Cat sprouts wings!!

At first, they were just two bumps, but they started to grow quickly, and after a month there were two wings

Reported in Huasheng News - Granny Feng’s tom cat has sprouted two hairy 4ins long wings. Feng, of Xianyang city, Shaanxi province, says the wings, which contain bones, make her pet look like a ‘cat angel’. Her explanation is that the cat sprouted the wings after being sexually harassed.

A month ago, many female cats in heat came to harass him, and then the wings started to grow

Unfortunatly experts say the phenomenon is more likely a gene mutation and say it shouldn’t prevent the cat living a normal life. Really??

Weirdest search terms used to find your blog

So, if you use WordPress you get these nifty features like “Blog stats” where you can actually see how many people looked at specific posts on your blog, what link people clicked to get to your blog, or which search terms people used to find your blog. And I find this very interesting. Take today for example. I found out that someone found my blog by searching for the term “”really had to pee, but”. Now, I find this amusing. Not only because someone would actually search for that term but also because they found it on my blog. Yes, I really had to pee, but… (See paragraph 14 here.)

So, a question for all you WordPressers or people who have other types of blogs that also give you this type of information (heh): What was the weirdest search term anyone ever used to find your blog?

Today’s insanity: bread that looks like body parts

Thai bread artist Kittiwat Unarrom creates these really gruesome-looking breads that are made to resemble body parts. The bread is made from dough, raisins, cashews, and chocolate, and seems quite popular. Imagine hiding one of these in the family bread-bin!

However you look at it, it’s still cringe-worthy!

[Link: InventorSpot]

Smiling in work is bad for you

Whatever you do… don’t smile when you’re not meant to!

Scientists have discovered that smiling at work can actually damage your health. German researchers say enforced happyness makes people ill (at not for the people watching). “Professional smilers” such as flight attendants and store assistants are more prone to suffer from stress, depression, high blood pressure, or that mother of German diseases, cardiovascular problems. So people who are forced or force themselves to smile during work should hide away in a quiet corner during tea-breaks, so that they can relax and get out their aggressions.

Everytime a person is forced to repress their true feelings, there are negitive consequences for their health

Eight out of ten adults can’t boil an egg!

This was an article in the local paper - and it made me think… I am one of those eight people! I mean, you take boiling an egg for granted, like how long do you cook it for?

According to this article, almost 80% of people don’t know how to do this or even roast a chicken.

Can you boil an egg? Please answer BEFORE you read the ingrediants below

• Place the raw egg in a saucepan.
• Run cold water into the saucepan until the water is 1 inch above the egg.
• Place the saucepan on a stove and cook over medium heat until the water begins to boil.
• Reduce the heat to low.
• Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes for soft-boiled eggs or 10 to 15 minutes for hard-boiled eggs.
• Remove the egg with a spoon or ladle and let it cool slowly, or run cold water over it to cool it more quickly

Britain’s Roswell Revealed

According to the BBC, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has released previously classified documents concerning UFO sightings and close encounters. The documents cover the period between 1978 and 1987 and can be downloaded from the National Archives website. Apparently, the truth is out there on the internet.

[Link]

A world apart — love and marriage in Saudi Arabia

Salon directed me to a series of articles at the New York Times on love, romance, marriage, and gender roles among young men and women in Saudi Arabia. It’s an interesting read, a real eye opener and I have to say quite scary too.

Also it makes me think that if you were subject to so much sheltering and insularity with regards to mingling with the opposite sex, surely it would lead to men treating women as objects and women treating men as objects — as beings who have certain qualities which can never be changed, cardboard copies that are cut from a mold you’ve only been told about by other people, beings that can only be worked around and not worked with.

Also, it makes me realize why the fanatical uber-Muslims in South Africa have the conservative, closed minded ideas that they have — it has very little to do with Islam as a school of thought to be explored, probed, questioned and understood, everything to do with spreading an Arab way of life, Arab ideals and Arab mores. My usual example of this is the way South African Muslims always give their children Arab names, despite the fact that Muslims from other parts of the world don’t do this and there is nothing in Islam which asks for it. (Try arguing that point with a middle aged Durbanite.)

Well, I am not an Arab and thank G_d for that.

Anyway, read the articles. They provide some interesting slice of life accounts on the difficulty of being a young person in Saudi Arabia. And the one very interesting point they make is how the Saudis have managed to merge Arab culture so completely with ideas of religion that the two can’t be separated.

[Link: Boys view]

[Link: Girls view]

The real precursor to the Hitchhiker’s Guide

For those fans of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, you can now create your own Guide (towel not included) by using an old Psion 5mx and loading the entirety of Wikipedia on it. Granted, you won’t find the same depth of information about the Zorgon fleet or Magrathea, but there’s a pretty interesting guide to the series on Wikipedia already.
[Link: Instructables, via MAKE Blog]

What do we call this, a predapet?

Today’s insanity: Cheese racing

Some guys decided to find out what would happen when you threw slices of processed cheese onto a still-smouldering braai (or barbecue for you non-south africans). Turns out, the plastic doesn’t melt into a gooey, toxic mess, but actually expands, boiling the cheese inside. How is it racing? Well, you and a couple of (allegedly preferably drunk) mates get together, each with their own slice of cheese, and lob them onto the grill. Whoever’s bag of cheese expands first is the winner.

Some people will do anything for entertainment!

[Link: Cheese Racing, via the Presurfer]