The rules for joining the Sourtoe Cocktail Club are simple. Go to the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City, Yukon. While there consume any drink that has floating in it a severed human toe that has been dehydrated and preserved in salt. The bar conveniently keeps a supply of such toes. While consuming the drink, your lips must touch the toe. And that's it. You're a member of the club.
The rules used to be a bit more strict. Namely, that the toe had to be floating in a beer glass full of champagne. But over the years they've relaxed that requirement.
If you're really brave, you can order a Five Toe Sourtoe Cocktail.
The tradition dates from 1973 when a dried up toe was discovered that, legend had it, belonged to a 1920s rum-smuggler named Louie Liken. What better use for the toe, the hotel figured, than to put it in a drink. Over the years the original toe was lost, but apparently it hasn't been hard to find replacements.
This sounds like the setup for a porn movie, but it's not:
Every night, for 33 days, her boyfriend strapped on a head lamp, got out his camera, and photographed her cervix.
"O'Nell" got her boyfriend to photograph her cervix every day as "an exercise in body exploration." She then uploaded the results to the web. You can see the results here. I don't know if it's Not Safe for Work, but it's definitely Not Safe For Breakfast. O'Nell threatens that by Spring 2009 she hopes to have more women's cervices posted.
Let's take a moment to mourn the end of Lee Redmond's nails. She was the Guinness record holder for having the longest fingernails on both hands, having not cut them since 1979. However, she was in an accident on Tuesday. She's injured, but okay. However, her nails broke off.
Alex raised the topic of navels earlier, little knowing I had something of a similar nature in store!
This is of course a famous and admittedly effective commercial. But we'll include it in our series of oddities for one trivial reason: no navels shown! In a commercial focusing on several bare stomachs!
It was all part of television broadcast standards back then, just as with the famous I Dream of Jennie prohibition against showing Barbara Eden's navel.
"the symmetry, shape, and position of umbilicus can be used to estimate the reproductive potential of fertile females, including risks of certain genetically and maternally inherited fetal anomalies."
The theory seems to be that if you've got problems as a fetus, somehow they're reflected in the shape of the belly button. And such problems may mean you're a less desirable mate later on in life.
So what does this say about supermodel Karolina Kurkova who reportedly has no belly button.
A "nose bidet" (also known as a neti pot) is a device used for nasal irrigation. I'm not really sure how it works, but I think it involves pouring water into one nostril so that it comes out the other. Wikipedia reports that in some parts of India, this practice is as common as brushing one's teeth.
But even better is the yogic nasal cleansing practice of Sutra Neti:
One end of a cord, or rubber catheter, is passed from the nose into the back of the throat where it is grabbed by the fingers and pulled out of the mouth. Holding the nose end of the cord with one hand and the mouth end with the other, the cord is gently pulled to and fro.
I already floss my teeth once a day. I don't think I need to floss my nose.
In the current economic recession, a lot of people are making some extra money by selling whatever gold they have in their house. Another option is to sell your hair.
Hair Trader describes itself as "the world's largest independent hair sale site."
I'm curious if there are any buyers other than wig makers. If so, what possible use could they have for someone else's hair?
Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 16, 2008 -
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Category: Body
If you're looking for an unusual gift for someone this Christmas, consider getting a FaceStatue.
Upload two mugshot photos of the face (yours or someone else's) to thatsmyface.com, and they'll use the photos to create a 3D plastic-composite face statue. Prices start at only $49 for a 1/8 size facemask, and go all the way up to $1999 for a lifesize head.
The interesting twist: you can choose to have your FaceStatue look older or younger than you actually are. Plus, you can get an African, Indian, Asian or Caucasian model of yourself.
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.