Quite Possible The Best Top Ten List From Letterman

"Pixie Dust"

From Michael Yon

I made this photo last night in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. This Landing Zone is very dangerous. A few weeks ago, another helicopter was coming into this LZ and was shot down at the last minute, killing all passengers and crew. Two children on the ground also were killed. The sparks coming off the rotors occur when the helicopters land in hot, dusty conditions. The landing itself occurs in a dangerous "brownout." Brownout danger is compounded by the sparks which light up the dust and can confuse pilots who are wearing extremely sensitive nightvision goggles.

Click the picture to see more of Michael Yon's blog posts.

Train Sets Bridge On Fire

Talk About A Bad Day

The Good News: It was a normal day in Sharon Springs, KS when a Union Pacific crew boarded a loaded coal train for the long trek to Salina.

The Bad News: Just a few miles into the trip a wheel bearing became overheated and melted, letting a metal support drop down and grind on the rail, creating hot sparks.

The Good News: A very alert crew noticed smoke and immediately stopped the train to investigate.

The Bad News: The train stopped with the hot wheel over a wooden bridge with creosote ties and trusses. The photos speak for themselves.

Click on the picture to read the article and see the other pictures.

Thanks To Snopes

50 State Bingo Or The First Step To World Domination?

What do Hawaii, Idaho, Vermont and Wyoming have in common? Anyone...? Anyone...? Bueller...?


Those are the only four states that have not had at least one of their residents read this blog. Once I have readers from those four states I will be able to set my sites on conquering the world, but I have to knock out the US first (click here to hear evil laugh).

If you know someone in one of those states you can help me complete this step towards world domination by sending them a link to this blog. Surely you know someone that would like to see the dancing wedding party. Or, maybe your friends would better appreciate learning what is meant by the phrase Booty, God, Booty. Regardless of their taste you should be able to find something here to please their palate.

Thanks for your support.

High Speed Bullet Photography

Some pretty incredible shots.

It is almost impossible to capture a speeding bullet with your eye and the impact the bullet creates is even faster and happens within a blink of an eye.

It will be very much interesting to see how the objects look while breaking and shape it takes after hitting with a bullet.

Here are 30 excellent high speed photos of bullets passing through various objects, captured using high speed cameras.

As usual, click the picture to see the series.

Thanks To Mary at FrugalInFortWorth

The Secret Inner Workings Of Netflix

Ever wondered how Netflix works? Mental_Floss has the answer. Just click on the image above to read the article.

A Quick, Easy (And Destructive) Car Wash

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Human Pencils

A week or so ago I did a post on an odd urn for the ashes of a cremated loved one (to read it, go here). Well, today I learned of another option, just in case you were interested...

Pencils made from the carbon of human cremains. 240 pencils can be made from an average body of ash – a lifetime supply of pencils for those left behind.

Each pencil is foil stamped with the name of the person. Only one pencil can be removed at a time, it is then sharpened back into the box causing the sharpenings to occupy the space of the used pencils. Over time the pencil box fills with sharpenings – a new ash, transforming it into an urn. The window acts as a timeline, showing you the amount of pencils left as time goes by.

As usual, click the picture to go to the link.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing