Ripley's Believe it or Not - We Own Weird. Accept No Substitutes

An important part of a successful marriage is keeping the beatings to a minimum. Pandas are some weird bears.  It would seem that their unusual diet may be because a mutation that robbed their ancestors of the ability to taste meat. LA Gang Tours are open for business. MORE

Hedy Lamarr’s patent.  Not to be confused with Hedley Lamarr. Saturn’s Hexagon Storm.  Not to be confused with Crispy Hexagons. MORE

Birdnappers are trouble. I don’t think his video game wedding was done entirely seriously , but it’s still pretty weird. Michael Fagan’s chat with the Queen wasn’t even the first time he’d snuck into the Palace. MORE

Winston Niles Rumfoord has a nice lake to build his house beside, I suppose. The Outlawries Bill isn’t really intended as any sort of meaningful legislation, just a symbolic statement.  Namely, it’s a big middle finger to the Queen’s authority (or to be more correct:  a V sign). Ramchandra Das is a dedicated man.  I can’t imagine [...] MORE

Simon Schott, Musician By Night! Cathay Williams, Man by Day! Dew Drop Spider, Full-time Web Thief! MORE

The Oasis of the Seas is one ridiculously huge ship. It always helps to be prepared.  The Vatican’s November meeting on the subject of alien life comes at an interesting time.  Although it’s unlikely we’ll find anything intelligent, we have already located more than 400 planets orbiting other stars. Birth by bite, what a very shark way [...] MORE

Calcio Fiorentino (or Calcio Storico) is pretty hardcore. The deep sea is a pretty weird place and oil-eating worms are probably far from the weirdest things down there. Paula Sunshine is a big fan of a rather ancient building technique.  Hair in walls?  It’s a lot less gross than making wool the old fashioned way. MORE

Selling children has become a criminal business in China and has lead to a boom in kidnappings.  To handle it, the authorities ran a 6-month campaign to try and stamp some of it out and recover as many children as possible. Check out Bob’s collection. A few places have tried goats to control kudzu vines. MORE

Even at their worst,  spiders aren’t all that dangerous. A long wait for an old van. Commuting to school by plane. MORE