Proving that even bad ideas can be copied, the Russians had their own space shuttle.

Called the Buran, the Russian shuttle was somehow even less successful than its American counterpart. It only made one unmanned flight in 1988 before the program was canceled.

In 2002 the hangar that held the Buran collapsed, and the shuttle was destroyed.

The first of two posts inspired by a particularly interesting episode of Build it Bigger.

I’ve always known that the US Military is the coolest, but here’s another fun fact to give it some more cool points: We can parachute drop tanks from an airplane.

The cargo bay door opens and the tanks are pushed out.  An array of parachutes on the tanks open, and the tank glides slowly to the ground.

How cool is that?

Not a contract, per se, but an “agreement”.

I’d always wondered how Hooters got away with their shtick and avoided lawsuits.  Fortunately, we have TSG.

The agreement that the girls must sign is here.  Read some entertaining excerpts from the employee handbook here.

Despite the macabre sounding name, corpsing is funny stuff.

It’s the term for when an actor gets the uncontrollable giggles.

Source: The Extras DVD extras.

Video: Here

Primal therapy is a trauma-based psychotherapy created by Arthur Janov, who argues that neurosis is caused by the repressed pain of childhood trauma.

Primal therapy became very influential during a brief period in the early 1970s.

John Lennon, actor James Earl Jones and pianist Roger Williams were prominent advocates of Primal Therapy.

Format and Process

The therapy begins with an intensive three weeks of fifteen open-ended sessions with one therapist. After this the patient joins group meetings with other patients and therapists once or twice a week for as long as is needed.

Highlights Include:

Birth simulator

In 1973 a birth simulator was in use at the Primal Institute. The simulator was a 10-foot-long adjustable pressure vinyl tube. The patient covered with a slicky substance to simulate birth.

Source: Web Soup, then Wiki

This one is a lot harder than the last one.  There were a few questions that I really had to think about.

There were a few that could have been clearer, or where I would question the wording too.

But, overall, I got 31/33 (93%) right.

The average score was only 49%, so the bar is low.  Good luck.

Reindeer and Caribou are the same species of animal. Reindeer are just the domesticated variety, while the ‘bou are the wild variety. Sometimes reindeer get confused, escape from their pens, and join the caribou in wandering around. (I think the technical term is migrating.)

Source: Life After People

The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”

***

But in karaoke bars where one song costs 5 pesos, or a tenth of a dollar, strangers often rub shoulders, sometimes uneasily. A subset of karaoke bars with G.R.O.’s — short for guest relations officers, a euphemism for female prostitutes — often employ gay men, who are seen as neutral, to defuse the undercurrent of tension among the male patrons. Since the gay men are not considered rivals for the women’s attention — or rivals in singing, which karaoke machines score and rank — they can use humor to forestall macho face-offs among the patrons.

In one such bar in Quezon City, next to Manila, patrons sing karaoke at tables on the first floor and can accompany a G.R.O. upstairs. Fights often break out when customers at one table look at another table “the wrong way,” said Mark Lanada, 20, the manager.

“That’s the biggest source of tension,” Mr. Lanada said. “That’s why every place like this has a gay man like me.”

***

“In the Philippines, life is difficult,” said Mr. Auxlero, who repairs watches from a street kiosk, as he railed about government corruption and a weak economy that has driven so many Filipinos to work overseas, including his wife, who is a maid in Lebanon. “But, you know, we have a saying: ‘Don’t worry about your problems. Let your problems worry about you.’ ”

When asked how she got the bruises, the girl replied: ‘Daddy did it.’