Category Archives: Oddities

This ain't Disneyland

It’s more a WTFland: a Soviet bunker in Lithuania that has been reopened as a tourist attraction.

As Environmental Graffiti notes:

Tourists pay 120 LTL (€34.75) each to step back into 1984 as a temporary USSR citizen for 2.5 hours. On entry, all belongings, including money, cameras and phones, are handed over and under the watchful eye of guards and alsatians, tourists change into threadbare Soviet coats and are herded through the bunker.

Experiences include watching TV programs from 1984, wearing gas masks, learning the Soviet anthem under duress, eating typical Soviet food (with genuine Soviet tableware) and even undergoing a concentration-camp-style interrogation and medical check.

Most of the ‘actors’ are ex-Soviet soldiers, although the bunker is designed for school groups so it’s not as bad as it could be. But still, would you pay for the experience?

Links o' the day 13/11/08

Pic of the day, click for link to source. Close contender here.

Top comment on the Chelsea striker and renowned diver Didier Drogba throwing a coin into the stand: “To be fair … It was probably a simulated throw”.

Resort for the super-rich goes bankrupt.

Best headline on post-US election coverage: You’ll still need an oak stake to kill the GOP.

Why? Why would you do this?

I can understand (but, as I’m sure you can understand, not condone) the actions of the frustrated people in this story:

‘Dear investors, thanks for trusting us and depositing your money,’ read a note posted on the door of a company in the southwestern province of Cauca after its owners disappeared.

‘Now, for being stupid and believing in financial witchcraft, you will have to work for your money’, it said, prompting depositors to storm the building, wreck the companys offices and loot its computer equipment and furniture.

Links o' the day 10/11/2008

A German doctor has cured a HIV-positive patient with a bone marrow transplant.

Roald Dahl retold through surrealist photos.

Who says newspapers are dead? Turn your RSS feeds into a PDF paper.

Printers, scanners, fax machines, built-in optical drives and landline phones are junk sucking you down into hell and should be destroyed for the sake of your very soul. Or words to less than apocalyptic affect.

I know you didn’t think of this before: a weak sun may have brought down the Mayans as well as China’s Tang dynasty (Subscription required if you want to read the Science article linked to by the link).

Archaeologists shed new light on the witches of Cornwall.

A German lady has failed to set a record for carrying beer mugs. No puns on huge jugs, please.

The real news

Forget the renewal of hope and general breath of fresh air that Obama will bring to the White House, he’s going to bring a whole new dress sense:

The Obama family took the stage in Chicago Tuesday night in color-coordinated outfits, all with touches of red or black.

For Michelle Obama, no stuffy suits or demure pastels here: Instead she wore a striking red-and-black dress designed by well-regarded, but not-so-mainstream, Narciso Rodriguez.

President-elect Barack Obama wore the same style dark-navy suit custom-made by Hart Schaffner Marx that he wore at the Democratic Convention, the company says, accompanied with a deep red, striped necktie.

Older daughter Malia wore a red bubble-hem dress, while the younger Sasha wore a black dress with an oversized bow on the front.

Together, they made a pleasing picture of coordination and confidence, style-watchers say.

Clearly I am out of touch with the really important stuff.

Hallowe'en links and more

Hallowe’en pumpking carving with robotics (Slashdot, pic via there as well)

Looking for a Hallowe’en scare? Try the latest video games (Reuters)

Ten horror hoaxes that spooked the masses (The Daily Telegraph)

DIY Hallowe’en projects (Lifehacker)

Researchers build “haunted” room (BoingBoing)

And now time for some music.

The Misfits – Scream

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td-QoYceevk[/youtube]

Lordi – Hard rock Hallelujah

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdItwaLrv1U[/youtube]

Cradle of Filth – No Time to Cry

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wokDxDt504g[/youtube]

And a horror of a different kind: Jan Terri – Losing You

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE2l6CPna4M[/youtube]