Oddity Central |
- Dead Dogs – World’s Creepiest Hot-Dogs Are Prepared in a Black Coffin
- Touch-Me-Not – A Plant That Clearly Doesn’t Like to Be Touched
- Baseball Fan Has Caught over 5,800 Home Run and Foul Balls
- Coolest Finds of the Week #36
- Eau de MacBook Pro: A Fragrance That Smells Like New Apple Products
| Dead Dogs – World’s Creepiest Hot-Dogs Are Prepared in a Black Coffin Posted: 23 Apr 2012 06:13 AM PDT
What do you get when you combine hot dogs and coffins? Dead Dogs, of course! The name may be a bit of a put-off but going by popular opinion, but these hot dogs prepared and sold from the inside of a black coffin are to die for. Dead Dogs was founded in the most unusual of circumstances. The owner, La Barbera, a car collector and shopping center developer, had no intention of going into the food business. It was his love for cars that led him into setting up this bizarre hot dog shop. He happened to win a lowball bid for a Cadillac hearse at $12,000 last year. What he didn't know and found out only after the car was delivered, was that it came with a huge coffin. For a while he had no idea what to do with it, but then the idea to adapt the hearse for the food-truck revolution hit him. "It was just another idea that popped into my head," says the 64-year-old.
Photo: Dead Dogs/Facebook La Barbera made use of his restoration skills and ripped out the cushioning inside the coffin. He then placed a propane-stove in it and thus created a hot dog steamer. His patented technology is able to make one frank in just 15 seconds, or 200 in 30 minutes. La Barbera's partner is Frank Leamy, the owner of an Italian restaurant chain. Together they zeroed in on the famous Pink's Hot Dogs of the Hoffy brand. The company is now called – 'Dead Dogs, Ltd:Bite Me!' While the concept is still very new and the market is being tested, people who happen to come across the Dead Dogs vehicle find it very interesting.
Photo: Dead Dogs/Facebook Most people pull over when they see an unusual Cadillac hearse with flames painted on the side and an unloaded coffin on the side of the road. After spotting the hot dogs, they immediately decide to have one and the taste never disappoints. "Once the novelty gets over, and people laugh, I want the food quality to be tops," insists La Barbera. The initial plan for the company is to start with four hearses, a few in San Jose and a few more in Hawaii. Long-term plans include independent franchises as well. Could it be that we are looking at the next big fast-food restaurant chain? Dead Dogs – hot from the coffin. Would you like to try one?
via Mercury News Dead Dogs – World’s Creepiest Hot-Dogs Are Prepared in a Black Coffin was originally posted at OddityCentral.com |
| Touch-Me-Not – A Plant That Clearly Doesn’t Like to Be Touched Posted: 23 Apr 2012 05:53 AM PDT
I first heard about the Touch-Me-Not plant from my mother's stories of her childhood. There were plenty of these where she grew up, and she had fun playing with them. But no matter how much she described the plant to me, I never could quite imagine how the phenomenon worked. Now, thanks to the internet, I can see it for myself ,on video. The Mimosa Pudica (derived from Latin for shy), commonly known as the Touch-Me-Not, is very true to its name. It obviously doesn't like to be touched, because running a finger along the leaf simply causes it to fold inwards. I'm not sure if touch really bothers the plant, but the phenomenon is very beautiful to look at. The exact reason for this peculiar behavior of the Touch-Me-Not is also unknown, but it is believed the plant uses this feature to thwart predators. The closing leaves supposedly scare them away. Apart from the stimulus of human touch, the leaves also close during night time. The plant has its origins in South and Central America, but it is actually found all around the world.
Photo: Frank Vincentz The closing motion of the leaves is what makes this plant so special. In school, we all learned plants are real organisms, but we rarely perceive them like that in real life. When the Touch-Me-Not starts to shrink and closes its leaves one by one, it’s a dramatic moment in which you feel the plant is actually alive.
Touch-Me-Not is popular as an ornamental plant, but needs to be handed with caution. A plant that is so sensitive to touch can actually be poisonous if ingested. It is especially dangerous for children who find it to be an object of great fascination.
Strangely enough, the leaves of the Mimosa Pudica don’t close up if you touch them right after they’ve opened up in the morning. I have no idea why that is, they’re probably too hungry for some photosynthesis… via Kuriositas Touch-Me-Not – A Plant That Clearly Doesn’t Like to Be Touched was originally posted at OddityCentral.com |
| Baseball Fan Has Caught over 5,800 Home Run and Foul Balls Posted: 23 Apr 2012 05:27 AM PDT
Zack Hample, from New York, is a baseball fan and bawl hawk – he's great at catching and stealing balls. But Zack isn't an ordinary ball hawk, because no one else boasts a collection as impressive as his: more than 5,800 balls, both home runs and fouled balls. The way he goes after balls at matches can be characterized as almost professional. A typical game for Zack Hample goes kind of like this – running around the Major League ballpark, searching for foul balls or home runs, and sometimes even convincing coaches and players to toss balls into the stands. As you can imagine, being a ball hawk is no walk in the park. It involves a lot of athleticism, a bit of science and loads of luck too. All three of which Hample has plenty of. His collection of baseballs is the largest in the world. "Yes, I'm obsessed," he admits.
Photo: Zack Hample During the baseball season, Hample's only goal is to hit as many Major League stadiums as possible and snag at least a thousand balls. He will do literally anything to get a ball. "If the White Sox come out early for batting practice, I'm going to throw on my White Sox gear and start shouting at them," he is known to have said during last year's season. Of course, he wouldn't bat an eyelid before he switches hats and jerseys to get a ball from a different team. While older generation ball hawks frown upon this practice (it’s almost like cheating to them), Hample says it’s okay because his only goal is to get as many balls as he can. He actually has the gift of connecting with the players, so they make a game out of throwing him the ball. "It's cool to be connected to all these guys. It's my own version of fantasy baseball, where I get to interact and play with numbers and feel like I'm a part of it somehow."
Photo: Zack Hample Hample's obsession with ball hawking started way back in 1990, but he thinks he's at his prime right now. He must be, given that he averages about 8-9 balls per game. One of his most ingenious strategies involves a baseball mitt rigged with a rubber band, a permanent marker and a long piece of string. This helps him fetch balls that are out of reach. He also makes sure he’s clean shaven so he looks younger at games, and asks foreign players for balls in their native languages. In spite of the huge number of balls he's bagged, Hample says, "I try not to live for my stats. I just love baseball, and I feel like I would be going to games regardless and just being obsessed with the sport." Hample loves baseball so much that he's written three books about it, and also blogs regularly about his bawl hawking activities.
It's really wonderful that Hample is not just all about hoarding balls; he tries to give back as well. An initiative he started about three years ago allows people to take pledges for every ball he collects. The proceeds are donated to Pitch in for Baseball, a charity involved in providing baseball equipment to underprivileged youths around the world. The pledge has gotten quite popular; he earns more than $7 for every ball caught. That's such a wonderful way to combine passion and good will. Baseball Fan Has Caught over 5,800 Home Run and Foul Balls was originally posted at OddityCentral.com |
| Posted: 23 Apr 2012 05:06 AM PDT
Royal de Luxe’s Huge Marionettes Perform in Titanic Commemoration (Laughing Squid) Beijing’s Secret Underground City (Environmental Graffiti) Chinese Farmer Creates Wind-Powered Vehicle (Metro) Moscow Hosts World’s First Caviar Speed Eating Contest (Ria Novosti) Blog Comparing Rafa Nadal to Capibara Becomes Internet Hit (Tumblr) Stupidity Captured at 2,500 Frames per Second (This Is Colossal) Japanese Burger Made with 1,050 Bacon Slices Is a Heart-Stopper (G4TV) Artists Create Inflatable Stonehenge in Glasgow (The Guardian) Philadelphia CheeseSteak Ice cream – Would You Eat It? (Asia Obscura) The Unexpected Beauty of Rotting Vegetables (Environmental Graffiti)
Coolest Finds of the Week #36 was originally posted at OddityCentral.com |
| Eau de MacBook Pro: A Fragrance That Smells Like New Apple Products Posted: 23 Apr 2012 01:48 AM PDT
The Apple MacBook Pro is definitely not the most affordable laptop on the market right now, but thanks to custom scent developer, Air Aroma, you can now close your eyes, take a sniff of hour old machine and imagine you actually own one of Apple’s expensive devices. This may very well be the weirdest perfume ever created… Oh, who am I kidding, we’ve had real fragrances synthesized from urine and excrements, but this one is pretty strange too. Apparently, the guys at Air Aroma have been working around the clock to make a perfume that combines the unique aroma of cardboard, printed ink, plastic wrap and a brand new aluminum laptop. The formula was commissioned by by Melbourne based artists Gavin Bell, Jarrah de Kuijer and Simon McGlinn, for their exhibition on the digital age and the rise of new technology, entitled “De Facto Standard”
Alex Cosic of Air Aroma said: ‘The scent requested by our client was quite unusual so we contacted our fragrance suppliers in the South of France to send over samples of fragrances with the aroma of glue, plastic, rubber and paper.’ And to make sure the guys in the lab got the Eau de MacBook just right, Air Aroma even had an unopened Apple laptop delivered in France. They monitored each stage of the unboxing process and selected the right oils and aromas. ’A distinctive scent can be observed when unwrapping a newly purchased Apple product from its packaging. Apple fans will certainly recognize this smell’, the Air Aroma representative added.
If you were actually thinking of buying a bottle of Apple perfume and bragging to all your geek friends, I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but Eau de MacBook will only be used during the De Facto Standard exhibition, and won’t be available as a commercial product. Unless of course it proves a real hit there and Air Aroma decides to mass produces. What? That could happen… via Daily Mail Eau de MacBook Pro: A Fragrance That Smells Like New Apple Products was originally posted at OddityCentral.com |
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