The man some love to hate has a secret softer side.

He used to have 2 cats. Then one died unexpectedly from a stroke at age 5. (In other learned tidbits, I guess cats can have strokes.)

It was the last time he cried, when his cat died.

So to all you haters and conspiracy theorists out there, he is in fact human, and not 100% evil. Sorry to disappoint.

Source: The Telegraph

I will admit, being the ultimate geek that I am, that I did partake in a Role-Playing session or two in my younger years. Many of my friends did. Mostly Dungeons & Dragons, (AD&D 2nd ed. if you must know). I knew people who dabbled with Shadowrun or Vampire: The Masquerade, and I knew one guy who was really into the Star Wars universe, but I personally never strayed outside the D&D world.

I had fun. We all had fun. But you know how there’s always that one kid who’s just has to be more into something than you are?

That kid was Rod Farrell. He was really in to Vampire: The Masquerade. So much so that he actually took on an alter-ego for himself- a 500-year-old vampire named Vesago. He thought he really was a vampire.

And what do Vampires do? Kill their girfriend’s parents, of course.

He assembled a posse of other losers that thought they were vampires too and they drove to Florida (he lived in Tennessee) to rescue his out-of-state girlfriend from her mean parents. (No way- this winner had an out of state girlfriend?)

Farrell beat his girlfriend’s mother and father to death with a crowbar. Then he and his posse fled to where all good vampires go- New Orleans.

He was picked up en route, arrested, went to trial, and was convicted of two counts of first degree murder. He was given the death penalty. He was 17 at the time. The court later reduced his sentence to life in prison.

Dude- it’s only a game.

Source: History Channel

Naval Air Station Lakehurst was the site of The Hindenburg disaster in 1937. It was also the site of the Heli-Stat crash in 1986.

The Heli-Stat was an experimental aircraft developed for the U.S. Forestry Service. The purpose was to lift large amounts of wood from forests. The idea for the Heli-Stat was actually patented in 1961, but it took until the 80’s to get someone crazy enough to build it. Fortunately, that crazy entity was the Federal Government, so we all got to pitch in for this one.

The design has to be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen. 4 Helicopters strapped to the bottom of a giant helium blimp. Why anyone thought this thing would end up in anything besides disaster is beyond me. A slight breeze knocked the helicopter blades into the blimp, which caused a cascading disaster. Who knew spinning helicopter blades could poke a hole in a blimp?

Here’s a picture of the monstrosity. I actually found video of the crash here. Not the greatest quality, but you get the point.

Source: Discovery Channel and a Time Magazine article from 1986

The Assyrians were trying to come up with a way that they could increase their trade routes because the Hittites and Hurrians were dominating trade in the area. Assyria’s problem with trade is that it took over 200 miles of travel to transport their goods over land. Assyira also had the disadvantage of being located just off the Tigris River.

The Tigris River was basically a bad ass river that everyone was scared of because the section that was closest to the Assyrians was mostly rapids. Also complicating things was when the snow melted from the Turkish mountains in the spring- the Tigris would flood and people would drown…

Anyway, they had their engineers look at trying to find a way to transport their goods safely on the river. The engineers took a lot of prototype ships to the river, but all failed because the river was too rough for traditional wood-plank ships that were used in ancient Assyria.

The engineers finally came up with a raft to float the goods down the river. They used freshly cut wood to make a more flexible platform, tied them together with rope made with reeds, and attached them to animal hides that had been stretched and dried in the shape of a pontoon. They then covered the animal hides with lanolin to make the animal hide pontoons waterproof. (Pirate Raft 3.0 anyone? Probably more stable than our PVC pipe…)

I think it is amazing that the Assyrians figured out how to go white water rafting somewhere between the 20th -10th centuries, BC.

Source: Some history type show I was watching while trying to fall asleep last night, and Wiki of course. The people on the show actually made a raft described above and went down some rapids in Britain. Seriously awesome.

I always knew the wackos at Greenpeace had some boats that they used to harass whalers and fishermen, but apparently there is a splinter group that thinks mere harassment is not enough.

They call themselves the Sea Shepherds, and refer to themselves as “Eco-Pirates.” They are committed to stopping whaling by any means necessary. Since 1979, they have rammed and sunk 9 ships.

A few months ago, they made headlines by “chasing a Japanese whaling vessel around the Southern Ocean, pelting the crew with glass bottles full of rancid butter.” Nice.

Source: A Nerdular Nerdance article about trying to trap carbon in the ocean by seeding it with iron- one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard. That may be the only thing the Sea Shepherds and I ever agree on.

Not surprisingly from personal experiences, not that much.

The main differences are that ibuprofen reduces swelling/inflammation and is more harsh on the stomach, while acetaminophen does not treat swelling/inflammation and tends to be more gentile. Also, ibuprofen tends to be longer lasting.

Source: I’m feeling lucky in Google

There are over 2 trillion words indexed in Google’s data centers.

If you had $1 for each word, you’d almost have enough to bail out our economy.

Source: Fortune Magazine

He just endorsed John McCain. Not sure how many votes that will translate to, but I think it could be quite influential with the “people who have never left the 70’s” and “I’ve been to see Aerosmith 300 times” demographics.

If you’ve ever been to the concert of a band from the 70’s, the sheer number of people who fit into these demographics is staggering.

The endorsement could also have a peripheral effect on up to 38% of Steven Tyler’s illegitimate children.

Perry, the rock guitar legend, describes himself as a “hardcore Republican” for his whole life.

The money quote: “My mother and father drilled into me from the very start that if you work hard and be positive, you’ll get what you’re working for. I guess I’m living proof of that.”

Woot. Take that Senator Government.

Source: Boston Herald

Ben Franklin is often erroneously attributed to having started daylight savings time! He apparently anonymously published a satire in 1784 which is where some people think it came from, but it was really proposed in 1907 by William Willett, though the Romans were keen to similar ideas way before this.

While I’m on the topic of Ben Franklin, being rather important, he has made many appearances in pop-culture.

He appears in Tony Hawk’s Underground 2.

Hawkeye from M*A*S*H’s full name is Benjamin Franklin Pierce, which is a shout out to BF. Also, characters from M. Butterfly, the Sandlot, Prison Break, and National Treasure.

He is a card in Early American Chrononauts (I think a relic card called “Franklin’s Kite”).

He was in season 3 of Bewitched when Aunt Clara accidentally brings him forward in time to repair a broken electrical lamp.

He was portrayed in Day of the Tentacle (Hilariously).

He has been in skits on SNL and Mad TV. The recap for Mad TV (somehow) sounds funnier.

In a 2004 sketch on the FOX show Mad TV, Franklin, played by Paul Vogt, sends
Samuel Adams, played by Josh Meyers, to the future in a time machine he made
from a roll-top desk. Franklin wanted to know if the American Revolution was a
success, but gets frustrated when Adams only comes back to tell him that Samuel
Adams Beer is a success. The time machine also brings back a man named Jerry,
played by Ike Barinholtz, who is little help to Franklin.

And in the Office, he was hired as an adult entertainer.

Source: Wiki

Or, not dangerous. Depending on the time of the year.

Swedish researchers have found that there are fewer heart attacks on the Monday after people set their clocks back an hour in the fall. Conversely, there are more heart attacks in the spring when people set their clocks forward.

It may have to do with the extra hour of sleep. It may have to do with the magnetic distortions created by millions of clocks being set forward at the same time. I think Halliburton is involved for sure.

In related news, Mondays are the worst days for Heart Attacks. Meaning, more people have heart attacks on Monday than any other day. But, if hospitals actually staff up for it, maybe Monday is actually the best day to have a heart attack. Plus, then it won’t ruin your weekend.

And now for the back story about the state fair. A few years ago several of the bloggers here (in fact all of them) volunteered for MN Governor Tim Pawlenty’s reelection campaign. We worked a few shifts at the MN State Fair. (That’s where we saw Penn, mentioned in my post about Teddy Roosevelt here.)

Working the Fair, you get the chance to meet a lot of people. Many of them are nuts. Especially the early morning fair crowd. But one lady took the cake. (There was no actual cake, that is just an expression. There were funnel cakes. And shredded turkey sandwiches. And Pronto Pups. And all-you-can-drink milk. And those chocolate chip cookies. Great, now I’m hungry.)

This particular woman said she would vote for the governor only if he promised to abolish Daylight Saving Time. I’ve heard of single-issue voters, but this was a first. The best part was her reason. She and her husband (I can only assume they met at a medical institution) “didn’t know when to eat – or wake up.” Oh. OK. We’ll pass that on to the big man for ya. Or not.

But she was just prescient. She knew that someday the ugly truth about “spring forward” would come out some day.

I’ve always been an advocate of just always falling back. Sure eventually we’d all be waking up in the middle of the night, but so what? We’ve got electric lighting. And everything would be back to normal in about 24 years. No, it’s not the best plan, but wouldn’t it feel good to get that extra hour of sleep without knowing that the cruel hand of time was going to come for sweet revenge in the spring? I think so.

And it would prevent heart attacks.

Source: Fox News – Sweden. Actually just the regular Fox News.