Quiddity

Origami Money Hats

Origami money hats.  Spiffy!

Link via andrew sullivan.

Material Issue -- Valerie Loves Me

You don't rob Katherine Dunn

Katherine Dunn (author of one of my favorite books, Geek Love) showed a purse snatcher why you don't want to mess with an author who has a passion for boxing.

“My left arm is wrapped up in the purse, her right arm is wrapped up in the purse, we’re nose to nose and I’m punching her as hard as I can with my right hand,” she said.

Hell yeah.

Galileo is giving you the finger

Okay, not really.  Well, sort of.  Anyway, two fingers and a tooth that had been removed from Galileo's body have been recovered.  They will be put on display (that's morbid) in a museum in Italy.

But the tooth and two fingers from the scientist's right hand — the thumb and middle finger — were kept by one of the admirers, an Italian marquis, and later enclosed in a container that was passed on from generation to generation in the same family, Paolo Galluzzi, the museum's director, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

"But with time, the generations lost knowledge of what was actually inside the container," and the family sold it, Galluzzi said. By 1905, all traces of the relics had disappeared, "leading scholars to hypothesize that these singular specimens had been definitely lost," the museum said in a statement.

Link via cabinet of wonders.

Shark bite acts as emergency caesarean

Here's a bizarre story about how a shark bit another female shark's stomach, causing four baby sharks to come out out of its womb.  Weird.

Aquarist Fiona Davies, from Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World in Auckland, said that the impromptu caesarean probably saved the lives of the baby sharks. In most natural births, which usually take place at night, the babies would have been eaten by adult sharks and stingrays before staff could rescue them.

Um, and this is just plain gross and wrong.  It's a video of a baby tiger shark eating its siblings in the womb.

Links via shanmonster.

Turkey Themed Comic Book Covers

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving.  Here's a small collection of turkey themed comic book covers.

Know Your Enemies' Weaknesses

I want this poster featuring the vulnerable spots of several pop culture bad guys.

Link via neatorama.

I can read movies!

Film-based vintage book covers of popular movies.  So very cool.

Link via coudal partners.

The Pet Death Business

Here's an interesting article about the history of the pet funeral industry.

"When a Doberman dies, and you have 20 kids coming over to the house, it can't wait," says Clarke about one of his biggest days of the year, Thanksgiving. "I don't want people to think their pet will be placed with a thousand others in the back of a garbage truck. When I pick up someone's pet, I want them to see there is a person caring for them."

Link via look at this.

How to run a manly meeting

I like the tips featured in how to run a manly meeting.  Forget manliness, these are good tips for everyone in charge of running a meeting.  I especially like this one:

Begin with what was accomplished since the last meeting. “Last time we talked about x and here’s how it’s been implemented.” If you don’t want people to feel like meetings are pointless, you have to offer some proof that they’re not.

Link via web-goddess.

Friends don't turn friends into zombies

Okay, so I read this story to my class about a prince who was sad because he was all alone.  I asked the kids to draw a picture showing how they would cheer the prince up.  As I walked around the room checking their work, I saw that one of my boys had drawn a picture of the prince...dead.

Me: "Um, what happened to the prince?  Why is he dead?  You were supposed to cheer him up!"

Zach: "He's not dead.  I turned him into a zombie!!!"

Me:  "Okay, first of all, technically he would have to be dead in order to become a zombie.  Second of all, you were supposed to cheer him up, not turn him into a zombie!  Do you think the prince really wants to be a zombie?"

Zach: "Zombie starts with Z!"

Me:  :sigh: