A few selections from the BBC's 100 things we didn't know last year:

2. There are 200 million blogs which are no longer being updated, say technology analysts.
7. The lion costume in the film Wizard of Oz was made from real lions.
27. Just one cow gives off enough harmful methane gas in a single day to fill around 400 litre bottles.
28. More than 90% of plane crashes have survivors.
44. For every 10 successful attempts to climb Mount Everest there is one fatality.
69. Humans were first infected with the HIV virus in the 1930s.
76. In Bhutan government policy is based on Gross National Happiness; thus most street advertising is banned, as are tobacco and plastic bags.
79. The best-value consumer purchase in terms of the price and usage is an electric kettle.
88. Nelson Mandela used to steal pigs as a child.

This is an animation made out of 1950's children's books. You've got to check out the little ghoulie guy!!

RIP JAMES BROWN

James Brown, one of modern day's funniest and most talented performeers is now muerto. What kind of Christmas morning news is that?? His agent is quoted as saying "We really don't know at this point what he died of".
Here are some snippets from his life:

Brown would routinely lose two or three pounds each time he performed and kept his furious concert schedule in his later years even as he fought prostate cancer, Ross said.

By the eighth grade in 1949, Brown had served 3 1/2 years in Alto Reform School near Toccoa, Ga., for breaking into cars.

In September 1988, Brown, high on PCP and carrying a shotgun, entered an insurance seminar next to his Augusta office. Police said he asked seminar participants if they were using his private restroom.

Adrienne Brown died in 1996 in Los Angeles at age 47. She took PCP and several prescription drugs while she had a bad heart and was weak from cosmetic surgery two days earlier, the coroner said.

In honour of James, I'm going to post one of my favourite video clips ever. Thank you for this gem James:

Patrons Toss Dead Cat Through Drive-Thru

An employee working the drive-through window at a McDonald's will have a tale to tell. When the worker went to the open window thinking the car pulling up had already ordered, the people in the car threw a dead cat through the window, police said.

Cedar Rapids Animal Control officer Matt McAtee said the black domestic shorthair appeared to have been dead for a while.

"It looked like somebody had picked it up off the road," McAtee said.

Police were called to the restaurant about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday.

The people in the car drove off. A description of the car was not available, but employees knew the people in the car, police said.

No charges had been filed. The investigation was continuing.

McDonald's officials declined comment.

CBC.ca - Arts - Media - The BEST of 2006
An interesting list of CBC's top 100.

Galileo's Finger: "Galileo's finger is on display at the Museo di Storia del Scienza in Italy. The finger was detached from Galileo's body by Anton Francesco Gori (Florence, 1691-1757, literate and antiquary) on 12 March 1737 when Galileo's remains were transferred from a small closet next to the chapel of Saints Cosmas and Damian to the main body of the church of Santa Croce where a mausoleum had been built by Vincenzo Viviani. Subsequently the finger was acquired by Angelo M. Bandini, the librarian of the Biblioteca Laurenziana and was exhibited for a long period in this library. Then, in 1841, it was brought to the Tribuna di Galileo, which had just been opened in the Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale on the via Romana. Along with the instruments of the Medici and Lorraine dynasties, it eventually became the property of the Museo di Storia del la Scienza."

"American Pie" actress turns herself in at NY court - Yahoo! News: "Actress
Natasha Lyonne, the star of 'American Pie' accused of threatening to sexually molest a dog, turned herself in at a New York court on Friday.

In the court complaint, Lyonne's former roommate claimed Lyonne trashed their apartment and then banged on a neighbor's door, rushed into that apartment and picked up her dog, telling the woman, "I'm going to sexually molest your dog."

Suck face with a monkey!

May I present to you, Namraun. He is sporting my new favourite haircut:

Vegetarian Diet: Vegetarian Protein, Myth and Reality

Who is BAI LING? And what has she done to become famous? Does anyone know?

ABC News: Man Fined for Tossing Pig at Hotel: "Kevin Pugh, 20, of Cedar Bluff, has been fined $279 for tossing a pig over the counter at the Holiday Inn Express in West Point on Nov. 12."

DJ has a soulmate!

How is Namraun any worse than LaShawnda or Sha'Vaughna?

PARIS: The French woman who underwent the world's first partial face transplant has recovered so well that people do not notice her scars, her doctor has said.

Isabelle Dinoire, from Amiens, underwent the procedure a year ago after being mauled by her dog.

The BBC reported yesterday that her surgeon, Bernard Devauchelle, said she continued to make excellent progress and has told him she could smile and felt she looked like herself again.

Professor Devauchelle told the Agence France-Presse news agency:

"When she is in a crowd, she doesn't stick out as 'the transplant patient', and this is important. You still see scars, of course. From time to time, there are minor inflammations which occur near wires that lie deep beneath the skin.

"But, elsewhere, the scar lines have almost completely faded. If she puts on a little bit of make-up, she looks fine."

Her facial sensitivity is restored and Ms Dinoire is able to eat, drink and smoke. The 38-year-old had lost her nose, lips and chin in the attack.

She told The Sun newspaper she has bought a new dog to replace the labrador that attacked her and had to be put down.

If you want to have a little view into the bizarre world of octopusses/octopi, check out this little video. THEY ARE WEIRD CREATURES!!