FatsLeroy.com

Smoking may be bad for you, but researchers and biotech companies are quietly developing pharmaceuticals that are decidedly good for brains, bowels, blood vessels and even immune systems — and they’re inspired by tobacco’s deadly active ingredient: nicotine.

[ Wired ]

Technorati Tags: medicine, nicotine

Durex marketing manager Sam White said any Australian over the age of 18 could apply for one of 200 positions as a condom tester.

The position is not paid, but successful applicants will receive a free $60 selection of Durex products and will be required to provide the company with honest feedback about the products’ performance.

One of the lucky 200 testers will win a $1000 bonus.

Applicants must explain why they would make an expert condom tester, Mr White said.

“With this job on your CV, it really will be a chance to brag to your mates about the special skills you possess, not to mention that your new role will work wonders with the opposite sex,” he said.

[ News.com ]

Technorati Tags: condom, Durex, tester

Eight years after the series ended, comedy writer Michael J. Nelson is still best known as one of three silhouettes at the bottom of the screen during the second-half of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). He was the sole human, alongside two robots (voiced by Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett), dispensing a constant stream of snark commentary on some of the worst films of all time. In 1996, three years into Nelson’s tenure as the host, MST3K became a feature film. But thanks to a limited release and an advertising budget that was squandered on a Pamela Anderson vehicle, the movie essentially tanked.

In 1999, thanks to a change in management at the Sci-Fi Network, the series came to an unceremonious end. But the show’s loyal cult following thrives, thanks primarily to an incredibly active Internet fan community.

Having penned several books, but otherwise largely shying away from the limelight, Nelson (who was working at a T.G.I. Friday’s when he became a writer on the show) recently reemerged with RiffTrax. Distributed by Legend Films, RiffTrax (see our hands-on review here) offers a format that should prove comfortably familiar to MST3K fans. For $2.99, users can download an MP3 of comedic commentary that can be manually synced up to a DVD. This time out, the movie selection is decidedly more contemporary, including titles like Star Wars Episode Two and the first season of Grey’s Anatomy. Nelson has also brought a few friends along for the ride, including Murphy, Corbett, Nelson’s wife Bridget, and actor Neil Patrick Harris.

[ AppScout ]

Technorati Tags: Crow, MST3K, Gypsy, Tom Servo

shit.

Authorities said Showalter entered a manure pit to unclog a pipe Monday evening and was quickly overcome by the methane. Stoltzfus, apparently believing Showalter had a heart attack, went in after him and also passed out.

Another farm worker alerted Showalter’s wife, who rushed to the pit followed by Shayla and Christina.

“They all climbed into the pit to help,” Sheriff Donald Farley said.

The victims had no warning of the deadly gas that had built up in the pit.

[ Washington Post ]

Technorati Tags: shit

Um, ok.

Police say they’ve collared the man they believe administered a fatal beating to a peacock because he thought it was a vampire.

Police sources told the Advance last night that cops arrested John N. Potts, 32 — who lists his stepfather’s house on Surfside Plaza in Tottenville as his address but may, in fact, be homeless — in connection with Thursday’s avian assault.

[ SILive ]

Technorati Tags: King Ludwig, peacock, vampires

Lieutenant Walter Haut was the public relations officer at the base in 1947, and was the man who issued the original and subsequent press releases after the crash on the orders of the base commander, Colonel William Blanchard.
Haut died last year, but left a sworn affidavit to be opened only after his death.
Last week, the text was released and asserts that the weather balloon claim was a cover story, and that the real object had been recovered by the military and stored in a hangar. He described seeing not just the craft, but alien bodies.

[ This is London ]

Technorati Tags: aliens, tinfoil hats, Roswell

Photography student Kimberly Wiggins took this amazing photo of a schoolroom clock that melted on the wall of Weber Elementary school in Arvada. Salvador Dali would be proud.

[ digg ]

Technorati Tags: of, persistance, Dali, time

Last night, like every night, I made myself a martini. I filled a glass with several cubes of ice, poured a little extra dry vermouth over the cubes, shook the glass a few times, poured out the vermouth, filled the glass with gin and added three green olives – a drink with a marvelous piney aroma and appearance.

But it seems to me that the martini, a rock solid American institution, is dying, and this is a sad thing. Oh, there are martini bars out there, but they don’t serve real martinis; they are pink and blue. I find it hard to believe there is such a thing as a chocolate martini.

The martini is an honest drink, tasting exactly like what it is and nothing else. There are no fruit juices or chocolate in a martini, and it’s not served in a pineapple shell. The martini is a clear, clean, cold, pure and honest drink – especially for people with established values and a liking for purity, even in their vices.

I regret the passing of this friend from our culture, just as I regret knowing that I’ll never again see a pretty woman in nylons, garter belt and spiked heels. Now I read they want to do away with high heels and swimsuits in the Miss America Pageant. I suppose next it will be brown paper bags over heads and every contestant clothed in XXL potato sacks.

I want my grand daughters to have a shot at winning scholarships too, but if they look like a dump truck, they should change their appearance or enter a spelling bee.
Martinis, garter belts, bathing suits and high heels – why do good things pass away? Tonight I’m going to pour myself a martini, light up my pipe, sit in my backyard and give this matter a lot more thought.

Bill Bollom
Oshkosh

Keep on rocking the free world brother! Seriously - there are few finer pleasures in life like a real martini made with a top shelf gin in a chilled glass, the light hint of dry vermouth, accompanied by a pipe with some real quality tobacco. I prefer bleu cheese or garlic stuffed olives, but either way, a good time was had by all.

[ Oshkosh Northwestern ]

Technorati Tags: pipes, martini, tobacco

Half the fun of traveling is getting out and enjoying all sorts of foods you’re not used to eating. A simple trip to the corner market or grocery store in a foreign land can keep you amused for hours.

[ Gadling ]

Technorati Tags: finger, good, licking

I used to live in this area and was told by a local that when someone mentions that a family is made up of inbreds, it isn’t a joke. Hopefully Darwin will apply some divine intervention (you know what I mean).

While some teens use their summers to learn sailing, archery or soccer, Brandon Meadows attends Summer Explosives Camp in Missouri to learn how to use dynamite.

“Some people like baseball, others like math – I just like to set off bombs,” he said. “I figure here, learning how to do it properly is better than messing around with it at home, right?”

[ NPR ]

Technorati Tags: Darwin, Award, in the making