ChezFlamingeaux
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I won’t be buying any more Snow Cones at Minute Maid Stadium
In this week’s gag-inducing news, a snow cone vendor at Minute Maid Park was caught with his pants around his ankles — and his rainbow-flavored wares on the floor of a bathroom stall — on Monday.
We don’t even want to think about the unspeakable things those summer treats went through behind closed doors. A disgusted Astros fan caught the blatant health code infraction on video, which he promptly handed over to KPRC Local 2.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This guy is taking a dump. There’s no doubt about it. What sane person could possibly think, yeah this is a good idea. I’ll just put the food that I’m about to sell on the floor,” the whistleblower told the station.
Aramark, the hospitality company that contracts with the Houston Astros for concessions, fired the subcontractor immediately and issued a statement indicating that the “isolated incident was a clear violation of [its] food safety practices and is not reflective of [the company’s] standards.”
“The Astros share ARAMARK’s view on the importance of food safety and will work with them to ensure that our fans have a safe and outstanding experience at Minute Maid Park,” said Reid Ryan, the team’s newly-installed president of business operations, in a statement. He applauded ARAMARK’s quick termination of the snow cone dumper.
“We also commend the fan for his vigilance in pointing out the inappropriate actions of the vendor,” Ryan continued. “The Astros personally thanked him and advised him of the swift action taken in regard to the employee.”
Creedence Clearwater Revival dining at Taco Bell in 1969
(Source: birthmoviesdeath, via hodgman)
Sam and Dave “Soul Man”, live in Offenbach, Germany, 1967
The incomparable Sam & Dave, perhaps the best live act that has ever existed, live in Offenbach, Germany, 1967. Unbelievably joyous performance, the kind of live show that just doesn’t exist anymore. Broadcast features a few guest musicians, including Linda Carr, Arthur Conley, and Lee Dorsey playing some tunes backed by the Sam & Dave orchestra. They’re worth watching too.
Ever heard of the Relampago de Catatumbo, a.k.a. ”Lightning Lake”?
There’s something strange in the air where the Catatumbo River flows into Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela… For 140 to 160 nights out of the year, for 10 hours at a time, the sky above the river is pierced by almost constant lightning, producing as many as 280 strikes per hour.
Known as the “Relampago del Catatumbo,” this lightning storm has been raging, on and off, for as long a people can remember. It was first written about in the 1597 poem “The Dragontea” by Lope de Vega. De Vega tells of Sir Francis Drake’s 1595 attempt to take the city of Maracaibo by night, only to have his plans foiled when the lightning storm’s flashes gave away his position to the city’s defenders.
This happened again on July 24, 1823, when, during the Venezuelan War of Independence, Spanish ships were revealed by the lightning and defeated by the Simón Bolívar’s upstart navy.
In fact, the lightning, visible from 400 kilometers away, is so regular that it’s been used as a navigation aid by ships and is known among sailors as the “Maracaibo Beacon.” Interestingly, generally little to no sound accompanies this fantastic light show, as the lightning moves from cloud to cloud—far, far above the ground.
All this talk about Obama and his umbrella, while we really should all be talking about this picture.
That’s right people. Presidents held umbrellas for Ted Kennedy.
(Source: melodicpond, via afternoonsnoozebutton)
John Cleese, on a break on the set of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975
Ai WeiWei Releases Heavy Metal Music Video
This morning rebel/activist/dissident/badass Chinese artist Ai Weiwei released a heavy metal single and music video on his website. The video and song, entitled Dumbass, features re-creations from his 81 days of detention. Also portraying the rock star fantasies he imagines his guards having, Ai Weiwei told the Guardian that his country was one of “crazy menace and inhuman conditions” and that the video shows an “inch-accurate” recreation of the cell, down to the wallpaper. “…stand on the frontline like a dumbass, in a country that puts out like a hooker. The fields are full of fuckers, dumbasses are everywhere… Fuck forgiveness, tolerance be damned, to hell with manners, the low-life’s invincible.” - Dumbass by Ai Weiwei
(Source: juxtapoz.com)
Two headed Bull Shark fetus radiograph
In April 2011, a fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico got the surprise of a lifetime: When he opened up the uterus of the female bull shark he had caught, he found a two-headed fetus. Two-headed specimens of other sharks have been found — though they are extremely rare — but this is the only known recorded case of a two-headed bull shark.
The fetus, which died shortly after its discovery, was sent to Michigan State University for further examination. There, scientists confirmed that the shark was a single shark and not conjoined twins; MRIs showed that the shark had two distinct heads, hearts, and stomachs, and a single tail. The deformity is the result of an embryo beginning to split into twins, but doing so incompletely.
Michael Wagner, assistant professor of fisheries and wildlife at Michigan State, calls the anomaly an “interesting and rarely detected phenomena.” As animals born with these sorts of abnormalities often die shortly after birth, it’s rare that they’re discovered in the wild. “You’ll see many more cases of two-headed lizards and snakes,” Wagner told TIME magazine. “That’s because those organisms are often bred in captivity, and the breeders are more likely to observe the anomalies.”
