Oddity Central

Oddity Central

The Dark Side of Cooking – Naturally Black Chicken

Posted: 17 Sep 2013 06:38 AM PDT

Did you know there was such a thing as black chicken? And I don’t mean as in dark feathers, but black skin, bones and even internal organs. There are actually several black chicken breeds in the world, especially in Asia, but the most popular of all has to be the Chinese Silkie.

Silkies are beautiful birds, covered in fluffy plumage, which is said to feel like silk, but underneath all that fluff they are far less attractive. Their skin is a dark-bluish color, the flesh is dark beige and the bones and some internal organs are pitch black. Although in the Western world silkie chickens are sold mainly for ornamental purposes, in countries like China they are considered a super food and are appreciated for their deep, gammy flavor. Called “wu gu ji” or “black-boned chicken”, the silkie has been prized for its medicinal value ever since the seventh or eighth century. Chinese women consume it after they have given birth to get a boost of energy, but it’s also said to have a positive effect on the yin, blood, lungs and stomach. Silkie meat is rarely roasted. To take full advantage of its curative properties, the Chinese mainly use it to make an amber-colored broth laced with ginseng , dried wolfberries and jujubes.

black-chicken

Nothing to See Here, Just a Hamster Steering a 15-Tonne Truck on a Narrow Quarry Road

Posted: 17 Sep 2013 03:57 AM PDT

To prove how easy it is to drive their new trucks, Swedish automaker Volvo transformed the steering wheel of one of their big rigs into a hamster wheel and let a tiny rodent steer the vehicle up a narrow quarry road.

Volvo’s new Dynamic Steering uses an electric motor to replace the driver’s muscle power, making even large trucks like the Volvo FMX a breeze to steer. Turning the wheel becomes an effortless affair, and in their latest advert, the automaker proved even a tiny hamster can do it. The now viral clip was shot on a steep and narrow quarry road at Los Tres Cunados, in north-west Spain, and shows Charlie the hamster steering a truck while guided by a precision driver holding a carrot. After training Charlie for weeks, the team placed the pint-sized rodent inside a hamster wheel installed on the steering wheel and let him take the truck all the way up the perilous road. Sitting in the driver’s seat was stunt driver Seon Rogers, who handled the pedals and guided Charlie in the right direction by baiting him with a fresh carrot. There were a few tense moments, like when the truck hit a big rock boulder sending it crashing down into the water below, but in the end Charlie managed to steer the large vehicle across the finish line.

Volvo-hamster-test

Snowshoe Baseball – A Taste of Winter in the Summer Months

Posted: 17 Sep 2013 02:59 AM PDT

What do you get when you combine a winter pastime like snowshoe running with a summer sport like baseball. The answer would be snowshoe baseball, a unique sport played every year in Lake Tomahawk, Winsconsin.

With its beautiful lakes and gorgeous scenery, Lake Tomahawk has always been one of Wisconsin’s most popular tourist attractions, but in 1961, Town Chairman, Ray Sloan, decided to give summer tourists yet another source of entertainment. His idea was to cover the local baseball field with sawdust and woodchips, and invite other other area teams to challenge the hometown squad in a unique series of baseball games where the players had to wear snowshoes. Sloan strategy worked and the wacky games have become a local tradition that attracts spectators from all around the globe and earned Lake Tomahawk the title of “Snowshoe Baseball Capital of the World”. The rules of the game are very similar to baseball, but the snowshoes really make it interesting by forging players to waddle and scuffle rather than sprint to bases. There’s a lot of falling, especially early in the match, as everyone tries to get used to the snowshoes, but the sawdust and woodchips act as a soft mattress, so injuries are rare.

snowshoe-baseball

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