Charles Moffat is trying to duplicate the results of Kyle MacDonald's "One Red Paperclip". On his blog, MacDonald had announced that he wanted people to offer trades for his red paperclip. He wanted people to give him offers for objects that were a little bit better than the item he had. In the course of a year, he traded the paperclip for a pen, which he traded for a doorknob, which he traded for a camp stove, which he traded for a generator, which he traded for an "instant party", which he traded for a Ski-doo, which he traded for a trip to Yahk, which he traded for a cube van, which he traded for a recording contract, which he traded for a year's rent, which he traded for an afternoon with Alice Cooper, which he traded for a KISS motorized snowglobe, which he traded for a role in a film, which he traded for a house. Now, Moffat is attempting to achieve similar results by trading a toy car for various items. He is hoping to end up with a condo in Toronto. He currently is trying to find a trade for a retro bicycle.Monday, May 21, 2012
From a Paperclip to A House... Again
Charles Moffat is trying to duplicate the results of Kyle MacDonald's "One Red Paperclip". On his blog, MacDonald had announced that he wanted people to offer trades for his red paperclip. He wanted people to give him offers for objects that were a little bit better than the item he had. In the course of a year, he traded the paperclip for a pen, which he traded for a doorknob, which he traded for a camp stove, which he traded for a generator, which he traded for an "instant party", which he traded for a Ski-doo, which he traded for a trip to Yahk, which he traded for a cube van, which he traded for a recording contract, which he traded for a year's rent, which he traded for an afternoon with Alice Cooper, which he traded for a KISS motorized snowglobe, which he traded for a role in a film, which he traded for a house. Now, Moffat is attempting to achieve similar results by trading a toy car for various items. He is hoping to end up with a condo in Toronto. He currently is trying to find a trade for a retro bicycle.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Funerals Can Be Happy Sometimes
In Luxor, Egypt, 28 year old Hamdi Hafez al-Nubi suffered a heart attack while working. The hospital officials pronounced him dead and according to Islamic tradition, his grieving family took him home, washed his body and made funeral preparations. A doctor was sent in to sign al-Nubi's death certificate. He realized that al-Nubi's body was warm and he discovered that the deceased man was indeed not deceased. His mommy fainted when the doctor delivered the good news. Wit the doctor's help, both the man and his mother were awakened, and the funeral turned into a celebration.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
School Misspells Its Own Name
 |
| Before the spelling correction. |
| After the spelling correction. |
Monday, April 30, 2012
Ethan and the Piano Man
Six year old Ethan Walmark of Westport, Connecticut suffers from autism. His autism makes interaction with others difficult, but it's also given him a gift. He is able to play the piano like a boss. He has had about 20 clips of his mad piano skills posted on Youtube, but his version of Billy Joel's Piano Man has earned an impressive 700,000 views. Ethan's parents first noticed his amazing talent when he was only four years old and taught himself to play the Beatles' I Will by ear. Even if he misses a note, Ethan continues to play energetically without skipping a beat. And now, the Piano Man himself, Billy Joel has watched and lauded the young boy's impressive skills. "I think I like his intro to "Piano Man" better than mine," Joel said of Ethan. "And this kid plays with a lot more energy than me. Maybe he could teach me a few things." Ethan's father says that he's glad that his son's talent has helped to spread Autism awareness.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Kidney Transplant x2
 |
| Erwin Gomez (Left), Ray Fearing (Center), and Cera Fearing (Right) |
After waiting 10 years, 27 year old Ray Fearing was
finally able to receive a kidney transplant from his sister, Cera. The
transplant was in June 2011, and soon after, a biopsy showed that the
transplanted organ was doing more harm than good. He then agreed to donate his
transplanted kidney to Doctor Erwin Gomez, age 67. The kidney that had been
failing in Ray, immediately began thriving in Erwin. Before the second
surgery, the question of ethics was brought up, and when asked if he'd be
willing to give up the failing organ, he answered without hesitation. "There are thousands of people waiting for organs, I couldn't see myself just discarding one." said Fearing. Ray must now face another long wait before he can attempt getting
another kidney. This was the first time such an operation
was performed.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Let Fish Walk!
 |
| Austin and Teresa Fisher |
Teresa Fisher of Carrollton, Ohio has battled breast cancer
for six years. Knowing that her days are numbered, it’s been one of her goals
to live to see her son Austin get his high school diploma. Now that her cancer
is in remission, this goal seems reachable, except for one large obstacle.
Carrollton High School, where Austin is a senior, only allows students to
graduate if they have 14 or less unexcused absences. Austin has had to work two
jobs, bring his mother to her cancer treatments, and care for her at home; and
in doing so, has accumulated 16 unexcused absences. The school will not make an
exception for Austin, so his classmates and community members have made a
Facebook page, and petition for the Board of Education arguing that Austin
should be allowed to graduate. So far, they have over 107,400 signatures on
their petition and are optimistic about getting the rule changed for Austin.
-
http://now.msn.com/living/0416-ohio-hs-grad-ban.aspx
-
http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c2#/video/us/2012/04/16/wjw-cancer-student-graduation.cnn
Below is the link to the
petition, which you can sign if you feel so inclined(:
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
More Brilliant Ideas From Nokia
 |
| The Nokia Lumia 900 |
The
geniuses at Nokia worked hard to promote the new Nokia Lumia 900. And by worked
hard to promote, I mean spent a lot of money in useless ways and basically set
the phone up for failure. They hired Nicki Minaj to perform at the promotional
event in Time's Square and ran promotions giving away free song downloads and
'other goodies'. The sale began on Easter Sunday, a day on which the majority
of the stores are closed. The automated message machines at the many closed
stores played ads for the iPone and didn't so much as mention the Lumia. The
few stores that were open on Easter didn't even have the phone in stock. However,
the Lumia was at the top of Amazon’s “best sellers” list for cell phones
ordered in advance.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
April Fools!
Popular Swedish recording artist, Robyn is sweeping the nation. Is it her amazing dance moves? Her gorgeous clothes? He beautiful bowl-cut? Her lovely voice? Whatever it is, it's sent this pop star to the top of the charts. Now that her song, Call Your Girlfriend, reached number one on the charts, she has announced that she is quitting singing to become a plumber. She is moving to Gary, Indiana where she will spend the rest of her days wearing overalls and unclogging drains. Singing, dancing, plumbing, what can't this amazing 32 year old do?!
(But seriously though, guys. She is legitimately popular in Sweden. Like she performs at huge events and has won tons of awards.)
Monday, March 19, 2012
Zimmerman Still Not Arrested
| George Zimmernan |
| Treyvon Martin |
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Madonna vs. Malawi
Madonna is under fire by Malawi’s Ministry of Education. The pop
icon had planned to build a girls academy, but didn’t notify the authorities when
said plans fell through due to ‘mismanagement of funds’. Now, she has decided
to build 10 new schools in some of the impoverished villages of Malawi that are
without schools. But she has failed to get permission from the Malawi
Authorities. Lindiwe Chide, the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Education said, "She has no mandate to decide where she wants to build a school because she doesn't know our needs and where we want new schools. She first needed to consult us, get permission from us before doing anything." She also believes that Madonna’s intentions are not truly to help the
people of Malawi but merely to make her global image better. Madonna's spokesperson claims that "This is simply not true."Saturday, March 3, 2012
A Bomb in Disneyland?
On
Saturday, March 3, 2012, Disneyland in California was temporarily shut down
when a suspicious object was spotted in a tree. Employees saw that object and
called the local police, who then called in the bomb squad. The park was put on
lockdown while the bomb squad investigated. The guests already in the park were
not evacuated, and were able to enjoy no lines when getting on the rides, for
the park was nearly empty because no more guests were allowed inside. It turns out that the 'bomb' was just part of a
geocaching game, in which GPS's help children to find hidden packages and prizes.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Girl Dies After a Fight Over a Boy
Joanna Ramos, 11, got in a fist fight after school with a fellow
classmate in Long Beach over a boy. After the fight, she was crying and
complaining that she had a headache. She told her friends and aunt Celina that her
head hurt. Her mother rushed Joanna to the hospital. She had no visible
injuries, but she underwent surgery and was put in intensive care. Just two
hours later, at 5:50pm, she stopped breathing. She was pronounced dead just
after 9 pm after failed attempts at reviving her. Officers say that the cause
of her death is ‘undetermined’. The cause of her death is still being
determined and no arrests have been made.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Britain Is The Bomb Diggity. Also, Adele likes her middle finger.
Last night, Tuesday February 22, 2011, were the Brit Awards and Adele won two BRIT awards, after returning to Britain with her six Grammys. She received her first award, Best Female artist without problem, but it was as she was accepting her second award: British Album of the Year, for 21, that she was cut off but the emcee. He said he couldn't believe he had to cut her acceptance speech short, and apologized as he began guiding her off the stage so he could introduce the Blur’s performance. Adele had a few last words before she was pushed of the stage, and she followed those words with raising her middle finger in the air. The audience cheered for her as she made her way off the stage.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Eating More, Remembering Less
Studies
prove that in the elderly, consuming over 2,100 calories a day can lead to
memory loss or 'mild cognitive impairment'. Eating more calories makes the risk of suffering
from memory loss much greater. After conducting an experiment on
how calorie intake affects the elderly, researchers found that keeping a diet
low in calories could even prevent Alzheimer’s disease. In the study,
scientists found that of the 1,200 people, age 70 to 89, whom they tested, 163
have memory problems and the risk was twice as great for those with high
calorie diets. So, keeping calorie intake in the elderly below 2,100 calories a
day, can help keep their minds sharp.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
A Whole Town Wins... Almost
In
the small town of Sodeto, Spain, everyone's celebrating, except for one man.
The whole town has only 70 households, and 69 of them (so chill) chipped in to
buy a lottery ticket for Spain’s Christmas lottery, El Gordo. The little village
made up mostly of farmers and unemployed carpenters won $950 million. Costis
Mitsotakis was the only person who didn’t chip in and isn’t getting any of the
winnings. The smallest amount of money a household received from the lottery
was $130,000 (excluding Mitsotakis, of course). However, one of the winning
townspeople has offered to buy a piece of Mitsotakis’s land that he has been
unable to sell, so all’s well that ends well.- http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/world/europe/tiny-village-of-sodeto-wins-big-in-spains-lottery.html
- http://www.digitalspy.com/odd/news/a363665/whole-spanish-town-wins-lottery-apart-from-one-man.html
- http://www.newser.com/story/138743/entire-town-wins-lottery-except-for-one-guy.html
Friday, January 20, 2012
The SOPA is on the Back Burner
 |
| This shows where the Congressmen and Congresswomen stand on the anti-piracy legislations. |
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Lost on a Mountain, Burning Money
 |
| Yong Chun Kim in a snow vehicle after being rescued. |
Yong Chun Kim, age 66, got lost snowshoeing on Mount Rainier
in Tacoma, Washington. He had been hiking with a snowshoeing club, and became
separated from them. He was lost for two days and in order to survive, he had
to keep moving to stay warm. He’d sleep standing up for five to ten minutes at
a time. Finally, he dug a tunnel in the snow and he began to burn his
possessions to keep warm. Extra socks, Band-Aids, toothbrush, packaging, and even
$6 were all set aflame to keep Kim alive. He was rescued on Monday, January 16,
2012.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Another Iranian Nuclear Scientist Murdered
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| Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan |
On January 11, 2012, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, age 32, became the
fifth Iranian nuclear scientist to be murdered since 2007. According to the
Iranian media, Roshan was driving his car on Tehran Street when two attackers
on a motorcycle planted a magnetic bomb on the bottom of his car and set it
off. Iranian officials claim that the
attacks are the work of either the United States or Israel. However, both
countries deny everything; and some people even speculate that Iranians themselves
may be behind the killings of these scientists who are supposedly connected to
the country’s nuclear weapons program.
- http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/scientists-murder-iran-students-switch-majors-official/story?id=15377748#.TxYNlqWXRWU
- http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/killing-irans-nuclear-scientists/story?id=14152453#.TxYTp6WXRWU
- http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/iran-increases-security-for-nuclear-scientists-following-assassination/
- http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/slideshow/covert-war-iran-timeline-15333807
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