Zooborns
Daily dose of cuteness – keeping track of all the new arrivals at zoos around the world.

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Gibsonton, Florida

Gibsonton is an unincorporated census-designated place in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The population was 8,752 at the 2000 census.
Gibsonton was famous as a sideshow wintering town, where various carnival “freaks” would spend the off season. It was home to Percilla the Monkey girl, the Anatomical Wonder, and the Lobster Boy. Siamese twin sisters ran a fruit stand here. At one time, it was the only post office with a counter for dwarves. Aside from the agreeable winter climate, Gibsonton offered unique circus zoning laws that allowed residents to keep elephants and circus trailers on their front lawns.

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YTTM
Using Youtube as a video time machine – pick a year, back to 1860, and check out all the cultural artifacts.

Also: holy shit, The Dig came out in 1995?! Man, that makes me feel old.

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The Hobo Lobo of Hamelin

Hobo Lobo of Hamelin is a thing by a dude, who’s all like, “I’M GONNA MAKE A THING.” And then he did. Or is doing. Or, you know, whatever. This dude can be found on the internet. He websites to put food on his family.

This is the future of internet storytelling.

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Dear Nike

Dear Nike,

Is that how these things are supposed to start? “Dear Company”? This is my first time writing to a large, faceless corporation, so I’m not really sure of what the protocol is.

Anyway, the reason I’m writing is that I love Nike+. Like, a lot. Since I got my iPhone late October last year, I’ve run almost 450km, which is great when you consider what a lazy cunt I am. Truth is, I never could have done it without Nike+.

Seriously, there’s something about watching that number go up and up that really works. Even though I run the same route every day and my GPS signal is so shitty that Nike+ often tells me I’m finished when I know there’s still a whole kilometre to go, it still works. It’s part of its charm. Oh, Nike+, have you got a little lost? That’s so you.

The other things that work are the occasional voice congratulations. Lance Armstrong telling I’ve just run a new personal best for the mile. Paula Radcliffe telling me I’ve just run the furthest I’ve ever run. The minute I hear these things, no matter how tired I am, I just want to get right back out there and see if I can beat my time again.

Even Tracy Morgan works pretty well. It took some getting used to, but it’s just nice to hear him act like he gives a shit that I just run three days in a row, or more times this week than I did last. “I’m proud of you”, he says. I don’t believe him, but it’s still something nice to hear.

Tonight, I got this: “Hi, I’m Dirk Nowitski… and… I just found out that you just got a run in? Awesome job!”

Did you just put a mic in front of this kid and ask him to freestyle the first things that came into his head? It sounds like totally he’s winging this shit. Honestly, his “I just found out that you got a run in” is a question, like he’s not sure if he heard the studio engineer right and so he’s guessing what he’s supposed to be saying.

On the other hand though, if you’ve given Dirk Nowitski a pager or something that sends him a message every time anyone anywhere goes for a run with their Nike+, then.., holy shit, that’s amazing. You can just disregard the entire previous paragraph.

Anyway, keep up the good work.

I love you.
– John

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Mull of Kintyre Test
bestofwikipedia:

The Mull of Kintyre test was an unofficial guideline said to have been used by the British Board of Film Classification in the United Kingdom to decide whether an image of a man’s penis could be shown. The BBFC would not permit the general release of a film or video if it depicted a phallus erect to the point that the angle it made from the vertical (the “angle of the dangle”, as it was often known) was larger than that of the Mull of Kintyre, Argyll and Bute, on maps of Scotland. (via rajandelman)

I love any Wikipedia entry that includes the term “angle of the dangle”.

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