The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

First and foremost, I should let you know that this post has nothing to do with Spaghetti Westerns. . .or Clint Eastwood. . .or Italians, for that matter. But since this week consisted of sick children and little sleep, I didn't have much time to find an entertaining article/video/picture and expound upon it.

So I present to you three candidates from this week that would have evolved into a full-blown post, if only my home life hadn't been as hectic as my work life.


Here's the Good:


Wired Magazine is doing a contest to see who can disappear the longest. No, David Blaine, this one is not for you, but thanks for reading my blog! This contest is more for the Jason Bourne-type. You can click here for all the details, but if you want the skinny, here it is: they give you $2,500 and some "vital technology" and you see how long you can stay on the run with no one finding you.

Sounds easy, right? Well, not exactly. Evan Ratliff, the first person to try a stunt like this made it only 25 days and he was VERY well-prepared. I highly recommend you read his story. It's quite long, yes, but click here to read about Evan's attempt to erase his old life and create a new one.

I considered this section "good" because his story completely blew me away the first time I read it. Now let's move on.


The Bad:


Here's a Japanese commercial for tuna fish. It was made in the late 1970s. See if you can guess what popular late 70's pop culture phenomenon they're subtly alluding to. . .



Think how delicious a tuna melt would be if you cooked it with a lightsaber!


The Ugly:


This section begins with a quiz

Any guesses on what this could be? If you guessed an upside down motorcycle helmet with an exploded homemade sled rocket inside, YOU'RE CORRECT!

A 62-year-old man in Independence Township, Michigan decided it would be a good idea to fill an automobile muffler with gasoline and gunpowder in order to propel himself down a hill on his sled. . .

Huh.

. . .the news story also notes that the man had been drinking prior to attempting this.

Ah. There it is!

He had a friend light the wick on his backpack, and everything seemed to be going fine, until the wick ended and the "rocket" exploded. There was some forward motion, but that was mostly because of the natural forces of gravity pulling him down the incline and all the dropping and rolling he had to do to put the fire out. The rocket didn't do much propelling. Still, though, this has got to be a win for science somehow.

The unnamed mad scientist apparently throws a big sledding party every year, although Undersheriff Mike McCabe noted "he always does outrageous things. . .but he's never blown himself up before." Nor do I think he will again. Having burns over 20% of your body usually knocks some sense into you. You can click here for the full story and a picture of the sled!


So there you go. I hope this sampler platter was satisfying enough for you.

Until next week (or sooner, if something really good comes up)!