelson Mandela who once opined “Sleep! That’s where I’m a viking!” Indeed, truer words were never spoken. Sleep is the one part of our lives where no rules apply and the very definitions of reality themselves can be told to shove off. It also happens to be the time when the absolute scariest things imaginable can happen to anybody. Even you. 1. Exploding Head Syndrome What It Is: A sudden unexplained noise that occurs while you are falling into or are a few hours into sleep. It’s sort of like when you walk up behind the family dog while it’s napping and shout obscenities at it, only in the case of EHS the obscenities are described as explosions and seem to occur within the ear itself. Also, you should probably stop shouting at that poor dog. (...)Read the rest of 5 Terrible Sleeping Disorders That Anyone Could Have (1,231 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Terrible Sleeping Disorders That Anyone Could Have (1,231 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 10/19/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
15 |
The Ten Movies With Forgotten Sequels | Sequels are one of the facts of life in Hollywood, just like gay actors pretending to be straight, executives ruining everything, and Michael Bay being a hugely successful director despite being a hack. If a movie is even remotely successful, they’ll put out a direct sequel. Or if they can’t get the original actors back, they’ll put out, say, a “spiritual sequel”. Either way, a movie is likely going to have a part two, even if that’s absolutely pointless. Here are ten movies you won’t believe they’ve turned into franchises. 1. “Grease” (...)Read the rest of The Ten Movies With Forgotten Sequels (1,089 words) (...)Read the rest of The Ten Movies With Forgotten Sequels (1,089 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 10/15/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
16 |
5 Pathetic Alien Invaders | Unless you count the cast of Jersey Shore, alien cultures have not actually invaded Earth yet. It’s all the creative territory of television, movies, comic books, and paranoid hippies who have smoked a pound of grass a day for twenty years. Still, in case aliens ever do invade us for real, we all better pray they’re on the intellectual level of these five fictional invaders. If they are, then we will officially have nothing to worry about, as aliens like these couldn’t successfully invade a preschool, never mind a whole planet. 1. The Monstars (Space Jam) Do you remember the movie Space Jam? If so, just run head-first into a stone wall a few dozen times. There. Takes care of that little problem, now doesn’t it? The basic premise behind this movie is that tiny little pipsqueak aliens are threatening to steal the Looney Tunes away from us for their own amusement. For reasons that only they fully comprehend, the Tunes put their freedom on the line in a pick-up basketball game. Just like how George Washington and his soldiers dunked on the heads of the British to gain freedom for America! Thomas Jefferson had a mean jumpshot, we hear. Sadly, the aliens quickly realize that being tiny will do them no good against a whole bunch of Tunes much bigger than they, so they use their alien powers to steal the athletic ability of several NBA superstars such as Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing. This not only transforms them into pretty good basketball players who weren’t quite good enough to win a title, but also turns them into gargantuan, overly muscled monstrous freaks: Almost like this was an NBA game, really. (...)Read the rest of 5 Pathetic Alien Invaders (1,915 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Pathetic Alien Invaders (1,915 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 10/12/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
17 |
5 Prey Animals Deadlier Than Their Predators | When most people think of the world’s deadliest animals their minds jump to the ones that rule their territory with an iron fist – the animals that command your attention in the jungle, on the savannah, and in the oceans. They think of the mixed marital arts fighters of the animal kingdom. Lions, Tigers, Bears. You might be saying, “Oh my,” at the mental images of these volatile creatures. However, you’d be mistaken in assuming that these are the creatures you need to worry about the most. In fact, sometimes the prey that these predators feast on, turn out to be even deadlier than their mortal adversaries. 1. King Cobra As it turns out, the worldwide terrorist organization chose a pretty good animal to model themselves after. However, the real-life cobra is prey to a creature that looks like a ferret mixed with a dog. This rodent (the mongoose) is one of the few animals agile enough to beat the cobra – but it also uses special chemicals to block the cobra’s venom, which sounds like cheating to us. Turned to a life of crime after he failed the “Waiting for Destrot” audition (...)Read the rest of 5 Prey Animals Deadlier Than Their Predators (821 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Prey Animals Deadlier Than Their Predators (821 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 10/8/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
18 |
6 Oddly Cute Movie Creatures | Every so often, even us macho writers at WeirdWorm have to acknowledge that there’s more to life than terrifying drug side-effects, racist robots and boobs. No, it’s true! So with this in mind, it’s time to dissect the most strangely cute creatures from the world of film. We don’t mean that literally of course, so stop dialing PETA. Although we’ll be discussing some relatively endearing movie creatures, all of our entries have a distinct air of weirdness about them. As a special bonus, we’ll be rating each creature’s “oddly adorable” level on a sophisticated scale of one to three ALFs. What drugs were we on when we came up with this? ALL OF THEM! 6. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (...)Read the rest of 6 Oddly Cute Movie Creatures (1,627 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Oddly Cute Movie Creatures (1,627 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 10/1/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
19 |
5 Actors You Didn’t Know Were Talented | As moviegoers and T.V. watchers, we all like to assume that everyone in Hollywood is talented. MTV has long since destroyed that notion and now the cynics among us view Tinsletown as a wasteland- a shell of its former self- a desolate spread of tabloid despair and pet pharmacies. In the land where Peck and Hitchcock once roamed, Kardashian and Lohan now dominate. But it isn’t all bad. In fact, many actors who seem to be irrevocable wastes of space- actually have a modicum of talent left in their surgery riddled bodies. 1. Ben Affleck “Pearl Harbor”, “Gigli”, “Reindeer Games”, “Daredevil”. None of these titles inspire images of greatness. Ben Affleck, who started his career freezing in the massive shadow of Matt Damon, eventually shifted his career, providing moviegoers with competent, yet uninspiring performances. As an actor Mr. Affleck can be described as mediocre- he won’t make you shed a tear, but he isn’t going to provide ‘meme-worthy’ material like Gary Busey or Keanu Reeves would. Say it ain’t so, Han Solo! (...)Read the rest of 5 Actors You Didn’t Know Were Talented (959 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Actors You Didn’t Know Were Talented (959 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 9/30/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
20 |
The Seven Greatest Embarrassing Early Movie Roles | Actors are like everybody else; they all started at the bottom and had to work their way up. Except for most people this means sorting letters in the mail room or mopping floors. For actors, on the other hand, this usually means taking your clothes off, getting stabbed in the face, or other equally embarrassing roles you kind of don’t want to tell mom and dad about. But fortunately, most of these movies are obscure and will vanish…until you become famous, and then they return to haunt you. Such as! 1. Arnold Schwartzenegger, “Hercules In New York” There was a time, believe it or not, where the Governator, one of the most popular action stars in the world, was just a hick from Austria. Kind of the German equivalent of Georgia, but more backwards and with much better beer. Arnold shared the dream of many Austrians, namely, getting the hell out of his homeland. This he accomplished via bodybuilding and soon after, film. (...)Read the rest of The Seven Greatest Embarrassing Early Movie Roles (1,096 words) (...)Read the rest of The Seven Greatest Embarrassing Early Movie Roles (1,096 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 9/29/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
21 |
14 Bizarre Kids Cereal Boxes | Children’s cereal is big business. When your customer base thinks artificially colored and sugared cardboard is a gourmet meal, the stuff really should sell itself. Unfortunately, between you and the hyperactive brats there stands parents holding the purse strings and suggesting oatmeal or fruit instead. Good cereal producers know the key is to utilize the surprising lung capacity and lack of social inhibition characteristic of children by having them throw tantrums in the middle of the crowded cereal aisle. To achieve successful tantrums, they must make the cereal irresistible. Bright colored boxes and loveable characters are the key. Most of the time it works and we grow to love those characters. Hang in there, Trix Rabbit, you’ll get the cereal one day But sometimes the efforts are just plain weird, as these notable standouts show. 1. Corn Crackos Sugared cereals are like crack to little kids, and with Corn Crackos the Post Company wasn’t trying that hard to hide this fact. Sure, they’ll tell you cereal came out in 1967 before crack became an urban epidemic. But when the spokesman is an aggressive crow whose marketing tactics mirror those of drug dealers, you can’t help but wonder. Watch the bird force his way onto an unsuspecting populace: The campaign uses time tested drug dealer methodology for trying to get new customers. First you have the free sample. (...)Read the rest of 14 Bizarre Kids Cereal Boxes (1,115 words) (...)Read the rest of 14 Bizarre Kids Cereal Boxes (1,115 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 9/26/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
22 |
5 Diabolical Roman Kings (And How Karma Screwed Them All Over) | Before Rome was a republic, it was basically a group of cities dominated by someone who had enough balls to call himself ruler of them. We say that they needed to have balls because the job of king (or emperor or Caesar or warlord for that matter) carried with it significant on-the-job risks, most notably: assassination at the hands of your most loyal followers. Just because the Romans hadn’t gotten around to knocking their rivals in the dirt yet didn’t mean they weren’t violent mofos. Early leaders tend to set precedent. Just like George Washington starting the tradition of serving two terms as a US president, the first kings of Rome started the Roman tradition of leaving office in a body bag. Beginning with… 1. Romulus (753-716 AD) (...)Read the rest of 5 Diabolical Roman Kings (And How Karma Screwed Them All Over) (2,155 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Diabolical Roman Kings (And How Karma Screwed Them All Over) (2,155 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 9/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
23 |
5 Almost Sports That Left Us Too Soon | Not every sport is treated with respect, nor are they given any credibility. That’s because it’s very difficult to break the mold effectively without succumbing to goofy gimmicks. Though sports entertainment comes and goes, some attempts to invent knew games remain as a testament to our love of creativity and fondness for men in American flag spandex. These games are the five almost sports that left us too soon. 1. Slamball Since Pong first ponged its way into our hearts and living rooms way back when, video games have grown into entertainment juggernauts, all the while ruining generations of future voters in the process. He used to be such a nice boy, too. (...)Read the rest of 5 Almost Sports That Left Us Too Soon (1,284 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Almost Sports That Left Us Too Soon (1,284 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us | 9/15/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
24 |
Five Companies That Want to Put You in Outer Space | When you’re trying to inspire (read: lie to) children, you tell them they can be anything they want to be when they grow up. This simply isn’t true; otherwise we’d have a lot more billionaire-fireman-presidents (married to horse riding-movie star-princesses). Among the most frequent of crushed dreams is the desire to be an astronaut. We wanted to experience Zero-G, you probably wanted to walk on the moon… heck, even communists grow up yearning to slip the surly bonds of earth and touch the face of God. Except they do it for the glory of the motherland, instead an all-American desire for tang (both kinds). But now, thanks to the wonders of capitalism, there are dozens of companies trying to make your dreams come true, and all they want in return is an enormous fee! Space Station for sale, $10 OBO, no deliveries. With the US forcing spaceflight away from the glory days of the NASA missions and towards the cold, calculating bosom of the private sector, there’s a new space race among companies to put the adventurous (and also very wealthy) on the ride of their lives. So for the millionaires who do most of their research on list-based internet humor sites, WeirdWorm offers a primer of the companies that want to put you into space. 5. Armadillo Aerospace We’d question the rationality of letting an armadillo pilot a spacecraft if it wasn’t so cute. (...)Read the rest of Five Companies That Want to Put You in Outer Space (1,491 words) (...)Read the rest of Five Companies That Want to Put You in Outer Space (1,491 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 9/12/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
25 |
7 Examples of Urban Entertainment That Could End In Disaster | If you’ve read the article about examples of rural entertainment that could end in disaster, then you already know that living in the country can be a lot more dangerous than you might think at first. But you city folk shouldn’t get too comfortable; there’s just as much chance of pratfalls and precariousness in the things people do to ward off boredom in urban environments as in rural ones. That’s not to say that you should let worrying about what you or someone else does for fun in the city keep you safe at home with the windows barred and the doors locked; in the case of some of these types of entertainment, that would actually be worse for your health and well-being. Just keep these facts in mind next time you say that you’re bored and there’s nothing to do, and don’t look so harshly on relatively tame activities like watching a movie and drinking yourself into a stupor in your living room. 1. Parkour Weee! Flying is fun!(...)Read the rest of 7 Examples of Urban Entertainment That Could End In Disaster (1,219 words) (...)Read the rest of 7 Examples of Urban Entertainment That Could End In Disaster (1,219 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us | 9/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
26 |
The Stories Behind 5 Alter Egos of Popular Musicians | Popular music is primarily about showmanship, which in turn is partially about making a tremendous ass out of yourself. Whether they go with a bizarre costume or a strange character, musicians have been utilizing alter egos for decades now, with varying degrees of success. 1. The Thin White Duke By the mid-seventies, David Bowie had established himself as the “chameleon of pop,” able to move from genre to genre while heralding new innovations in music itself. He was also known for playing characters developed around theatrical stories, both of which would be incorporated into live shows. His most famous persona is no doubt Ziggy Stardust. His most controversial, however, would later prove to be the Thin White Duke. The Duke’s persona was adapted in 1976 for the album Station to Station. Unlike previous characters, the Duke came the closest to simply being David Bowie, though his increased drug habit had lead to more outlandish behavior. The Duke was himself a relatively subdued character, singing on an intense emotional level despite being rather detached himself. His cold nature related back to Bowie’s obsession with the Third Reich which manifested itself during various interviews (Bowie claimed several times that he had a fondness for fascism and that Hitler himself was the world’s greatest rock star). “Hello, Cleveland!” The problem with the Duke was that he was far too normal to be distinguished from Bowie himself. Unlike the flamboyant Ziggy Stardust from earlier in the decade, the Thin White Duke had little distinction visually from the real Bowie. Thus claims made by the character were contributed to the actor. Eventually Bowie retired the character and ended his practice of living his own life through his characters. 2. Captain Jack The United States military hasn’t had the best representation in popular culture. If you look at Hogan’s Heroes; World War II concentration camps are little more than revolving door tool sheds for holding crafty American prisoners of war. If you believe the Village People (and who doesn’t?), then the Navy is just one floating party made of friendship and mustaches. Sadly, neither of these are the case. Who knew these guys couldn't be trusted? (...)Read the rest of The Stories Behind 5 Alter Egos of Popular Musicians (955 words) (...)Read the rest of The Stories Behind 5 Alter Egos of Popular Musicians (955 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 9/8/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
27 |
6 Weird World Championships | Everybody wants to be the greatest in the world at something. That’s why we have events like the Olympics: to celebrate the incredible achievements of people who have completely and utterly mastered their chosen skill. Unfortunately, we can’t all be world class sprinters or swimmers. But don’t worry: there are enough people who have the desire to be a world champion at something, anything, that ridiculously specific events have been created, allowing pretty much anyone who gets serious about them to immediately count themselves as among the best in the world. So if you want to be a world champ but don’t want to put too much effort into earning your title, then consider competing at one of these weird tournaments. 1. Rock-Paper-Scissors (...)Read the rest of 6 Weird World Championships (1,228 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Weird World Championships (1,228 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 9/2/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
28 |
Six Brands In The Movies You Can’t Find In The Store | Hollywood lives and dies on creating a sense of realism in its films. That includes brands that the characters actually use. The problem being, of course, that the owners of these brands want to get paid money to be featured in major Hollywood films, especially if the movie is, say, rife with sex and violence and they’re worried about being seen as too offensive by the three people that will actually notice the hero slammed a Red Bull before throwing the impossibly hot actress into bed and making PG-13-rated love to her. So what’s Hollywood to do? Make up their own brands, of course! They’ve been doing it for decades and, in fact, some of these brands are so established, you might mistake them for actual products. Some of them get featured more often and have a better reputation than regular products. Likes these lovely products: 1. Morley (...)Read the rest of Six Brands In The Movies You Can’t Find In The Store (977 words) (...)Read the rest of Six Brands In The Movies You Can’t Find In The Store (977 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 9/1/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
29 |
Five Reasons CPR Will Not Save Your Life | CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a technique used to save people whose heart and lungs have decided to quit by heroically mashing ones hands and face into a person’s face and chest. It’s a hallmark medical system, right up there with the Heimlich maneuver or “Not Applying Leeches for Every Medical Ailment”. And while it can be an important tool in the fight against the icy, relentlessly tightening grip of death, it turns out that, for a number of reasons, you’re still probably going to die. 5. Resuscitation is Poorly Understood It doesn’t take a Planned Parenthood security guard to tell you that the point at which human life begins is a little bit of a contentious issue. The point at which we can declare something to be dead is similarly fuzzy. Until the late 1700’s, we tended to go with “did he flinch when poked with a sharp stick?” line of diagnosis. This all started to change when the Dutch got sick of the stupid bastards who were clogging up their beloved canals. Lacking the necessary 1-900 psychics to ridicule people in the spirit world, they set about developing a system to revive those who’d drowned. The British soon followed with their hilariously named “Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned” which was managed by the even more stereotypically English “Royal Humane Society for the Apparently Dead”. That is totally true, and yes, they did spend more time on politeness than legitimate medical science. Problem solved! (...)Read the rest of Five Reasons CPR Will Not Save Your Life (2,108 words) (...)Read the rest of Five Reasons CPR Will Not Save Your Life (2,108 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 8/27/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
30 |
5 Ridiculous Ways Pro Athletes have Injured Themselves | We don’t like to stereotype but professional athletes generally physically gifted, athletic freaks that are, maybe most importantly, tough as nails. You’ve got all of these stories about horrendous injuries and the players that battle through them, like legendary Los Angeles Ram defensive lineman Jack Youngblood playing through the entire 1979 playoffs on a fractured fibula. And then, of course, you’ve got the really humiliating on-field injuries, like former Arizona Cardinals kicker Bill Gramatica, who injured himself celebrating after making a field goal in the first half of a regular season game. But hey, at least that happened on the field. There are some other athletes whose embarrassing injuries are even more ludicrous, such as… 1. “Sneezing” Sammy Sosa Sammy Sosa captured the attention of America back in 1998 when he and Mark McGwire engaged in the most epic steroid induced battle this side of a WWE pay-per-view event. Of course back then we didn’t know they were ‘roiding out every chance they got, so when they were cranking home runs left and right we didn’t care and just enjoyed the ride. Sammy and his relatively poor grasp of the English language became a household name and a fan favorite, until it all came crashing down when we realized that he had put on about 50 pounds of pure muscle and turned into a power hitter pretty much overnight. And then things got really humiliating for Sammy in 2004 when he missed a game with back spasms. No, the spasms weren’t the embarrassing injury, because hey, those things happen to every athlete at some point or another and hurt like hell. No, the idiotic part to this story is how Sosa got those back spasms in the first place. You see, before the game he sneezed twice, each ranking among the most violent sneezes ever (there is probably not a lot of research on steroid enhanced sneezing). In fact, it caused his back to go out. Those two sneezes caused him to be placed on the 15 day disabled list, but at least he can take solace in the fact that he’s not alone in being sidelined by sneezing – in fact, he’s the fourth player to do so. (...)Read the rest of 5 Ridiculous Ways Pro Athletes have Injured Themselves (966 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Ridiculous Ways Pro Athletes have Injured Themselves (966 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 8/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
31 |
5 Fashion Trends That Double as Self Defense | It’s not always easy being a woman. Sure, you have the benefit of certain assets that can be used for fun or profit when dealing with members of the opposite sex. But on the flip side, those assets are always in demand, and sometimes they need protecting when someone gets a little too friendly. It’s nice to know that, if you’re wandering around the dangerous streets of major cities such as Los Angeles or New York, you’ll have a way to defend yourself without worrying about whether the sheath for your knife matches your dress. Because if you can manage to squeeze in to (literally, in some cases) some of the fashion trends on this list, you’ll never be without a practical and fashionable weapon close to hand. What more could a girl ask for? Except a hunky bodyguard, perhaps… 1. Stilettos Despite popular belief, dangerous to more than just the wearer. (...)Read the rest of 5 Fashion Trends That Double as Self Defense (1,128 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Fashion Trends That Double as Self Defense (1,128 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 8/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
32 |
7 “Comforting” Mom Sayings That Really Aren’t | If there’s one thing that moms are known for being good at, it’s comforting people. They’ll often say things like “Don’t be mad at Billy, pity him; his parents are ugly, and someday, he will be too,” or “bike accidents only happen to people who are bad on the inside.” But, try as they might, they can’t turn every bad situation into puppies and king-size candy bars. Sometimes, they just don’t have a clue what they are talking about. 1. Cleaning toilets never hurt anyone Great. Now we have to be scared of the thing that was closest to our hearts. (...)Read the rest of 7 “Comforting” Mom Sayings That Really Aren’t (1,509 words) (...)Read the rest of 7 “Comforting” Mom Sayings That Really Aren’t (1,509 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us | 8/19/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
33 |
6 Coolest Things Made With Legos | Lego’s have got to be the most adaptable toy on the planet. In the hands of a child they are a choking hazard. In the hands of an adult they’re a multi-thousand dollar investment and a huge waste of time. The beauty of Legos is that you can build anything – anything at all – if you have the dedication to click little pieces of plastic together for huge amounts of time. Instructions? Aw hell naw! They don’t print an instruction sheet for success, son. If you’re gonna make it big in the constructible toy bracket then you’re going to have to fly by the seat of your pants and boldly into the blocky future. 1. A Harpsichord Henry Lim is an odd fellow. If you venture over to his website you’ll note that he’s made a hobby of Lego sculptures. His subjects range from a replica bust of Beethoven, a gray-scale mosaic of Catwoman from Tim Burton’s Batman Returns and a fourteen foot long stegosaurus. But as impressive as spending seven months building a dinosaur out of a children’s toy is, these feats don’t compare to building a functioning musical instrument. (...)Read the rest of 6 Coolest Things Made With Legos (1,040 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Coolest Things Made With Legos (1,040 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us | 8/17/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
34 |
6 Animal Sex Lives (Manipulated by the Cold Hand of Science) | Sexual selection can be found throughout the animal kingdom. Frequently, it can go well beyond the simple “dudes smash their heads together until there’s a winner” model. In order to figure out exactly what’s going on in the sex lives of some species, scientists will get a little creative with their techniques. When researchers get a hunch about traits that are animal turn ons and turn offs, those poor critters’ sex lives might be in for some cruel tinkering. To prove their theory, biologists aren’t afraid to play Nip/Tuck or Frankenstein. Ladies and dudes of all species might get transformed from a shining Adonis to Jaleel White, or vice versa. It might seem cruel, but simply making observations and crunching the numbers can get boring, even for scientists. 1. Bower Birds (...)Read the rest of 6 Animal Sex Lives (Manipulated by the Cold Hand of Science) (2,145 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Animal Sex Lives (Manipulated by the Cold Hand of Science) (2,145 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 8/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
35 |
6 Weird Transportation Methods | Driving your car around town is pretty tedious, walking takes forever to get anywhere, biking or skateboarding makes anyone who isn’t a teenager look weird and public transit is full of hobos. Is there no method of everyday transportation that’s both efficient and enjoyable? Nope, there isn’t. Trust us, we checked. However, there are plenty of extremely weird methods that make up for their inefficiency with their complete lunacy. So the next time you’re stuck in an hour long traffic jam and the stereo in the car next to you is blasting “Dinosaur” on repeat, you should consider one of these alternatives. 1. Powerisers Did you ever own a pogo stick as a child? Did you ever want to take your pogo stick to the extreme?! Well, probably not, because those things got old pretty fast, but regardless of what your childhood fantasies were, Powerisers are here to maybe answer them. Powerisers are pretty much just springs that you strap to your legs, essentially turning you into a kangaroo. Except that kangaroos can’t do bitchin’ flips or suffer hilarious groin injuries. The company that sells Powerisers says they were originally developed by the aerospace industry, and while we find that claim dubious, we’re too busy filling out the order form to investigate so we’ll have to take their word for it. Sure, anyone using these things for an extended length of time will probably end up with a bad case of broken spine, but it would be worth it for the ability to get to work by doing front flips over all the cars that are waiting at red lights. (...)Read the rest of 6 Weird Transportation Methods (978 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Weird Transportation Methods (978 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 6/28/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
36 |
The Seven Terrifying Side Effects of Useful Drugs | It’s been a joke for as long as we’ve had those ridiculous drug ads of people frolicking in a field while an announcer motormouths his way through all the legal disclaimers: sometimes the side effects sound worse that the disease. But, of course, this is just a natural side effect of your body reacting to the drugs…right? Note: For the sake of good taste and to keep your computer clean of barf, instead of pictures of pills or the horrible, disgusting symptoms, we’re featuring pictures we got from Googling “adorable children”. But, you know, click any links at your own risk. 1. Polytrim Polytrim is already a drug most people don’t want to take voluntarily; it’s an antibiotic that’s generally used to treat the eyes. Already people are wincing away from this article. But don’t worry! It gets more disgusting! These kids certainly have healthy looking eyes. How nice. (...)Read the rest of The Seven Terrifying Side Effects of Useful Drugs (1,226 words) (...)Read the rest of The Seven Terrifying Side Effects of Useful Drugs (1,226 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 6/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
37 |
The 4 Dumbest Video Game Publicity Stunts | While video games are among the newest form of popular entertainment, good old marketing gimmicks and publicity stunts are classic and time tested. While there are occasionally a few clever publicity stunts for video games, there are a many others that quite often they end in sheer, unmitigated disaster. Here at WeirdWorm, we don’t really care too much about when things go as planned, it’s not nearly as funny as when stuff goes horribly, horribly wrong. And with that, we humbly present to you some of the dumbest video game publicity stunts. 1. Nothing like promoting a video game like decapitating some goats Nothing says Action Brawler like a chubby Greek guy. The image above is from a 2007 Greek launch event for God of War 2, which from the looks of it, had all the necessary ingredients for a great launch party. Greek theme? Check. Scantily clad ladies? Double check. Decapitated goats? Chec- Wait, what? In keeping with the slaughter and violence found in the wildly popular video game franchise, Sony thought it was appropriate to snag a dead goat, decapitate it, and stuff it with offal. Guests at the event were then offered to reach inside the dead animal, pull out some of the tasty meat treats inside the goat, and eat them. When at a party with half naked, body painted women, the last thing anyone wants to see is a butchered goat acting as a fondue pot- it’s scientifically proven to be the ultimate buzzkill.(...)Read the rest of The 4 Dumbest Video Game Publicity Stunts (1,056 words) (...)Read the rest of The 4 Dumbest Video Game Publicity Stunts (1,056 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 6/19/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
38 |
The Four Most Frightening Roads You Can Travel | Despite the nearly universal allure of the open road, with its symbolic connections to freedom, hope, and the journey of life, there has always been an undeniable dark side to its urban mythology. In the dead of night, when fellow travelers are few and far between, a seemingly ordinary highway can be transformed into a world all its own, removed from the safety and comfort of everyday reality. Although, for the most part, our fears and suspicions about such places are nothing more than the side effects of overactive imaginations, there are roads around the world whose sinister reputations are so pervasive that one has to wonder if there might be an element of truth to the stories told about them. These are the roads you consciously avoid, all the while reassuring yourself that you don’t believe in any of that nonsense. 1. The A75 Annan Road, the name often applied to a particular fifteen-mile long stretch of Scotland’s A75, has been regarded for decades as one of the most haunted roads in the world. Since the 1950s, the site has been home to strange apparitions which frighten motorists. Among the most disturbing accounts is that of two brothers whose late night trip became nothing short of a nightmare. (...)Read the rest of The Four Most Frightening Roads You Can Travel (1,261 words) (...)Read the rest of The Four Most Frightening Roads You Can Travel (1,261 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 6/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
39 |
6 Real Criminals (Who Put the Captain Planet Villains to Shame) | Ted Turner: Billionaire, philanthropist, Founder of CNN, banger of Jane Fonda and owner of the largest bison herd in the world. All of these achievements pale in comparison to his greatest creation: Captain Planet. Ted’s tireless effort to brainwash impressionable children with lessons about environmentalism and begrudging acceptance of other cultures completely eliminated pollution and racism, with the added perk of inspiring some of the worst Halloween costumes you’ve ever seen. His only weaknesses are bathing and talking to girls! Captain Planet and his “Planeteers” were heroes who used their earth, wind, fire, water and significantly less cool heart powers to save the world from… well… whatever the opposite of those things are. Their foes were over the top baddies who performed exaggeratedly evil deeds to teach us all that littering isn’t cool. Luckily, these villains also couldn’t exist in real life because these real life “ecovillains” would laugh them off the face of the earth for being such rank amateurs. 1. Hoggish Greedly Modus operandi: The pig-man gets his jollies being a shortsighted, selfish jerk. He’s been known to destroy desert “ecosystems” through recreational dirt biking, make furniture out of old trees and hatch a disturbingly high number of schemes involving marine mammal destruction. You couldn’t have named him “Steve” or something? (...)Read the rest of 6 Real Criminals (Who Put the Captain Planet Villains to Shame) (2,903 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Real Criminals (Who Put the Captain Planet Villains to Shame) (2,903 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 6/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
40 |
5 Weird Protests | It can be tough to draw attention to an issue you care passionately about. A public protest usually helps, but sometimes even that’s not enough. Sure, if you’re protesting something well known and controversial, like a war, all you have to do is gather a bunch of people together to block off a street or something and you’ll make the news. But if you’re fighting for something the average person doesn’t really care about then you have to take your protest the extra mile to get noticed. The result is often something very weird. 1. Saskatchewan Potholes Most people, assuming they’ve even heard of Saskatchewan, couldn’t care less about what goes on there. Even people who live in the Canadian province can’t summon up much more than an apathetic grunt when asked what they think about their place of residence. So when denizens of Leader, a town of just under 900 people, wanted to protest the large number of potholes on their roads, they first had to overcome the fact that they were fighting the least interesting battle in history. You can watch your dog run away for days. There’s nothing else to do, anyway. (...)Read the rest of 5 Weird Protests (1,239 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Weird Protests (1,239 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 6/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
41 |
6 People Who Almost Changed History | History is strewn with great individuals who managed to invent, assassinate or fight their way into high school textbooks worldwide, changing history with every step they took. We can all appreciate their effort but what about all the other guys? The people who were at History’s door-step, managed to convince Lady History to just hear them out for a while, and almost got her to buy a year supply of toilet brushes before being kindly, but firmly, shoved out the door. Today at Weird Worm we are honoring these people. Here are the 6 folks who almost altered history. 1. William Walker Almost: changed the outcome of the Civil War Walker was a 19th century American filibuster—which is a fancy term for a douchebag who gets together a small private army and goes abroad to kill foreign peasants and take over their land. The name is almost exclusively used to describe American citizens like Walker journeying to Latin America to squash their insurrection attempts about 150 years ago. Silly Latinos, trying to fight for freedom… Anyway, Walker’s shining moment of glory was when he succeeded in one of those expeditions in 1856, taking over Nicaragua and setting himself up as the president. Unfortunately, his small contingent of men and lack of proper supplies, not to mention the spreading cholera, allowed him to be toppled in less than a year. However, some scholars believe that if he made the right alliances with powerful locals and let his political allies back in the US raise financial and military support for him, Nicaragua and a few other Central/South American countries would have belonged to the US South. This in all reality could have given the South the push they needed to win the American Civil War. Scary thought. (...)Read the rest of 6 People Who Almost Changed History (1,027 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 People Who Almost Changed History (1,027 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 6/12/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
42 |
7 Movie Mentors Who Failed Miserably | The desire for a mentor is deep-seated in the human race. Someone to teach hand-to-hand combat and ancient ninja skills so that we can go on to save the universe would be great, but most people would settle for some guidance with their daily whomp-rat hunting or help teaching bullies a lesson or two. However, after really taking a look at mentors through a totally unbiased lens (movies), we think we might have to change our minds. Obviously if mentors used their awesome powers to save everyone and never gave their mentees a chance, the movies would get boring and pointless. But did they really have to intentionally withhold universe-saving powers and information in order to teach a lesson to a snot-nosed kid who hardly knows a Sarlacc from a hole in the ground? 1. Yoda (from the original Star Wars Trilogy) Live on a depressing, swampy planet and eat snakes, I do. Decide the universe's future, I will. (...)Read the rest of 7 Movie Mentors Who Failed Miserably (1,532 words) (...)Read the rest of 7 Movie Mentors Who Failed Miserably (1,532 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 6/11/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
43 |
5 People Killed by Their Obsessions | We here at WeirdWorm love many things. List based observation humor is big. A delicious pizza is always enjoyable. One of our contributing authors has a pretty serious relationship going with a boyfriend pillow (try to guess which one!). Heck, sometimes we love something so much that we would die for it. Other times the things we love the most end up taking our lives. 1. Milo of Croton – Feats of Strength The 6th century BC wrestler, Milo of Croton, was the manliest man of his day. The dude was the very definition of the word “jacked.” According to accounts of the time, he held a roof up to prevent a collapse, saving the life of the wimpy and not nearly as awesome philosopher Pythagoras. Others claimed that he walked around with a bull on his shoulders for the simple reason that he could manage such a feat and no one else could, so screw them. Apparently Milo could break bands tied around his head using only the veins in his forehead. Think about that: just his forehead could beat you up and take your girlfriend. (...)Read the rest of 5 People Killed by Their Obsessions (1,159 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 People Killed by Their Obsessions (1,159 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 6/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
44 |
4 Ridiculously Whiny TV Action Heroes | When we turn on a television show boasting thrills and action, well, that’s kind of what we expect to see. We yearn to witness butts being kicked, huge explosions and bullets ripping through the air and finding themselves lodged in the face, chest or, well, anywhere on the bad guys. We love guys like Jack Bauer because if you don’t give him an answer he likes, he’ll rip your throat out, “Roadhouse era” Patrick Swayze style. The bottom line is: we like our action heroes to be the manliest of men, like Chuck Norris crossed with that guy from the Dos Equis commercials. In other words, we don’t particularly care to see them moping around whining about how rough their lives are. These action heroes apparently never got that memo… 1. Jack Shephard (Lost) If a sweet beard like that can’t cheer him up, nothing can (...)Read the rest of 4 Ridiculously Whiny TV Action Heroes (1,082 words) (...)Read the rest of 4 Ridiculously Whiny TV Action Heroes (1,082 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 6/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
45 |
The 8 Most Disgusting Condiments (People Actually Eat) | People like food. It fills you up, gives you a reason to leave your bed in the morning and tastes good… some of the time. For those other times, when the stuff you’re jamming into your greasy maw isn’t up to par but you’re determined to eat it anyway, there are condiments. Maybe you splash a half ton of ranch dressing on some crummy French fries or slather a diabetic coma-inducing level of ketchup your overdone burger. The point is, condiments can rescue an otherwise disastrous meal or jazz up an old favorite with just a little sugar or oil or spice. Then there’s these condiments. For those not content with a little butter, there is a wide variety of disgusting things you can put on your food that can make even the most ironclad stomach churn. And we’re not just talking about those freaks that put ketchup on their macaroni and cheese. 1. Miracle Whip (United States) The miracle is that they get away with selling it in the grocery store. (...)Read the rest of The 8 Most Disgusting Condiments (People Actually Eat) (1,745 words) (...)Read the rest of The 8 Most Disgusting Condiments (People Actually Eat) (1,745 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 6/4/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
46 |
9 Weirdest Proverbs From Around the World | “A dog is a man’s best friend.”, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we shall die.” Proverbs are hidden treasures – chests of old timey wisdom, possibly the best kind of wisdom there is. They somehow manage to shrink wrap dozens of years of personal experience and universal truths into one sentence with a certain nice ring to it. But what happens when those truths deal with misogyny, adultery and unintentional humor? Why, they get listed on WeirdWorm for your amusement, of course. Let us then amuse you with the nine funniest foreign sayings we could find. 1. A Dog Is Wiser Than a Woman; It Doesn’t Bark At Its Master From: Russia There are so many things one can learn from this jewel of wisdom. Like that the guy who coined it probably spent that very night on the couch after comparing his wife to Lassie. Or that Russia apparently had some pretty clever dogs, back in whatever days this saying was constructed. This actually answers the question of why would they sent a canine to space when so many human peasants were abundant. All in all, this reads like the testimony of a man who’s been put in the dog house far too often and decided one day to passive-aggressively take a shot at his wife, before caving in and buying her a bunch of roses, of course. (...)Read the rest of 9 Weirdest Proverbs From Around the World (1,167 words) (...)Read the rest of 9 Weirdest Proverbs From Around the World (1,167 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 6/4/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
47 |
The Six Most Pathetic ROM Hacks | In case you’re new to the Internet, a quick review: you can play old video games on your computer using emulators. These emulators need “ROMs”, which you can download for virus bonuses throughout the Internet. However, some in the ROM community, being bored teenagers with nothing to do or man-children who really need a hobby, will reprogram these games. Some do it to fix some imagined broken moment, to “improve” the story, or just generally remind you why you started talking to people who didn’t play video games by repainting all the sprites for no particular reason. Playing ROM hacks is a painful, unpleasant tour of the Internet that will remind you just how much you hate people. So! Let’s get to it! NOTE: We are will not be providing links to the actual ROMs. This is due in part to the tremendous risk of getting a computer virus (no, we’re not kidding, these are teenagers, they think giving you Vundo is the funniest thing EVAR). Additionally ROMs are technically illegal, even though most of these games are not available and in fact most of the publishers are out of business. If you absolutely must, a quick Googling should turn them up if you really want to play them. And God help you if you do. 1. Ninja Gayden It takes the imagination of a child to get this from an 8-bit sprite. (...)Read the rest of The Six Most Pathetic ROM Hacks (999 words) (...)Read the rest of The Six Most Pathetic ROM Hacks (999 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 6/2/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
48 |
5 Fictional Things People Actually Practice | When you’re a kid, it is often fun to get lost in a world of make believe. You can pretend that you’re a knight rescuing a damsel in distress, or a mutant with some totally rockin’ superpowers, or Indiana Jones trying to find a lost and priceless artifact. Of course, then you grow up and playing make believe is no longer what the kids refer to as “cool” anymore. We should say, many of us grow up and leave the world of make believe behind. Other people, well, they can be a little more hesitant, and that’s why we’ve got people messing around with things like… 1. The Klingon Language Come on, did you think we’d really start with anything else? Of all the things on this list, learning and speaking Klingon is probably the most established practice there is. People have been learning and speaking this made up language for so long that it’s relatively commonplace in comparison to the rest of the entries below. Speaking Klingon is mentioned in pop culture all the time, from movies like Garden State all the way to shows like Frasier. There’s even a Klingon Language Institute, which exists to teach people to read, write, and speak the language of those alien freaks who kept trying to kill William Shatner back in the 1960’s. We have to admit that the KLI seems to have a pretty solid grasp on their public perception and embrace it, putting humor on their website with lines like “whether you’ve just stumbled in here by accident, or lost a bet.” And d*** it, we just can’t hate too much on nerds who can crack little jokes like that. We’ll even let them keep their lunch money. If they all looked like this, there would be far fewer jokes.(...)Read the rest of 5 Fictional Things People Actually Practice (986 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Fictional Things People Actually Practice (986 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 6/1/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
49 |
The Four Most Ridiculous Word Origin Myths | Ever had a self-appointed linguistic expert regale you with word origin stories that seemed a bit off? The following etymologies have spread well beyond Yahoo!Answers and into the education and legal system, as well as into everyday life. But take our word for it: every one of them is utterly, ridiculously wrong. 1. The Missionary Position The Story Supposedly, the phrase ‘missionary position’ originated back in the days when Western missionaries to Melanesia tried to impose strict sexual rules on the native populations they were preaching to. According to the newly-arrived missionaries, man-on-top was the only sexual position favored by their God, and everything else was a sin against nature. Natives, used to enjoying a joyful choice of multiple positions in their unspoiled, Avatar-like paradise, coined the nickname as a way of mocking the fuddy-duddy Westerners. The Truth The term was popularized by sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in his 1948 collection, The Kinsey Report, inside which Kinsey cites an earlier researcher before retelling the Melanesia story. However, further investigation since then has not dug up any proof of the term being used before 1948, even in the research Kinsey cited. Since Kinsey’s brand of research was not popular with the Church at the time, one might assume that Kinsey was more inclined than most people to believe made-up stories about the people he didn’t get along with very well. He was, for example, also fond of telling audiences that the Roman Catholic Church was in possession of the world’s largest collection of pr0nography. This was probably untrue, although we must keep in mind that this was during the 40’s and 50’s, well before the invention of the Internet. This is what happens when the nuns confiscate your stash. (...)Read the rest of The Four Most Ridiculous Word Origin Myths (1,102 words) (...)Read the rest of The Four Most Ridiculous Word Origin Myths (1,102 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 5/30/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
50 |
7 Weird Foods (Served While the Animal is Alive) | Food is one of the most basic pleasures in life. Everybody eats, and while caffeine and playing with yourself on Chatroulette can handle your other necessities, you’re pretty much stuck with food. For now. And for any mundane activity there are those who seek adventure. In terms of food, most can be satiated with a little Tabasco. Others need to push the envelope further by indulging in the taboo and the strange. For those people, only the thrill of consuming a still living animal will suffice. Today, we’ll be examining some of the dishes these freaks call dinner. Or lunch. Or whatever. 1. Casu marzu (Italy) Hey, that looks pretty... wait. Why is it moving?(...)Read the rest of 7 Weird Foods (Served While the Animal is Alive) (1,898 words) (...)Read the rest of 7 Weird Foods (Served While the Animal is Alive) (1,898 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 27 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 5/29/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
51 |
Cruel and Unusual Types of Baby Names | Celebrities are famous for giving their children utterly ridiculous names. But what about the normal Joes who are saddled with monikers that aren’t anything like ‘Joe’? At least the children of famous people can cry about their names while sitting on top of their huge piles of cash and maybe beating their slaves. If you’re just an ordinary guy with parents who were suffering temporary insanity when they named you, you’re in for a much tougher time. Here are some types of cruel and unusual names that non-celebrities are naming their hapless children: 6. I’m a Fan So you like something. You really, really like it. You could consider yourself a fanatic. Is it enough to have posters on your wall, or to spend all your money on merchandise? No. For some people, the only way to truly prove that you’re a true fan of something is to name a kid after it. In its most harmless form, you see parents naming children after celebrities or fictional characters that have relatively normal names. So, for example, the name ‘Harry’ rose in popularity when the Harry Potter books became popular. But what if you’re a fan of a person with a more unusual name? Or what if you want your kid to be a constant, unmistakable reminder of how much you love your celebrity crush? For example, the name ‘Ben’ is too normal. Why not name him or her Affleck? Then you can be reminded every day of that great movie, Pearl Harbor. Cinematic abortion didn’t fit on the birth certificate. (...)Read the rest of Cruel and Unusual Types of Baby Names (1,042 words) (...)Read the rest of Cruel and Unusual Types of Baby Names (1,042 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 5/26/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
52 |
8 Strange Historic Jobs | Chances are you don’t love your job. If you’re like most people, you have to get up in the morning and sit in front of a computer for hours compiling excel sheets or answering phone calls. However, an average 9 to 5 job is heaven compared to some of the peculiar, dangerous or simply stinky jobs that people had to do in the past. Here are some of the weirdest jobs anyone ever had on their resume. 1. Whipping Boys During the 1600’s in England, educating the future king created an interesting problem. Since the monarch’s blood line was considered divine, teachers and caretakers couldn’t punish the young prince even if he acted like a brat. The solution was obvious: get another young boy to take the punishment instead of the future king, hence the job of Whipping Boy. These scapegoats were usually chosen from the children of the nobility and educated along with the prince, living in the same quarters and playing together in their spare time. This meant that most of the time the prince was attached to the whipping boy and avoided doing badly so his friend wouldn’t be punished. While there is no record attesting how well this worked in practice, we do know that some kings later rewarded their whipping boys with land and nobility roles. If nothing else, the promise that one day you might become a duke would probably keep you going through all those undeserved punishments. Apparently if you were really bad you got fed to a bear (...)Read the rest of 8 Strange Historic Jobs (1,096 words) (...)Read the rest of 8 Strange Historic Jobs (1,096 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 5/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
53 |
6 Real Life Attractions for the Video Game Enthusiast | The story of gamers is the modern equivalent of the Ugly Duckling tale. Long ago they were an outcast bunch, looked down upon by most of society, until something changed and gaming became more available to the general public. Now everyone, from your postman to your grandparents, plays video games. The geek culture has truly taken over, and with it video games reached out into the world and influenced every area of normal life. Things like… 6. Theme Parks The Nintendo Amusement Park is a “planned but still not completed” New York project meant to bring all your favorite NES titles to life and let you experience them first hand. The park’s three promises about their possible attractions are: nothing with be digital, nothing will be projected and nothing will be virtual. The attractions are supposed to be real life obstacle courses where, for example, you get to run around as Mario and jump on Goombas using a professional stunt harness. The project failed to find sufficient funding to progress beyond the prototype Super Mario course, but if you have money to waste, the Mario Experience is opened to the public after initial reservations. (...)Read the rest of 6 Real Life Attractions for the Video Game Enthusiast (1,086 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Real Life Attractions for the Video Game Enthusiast (1,086 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 5/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
54 |
5 Examples of Rural Entertainment That Could End In Disaster | According to that country song – we think it’s called something like “Every Country Song You’ve Ever Heard Accidently (Because You Don’t Really Listen to Country – Honest!)” – everything is better in the country. The beer is colder, the truck tires are bigger, heck even the livestock is more attractive. So you city pansies have movies, theater, and muggings to look forward to in order to relieve the tedium of your every day life? Check out why the “country is better” moniker is every bit as applicable when it comes to entertainment options – and by “better,” we also mean “more likely to end in carnage and death.” 1. Punkin’ Chunkin’ Is anyone else terrified by the sheer number of school buses in this picture? (...)Read the rest of 5 Examples of Rural Entertainment That Could End In Disaster (1,350 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Examples of Rural Entertainment That Could End In Disaster (1,350 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us | 5/22/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
55 |
Five Niche Beauty Pageants (That Make Standard Pageants Look Less Crazy) | In many parts of the world, beauty contests are a really common affair, so much so that it’s become difficult to distinguish one pretty lady in a sash and shiny gown from another. However, that’s not the case with the following contests, which are unique for their premise, execution or even their definition of beauty. Maybe these contests are a refreshing twist on an old formula. Or maybe they’re simply weird. 1. Miss Artificial Beauty Some people find beauty pageants to be shallow and demeaning to women. They believe that these contests only warp society’s view of what a woman is or should be, and do more harm than good. Chances are those people probably wouldn’t care for Miss Artificial Beauty. The idea was born in 2004 when a contestant in a Chinese beauty pageant was disqualified because she had undergone several cosmetic surgeries. Rather than take this as a lesson in the true meaning of what it means to be beautiful, she attempted to sue the pageant organizers, only to have her case thrown out in court. After hearing about this plight, a kind hearted soul realized the country’s growing fixation with plastic surgery was ripe for exploitation (Chinese men and women spend over two-billion dollars annually) and organized the first pageant where plastic surgery was a requirement. Mao would be proud if he weren’t a presumably beautiful corpse. Totally what he had in mind. (...)Read the rest of Five Niche Beauty Pageants (That Make Standard Pageants Look Less Crazy) (1,068 words) (...)Read the rest of Five Niche Beauty Pageants (That Make Standard Pageants Look Less Crazy) (1,068 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us | 5/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
56 |
Five Creepy Religious Sites From Around The World | Whether you’re an atheist or a believer, you’ll probably agree that many religions (like everyone elses) have a creepy side. There’s the unintentionally scary church artwork, terrifying elderly Sunday school teachers, and the wide range of truly weird funeral customs. But no matter how bizarre or frightening your local place of worship, here are some religious sites around the globe that will make it look like Disneyland by comparison. 5. The Skull Cathedral, Ortranto, Italy What do you do when you have a bunch of beheaded martyr’s corpses that just would have been sitting around anyway? You build them into a church. Wow! Look at those plants! (...)Read the rest of Five Creepy Religious Sites From Around The World (1,329 words) (...)Read the rest of Five Creepy Religious Sites From Around The World (1,329 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 5/19/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
57 |
Five Famous Philanthropists (Who Built Their Fortunes Unethically) | “Behind every great fortune there is a great crime” – attributed to Honoré de Balzac America has long been a storied place of opportunity, where the poor and downtrodden could flip off the monarchs or dictators of their homeland and get a new start on their lives. Multitudes have come and prospered, and a small number created great fortunes. Some made so much that they ran out of space in the garage for another car and decided, what the heck, why not give some money away. As easily as a dog marking the trees in the neighborhood, philanthropists could attach their names to universities, foundations and charities. But like the rest of society, not every one of these philanthropists were honest and hardworking. Several made their money by cheating people, abusing workers, destroying those in their path and working with criminals and dictators. So next time you watch Sesame Street or PBS with your kids, remember that it’s brought to you, in part, by the crimes against society and humanity (though it does keep the pledge drive to a minimum). 1. William Randolph Hearst Business: Newspaper Publishing Foundation/Value: The Hearst Foundations – $313.5 Million William Randolph Hearst grew up in a moderately affluent family that made its money from gold and oil. After being expelled from Harvard for sending his professor chamber pots in the mail, Hearst’s father gave him what any spoiled brat deserved: his own business. Hearst was given control of the San Francisco Examiner and proceeded to spend $1 million a year to trick it out. He turned from normal news to stories about crime, tragic deaths and sensational stories, usually in the form of tacky, pedestrian numbered lists. His peddling of dumb news paid off and in 1895, looking for a new challenge, decided to challenge Joseph Pulitzer, the owner of the New York World. He bought the New York Morning Herald and staffed it by buying out Pulitzer’s entire Sunday edition staff. From there a press war for circulation started that would bring about some of the most sensational and low forms of journalism, provoke a war in Cuba and give Rupert Murdoch a model to build Fox News after. Apparently the Amish were a lot more ruthless back then. Why He’s Unethical: The race for circulation went beyond simply reporting the most graphic news of the day. In order to best his competitors Hearst started to create the news. When tensions ran high between Cuba and Spain in 1898 over Cuba’s fight for independence, the United States sent the USS Maine to protect American interests. On February 15, 1898 the Maine sank after an explosion, killing 266 men on board. While the cause was unknown, it was blamed on a mine set by the Spanish. Before a full inquiry could even be made, Hearst was readying his presses to report for a war. Hearst sent reporter Richard Harding Davis and Artist Frederick Remington to document atrocities. When they found no war going on, he telegrammed: “You supply the pictures, I’ll supply the war”. The war would result in 2,466 American casualties and the introduction of the Platt Amendment , giving the United State free reign to interfere in Cuba’s national affairs. Anger at US tampering led to resentment that came to a head with Fidel Castro’s communist revolution. The war also gave the United States control of the Philippines, resulting in the uprising of the locals Filipinos, starting the Philippine War costing 4,196 American lives. Hearst was the model to the titular character in Citizen Kane, often voted the best film of all time. Hearst was angered by the negative portrayal and the famous line “Rosebud”, the name he gave to his mistress’ c******s. He used his newspapers to attack the film and an associate at MGM offered to buy the film from $1 million and destroy it. Hearst managed to destroy Welles career, but Citizen Kane would go on as the film that defined public perception of Hearst. (...)Read the rest of Five Famous Philanthropists ( | 5/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
58 |
Five Facts About Elephants (That Aren’t Really True) | Stereotypes hurt. Some are negative: insinuating certain groups can’t drive well, are inherently lazy, all look the same or pronounce “about” incorrectly. Some can be positive: claiming everyone from a certain group is good with money, are superior athletes, are good at math or are extremely polite. All of them are hurtful, and if you went through that list trying to match each example to an ethnic group, you’re a bad person. Our lies don’t just extend to our own species though. We slander our way through most of the plant and animal kingdom. We even adopt some of their names to insult others (weasel, rat, William Dafoe). However, few animals have had more unjust rumors spread about them than the majestic elephant. With the international day of tolerance less than seven months away, it’s time to set the record straight about our long nosed friends. 1. Elephants Are Afraid of Mice Be cool man, be cool! Just take my wallet and go! (...)Read the rest of Five Facts About Elephants (That Aren’t Really True) (1,950 words) (...)Read the rest of Five Facts About Elephants (That Aren’t Really True) (1,950 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 5/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
59 |
6 Bizarre Mysteries (That Are Still Totally Unanswered) | There are thousands of UFO, Big Foot or other cryptozoological sightings recorded around the world every year, and most of them can easily be proven as fakes or the ramblings of some mad-man. Yet, among these absurdities there are some rare events which simply have no explanation, and leave even skeptics puzzled. Here are six of the most peculiar mysteries that no one can find a good explanation for. 1. Valentich disappearance I want to believe… that this isn’t just a pie tin on a string. (...)Read the rest of 6 Bizarre Mysteries (That Are Still Totally Unanswered) (1,457 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Bizarre Mysteries (That Are Still Totally Unanswered) (1,457 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 51 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 5/12/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
60 |
The Five Most Racist Star Wars Characters | Don’t get us wrong attorneys; we’re not saying that George Lucas hates all minorities. After all, his first bunch of Star Wars movies handled the subject pretty well with a notable exception or two. But somewhere between the first and second Star Wars trilogies, Lucas’ imagination seems to have deteriorated to the point where he started basing all of his alien races on stereotypes. 5. Watto and the Toydarians Watto runs a pawn store in Mos Espa where he owns Anakin Skywalker and his mother. He’s is a greedy merchant, so obsessed with money and property that he even buys and sells humans as slaves. George Lucas obviously thought long and hard about what characteristics to give his ultra-capitalistic greed alien, and then decided that the most important feature was a long, hooked nose. The B’nai Brith isn’t going to like this one. As if the nose and the noticeable Middle Eastern accent didn’t beat the audience over the head enough, in the second movie, Watto has gained both a beard and a spiffy hat that somehow looks familiar. Well that’s really not so ba… (...)Read the rest of The Five Most Racist Star Wars Characters (1,214 words) (...)Read the rest of The Five Most Racist Star Wars Characters (1,214 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 84 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 5/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
61 |
5 Unethical Experiments Done in the Name of Science | We all know that since the dawn of time man has wanted nothing more than to get inside another person’s mind and see what kind of stuff they are thinking about. If you don’t feel this desire you’re probably not a psychologist and therefore are in serious danger of being experimented on by the government/ mad scientists and just about anyone who decides they should run an experiment. Just so you can prepare yourself here is a list of unethical experiments that could be run on you: 1. Robbers Cave Experiments Thanks to sites that publish interesting lists everybody seems to know about the Stanford Prison experiment. By now anyone you ask will tell you that this was a horrible study where university students were placed in one of two conflicting groups in order to replicate the conditions inside a prison. The experiment was so bad that it had to be stopped weeks before it was supposed to end. What few people know is that the same experiment was done with twelve year old kids that didn’t even know they were in an experiment, and it was done THREE TIMES! A group of scientists led by Carolyn Wood Sherif gathered several 11 and 12 year old boys and took them on a summer camping trip, without telling anyone that this was actually an experiment. The scientists had them divided into two groups, making sure to break apart any friendships that the boys had established previously. Once on the campgrounds the scientists encouraged the boys to call each other names and pull pranks on the other group. But don’t worry they also had planned some group-building activities at the end of the whole experiment, such as cutting the water supply and let the kids figure out how to avoid thirst. In both of the first and second experiments the boys rebelled against the experimenters, probably realizing they were mad scientists. Of course these two experiments were not published originally; Sherif only publicized the results from the third test where the boys apparently resolved their conflicts at the end of camp. This prompted the scientists to declare this a successful experiment in conflict resolution; although the study did not monitor the boys over long periods of times to see if a summer spent in a camp where they were constantly insulted did any lasting psychological damage. This looks like a great place to conduct a traumatizing experiment (...)Read the rest of 5 Unethical Experiments Done in the Name of Science (894 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Unethical Experiments Done in the Name of Science (894 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 26 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 5/3/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
62 |
5 Weird Political Parties | For as long as there have been political parties there have been joke political parties that poke fun at democracy with silly policies and insane promises. Most are just poor attempts at satire that die out after a year or two, but some enjoy surprising amounts of media coverage and political success, becoming internationally famous and even winning elections. Looking at the history of these weird political parties can be a nice break from listening to some crazy guy on television talking about how Barack Obama is a communist or how every single Republican is racist. 5. Union of Conscientiously Work-Shy Elements This Danish party was founded in 1979 by comedian Jacob Haugaard and a few of his friends, and he ran for parliament in every election until 1994. His campaigns were always based around strange ideas, such as better Christmas presents for all or more bread to feed ducks in parks. Best of all, at the end of every election he would spend all of his funding on beer and sausages for his supporters, an election promise which in the US would probably be enough to secure victory for pretty much anyone. (...)Read the rest of 5 Weird Political Parties (1,170 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Weird Political Parties (1,170 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us | 5/2/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
63 |
7 Most Bizarre Beauty Treatments | Humanity is a vain lot and is willing to go to ridiculous lengths just to stave off the effects of aging. How ridiculous can those lengths get? Very… 1. Snake Massages Some time ago an Israeli man was being massaged by a buxom Middle Eastern beauty—hopefully with the promise of a happy ending—when suddenly it hit him… what was missing in this pictures was a bunch of scaly, hissing reptilians. Thus, the snake massage was born. (...)Read the rest of 7 Most Bizarre Beauty Treatments (1,176 words) (...)Read the rest of 7 Most Bizarre Beauty Treatments (1,176 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 4/29/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
64 |
6 Insane Modern Cures – That Sort of Work | Humanity has come a long way in the field of medicine. No longer are we to subject ourselves to magical spells and leeches, instead relying on the modern advances of science. The terrifying, bizarre science which makes us question the very sanity of the people behind it. Strangely, the weirdest cures science has come up with in the last couple of years might actually be worth something. For example… 6. LSD to cure Alcoholism The 60s were basically about two things: The Beatles and acid, and only one of those wasn’t totally horrible. This assessment might change soon, after Professor Erika Dyck from the University of Alberta has unearthed psychiatric research from over half a decade ago, concerning the treatment of alcoholics using LSD. (...)Read the rest of 6 Insane Modern Cures – That Sort of Work (1,151 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Insane Modern Cures – That Sort of Work (1,151 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 4/28/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
65 |
Seven Weird Female Monsters From Around the World | Weird male monsters get a lot of play these days. But what about terrifying monsters who happen to be ladies? After all, just because you happen to be female, doesn’t mean that you can’t emerge from the grave or the depths of Hell to stalk, hunt and kill the innocent. Here are some unique female monsters from around the world. 1. Aswang (The Philippines) Okay, she has a funny name, but apart from that this female vampire-like creature is pretty scary. She’s a shapeshifter that can pass as a normal person during the day, but turns into a winged creature or animal by night. She has wings that sound louder when they are further away, and softer when they’re close by, or maybe RIGHT BEHIND YOU. Aswang often eat small children or corpses, and then replace their bodies with a copy. They can be repelled by coconut oil, salt, or uh, certain bodily fluids. A supposed ‘real shot’ of an Aswang. We know, we know, but it’s a change from UFO photos. (...)Read the rest of Seven Weird Female Monsters From Around the World (1,220 words) (...)Read the rest of Seven Weird Female Monsters From Around the World (1,220 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 4/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
66 |
7 Awards You Could Win (For Failure) | Almost every profession has its own awards honoring the best and the brightest. Science and Literature have the Nobel, Journalism has the Pulitzer, and Cinema and Television have the Emmys, Oscars and People’s Choice Awards. But among many awards ceremonies there are several awards for which you would rather not be the recipient. These tongue-in-cheek awards celebrate the worst and most awful of achievements a person could attain. Below we list some of the best awards that celebrate the worst of this world. 1. Golden Raspberry (Film) The Academy Awards are the preeminent film honors in the world. Lifetimes are spent crafting the best film or performance to earn the acclaim of Hollywood. Here the best and brightest shine. But there are only a few great films even worthy every year and many more crappy films that filled the theaters for no apparent reason. (...)Read the rest of 7 Awards You Could Win (For Failure) (1,281 words) (...)Read the rest of 7 Awards You Could Win (For Failure) (1,281 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 4/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
67 |
6 Weirdest Traditions Still Respected Nowadays | We all have strange family traditions, but however traumatizing it may be to see your uncle get drunk every Thanksgiving and wrestle with the turkey because it’s “tradition” we are certain your stories are nowhere close to these bizarre traditions that are still celebrated around the world. So without other delays, please put on your xenophobic hats and let’s jump into the bizarre world of foreign traditions: 1. The Danube Race for the Cross It’s January and somewhere around minus “damn it’s cold” degrees. Sounds like it’s time to throw a blessed cross into the icy waters of the Danube river and have teenagers swim for it. Wait what? This tradition is just what you’d imagine: an orthodox priest throws a cross into the river, and as a hundred or more people watch; young men decide to get pneumonia by swimming in the freezing cold water. People applaud and the priest throws cold holy water over everybody, blessing them. A good time for Romanians(...)Read the rest of 6 Weirdest Traditions Still Respected Nowadays (1,133 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Weirdest Traditions Still Respected Nowadays (1,133 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 4/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
68 |
Seven Amazing Hoaxes | Con-artists are a clever bunch. They make entire careers by tricking everyday people like you or I into believing the most absurd nonsense possible. The below hoaxes and cons managed to be both highly successful and unique in the field criminal lying. 1. De Grote Donorshow De Grote Donorshow (The Big Donor Show) was a reality show that aired in the Netherlands in the summer of 2007. The show revolved around a terminally-ill woman and her decision to donate one of her kidneys to three contestants awaiting a transplant. Viewers at home could take a shot at playing doctor by sending text messages to the ill woman with suggestions of who deserved the transplant the most. Naturally the show was very controversial. In the end, however, it was revealed that the woman was only an actress. The contestants really were kidney patients, though, and all the profit made from the text messages were donated to the Dutch Kidney Foundation. The show had been devised as a means to generate awareness about the low number of organ donors in the country. However, if you were one of the people who were too offended by the show’s concept to make it to the end then you probably didn’t know that until this very moment and feel very, very foolish right about now. (...)Read the rest of Seven Amazing Hoaxes (1,066 words) (...)Read the rest of Seven Amazing Hoaxes (1,066 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 4/20/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
69 |
6 Extraterrestrial disasters that make us glad we are on Earth | Earth has plenty of natural disasters and tragedies; we have tornadoes that rip up the Midwest yearly, hurricanes that flatten and drown cities, and volcanic eruptions that evacuate entire island nations. But the rest of the solar system is a much harsher place, with disasters that would end life as we know it if they happened here. 1. Volcanoes on Io Volcanoes are a big deal here on Earth; they are worshiped as gods, and rightfully feared for their ability to both create and destroy. I haven’t heard of any other natural disaster that has caused entire civilizations to disappear or to have to pack up and move; In my lifetime I can cite Mt Pinatubo and Montserrat as two cases where an entire island nation has had to jump ship because the volcano they lived on tried to kill them. And we have some doozies; calderas are what we also call super volcanoes, which are volcanoes that stretch for hundreds of miles and have the power to kill us all. A moon of Jupiter, or a teenager's face; you be the judge.(...)Read the rest of 6 Extraterrestrial disasters that make us glad we are on Earth (1,281 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Extraterrestrial disasters that make us glad we are on Earth (1,281 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 4/17/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
70 |
10 Bizarre Events and Discoveries | Many strange and unexplained events have been documented in modern history, events that raise important questions and baffle world populations. These events are often times initiated by a bizarre archeological discovery, strange recording, or unsolved murder. This article will be describing 10 strange and bizarre world events and discoveries. 1. The Humanzee The humanzee is a hypothetical chimpanzee and human hybrid. The DNA sequence of a human is very similar to a chimpanzee. Many experimental tests have been conducted, determining that humans share 95% of a chimpanzee DNA, as well as 99% of all coding DNA sequences. This has led to the speculation that it may be possible to breed a human and chimpanzee. No specimen has ever been confirmed. Humans do have one fewer pair of chromosomes than apes. However, having a different numbers of chromosomes is not an absolute barrier to producing young. Similar mismatches are common in nature. The phenomenon is known as chromosomal polymorphism. In the 1920s the Soviet biologist Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov carried out a number of experiments in hopes of creating a human and ape hybrid. He began by working with human sperm and chimpanzee females, but none of his attempts created a pregnancy. He soon fell under political criticism in the Soviet Union and was sentenced to exile in the Kazakh SSR. Research conducted by J. Michael Bedford showed that human sperm could penetrate the protective outer membranes of a gibbon egg. Throughout history there have been many reports and rumors based around the existence of humanzees. The most widely discussed humanzee sighting was a critter named Oliver. Oliver was a sideshow star in the 1970s. He is said to have come from somewhere in the Congo, although this claim has never been proven. Oliver is very different from other chimps. He typically doesn’t like being in the same general area of other apes and prefers the company of humans. Oliver possesses a flatter face than his fellow chimpanzees. He has less hair, a smaller chin, a smaller and rounder cranium, and pointed ears. He also reportedly had an unusual scent, which is different from both chimps and humans. Oliver was habitually bipedal before being struck with arthritis, meaning that he walked upright. He has never walked on his knuckles like other chimps. Many reports have indicated that Oliver prefers human females over chimps. He was acquired as a young animal by trainers Frank and Janet Berger. The Berger’s eventually had to sell Oliver because he began to mount and attempted to mate with Janet. Janet Berger has indicated that this behavior started when Oliver reached the age of sixteen. In 1996, geneticists examined Oliver’s chromosomes. The test revealed that Oliver contains forty-eight chromosomes similar to other chimps, although Oliver’s owner Michael Miller claims he had the ape tested and the results showed only forty-seven chromosomes. These results have been widely scrutinized and challenged. His appearance has been dismissed as a genetic deformity. Scientists will not perform further tests on the hypothesis that Oliver could be an undiscovered species of chimpanzee. Oliver is still alive today, living at Primarily Primates in the state of Texas. (...)Read the rest of 10 Bizarre Events and Discoveries (4,242 words) (...)Read the rest of 10 Bizarre Events and Discoveries (4,242 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 4/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
71 |
Cannibalism – Survival of the Fattest | Fatty or Skinny? It’s a question that has dogged us since the dawn of time. Should I eat Fatty or Skinny? Fatty would go further, but Skinny would probably taste better. He’d be healthier too – more meat and less fat. But then, you’d have to share him with Fatty so there probably wouldn’t be enough to go around. It’s certainly a dilemma. Perhaps you’d better gnaw on your arm while you try to decide. At some point in our lives, we’ve all spent time trying to decide which of our friends we would rather kill, cook and eat. If you haven’t then you’re probably the kind of person that would be too squeamish or sentimental to go through with it. Of course, this means that you would probably end up on the menu your self. What can I say, it’s a dog eat dog world out there. Of course, most of us wait until an extreme survival situation before we start tucking into our friends, but it never hurts to be prepared. You never know when you might become stranded on a desert island, a snow covered mountainside or a Roland Emmerich disaster film. Don’t try this at home kids. Weird Worm recommends that cannibalism only be practiced in extreme emergencies, emergencies such as these… 1. Andes Flight Disaster (...)Read the rest of Cannibalism – Survival of the Fattest (981 words) (...)Read the rest of Cannibalism – Survival of the Fattest (981 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 4/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
72 |
Cannibalism – People Who Eat Other People | Have you ever been so hungry you’d eat just about anything? You look in the fridge and search through your kitchen cupboards for something to fill that groaning hole in your stomach. Gathering together all the edible items you then set about mixing them into a bizarre, otherwise unthinkable concoction and, to your surprise, you like it. You wonder why nobody has ever thought of mixing powdered egg, banana yogurt and paprika before. That’s probably how cannibalism was invented hundreds of thousands of years ago. Although there was probably much more slicing and dicing involved. That’s right, cannibalism is as old as mankind and we certainly weren’t the first to come up with the idea. Animals have been eating members of their own species since the dawn of time and think nothing of it. To them it’s perfectly natural. Many species of arachnid, for example, instinctively begin to chow down on their mothers as soon as they are born and some mammals have been known to do the same thing. In fact, in some cases mammalian mothers will eat their own offspring if they feel the conditions needed to rear offspring have not been met. Ever seen a hamster do this? It’s pretty disturbing. Of course, the introduction of civilization, the very thing that separates us from the animals, makes it impractical and morally objectionable to kill and eat your kinsmen. When living in a group structure it is much better to let your friends and family live so they can help you carry that massive mammoth carcass back home. But what if your intended victim is not a member of your tribe? By making a meal of a rival tribesman you not only rid yourself of a troublesome neighbor, you also get yourself a family sized bucket of tasty man flesh as a special treat for the kids. This is one widely accepted answer to the question of where all those pesky Neanderthals went. That’s right, we ate them (or some of them at least – the rest probably ate each other). Our prehistoric ancestors can hardly be called civilized, however, and things have changed greatly since the dark days before KFC. Most of us now agree that the idea of eating another person is grim and stomach turning but, historically speaking, not all human cultures have shared this view. Many cultures have used cannibalism simply as a convenient way to dispose of the dead; others have even embraced it as a religious and ceremonial practice. The Aghori of India, for example, believe that eating the flesh of a recently deceased person (or not so recently deceased as the case may be) will give them magical powers. The Aghori, an extreme and widely condemned Hindu sect, get their kicks by removing bodies from cemeteries and funeral barges, sometimes eating them raw. Here are some examples of cannibalistic societies in recorded history: 1. The Carib The Carib people of the Lesser Antilles not only had the entire Caribbean Sea named after them; their name is also the origin of the word cannibal. Christopher Columbus was the first to report cannibalism among the Carib, whom he referred to as the Caniba (a mispronunciation of ‘Karibna’, the Carib word for ‘person’). Following this many Europeans formed the belief that the Carib practiced general cannibalism but this was not true, the Carib practiced ritual cannibalism and only ever against their enemies. Any conquistador to stumble across a society of cannibals would have been utterly thrilled. At the time it was considered a Christian’s duty to punish and subjugate any society known to practice cannibalism. This led to many tribal cultures in the Africa and the Americas being falsely accused of cannibalism and may have precipitated the slave trade. (...)Read the rest of Cannibalism – People Who Eat Other People (1,579 words) (...)Read the rest of Cannibalism – People Who Eat Other People (1,579 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us[...] | 4/6/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
73 |
Top 10 Countries on Earth, As Voted by Aliens | Where do Aliens go on holiday? Well, the Earth would be an obvious answer, but where on the Earth? Thanks to TV and Film, many people believe that Aliens visit the U.S.A almost exclusively, but this is simply not true. UFOs have been spotted right around the globe, from Orkney to Auckland and Panama to Pyongyang. While the U.S.A clearly holds the monopoly on flying saucers, they do not own the exclusive rights. Creating a list of the top ten countries most visited by aliens is no easy task, especially as there is no central authority on the subject. Short of pulling over a UFO and asking the aliens themselves where their favourite holiday destinations are, there can be no way of knowing for sure. Whilst in the U.S.A there are various ways to report a UFO sighting and many organizations dedicated to investigating UFO related phenomenon, most countries none, meaning that the majority of UFO sightings go unrecorded. It could be that aliens frequently visit some of the more obscure countries in the world, such as Tajikistan or Kyrgyzstan, we just don’t know it (actually, the Altai Mountains region in central Asia is thought to be a UFO hotspot, with evidence of alien visitations to the region hundreds, even thousands of years ago. However, the frequency of UFO sightings here cannot be determined as most are thought to go unrecorded). While a country bumpkin in America can easily spread the word of his encounter by telephone, email, YouTube or a variety of other methods, an equally inbred person in the Ghobi Desert might not. The language barrier is also an issue, as are cultural and media divisions. By looking at the statistics you could be fooled into thinking that aliens prefer to visit the English-speaking world. But if a group of aliens were spotted enjoying a picnic just outside the capital of Turkmenistan, what do you think the chances are of us hearing about it in the West? Even dedicated UFOlogigst might miss out on the story. Second to the English-speaking world would seem to be the Spanish-speaking world, but this is likely because Spanish is America’s favoured second language. There has also been a rise in the number of reported UFO sightings coming out of India in recent years, but then many Indians do speak English and the sudden increase in correlation with the rise of Internet communications in this rapidly developing country. Of course, major UFO sightings are eventually picked up upon by English speaking UFOlogists regardless of cultural boundaries, so we can say for certain that aliens do visit countries outside the U.S and it’s ‘sphere of influence’, but determining the true numbers of close encounters across the world remains a difficult task. With no accurate statistics, perhaps it is better to focus on known UFO hotspots and so called ‘mass sightings’ around the world. The following list of the top ten countries visited by aliens has been compiled based on research conducted specifically for weirdworm.com. 10. Republic of Indonesia That’s right, Indonesia. You wouldn’t guess it but Indonesians report an incredibly high number of UFO sighting each year, perhaps relating to the country’s high population density. Unfortunately Indonesia has never experienced any particularly interesting or famous UFO sighting, but the sheer number of smaller sightings is enough to earn it a place at the bottom of the list, narrowly beating Australia (where sightings are fairly frequent but on the whole pretty unremarkable – sorry Australia). A large number of Indonesians reported seeing UFOs shortly before the famous Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004, leading to claims that aliens were trying to warn them to put on their swimming trunks. (...)Read the rest of Top 10 Countries on Earth, As Voted by Aliens (1,656 words) (...)Read the rest of Top 10 Countries on Earth, As Voted by Aliens (1,656 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 13 comments [. | 4/4/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
74 |
Four Least-Likely Saviors in History | Jesus Christ is undoubtedly the most important figure in human history. You can try to argue it all you want, but the facts are against you on this one. No one else has inspired as many religious movements, wars, peace offerings or terrible pop songs as Jesus. The name carries some weight. And sure, Jimi Hendrix can play a mean guitar, but Jesus could turn that guitar into a bass guitar. Think about that. Naturally, some people would want to try to ride the Christ’s coattails by claiming to be Him. Of course, it’s a tough standard to live up to, as these stories show us. 1. John Thom (1799 – 1838) The Man: At a young age, Thom faced a crossroads in his life; he could either follow in the footsteps of his father and become a well respected politician, or he could choose his mother’s unique path and die in an insane asylum. Not one to disappoint, he dabbled in both. Sadly, politics wasn’t in the cards for Thom. He lost the Canterbury’s parliamentary seat before sporting a red cape, sword and changing his name to Count Moses Rosechild. Surprisingly, the Count lost his second attempt at the seat, most likely because the people of Canterbury weren’t ready to be represented by a flamboyant swordsman. After a stint in prison, however, the Count had a revelation: he was no politician. He was Jesus Christ. Once he was reunited with sweet lady freedom, Thom began spreading his message of salvation. He also claimed his sword was Excalibur because the costume shop he bought it from wouldn’t accept returns. The Problem: The basis of Thom’s sermons was his opposition of the Poor Law Act, which was forcing people off of their property and farmers out of their fields. As he gained popularity he rallied a group of 100 followers and lead a protest near Boughton. Several of his protesters, however, were employed workers who had left their positions to join the movement. When a constable arrived to correct the situation he and Thom had a bit of a tiff: the constable claimed they were breaking the law and Thom rebutted by shooting him dead, forever answering the question “What would Jesus do?” He would shoot people. (...)Read the rest of Four Least-Likely Saviors in History (1,556 words) (...)Read the rest of Four Least-Likely Saviors in History (1,556 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 4/2/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
75 |
5 Numbers That Influence Our Life In Unexpected Ways | From counting out the exact change for a coffee cup to planning a retirement fund, numbers influence almost every aspect of one’s life. However, numbers have a much deeper influence on the world around us, often in ways that we don’t even realize. A mathematical constant determines what we find beautiful and a number decides how many friends we have; mathematics is written into our genes and here are just a few of the fascinating ways it changes our lives. 1. Dunbar’s Number Certain communities survive largely unchanged over long periods of time while other tribes or even modern neighborhoods collapse into chaos and hostility. We keep in touch with some friends and co-workers and ignore others, apparently for no reason. Even corporations seem to have trouble managing workers after, hiring a certain amount of people. Seemingly unrelated, these topics are all connected through one number. Monkey or human, turns out our communities aren’t that different. (...)Read the rest of 5 Numbers That Influence Our Life In Unexpected Ways (1,116 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Numbers That Influence Our Life In Unexpected Ways (1,116 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © radmanovac for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 3/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
76 |
7 Things You Won’t Believe Are Illegal in the US | Law is the foundation of society; at least that is what they say. We live with the belief that there are people out there who understand legislature and the “system”, passing laws which are meant to work in our best interest and help us coexist with each other in peace. On the other hand, this belief falls flat on its face in the presence of these bans on common everyday items and activities. Currently, US law actually prohibits… 1. Boating and Fishing As insane as this may sound, boating and fishing on certain waters have been illegal in America since 2006. It was established by Judge Robert G. James, in the case of Normal Parm v. Sheriff Mark Shumate, after a few Louisiana anglers were caught fishing on flooded private property. (...)Read the rest of 7 Things You Won’t Believe Are Illegal in the US (1,232 words) (...)Read the rest of 7 Things You Won’t Believe Are Illegal in the US (1,232 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 3/30/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
77 |
The 6 Most Unusual Job Searching Methods | By now the economy is slowly starting to recover, but that doesn’t mean that it’s any easier to find a job that will allow you to pay the mountain of bills covering your living room floor. In fact, if you’re looking for a career change you should probably brush up on your interview skills and learn some Do’s and Don’ts of job searching; and as far as Don’ts go this is probably the best place to start. 1. Ask for a job at gun point We all know where the good jobs are: in the fast food business, but those damn teenagers are always undercutting the honest working man. It’s time someone did something about it, preferably with a gun! With dozens of Taco Bells robbed every other month (if you don’t believe us just google Taco Bell and robbery) walking in with a pistol in your hand demanding all the tacos you can carry doesn’t seem like a bad idea, and since you already showed that you have initiative and problem-solving skills, why not ask the manager for a job? Taco Bell manager (...)Read the rest of The 6 Most Unusual Job Searching Methods (1,328 words) (...)Read the rest of The 6 Most Unusual Job Searching Methods (1,328 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 3/29/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
78 |
5 Weird Uses of Viagra | Viagra – the little blue pill that could… give you wood. Since becoming available in 1998 the erection inducing pharmaceutical has became a permanent part of our sex-centered culture, but surely there isn’t a lot you can say about it. You pop a pill, wait an hour, and for the first time in your life you stop feeling like less of a man. And that’s it, right? Wrong. There is actually a whole world of unconventional yet awesome uses for Viagra out there. Here are the 5 weirdest examples. 1. Viagra Helps Soccer Players Stand Up To The Challenge The Bolivian Santa Cruz FC Blooming experienced certain problems in the 90s, the least of which weren’t the players’ strike or a financial crisis that resulted in the inability to pay the said players, most of whom quit the club because they were not getting “paid” for their “talent” and their “houses” were being “taken over by the banks”. Even after importing a lot of talented newcomers to replace the majority of the original cadre and hiring Carlos Aragonés, an experienced manager who had a few championships under his belt, the team suffered a number of humiliating defeats. (...)Read the rest of 5 Weird Uses of Viagra (1,235 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Weird Uses of Viagra (1,235 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 3/27/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
79 |
6 Manliest Religions | When it comes to religion there are many options out there. However, if you want a truly kick-a$@ religion, with a God that eats fire and picks his teeth with lightning bolts, you should look at the ancient cults; the ones filled with monstrous demons and insanely cool deities. And if you want more something more than some awesome mythology you should look at this list of religions that want you to be a bad-a$@ just to apply for membership. 1. Mithraism This is a religion where the main god was born out of stone only so he could kill a bull and dance in the beast’s blood. Does your god kill bulls? We didn't think so. (...)Read the rest of 6 Manliest Religions (1,467 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Manliest Religions (1,467 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 34 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 3/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
80 |
6 Weird Places Where People Actually Live | When we are kids, we often imagine ourselves living in some magnificent, albeit ridiculous places. Castles, moon bases, hobbit holes, submarines, and the list goes on and on. Of course as we grow up we realize that living in a hobbit hole or a moon base might not be as awesome as we once imagined. Oh, who am I kidding? Living in those places would absolutely rock each and every one of our faces off. We just don’t have the balls (or often, the money) to actually try to live in some absurd looking house, so we settle for normal apartments, condos or refrigerator boxes under bridges. Well, most of us don’t, anyway. Apparently for others, it’s a lot more difficult to let go of those dreams from childhood, and here’s proof… 1. Cave Houses Unless your name is Fred Flintstone, odds are you probably never really considered the idea of living in a cave. And hell, even old Fred didn’t live in a cave; he lived in a pile of rocks stacked precariously on top of each other, ready to collapse and wipe out his entire cartoon family at any moment. But I’m guessing your name isn’t Fred Flintstone, which means that’s all pretty much irrelevant. Just like the idea of living in a cave. (...)Read the rest of 6 Weird Places Where People Actually Live (951 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Weird Places Where People Actually Live (951 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 3/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
81 |
Five Theoretically Awesome Attempts to Fly (That Failed) | When you really think about it, the ability to fly is pretty much the most mind blowing experience a human being can ever hope for. Think about it: you’re defying gravity. Yet we still find time to complain about it whenever possible. The ways we fly are constantly improving to combat our ever growing boredom with living the impossible dream. However, some ideas are more awesome than others, and those ideas tend to fall flat on their face. 1. The Christmas Bullet Named after the jolliest murder weapon in history, this number was designed by Dr. William Christmas. Judging by his track record, Dr. Christmas had no business being anywhere near something that could potentially fly. His first few attempts into the world of aviation design ended in disaster, and that was before he founded his airplane sales company in 1910. In his defense, everyone else was doing the whole “aircraft thing” at the time. It was 1910′s equivalent to Evony. (...)Read the rest of Five Theoretically Awesome Attempts to Fly (That Failed) (1,353 words) (...)Read the rest of Five Theoretically Awesome Attempts to Fly (That Failed) (1,353 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 3/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
82 |
10 Bizarre Train Accidents | For generations, it was the fastest ride around. Trains could achieve speeds of over 75 miles an hour by 1800 and for some passengers that factor alone made train travel a terrifying experience. An unlucky few never reached their destination, and some poor souls perished in such a spectacular manner they arrived at a special place in history. 1. The First Time wasn’t the Charm In July 31st of 1815 Philadelphia (UK) was abuzz with excitement. An experimental railway locomotive known as Brunton’s Mechanical Traveller was due to make its debut appearance. There were no tracks at this point only excited townspeople and a public industrial waggonway for the device to run on. This particular engine also known as the Steam Horse moved along on mechanized feet rather than wheels, but this wasn’t the machine’s only problem. Running on steam it needed a huge boiler and the kinks of this system for the purposes of locomotion hadn’t yet been worked out. The boiler blew killing at least 16 of the spectators and dimming the hopes of inventors everywhere. (...)Read the rest of 10 Bizarre Train Accidents (1,727 words) (...)Read the rest of 10 Bizarre Train Accidents (1,727 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 3/19/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
83 |
7 Weird Alcoholic Beverages | By the time the weekend rolls around, many of us like to unwind with a nice adult beverage (and hey, if you’re feeling randy, an adult movie to match). Whether you’re a beer drinker, a wine drinker, or someone who likes girly drinks with little umbrellas, it’s always nice to just sit back and relax, reveling in the fact that the work week is over. And then when Sunday rolls around, you start drinking again when you realize that the new workday is almost upon you. The bottom line is that Homer Simpson was right. Alcohol really is the cause of and solution to all of life’s little problems. Of course, some people go a little crazy with their alcohol. No, I’m not talking about how much they consume. I’m talking about the weird, crazy stuff they put in it. And boy, do they ever put some weird, crazy s$*t in their alcohol. Podcast Sponsor: Get a FREE audiobook and 14-day trial today by signing up at www.audiblepodcast.com/weirdworm 1. Pizza Beer When you sit down to watch the proverbial big game, chances are that if you’re of legal drinking age (or hell, maybe even if you’re not) you will be enjoying a nice cold beer and a few slices of pizza as you watch sweaty men in tight fitting clothes slam repeatedly into one another. Well apparently one day someone looked at the pizza, looked at the beer, and thought, “Hey, that might make a good beer flavor.” (...)Read the rest of 7 Weird Alcoholic Beverages (1,048 words) (...)Read the rest of 7 Weird Alcoholic Beverages (1,048 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 3/17/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
84 |
WormCast Ep01 – Weird Wills | The thought of mortality has crossed everyone’s mind around the time they turned past 28 and suddenly realized that maybe, just maybe, they are not awesome enough for God to break the most basic laws of the physical world and grant them eternal life. Coming to terms with death is something we all must go through, but then again who says we have to go out without a bang? In reality there is a number of ways to leave a mark on this planet that will help you be remembered long after your corpse will be burned for heat during the upcoming nuclear winter. One, you can die while committing the most heinous crime in recorded human history, but our legal department has told us we can’t actually support the idea of you blowing up an orphanage for AIDS infected kittens or something, so that really only leaves option number 2: write a bizarre last will. Last Wills are a funny thing. You can stipulate basically whatever you want in them but it really won’t matter to YOU personally, because, well… you will be dead and everything. Last Wills only have an effect on the living, who for some reason treat them like a rough draft of the sequel to the Bible. To disrespect a Last Will is unthinkable, akin to digging up your grandma and slapping her across the face with a rotten salmon – you simply do not do that. That is precisely why a Weird Will is the perfect way to stay remembered for years to come, even in death. We at Weird Worm firmly believe in this and after we are all dead, we want our earthly possession to be sold and put into a huge trust fund, available for inheritance to anyone who masters the ancient art of Bengal Tiger juggling, which we just made up. Bonus points will be awarded to the individual who does it while being set on fire. Oh, do you think we are taking it too far? Not in the least. History has known dozens of practical pranksters who struck from beyond the grave, coming up with Last Wills so hilariously bizarre and dangerous they make our will look downright tame and boring. It probably also helps that their wills are real while ours is fictional, created just a few seconds ago for comedic purposes. With that being said, get ready to take a lesson in Comedy After Death with Weird Worm’s Wormcast about the Weirdest Wills in the World. You can read more about weird wills here: http://www.weirdworm.com/6-weird-wills/ Written by Cezary Jan Strusiewicz – Copyrighted © www.weirdworm.com Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © euphoria for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us | 3/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
85 |
8 Strange and Dangerous Patents | Here are few strange and dangerous patents from years ago when man’s brain was still evolving. When you have a look at these you’ll wonder how we’ve made it as far as we have. Many of these involve taking one perfectly good item, combining it with another perfectly good item and turning them into one perfectly c*@ppy item. Have a look at these prize-winners… Podcast Sponsor: Get a FREE audiobook and 14-day trial today by signing up at www.audiblepodcast.com/weirdworm 1. Plough-gun Ok, so you beat your sword into a plough-share, now show a bit of American attitude and turn it into a cannon! This is a horse-drawn plough, which doubles as a cannon. Conveniently hidden in the forward-projecting handle of the plough is a cannon barrel. It’s just the thing for the feisty farmer who wants to fire off a few rounds before dinner or protect the family farm. (...)Read the rest of 8 Strange and Dangerous Patents (1,300 words) (...)Read the rest of 8 Strange and Dangerous Patents (1,300 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 3/15/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
86 |
Sneaking Into Hashima, Japan’s “Battleship Island” Ghost Town | In 2009, a friend and I were living in Japan. That year, we learned that it was possible to get to Hashima, commonly called “Battleship Island”, albeit highly illegal. We did it anyways. Podcast Sponsor: Get a FREE audiobook and 14-day trial today by signing up at www.audiblepodcast.com/weirdworm (...)Read the rest of Sneaking Into Hashima, Japan’s “Battleship Island” Ghost Town (1,356 words) (...)Read the rest of Sneaking Into Hashima, Japan’s “Battleship Island” Ghost Town (1,356 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 3/13/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
87 |
6 Weird Sitcoms | Coming up with a successful television program is hard work, and you’d be amazed what concepts some networks will try in an effort to find a winner. In between hordes of generic sitcoms about mismatched families and wacky roommates there are some shows so bafflingly strange that we have to wonder how they were dreamed up. Podcast Sponsor: Get a FREE audiobook and 14-day trial today by signing up at www.audiblepodcast.com/weirdworm 1. Harry and the Hendersons (...)Read the rest of 6 Weird Sitcoms (1,204 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Weird Sitcoms (1,204 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 3/11/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
88 |
10 Weird Product Placement | Product placement, sometimes called “embedded marketing”, is a form of advertising where an ad is placed somewhere that is usually devoid of ads, often subtly and without the viewer fully noticing it. In some cases, product placement is not strictly a matter of business. Including familiar brands and products in the world characters inhabit can make that world seem more realistic. For instance, most movies feature cars – not every movie in history has gotten money from car companies, though. Still, some instances of product placement are so obvious, so transparent as to be strange and jarring. 1. Superman II Marlboro paid the producers of Superman II $25,000 dollars for a Marlboro truck to be smack dab in the center of the final epic fight of the movie. At one point, the near-invincible Man of Steel is thrown right through the logo, and then climbs back out. Of course, the moral implications of putting a children’s superhero in a cigarette truck have not escaped people, and many parents objected to the imagery. (...)Read the rest of 10 Weird Product Placement (1,432 words) (...)Read the rest of 10 Weird Product Placement (1,432 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 3/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
89 |
5 Mythical Creatures That Could Exist | Sometimes the world seems like a pretty dull place. While science has given us a greater understanding of the world we live in, sometimes it seems like it has sucked all the magic and wonder out of it too. Wouldn’t it be great if there really were monsters lurking in the woods outside your house? Well, perhaps there once was. Although most of the things that scared you as a child, those things that go bump in the night, were actually just creaking attic beams and groaning attic pipes, perhaps the children of previous generations really did have something to be afraid of. After all, don’t most legends have a basis in fact? Here are five mythical creatures that could exist, or rather that could have existed long ago. 1. The Sasquatch Everybody knows the story. Everybody’s seen the video of a man in a gorilla costume taking a leisurely stroll through the woods. But is there any truth behind the tales of this big-footed missing link? Well, the most famous film recording of Mr Bigfoot, shot in 1967 by Roger Patterson, is widely believed to be a fake for obvious reasons. However scientists have been unable to provide any evidence to either prove or disprove its authenticity. Instead, scientists and sceptics have focused on the sheer impossibility of Bigfoot’s existence. Most ecologists agree that the climate of North West America is simply unable to support a species of great ape such as this, and certainly not in the numbers required to maintain a breeding population. For that matter, any population large enough to ensure the continuation of the species would be pretty hard to hide, making Bigfoot sightings much more common than they actually are. The slim possibility does remain that the Bigfoot species is in decline and near extinction. But if this were so, such a rapid population decline since the arrival of European settlers would have seen the species become completely extinct long ago. Of course there are tales of hairy woodsmen predating the widespread colonization of North America. Native American folklore is crammed with references to Bigfoot, although the descriptions they give of the creature’s appearance, behaviour and temperament vary wildly. Most depict Bigfoot as a kind of bogeyman who feeds off of the flesh of naughty children. Of course, when Bigfoot is viewed in this context it could be said that there are Bigfoot stories in the folklore of every culture the world over. Why is this? Well we humans seem to have a need to fantasise about big hairy monsters, perhaps because we once lived alongside them. It’s possible that aural tradition has preserved, if somewhat distorted, the story of how we once shared our earth with a real-life missing link – the Neanderthal – around thirty thousand years ago.(...)Read the rest of 5 Mythical Creatures That Could Exist (1,936 words) (...)Read the rest of 5 Mythical Creatures That Could Exist (1,936 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 3/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
90 |
Stupidest role-playing Games | Ever since Gary Gygax realized that pretending to be a wizard stabbing a troll was a lot more socially acceptable than playing wargames where you pretend to be the Axis power, role-playing has been a thriving and vital subculture of weirdos, nerds, and lonely people. But some of those are decidedly more lonely than others, as these games show us. 1. F.A.T.A.L. “It is the goal of Fatal Games to astound and thrill those who seek a role-playing game based on historical and mythological accuracy, realism, and detail.” – F.A.T.A.L. What that means is…rape, rape, rape, violence, and rape with a side of sexual assault. When replying to the review of this game raking them over the coals, the creator responded to accusations of date rape in the game asking where the reviewers saw anything in the game about dating (REVIEW). But that, dear readers, is only the tip of this iceberg of psychological terror. F.A.T.A.L. is the RPG for nerds that nerds beat up, the kind of guy who really DOES weigh three hundred pounds, wear nothing but sweatpants, and has a thick, bushy-yet-scraggly neckbeard. Other nerds look at guys like that, shudder, and think “At least I moved out of Mom’s”. So while those nerds are playing D&D, these guys? They’re playing F.A.T.A.L. F.A.T.A.L. gets right to it when you’re rolling up your character. We could bore you by telling you that the game is ridiculously detailed with the stats, but we’ll kill two birds with one stone and list off a stat that really get the point across. You’re going to roll up, among other things, your anal circumference, depth, and just how much your a*$ can stretch. Why? Because there’s probably going to be a five-foot p***s up in there, and they want you to figure out exactly how much damage you’re getting from a bunch of orcs pulling a train on you. Boy, you got a purdy little mouth. (...)Read the rest of Stupidest role-playing Games (624 words) (...)Read the rest of Stupidest role-playing Games (624 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 3/5/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
91 |
6 Celebrity Albums that Never Should Have Happened | Careers in music are kind of like DUI charges: every celebrity needs at least one. So get ready for ’6 Celebrity Albums that Never Should Have Happened’! 6. Hulk Hogan: Hulk Rules Backed by his then wife Linda, former manager and megaphone enthusiast Jimmy “The Mouth of the South” Hart and a gathering of musicians too good for dive bars but not good enough of Sy-Fy movie soundtracks, Hulk Hogan and the Wrestling Boot Band follow in the footsteps of Srgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by recording a riveting concept album. The concept, of course, is the life of Hulk Hogan, which consists of little outside of wrestling, being orange, challenging ted Turner to an arm wrestling match, hanging out on beaches and owning a Harley. Feel free to fact check that. (...)Read the rest of 6 Celebrity Albums that Never Should Have Happened (1,294 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Celebrity Albums that Never Should Have Happened (1,294 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 3/3/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
92 |
6 Bizarre Criminal Sentences | If you’re a person reading comedy on the internet, then odds are at some point in your life, you’ve watched Seinfeld. And if you’re at all familiar with the show, there’s a pretty good chance you remember the episode in which Jerry and George decide that the plot of their pilot for NBC should revolve around a guy being sentenced to become Jerry’s butler. Even by Seinfeld standards, it was a little preposterous, but that was the point. It could never happen in real life, and that’s what made it funny. I mean, it couldn’t actually happen in real life, could it? Well, that depends on who you get as a judge, if these cases are any indication. 1. The Poor Kid Who Just Wanted a Little Porn Back in 2004, a kid named Jeremy Sherwood was into the same things as most other teenagers. You know, having a good time, looking at porn, and petty larceny. One day the three converged, and young Jeremy was caught red handed. No word on whether his hands were red from all that masturbating to his stolen porn. Wait…so these really DO still exist? After he was caught stealing some porn from an adult video store, Sherwood was given a choice: 30 days in jail, or wear a blindfold in front of the store from which he stole while holding a sign reading “See No Evil.” Naturally, Jeremy went with door number two and endured what was probably a lonely afternoon of people thinking he was a bible nut making a statement. Of course I’m just left to wonder: what the hell is an American teenager stealing porn from a store when there’s so much readily available on the internet? (...)Read the rest of 6 Bizarre Criminal Sentences (1,189 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Bizarre Criminal Sentences (1,189 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 3/1/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
93 |
6 Amazing Facts About Breasts | We men really do love breasts: we talk about them, brag about touching them and apparently now write extensive comedy articles about them for the internet. Many women might think it’s juvenile on our part to obsess so much over nothing more than a pair of meat sacks filled with fat, but there are many stories out there which support our collective theory that breasts are just plain awesome. So sit back and relax, here are the 6 weirdest facts and tales about breasts. 6. Small Knockers Almost Got Vietnamese Bikers Banned From the Roads In 2008 the Vietnamese government was seriously considering banning all females whose chests measured less than 28 inches from riding their motorbikes on public roads. Allegedly this was a bid from the Ministry of Health aimed at making sure that the people behind the handlebars remain healthy, but it’s quite obvious that they were just trying to pressure the women into getting b00b jobs. (...)Read the rest of 6 Amazing Facts About Breasts (1,150 words) (...)Read the rest of 6 Amazing Facts About Breasts (1,150 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 109 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 2/26/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
94 |
Appetizing Atrocity: 5 Endangered Species Hunted for Food | There are animals in the world that are endangered for all kinds of reasons, usually loss of habitat, over-hunting, ridiculous accidents like oil-spills wiping out the last few. As if that wasn’t bad enough, there are several out there that have the misfortune of being considered delicious in someone’s eyes, and those someones have no issue cleaning them off the face of the planet. 1. Sea Turtles Is there any animal more loveable and innocuous than a sea turtle? They’re big, harmless, and talk like Spiccoli. Don't eat my kids, dude! Eating sea turtles is right up there with clubbing baby seals as a pretty s****y thing to do. They are used for soup, among other things; in New Guinea, Leatherback Turtles are rendered for caulk for boats and oil, other species are used for everything from bags to jewelry in addition to their sweet, sweet meat being eaten. And what could be worse than eating nature’s giant hockey puck? (...)Read the rest of Appetizing Atrocity: 5 Endangered Species Hunted for Food (1,256 words) (...)Read the rest of Appetizing Atrocity: 5 Endangered Species Hunted for Food (1,256 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 2/24/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
95 |
The Weird History of 6 Articles of Clothing | When do you think people wore the most outlandish fashions? The 1960s? 70s? 80s? Not even close. Throughout history people have been sacrificing their bodies at the altar of fashion and the results were not always pretty and never practical. 1. Shoes It seems like every decade there is a new crazy shoe style. However, out forbearers did crazy a lot better than we do. How else do you explain these incredibly popular shoe styles? The first ridiculous shoe fad started in the 1300s in Europe. Men and women started elongating the tips of their slippers to points. The points got longer and longer until the wearer was in danger of tripping over them. Instead of realizing they’d taken the fad too far, people started attaching the points to the knee with chain or rope. Some shoes points were stuffed with fabric and made into the shape of a man’s g******s. Of course the clergy was furious and tried to discourage people from wearing these shoes on religious grounds. They got no where. (...)Read the rest of The Weird History of 6 Articles of Clothing (1,358 words) (...)Read the rest of The Weird History of 6 Articles of Clothing (1,358 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 2/22/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
96 |
The 5 Craziest People On The Internet | Most of the people who use the Internet fall somewhere between Charles Manson and Street-Corner-Hobo-With-Surprisingly-Strong-Religious-Convictions on the crazy spectrum. This is the likely reason that most people spend as little time wandering about the world wide web as possible: you check your emails, hit up CNN.com for your news, then check Weird Worm for your entertainment (or, for the cynics among you, Weird Worm for your news and CNN for your entertainment). However, hidden deep among the vast sea of illegible YouTube comments and terrifying pretend-hacker groups is a subset of creatures whose worldviews are so mind-blowingly mind blowing that their very existence transcends common humor, heading straight for the realm of the surreal. These are their stories. 5. David Icke WEBSITE: http://www.davidicke.com/ Serious Business Who is he? (...)Read the rest of The 5 Craziest People On The Internet (1,945 words) (...)Read the rest of The 5 Craziest People On The Internet (1,945 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 2/20/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
97 |
10 Families Who Killed Together | The family that plays together stays together so what does that say about those folks who get a little rough? The mothers who arm their offspring, the brothers who take out their elders or those large extended families who make the neighbors very nervous are not the Norman Rockwell type, but they are in a weird way far more interesting. 1. The Harpe Family: No Angels here The new world held out hope to the cousins Micah and Wiley Harper, but only because the fledging country didn’t know them. After migrating with their families from Scotland as children the pair changed their names to John and William. Because of their constant habit of remaining together the pair was given the witty nicknames of Big Harpe (William) and Little Harpe (John). The Harpes not exactly men given to more empathic endeavors left home just out of their teens to become slavers or overseers in Virginia. The American Revolution presented them with better opportunities as Troy outlaws where they learned such useful skills as pillaging livestock, burning crops and raping young farm girls. There was a downside to their new lifestyle namely a country side from North Carolina to Kentucky, who knew them and wanted to see them both dangle at the end of twin ropes. The men took up with at least three women and produce many children who traveled with them. This disagreeable family took up a farm in Beaver Creek late in the 1790’s, but apparently not in an effort to change their wild ways. In 1798 the other villages accused them of horse stealing a very serious offense during those times. The Harpe cousins managed to get away, and returned in the night to extract their revenge by killing a local who they might have blamed for ratting them out. The unfortunate victim was found in the river by his neighbors the next morning with his chest and belly slashed open and his body loaded down with rocks. This was the Harpes trademark murder signature. The Harpes continued to get away with their crimes perhaps because even the authorities were afraid of them. Eventually, though they began to be too blatant and reckless and a posse of angry neighbors brought the Harpes along with their three ‘wives’ into seek justice. It was not to be as the pair escaped and continued their ruthless ways. For the remainder of the war, the Harpes raped and killed with abandoned, but at last without the other Tory renegades to back them up they were eventually captured by another posse who didn’t bother to take them to court and wait for justice. This time the angry mob took the killer cousin’s heads. (...)Read the rest of 10 Families Who Killed Together (1,651 words) (...)Read the rest of 10 Families Who Killed Together (1,651 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 2/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
98 |
10 Facts About Capital Punishment And Murder | The death penalty is the most severe punishment in the world. It is a controversial issue with a long and bloody history. More than 60% of the worldwide population lives in countries where executions take place. The four most populated countries in the world are the People’s Republic of China, India, the United States and Indonesia. All of these areas enforce the death penalty and are unlikely to abolish it any time soon. Here is a list of some interesting facts about capital punishment and murder. 1. The Maximum Prison Sentence in Nepal is 20 Years Many countries in the world do not enforce the law of life imprisonment. In Nepal the maximum sentence that can be given to a criminal is 20 years. In Norway it is 21 years imprisonment and the maximum sentence is 25 years in Portugal, Macau, and Ecuador. Many nations in South America have abolished life imprisonment laws. The United States is the only country that has minors under the age of 18 serving life sentences. As of 2009, Human Rights Watch has calculated that there are 2,574 youth offenders serving life without parole in the U.S. Life imprisonment laws bring to mind two of the most deadly serial killers in world history, Columbian born maniacs Pedro López and Luis Garavito. Pedro López is a Colombian-born confessed serial killer, accused of raping and killing more than 300 girls across South America. López became known as the “Monster of the Andes” in 1980 when he led police to the graves of 53 of his victims. They were all girls between nine and twelve-years-old. In 1983 he was found guilty of murdering 110 young girls in Ecuador and confessed to a further 240 murders in neighboring Peru and Colombia. The maximum prison sentence available in Equador was 25 years. According to the BBC, López was arrested in 1980 and freed by the government of Ecuador at the end of 1998. He was then deported to Colombia. In an interview from his prison cell, López described himself as “the man of the century.” He is said to have been released on a $50 bail for good behavior. Various reports have indicated that Colombian authorities released an advisory for his re-arrest over a fresh murder in 2002. Nobody knows where Pedro López is today. Luis Garavito (“The Beast”) is a Colombian r****t and serial killer. In 1999, he admitted to the murder and rape of 140 young boys. While in prison, Garavito drew maps of his mass burial sites. His murder count is thought to exceed 300 people. Luis Garavito has often been described as the world’s most deadly serial killer. Once captured, Garavito was subject to the maximum penalty available in Colombia, which was 30 years. However, as he confessed to the crimes and helped authorities locate bodies, Colombian law allowed him to apply for special benefits, including a reduction of his sentence to 22 years. As one would expect, criticism over Garavito’s sentence garnered notoriety in the media. A judicial review of his case found that Garavito’s sentence could potentially be extended and his release delayed. He will have to answer for unconfessed crimes, as they were not covered by his previous judicial process. (...)Read the rest of 10 Facts About Capital Punishment And Murder (2,090 words) (...)Read the rest of 10 Facts About Capital Punishment And Murder (2,090 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | 2/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
99 |
Terrible Valentine’s Day gifts | Valentine’s Day is, among many other things, a sham. Look at it: if you’re not in a relationship by the time it hits, you’re absolutely rocked. If you are in a relationship, you’re going to get rocked if your present isn’t up to snuff. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, only in this situation “damned if you don’t” could result in a broken engagement and a series of unpleasant phone calls to your mother. For those of you lacking the eye of the tiger for suave gifts, fear not, because I’m here to help. My knowledge of the world of consumer goods matched matched with my ability to read both minds and hearts will provide you with a crash-course guide on terrible Valentine’s Day gifts. If you’re looking for a collection of good gifts, you’re out of luck. Maybe you should stop looking to free-lance writers for advice on these sorts of things. We tend to be a bit cynical. 1. Spider-Man Valentines Nothing says “I love you” quite like fictional men in tights. Still, of all the people to help you score a date, why on earth would you rely on this guy? Look at anyone Peter Parker has ever loved. The best thing that can happen to them is being sucked into the Negative Zone or shot by a gangster. The worst thing that can happen is death at the hands of their beloved.(...)Read the rest of Terrible Valentine’s Day gifts (1,037 words) (...)Read the rest of Terrible Valentine’s Day gifts (1,037 words) Subscribe to Weird Worm podcast at © rale for Weird Worm » Podcast Feed, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us | 2/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 99 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
Wow! way too wierd. you need to check this one out !
as the kids say O.M.G.-LOL- WTF- and all that . dont not ! i repeat do not ! listen to this podcast at work ,you will FIRE your self ! listen for your self.
A throughly enjoyable podcast
Well written and equally well executed. Very easy to get friends interested.
Awesome Podcast!!!
This is awesome podcast! I am regular listener and I loved "Sport Losses" episode. You should have more pisodes like that one. Keep them coming!
Listeners also subscribed to
- Mistakes In History
- Bill Fawcett, editor
- View In iTunes
- UnCommon History
- Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission/County of Middlesex
- View In iTunes
- The Conspiracy Skeptic
- The HiveMind Group
- View In iTunes
