"The Monsters Are Due on Westhampton View Court"

The strange occurrences on a cul-de-sac in St. Charles, Missouri, sound like something straight out of an episode of The Twilight Zone (hence the title of this post). STLToday.com reports:

Westhampton View residents started noticing problems getting in and out of their garages on Dec. 26 and 27, and the situation got progressively worse.

They went through the usual trouble-shooting steps of changing the batteries and rebooting their systems. All but one have Liftmasters. Some called the manufacturer. Nothing worked.

First, Kathy Hoechstenbach's double garage door wouldn't work, but the single one would. Then the single door would work only if they got really close to the door with the remote. Soon it wouldn't work at all.

Joe Sullivan's doors have the same problem.

"It's a weird, weird thing," Sullivan said. "And the timing for it all to go haywire for everybody at the same time can't be coincidence, right?"

Hmmmm...

Chicken wing...cupcakes?

Yes. Chicken wing cupcakes.

This unique creation is being offered by a bakery in Colonie, New York. It's a cornbread cupcake slathered in blue cheese frosting, topped off with a chicken wing.

But do people like them? Oh, yeah. They're a hit.

Mailman who pooped on lawn resumes same route

It's bad enough cleaning up after your dogs. You don't want to have to worry about your mailman.

A mail carrier in Portland, Oregon, was photographed defecating in the yard of a home on his delivery route last April. He's back on the job and back on his old route.


Really? You're a mailman. You can't make it to your truck and use a bag, a box, or an envelope or something? You have to use someone's yard?

The only explanation I can think of as to why this guy kept his job is that he must have claimed to have a medical condition, thereby preventing his termination under federal employment regulations. What I can't figure out is why in the world he would want to show his face in the same neighborhood again.

Fifth grader accidentally discovers new explosive molecule

Professor Robert Zoellner of Humboldt State University confirmed the discovery of a new molecule.

Kenneth Boehr gave his fifth grade class some molecule modeling kits to, you know, build molecule models. Maybe he wanted a chance to catch up on Facebook and thought this would kill some time and keep the kids out of his hair for a while. Whatever the reason, he certainly didn't expect one of his pupils to make an explosive discovery.

The future chemist (or homeland security threat) is 10-year-old Clara Lazen. She wasn't out to do anything groundbreaking. She just threw together some oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon atoms into a random arrangement and, voilà!, scientific history was made.

The heretofore unknown molecule, hereafter known as tetranitratoxycarbon, contains the same combination of atoms as nitroglycerin. That means if a chemist could create an actual tetranitratoxycarbon molecule, it could do something useful, like store energy, or do something really cool, like blow something up.

Zoellner has since published an article about the molecule. Clara and her teacher are both listed as co-authors.

A hilarious guide to mispronouncing words

The Pronunciation Book is a channel on YouTube that will help you pronounce words correctly. Booooooriiiiiing! Me? I prefer the Pronunciation Manual. Honestly, I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard. Here's a small, side-splitting sampling:














And my personal favorite...


(Kottke)

100-year-old woman doesn't know what she would do without her Nintendo DS

100-year-old Kit Connell doesn't feel a day over 80, and she credits her Nintendo DS for keeping her young:

I try to keep my brain active by playing on my Nintendo. My daughter managed to get me one on the internet, and this is the one I'm using now. And it's great. It's absolutely super. I don't know what I'd do without it. ... I can't speak highly enough of this Nintendo. It's helped to keep my brain as active as possible at my old age.

In case you kids are thinking about using this in an effort to convince your parents to buy you one, keep in mind that she mostly plays word games.

What a woman's hands say about her

(via Colossal)

Now THAT'S what I call heavy traffic

"Honey? It's me. I ran into some heavy traffic. I might be a little late getting home."

(via Facebook)

Indonesian twins, separated at birth, meet in Sweden

Fraternal twins Emilie Falk and Lin Backman were born in Indonesia, and somehow ended up separated at an orphanage. Their respective adoptive families got in touch with each other, but, due to the lack of similarities between the girls and discrepancies in the adoption paperwork, didn't realize the girls were sisters. The families eventually lost touch.

When Emilie and Lin reconnected 29 years later, they found they had a lot in common. They lived only 25 miles apart. They are both teachers. They got married on the same day just one year apart. They even danced to the same wedding song: "You and Me" by Lifehouse.

A DNA test they had done last year showed that there is a 99.98 percent chance of them being sisters. They are happy to have found each other and have talked about traveling one day to Indonesia to search for their biological parents.

You can read the full story here.

Build a snack stadium for your Super Bowl feast

Presentation has never been my strong suit. I'm usually in too much of a hurry to eat. But if I was going to host a big Super Bowl bash, I might give this a try.

(via LA Weekly)