Monday, May 27, 2013

Jiroemon Kimura, the last man standing 

Jiroemon Kimura is not only the oldest living human he's also the last man still alive who was born in the 19th century. His secret? Small portions and lots of time in bed.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:19 PM

Hitler’s Hospital: The Eerie Remains of Beelitz Sanatorium  

Eerie is right. Great photographs.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:12 PM

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Navy dolphins discover rare old torpedo off Coronado 

In the ocean off Coronado, a Navy team has discovered a relic worthy of display in a military museum: a torpedo of the kind deployed in the late 19th century, considered a technological marvel in its day.

posted by Prof. Hex at 3:20 PM

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Danish teen finds rare Norse coins with metal detector 

I once found a quarter.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:30 PM

Ruins of Lost City May Lurk Deep in Honduras Rain Forest  

New images of a possible lost city hidden by Honduran rainforests show what might be the building foundations and mounds of Ciudad Blanca, a never-confirmed legendary metropolis.

posted by Prof. Hex at 12:41 PM

Thursday, May 09, 2013

Blood, Sweat, and Steel: My Afternoon with the Ace of Swords 

“This particular sword,” Boyd continues, oblivious to my neurotic inner monologue, “belonged to the first emperor of the Han Dynasty, around 200 BC. His name was Liu Bang. But the reason I’m dragging it out is not because of who owned it. It’s what inside that counts.”

Fascinating stuff.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:56 AM

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Shanghai Blood Fountain 

I've have been unable to find out any more information about this short but strange story but here it is anyway.

Great excitement prevails in the Chinese city of Shanghae, consequent upon the supposed discovery of a miraculous fountain of blood, which spouts out from the wall upon the persons of all who come near it.

It's from the The Troy Herald., Troy Missouri, October 1, 1873. Also from that same issue:

For knocking out the last tooth his mother-in-law had, a California man has had to pay $100. 

A Glasgow manufacturer has turned out a palanquin umbrella thirty-two feet in circumference. It is designed to keep the sun off an African chief.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:34 AM

Monday, May 06, 2013

Found at Auction: The Unseen Photographs of a Legend that Never Was  

Picture this: quite possibly the most important street photographer of the 20th century was a 1950s children’s nanny who kept herself to herself and never showed a single one of her photographs to anyone.

Thanks, Andrea!

posted by Prof. Hex at 7:57 PM

It's Science: Women Find Guitars Sexy 

Recent studies indicate that women find a man holding a guitar sexier than the same man without the guitar. As a guy who has played guitar in public for years I have my doubts about this.

posted by Prof. Hex at 6:09 PM

John Titor: Time Traveler? 

A civil war? WWIII? A capital in Omaha? Is this what our future holds? Will we still have question marks in 2036?

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:55 PM

Opening the mystery of 250 WWII letters found in old hat box  

Purchased for just $1 at an Oklahoma estate sale 15 years ago, an old hatbox contained a mystery decades in the making: an estimated 250 letters from two brothers during their time as soldiers in WWII.

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:19 PM

Lions, tigers, and meth, oh my! 

A northeast Kansas man is in custody after a menagerie of wild cats was seized from private property in northeast Kansas.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:27 PM

‘The Great Gatsby’ Still Gets Flappers Wrong  

But if you think the flappers were only about drop-waist dresses, fox furs, cloche hats, and excessive celebration, you’re missing the point.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:40 AM

Sunday, May 05, 2013

Lost for years, drawings and artist find acceptance  

As a young man on a south Missouri farm in the 1920s, he angrily chased his younger brother with a hatchet. Already an unruly, odd sort — prone to laugh for no reason — and a profound annoyance to his strict father, Deeds would eventually be diagnosed insane and committed for life to State Lunatic Asylum No. 3 in Nevada, Mo.

posted by Prof. Hex at 6:54 PM

The Methodical Murderer 

"Mr. Peter Coleman, of Gallapin, Texas, is the most methodical murderer we have read about for many a day. Peter recently went to an undertaker's and ordered a coffin for a neighbor named Smead, hired a grave-digger and four carriages, and then hunted up Smead and shot him."

-The Red Cloud Chief, October 9, 1873 (Red Cloud, Webster County, Nebraska)

Shades of A Fistful of Dollars.

posted by Prof. Hex at 6:35 PM

Saturday, May 04, 2013

Meanderings of Memory: An Oxford English Dictionary Mystery  

Did 49 words in the English language first appear in a book that doesn't exist? A perfectly cromulent mystery.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:10 PM

Science Finds Fountain of Youth Brain Region That Slows Down Aging 

Scientists have for the first time found a region of the brain—a signaling pathway in the hypothalamus—that can slow down or speed up the aging process in mice.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:07 PM

Encounters with Gnomes  

Part One and Part Two.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:46 PM

My Very Own Hyper Dimensional Resonator  

I own a time machine. This isn’t something you hear every day, but it’s true.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:41 PM

Are all telephone calls recorded and accessible to the US government?  

Would it surprise you?

posted by Prof. Hex at 1:49 PM

Van Meter remembers 1903 visit from winged monster  

Over a series of nights in the fall of 1903, several respected and prominent men of Van Meter reported a half human, half animal with enormous, smooth bat wings flying about. It let off a powerful stench and scared the daylights out of them because it moved at speeds never seen before. And it shot a blinding light from its horned head.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:07 AM

Friday, May 03, 2013

Possible Meteorite Fragments from 1908 Tunguska Explosion Found 

Zlobin says that initially, the evidence seems "excellent confirmation of cometary origin of the Tunguska impact."

posted by Prof. Hex at 1:23 PM

Thursday, May 02, 2013

Good morning! Stunning model commutes to 'work' in the buff 

"Radical nudity becomes the defense shield against the stereotypes and makes the artist invisible," says Swiss artist Milo Moire.


Do I need to say probably not safe for work?

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:51 AM

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

101 Crazy Facts About Justin Timberlake 

Free this week if you have a Kindle or Kindle App on your iPad or home computer! This is how I entertain myself during long winter nights.

Did you know Justin Timberlake has a brother named Fonzie? That he weighed 27 pounds at birth? That he once made a pass at Ruth Bader Ginsburg? All this and more in Archie Biggs' 101 Crazy Facts About Justin Timberlake. Click the pic to find out more.

posted by Prof. Hex at 1:05 PM

Cannibalism At Jamestown: Scholars Find Evidence That Early Settlers Resorted To Eating Humans  

Scientists said Wednesday that they have found the first solid archaeological evidence that some of the earliest American colonists at Jamestown, Va., survived harsh conditions by turning to cannibalism.

With video.

posted by Prof. Hex at 12:59 PM