Sportsbook.com placed $100,000 in one-dollar bills inside a plexiglass box on a billboard in Las Vegas. Putting the money there was a publicity stunt to promote their betting business. As part of the stunt, they allowed people to bet on whether or not the money would be stolen from the billboard. And lo and behold, while a guard was on a break a thief somehow broke into the box and took off with some of the money.
A Flickr photoset of the Paris Hilton CD doctored by guerrilla artist Banksy. The Banksy version of the CD is something I'd actually be interested in owning, and apparently a few of them are being auctioned. However, Warner Music is trying to prevent their sale.
Horse-riding Dog
Just a quick note to say that I've been away for the past few days (still am), visiting my parents in the Northern Neck region of Virginia. I arrived at their house just hours before Tropical Storm Ernesto hit, temporarily knocking out our power. Which meant that I was also without an internet connection. Here's a photo of me with their dog, Falcon, a 180-pound Great Dane. He's the biggest dog I've ever known. He's literally almost as big as that hoax photo of a giant dog that was circulating a year or two ago. I'm six-foot tall, but I look tiny sitting next to him.
Daniel Edwards, creator of the controversial statue of Britney Spears giving birth on a bear-skin rug, has gone one step further with his new sculpture. 
Katie Couric recently shed about twenty pounds, thanks to a magic mouse diet (i.e. the click of a mouse did the reducing for her). A CBS magazine distributed a photo of her in which she looked dramatically slimmed down. But the original photo reveals her slightly more plump, actual self. Of course, magazines doctor the photos of celebrities all the time to make them look better. I suppose the only reason this instance is attracting attention is because she's now a news anchor. But regardless, I always find it entertaining to see before and after photos like this. (Thanks, Joe)
36-year-old Sanju Bhagat of India certainly looked pregnant, but while he did have a fetus growing inside him, he wasn't pregnant in the conventional sense: Bhagat, they discovered, had one of the world's most bizarre medical conditions — fetus in fetu. It is an extremely rare abnormality that occurs when a fetus gets trapped inside its twin. The trapped fetus can survive as a parasite even past birth by forming an umbilical cordlike structure that leaches its twin's blood supply until it grows so large that it starts to harm the host, at which point doctors usually intervene. So the world still waits for a true male pregnancy. (Thanks, Kathy)
Infants-Blood is a website that claims: "Our uncompromising approach to quality means we offer simply the best infant's blood on the market today. Independent lab analysis proves it. And your taste buds will know the difference! "
I received links to two different pages featuring a series of pictures showing what is described as a 'monster' and an 'unknown creature'.
I'm posting a lot of these lately. I guess it's Religious Icon season or something.
When I came across this page descriping puppet lending libraries—one in Boston and another one in New York— I thought it had to be a joke. Especially given the New York puppet library's location: inside a memorial arch. But apparently these are real. A google search brings up quite a few articles about the New York puppet library, including this one from Time Out New York Kids: 
Jane Magazine is getting a lot of publicity from a feature they're running about Sarah, who's supposedly a 29-year-old virgin who wants to lose her virginity by her 30th birthday. And, of course, she's appealed to Jane Magazine readers to help her find the guy for that special moment. Sure, she could be for real, but it all seems highly doubtful. After all, we pretty much have to take her word for it that she is what she claims to be. (Though maybe she'll offer a fake virginity certificate as evidence.) Right away the stunt reminded me of ourfirsttime.com, the 1998 hoax involving a so-called "internet deflowering". Personally, I wouldn't choose any of the guys Jane Magazine has selected for her. Instead, I'd select Marc of devirginizeMarc.com. I think they'd be perfect for each other. (Marc's website is no longer up, but you can still see it via the Wayback Machine.)
This has to be a publicity stunt, because how could anyone actually use this thing? It's a Giant Swiss Army knife, featuring 85 tools, including a flashlight, golf divot repair tool, fish scaler, cigar cutter, toothpick, and a key ring. It weighs 2 pounds, 11 ounces and measures 8.75 inches. Wenger is selling it for $1200. But you have to special order each one.
