Barn find breaks record

"Sold!" A very famous, but unrestored, race car was sold for an unprecedented $1,341,000 (£843,000/€982,000) at auction on Thursday at Bonhams: “This is a fantastic result for the Austin-Healey and a world record for any car of this make at auction. Everyone is delighted. The auction went on for about 10 minutes and there was a tense, excited and hushed atmosphere in the room as 4 bidders competed for the car. We had bidders in the room and over the phone, but the car finally went to a private buyer who was in the room.” While I can't help thinking that the money would be better spent for humanitarian purposes, I am a sucker for stories about historical cars brought to light (for instance, this Rolls-Royce and this Bugatti). In this case, the 1953 Austin-Healey 100 Special Test Car has reposed untouched in an English barn for 42 years (1st image, the original engine). What makes it so special? It was at the center of motorsport’s deadliest accident, the 1955 Le Mans disaster that claimed dozens of lives (2nd image, more photos and a video here). A series of events had caused the British driver of this Austin-Healey, Lance Macklin (1919-2002), to brake, and the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR behind him, driven by Frenchman Pierre Levegh (1905-1955), to go airborne and break apart. Levegh was thrown from the car and killed on impact, 120 spectators were injured but survived, and 83 unfortunate race fans who were in the path of the flying debris were killed - many of them beheaded. The Austin-Healey was impounded by French authorities after the accident, but released blame-free back to the Donald

Healey Motor Co. 18 months later. The race car was repaired and put back into service, competing until the 1960s. It was acquired in 1969 and sold - still bearing its racing team road registration NOJ 393 (4th image), but not its number 26 (3rd image, as it looked in 1955) - to the current owner. Says Bonhams, the car has "racing history embodied within its structure as indelibly and unmistakably as a human fingerprint."

St. Vitalis

I couldn't find an image of the right St. Vitalis. Turns out there are 6, most of them martyrs:

• Saint Vitalis of Milan (1st or 2nd c.)
• Saint Vitalis (3rd-4th c.)
• Saint Vitalis (4th c.)
• Saint Vitalis of Gaza (6th-7th c.)
• Saint Vitalis of Savigny (11th c.)
• Saint Vitalis of Assisi (14th c.)

St. Vitalis of Gaza (pictured above) ministered to prostitutes and was killed by a jealous man who misinterpreted his visit to a local brothel. St. Vitalis of Assisi (1295 –1370) was not martyred, but is honored as the patron saint of those suffering from diseases of the genitals. This St. Vitalis did not suffer the chopping block, but will soon face the auction block. His decapitated and skeletonized head will be sold to the highest bidder by Matthews Auction Rooms of Co. Meath, Ireland, next Sunday. "It is strange and it is macabre but it is very interesting object," said Mr Matthews. The relic has been in the possession of a family in Co. Louth. How it ended up in Ireland is unclear, although it may have been acquired in the 19th c. by an Anglo-Irish couple on a "grand tour" of Europe. The head is housed in an ornate Queen Anne case and is expected to fetch between €800 and €1,200.

Follow-ups

Vivisection 1/22/10 British scientists are blowing up live pigs to study the effects of bombs. A man in Oaklan Park, Florida, performs a "coffee-table operation" on a dog he was watching and kills it. Here is a video (caution) of a seriously twisted experiment by Russian scientists.

Gatorland! 1/21/10 Scientists have determined that a shared breathing mechanism indicates that alligators and birds shared a common ancestor.

Kite-fighting 1/19/10 Friend Franck Cordes notes that there is a chapter on kite-fighting in The American Boys Handybook of Camp-lore and Woodcraft by Daniel Carter Beard (orig. 1882).

Gulp! 1/16/10 Moments after I published this post about the swallowing disorder pica, I was contacted by follower Lisa Wood, a gifted artist who collaged a series of plates based on the case histories of the swallowed objects in the very collection I mentioned. And her friend is writing a book on the same subject, due out later this year!

Disaster intensity scales 1/13/10 Here are some aerial photos of the earthquake damage in Haiti from National Geographic. As horrible as the tragedy and its aftermath is, unburied corpses do not pose much of a health risk. Scientists have identified a number of seismic zones throughout the world that are past due for an earthquake.

Mirror miscellany 1/17/10 Reader Kent Schnake points out the often overlooked observation that as long as a mirror is well-polished, we don't see it - we see what is reflected!

Sinkholes 1/12/10 Rubislaw Quarry in Aberdeen, Scotland - the largest man-made hole in Europe - has been sold.

Views from space 1/11/10 There are disputes over the ownership of a large meteorite that fell in Australia. Another meteorite fell through the roof of a doctor's office in Lorton, Virginia. Meanwhile, the Great Wall of China has been recreated in chocolate (although I don't usually link to weird chocolate).

Good cove, bad cove 1/6/10 Dolphins have taken up hydroplaning to catch the fish closest to shore. A French researchers suggests that heroic acts by animals like dolphins are more common than thought. Here is a story from this summer of a beluga whale carrying a struggling diver to the surface in China.

Snakes to the rescue 1/4/10 Federal officials have banned 9 species of constrictors from being imported into the U.S.

Parade floats 1/2/10 The plane that Capt. Sullenberger safely crash-landed in the Hudson River is for sale.

Bushmeat 12/27/09 A curious young chimp in the Congo investigates the remote video camera. The heart-wrenching tale of a humanized chimp named Jerry. A chimp is at the center of a custody battle in Sarasota, Florida.

Nipple shields 12/20/09 There is a strange time capsule in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada - a 1950s-era drugstore - and look what's on the shelf toward the end of the video!

Circus animals on the lam 11/13/09 Spanish photographer Jose Luis Rodriguez has been stripped of his title of photographer of the year because it was discovered that the wolf in his award-winning photo had been rented from a wildlife park. The hippo who escaped from the zoo in Montenegro has returned to her enclosure.

Humpback whales 11/10/09 Close encounters with beluga whales in the Arctic circle.

Odd animals 11/4/09 This strange creature that turned up in Texas has been identified as a hairless raccoon.

Engineering feats 11/1/09 A schematic drawing of the British warship H.M.S. Temeraire, built in 1793.

One man band 10/24/09 Here is a deft performance by a member of the Brooklyn-based chamber music ensemble Project Trio.

Lizard lore 10/17/09 Villagers in Indonesia are supplying Asian demand for geckos to be used in traditional medicines.

Dinosaur eggs 10/3/09 American paleontologists have announced that prehistoric velociraptors also spit venom at their prey. Australian scientists blame humans for the demise of the megafauna that lived 400,000 years ago.

Animal clarity 8/16/09 The unusual shell of the scaly-foot snail, discovered in 2003, may assist in the design of armor for soldiers and vehicles, say American researchers. Similarly, the silence of owls in flight (pictured) have inspired aircraft technology.

Jaws in 1916 8/8/09 A harrowing account of an Englishman being eaten by a shark while on holiday in Cape Town, South Africa.

Creative cremains 7/24/09 The far-flung posthumous travels of American adventurer Ralph White. Ongoing repairs at a crematorium in Coventry, U.K., are marring Sikh death rituals.

Bride and groom 6/1/09 A British teacher sacrificed himself and drowned to save his bride on their honeymoom in Egypt.

Cave paintings at Lascaux 5/27/09 Plans are afoot in Italy to breed the aurochs depicted in cave paintings back from extinction.

The art of David Teniers the Younger 5/22/09 Japanese macaques huddling together for warmth.

Chihuahuas in the weird news 5/2/09 What's a follow-up without a chihuahua story? This one was found by security staff at the Dublin airport being smuggled in a Bulgarian man's suitcase.

Emmett Kelly 4/25/09 An example and explanation of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, a form of synchronicity.

Bears in the news 4/24/09 The den of a black bear hibernating in Minnesota is being monitored by a remote camera that just captured the birth of her 3 cubs!

Giants 4/17/09 A German model stands 6' 9" tall.

Centenarians 3/26/09 Here is a fantastic video of people aged 1 through 100.

Spider prey 3/7/09 Video of a giant centipede eating a bat. And watch this toad's defense when it is about to be eaten by a tarantula!

Megafishes 2/15/09 A blind British woman landed a 214lb catfish in Spain, after which she released it back into the river.

Disturbing decapitations 1/23/09 A human head and a red flower were found at the tomb of a Mexican drug lord.

Caves 1/15/09 A BBC video of the Crystal Cave of Giants in Chihuahua, Mexico.

More mammoths 1/6/09 DNA analysis of frozen soil by an international team of scientists shows that woolly mammoths existed for thousands of years longer than previously thought.

Dr. Seuss 12/25/08 A disagreement in Minnesota parallels the plot of Dr. Seuss's story The Zax.

Blizzard of 1888 12/14/08 Many wondrous photographs of ice caves around the world. A long-predicted form of stable ice has been confirmed in the lab by British scientists. Scientists have assessed that the ice in the artic Beaufort Sea is "rotten." Pioneering 19th c. images of snowflakes by American photographer Wilson A. Bentley have gone on sale. Photos and an explanation of hair ice. And a live audio feed from under the ice in Antarctica.

Conjoined twins 11/29/08 The world's oldest conjoined twins, Ronnie and Donnie Galyon of Ohio, are moving in with their brother rather than into an assisted-living facility.

Albinos 11/18/08 "White Bambi" spotted in the Italian Alps.

Oldest zoo in the world 11/10/08 A neighborhood association has stopped the Oakland Zoo from its practice of cutting down non-native trees and feeding the crunchy snacks to elephants and other animals. An Asian elephant has been born for the 1st time at the Melbourne Zoo. A Norwegian man who is trying to collect 1 million giraffes to win a bet is nearly halfway there.

Animal extinction 11/9/08 The eel population in London's River Thames have dropped precipitously (98%).

Follow-ups

A Christmas Carol 12/24/09 A Scottish paper cites a survey that claims people tire of their Christmas turkey leftovers at exactly 2:04PM on December 27th.

Octopus achievement 12/15/09 A fun video (with Spanish text) of experiments showing the intelligence of the pulpos.

Circus animals on the lam 11/13/09 Three tigers escaped from a Mexican circus caravan and only one was recaptured.

Placentas and more 11/12/09 A clinic in Dubai is offering placenta-based facial treatments.

One man band 10/24/09 A video of Canadian street musician Scott Dunbar.

Maldives 10/18/09 Also facing the consequences of global climate change, the Inuits need to raise money to buy communal freezers to store the game they hunt in the Arctic.

Scrabble creator 5/9/09 The "7 Scariest Placed to Play Scrabble."

Accidental fossil discoveries 5/5/09 While studying microraptors, paleontologists have identified the fossil (photo above) of an extinct bird with venomous fangs.

Centenarians and then some 3/23/09 A woman in Brazil celebrated her 100th birthday last month, and this month asked her grandson to book her a skydive. Featured in the print edition of the Orlando Sentinel last Sunday was 99-year-old Cecil Woods of Eustis, Florida, who will celebrate the century mark on New Year's Eve and will also be renewing her driver's license.

Killer chimpanzees 2/17/09 It was revealed this month that chimpanzees were observed using cleavers and anvils as tools to process food and mastering the first step in controlling fire. Scientists had already conceded in April 2007 that chimps are genetically more evolved than humans, and reported in June 2007 that they are able to pass on their culture like we can.

Disturbing decapitations 1/23/09 The man who decapitated his female classmate at Virginia Tech has pled guilty.

Animal accidents 1/16/09 Rhode Island's Department of Environmental Management authorizes certain vendors to retrieve, prepare, cook, and serve the deer killed on the state's roads.

Oldest zoo in the world 11/10/08 The Kiev Zoo in the Ukraine is still in a sorry state since being expelled from the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria in 2007.

Otis elevator, part 2

Elevator superlatives Otis Elevator Co.'s 2 tallest test towers are located in Bristol, Connecticut (117M) and Shubayama, Japan (154M), but last year Otis competitor Mitsubishi Electric Corp. opened the "world's tallest elevator testing tower" in Inazawa City, Japan (173M). Another Otis competitor, Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp., laid claim in 2005 to the "world's fastest elevator" in Taipei, Taiwan (37.7mph), which can go from the 5th to the 89th floor in 39 seconds.

Elevator uses Usually the elevator - or as the British prefer to call it, the lift - is used to convey people or freight from one floor to another in a building. But occasionally, it has alternative uses. One of these is the propensity of some men to use it is a urinal or couples to use it as their bedroom (not blogworthy, so we'll move on). Space is at such a premium in the U.S. Capitol that a disused elevator is being pressed into service (pardon the pun) as an office!

Elevator etiquette The rules about how to behave in the confined space of an elevator are not unwritten - they are offered on a searchable website or, if you prefer, as 10 Commandments. Should you wish to test these rules, here is a list of 50 weird things to do in an elevator.

Elevator safety Fear of riding in elevators is not uncommon and is said to be a combination of acrophobia (fear of heights) and claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces). American elevator attendant Betty Lou Oliver has for years held the record of the longest survived elevator fall: 75 stories! She was at her post in the Empire State Building for her last day before retirement when the building was accidentally struck by a B-29 bomber on July 28, 1945. Oliver was badly burned and rescuers decided to lower her via the elevator, but its cables had been weakened to the breaking point. As soon as the doors closed, the cables snapped and she plummeted from the 75th floor to the sub-basement, a height of about 1,000 feet. She was seriously injured by the fall, but returned to the building 5 months later and rode the elevator to the top.

Elevator tragedy Even so-called safety elevators can be a hazard, both during and after installation. Safety is a concern in the industry, in which the death rate for elevator installers and repairers is higher than average for construction workers. Most deaths are caused by falls, followed by being crushed or struck, and - less frequently - by electrocution. A week ago, a South African man was crushed while repairing an elevator with 3 other workers. This fall, the wife of a Wisconsin millwright who was repairing a freight elevator at a GM plant when he fell to his death, was awarded $2.17 million from Schindler Elevator Co. and Minnesota Elevator, Inc. for negligence in not installin guardrails. Elevator and escalator passengers are killed at an average rate of 30 per year, the majority by falling into the shaft. Just last month, a Brooklyn man was killed by a 50' fall, and this spring, a blind New York man was killed by falling into an elevator shaft. This past summer, an 8-year-old Kentucky boy was crushed to death by the elevator at a family wedding. Perhaps the most stunning accident in recent memory occurred at the St. Joseph Christus Hospital in Houston, Texas, in August 2003: Physician's assistant Karen Steinau was on board an elevator when 35-year-old surgical resident Hitoshi Nikaidoh attempted to step in on the 2nd floor. The doors suddenly closed, pinning him at the shoulders and - before Steinau had time to hit the emergency stop button - severing his head above the jaw when the elevator ascended. Steinau spent 20 minutes inside with the doctor's severed head before she was rescued, and had to be treated for shock. Nikaidoh's body was retrieved from the bottom of the shaft. Sadly, a similar decapitation occurred in Brooklyn, New York, in January 1995. James Godfrey Chenault, 55, was one of 5 people who boarded an elevator at the Kingsbridge Center in the Bronx. The elevator malfunctioned, stopping slightly above the 2nd floor. Chenault straddled the doorway and had helped one of the passengers out of the car when it shot upward to the 9th floor, causing his head to remain in the elevator and his body to remain in the shaft. The remaining passengers, one of whom was pregnant, were treated at the hospital for trauma.

Don't think about this post next time you take the lift.

Follow-ups

Aquaria 11/23/09 Valencia, Spain, boasts not the largest tank, but the largest aquarium in Europe, the Oceanografic.

Stone/house 11/19/09 Reader Angelica Compton brought my attention to this article about an enormous boulder in a house in Margaretville, New York.

Follow-ups 11/16/09 The photograph in this post shows a Chinese man who has had half his body amputated. The operation is called a hemicorporectomy and here is more about why and how often it is performed.

Alligator urban legends 11/14/09 Here is a dead alligator photographed last week near Manaquiri, Brazil. And here is a crocodile photographed in Tanzania on top of the backs of some hippos who then attacked and killed it. Two men in Bangladesh were sentenced in absentia to 2 years in jail for beating and blinding a sacred crocodile at a shrine. You may still vote for your favorite entry in the Viewer's Choice Competition of National Geographic's International Photography Contest 2009, including #23, a striking close-up of an occupant of Kwena Crocodile Farm in South Africa. Lastly, fossils uncovered in the Sahara Desert reveal "a world full of crocodiles."

Placentas and more 11/12/09 A female photographer with phocomelia gave birth to an average-sized son, now 4 years old.

Forensic pathologists 11/8/09 In this post I featured some famous forensic pathologists. I was recently asked to write an editorial for Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology and discussed - in an article called "No 'Glass Ceiling'" - the increasing presence of women in the field.

Odd animals 11/4/09 Like Gemina at the Santa Barbara Zoo, a young giraffe named Amali has arrived at the Tulsa Zoo with a crooked neck.

One man band 10/24/09 It dawned on me to look up the history of another street musician - the organ grinder - and find out why they are always depicted with monkeys. They operated organs of various sizes on the street and were often looked down on: banned, accused of petty theft, and considered tone deaf. The monkeys were used to attract attention, performing tricks and collecting coins from patrons. The photo above shows an Afghan boy (obviously not an organ grinder!) with his pet monkey.

Winks and blinks 10/21/09 You have probably heard about Rom Houben, the Belgian man who was unable to communicate for 23 years until doctors recently discovered that he was not in a persistent vegetative state. Because he now types very quickly on a touch-screen keyboard with a finger cradled by a therapist, there are those who doubt the story.

Burqa 10/20/09 Barbie in a burqa is going on sale at a charity auction. While we're on the subject of things Muslim, here are 2 incredible photographs: Afghan children reading the Koran and pilgrims in Mecca before the start of this year's haj.

Dinosaur eggs 10/4/09 A rich accumulation of dinosaur bones has been found at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument site in Utah.

Gossamer 9/27/09 A deadly Australian spider has invaded Japan, possibly in woodchips aboard a container ship.

Pig butchering 9/1/09 Two rats, 2 pigeons, a rooster, a rat, and some 20,000 buffalo have been slaughtered in Nepal in the world's biggest animal sacrifice.

Squid 7/17/09 The strange mating secrets of the squid are revealed in 2 articles, one from 2005 and the other from 2008. Here is an award-winning photo of a squid embryo.

Green eggs and ham 5/11/09 Two firetrucks carrying 15 firefighters responded to the smell of gas in Axedale, Australia, only to find it was due to the flatulence of a 120kg pig. In Ridgetown, Ontario, Canada, a small pig left in the washroom of a Tim Horton's donut shop has been reunited with its owner - a student at the local agriculture school. And here is an article about the intelligence of the pig.

Coal mining and caving 5/4/09 Like Floyd Collins, John Jones has died while exploring a cave despite aggressive attempts at rescue. Here's a piercing photo of some Ukrainian miners.

Dolly the sheep 5/2/09 The world's oldest sheep, 23-year-old Lucky, has died in Lake Bolac, Australia.

Chihuahuas in the weird news 5/2/09 A chihuahua name Shyla in Christchurch, New Zealand, has become a surrogate mother to 7 abandoned kittens.

Mastectomy tattoos 4/27/09 There is research afoot in Australia to enable women to regrow their breasts after mastectomy.

Raiding ancient Egypt 4/20/09 Twenty of the mummies in the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo have undergone CT-scanning that revealed signs of atherosclerosis.

Giants 4/17/09 A female American model over 6' 8" tall is being featured in an Australian men's magazine next to an average-sized model.

Octopus fossils 3/19/09 Here is a lovely photomicrograph of fossilized red sponge coral.

Kangaroo home invasion 3/15/09 A man in Melbourne, Australia, was attacked and the dog he was walking nearly drowned by a kangaroo they startled in the park. Meanwhile, a remote community in Australia's Northern Territory are being terrorized by 6,000 wild camels.

Octopi at it again! 3/8/09 My Dad and I learned on a documentary the other night that octopi live in every ocean, so I became curious what an Arctic octupus (scroll to the end of the link) and an Antarctic octopus look like. The rare "dumbo" octopus recently turned up in the Census of Marine Life.

Chilblains 2/27/09 The Guiness Book of World Records has recognized a 76-year-old Nepalese man as the oldest person to summit Mount Everest.

Double-muscled dog 1/30/09 This dalmation has no excuse for its size except its owner, who has been banned from owning dogs for 10 years.

Disturbing decapitations 1/23/09 Like the people on the Canadian bus, the riders of New York's D train were trapped on board with a homicidal maniac armed with a knife.

Ancient animals 2/19/09 A first edition of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species is being auctioned after it was found in the guest washroom of a private home in Oxford, England. The gender of a tortoise estimated to be 75-100 years old has been mistaken for 50 years.

More mammoths 1/6/09 Researchers have found a fungus in mammoth poop that is explaining why they died out.

Auroras 12/23/08 To complement this image of the world with an aurora, here is a film of the planet showing the movement of the clouds.

Election Day! 11/4/08 In re: people-watching in the past - here is a mesmerizing film taken in San Francisco in 1905 to compare to 1901 footage from Washington, D.C., linked in this post.

Elephants 10/30/08 There is a link in this post to photos of animal embryos. Here is a photo of a 14-day-old transgenic mouse.

More follow-ups

Shackleton 10/28/09 Kind words from reader Priscilla: "Again Christine has landed on one of my favorite subjects. Shackleton. I studied his journey to learn more about what a good leader does, and it is full of many examples that are relevant today. Even years later, his crew would refer to him as "Boss." One of his great talents was the ability to recognize talent in others and rely on it. Thanks, Christine!"

Gingko 10/25/09 My readers have fond memories of gingko trees. Priscilla says, "The legend is that gingkos would be extinct except they were preserved in captivity by Chinese monks because they are thought to be fireproof, thus safe next to precious wooden temples and monasteries. I miss the gingko my mother had in her garden, slender and brilliant." And Lisa writes, "When I lived in Brooklyn we had gingko trees all along my block and when the pods fell I would see little old Chinese women collecting them....I miss those gingko trees."

Winks and blinks 10/21/09 Follower Kent Schnake had comments on this: "I really enjoyed your post. It happens that I have seen all three of the movies you mentioned. I was really intrigued by Metropolis. I find that sometimes I underestimate old films simply because the technology was so limited. However, I thought that Metropolis was able to transcend those limitations and really engage me. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was both heart breaking and inspirational. The scene where his eye is sewn shut has to rank right up there among the all time gut churners." New reader Jason told me that it reminded him of the interesting blinking in a video by the band Grizzly Bear.

Glasswing butterflies 10/13/09 Biologists at the University of Bristol in Ontario have discovered an ear structure in tropical butterflies that enhances their hearing while in flight.

Anne Frank 10/7/09 Seattle has received a sapling grown from the tree that Anne Frank could see from the window of her hiding place.

Where the Wild Things Are 9/30/09 Maurice Sendak dismisses parents who think that the movie will - like the book it is based on - be inappropriate for children.

Jaws in 1916 8/6/09 This 10' great white shark caught off Queensland, Australia, was bitten nearly in half by another great white estimated to be twice as long.

Pangolins 7/20/09 The BBC has been faulted by conservationists for the preparation of a critically endangered species of eel on its show "Master Chef: The Professionals."

Birds! 5/21/09 Compare this foiled snake and lizard smuggler to the one pictured at the bottom of this post trying to smuggle birds.

Green eggs and ham 5/11/09 The latest British fad in pets is to own 9-oz. teacup pigs, which sell for more than $1,000 each. And 2 ducklings hatched out of a single egg at a Cornish duck farm.

Chihuahuas in the weird news 5/2/09 A Bulgarian man tried to smuggle a chihuahua into Dublin in his carry-on bag, but it was discovered when it was passed through the airport x-ray machine.

Bears in the news 4/24/09 A couple in Colorado responded to their car alarm to find that - instead of a thief breaking in - a bear was trapped inside (photo above) and trying frantically to get out!

Toads encased in stone 3/23/09 The burrowing frog can lay dormant without food or water for several years.

Footprints 2/28/09 Paleontologists have discovered the tiniest dinosaur footprints yet, in Seoul, South Korea. Archaeologists have uncovered footprints of the artisans who created a mosaic 1,700 years ago in Lod, Israel.

Preserved in amber 2/24/09 In October, scientists announced the discovery of a family, genus, and species of fly that had never been observed; the "unicorn fly" was preserved in amber.

Disturbing decapitations 1/23/09 A Canadian judge ruled this Spring that the man who decapitated a fellow Greyhound bus passenger in July 2008 is not criminally responsible for the crime due to mental illness.

Ancient animals 1/19/09 The eggs of 82 endangered green sea turtles have hatched at Sea World in San Diego, California, and are expected to have a lifespan of 100+ years.

Hedgehogs 1/8/09 Security guards kept 24-hour watch to be sure no hedgehogs wandered into the bonfire at a fireworks display in Malvern, Worcestershire in the U.K. A hedgehog drunk on fermented apples was taken to the Prickly Ball Hedgehog Hospital in Newton Abbot, Devon.

Nutshell studies of unexplained death 12/21/08 Reader Whitney suggested I might be interested in the art installation Knitted Homes of Crime by Freddie Robins.

Space chimp 12/5/09 More than a dozen chimps gathered to watch the burial of one of their fellow chimps at a rescue center in West Africa.

Oldest zoo in the world 11/12/08 Israel's top zoo has become the number one exporter of hippopotami in the world.

Elephants 10/30/08 PETA has launched a protest of the "elephant car wash" attraction at an Oregon wildlife park.

Follow-ups

Creative cremains The company that makes diamonds out of human cremains can also make them out of human hair, and has announced plans to produce and sell diamonds from a lock of hair that belonged to the recently deceased Michael Jackson.

Maps featured in paintings I received an e-mail reply from Jonathan Janson after featuring his site in this post. He thanked me for the citation and words of enthusiasm, and mentioned that his own work will be in a show at the O.K. Harris Gallery in New York in October. In other map news, Danish experts have declared that the Vinland Map , the first known map to show part of America before Italian explorer Christopher Colombus (c. 1451-1506) landed on the continent, is genuine.

Steampunk design Follower Carrie Hoggan loved this post and was pleased to link me to this site by a man who does impressive steampunk modifications and breeds cuttlefish! (Like the octopus, the cuttlefish is a cephalopod.)

Pangolins Reader Kathleen Kotcher visited China in 2008 and reports that she did not see anyone eating a pangolin. She sent along this photo and writes, "It would be difficult to eat this pangolin...but I too share the love."

Oscar Mayer dies In a follow-up to this post, I noted that the wienermobile had been in an accident. Less than a month later, Oscar Mayer has made the news 3 more times! The company violated a state ban on vehicular advertising when they sent the wienermobile to Hawaii for 2 weeks. They were named in a lawsuit by the Cancer Project, a vegan advocacy group that wants warning labels placed on hot dogs. And they have received a letter from PETA encouraging them to bury the wienermobile with Mr. Mayer...

Madame Tussaud Members of the African-American sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha are suing to oust their president Barbara McKinzie for misappropriating funds, including commissioning a $900,ooo wax figure of herself. This amount seemed excessive to me, and I was right - Madame Tussaud's wax figures cost between $200,000 and $300,000 each to produce.

Believe It or Not! Readers may not be aware that there is an on-line contest called You Bet Their Life, in which participants win a share of a cash prize based on the celebrities they correctly guess will die during the coming year.

Happy Father's Day! Since hanging up the birdfeeder I sent my Dad for Father's Day, he hasn't seen any finches. He references this story about the bust of a finch-fighting ring and the siezure of as many as 150 birds, and asks, "Maybe that's where my finches are?"

OldtimerHenry Allingham, featured in this post, passed on his title of "World's Oldest Man" when he died earlier this month. The honor now goes to Montana resident Walter Breuning, age 112.

Elusive animals The New York Times reports that although humans are the cause of mass extinctions, we are also in the middle of the age of discovery for mammals, with 400 or so new species described and added to the list just since 2005.

Clown's funeral Members of the San Francisco Clown Conservatory have posed in the nude for a calendar that is being sold to help fight Multiple Sclerosis (the disease that I have). They hope to raise $1 million.

Whales, articulated and dismantled This story of a cruise ship docking in Canada with a dead whale pinned to the bow was all over the weird news last Sunday, but I have found 2 other incidences in Alaska - one a cruise ship and the other an oil tanker - plus the statistics of whales being struck by ships.

Scrabble creator When I was looking at these creative gravestones, I thought that a similar Scrabble marker (pictured) ought to mark the grave of the game's inventor, Alfred Butts (1899-1993). Note that there is also a gravestone with a crossword puzzle theme.

Chihuahuas in the weird news Yet more chihuahua news to report... "Gidget," who became famous for her appearance in a series of Taco Bell commercials, has died at the age of 15. Her trainer said, "She always knew where the camera was." And in Dearborn, Michigan, 112 live chihuahuas were rescued from the home of a hoarder, who had 150 dogs in his freezer.

Accidental fossil discoveries A flurry of fossil news: Researchers have identified a 260 million-year-old fossil found in Russia in 1994 (pictured) as the earliest tree-dwelling creature. Scientists studying the Yangtze Gorge in China have determined that the oldest fossils are found in lakes, rather than oceans - where lifeforms were believed to have evolved. Fishermen trawling off the coast of the Netherlands hooked a bone that came from the forehead of a caveman. And the fossils of extinct birds have been found in Hawaii.

Animals and lightning I received a viral video of a group of musicians simulating a thunderstorm and was very impressed, but the performance was not identified in any way. I managed to find the entire video and information about the choir, Perpetuum Jazzile, which is from Slovenia.

Robo-animals An orphaned baby Asian elephant named "Chhouk," crippled by a poacher's snare, has been outfitted with a prosthetic foot and can now walk again because of his discovery and care by a Cambodian rescue center.

Big fish, big snake A snake named "Ann" - who was fed a whole hog every 2 or 3 months - has died at the Memphis Zoo. Her feedings drew many visitors during her 10-year tenure. Ann was a reticulated python captured in Indonesia.

Stonework I love environmental art like that of American artist Andy Goldsworthy. Here are some beautiful works created at the beach in San Francisco by another American artist Andres Amador.

Disturbing decapitations It was reported earlier this month that the Dutch have repatriated the severed head of a Ghanaian chief. Leader of the Ahanta tribe, King Bada Bonsu II had been decapitated 171 years ago by Maj. Gen. Jan Verveer in retaliation for the killing of 2 Dutch emmissaries.

Auroras Norwegian researchers have proved by examining NASA images that the Aurora Borealis and the Aurora Australis, which were thought to be mirror images of one another, can be completely assymmetrical.

Birds and dogs Joggers on holiday in Helmsford, Cornwall, U.K. - 36-year-old Stuart Urquhart (pictured) and 19-year-old Eleanor Dennis - have been attacked by a buzzard while on their runs. In other big bird news, India has become the first country to successfully breed the endangered slender-billed vulture in captivity.

Happy Thanksgiving! The look of this rare albino turtle found on the shore of China's Yellow River has been compared to a plucked turkey. Unlike in parts of Africa superstitious and discriminatory toward albinos, they have a special place in Chinese culture. Meanwhile, some of the albino-murderers in Burundi have received prison time.

Italy itinerary If you follow the link to La Specola on this post, you will see the most famous collection of anatomical waxes. In this audio slideshow, you will see and hear about the anatomical wax models and moulages in the Wellcome Collection in London.

The Raft of the Medusa If you have a weak stomach, read no further. Cannibalism is supposedly the newest trend to sweep across Japan. This goes beyond shaping food into a body that can then be eaten and involves preparing meals that include human tissue obtained - with the government's stamp of approval - from hospitals.

Nadar and the Paris Catacombs The Exeter City Council in Devon, U.K., identified the catacombs at St. Bartholomew's Cemetery - a popular tourist attraction - as a potential temporary mortuary for victims of the H1N1 virus should the need arise.

Follow-ups

Emu oil Follower Carrie Hoggan liked this post. Having lived in Chandler, Arizona, for 7 months, she went to the Ostrich Festival. "It was interesting," she says. "I tried a bite of the ostrich burger, it wasn't bad."
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More than a mishap The subject of this post is a horrific accident that occurred on the Tower of Power ride. Here are "5 Theme Park Rides that Pushed the Limits of Common Sense," compliments of Popular Mechanics.
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Rapid prototyping If this ultrasound is authentic, I'm sure the parents would love to take advantage of the new technology to make a 3D image of their unborn child giving a peace sign.
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Dissection paintings I found out about the 2nd painting in this post, "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Joan Deyman," by way of this painting with Indonesian comedian Butet Kartaredjasa - a spoof of Rembrandt's "The Night Watch."
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Frogs, deformed and fanciful This post includes a link to the smallest species of frog, newly discovered in Peru. Here is a photo of the smallest species of chameleon, which measures less than 1" in length. Also related to this post is an op-ed piece about chemicals in the environment called endocrine disruptors that cause deformities in the genitals of wildlife, including frogs.
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Believe It or Not! In this post I mention the death of Michael Jackson (1958-2009), which overshadowed the deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Billy Mays. Here is an interesting article about eclipsed celebrity deaths.
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Durer While researching my post about Dali and Disney, I came across this great sculpture in Spain that Dali did in 1956. There is also a wonderful photograph of Dali and rhinoceros here.
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Elusive animals A farmer has spotted the first live specimen of an almiqui to be seen in 4 years. The mysterious creature, native to Cuba, eats worms.
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Memories of machines When my Mom and cousins got together a few years ago, they restaged the photo in which they were sitting on the running board of the "woodie" as children.
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Follow-ups Since the follow-up about speed-cooking, I have come across another unappetizing food preparation video. Watch the authentic preparation of giant African land snails - if you dare!
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Burial shoes As in a previous follow-up to this post, these are not actually burial shoes, but a pair of antique sneakers purchased at an estate sale.
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Chihuahuas in the weird news In this amusing story, a tiny chihuahua named "Little Berry" has come through unscathed after being accidentally stepped on by her buddy "Leroy" - a giant Clydesdale horse!
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Dolly the sheep Sheep have been in the news again. It was just reported that climate change is causing wild sheep in Scotland to shrink in size.
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Rossetti's menagerie This post on the blog Neatorama, "What 'Chu Know 'Bout Wombats?" is a true delight! Fantastic photos of these funny marsupials and some surprises, including the facts that their butts are made of cartilage and their poop is square.
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Frozen baby mammoth A Michigan couple were deepening a pond on their property when they uncovered the skeleton of a prehistoric mastodon. You can read about it here or watch a news report here - and this link describes the difference between a mammoth and a mastodon.
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Animals and lightning In a reversal of cows being killed, here are 2 stories of cows turning the tables. In one instance, a police officer was trampled by a herd of cows when he was walking his dog on the Sussex Downs, U.K. In another recent instance, a woman was walking her dog on the Pennine Way, also in the U.K., when she was charged and killed by cows.
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Giants Here is an article about Tanya Angus, 30, who has acromegaly and grew from 5' 11" (115 lbs.) to 6' 6" (480 lbs.) in the space of 10 years - and is still growing.
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Taxidermy art Artist Reid Peppard has created some unique jewelry that's not for everyone: necklaces, headbands, brooches, bowties, and hair combs featuring taxidermied animals and animal parts including pigeon wings, mice, and rat heads.
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Centenarians - and then some In another example of longevity, Larry Haubner of Fredericksburg, Virginia, has celebrated his 107th birthday.
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Shark attack capital Thanks to James Taylor for linking me to this article about Australian-born "human torso" Nick Vujicic, who learned to surf from one-armed surfer Bethany Hamilton.
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Snake handlers Recently in Oxford, Florida, 2-year-old Shaunia Hare was killed by the family's pet python, which escaped its cage and bit and asphyxiated her in her bed - apparently in a search for food. The parents may be charged with child endangerment.
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Corpse flower In an on-line poll, the corpse flower topped the list of the world's ugliest plants. Second on the list is the "stinky squid" (pictured). I think they're more interesting than ugly, but here is the slideshow to judge for yourself.
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Disturbing decapitations It was reported yesterday that a 30-year-old taxi driver in London committed suicide by driving full-speed into a pillar after tying a rope around his neck and a post, decapitating himself in front of other drivers and patrons of a nearby cafe.
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Gretchen Worden's portrait I get a kick out of the fact that Gretchen is holding an antique surgical instrument in her portrait. Here are some more scary surgical instruments from days gone by.
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Animal accidents Last week, flights at JFK International Airport were delayed 35 minutes as 78 diamondback terrapins crossed the runway. I'm glad they did not become snarge.