Truly Odd Planet » Home and Lifestyle

A DIY limo?

Chris — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:01:12 +0000

I don’t know … this looks like a home made stretch limousine to me!

It looks like the creators put together two, or two and a half vans to make this extra long vehicle.

Guess it was cheaper to do this than to buy one!

It looks like it could use an extra set of wheels in the middle though, doesn’t it? Maybe this could be considered a Redneck Limo? Yeah, I think so!

Rats with Backpacks

Chris — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:01:53 +0000

You know … I live in Toronto and a 39 day garbage strike just ended – Thankfully! Believe me, with everyone piling up garbage at the side of their houses and filling public garbage cans to overflowing the rat and raccoon population around here was growing!

I wouldn’t have been surprised to see one dressed like the one above – little back pack and all! LOL

The other day I opened up the compost bin that we have in our backyard to dump some kitchen scraps into it, and as I lifted the lid I saw movement! I threw the lid down and stepped back.

After stealing my nerves and getting a pitchfork, I walked back over to the compost bin and lifted the lid very carefully and slowly with the pitchfork. Whatever was in there was gone … probably out the newly chewed hole at the back of the composter!

I think it was a rat. Arghhhh!

Thank god our garbage strike is over! Unfortunately the pests who love garbage probably increased during this period so we’ll have to live with them for a while.

Burned cemetery investors won’t rest in peace

Chris — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:56:16 +0000

Now here’s a new take on the pyramid scam …

In October, Dozens of people protested outside an insurance office in Shanghai, demanding the return of money lost in a scheme promising big returns on investments in memorial halls for ashes of the deceased.

The protesters, mainly retirees, had bought into investment products in the 1990s linked to returns on sales of cemetery plots and repositories for ashes that were later exposed as classic pyramid schemes.

The company, based in the province of Jiangsu which adjoins Shanghai, had been wound up as an illegal operation, but investors had not had a penny returned, protesters said.

State media said investors had tried unsuccessfully to sue a local branch of China Pacific Insurance, the country’s third largest insurer, for underwriting the company.

“When they sold us this product, they told us it would make better returns than having the money sitting in the bank. Now it has been 10 years and we still cannot get our money back,” said a 65-year-old woman surnamed Xu outside the offices of China Pacific Insurance in Shanghai’s financial district.

“You owe me money and you are a liar. You don’t even know how mean you are,” said a banner held by one of the protesters.

China issued rules last year reinforcing a ban on the trade in tomb futures, or speculating in the business of selling graves, after it bankrupted thousands of investors.

But traditional notions of filial piety and belief in the after-life have proved resilient, and have fueled a lucrative but poorly regulated funeral industry.

Unhappy Christmas Cat

Chris — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 05:03:32 +0000

Do you dress your pet up at Christmas time or for other holidays? Someone dressed up this cat for Christmas, but I don’t know … it doesn’t look all that happy or merry to me!

Anyway, I hope that you are having a Merrier Christmas and holiday season than this cat seems to be!

Stay safe and healthy!

A Dallas Pastor issues a 7-day sex challenge to congregants

Chris — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:16:20 +0000

In November the pastor of a megachurch said he would challenge his married congregants to have sex for seven straight days. He also planned to practice what he preached as well.

When issuing his statement he said “We’re going to give it a try,” said Rev. Ed Young, who has four children with his wife of 26 years.

Why the 7 day sex challenge? Young believes that society promotes promiscuity and he wants to reclaim sex for married couples. He said that sex should be a nurturing, spiritual at that strengthens marriages.

“God says sex should be between a married man and a woman,” Young said. “I think it’s one of the greatest things you can do for your kids because so goes the marriage, so goes the family.”

He is founder of the nondenominational Fellowship Church, which draws about 20,000 people each Sunday and also has campuses in Fort Worth, Plano and Miami.

Earlier this year, a southwest Florida pastor, perhaps having more faith in his congregants’ stamina, issued a 30-day sex challenge.

There is no word as to how many couples participated in his challenge.

How’s this for sexist?

Chris — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:10:51 +0000

Did you hear about the mayor of a small outback mining town, Mount Isa, in Australia who invited ugly women to move to his town stating “even they would find a man there”?

Well he’s won the top award for the most sexist public comment of the year.

Mayor John Moloney was chosen by the volume of boos, jeers and stamping of feet that greeted his nomination at the annual women-only Ernie Awards in the New South Wales parliament on Thursday night.

He won the Golden Ernie for telling a newspaper that his town, where men vastly outnumber women, was a place for “ugly ducklings to flourish into beautiful swans.”

He called on large and “beauty-disadvantaged” women to flock there, saying he often saw unattractive women in Mount Isa who looked like they were enjoying life in the northwestern Queensland town.

“Quite often you will see walking down the street a lass who is not so attractive with a wide smile on her face,” he said.

“Whether it is recollection of something previous or anticipation for the next evening, there is a degree of happiness.”

He later told national radio that large women could even lose weight under the gaze of Mount Isa males.

“There’s a great incentive because there’s that much attention focused on them and they become interested in looking better — and in no time they just shed it,” he said.

Confronted by a protest by scores of insulted Mount Isa women, he said: “The protesters are blaming me for their looks.”

“Second Life” virtual affair ends couples marriage

Chris — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:20:47 +0000

A woman is to divorce her husband after discovering he was having a virtual affair within the online game “Second Life,” newspapers reported Friday.

Amy Taylor, 28, met her husband David Pollard within the game “Second Life” in May 2003, and six months later, she moved into his home in Cornwall.

The couple married in July 2005, while their “Second Life” avatars Dave Barmy and Laura Skye — younger, slimmer versions of their real-life selves — also held an online ceremony for their virtual friends.

After a rare break from the computer, however, Taylor returned to find her 40-year-old husband in an intimate, albeit virtual, position with an online prostitute within “Second Life”, which she said was the “ultimate betrayal”.

“I was so hurt,” she was quoted as saying in The Times, adding that theirs was a “very serious marriage”.

“I just couldn’t believe what he’d done. It’s cheating as far as I’m concerned, but he didn’t see it as a problem and couldn’t see why I was so upset.

“He said I was just making a big fuss and tried to make out it was my fault for not giving him enough attention.”

Second Life is an online role-playing game with more than 15 million users, in which players can create virtual avatars and interact with other gamers, or the environment.

The game has its own virtual economy, in which online currency can be exchanged for real-world US dollars, and several major businesses have set up “branches” within the game, while others operate entirely within it.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Taylor claims that Pollard is now engaged to the woman he was having an online tryst with, despite never having met her.

She has, meanwhile, found a new love, through fantasy online role-playing game “World of Warcraft”.

It sounds like both of these people live more in the Virtual world than the real world and that’s the main problem!

It’s the Iron Man

Chris — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:32:26 +0000

Iron Man?

What a cool costume. It looks like the guys dressed as an iron!

This costume would probably be fairly easy to make too. Hmmm maybe I have an idea for a Halloween costume …

Toilet-paper researchers create 3-ply tissue

Chris — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 04:03:23 +0000

Did you know that there’s such a thing as Toilet paper researchers? Yep there is, and a team of them at Georgia Pacific’s Innovation Institute in Neenah, Wis, have come up with a three ply version of it’s Quilted Northern product.

The new product was set to be launched in mid- September. The company touts the toilet tissue as “ultra-soft” and says it plans to market the product to women 45 and older who view their bathroom as a “sanctuary for quality time.”

Industry analyst Bill Schmitz is skeptical. He said extra layers make toilet paper stronger, not softer, although he said Georgia Pacific may have added extra fibers for softness.

Hmmm … I’m not really sure why this made the news as there’s been three ply toilet paper around for quite a while – well at least here in Canada.

How do you decide which toliet paper to purchase? Do you go by price or do you chose brands that are soft and have two or three ply tissues?

Israeli City uses DNA to fight dog poop?

Chris — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 22:38:49 +0000

An Israeli city is so fed up with dog droppings that it is now using DNA analysis of “found” dog droppings to reward or punish residential pet owners.

A six month trial program was launched last week in the city of petah Tikva, a suburb of Tel Aviv. The program is asking all dog owners to take their animals to a municipal veterinarian who will swab the dogs mouth and collect it’s DNA.

The city plans to use the DNA database to match found feces to registered dogs in order to identify it’s owner. Naturally this is a big effort on the cities part to get people to pick up after their dogs.

Good dog owners who scoop up their dogs droppings and place them in specially marked bins will be eligible for rewards that include pet food coupons and dog toys. However droppings found on the street will be matched to respective dog owners and those owners could get a municipal fine.

“My goal is to get the residents involved, and tell them that together, we can make our environment clean,” said Tika Bar-On, the city’s chief veterinarian who came up with the idea for the DNA experiment.

Bar-On said the DNA database could also help veterinarians research genetic diseases in dogs, investigate canine pedigree and identify stray animals, replacing the need for electronic chip identification.

“The sky is the limit on how far we can take this,” she said.

So far, Bar-On said, residents have “reacted positively to the program and are cooperating because they want their neighbourhood to be clean”.

She said Petah Tikva would consider making it mandatory for pet owners to provide DNA samples from their dogs if the trial program is successful.

Honestly … this city must have a budget surplus! Im sure there are cheaper way to get residents to clean up after their dogs!

Truly Odd Planet » Home and Lifestyle

A DIY limo?

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