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12 Dec 2011 10:22

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Offbeat: Michelle Obama: Record-holding jumping jacks expert

  • Back in October, Michelle Obama and 300,265 other people worldwide (including 400 in her direct vicinity) attempted to break a record by doing jumping jacks in a 24-hour period. The record attempt was successful, Obama said on the “Let’s Move” Web site this morning. We’re totally gonna celebrate by doing some jumping jacks ourselves. Because we’re creative like that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Nov 2011 11:31

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Offbeat: Arizona gun club offers photos with Santa — and a few AK-47s

  • Dear Arizona ShortFormBlog readers: If we were to give you a picture of our mascot, Julius the Laid-Off RSS Robot, could you go visit the Scottsdale Gun Club on December 10 to take a picture with Santa and a few AK-47s? If you want, you can even play target practice with the printout afterward. (We’d expect pictures of that, too.) Julius is a big fan of the Second Amendment and he’d really get a kick out of it. Thanks. (Editor’s note: This is a real offer.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Nov 2011 15:44

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Offbeat: The Onion’s parenting joke flies over the heads of some real parents

  • I’m totally aware that it’s satire. But it’s spreading through the Internet and people’s blogs and where it’s coming from is getting left off and it’s looking like a news story.
  • Robin Bowen of the California Parenting Institute • Discussing how an Onion story, “Study Finds Every Style of Parenting Produces Disturbed, Miserable Adults,” has created a hilarious side effect where many people think the story is true, and are sharing it without attribution. It got so bad that the institute had to put out a press release denying the story. “The falsified study quoted in The Onion states that all parenting styles lead to the same outcome–unhappy, miserable adults,” the release said. “We have been around a long time because we know that parent education does work.” This isn’t the first time an Onion joke has gone over poorly, and it won’t be the last, but at least this time, it’s relatively innocuous. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Nov 2011 11:51

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Offbeat: Protip for Safeway: PR debacles regarding shoplifting cost more than $5

  • cause Two parents, including a pregnant woman, were arrested last week when they ate cheap sandwiches at a Safeway in Honolulu, and forgot to pay for them. They bought roughly $50 worth of items, but were nicked for the $5 sandwiches. The store wouldn’t let them pay. In the process, their child was taken away. Wait, what?
  • reaction Nearly a week later, as the story gained national attention, the company personally apologized for its employees’ handling of the situation, and dropped the charges. Meanwhile, Marcin and Nicole Leszczynski still faced criticism from some for eating food before paying. To which we say, umm … it was an accident. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Oct 2011 15:35

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Offbeat: TSA leaves special note for female blogger traveling with vibrator

  • Get your freak on girl.
  • A note from the TSA • Found scrawled on a post-inspection luggage insert, which was in a bag owned by Feministe blogger Jill Filipovic. She had packed her vibrator in the luggage, which no doubt spurred this rather personal request. Said Filipovic: “Total violation of privacy, wildly inappropriate and clearly not ok, but I also just died laughing in my hotel room.” source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Oct 2011 10:54

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Offbeat: Phoenix Jones is far from alone in real-life superhero lore

  • The movement has grown majorly. What I tell these guys is, `You’re no longer in the shadows. You’re in a new era. … Build trust. Set standards. Make the real-life superheroes work to earn that title and take some kind of oath.’
  • Writer Edward Stinson • Discussing the advice he gives the large number of real-life superheroes — at least 660 in total, according to RealLifeSuperheroes.org. Don’t let the situation with Phoenix Jones fool you into thinking that Jones is alone. There are superheroes all over the world, and they’re quickly learning that their work is becoming more high-profile. Despite the mocking plots in movies from Blankman to Kick-Ass, real-life superheroes have existed since at least the 1970s, when San Diego’s Captain Sticky paved the way for crime-fighting in a costume. We love the fact that this story exists. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Oct 2011 20:07

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Offbeat: “Superhero” Phoenix Jones offers welcoming hand to the public

  • In addition to being Phoenix Jones. I am also Ben Fodor, a father and brother. I am just like everybody else. The only difference is that I try to stop crime.
  • Ben “Phoenix Jones” Fodor • Talking about his arrest by Seattle authorities — who accuse him of pepper-spraying a number of people. He, meanwhile, claims he was trying to break up a fight. He hasn’t yet been charged, but officials are considering doing so. Either way, the extra attention from the arrest led to the public finding out about his secret persona — a MMA fighter named Flattop. Rather than withering under the extra attention he’s received, Mr. Jones has offered to let the public follow him on his next crime-fighting adventure. However, if you do so, you’ll be going against police wishes. “If you see something that warrants calling 911, call 911,” said police spokesman Mark Jamieson. “You don’t need to dress up in a costume to do that.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

29 Sep 2011 23:15

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Offbeat: Ig Nobel prize: From bladders to wasabi, dubious science celebrated

  • When people reach a point when they are in so much pain they just can’t stand it anymore, it was like being drunk. The ability to hold information was really impaired.
  • Ig Nobel Prize-winning scientist Peter Snyder • Describing his team’s findings — that really having to use the bathroom creates an effect on drivers similar to driving drunk or on limited sleep — at the 2011 Ig Nobel Prize awards ceremony Thursday. Snyder’s bladder-busting team (who won for medicine) was only one of many to get awarded for their weird or dubious honors, including that crazy Lithuanian mayor who used a tank to prove his point about illegal parking (he won the Ig Nobel Peace Prize), a Norwegian group that produced a useless study on sighing (psychology), and a group of Japanese researchers who created a fire alarm that uses the smell of wasabi as its key alarm agent (chemistry). All in all, a pretty Ig Nobel night. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Sep 2011 00:46

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Offbeat: Florida woman has twins from — SURPRISE — two separate uteri

  • whatTwo healthy babies. Two uteri. One mother. A Florida woman’s rare condition, called “uterus didelphys,” allowed her to have children in two separate uteri. So they’re twins, kinda sorta.
  • how? It’s incredibly rare for a mother to become pregnant in both uteri. There are only 100 known cases, and only one in five million uterus didelphys pregnancies succeed. This was one of them! source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Sep 2011 10:12

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Offbeat: Gumby wannabe robber: This guy’s headed to the Pokey

  • Gumby attempted a robbery, you guys. Put away your Etch-A-Sketches and your Stretch Armstrongs, boys and girls. Childhood is over. In the San Diego area, a man dressed in a Gumby costume tried to rob a convenience store; he left with nothing, but there’s a $1,000 reward for info related to his eventual capture. Police are taking the matter seriously, however; we know we wouldn’t be able to do so. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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