Author Archives: Taylor

Pope Pius XII

Via Wikipedia’s article on embalming: Pius XII’s (pope 1939–1958) botched embalming by a charlatan doctor—which only sped up the rate of decomposition—led to his body turning black and his nose falling off while lying in state, and the body disintegrated in the coffin. The Swiss Guards stationed around Pius XII’s body were forced to change …

July 17, 2009 – 10:32 | By Taylor | Posted in morbid | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

on Michael Jackson

Grace Rwaramba, MJ’s employee of 17 years, speaks out: “Suddenly — I can’t remember now how it came — he received some money. Instead of buying a small house, so that we won’t go from one hotel to another or stay with friends, he told me, ‘Grace, you have to go immediately to Florence to …

June 28, 2009 – 08:43 | By Taylor | Posted in celebreality | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

God Pod

Hello my dearest and as for me… I’m from a pretty flower, the opium poppy. My real name is heroin, I won’t let you down… But because of the stigma, just call me brown. My sister lives in China, she’s out-of-site… She’s stronger than I, her name is white. Now that you know me, let’s …

June 4, 2009 – 14:14 | By Taylor | Posted in written word | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Facial Recognition

New research shows that there’s a broad range of face-recognition ability, a spectrum ranging from the “face blind” to those on the opposite end with superior powers of perception. “Super-recognizers actually see faces differently,” says Dr. Richard Russell, a researcher in the Harvard Vision Sciences Laboratory and lead author of the new study published in …

June 4, 2009 – 14:08 | By Taylor | Posted in science and psychology | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Two Articles From Last Weekend’s New York Times

The Case for Working With Your Hands The television show “Deadliest Catch” depicts commercial crab fishermen in the Bering Sea. Another, “Dirty Jobs,” shows all kinds of grueling work; one episode featured a guy who inseminates turkeys for a living. The weird fascination of these shows must lie partly in the fact that such confrontations …

May 27, 2009 – 12:14 | By Taylor | Posted in written word | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Switched At Birth In Fiji

Babies switched at birth at Labasa hospital Asif is Fijian and Filimone is Indian. Asif and Filimone were mistakenly exchanged at birth at Labasa Hospital on the 1st of August, 1994. They were born three hours apart. The Indian baby, now Filimone, had a normal delivery, while the Fijian baby, now Asif, was delivered through …

May 25, 2009 – 18:22 | By Taylor | Posted in weird & wonderful world | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

On Axl Rose’s Thin Connection To Reality

Mick Wall on Axl Rose, Wired Magazine, 2008. MW: No, I don’t believe that for a second. Having said that, he does believe in some crazy stuff — past lives, crystals — don’t get me wrong, I believe in karma, I believe that there is a world beyond the five senses, I do believe in …

May 9, 2009 – 01:29 | By Taylor | Posted in celebreality | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Quoted: David Wake, Professor of Integrative Biology At UC Berkeley

“Amphibians have been around for about 250 million years. They made it through when the dinosaurs didn’t. The fact that they’re cutting out now should be a lesson for us.” (via)

April 18, 2009 – 16:27 | By Taylor | Posted in science and psychology | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Quoted: Rage Against the Man-chine On Tea Parties

If the average middle-class suburb-dwelling telecommunications salesman couldn’t pat himself on the back for having achieved a bunch of shit that was actually handed to him by a society designed to meet his needs, he’d have time to think about his life and might actually realize just how uninteresting and unnoteworthy he really is. These …

April 14, 2009 – 23:36 | By Taylor | Posted in politics | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Lil Wayne On Going Rock

“The rock sh– just comes from what my life is now. I’ve grown into this person. I woke up one morning and had three or four women in my bed where I not only didn’t know their last names, I didn’t know the beginning letter of their first names. All I know is, they’re the …

April 5, 2009 – 12:33 | By Taylor | Posted in celebreality | Tagged , , | Comments (0)